Philosophising the Occult: Avicennan Psychology and 'The Hidden Secret' of Fakhr Al-Dīn al-Rāzī by Michael-Sebastian Noble (review)

Philosophising the Occult, based on Michael-Sebastian Noble's doctoral research at the Warburg Institute, engages in an intricate and sophisticated exploration of how the ideas of two prominent figures in Islamic intellectual history, ibn Sīna (370–427 AH/980–1037 CE)—most commonly known in the West as Avicenna—and Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (c. 543–606 AH/1149–1209 CE), merge, resonate, and diverge, in al-Rāzī's notoriously controversial work, still neither published nor translated, on talismanic astral magic, al-Sirr al-maktūm ("The Hidden Secret").¹ In addition to the esteemed intellectual and theological stance of its author, Noble perceives the value of al-Sirr as primarily emerging from its philosophical exploration of the various interconnected elements that form together a magical, geocentric cosmology in which empirical and physical laws are defied and superseded:

In philosophising on the talismanic occult science in al-Sirr al-maktūm, Rāzī theorised, in a profound and engaging way on how it was experienced on the cognitive level; on the spiritual discipline that it demanded; on the knowledge it required; and on the mysteries of the ensouled universe that its practice could reveal. He adapted Avicennan psychology to account for how the Sabian, steeped in natural philosophy, astrology and medicine, and combining the epistemological methods of empiricism and inspiration, might expand the horizons of knowledge and condition the state of his soul to perform astral ritual, to draw down the power of celestial spheres into a talisman—either a metal idol or ring, or the very person of the practitioner—to affect change in the sublunary world, in ways that run contrary to the empirical norm (250).

Fakhr al-Dīn, or "Pride of the Religion," is the honorific agnomen of Muḥammad bin 'Umar bin 'Alī, the Bakrī, Qurashī, Rāzī, and Ṭabaristānī. While the "Bakrī" and "Qurashī" in the theologian-cum-philosopher's surname indicate his biological and ethnic origin as an Arab from the tribe of Prophet Muḥammad, Quraysh, and particularly as a descendant of the Prophet's close companion and first successor, Abū Bakr al-Ṣiddīq (c. 50 BH–13 AH/573–634 CE), the surnames Rāzī and Ṭabaristānī refer to his city of origin Rayy in the region of Tabaristān on the Caspian coast of northern Iran.² Al-Rāzī first received the teachings of Ash'arite theology, Islamic legislation, and 'ilm al-kalām (rational argument) from his father, illustrious preacher of Rayy, Ḍiyā' al-Dīn 'Umar bin 'Alī (d. 559 AH/c. 1163 CE).³ After the death of his father, al-Rāzī traveled to the city of Samnān in northern Iran to continue his theological apprenticeship under Kamāl al-Dīn Aḥmad bin Zayd al-Samnānī (d. 575 AH/c. 1179 CE), then returned to Rayy to study under theologian and Avicennan philosopher Majd al-Dīn al-Jīlī (birth and death dates unknown) whom he had accompanied to the Mujāhidīyya school in Marāgha, currently located in Azerbaijan.⁴

In his study of al-Rāzī's al-Sirr, Noble employs an "intertextual" approach where the laconic passages of al-Sirr are read against relevant philosophical works of ibn Sīna in order to extract and assess al-Rāzī's rather evasive theory on the occult (5). Despite the complex nature of any comparative philosophical inquiry, such as the work reviewed here, Noble manages, rather skillfully, to contain his argument within a concise framework that comprises three primary themes, namely those of cognition, prophethood, and soteriology, while assessing at the same time how the said themes were developed, elaborated upon, and systemized in al-Rāzī's later philosophical and theological works (5). Within this framework...