This article is about the 10th-century physician and polymath. For the 12th-century theologian and polymath, seeFakhr al-Din al-Razi. For other uses, seeRazi (disambiguation).
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, also known asRhazes[a] (full name:أبو بکر محمد بن زکریاء الرازي,Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyāʾ al-Rāzī),[b]c. 864 or 865–925 or 935 CE,[c] was a Persianphysician,philosopher andalchemist who lived during theIslamic Golden Age. He is widely regarded as one of the most important figures in the history of medicine,[1] and also wrote onlogic,astronomy andgrammar.[2] He is also known for hiscriticism of religion, especially with regard to the concepts ofprophethood andrevelation. However, the religio-philosophical aspects of his thought, which also included a belief in five "eternal principles", are fragmentary and only reported by authors who were often hostile to him.[3]
A comprehensive thinker, al-Razi made fundamental and enduring contributions to various fields, which he recorded in over 200 manuscripts, and is particularly remembered for numerous advances in medicine through hisobservations and discoveries.[4] An early proponent ofexperimental medicine, he became a successful doctor, and served as chief physician ofBaghdad andRay hospitals.[5][6] As a teacher ofmedicine, he attracted students of all backgrounds and interests and was said to be compassionate and devoted to the service of his patients, whether rich or poor.[7] Along withThābit ibn Qurra (836–901), he was one of the first to clinically distinguish betweensmallpox andmeasles.[8]
Through translation, his medical works and ideas became known among medieval European practitioners and profoundly influenced medical education in the Latin West.[5] Some volumes of his workAl-Mansuri, namely "On Surgery" and "A General Book on Therapy", became part of the medical curriculum in Western universities.[5]Edward Granville Browne considers him as "probably the greatest and most original of all the Muslim physicians, and one of the most prolific as an author".[9] Additionally, he has been described as the father ofpediatrics,[10][11] and a pioneer ofobstetrics andophthalmology.[12]
Depiction of al-Razi in a 13th-century manuscript of a work byGerard of Cremona
Al-Razi was born in the city ofRay (modern Rey, also the origin of hisname "al-Razi"),[13] into a family of Persian stock and was a native speaker ofPersian language.[14] Ray was situated on theGreat Silk Road that for centuries facilitated trade and cultural exchanges between East and West. It is located on the southern slopes of theAlborz mountain range situated nearTehran, Iran.
In his youth, al-Razi moved toBaghdad where he studied and practiced at the localbimaristan (hospital). Later, he was invited back to Rey byMansur ibn Ishaq, then the governor of Ray, and became a bimaristan's head.[5] He dedicated two books on medicine to Mansur ibn Ishaq,The Spiritual Physic andAl-Mansūrī on Medicine.[5][15][16][17] Because of his newly acquired popularity as physician, al-Razi was invited to Baghdad where he assumed the responsibilities of a director in a new hospital named after its founderal-Muʿtaḍid (d. 902 CE).[5] Under the reign of Al-Mutadid's son,Al-Muktafi (r. 902–908) al-Razi was commissioned to build a new hospital, which should be the largest of theAbbasid Caliphate. To pick the future hospital's location, al-Razi adopted what is nowadays known as anevidence-based approach suggesting having fresh meat hung in various places throughout the city and to build the hospital where meat took longest to rot.[18]
He spent the last years of his life in his native Rey suffering fromglaucoma. His eye affliction started with cataracts and ended in total blindness.[19] The cause of his blindness is uncertain. One account mentioned byIbn Juljul attributed the cause to a blow to his head by his patron,Mansur ibn Ishaq, for failing to provide proof for his alchemy theories;[20] whileAbulfaraj andCasiri claimed that the cause was a diet of beans only.[21][22] Allegedly, he was approached by a physician offering an ointment to cure his blindness. Al-Razi then asked him how many layers does theeye contain and when he was unable to receive an answer, he declined the treatment stating "my eyes will not be treated by one who does not know the basics of its anatomy".[23]
The lectures of al-Razi attracted many students. AsIbn al-Nadim relates inFihrist, al-Razi was considered ashaikh, an honorary title given to one entitled to teach and surrounded by several circles of students. When someone raised a question, it was passed on to students of the 'first circle'; if they did not know the answer, it was passed on to those of the 'second circle', and so on. When all students would fail to answer, al-Razi himself would consider the query. Al-Razi was a generous person by nature, with a considerate attitude towards his patients. He was charitable to the poor, treated them without payment in any form, and wrote for them a treatiseMan La Yaḥḍuruhu al-Ṭabīb, orWho Has No Physician to Attend Him, with medical advice.[24] One former pupil fromTabaristan came to look after him, but asal-Biruni wrote, al-Razi rewarded him for his intentions and sent him back home, proclaiming that his final days were approaching.[25] According to Biruni, al-Razi died in Rey in 925 sixty years of age.[26] Biruni, who considered al-Razi his mentor, among the first penned a short biography of al-Razi including a bibliography of his numerous works.[26]
