When Maturidi was growing up there was an emerging reaction against some sects, notably
Mu'tazilis,
Qarmati, and
Shi'a. Maturidi, with other two preeminent scholars, wrote especially on the creed of Islam, the other two being
Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari in Iraq, and
Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tahawi in Egypt. While
Al-Ash'ari were Sunni together with Maturidi, he constructed his own theology taking from
Abu Hanifa's school and systematized it which differed from his contemporary imam al-Tahawi who affirmed the beliefs of Abu Hanifa. Regardless, both were Hanafi in their creed but with different approaches. Gimaret argued that
Al-Ash'ari enunciated that God creates the individual's power (qudra), will, and the actual act, which according to Hye, gives way to a
fatalist school of theology, which was later put in a consolidated form by
Al Ghazali. According to Encyclopædia Britannica however, Al-Ashari held the doctrine of Kasb as an explanation for how free will and predestination can be reconciled. Maturidi, followed in
Abu Hanifa's footsteps, and presented the "notion that God was the creator of man's acts, although man possessed his own capacity and will to act." Maturidi and
Al-Ash'ari also separated from each other in the issue of the attributes of God, as well as some other minor issues. Later, with the impact of
Turkic society states such as
Great Seljuq Empire and
Ottoman Empire, Hanafi-Maturidi school spread to greater areas where the
Hanafi school of law is prevalent, such as
Pakistan,
Afghanistan,
Central Asia,
South Asia,
Balkan,
Russia,
China,
Caucasus and
Turkey. Maturidi had immense knowledge of
dualist beliefs (Sanawiyya) and of other
old Persian religions. His
Kitāb al-Tawḥīd in this way has become a primary source for modern researchers with its rich materials about Iranian
Manicheanism (Mâniyya), a group of
Brahmans (Barähima), and some controversial personalities such as
Ibn al-Rawandi,
Abu Isa al-Warraq, and Muhammad b. Shabib. ==Legacy and veneration==