Divine Attributes in the Maturidi Framework

The treatment of divine attributes in Sharh al-Aqa'id an-Nasafiyyah presents the Maturidi school's distinctive approach to questions that were among the most contested in Islamic theology. An-Nasafi's compact statements on these questions, expanded by at-Taftazani's detailed commentary, offer one of the most accessible entrances into Maturidi theology.

An-Nasafi affirms that God is one, pre-eternal, everlasting, self-subsisting, and not subject to any limitation, end, or qualitative change. He then affirms the divine attributes of knowledge, power, life, will, hearing, sight, and speech as real attributes subsisting in the divine essence — distinct from the essence in a way that can be known (they are real, not merely nominal) but not separate from it in a way that would introduce plurality into the divine reality.

At-Taftazani's commentary on the attribute of divine speech (kalam) is particularly detailed, reflecting the theological sensitivity of this topic. The Maturidi school held that the eternal divine speech is an inner reality (kalam nafsi) subsisting in God's essence, which expresses itself in time through the verbal, written, and recited forms that constitute the Quran as humans experience it. This eternal inner speech is uncreated; the human expressions through which it is conveyed are created. At-Taftazani explains how this position navigates between affirming the uncreated status of the Quran (against the Mu'tazila who held it was created) and avoiding the conclusion that the specific Arabic sounds and letters are themselves eternal.

On the attribute of divine will (iradah), the commentary presents the Maturidi position carefully. God wills all events including human acts, but He does not will human disobedience in the sense of approving or commanding it — the divine will encompasses all occurrences without implying divine approval of everything that occurs. This distinction between the will of specification and the will of approval allows Maturidi theology to affirm divine sovereignty over all events without making God the approver of sin.

At-Taftazani also addresses the question of divine names and attributes as understood in the Quran. He discusses the significance of the names of God — the names of essence like Allah and the names of attributes like Ar-Rahman and Al-Alim — and their relationship to the divine reality. This discussion situates the technical kalam framework within the Quranic context and shows how the abstract analysis of the commentary relates to the actual language of Islamic worship and prayer.