Ibn al-Nadim recorded an account by al-Razi of aChinese student who copied down all ofGalen's works inChinese as al-Razi read them to him out loud after the student learned fluent Arabic in 5 months and attended al-Razi's lectures.[27][28][29][30]
After his death, his fame spread beyond the Middle East to Medieval Europe, and lived on. In an undated catalog of the library atPeterborough Abbey, most likely from the 14th century, al-Razi is listed as a part author of ten books on medicine.[31]
Al-Razi's bookal-Judari wa l-ḥaṣba "On Smallpox and Measles", is, along with a book of the same name byThabit ibn Qurra (836–901), among the earliest extant books describingsmallpox andmeasles as distinct diseases.[33] Smallpox was not known inancient Greek medicine. It was likely differentiated from measles and other similar diseases by authors inlate antiquity writing inMedieval Greek andSyriac, whose works were known to Thabit and al-Razi.[34]
Al-Razi's work was translated into Syriac and then into Greek. It became known in Europe through this translation, as well as Latin translations based on the Greek text, and was later translated into several European languages.[35] Neither the date nor the author of the Syriac and Greek versions is known; but the Greek was created at the request of one of theByzantine emperors.[35]
Al-Razi compared the outcome of patients withmeningitis treated withblood-letting with the outcome of those treated without it to see if blood-letting could help.[36]
Al-Razi contributed in many ways to the early practice ofpharmacy[37] by compiling texts, in which he introduces the use of "mercurial ointments" and his development of apparatus such as mortars, flasks, spatulas and phials, which were used in pharmacies until the early twentieth century.[citation needed]
On a professional level, al-Razi introduced many practical, progressive, medical and psychological ideas. He attackedcharlatans and fake doctors who roamed the cities and countryside selling theirnostrums and "cures". At the same time, he warned that even highly educated doctors did not have the answers to all medical problems and could not cure all sicknesses or heal every disease, which was humanly speaking impossible. To become more useful in their services and truer to their calling, al-Razi advised practitioners to keep up with advanced knowledge by continually studying medical books and exposing themselves to new information. He made a distinction between curable and incurable diseases. Pertaining to the latter, he commented that in the case of advanced cases of cancer andleprosy the physician should not be blamed when he could not cure them. To add a humorous note, al-Razi felt great pity for physicians who took care for the well being of princes, nobility, and women, because they did not obey the doctor's orders to restrict their diet or get medical treatment, thus making it most difficult being their physician.
The doctor's aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose mortiferous remedies.[38]
Doctor performinguroscopy (from a Latin translation of a work by al-Razi, 1466)
Al-Hawi is not a formal medical encyclopedia but a posthumous compilation of al-Razi's working notebooks, which included knowledge gathered from other books as well as original observations on diseases and therapies based on his own clinical experience. It is significant since it contains a monograph on smallpox, one of the earliest known. It was translated into Latin in 1279 byFaraj ben Salim, a physician of Sicilian-Jewish origin employed byCharles of Anjou, and after which it had a considerable influence in Europe.
Al-Hawi also criticized the views ofGalen after al-Razi had observed many clinical cases that did not follow Galen's descriptions of fevers. For example, he stated that Galen's descriptions ofurinaryailments were inaccurate as he had only seen three cases, while al-Razi had studied hundreds of such cases inhospitals ofBaghdad and Rey.[42]
For One Who Has No Physician to Attend Him (Man la Yahduruhu Al-Tabib) (من لا يحضره الطبيب)
Al-Razi was possibly the first Persian doctor to deliberately write a home medical manual (remedial) directed at the general public. He dedicated it to the poor, the traveller, and the ordinary citizen who could consult it to treat common ailments when a doctor was unavailable. This book is of special interest to the history of pharmacy since similar books were very popular until the 20th century. Al-Razi described in its 36 chapters diets and drug components that can be found in either an apothecary, a marketplace, in well-equipped kitchens, or military camps. Thus, every intelligent person could follow its instructions and prepare the proper recipes with good results.
Some of the illnesses treated were headaches, colds, coughing, melancholy and diseases of the eye, ear, and stomach. For example, he prescribed for a feverish headache: "2 parts ofduhn (oily extract) ofrose, to be mixed with 1 part of vinegar, in which a piece oflinen cloth is dipped and compressed on the forehead". He recommended as alaxative, "7drams of driedviolet flowers with 20 pears,macerated and well mixed, then strained. Add to thisfiltrate 20 drams of sugar for a drink." In cases of melancholy, he invariably recommended prescriptions, which included eitherpoppies or its juice (opium),Cuscuta epithymum (clover dodder) or both. For an eye-remedy, he advisedmyrrh,saffron, andfrankincense, 2 drams each, to be mixed with 1 dram ofyellow arsenic formed intotablets. Each tablet was to be dissolved in sufficientcoriander water and used as eye drops.
