From my textbook : "La serviette est à moi"
I was wondering if we can say "La serviette est à ma" instead.
I mean "ma" refers to to "la serviette" so what's wrong with that ?
Also, how is the sentence valid when "moi" means "me" so the sentence should mean
"The towel is me"?
"Moi" is a pronoun and so it's like a noun, it can stand by itself. "Ma" is traditionally an adjective in French, but unlike the "adjectif qualificatif" that can stand on its own when used with certain verbs (être, paraitre, devenir, sembler, …), "ma" needs the support of a noun, that is, as it is probably more judiciously classified in English grammar, "ma" is a determiner; there are people in France nowadays that think so too. So, you always need a noun after "ma". You can say that "ma" refers to something or someone; instead, we say rather that it determines someone or something and here it determines someone, the person in possession of the towel.
Therefore you can't say "La seviette est ma.". If you want to formulate the idea of possession with a determiner instead of a pronoun, in French you say this.
There is another pronoun that can be used in another construction that says about the same thing, but it is not heard as often.
Those pronouns are made up of two words, an article and a pronoun (le mien, la mienne, le tien, le sien, …) (réf.).
If you want to avoid grammar jargon then
La serviette est à moi
means
The towel is mine.
C'est à moi (it belongs to me).
Look here for some typical examples: https://context.reverso.net/translation/french-english/il+est+%C3%A0+moi
la serviette est à ma
is just wrong.
Ma is a possessive adjective that cannot be used without preceding a noun. You could say for instance
C'est ma serviette. C'est mon sac. C'est mon héroïne. C'est mon amour,
and so on. You could also say (see @LPH answer)
Cette serviette est la mienne.
Moi does not mean here me but as set expression with à (that is, à moi) it translates mine. Try to learn in the beginning such expressions like c'est à moi as fixed ones and do not spend time to overanalyze them word by word.
