Al-Māturīdī's (D. 333/944) maqāsid-oriented methodology of exegesis in his Ta'wīlāt al-Qur'ān

This study tries to reveal whether al-Māturīdī contributed to the formation of maqaṣid thought, the situation of his ideas against maqaṣidi method, and Te'vīlatu'l-Qur'ān's teleological (ġāī) interpretation features. Al-Māturīdī, who gives plenty of room into wisdom among knowledge sources, places wisdom at the center of his thought, and paves the way for the interpretation of nass parallel to the flow of life by placing ta'vil on a legitimate ground, is in harmony with the thought of maqasid. Especially when it comes to his thoughts on nash and his approach on the istiḥsān method which is developed for the cases that the comparison method is stopped up, is remarkable in the sense of showing that he cares so much about the shari purposes. Al-Māturīdī discusses the sunnah with regards to its cohesiveness, he emphasises many times that it is the meaning that matters in a statement, not the wording of it and considers the conditions of emerge of the nass. Among his states, there are explanations on the five principles which the religion aims to protect. All of that shows that al-Māturīdī has contributed to the consist of the idea of maqasid. In Te'vilâtu'l-Qur'an, it is given place to the general and specific purposes of the shar'i judgements. Al-Māturīdī always gives place to the reasons (hiqma) and purposes of jurisprudential (fiqhī) judgements while explaining them and tries to explain deeply why Allah has commands or forbids certain things. Based on his explanations, it can be spotted what the main purposes of the arrangements on domestic relations, obligations law, penal code and law of nations. While understanding and making judgements on a nass; it can be run across practical examples on the ijtihad of maqasid which is based on the purpose of legislation of the nass, the historical conditions in which it emerged. Also it is possible to form an opinion on when the maqasid ijtihad is not possible by following al-Māturīdī's approach to some verses. İn his commentary, al-Māturīdī questions the purpose of the revelation of many verses and refers to the teleological (ġāī) interpretations of the verses. A lot of qualifications that should be presented in a maqasidi tafseer, finds place in his tafseer. From this aspect, it is possible to describe Te'vilâtü'l-Qur'an as one of the first makasidi tafseers. To sum up, al-Māturīdī paved the way of teleological (ġāī) interpretations in the field of fiqh and tafseer; created the necessary mental subatructure for maqasid idea to be born and includes the practical examples of this idea in his tafseer.