Māturīdite Scholar Abū Isḥāq al-Ṣaffār’s Understanding of Kalām Based on al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā

‘al-Asmāʾ al-Ḥusnā’ is an expression in the sense of ‘the beautiful or most beautiful names of Allah’ in that appears in four verses of the Qurʾān (al-Aʿrāf 7/180; al-Isrāʾ 17/110; Ṭāha 20/8; and al-Ḥashr 59/ 24) and two versions of a tradition (ḥadīth) narrated by the Abū Hurayra (d. 57/678). The books, which include al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā’, the meanings of these names and praying with these names, have been written by Muslim scholars from an early period. The book of Tafsīr al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā, written by Arabic language scholar Abū Isḥāq al-Zajjāj (d. 311/923), is the first known work devoted to this subject. The book of al-Asmāʾ wa-l-ṣifāt, writ-ten by Ashʿarī theologian ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī (d. 429/1037-38) is also on this subject. In this study, Māturīdī scholar Abū Ishāk al-Saffār’s (d. 534/1139) understanding of Kalām based on his al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā interpretation was discussed. Approximately one-third of his theology book called Talkhīṣ al-adilla li-qawāʿid al-tawḥīd constitutes his al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā. When this section is examined, it can be seen that al-Saffār’s is trying to explain the issue of divinity based on 177 al-Asmāʾ al-Ḥusnā. al-Saffār’s first explains the divine names in alphabetical order, primarily in terms of semantic. Afterward, he explains the divine name he studied, theologically, by linking to a subject of theology. When his book Talkhīṣ al-adilla is analyzed, it can be seen that he deals with all other theology issues in connection with the subject of al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā, except for caliphate. The fact that another book in which al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā was handled in such detail in the Hanafī-Māturīdī theological literature was not known before al-Saffār, led us to do research on this subject. In this article, it will be tried to introduce and evaluate his understanding of theology based on his al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā interpretation. Thus, the originality of his book will be handled within the framework of the literature of al-asmāʾ al-ḥusnā.