Fachr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī

Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muhammad ibn ʿUmar Fachr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī ( Arabic أبو عبد الله محمد بن عمر بن الحسین فخر الدین الطبرستانی الرازی, DMG Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad b. ʿUmar b. al-Ḥusain Faḫr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī ; * 1149 in Rey , Iran ; † 1209 in Herat , now Afghanistan ) was an eminent Persian Sunni theologian and philosopher who also wrote about medicine, physics, astronomy, literature, history and law.

biography

Ar-Razi was born in Rey near today's Tehran and studied Islamic theology ( Ilm al-Kalam ), law ( Fiqh ) and other sciences with his father Diya ad-Din, also known as Chatib ar-Rayy , then with Madschd ad- Din al-Jili and Kamal Samnani. He came from the school of law of the Shafiʿites and the Asharite theology. Some biographers claim that he is descended from the caliph Abu Bakr .

He traveled to Khoresmia , Khorasan and Transoxania and is said to have had many students around him in every city. At least that's what his travelogue Munazarat Fachr ad-Din ar-Razi fi bilad ma wara an-nahr tells . He was at odds with other theological groups such as the Mutazilites , Hanbalites (who were critical of the rational Islamic theology, the Kalam), Batinites and the Qarmats . In old age he settled in Herat, where a mosque was built for him and he died in 1209.

plant

His Tafsir al-kabir (ar-Razi) (large commentary) on the Koran , also called Mafatih al-ghayb ("The keys to the hidden"), is important. His most philosophically significant works are the Sharh al-ischarat , a commentary on Avicenna's Kitab al-ischarat wa-t-tanbihat ("Book of Hints and Admonitions"), which was later criticized by Nasir ad-Din at-Tusi, the Mabahith al -maschriqiya and al-Mahsul .

In his will, ar-Razi explains that, in his opinion, rational theology and philosophy are of no use to the Koran, but only lead to fruitless objections and doubts.

literature

Georges Anawati , Fakhr al-Din al-Razi , in: Encyclopaedia of Islam , 2nd A., Vol. 2, 751-5.

Web links

John Cooper: Fakhr al-Din al-Razi , articles in the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Engl.)
Biography (English).

Individual evidence

↑ Ibn Challikan . Wafayat Al-a'yan Wa Anba 'Abna' Al-zaman . Translated by William MacGuckin Slane. (1961) Pakistan Historical Society. pp. 224.
^ Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 , University of California Press, 1996, 29
↑ Shaikh M. Ghazanfar, Medieval Islamic Economic Thought: Filling the Great Gap in European Economics , Routledge, 2003 ( online in the Google book search)
↑ Ibn Challikan. Wafayat Al-a'yan Wa Anba 'Abna' Al-zaman . Translated by William MacGuckin Slane. (1961) Pakistan Historical Society, 224 (translation added).

personal data
SURNAME	Rāzī, Fachr ad-Dīn ar-
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muhammad ibn ʿUmar Fachr ad-Dīn ar-Rāzī; Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Umar ibn al-Husayn at-Taymi al-Bakri at-Tabaristani Fachr ad-Din ar-Razi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Persian Sunni theologian and philosopher
DATE OF BIRTH	1149
PLACE OF BIRTH	Rey , Iran
DATE OF DEATH	1209
Place of death	Herat , today Afghanistan

[1] Ibn Challikan . Wafayat Al-a'yan Wa Anba 'Abna' Al-zaman . Translated by William MacGuckin Slane. (1961) Pakistan Historical Society. pp. 224.

[2] Richard Maxwell Eaton, The Rise of Islam and the Bengal Frontier, 1204-1760 , University of California Press, 1996, 29

[3] Shaikh M. Ghazanfar, Medieval Islamic Economic Thought: Filling the Great Gap in European Economics , Routledge, 2003 ( online in the Google book search)

[4] Ibn Challikan. Wafayat Al-a'yan Wa Anba 'Abna' Al-zaman . Translated by William MacGuckin Slane. (1961) Pakistan Historical Society, 224 (translation added).