73
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (or Fakhruddin Razi) (b. 1149 or 1150 CC [543 or 544 AH], Ray, Seljuk Empire [now in Iran] – d. 1209 CC [606 AH], Herat, Khwarazmian Empire [now in Afghanistan]), often known by the sobriquet "Sultan of the Theologians", was an influential Muslim polymath 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 the Qur'an. A rejector of the geocentric model and the Aristotelian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world, al-Razi argued for the existence of outer space beyond the known world.
Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi, in full Abu ʿabd Allah Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar Ibn al-Husayn Fakhr ad-Din ar-Razi, was a Muslim theologian and scholar, and the author of one of the most authoritative commentaries on the Qur'an in the history of Islam. His aggressiveness and vengefulness created many enemies and involved him in numerous intrigues. His intellectual brilliance, however, was universally acclaimed and attested by such works as Mafaṭiḥ al-ghayb or Kitab at-tafsir al-kabir (“The Keys to the Unknown” or “The Great Commentary”) and Muḥaṣṣal afkar al-mutaqaddimin wa-al-mutaʾakhkhirin (“Collection of the Opinions of Ancients and Moderns”).
Ar-Razi was the son of a preacher. After a broad education, in which he specialized in theology and philosophy, he traveled from country to country in an area comprising present-day northwestern Iran and Turkistan and finally settled in Herat (now in Afghanistan). Wherever he went, he debated with famous scholars and was patronized and consulted by local rulers. He wrote about 100 books and gained fame and wealth. It was said that wherever he rode, 300 of his students accompanied him on foot; when he moved from one city to another, 1,000 mules carried his possessions, and there seemed no limit to his silver and gold.
Ar-Razi lived in an age of political and religious turmoil. The empire of the Baghdad caliphs was disintegrating; its numerous local rulers were virtually independent. The Mongols were shortly to invade the region and strike the final blow against the caliphate. Religious unity, too, had long since crumbled. In addition to the division of Islam into two major groups — the Sunnites and the Shiʿites —countless small sects had developed, often with the support of local rulers. Sufism (Islamic mysticism), too, was gaining ground. Like the philosopher al-Ghazali, a century earlier, ar-Razi was a “middle-roader” who attempted, in his own way, to reconcile a rationalistic theology and philosophy incorporating concepts taken from Aristotle and other Greek philosophers with the Qur'an (Islamic scripture). This attempt inspired al-Mabaḥith al-mashriqīyah (“Eastern Discourses”), a summation of his philosophical and theological positions, and several commentaries on Ibn Sina (Avicenna), as well as his extremely wide-ranging commentary on the Qurʾān (Mafāṭīḥ al-ghayb or Kitāb at-tafsīr al-kabīr) which ranks among the greatest works of its kind in Islām. Equally famous is his Muḥaṣṣal afkār al-mutaqaddimīn wa-al-mutaʾakhkhirīn, which was accepted from the first as a classic of kalām (Muslim theology). His other books, in addition to a general encyclopedia, dealt with subjects as varied as medicine, astrology, geometry, physiognomy, mineralogy, and grammar.
Ar-Razi was not only a persuasive preacher but also a master of debate. His ability to refute the arguments of others, together with his aggressiveness, self-confidence, irritability, and bad temper, made many enemies for him. His worldly success made others jealous of him. Moreover, on occasion he could show extreme malice. With his connivance, his elder brother, who openly resented his success, was imprisoned by the Khwarezm-Shah (ruler of Turkistan) and died in prison. A famous preacher with whom he had quarrelled was drowned by royal command. It is reported, however, that one incident persuaded him to cease attacks against the Ismaʿili — a Shi'ite sect of Islam also known as Seveners because they believe that Isma'il, the seventh imam (spiritual leader), was the last of the imams. After ar-Razi had taunted the Ismaʿili as having no valid proofs for their beliefs, an Ismaʿili gained access to him by posing as a pupil and pointed a knife at his chest, saying: “This is our proof.” It has been suggested further that ar-Razi’s death was not from natural causes, but that he was poisoned by the Karramiyah (a Muslim anthropomorphist sect), in revenge for his attacks on them.
