THE DIFFERENTIATION OF RELIGION (DIYÂNAT) AND POLITICS (SIYÂSAT) ACCORDING TO IMÂM AL-MÂTURÎDÎ

Abstract

The relation between religion and politics has always been a problematic issue throughout the history and the issue of the legitimacy of the authority has been a matter of dispute. In the Islamic World, on the other hand, muslims tried to adopt a different path in reaction to the stuation, but could not manage to avoid a western style secularism and consequently produced different secularist approches. In Islamic History, there has been no conflict between religious scholars and politicial institution since there is no religious establishment in Islam as it is the case of Christianity. Political conflict in Islam was between two leading Quraysh tribes, the Hashimids and the ‘Umayyads. Later, both Sunnis and Shi'a gave unlimited religious, political and legal power to their authorities: caliphs and imams. By allocating some attributes normally given to God to their imams, the imams become unquestionable personalities.The oldest example of unique secularization project in the Islamic World is the Ottoman experience, which began with Tanzimat or Reorganisation Rescript and later modern Turkey was established. In the modern Turkey, we can talk about secularism which was adopted earlier than other muslim countries. Though this distinction was supported by some theological, legal and sociological arguments, it has not been fully implemented. In the process of the legitimation, it is clear that Sayyid Bey, the Turkish legal scholar, who played a key role in the abolishment of caliphate in the Turkish Grand National Assembly and who emphasized the importance of national independence, it is obvious that he used Hanafi-Mâturidi religious and legal works. Although there is no direct reference to al-Mâturidi's works, in this paper, we will try to analyse some of al-Mâturidi's views which influenced Hanafi-Mâturidi literature.