Abu Hatim Ahmad ibn Hamdan al-Razi explained
Abū Ḥātim Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdān al-Rāzī (Persian: ابو حاتم احمد بن حمدان الرازی) was a Persian[1] Ismaili philosopher of the 9th century, who died in 322 AH (935 CE).[2] [3] He was also the Da'i al-du'at (chief missionary) of Ray and the leader of the Ismaili da'wah in Central Persia.
Life
He was born in Rayy near modern Tehran. He was a contemporary of Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi and engaged in debates with him.
Works
- Al-Jāmiʿ, a book on jurisprudence.
- Kitāb aʿlām al-nubuwwa (The Proofs of Prophecy), a refutation of Abū Bakr al-Rāzī.[4]
- Kitāb al-Iṣlāḥ (Book of the Correction), “the oldest extant Ismāʾilī work presenting a Neoplatonic world-view.”[5] Written as a corrective to the views of his contemporary Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Nasafī.
- Kitāb al-Zīna (Book of the Ornament), on the superiority of the Arabic language and on religious terminology.
Bibliography
- Brion, Fabienne, “Philosophie et révélation : traduction annotée de six extraits du Kitâb A'lâm an-nubûwa d'Abû Hâtim ar-Râzî”, Bulletin de philosophie médiévale 28, 1986, p. 137-162.
- Brion, Fabienne, “Le temps, l'espace et la genèse du monde selon Abû Bakr al-Râzî. Présentation et traduction des chapitres I, 3 du « Kitâb a'lâm al-nubuwwa » d'Abû Hâtim al-Râzî”, Revue philosophique de Louvain, tome 87, n°74, 1989, p. 139-164.
- Khalidi, Tarif, parallel Arabic-English edition of Kitāb aʾlām al-nubuwwa (The Proofs of Prophecy), Brigham Young University Press, 2012, Islamic Translation Series .
- Vajda, Georges, “Les lettres et les sons de la langue arabe d'après Abû Hâtim al-Râzî”, Arabica 8, 1961, p. 113-180.
Notes and References
- Book: Holt . P. M. . Lambton . Ann K. S. . Lewis . Bernard . The Cambridge History of Islam Volume 2B, Islamic Society and Civilisation . 1986 . Cambridge University Press . 978-0-521-21949-5 . 585 . 1st . secondly, some very great Shi'i thinkers who were ethnically Persian, such as the Isma'ilis, Abu Hatim Razi and Sijistani in the fourth/tenth century, or the Imamis, Nasir al-DIn Tusi (seventh/thirteenth century) and 'Allama Hilli (seventh-eighth/thirteenth-fourteenth centuries) and many others, were to continue to write in Arabic..
- Abi Bakr Mohammadi Filii Zachariæ (Razis): Opera philosophica fragmentaque quae supersunt collegit et edidit PAULUS KRAUS. Pars prior. (Universitatis Fouadi I Litterarum Facultatis Publicationum fasc. XXII). Cairo, 1939. p. 291. Editor mentions that this date is mentioned only in كتاب لسان الميزان
- Henry Corbin, "The voyage and the messenger: Iran and philosophy", North Atlantic Books, 1998. pg 74: "Virtually all its greatest exponents covering the period from the ninth to the eleventh century C.E. show obvious Iranian affiliation. Examples are Abu Hatim Razi)"
- Parallel Arabic-English edition, translated, introduced, and annotated by Tarif Khalidi, Brigham Young University Press, 2012, Islamic Translation Series .
- H. Landolt in Encyclopedia of Arabic Literature, volume 1, edited by Julie Scott Meisami, Paul Starkey, p. 34.
