Abdal Hakim Murad - The Cambridge Companion to Islamic Theology

The existence of God 203
dependent on the motions of celestial bodies, (m) the manner in which
things in this world depend on the sun’s motion, and (n) marvels that
can be observed in both fixed and moving stars.
The marvels in each of these fields are explicated in their respective
disciplines; for example, those of the human body in anatomy, and those
of plants in botany. Razı’s Great Commentary on the Qur’an also
abounds with such discussions. He furthermore dedicates his littleknown
work Secrets of Revelation (Asrar al-tanzıl) to proofs for the
existence of God from features in the observable world, including proofs
from design and proofs from particularisation. Being qur’anically
inspired, this book provides a different set of categories of loci for evidence:
(a) the heavens, (b) the sun and the moon, (c) the stars, (d) man,
(e) animals (the book is incomplete and ends here), (f) plants, (g) meteorological
phenomena, (h) seas, and (i) mountains. 24
Let us consider the following representative example. 25 Although the
human body is tremendously complex, Razı reasons, it is generated from
simple sperm. Let us first assume that the body emerges from sperm
purely by virtue of its natural properties, as naturalists (t _
abı‘iyyun) claim.
Now either sperm is homogeneous (according to Aristotelian biology), or
it consists of components drawn from, and corresponding in their natures
to, the various different organs of the human body (the so-called ‘‘pansomatic’’
view dominant among earlier physicians). However, if sperm is
homogeneous, it should produce an equally simple effect, namely a
homogenous spherical object. Naturalists, however, maintain that sperm
is inhomogeneous and that each of its components, purely by virtue of its
latent natural disposition, produces a specific organ in the human body.
Razı replies that, by the same foregoing analysis, each component would
produce a simple effect – in which case a conglomerate of homogenous
spherical objects would result – and that nothing among these components
would determine the correct relative position of each organ in the
body, guaranteeing, for instance, that the heart does not appear in the
brain’s position and vice versa. Therefore, sperm cannot develop into a
fully fledged human body simply by the impulse of its natural properties.
This development will require the agency of a wise (h _
akım)creatorwhois
able to produce objects with such complex and perfect features. As nature,
Razı contends, lacks the wisdom to produce such sophisticated effects,
the physicalist atheism of the naturalists will appear irrational.
He then quotes the philosopher-physician Abu Bakral-Razı onthe
reasoning that underlies arguments from design. If one considers the
design of a jug, he opines, which serves the function of containing water
and pouring it controllably, one will have certainty that ‘‘it did not
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