Methodological Aspects of the Linguistic-Rationalist Tafsīr in the Work of Imam al-Māturīdī

Abstract

UDK
28-42:929 Maturidi A. M.

This paper examines the linguistic-rationalist approach to the interpretation of individual Qur'anic expressions in Imam al-Māturīdī's Taʾwīlāt al-Qurʾān, with particular emphasis on his methodology for understanding lexical units within the linguistic context of the Qur'anic revelation. Proceeding from the principle that the meanings of Qur'anic words must be interpreted in accordance with their usage at the time of revelation, the paper demonstrates how al-Māturīdī consistently draws upon the classical Arabic linguistic tradition, the transmitted reports (athār) of the Companions and the Successors (tābiʿūn), as well as the works of Arab philologists and linguists. It explores his treatment of rare Qur'anic vocabulary (gharīb), the semantic nuances of individual lexical items (mufradāt), their contextual usage in Arabic, and the dialectal variations of the Arab tribes (lughāt al-ʿArab). Particular attention is devoted to his rationalist approach to evaluating the various meanings of the Qur'anic text, in which language is not considered in isolation from its context and the theological implications of the text. The analysis demonstrates that al-Māturīdī develops a balanced model of tafsīr that combines linguistic precision with rational interpretation, thereby making a significant contribution to classical Islamic hermeneutics and representing an early example of a methodologically grounded linguistic-rational interpretation of the Qur’an.