Abdal Hakim Murad - The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Theology

God: essence and attributes 135
which translate into corporeal individuals (ashkhas) in the persons of
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prophets, imams and spiritual guides. He moreover argued that the
enunciation of the divine word (lafz al-kalima) is created, while its
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inherent meaning or intention (al-ma‘na al-nafsı) is eternal. 33 In
delimiting the furthest possibilities of theology, and in pointing towards
the boundaries of philosophical deliberation, he attempted to effect an
equipoise between ‘aql (intellect) and sam‘ (audition of the recitation of
the revealed word), whereby, when rational explications reach an end, an
attentive listening to the recitation of revelation ought to be exercised. 34
The historical integration of philosophy into theological reflections
on the essence–attribute problem found its most pronounced systemic
expressions in the legacy of Fakhr al-Dın al-Razı (d.1209), who, like his
predecessor Ghazalı, was an adherent of Shafi‘ı jurisprudence and an
exponent of Ash‘arı theology. Unlike some early conventional exponents
of kalam, Razı did not reject Greek philosophy, and, as he indicated
in his Oriental Investigations (al-Mabah ith al-Mashriqiyya), he
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delved deep into the writings of the ancient philosophers, affirming their
true propositions and rejecting the ones that were false. 35 Following
Ghazalı’s legitimisation of the use of logic, and the acceptance of most
of the premises of natural philosophy qua natural sciences (al-‘ulum
al-t abı‘iyya), Razı was an outstanding dialectical mutakallim who
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established his Sunnı theological investigations on philosophical
foundations, combining rational proofs (sing. dalıl ‘aqlı) with scriptural
evidences (sing. dalıl naqlı). He refuted the anthropomorphism of the
Karramiyya and the H anbalıs. He doubted the hermeneutic intricacies
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of the Isma‘ılıs. His engagement with metaphysics was primarily
articulated in his critical commentary (sharh)onAvicenna’sBook of
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Remarks and Admonitions (Kitab al-Isharat wa’l-tanbıhat). 36 He also
developed his own philosophical notions in his influential theological
text Harvest of the Thought of the Ancients and Moderns (Muh as s al _ _ _
afkar al-mutaqaddimın wa’l-muta’akhkhirın). 37 In addressing the
essence–attribute question, Razı criticises Avicenna’s claim that God
knows only universals and not particulars. He thus postulates that
knowledge involves a relation qua connection (ta‘alluq rather than
id afa) between the knower and the known, and that this state of affairs
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entails that a change in what is known would result in an alteration of
the relation qua connection that binds it with the knower, rather than
producing a transformation in the knower as such.
The examination of the essence–attribute question continued to preoccupy
philosophically oriented theologians like the Ash‘arite mutakallim
Sayf al-Dın al-Āmidı (d.1233), the author of Novel Thoughts on
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