Monday, January 24, 2022

A073 - Fakhr al-Din al-Razi


Razi, Fakhr al-Din al-

Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (Fakhruddin Razi) (1149 or 1150 – 1209) often known by the sobriquet "Sultan of the Theologians", was a Persian polymath, an influential Islamic scholar and one of the pioneers of inductive logic. He wrote various works in the fields of medicine, chemistry, physics, astronomy, cosmology, literature, theology, ontology, philosophy, history, and jurisprudence. He was one of the earliest proponents and skeptics that came up with the concept of the Multiverse, and compared it with the astronomical teachings of Qur'an.  An ardent opponent to the geocentric model and the Aristotelian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world, Al-Razi argued for the existence of an outer space beyond the known world.

Al-Razi was born in Ray, Iran, and died in Herat, Afghanistan.  He left a very rich corpus of philosophical and theological works that reveals influences from the works of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Abu'l-Baralat al-Baghdadi, and al-Ghazali.  Two of his works titled Mabāhith al-mashriqiyya fī ‘ilm al-ilāhiyyāt wa-'l-tabi‘iyyāt (Eastern Studies in Metaphysics and Physics) and al-Matālib al-‘Aliya (The Higher Issues) are usually regarded as his most important works.


Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, whose full name was Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn, was born in 1149 or 1150 CC (543 or 544 AH) in Ray (close to modern day Tehran), whence his nisba (an adjective indicating the person's place of origin, tribal affiliation, or ancestry), "al-Razi". According to Ibn al-Sha' 'ar al-Mawsili (died 1256), one of al-Razi's earliest biographers, al-Razi's great-grandfather had been a rich merchant in Mecca. Either his great-grandfather or his grandfather migrated from Mecca to Tabaristan (a mountainous region located on the Caspian Sea coast of northern Iran) in the 11th century of the Christian calendar, and some time after that the family settled in Ray. Having been born into a family of Meccan origin, al-Razi claimed descent from the first caliph Abu Bakr (c. 573–634 CC), and was known by medieval biographers as al-Qurashī (a member of the Quraysh, the tribe of the prophet Muhammad to which also Abu Bakr belonged). However, it is not clear from which precise lines of descent al-Razi envisioned his purported ties with Abu Bakr, and the poet Ibn 'Unayn (d. 1233 CC) actually praised al-Razi for being a descendant of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (d. 644 CC).


Fakhr al-Din first studied with his father, Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Makkī, himself a scholar of some repute who wrote a magnum opus in Kalam (Islamic scholastic theology).  Al-Razi later studied at Merv and Maragheh,  where he was one of the pupils of Majd al-Din al-Jili, who in turn had been a disciple of al-Ghazali.  


Fakhr al-Din became a leading proponent of the Ash'ari school of theology. His commentary on the Qur'an was the most-varied and many-sided of all extant works of the kind, comprising most of the material of importance that had previously appeared. He devoted himself to a wide range of studies and is said to have expended a large fortune on experiments in alchemy. He taught at Ray (Central Iran) and Ghazni (eastern Afghanhistan), and became head of the university founded by Mohammed ibn Tukush at Herat (western Afghanistan).


In his later years, Fakhr al-Din also showed interest in mysticism, although this never formed a significant part of his scholastic work. He died in Herat (Afghanistan) in 1209 CC (606 AH), where his tomb is still venerated today.


One of al-Razi's outstanding achievements was his unique interpretive work on the Qur'an  called Mafātiḥ al-Ghayb (Keys to the Unseen) and later nicknamed Tafsīr al-Kabīr (The Great Commentary).  It was called Tafsir al-Kabir because it was 32 volumes in length. This work contains much of philosophical interest. One of al-Razi's major concerns was the self-sufficiency of the intellect. His acknowledgment of the primacy of the Qur'an grew with his years. Al-Razi's rationalism -- his epistemological view the regarded reason as the chief source and test of knowledge -- undoubtedly held an important place in the debate in the Islamic tradition on the harmonization of reason and revelation. 


Al-Razi's development of Kalam (Islamic scholastic theology) led to the evolution and flourishing of theology among Muslims. Al-Razi experienced different periods in his thinking, affected by the Ash'ari school of thought and later by al-Ghazali. Al-Razi tried to make use of elements of Mu tazila and Falsafah, and although he had some criticisms of Ibn Sina (Avicenna), al-Razi was, nevertheless, greatly affected by him. The most important instance showing the synthesis of al-Razi's thought may be the problem of the eternity of the world and its relation to God. He tried to reorganize the arguments of theologians and philosophers on this subject, collected and critically examined the arguments of both sides. He considered, for the most part, the philosophers' argument for the world's eternity stronger than the theologians' position of putting emphasis on the temporal nature of the world. It is perhaps best to view al-Razi's theoretical life as a journey from a young dialectician -- a young philosopher who views the world in terms of complementary opposites -- to a more religious condition.  Indeed, it appears that al-Razi came to present different thoughts of diverse schools, such as those of Mutazilite and Asharite, in his exegesis, The Great Commentary.


