Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and Occult Science as Philosophy

An Aspect of the Philosophical Theology of Islam at the Beginning of the Thirteenth Century

Abstract

Modern scholars emphasize the influence of Ibn Sīnā (Avicenna, d. 1037) on Islamic philosophical theology, but Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 1210), one of its contributors, acquainted himself not only with the philosophies of Ibn Sīnā and Abū al-Barakāt al-Baghdādī (d. 1152) but also with so-called occult sciences such as astrology, magic, and theurgy. The previous studies of his theology paid little attention to those esoteric sciences even though they had been regarded as natural scientific philosophy. As a part of the study of Islamic philosophical theology at the beginning of the thirteenth century, this paper examines the extent that this philosophy including occult sciences was absorbed into al-Rāzī’s theology. Following the introduction (I), section II analyzes the “philosophy” insofar as he perceives it, by reading his theological treatises in chronological order. As is well-known, al-Rāzī criticizes the “philosophers,” whom al-Shahrastānī (d. 1153) actually described in al-Milal wa-l-niḥal as the Sabian “adherents of spiritual beings.” I point out that, in his latest theological work al-Maṭālib al-‘āliya min ‘ilm al-ilāhī, al-Rāzī adopts the cosmlogy of those “adherents of spiritual beings,” who reportedly believed the authority of the mythical figure Hermes and practiced what we call occult sciences like celestial magic. Section III, then, questions the origin of the adherents of spiritual beings. Recent studies have revealed that Hermes, who has been associated with the Sabians, began to be integrated into the Islamic context from the twelfth century onward as al-Shahrastānī did. Al-Rāzī also lived in the era of the synthesis of Arabic Hermeticism and Islamic thoughts, and I point out that he admits that the “philosophers” have an esoteric and mythical origin. In the final section (IV), I will show that al-Rāzī did accept not only the “philosophers” but also the occult sciences into his theology in al-Maṭālib. As a result, he adopts the cosmology of the Universal Soul, which utilizes the concept of “trace” (athar) instead of “emanation” (fayḍ), and he uses “species” (naw‘) to distinguish between human beings. He differs from Ibn Sīnā in these points, yet he keeps the structure and concepts of Ibn Sīnā to some extent. We can say that he imports occult science into his theology as an alternative to Avicennan philosophy, regarding it as “philosophy.”