The Maturidi School: From Abu Hanifa to Al-Kawthari by Shaykh Gibril Fouad Haddad

Beacon Books

The doctrinal creed of the largest denomination of Muslims that came to be known as ‘The Adherents to the Sunna and the Congregation’ found staunch defenders in the school of the ‘Arch-master of guidance’ (Imām al-hudā) and ‘Standard-bearer of guidance’ (‘Alam al-hudā) of Samarqand, Abū Mansūr al-Māturīdī (d. 333/945), who codified the theology of ‘the Greatest Leader’ (al-Imām al-A‘zam) Abū Hanīfa. This work is a survey of the most important Māturīdī authorities and their doctrinal textbooks with a condensed overview of the bio-bibliography of Māturīdī scholarship in descending order of antiquity. It highlights their resolutions (taqrīrāt) as the defining parameters of Sunnism and can serve both as an introductory synopsis of the great themes of Maturidism and as a tool for the study of the school’s theology from its early founders to our time.

About the Author:

A Lebanese-born Islamic scholar, hadith expert, author and translator of classical Islamic texts, Gibril Fouad Haddad was featured in the inaugural list of 500 Most influential Muslims and has been called “one of the clearest voices of traditional Islam in the West”. A staunch defender of the traditional Islamic schools of law, he holds ijazas from over 150 scholars across the Muslim world and was a visiting fellow (2013-2015) then senior assistant professor (2015-2018) at the Sultan Omar Ali Saifuddin Center for Islamic Studies, University Brunei Darussalam, where he lives.