Roots of Synthetic Theology in Islam
A Study of the Theology of Abu Mansur Al- Maturidi (d. 333/944)
1995 • 286 pages • 220 x 145 mm • Hardback • ISBN 9 83990 022 6
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 Mustafa Ceric

This book is an analysis of one of the greatest (and largely forgotten) early Muslim theologians, Abu Mansur Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Mahmud al-Hanafi al-Mutakallim al-Maturidi al-Samarqandi (d. 333/944). It establishes evidence of al-Maturidi’s profound influence upon Islamic theology during his time and discusses his method, theory of knowledge and theological ideas concerning the world, and the relation of God to man.

Emphasizing in particular al-Maturidi’s magnum opus, the Kitab al-Tawhid, the author explains his view of the historical development of Islamic theology in light of the three elements of ta‘ah (faithful obedience), bayan (elucidation) and the naql-‘aql (tradition/reason) dialectic. He concludes that al-Maturidi’s influence upon the overall development of Islamic theology is not only profound but original, not only in his development of Islamic theological theory of knowledge and in his scientific way of research, but also in his being able to resolve the naql-‘aql conflict.

Mustafa Ceric is a Professor at the International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Formerly the Reis-ul-Ulema, President of the Council of Ulema, Grand Mufti of Bosnia-Herzegovina. He graduated from the Medressa in Sarajevo and Al-Azhar University in Cairo, after which he returned to Bosnia, where he became an imam. He then spent several years as Imam of the U.S. Islamic Cultural Center, during which time he earned a Ph.D. in Islamic Theology at the University of Chicago. He left for Zagreb in 1987 where he became a practicing imam at a learning center. Mustafa Ceric is the author of a number of books in Bosnian