Exposition and Critique of Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi's Arguments against Prophethood
Subject Areas : Intellectual explorations
Meysam Amani
1
(
Assistant Professor, Department of Islamic Studies, Ahvaz Islamic Azad University, Ahvaz, Iran
)
Keywords: Prophecy, Rationalism, Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi, al-A'lam al-Nubuwwah,
Abstract :
There are both pro-prophecy and anti-prophecy views on Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi. However, the correct view is that he was a rationalist and considered prophecy to be contrary to rationalism. Based on the book "al-A'lam al-Nubuwwah", six arguments can be extracted from the philosopher al-Razi that refute prophecy. These six arguments show that al-Razi does not believe in the necessity of prophecy as a special human knowledge and connection with God, but rather only to the possibility of it as a probable matter. In his view, the prophet has no special status, and all humans are equal in terms of knowledge and connection with God. This article uses a descriptive-deductive method to reconstruct al-Razi's arguments against prophecy and to critically analyze these arguments using an analytical-critical method.