Ar-Razi loved disputation so much that he went out of his way to present unorthodox and heretical religious views as fully and as favorably as possible, before refuting them. This habit gave his opponents grounds for accusing him of heresy. It was said: “He states the views of the enemies of orthodoxy most persuasively, and those of the orthodoxy most unconvincingly.” His thorough presentations of unorthodox views make his works a useful source of information about little-known Muslim sects. He was thus a good devil's advocate, though he maintained firmly that he championed only orthodoxy.
Ar-Razi was a many-sided genius and a colorful personality who was regarded by some Muslims as a major “renewer of the faith.” According to tradition, one such was due to appear each century, and al-Ghazali had been the one immediately before ar-Razi. His aim, like al-Ghazali’s, was doubtless to be a revitalizer and reconciler in Islam, but he did not have al-Ghazali’s originality, nor was he often able to make readers aware of his personal religious experience, as al-Ghazali could. His genius for analysis sometimes led him into long and tortuous arguments, yet he compensated for these shortcomings by his very wide knowledge, which incorporated most disciplines—even the sciences—into his religious writings. In the centuries after his death, Muslim philosophers and theologians were to turn to his works frequently for guidance.
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, whose full name was Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn was born in Ray (close to modern Tehran), whence his nisba al-Razi. According to Ibn al-Sha'ar al-Mawsili (d. 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 coast of northern Iran) in the 11th century, 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), and was known by medieval biographers as al-Qurashi (a member of the Quraysh, the tribe of the prophet Muhammad to which also Abu Bakr belonged). However, it's not clear from which precise lines of descent al-Razi envisioned his purported ties with Abu Bakr to result, and the poet Ibn 'Unayn (d. 1233) actually praised him as a descendant of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (d. 644).
Fakhr al-Din first studied with his father, Ḍiyaʾ al-Din al-Makki, himself a scholar, and later 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. He was a leading proponent of the Ash'ari school of theology.
Al-Razi's 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 Afghanistan), and became head of the university founded by Mohammed ibn Tukush at Herat (western Afghanistan).
In his later years, he also showed interest in mysticism, though this never formed a significant part of his thought. He died in Herat (Afghanistan) in 1209 (606 AH), where his tomb is still venerated today.
One of Imam Razi's outstanding achievements was his unique interpretive work on the Qur'an called Mafatiḥ al-Ghayb (Keys to the Unseen) and later nicknamed Tafsir al-Kabir (The Great Commentary), one reason being that it was 32 volumes in length. This work contains much of philosophical interest. One of his 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 undoubtedly holds an important place in the debate in the Islamic tradition regarding the harmonization of reason and revelation.
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." He 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:
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, as advocated by the Ash'ari school of Islamic theology, which entails the existence of vacant space in which the atoms move, combine and separate. He 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. 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.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
Muhammad ibn 'Umar Fakhr al-Din al-Razi shares with his more famous countryman, Abu Hamid Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Ghazali the title "renewer of the faith" -- a title given to one outstanding individual who has helped to revitalize the Islamic faith. Al-Ghazali was so designated for the 12th century while al-Razi was so designated for the 13th century. Fakhr al-Din's later prominence was not easily predictable from his modest beginnings. He was born in the Iranian city of Bayy, a shrine city of regional importance during the 'Abbasid caliphate that is today part of the greater metropolitan area of Tehran. That his father was a local preacher explains his nickname "the preacher's son" (Ibn al-Khatib). Not surprisingly, al-Razi's father was also his first teacher. However, after an early education in Rayy, Fakhr al-Din continued his studies in theology, jurisprudence, and philosophy in Nishapur and Maragha
Like many before him, Fakhr al-Din found that his own teaching career involved many locales. He began in area that is today lies in western Iran and Azerbaijan, then returned to his hometown of Rayy, and later moved to Khwarazm (an area bordering the Amu Darya and Oxus River in present day Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan) and Transoxiana (the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya or Jaxartes River, a region that includes Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, and part of southern Kazakhstan). However, the profession of madrasa teaching was not well compensated, and a scholar's survival depended on the help of others. After he endured an early period of poverty and poor health Fakhr al-Din's growing fame as a teacher and preacher attracted the kind of patronage that enabled him to provide for his family and continue his writing.
