Al-Razi is a pure rationalist. He believes in reason, and in reason alone. In medicine, his clinical studies reveal a very solid method of investigation based on observation and experimentation. In Kitab al-Faraj ba'd al-Shiddah by al-Tanukhi (d. 384/994) and Chahar Maqalah of Nizami `Arudi Samar¬qandi written about 550/1155, we find a lot of cases attributed to al-Razi where he shows an excellent method of clinical investigation. E. G. Browne, in his Arabian Medicine, has translated a page supposed to be taken from al-Razi's Hawi 44 which shows this method. It runs as follows:
METHOD
Al-Razi's exaltation of reason is best expressed on the first page of his al-Tibb al-Ruhani. He says: “God, glorious is His name, has given us reason in order to obtain through it from the present and future the utmost benefits that we can obtain; it is God's best gift to us.... By reason we perceive all that is useful to us and all that makes our life good - by it we know obscure and remote things, those which are hidden from us. .. by it, too, we succeed to the knowledge of God, which is the highest knowledge we can obtain.... If reason is so highly placed and is of such an important rank, we should not degrade it; we should not make it the judged while it is the judge, or con¬trolled while it is the controller, or commanded while it is the commander; on the contrary, we should refer to it in everything and judge all matters by it; we should do according as it commands us to do.”45
Even the most rationalistic mind could not exalt reason so clearly and so highly. There is no place for revelation or mystic intuition. It is only logical reason which is the unique criterion of knowledge and conduct. No irrational force can be invoked. Al-Razi is against prophecy, against revelation, against all irrational trends of thought.
Men are born with equal dispositions for knowledge. It is only through cultivation of these dispositions that men differ, some cultivating them by speculation and learning, others neglecting them or directing them to a practical way of life.46
MORAL PHILOSOPHY
Razi's moral philosophy is to be found in the only extant philosophical works of his, al-Tibb al-Ruhani and al-Sirat al-Falsafiyyah. The latter work is a justification of his conduct of life, from the philosophical point of view, because he was blamed by some people for not living on the model of his master, Socrates. It is a curious and very interesting apologia pro vita sua.
He thinks that there should be moderation in a philosopher's life - neither much asceticism, nor too much indulgence in pleasures. There are two limits higher and lower. The higher limit beyond which a philosopher should not go is to abstain from pleasures that cannot be obtained except by com¬mitting injustice and doing things contrary to reason. The lower is to eat what does not harm him or cause illness, and to wear what is sufficient to protect his skin, and so on. Between the two limits, one can live without becoming unworthy of being called a philosopher.
Al-Razi claims that he in his practical life did not go beyond these two limits. He did not live in the service of a monarch as a minister or a man of arms, but as a doctor and counsellor. He was not greedy, nor in conflict with other people but, on the contrary, he was very tolerant as regards his own rights. He never exceeded in drinking, eating, or enjoying life. As for his love of science and study, it is all well known to everybody. From the theoretical point of view too, his works entitle him to be called a philosopher.¬
In al-Tibb al-Ruhani he treats, in twenty chapters, the main points of ethics. He wants to expound what the vices are and how we are to get rid of them.
He begins with the exaltation of reason, in the manner we have seen above. Then he goes in medius res by treating the question of passions. He says that man should control his passions; he brings out the distinction drawn by Plato between three aspects of the soul: reasonable, pugnacious, and appetitive; and shows how justice should reign among them.
It is necessary that a man should know his own defects. For this, he can appeal to a reasonable friend who will tell him about his defects. He should get information about what other people, neighbours, and friends, think of him. Here al-Razi depends on two treatises of Galen: “On Knowing One's Own Defects,” and “How Good People Benefit from Their Enemies.”
These are the contents of preliminary chapters. In the fifth, he expounds his theory of pleasure, a theory which he treats again in a special epistle. For him, pleasure is nothing but the return of what was removed by something harmful to the previous state, for example, one who leaves a shadowy place for a sunny and hot place gets pleasure on coming back to the shadowy place. For this reason, says al-Razi, natural philosophers have defined pleasure as a return to nature.
