Medieval Islamic doctrine on the angels: the writings of Fakhr al-Dīh al-Rāzī

Medieval Islamic doctrine on the angels: the writings of Fakhr al-DIn al-RazT Angels were very important in Islamic as well as Christian theology in the Middle Ages. The schools of theology and philosophy in the Islamic world were divided on fundamental principles, principles to do with method, with the matter of adherence to hylomorphism or atomism, and with the question of theodicy. Studying medieval Islamic writings on the angels serves to highlight these differences among the various schools, showing how these differences in principle lead to differences in doctrine. A m o n g the most comprehensive treatments given to the angels is that in the writings of Fakhr al-DTn al-RazI. Razi lived from 1149 to 1209,firstin Persia, and later in Transoxiana.1 Scholarly attention was drawn long ago to Razl's passages on the angels,2 but they have yet to be treated systematically. Razi belonged to the Ash'arite school of theology, a school based on a radical voluntarist occasionalism, which dominated medieval Islam and continues greatly to influence m o d e m Islamic theology. Razi was a very important writer, not only in formulating Ash'arite doctrine,3 but also in framing Ash'arite critiques of the doctrines of the other theological and philosophical schools.4 In setting forward his own views on a given topic, Razi always introduces his reader to pertinent contemporary thought. Thus his treatment of the doctrine on the angels is not only important and at times seminal for other Ash'arites, but also elucidates the doctrine of other contemporary scholars. His last work, an encyclopaedic commentary on the Koran called simply The Great Commentary, is his masterpiece, and is the major source for this paper.5 1 For a general biography, see M . Ma'sumT, 'Imam Fakhr al-DTn al-RazT and his Critics', Islamic Studies 6 (1967), 355-74. 2 A. Wensinck, The Muslim Creed, Cambridge, 1932, p. 200, n. 1. Wensinck was referring to the Cairo printing of 1278 A H of Razl's TafsTr ('Commentary'); I use the printing of Cairo 1933 A D in 32 vols., cited as TK, followed by volume and page number. There has yet to be a critical edition made of the Commentary (or, for that matter, of many of the Arabic works referred to in this paper). Dates henceforth are those of the Christian era, except for books whose publication dates are given only in the Muslim era, which is so indicated (AH). 3 Subkl, Tabaqat al-Shafi'iyya, Cairo, 1324 A H , 1, pp. 450-51. 4 S.H. Nasr, 'Fakhr al-DIn al-RazI', in M.M. Sharif, A History of Muslim Philosophy, Wiesbaden, 1966, p. 649. 5 For the text referred to, see n. 2. The passages in the Commentary are Razl's main contribution to the subject, though passages from some of his other works are complementary. 112 T. Street The angels as part of the creed For the Muslim, belief in the angels is one of the five principal articles of the faith, the articles which make up the creed at its simplest. Muslim (d. 875), in his revered collection of Traditions, states the simple creed: One day the Aposde of God gave audience. There came to him a man who asked him: 'O Apostle of God, what is faith?' H e answered: 'Believing in God, His angels, His Scriptures, His apostles and the final resurrection.' The man goes on to ask about what constitutes Islam, what constitutes righteousness, and when the last hour will be. Muslim concludes his account of the interview: Then the man went away. Thereupon the Apostle of God said: 'Bring this man back to me.' W h e n his companions tried to do so, they could find no trace of him. Then the Apostle of God said: "This was Gabriel, who came in order that men might have knowledge of religion.'6 Even though Gabriel lists belief in angels as one of the articles of the Muslim creed, no author consecrates a special treatise to the topic. But in RazT's Commentary there is an analysis of the creed which shows how angels are to be...