al-Maturidi

Abu Mansur al-Maturidi (Muhammad ibn Muhammad) was a Sunni theologian and Hanafi jurist of Transoxiana, the region beyond the Oxus River in what is now Uzbekistan. He is the figure for whom the Maturidi school of theology (kalam, meaning speculative or systematic theology) is named — one of the two main schools of Sunni doctrine, alongside the school named after his contemporary al-Ash'ari.

His death is well attested in 333 AH (944 CE), and he was buried in Samarqand. His birth year is not recorded by the early biographers; modern scholars estimate around 853 CE, inferred chiefly from the death dates of his teachers, so the date should be read as an informed guess rather than an established fact.

Al-Maturidi was born in Maturid, a village or quarter near Samarqand, and appears to have lived, taught, and died in the Samarqand region; no travels are documented. He followed the legal school of Abu Hanifa and is best known for two works: the Kitab al-Tawhid ("Book of Divine Oneness"), an early systematic theology, and a Qur'an commentary usually titled Ta'wilat al-Qur'an (or Ta'wilat Ahl al-Sunna).

In matters where the schools differ, his positions are described by later tradition as a middle path: against the rationalist Mu'tazila he affirmed God's eternal attributes, yet he gave reason a larger role than the Ash'ari school is generally said to. On human action he is reported to hold that God creates acts while humans have a genuine capacity and intention — a view his school frames between fatalism and full human autonomy. These characterizations come from the later Maturidi tradition and should be weighed as such.