The Māturīdī Tradition of Tafsīr

Abstract

Despite increasing scholarly interest in the Māturīdī school of dialectic theology and Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī’s Qur’an commentary among scholars of the history of kalam (rational theology) and tafsīr (Qur’anic exegesis), respectively, comparatively little attention has been devoted so far to the role of Qur’anic exegesis among later representatives of the school and to its relevance for the elaboration and transmission of Māturīdī thought in general. Accordingly, this article sketches the history of the Māturīdī tradition of Qur’anic exegesis. After discussing al-Māturīdī’s foundational Taʾwīlāt ahl as-Sunna and its relevance for the formulation and dissemination of his doctrines, it turns to the tafsīr works of later major Māturīdī scholars, most notably Najm al-Dīn al-Nasafī and Abū l-Barakāt al-Nasafī. It presents an overview of the history and impact of Māturīdī(-influenced) Qur’anic interpretation until the 19th century, as reflected in independent tafsīr works as well as in glosses and super-glosses to earlier texts of the genre, including to popular non-Māturīdī titles, such as al-Zamakhsharī’s al-Kashshāf and al-Bayḍāwī’s Anwār al-Tanzīl. Thereby, it is shown that the field of tafsīr has been an important locus for the assertion, elaboration and transmission of Māturīdī thought.