Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī on the Question ‘Why Worship God?’

Abstract

A recurring concern of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) in his Qur'anic commentary, al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, is the presentation of an intellectual justification for the all-important Islamic doctrine that God alone is deserving of worship. When surveying al-Rāzī’s arguments, they turn out to follow the same general line of reasoning: he who is creator is deserving of worship. This, however, might be seen to entail a difficulty (which al-Rāzī himself was actually aware of) in that unless God is the only creator, it does not seem clear why He alone, and no other entity, should be deserving of worship. The following question thus arises: do al-Rāzī’s arguments hinge on an occasionalist worldview? Or do they allow for secondary causality?

This article discusses some of the arguments al-Razī puts forward in the Tafsīr for God's sole right to be worshipped. In doing so, special attention is paid to the position on causality that underlies them. It will be seen that al-Rāzī presents various arguments, some of which rest on an occasionalist worldview, and some of which assume secondary causality. Interestingly, his line of argument changes depending on the underlying position. The reasons as to why al-Rāzī presents arguments based on two mutually exclusive positions (one of which he himself does not subscribe to) are also addressed.