Fakhr al-Din al-Razi explained

Occupation:Scholar and scientist
Era:Islamic Golden Age
Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
Shaykh al-Islam,
al-Fakhr al-Razi,
Sultan al-Mutakallimin (Sultan of the Theologians),[1]
and Imam or Shaykh al-Mushakkikin (the Imam or Teacher of the Skeptics).[2]
Religion:Islam
Birth Date:1149 or 1150 (543 or 544 AH)
Birth Place:Ray, Seljuk Empire
Death Date:1209 (606 AH, aged 59 or 60)
Death Place:Herat, Ghurid Empire
Denomination:Sunni
Jurisprudence:Shafi'i[3]
Creed:Athari[4]
Region:Persia
Main Interests:Tafsir, Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Rhetoric, Kalam, Islamic Philosophy, Logic, Astronomy, Cosmology, Ontology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Anatomy
Influences:Al-Shafi'i, Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari, Ibn Furak, Ibn Sina, al-Juwayni, al-Ghazali, Diya' al-Din al-Makki
Influenced:Athir al-Din al-Abhari, Nizam al-Din al-Nisapuri, Burhan al-Din al-Nasafi,[5] Shihab al-Din al-Qarafi, Taj al-Din al-Subki, Al-Safadi, Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, Al-Suyuti, Sa'id Foudah
Works:Al-Tafsir al-Kabir (Mafatih al-Ghayb), Asas al-Taqdis
Native Name Lang:ar
Native Name:فخر الدين الرازي

Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (Arabic: فخر الدين الرازي) or Fakhruddin Razi (Persian: فخر الدين رازی) (1149 or 1150 – 1209), often known by the sobriquet Sultan of the Theologians, was an influential Iranian and Muslim polymath, scientist and one of the pioneers of inductive logic.[6] [7] [8] 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 multiverse, and compared it with the astronomical teachings of Quran. A rejector of the geocentric model and the Aristotelian notions of a single universe revolving around a single world, al-Razi argued about the existence of the outer space beyond the known world.[9]

Al-Razi was born in Ray, Iran, and died in Herat, Afghanistan.[10] He left a very rich corpus of philosophical and theological works that reveals influence from the works of Avicenna, Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī and al-Ghazali. Two of his works titled Mabāhith al-mashriqiyya fī 'ilm al-ilāhiyyāt wa-'l-tabi'iyyāt المباحث المشرقية في علم الإلهيات و الطبيعيات (Eastern Studies in Metaphysics and Physics) and al-Matālib al-'Aliya المطالب العالية (The Higher Issues) are usually regarded as his most important philosophical works.[11]

Biography

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, whose full name was Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn (Arabic: أبو عبد الله محمد بن عمر بن الحسين), was born in 1149 or 1150 CE (543 or 544 AH) in Ray (close to modern Tehran), whence his al-Razi.[12] 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.[12] Having been born into a family of Meccan origin, al-Razi claimed descent from the first caliph Abu Bakr, 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).[14] However, it is not clear from which precise lines of descent al-Razi envisioned his purported ties with Abu Bakr to result, and the poet Ibn ʿUnayn (died 1233) actually praised him as a descendant of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab (died 644).[15]

Fakhr al-Din first studied with his father, Ḍiyāʾ al-Dīn al-Makkī, himself a scholar of some repute whose magnum opus in kalam has recently been rediscovered in part,[16] 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.

His commentary on the Quran 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.[17]

The Great Commentary

See main article: Tafsir al-Kabir (al-Razi). One of Imam Razi's outstanding achievements was his unique interpretive work on the Quran called Mafātiḥ al-Ghayb (Keys to the Unseen) and later nicknamed Tafsīr al-Kabīr (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 on the harmonization of reason and revelation."

