IN PURSUIT OF THE WORLD’S CREATOR: FAKHR

AL-DIN AL-RAZI ON THE ORIGINS OF THE

UNIVERSE IN AL-MATALIB AL-‘ALIYA

Laura Hassan

Abstract: Fakhr al-Din al-R4zi’s (d. 606/1210) final theo-

logical treatise, al-Matalib al-‘Aliya min al-‘Ilm al-lahiyya,
is sufficient justification for the assertion of his towering
significance as interpreter of Ibn Sina (d. 428/1037) and
in the development of new theological paradigms. Yet
such is its richness and subtlety that al-Razi’s views in the
Matalib on key doctrinal issues such as the creation of
the world require much further study. Previously, scholars
have maintained that al-Razi refrains from affirming any
one doctrine of creation. I argue to the contrary, that
despite al-Razi’s epistemological caution on matters per-
taining to the action of God, he ultimately deems creation
ex nibilo most probable on the balance of evidence, and
therefore the doctrine that is to be believed.

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210) is at long last receiving the scholarly
attention owed to a figure of his intellectual rigor, originality, and influence.
Now that it is well established that he is the pivotal figure in the reception
of Avicennan philosophy within Muslim theology, his thought has been
assessed from a variety of different perspectives, and with respect to an
increasing number of philosophical and theological questions.! One such
question is that of the origins of the world, of central concern to generations
of theologians and philosophers alike. Al-Razi’s unprecedented and perhaps
never rivalled discussions of creation culminate in their appearance in his

' Shihadeh argued in 2005 that al-Razi “transformed Islamic theology to the extent that
previous kalam seemed irrelevant and obsolete” (2005, 179), and demonstrated the confluence
of al-Razi’s influences with respect to his ethical theories in his 2006 The Teleological Ethics.
Endress (2006) showed his importance in the transmission of Avicennan philosophy in the
madrasa institution. Eichner has demonstrated how both al-Razi’s novel structuring of a
metaphysical enquiry (2007), and his reading of Ibn Sina’s theory of essence and existence
(2012) transformed the ongoing traditions of falsafa and kalam. Jaffer has studied al-Razi’s
magnus opum in the field of tafsir (2015), Jacobsen Ben Hammed has treated his theory of
knowledge (2018), and Noble (2020) his developed theory of magic. The field promises to
continue to expand, For a recent summary of scholarship, see Jacobsen Ben Hammed 2018,
19-24,

Res Philosophica, Vol. 98, No. 2, April 2021, pp. 233-259

https://doi.org/10.11612/resphil.2042
© 2021 Laura Hassan * © 2021 Res Philosophica