AI-Razi condemns love as an excess and submission to passions. He con¬demns vanity; because it prevents one from learning more and working better. Envy is an. amalgamation of misery and cupidity. An envious man is the man who feels sad when another obtains some good things, even when no harm comes to him at all. If he has been harmed, then the emotion is not envy but enmity. If a person contents himself with what is necessary for him, then there would be no place for envy in his soul.
Anger is aroused in animals to make it possible for them to take revenge on harmful things. If it is in excess, it does much harm to them. Lying is a bad habit. It is of two sorts: for good, or for evil. If it is for good, then it merits praise; otherwise, it is blameworthy. So its value depends on the intention.
Misery cannot be wholly condemned. Its value depends on the reason for it. If it is due to the fear of poverty and fear of the future, then it is not bad. If it is for mere pleasure of acquisition, it is bad. There must be a justification for one's misery; if it is a reasonable one, it is not a vice; otherwise it is a thing to be combated.
Worry, when it is too much, is not a good thing, for its excess, without good reason, leads to hallucination, melancholy, and early withering.
Cupidity is a very bad state which brings pain and harm. Drunkenness leads to calamities and ills of body and mind.
Copulation, when in excess, is bad for the body; it causes early senility, weakness, and many other ills. One should indulge in it as little as one can, because excess in it leads to more excess.
Frivolity is also pernicious in some cases.
Acquisition and economy are good for living, but only in moderation. No more wealth should be acquired than is needed and spent, except a little saving for sudden calamities and bad future circumstances.
Ambition may lead to adventures and perils. It is well and good if we can get a better rank without adventure or peril; otherwise it is better to renounce it.
The last chapter treats a favourite theme in the Hellenistic and early medieval period, that of the fear of death. Here al-Razi contents himself by dealing with it from the point of view of those who think that when the body is destroyed, the soul is also destroyed. After death, nothing comes to man, because he cannot feel anything. During his life, man is submerged in pains, whereas after death there would be no pain whatever. The best thing for a reasonable man to do is to get rid of the fear of death, because if he believes in another life, he must be joyful because, by death, he goes to a better world. If he believes there is nothing after death, there is no cause for worry. In any case, one should reject every kind of worry about death, because it is not reasonable to worry.
THEOLOGY
Al-Razi was a theist, but he does not believe in revelation and prophecy. We content ourselves with giving a summary of his main ideas.
Al-Razi contests prophecy on the following grounds:
- Reason is sufficient to distinguish. between good and evil, useful and harmful. By reason alone we can know God, and organize our lives in¬ the best way. Why then is there need for prophets?
- There is no justification for privileging some men for guiding all men because all men are born equal in intelligence; the differences are not be¬cause of natural dispositions, but because of development and education.
- Prophets contradict one another. If they speak in the name of one and the same God, why this contradiction?
After denying prophecy, al-Razi goes on to criticize religions in general. He expounds the contradictions of the Jews, the Christians, the Manichaeans, and the Majusis. He gives the following reasons for the attachment of men to religion:
- Imitation and tradition.
- Power of the clergy who are in the service of the State.
- External manifestations of religions, ceremonials and rituals, which impose themselves upon the imagination of the simple and the naive.
He shows contradictions between religion and religion in detail.
Al-Razi subjects the revealed books, the Bible and the Qur'an, to systematic criticism. He tries to criticize the one by the aid of the other; for instance, he criticizes Judaism by means of Manichaeism, and Christianity by means of Islam; and then criticizes the Qur'an by means of the Bible.
He denies especially the miraculousness (i'jaz) of the Qur'an, either because of its style or its contents and affirms that it is possible to write a better book in a better style.
He prefers scientific books to all sacred books, because scientific books are more useful to men in their lives than all sacred books. Books on medicine, geometry, astronomy, and logic are more useful than the Bible and the Qur'an. The authors of these scientific books have found the facts and truths by their own intelligence, without the help of prophets. Science is drawn from three sources: reasoning, according to logic; tradition, from predecessors to succes¬sors according to sure and accurate testimony, as in history; and instinct which guides man without being in need of much reasoning.
After this negative criticism, he goes on to say that it would not even be reasonable of God to send prophets, because they do much harm. Every nation believes only in its own prophets and vehemently denies those of others, with the result that there have been many religious wars and much hatred between nations professing different religions.
These ideas of al-Razi were most audacious. No other Muslim thinker was so daring as he.
Jumat, 22 November 2024