Fakhr al-Din al-Razi

Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī
فخر الدين الرازي
TitleShaykh 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]
Personal
Born1149 or 1150 (543 or 544 AH)
Died1209 (606 AH, aged 59 or 60)
ReligionIslam
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionPersia
DenominationSunni
JurisprudenceShafi'i[3]
CreedAsh'ari[3][4]
Main interest(s)Tafsir, Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Rhetoric, Kalam, Islamic Philosophy, Logic, Astronomy, Cosmology, Ontology, Physiognomy, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Anatomy
Notable work(s)Al-Tafsir al-Kabir (Mafatih al-Ghayb), Asas al-Taqdis
OccupationScholar and scientist
Muslim leader

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.[9][10] 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.[10][11]

Al-Razi was born in Ray, Iran, and died in Herat, Afghanistan.[12] 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.[13]

  1. ^ Peter Adamson (7 July 2016). Philosophy in the Islamic World: A History of Philosophy Without Any Gaps. Oxford University Press. p. 315. ISBN 978-0-19-957749-1.
  2. ^ Omar, Irfan (2013). Islam and Other Religions: Pathways to Dialogue. Taylor & Francis. p. 113. ISBN 9781317998525. Retrieved 2017-12-02.
  3. ^ a b Mirza, Younus Y. (2014-02-01). "Was Ibn Kathīr the 'Spokesperson' for Ibn Taymiyya? Jonah as a Prophet of Obedience". Journal of Qur'anic Studies. 16 (1): 1. doi:10.3366/jqs.2014.0130. ISSN 1465-3591.
  4. ^ Ovamir Anjum, Politics, Law, and Community in Islamic Thought: The Taymiyyan Moment, p 143. ISBN 1107014069
  5. ^ "BORHĀN-AL-DĪN NASAFĪ". iranicaonline.org. Encyclopaedia Iranica. Archived from the original on 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 [1]
  8. ^ "Philosophy".
  9. ^ John Cooper (1998), "al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din (1149-1209)", Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Routledge, retrieved 2010-03-07
  10. ^ a b Adi Setia (2004), "Fakhr Al-Din Al-Razi on Physics and the Nature of the Physical World: A Preliminary Survey" (PDF), Islam & Science, 2, retrieved 2024-03-26
  11. ^ Williams, Matt (11 January 2016). "What Is The Geocentric Model Of The Universe?". Universe Today. Retrieved 3 October 2020. 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..."
  12. ^ Anawati 1960–2007.
  13. ^ Taylor, Richard; Lopez-farjeat, Luis Xavier, eds. (2013). "God and Creation in al-Razi's Commentary on the Qur'an". The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy. Routledge. p. 9. ISBN 9780415881609.