By all accounts, Fakhr al-Din was a powerful and charismatic speaker, capable of soaring flights of oratory and gripping, emotional rhetoric. Like the best evangelical preacher, Fakhr al-Din could make an audience weep and in the pulpit was himself occasionally overcome by tears. Anecdotes from his biographers attest to his expressions of sentiment and passion. During one class session, a frightened bird fell at his feet and, to the surprise of his students, Fakhr al-Din interrupted his lecture to care for the bird. A much repeated passage from his final "testament" speaks to spiritual unease that may have haunted him for much of his life.
I have diligently explored the paths of theology (kalam) and the ways of philosophy but have not found what quenches thirst or heals the sick, but now I see that the soundest way is the way of the Qur'an read with true understanding.
During the second half of the twentieth century, the inhabitants of Fakhr al-Din's world, the eastern reaches of the Muslim empires, had no inkling of what would soon befall them. Less than a decade after his death in 1210, this area suffered the devastation of the first Mongol invasion. Subsequent assaults transformed the political geography of the entire region and culminated in the catastrophic mid-century destruction of Baghdad. Yet most of Fakhr al-Din's life passed under the patronage of dynasties that would disappear with the Mongol advance, including those that ruled Khwarazm and Khurasan, which lay southeast of Khwarazm, which lay southeast of Khwarazm in what is now Afghanistan, Pakistan, and northern India.
Thanks to this imperial protection from local, populist objections, the diligent explorations to which Fakhr al-Dinn referred in his testament resulted in a literary output of extraordinary range and size. Many of his treatises have been published but others are available only in manuscript form. Al-Razi wrote in both Arabic and Persian, on subjects that include alchemy, astrology, and medicine as well as the expected topics of theology, jurisprudence, and law. However, al-Razi's magnum opus is a massive commentary on the Qur'an, in a modern edition, it runs to thirty-two large volumes. It is commonly cited under two titles, The Great Commentary and The Keys of the Unseen.
Like most full-scale commentaries on the Qur'an, The Great Commentary follows the sura and verse order of the text. In other words, it begins by commenting on the first verse of the Qur'an and continues through to the concluding one. However, unlike many, its format is comparable to that of a monumental Christian medieval work, the Summa Theologiae of Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274). Like Aquinas, Fakhr al-Din divides his analysis of a verse into a series of questions (in Arabic, masa'il) or matters for discussion (though the sections are not numbered in the Arabic original). One of al-Razi's biographers remarked upon the originality of this methodology:
He [al-Razi] was the first one to devise this arrangement in his writings. He accomplished in them what no one before him had done, for he stated the question and then proceeded to divide it and to classify further these subdivisions. He drew conclusions on the basis of such probing and apportioning and no relevant aspect of the question eluded him.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
El-Rouayheb, Khaled; and Schmidtke, Sabine (eds.). The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Oxford University Press.
Esposito, John L. (1998). The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford University Press.
Fleet, Kate; Kramer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; and Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam, Three.
Glasse, Cyril (2001). The New Encyclopedia of Islam. Altamira Press.
Griffel, Frank (2021). The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam. New York: Oxford University Press.
Jaffer, Tariq (2015). Rāzī: Master of Qur'ānic Interpretation and Theological Reasoning. Oxford University Press.
Lapidus, Ira M. (2014). A History of Islamic Societies; New York City, New York, Cambridge University Press.
Magill, Frank N.; Moose, Christina J.; Aves, Alison; and Rehn, Mark (eds.) (1998). Dictionary of World Biography. Volume 2: The Middle Ages. London and New York: Routledge.
Miles, Jack (general ed.) (2015). The Norton Anthology of World Religions, New York City, New York: W. W. Norton & Company, Inc.
Shihadeh, Ayman (2006). The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī. Leiden: Brill.
Shihadeh, Ayman; and Thiele, Jan (2020). Philosophical Theology in Islam: Later Ashʿarism East and West. Leiden and Boston: Brill.
Taylor, Richard C.; López-Farjeat, Luis Xavier (eds.) (2016). The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge.
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tafsir_al-Razi
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Fakhr-ad-Din-ar-Razi
888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888888
No comments:
Post a Comment