Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī

Fakhr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī (born 1149, Rayy, Iran—died 1209, near Herāt, Khwārezm) was a Muslim theologian and scholar, author of one of the most authoritative commentaries on the Qurʾān in the history of Islām. 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 Mafāṭīḥ al-ghayb or Kitāb at-tafsīr al-kabīr (“The Keys to the Unknown” or “The Great Commentary”) and Muḥaṣṣal afkār al-mutaqaddimīn wa-al-mutaʾakhkhirīn (“Collection of the Opinions of Ancients and Moderns”).

Ar-Rāzī 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 Herāt (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-Rāzī 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 Islām into two major groups—the Sunnites and the Shīʿites—countless small sects had developed, often with the support of local rulers. Ṣūfism (Islāmic mysticism), too, was gaining ground. Like the philosopher al-Ghazālī, a century earlier, ar-Rāzī 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 Qurʾān (Islāmic scripture). This attempt inspired al-Mabāḥith al-mashriqīyah (“Eastern Discourses”), a summation of his philosophical and theological positions, and several commentaries on Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), 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 encyclopaedia, dealt with subjects as varied as medicine, astrology, geometry, physiognomy, mineralogy, and grammar.

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Ar-Rāzī 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 Khwārezm-Shāh (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 Ismāʿīlī—a Shīʿite sect of Islām also known as Seveners because they believe that Ismāʿīl, the seventh imam (spiritual leader), was the last of the imams. After ar-Rāzī had taunted the Ismāʿīlī as having no valid proofs for their beliefs, an Ismāʿīlī 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-Rāzī’s death was not from natural causes, but that he was poisoned by the Karrāmīyah (a Muslim anthropomorphist sect), in revenge for his attacks on them.

Ar-Rāzī loved disputation so much that he went out of his way to present unorthodox and heretical religious views as fully and as favourably 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-Rāzī was a many-sided genius and a colourful 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-Ghazālī had been the one immediately before ar-Rāzī. His aim, like al-Ghazālī’s, was doubtless to be a revitalizer and reconciler in Islām, but he did not have al-Ghazālī’s originality, nor was he often able to make readers aware of his personal religious experience, as al-Ghazālī 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.