A Comparative Analysis of the Quranic verse, "Istava ala al-Arsh ,"between the Maturidiyans and the Salafis

The title is a research paper by Ali Bahrami published in “Journal of Islamic Denominations”, Volume 5, Issue 9 - Serial Number 9, Summer and Autumn 2018, Pages 7-24. The following is an excerpt from its abstract.

Numerous theological and jurisprudential sects

After the demise of the Prophet Mohammad (peace be upon him), his followers are divided into numerous theological and jurisprudential sects. Among them, Takfiri Salafists are more different than other Islamic Ummah; a movement that claims it is following the past righteous tradition and the most correct readings of religion.

Criteria

One way to evaluate the correctness and incorrectness of the Salafist beliefs is by comparing their thoughts with other Islamic sects.

Objective and methodology

So “Standing on Arsh”, Istava Ala al-Arsh, that is one of the attributes of God, was studied to examine and compare Salafists and Maturidiyans of Hanafi sects. Then the present article, using an analytical- documentary method, try to have a comparative study of Salafists with an emphasis on Ibn Taymiyyah’s and Maturidi views regarding ‘Istava ala al-Arsh. The paper comes to this conclusion that Salafist claims in following the Saleh predecessor tradition is not true. Maturidiyans have a Tanzihi(purifying) and interpretative view in “Istava ala al -Arsh “; however, the Salafists, without having a unified view on the subject, believe in indeterminism and anthropomorphism.