God and the Trinity in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī

Abstract

This article focuses on some aspects of al-Rāzī's concept of God and his refutation of the Trinity. The first part examines how al-Rāzī understands the essence of God in his last work Al-ma _ tālib al-'āliya in order to shed light on areas that are particularly problematic for an acceptance of the Christian concept of the Trinity. The second part examines al-Rāzī's commentary on some key qur'anic verses which deal with the divinity of Jesus and with the qur'anic version of the Trinity in his work Mafātī _ h al-ghayb. The article will offer a brief introduction to the problems around the authorship of this work and focus on some verses that present al-Rāzī's refutation of the divinity of Jesus and the concept of understanding God as three distinct essences. The article particularly focuses on the relation between the logic of his refutation of the Trinity and his own understanding of the essence of God as in Al-ma _ tālib al-'āliya, and argues that al-Rāzī's refutation is closely connected to his rational conception of tanzīh.Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī is one of the last encyclopaedic writers on theology in its relationship to Islamic philosophy, following in the footsteps of Abū _ Hāmid al-Ghazālī. 1 Al-Rāzī left a very rich corpus of philosophical and theological works. Although he wrote extensively on philosophical as well as theological subjects, his style of writing is usually difficult to identify as either theological or philosophical because he used philosophical terminology widely in his theological writings. Al-mabā _ hith al-mashriqiyya and his last work Al-ma _ tālib al-'āliya are usually regarded as his most important philosophical writings. Al-Kafrāwī (2004, 125-6) argues that many of alRāzī's works are influenced by Ibn Sīnā and that Watt and Majid Fakhry consider al-Rāzī to be a follower of al-Ghazālī in connecting philosophy with theology. Al-Rāzī commented on many metaphysical issues raised in Ibn Sīnā's Al-shifā' and Al-ishārāt, and criticized his concept of emanation. 2 At a later stage, al-Rāzī adopted many philosophical theories and slowly moved away from Ash'arite theology. This also becomes clear when we study his concept of the attributes of God in his last book, Al-ma _ tālib al-'āliya, where he emphasizes the transcendent nature of God and criticizes concepts such as God's sitting on a throne, as shown below.Reading his books chronologically (as arranged by al-Zurkān 1963), we can clearly see the development of his thought and occasional changes in his ideas, and that his last works clearly present his final views especially on the subject of the nature of God.This article will examine his concept of God through his reflections on the question of the divine attributes and then study his comments on the concept of the Trinity, as it is presented in the Qur'an, through his great commentary Mafātī _ h al-ghayb. We notice here similarities between his explanation of the concept of the Trinity in Mafātī _ h al-ghayb and his explanation of _ hulūl, indwelling, in Al-ma _ tālib al-'āliya through his...