Neither Existent Nor Non-existent, Neither Created Nor Uncreated: Human Agency and Free Choice in Māturīdī Scholar Muḥammad b. Walī b. Rasūl al-Qīrshahrī al-Izmīrī’s (d. 1165/1751) Kitāb al-Masāʾil al-khilāfiyya bayna al-Māturīdiyya wa-l-Ashāʿira

Abstract The Sunni theological school of Māturīdiyya emphasizes human freedom in making choices and performing acts, particularly in the context of debate about divine omnipotence and human responsibility. This focus on human agency has sparked a resurgence of interest in Māturīdī theology in various parts of the contemporary Muslim world. However, the issue remains complex and challenging, as Māturīdī thought also maintains that God is the Creator of everything that exists in time, including human decisions. This article aims to contextualize and analyse the theory of human action presented in the late Ottoman work Kitāb al-Masāʾil al-khilāfiyya bayna al-Māturīdiyya wa-l-Ashāʿira by Muḥammad b. Walī b. Rasūl al-Qīrshahrī al-Izmīrī (d. 1165/1751). An overview of the development of Sunni kalām (theology) during the Ottoman era shows that al-Qīrshahrī skilfully integrated post-Avicennan philosophical discourses into his argument. In so doing, he refutes Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1209) famous tarjīḥ argument. This results in the incorporation of the Muʿtazilī concept of the ‘states’ (aḥwāl), rejected by classical Māturīdī theologians but re-examined by later Māturīdī theologians as early as in the fourteenth century. Overall, this theological treatise offers valuable insights into one scholar’s earnest efforts to reconcile religious doctrines with the demands of a premodern society by weaving together diverse elements from the rich tapestry of Islamic intellectual history.