Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
Philosophy and theology should test each other in close argument – and even Avicenna must be questioned point by point.
Placement
Theologian and philosopher from Rayy, later of Herat: his searching commentary on Avicenna fused kalam and falsafa – and provoked Tusi’s defence of Avicenna.
Key ideas
- Critical commentary on Avicenna
- Fusion of kalam and philosophy
- Great Qur’an commentary
Influence
Influenced by 2
al-Ashari
influenced by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi wrote within al-Ashari’s school of theology and recast its doctrines in the vocabulary of Avicenna’s philosophy, as in his theological summa, the Muhassal. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, Muhassal afkar al-mutaqaddimin wa-l-mutaakhkhirin; A. Shihadeh, The Teleological Ethics of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (2006)
Evidence: AI draft
al-Ashari › c. 874–936
al-Ghazali
influenced by
Ibn Khaldun named Fakhr al-Din al-Razi as al-Ghazali’s successor in the new approach of the later theologians, which Razi carried further by engaging the philosophers’ arguments in detail. Ibn Khaldun, al-Muqaddima (1377), section on kalam, tr. F. Rosenthal (1958); F. Griffel, The Formation of Post-Classical Philosophy in Islam (2021)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
al-Ghazali › 1058–1111
Influenced 3
Adud al-Din al-Iji
influenced
In the first book of the Stations al-Iji took over almost unchanged Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s discussion in the Muḥaṣṣal of whether there are indubitable first propositions; the work as a whole continues Razi’s philosophical theology. Marmara University study of al-Jurjani’s Sharḥ al-Mawāqif on necessary knowledge; J. van Ess, Die Erkenntnislehre des ʿAḍudaddīn al-Īcī (1966)
Evidence: AI draft
Adud al-Din al-Iji › 1281–1355
Ibn Khaldun
influenced ✓
Ibn Khaldun’s first work, Lubab al-Muhassal (1351), was an abridgement of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s theological summa, the Muhassal, drawing on al-Tusi’s critical notes. Ibn Khaldun, Lubab al-Muhassal fi usul al-din (1351), ed. L. Rubio (1952); F. Rosenthal, introduction to Ibn Khaldun, The Muqaddimah (1958)
Evidence: also in Wikidata · Wikidata
Ibn Khaldun › 1332–1406
Muhammad al-Sanusi
influenced
According to the TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, al-Sanusi’s determinism and his stress on rational knowledge, although he was a Sufi, show the influence of later Ashʿaris such as Fakhr al-Din al-Razi. TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi, “Senûsî, Muhammed b. Yûsuf” (vol. 36, 2009)
Evidence: AI draft
Muhammad al-Sanusi › c. 1428–1490
Criticism
Criticized by 3
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi
criticised by
Al-Tusi defended Avicenna’s Pointers against al-Razi’s objections (Hall mushkilat al-Isharat) and critically reworked al-Razi’s theology in his Talkhis al-Muhassal. Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Ḥall mushkilāt al-Ishārāt; Talkhīṣ al-Muḥaṣṣal
Evidence: AI draft
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi › 1201–1274
Najm al-Din al-Katibi
criticised by
Al-Katibi put a series of critical questions to Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s theological compendium al-Maʿālim, to which Ibn Kammuna later added notes; the content has not been checked here. Asʾilat Najm al-Dīn al-Kātibī ʿan al-Maʿālim li-Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, ed. S. Schmidtke and R. Pourjavady (2007); SEP “al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din”, bibliography
Evidence: AI draft
Najm al-Din al-Katibi › 1203–1277
Ibn Taymiyya
criticised by
Ibn Taymiyya wrote Dar taarud against al-Razi’s ‘universal rule’ that reason prevails when it conflicts with revelation, arguing that sound reason and revelation never conflict. Ibn Taymiyya, Darʾ taʿāruḍ al-ʿaql wa-l-naql I; Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Asās al-taqdīs; J. Hoover, Ibn Taymiyya, 2019
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Taymiyya › 1263–1328
Criticizes 1
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) influenced by
influenced by
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi organised his Eastern Investigations (al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya) around Avicenna’s philosophy and kept much of its framework even where he criticised it. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya; A. Shihadeh, “From al-Ghazali to al-Razi”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 15 (2005)
Evidence: also in InPhO · InPhO
criticised
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s commentary on Avicenna’s Pointers and Reminders raised so many objections that al-Tusi called it a ‘wounding’ (jarh) rather than a commentary (sharh). Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Sharḥ al-Ishārāt; Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī, Ḥall mushkilāt al-Ishārāt, preface
Evidence: AI draft
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) › 980–1037
Position
An Asharite theologian, al-Razi engaged Avicenna’s philosophy more thoroughly than any theologian before him. In the Eastern Investigations and his commentary on Avicenna’s Remarks and Admonitions he examined its arguments point by point, often rejecting them – on God’s knowledge of particulars, divine simplicity, causality – and so turned kalam into a philosophical discipline. Critics called his commentary a “wounding” (jarh) rather than an explanation (sharh); Nasir al-Din Tusi answered it in defence of Avicenna. Raising doubts earned him the title “imam of the doubters”; late in life he stressed the limits of metaphysical proof. His vast Qur’an commentary remains widely read, and his synthesis shaped later theology.
Life & context
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi was born in 1149 or 1150 in Rayy, near present-day Tehran, the son of a preacher who was his first teacher. He studied in Maragha, among other places, and travelled through Khwarazm and Transoxiana, where public disputations with Mutazilites and other opponents made him famous and feared. Supported by Ghurid and Khwarazmian rulers, he settled in Herat, where he died in 1210.
Main works
- The Eastern Investigations (al-Mabahith al-mashriqiyya, late 12th century)
- Commentary on Avicenna’s Remarks and Admonitions (Sharh al-Isharat, late 12th century)
- The Keys to the Unseen (Mafatih al-ghayb, the “Great Commentary” on the Qur’an, unfinished at his death)
- The Highest Aims (al-Matalib al-ʿaliya, c. 1209, unfinished)
Appears in
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