The concept of Aslah and its critique from Maturidi perspective (The case of Imam Maturidi and Abu al-Muin al-Nasafi)

This study aims to reveal how the aslah theory is criticized by Abû Mansûr al-Mâturîdî and Abu al-Mu'în al-Nasafî. The core of the aslah criticism is the concept of "wajib" which means obligatory since the vast majority of the Mu'tazila considers some actions regarding his servants to be obligatory for God. The main reason underlying their thoughts is that God is fair and supreme. Mu'tazila explained the God's being fair in a way that He will not commit any evil action, what he does is only good and he will not infringe what is obligatory for him. Aslah is one of the things that God must observe according to this principle which is conceptualized as "al-wujûb 'alâ Allah". Be that as it may, there is no agreement in Mu'tazila in terms of aslah. The Baghdad Mu'tazila deemed the consideration to aslah in all of the issues about religion and the world as obligatory for God. On the other hand, the Basran- Mu'tazila identified aslah concept with regard to religion as the God's blessing to the extent that offer is enough. But Ashâb al-lutuf did not consider giving aslah or blessing as obligatory for Allah. Therefore, we believe that it is not accurate to attribute the idea of aslah to the whole of Mu'tazila. According to Ahl al-Sunnah, God's being obliged in his actions contradicts with the idea of God who has volition and freewill. However, divinity does not accept obligation since a person who performed what is obligatory for him would be fulfilling his duty and his actions would not be estimated as blessing. Therefore, if giving aslah or blessings is obligatory to God, we cannot mention his graciousness. On the other hand, when God fulfills what is obligatory to him, he does not deserve to be praised like a person who is paying his/her debt does not deserve a thank-you. Those who abandon obligatory acts deserve condemnation. It is impossible to attribute such a feature to God. Mu'tazila claiming that there is obligation in the actions of God was mistaken by implementing a judgment which is valid for material world to the immaterial world. Along with the mentioned reasons, Imam al-Mâturîdî and al-Nasafî, claiming that curses and sins existing in the world are the evidence for the fact that there is not aslah in the religion, criticized the idea of al-wujûb'alâ Allah, especially the concept of aslah, adopted by Mu'tazila from different aspects In the first chapter of our thesis, firstly, the relation of aslah concept with the notions of husn-qubh and blessing was evaluated, then three different points of view were mentioned regarding the aslah concept in the Mu'tazila sect. In the second chapter, critiques of al- Mâturîdî and al- Nasafî were dealt with in a descriptive way by addressing the contradictions within the theory of aslah.