Continuation and Completion of the Project: "Transformation Processes in 6./12. Century Māturīdism: The Kitāb al-Kifāya fī l-hidāya fī ˁilm al-kalām of Nūr al-Dīn al-Ṣābūnī (died 580/1184)" BR 4087/3-1

• Applicant: Dr. Angelika Brodersen
• Subject Area: Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies
• Term: from 2018 to 2022
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 411001061

The research project focuses on transformation processes in the Ḥanafite-Māturidite theology of the 6./12. Century. The research will start from the Kitāb al-Kifāya fī l-hidāya fī ʿilm al-kalām of the Buḫārā based theologian and jurist Nūr al-Dīn al-Ṣābūnī (died 580/1184), and the reports of the Ashʿarite theologian Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (died 606/1210) on personal encounters with al-Ṣābūnī. It is to be analyzed which changes the Māturidite theology has gone through against the teachings of its founder Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī (died 333/944). For this purpose, a text-critical edition of the Kitāb al-Kifāya will be prepared, based on several manuscripts. Subsequently, the content will be analyzed to what extent on the one hand older Māturīdite thoughts are taken up. However, on the other hand, especially in the field of ontology, also transformations have taken place. This also requires a closer look at the development of Ashʿarite theology, which was heavily modified by al-Rāzī, probably under philosophical influence, compared to the older Ashʿarite systems. It has to be examined if a similar development has taken place in Māturīdism.The results of this research will be published in book form. Thus, another original text from the Ḥanafite-Māturīdite tradition will be available, which also comes from a time in which the Samarkand based Ḥanafite teaching traditions were also established in Buḫārā, so obviously differences in teaching as testified for the former time between the two cities were overcome. As can be seen from the text of ar-Rāzī, moreover, towards the end of the 6./12. century, long before the harmonization efforts in Ottoman times, the lines of reasoning of both Sunni schools had softened, so that the proposed study could also contribute to the exploration of the relation between Ashʿariyya and Māturīdiyya.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants