Tafsir-ta'wil distinction of maturidi and an evaluation of its practical value in ta'wilat

Abstract

In the history of Islamic thought, Maturidi is a famous scholar both in the field of kalam and tafsir. Being approved by Maturidi, the distinction of tafsir and ta'wil, which makes possible to take the comments made about the verses into sistematic framework, is quite im-portant. There is an important information both about content of the distinction approved by Maturidi and the main reasons that necessiated this distinction in the introduction of Sa-marqandi's Sharh at Ta'wilat. From this information, it is understood that the distinction of tafsir and ta'wil had dated back to older time than Maturidi and previous scholars dealed with the problem that necessiated this distinction and Maturidi inherited this distinction from his predecessors. Information in the Sharh at Ta'wilat reveals that according to Maturidi the com-panions had made interpretation (ta'wil) in addition to tafsir and the explanations made by certain evidences is tafsir too. Therefore this information gives us the opportunity flexing the acceptance of the idea "tafsir, is dedicated to the companions, ta'wil is dedicated to fuqaha (jurists)" and asserting that companions and scholars made both tafsir and ta'wil. In this pa-per, we will research whether the distinction tafsir and ta'wil regarded by Maturidi comple-tely belonged to his or not and content of the distinction and its reasons. We will also analyze this distinction according to examples in the Ta'wîlat.