Fakhr al-Din al-Razi
Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī or Fakhruddin Razi , often known by the sobriquet Sultan of the Theologians, was an influential Muslim polymath, scientist and one of the pioneers of inductive logic. 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.
Al-Razi was born in Ray, Iran, and died in Herat, Afghanistan. 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 and al-Matālib al-'Aliya المطالب العالية are usually regarded as his most important philosophical works.
Biography
Fakhr al-Din al-Razi, whose full name was Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Ḥusayn bin Ali al-Razi al-Tabaristani, was born in 1149 or 1150 CE in Ray, whence his Nisba | al-Razi.Originally from Tabaristan, he traveled to Khwarazm, Transoxiana, and Khorasan. According to Ibn al-Shaʿʿār al-Mawṣilī, one of al-Razi's earliest biographers, his great-grandfather had been a rich merchant in Mecca. Either his great-grandfather or his grandfather migrated from Mecca to Tabaristan in the 11th century, and some time after that the family settled in Ray. 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. 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 actually praised him as a descendant of the second caliph Umar ibn al-Khattab.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, 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 and Ghazni, and became head of the university founded by Mohammed ibn Tukush at Herat.
In his later years, he also showed interest in mysticism, though this never formed a significant part of his thought. He died in Herat in 1209, where his tomb is still venerated today. Many believe he was poisoned by the Karrāmīyah.
''The Great Commentary''
One of Imam Razi's outstanding achievements was his unique interpretive work on the Quran called Mafātiḥ al-Ghayb and later nicknamed Tafsīr al-Kabīr, 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 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. According to Tony Street, we should not see in Razi's theoretical life a journey from a young dialectician to a religious condition. It seems that he adopted different thoughts of diverse schools, such as those of Mutazilite and Asharite, in his exegesis, The Great Commentary.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. 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.
List of works
Al-Razi had written over a hundred works on a wide variety of subjects. His major works include:- Tafsir al-Kabir
- Asraar at-Tanzeel wa Anwaar at-Ta'weel. Tafsir of selected verses from The Quran.
- Asas al-Taqdis Refutation of Ibn Khuzayma, the Karramites, and the Anthropomorphists
- Aja'ib al-Qur'an
- Al-Bayan wa al-Burhan fi al-Radd 'ala Ahl al-Zaygh wa al-Tughyan
- Al-Mahsul fi 'Ilm al-Usul
- Al-Muwakif fi 'Ilm al-Kalam
- Ilm al-Akhlaq
- Kitab al-Firasa
- Kitab al-Mantiq al-Kabir
- Kitab al-nafs wa'l-ruh wa sharh quwa-huma
- Mabahith al-mashriqiyya fi 'ilm al-ilahiyyat wa-'l-tabi'iyyat
- Al-Matālib al-'Āliyyah min al- 'ilm al-ilahī – his last work. Al-Razi wrote al-Matālib during his writing of al-Tafsir and he died before completing both works.
- Nihayat al 'Uqul fi Dirayat al-Usul
- Risala al-Huduth
- Sharh al-Isharat
- Sharh Asma' Allah al-Husna
- Sharh Kulliyyat al-Qanun fi al-Tibb
- Sharh Nisf al-Wajiz li'l-Ghazali
- Sharh Uyun al-Hikmah
- Kitāb al-Arba'īn Fī Uṣūl al-Dīn
- ''Al-Shajara al-mubaraka''