Ontological and Moral Foundations of Human Actions in Māturīdī idi Theology: The Theory of Khalq and Kasb

Abstract

One of the most fundamental areas of debate in the history of Islamic thought, the question of human acts (afʿāl al-ʿibād), is built upon the problem of resolving the tension between the absoluteness of divine omnipotence and the limits of human freedom. This article examines in detail, along the محور of the doctrines of creation (khalq) and acquisition (kasb), the distinctive synthesis developed by Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī—one of the founding figures of Sunnī kalām—concerning the ontological and moral foundations of human action. In al-Māturīdī’s systematic framework, human acts are addressed through two aspects: ontological creation (khalq) and moral acquisition (kasb). Accordingly, the origination of the act’s physical dimensions is ascribed to God, whereas the determination of its moral quality is attributed to the human agent. The article analyzes al-Māturīdī’s critiques of the Jabriyya, who negate human volition, and of the Muʿtazila, who by assigning the creatorship of acts to human beings compromise the principle of divine unity (tawḥīd). In doing so, it elucidates his temperate position, which neither condemns the human being to absolute compulsion nor elevates the agent to the status of the originator of his acts. Particular attention is given to the synchronic relation between the power that is created at the moment the act occurs (istiṭāʿa maʿa al-fiʿl) and the human being’s volitional orientation (ikhtiyār), considered within the context of the moral and rational grounding of responsibility. Moreover, in light of al-Māturīdī’s anthropological analyses, the study explores the impact of the conflict between reason and natural disposition (ṭabʿ) on the will, and examines his account of guidance and misguidance (hidāya–ḍalāla) within the framework of divine justice. The study concludes that al-Māturīdī’s theory of acquisition (kasb) offers a coherent kalām model that grounds human moral agency without undermining tawḥīd, while duly safeguarding the demands of divine wisdom.