Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī | |
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فخر الدين الرازي | |
![]() Calligraphy of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's name | |
Title | Shaykh 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 | |
Born | 1149 or 1150 (543 or 544 AH) |
Died | 1209 (606 AH, aged 59 or 60) |
Religion | Islam |
Era | Islamic Golden Age |
Region | Persia |
Denomination | Sunni |
Jurisprudence | Shafi'i[3] |
Creed | Athari[3][4] |
Main interest(s) | Tafsir, Principles of Islamic jurisprudence, Rhetoric, Kalam, Islamic Philosophy, Logic, Astronomy, Cosmology, Ontology, Chemistry, Physics, Medicine, Anatomy |
Notable work(s) | Al-Tafsir al-Kabir (Mafatih al-Ghayb), Asas al-Taqdis |
Occupation | Scholar and scientist |
Muslim leader | |
Influenced by | |
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]
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.
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..."