Development of Kalam

Al-Razi's development of Kalam (Islamic scholastic theology) led to the evolution and flourishing of theology among Muslims. Razi had 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 Muʿtazila and Falsafah, and although he had some criticisms on ibn Sina, Razi was greatly affected by him. The most important instance showing the synthesis of 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.[19] According to Tony Street, we should not see in Razi's theoretical life a journey from a young dialectician to a religious condition.[20] It seems that he adopted different thoughts of diverse schools, such as those of Mutazilite and Asharite, in his exegesis, The Great Commentary.[21]

Hypothetical concept of multiple universes

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.[9] 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.[22]

List of works

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

Note: Not to be confused with the book of Tafsir by Imam Nasir al-Din al-Baydawi Qadi 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

See also

Bibliography

External links

Notes and References

  1. Book: Peter Adamson. Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. 7 July 2016. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-957749-1. 315.
  2. Book: Islam and Other Religions: Pathways to Dialogue. Omar, Irfan. 2013. Taylor & Francis. 9781317998525. 113. 2017-12-02.
  3. Was Ibn Kathīr the 'Spokesperson' for Ibn Taymiyya? Jonah as a Prophet of Obedience. Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 2014-02-01. 1465-3591. 1. 16. 1. 10.3366/jqs.2014.0130. Mirza. Younus Y..
  4. [Ovamir Anjum]
  5. Web site: BORHĀN-AL-DĪN NASAFĪ. Encyclopaedia Iranica. iranicaonline.org. https://web.archive.org/web/20201029001335/https://iranicaonline.org/articles/borhan-al-din-nasafi-abul-fazael-mohammad-b. 29 Oct 2020. In spite of his adherence to the Hanafite school of law, he clearly inclined to Asḥʿarism in theology and was an admirer of Ḡazālī and Faḵr-al-Dīn Rāzī..
  6. Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204–1760, University of California Press,1996, - Page 29
  7. Shaikh M. Ghazanfar, Medieval Islamic Economic Thought: Filling the Great Gap in European Economics, Routledge, 2003 https://books.google.com/books?id=2PW9ZhrASK4C&dq=fakhr+razi+persian+scholar&pg=RA1-PA90
  8. Web site: Philosophy.
  9. Web site: Williams. Matt. What Is The Geocentric Model Of The Universe?. This was followed by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's (1149–1209) publication of his treatise Matalib, which dealt with conceptual physics. In it, he rejected the notion of the Earth's centrality within the universe and instead proposed a cosmology in which there were a "thousand thousand worlds beyond this world...". Universe Today. 11 January 2016. 3 October 2020.
  10. .
  11. Book: Taylor. Richard. Lopez-farjeat. Luis Xavier. The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy. 2013. Routledge. 9780415881609. 9. God and Creation in al-Razi's Commentary on the Qur'an.
  12. .
  13. According to Ibn al-Shaʿʿār al-Mawṣilī (died 1256), one of al-Razi's earliest biographers, his great-grandfather had been a rich merchant in Mecca.[12]
  14. cf. : "The family claimed both a long tribal ancestry (associated with the Taimi tribe) and descent from the family of Abu Bakr, the first caliph".
  15. . On Ibn ʿUnayn, see .
  16. Facsimile in .
  17. Web site: Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī Muslim Theologian, Philosopher, Scientist Britannica . 2023-07-09 . www.britannica.com . en.
  18. Many believe he was poisoned by the Karrāmīyah.[17]
  19. Book: İskenderoğlu, Muammer. Fakhr Al-Dīn Al-Rāzī and Thomas Aquinas on the Question of the Eternity of the World. 2002-01-01. BRILL. 9004124802. en.
  20. Book: Islam - Essays in Scripture, Thought and Society: A Festschrift in Honour of Anthony H. Johnes. Riddell. Peter G.. Street. Tony. Johns. Anthony Hearle. 1997-01-01. BRILL. 9004106928. en.
  21. Book: Quar'anic Exegeses: Selected Entries from Encyclopaedia of the World of Islam. Adel. Gholamali Haddad. Elmi. Mohammad Jafar. Taromi-Rad. Hassan. 2012-08-31. EWI Press. 9781908433053. en.
  22. Book: Alikuzai, Hamid Wahed. A Concise History of Afghanistan in 25 Volumes. Trafford. 2013. 139. 9781490714462.
  23. Web site: Library . Al-Shajara al-mubarakaAuthorFakhr al-Din al-RaziOriginal titleألشّجَرَةُ المُبارَکة فی أنسابِ الطّالِبیةLanguageArabicSeries1 vol SubjectAbu Talib FamilyGenreGeneologyPublishedSecond edition in 1419/1998-9PublisherAyatollah Mar'ashi Najafi . Al-Shajara al-mubaraka (book) - wikishia . 2024-05-09 . en.wikishia.net . en.

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