Dini Tekelcilik Bağlamında Ebû Mansûr el-Mâtürîdî'nin Ulûhiyet, Din ve Şeriat Hakkındaki Görüşlerinin Değerlendirilmesi

Abstract

The issue of religious diversity discussed in the spread of Christian Western philosophy and theology is one of the most important problems of the philosophy of religion in the 20th century. One of the thoughts arisen within the framework of this discussion is religious exclusivism. According to this statement each religion highlights itself in terms of absolute truth and saviorship, however members of other religions either is not considered, or other religions are not evaluated within the framework of their own religion. In this context, the views of Abu Mansur el-Māturīdī, who has important sharing in the formation of belief system of Islam, are very significant in terms of an Islamic approach. Māturīdī has an immaterial understanding of divinity that does not change, has no resembles created things, does not consist of parts, and has an essential identity that all creatures depend on but independent of everything else. According to Māturīdī, God is one and only in His essence and attributes is not like other creatures. Māturīdī sees it as contrary to the principle of tawhid to increase the number of eternals, like the Jews who has an anthropomorphic understanding of God or to consider God as ontologically single and then as a shaped being that takes on a physical form, like the Christians. In this respect, Māturīdī thinks that Jews and Christians distorted tawhid. According to him, Islam is the only religion that has preserved the tradition of tawhid and brought it to the present day. Māturīdī defines the tawhid, which he identifies with Islam, as a religion that is based on evidence, witness, and proof, and therefore it is true, real, reasonable, unchanging and will remain unchanged. Accordingly, the religion of tawhid is a religion that was sent to all prophets in common, commands worship to be done only to God, is away from all kinds of polytheism, cannot be changed, and stands tall with proofs. It is religion that stands. Māturīdī also describes the religion of tawhid as a religion of a reason based on evidence and demonstration, not imitation. According to him, reason invites people to tawhid. However, there is a need for people who will explain the knowledge of religion, worship, and treatments to people who are prophets. All prophets were sent to realize tawhid in their own time. In this respect, the religion of all the prophets is one and only. But their Sharia are different. Diversity and difference in sharia does not mean that there is a conflict or contradiction in religion. Because the common denominator revealed to all prophets is religion, not sharia. As the prophet changes, the sharia changes, but the religion continues the same. In this case, from Adam to Mohammad the origin of all religions is tawhid. In this regard, Māturīdī emphasizes the unity of God, worship only to God, and from Adam to Mohammad it reveals a clear idea about the continuity of sharia. In this context, it would be appropriate to say that, for Māturīdī, religious exclusivism means the uniqueness of the revelation, that is, the absolute truth, that continues from Adam to Muhammad. As a result, it is more accurate to call Māturīdī’s theological claim of Islam centered on truth and reality, not particularism or exclusivism, but tawhid understanding or absolute truth.

Keywords

• philosophy of religion
• māturīdī
• tawhid
• religious diversity
• religious exclusivism
• islam