Remembering the Past and Reforming the Future: The Maturidi School and Pluralism in Central Asian Islam (Research Brief)
June 18, 2012
My project used understudied and previously unknown original source materials in major cities of Uzbekistan to explore how medieval Muslim scholars constructed a uniquely Islamic theory of knowledge – through the testimonial concept tawātur – which resulted in the unquestionable historical validity of the Qur'ān and statements from the Prophet Muhammad. I examined handwritten manuscripts of Islamic law, legal theory, and theology to build a description of the theoretical development of the concept of testimony, and to gather data on its application in theoretical and practical contexts. These works were authored by scholars belonging to the Maturidi-Hanafi and Mu'tazili-Hanafi theological-legal schools, and helped to fill in gaps in our understanding of the historical development of these schools. Finally, through collaboration with local scholars – secular and religious – I was able to begin to gauge the impact of the historical Maturidi school on contemporary Uzbek religious and academic thought.
Dale J. Correa, of New York University, was a 2011-2012 Individual Advanced Research Opportunities (IARO) fellow.
