ABŪ SHAKŪR AL-SĀLIMĪ AND HIS THEOLOGICAL IDENTITY WITHIN THE SCOPE OF AL-TAMHĪD FĪ BAYĀN AL-TAWḤĪD

Abstract

Even though al-Imām al-Māturīdī was praisedby certain scholars, such as his master Abū Naṣr al-ʿIyāḍī, and was described later as the founder of Māturīdiyyahby both his school's followers and his competitors, such as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī,it is clear that his school took form based on the ideational foundations of AbūḤanīfah.In places like Khurāsān and Transoxiana where Māturīdiyyah spreaded most, themost prominent followers have been the Ḥanafī scholars and theschool was called Ḥanafiyyah/Māturīdiyyahbecause of its "dual-authoritative" nature. While Ḥanafīs of Samarqandembraced a more kalāmī/dialectical methodology much like al-Imām al-Māturīdī, Ḥanafīs of Bukhārā had amore scripturalist/traditionalist attitude with some caution of rationalinterpretation (taʾwīl). Nodoubt that, despite his rational (grounded on raʾy) and interpretivistattitudes in the issues of fiqh, the fact that Abū Ḥanīfah had a moremoderate and conservative attitude that is not completely contrary to that of Ahlal-ḥadīthin credal/theological issues had an effect on this. Even though he preservedhis kalāmī methodology and style in congruence with his school and penned anentirely theological book named al-Tamhīd, Abū Shakūr al-Sālimī, arepresentative of Samarqand Ḥanafī/Māturīdī tradition, had some ideas and views compatiblewith the "conservative" Bukhārā-based Ḥanafī/Māturīdī position, probably because ofperceiving Abū Ḥanīfahas the absolute authority. Nevertheless, it is possible to say that he followedand fused the ideas of both of two authorities, Abū Ḥanīfah and al-Imām al-Māturīdī,and at the same time, preserved his own authenticity.