Al-Razi, in dealing with his conception of physics and the physical world in his Matalib al-‘Aliya, criticizes the idea of the geocentric model within the universe and explores the notion of the existence of a multiverse in the context of his commentary on the Quranic verse, "All praise belongs to God, Lord of the Worlds." Al-Razi raises the question of whether the term "Worlds" in this verse refers to multiple worlds within this single universe or cosmos, or to many other universes or a multiverse beyond this known universe.

Al-Razi states:

It is established by evidence that there exists beyond the world a void without a terminal limit (khala' la nihayata laha), and it is established as well by evidence that God Most High has power over all contingent beings (al-mumkinat ). Therefore He the Most High has the power (qadir ) to create millions of worlds (alfa alfi 'awalim) beyond this world such that each one of those worlds be bigger and more massive than this world as well as having the like of what this world has of the throne (al-arsh), the chair (al-kursiyy), the heavens (al-samawat ) and the earth (al-ard ), and the sun (al-shams) and the moon (al-qamar ). The arguments of the philosophers (dala'il al-falasifah) for establishing that the world is one are weak, flimsy arguments founded upon feeble premises.

Al-Razi rejected the Aristotelian and Avicennian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world. He describes their main arguments against the existence of multiple worlds or universes, pointing out their weaknesses and refuting them. This rejection arose from his affirmation of atomism -- the natural philosophy proposing that the physical universe is composed of fundamental indivisible components known as atoms -- as advocated by the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology.  Atomism proposes the existence of vacant space in which the atoms move, combine and separate Al-Razi discussed more on the issue of the void – the empty spaces between stars and constellations in the universe, that contain few or no stars – in greater detail in volume 5 of the Matalib. There he argued that there exists an infinite outer space beyond the known world, and that God has the power to fill the vacuum with an infinite number of universes.


Al-Razi had written over a hundred works on a wide variety of subjects. His major works include:

  • Tafsir al-Kabir (The Great Commentary) (also known as Mafatih al-Ghayb)
  • Asraar at-Tanzeel wa Anwaar at-Ta'weel (The Secrets of Revelation & The Lights of Interpretation). Tafsir of selected verses from the Qur'an 

(Note: This work should not be confused with the book of Tafsir by Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi called: Anwaar at-Tanzeel wa Asraar at-Ta'weel (The Lights of Revelation and The Secrets of Interpretation) or more commonly Tafsir al-Baydawi.) 

  • Asas al-Taqdis (The Foundation of Declaring Allah's Transcendence) -- A refutation of Ibn Khuzayma, the Karramite, and the Anthropomorphists. 
  • ‘Aja’ib al-Qur’an (The Mysteries of the Qur'an)
  • Al-Bayan wa al-Burhan fi al-Radd ‘ala Ahl al-Zaygh wa al-Tughyan
  • Al-Mahsul fi ‘Ilm al-Usul
  • Al-Muwakif fi ‘Ilm al-Kalam
  • ‘Ilm al-Akhlaq (Science of Ethics)
  • Kitab al-Firasa (Book on Firasa)
  • Kitab al-Mantiq al-Kabir (Major Book on Logic)
  • Kitab al-nafs wa’l-ruh wa sharh quwa-huma (Book on the Soul and the Spirit and their Faculties)
  • Mabahith al-mashriqiyya fi ‘ilm al-ilahiyyat wa-’l-tabi‘iyyat (Eastern Studies in Metaphysics and Physics)
  • Al-Matālib al-‘Āliyyah min al- 'ilm al-ilahī (The Higher Issues) – his last work. Al-Razi wrote al-Matālib during his writing of al-Tafsir and he died before completing both works.
  • Muḥaṣṣal Afkār al-Mutaqaddimīn wal-Muta'akhkhirīn (The Harvest/Compendium of the Thought of the Ancients and Moderns)
  • Nihayat al ‘Uqul fi Dirayat al-Usul
  • Risala al-Huduth
  • Sharh al-Isharat (Commentary on the al-Isharat wa-al-Tanbihat of Ibn Sina)
  • Sharh Asma' Allah al-Husna (Commentary on Asma' Allah al-Husna)
  • Sharh Kulliyyat al-Qanun fi al-Tibb (Commentary on Canon of Medicine)
  • Sharh Nisf al-Wajiz li'l-Ghazali (Commentary on Nisf al-Wajiz of Al-Ghazali )
  • Sharh Uyun al-Hikmah (Commentary on Uyun al-Hikmah)
  • Kitāb al-Arba'īn Fī Uṣūl al-Dīn'

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