In his bookDoubts about Galen,[45] al-Razi rejects several claims made by the Greek physician, as far as the alleged superiority of theGreek language and many of hiscosmological and medical views. He links medicine with philosophy, and states that sound practice demands independent thinking. He reports that Galen's descriptions do not agree with his own clinical observations regarding the run of a fever. And in some cases he finds that his clinical experience exceeds Galen's.
He criticized Galen's theory that the body possessed four separate "humors" whose balance is the key to health and a natural body temperature. A sure way to upset such a system was to insert a liquid with a different temperature into the body, resulting in an increase or decrease of bodily heat, which resembled the temperature of that particular fluid. Al-Razi noted that a warm drink would heat the body much higher than its natural temperature. Thus, the drink would trigger a response from the body rather than transferring only its warmth or coldness to it. (Cf. I. E. Goodman)
This line of criticism could completely refute Galen's theory of humors and Aristotle's theory of theclassical elements on which it was grounded. Al-Razi's alchemical experiments suggested other qualities of matter, such as "oiliness" and "sulphurousness", orinflammability andsalinity, which were not readily explained by the traditional fire, water, earth, and air division of elements.
Al-Razi's challenge to the current fundamentals of medical theory was quite controversial. Many accused him of ignorance and arrogance, even though he repeatedly expressed his praise and gratitude to Galen for his contributions and labours, saying:
I prayed to God to direct and lead me to the truth in writing this book. It grieves me to oppose and criticize the manGalen from whose sea of knowledge I have drawn much. Indeed, he is the Master and I am the disciple. Although this reverence and appreciation will and should not prevent me from doubting, as I did, what is erroneous in his theories. I imagine and feel deeply in my heart that Galen has chosen me to undertake this task, and if he were alive, he would have congratulated me on what I am doing. I say this because Galen's aim was to seek and find the truth and bring light out of darkness. I wish indeed he were alive to read what I have published.[46]
Al-Razi's interest in alchemy and his strong belief in the possibility oftransmutation of lesser metals to silver and gold was attested half a century after his death byIbn an-Nadim's book,The Philosopher's Stone (Lapis Philosophorum in Latin). Nadim attributed a series of twelve books to al-Razi, plus an additional seven, including his refutation toal-Kindi's denial of the validity of alchemy. Al-Kindi (801–873 CE) had been appointed by the Abbasid Caliph Ma'mun founder of Baghdad, to 'theHouse of Wisdom' in that city, he was a philosopher and an opponent of alchemy. Al-Razi's two best-known alchemical texts, which largely superseded his earlier ones:al-Asrar (الاسرار "The Secrets"), andSirr al-Asrar (سر الاسرار "The Secret of Secrets"), which incorporates much of the previous work.
Apparently al-Razi's contemporaries believed that he had obtained the secret of turning iron and copper into gold. Biographer Khosro Moetazed reports inMohammad Zakaria Razi that a certain General Simjur confronted al-Razi in public, and asked whether that was the underlying reason for his willingness to treat patients without a fee. "It appeared to those present that al-Razi was reluctant to answer; he looked sideways at the general and replied":
I understand alchemy and I have been working on the characteristic properties of metals for an extended time. However, it still has not turned out to be evident to me, how one can transmute gold from copper. Despite the research from the ancient scientists done over the past centuries, there has been no answer. I very much doubt if it is possible...
Al-Razi's works present the first systematic classification of carefully observed and verified facts regarding chemical substances, reactions and apparatus, described in a language almost entirely free from mysticism and ambiguity.
'The Secrets' (al-Asrar,Kitāb al-Asrār,'Book of Secrets') was written in response to a request from al-Razi's close friend, colleague, and former student, Abu Muhammad ibn Yunisal-Bukhari, a Muslim mathematician, philosopher, andnatural scientist.
This section is about the book by Abu Bakr al-Razi. For the Pseudo-Aristotelian treatise with the same name, seeSecretum Secretorum.
This is al-Razi's most famous book. Here he gives systematic attention to basic chemical operations important to the history of pharmacy. In this book al-Razi divides the subject of "matter' into three categories, as in his previous bookAl-Asrar.
Knowledge and identification of the medical components within substances derived from plants, animals, and minerals, and descriptions of the best types for medical treatments.
Knowledge of equipment and tools of interest to and used by either alchemists orapothecaries.
Knowledge of sevenalchemical procedures and techniques: sublimation and condensation ofmercury, precipitation of sulfur, and arsenic calcination ofminerals (gold, silver, copper, lead, and iron), salts, glass,talc,shells, andwaxing.
This last category contains additional descriptions of other methods and applications used intransmutation:
The added mixture and use of solvent vehicles.
The amount of heat (fire) used, 'bodies and stones', (al-ajsad andal-ahjar) that can or cannot be transmuted into corporal substances such of metals and salts (al-amlah).
The use of a liquidmordant which quickly and permanently colors lesser metals for more lucrative sale and profit.
Similar to the commentary on the 8th century text onamalgams ascribed toJabir ibn Hayyan, al-Razi gives methods and procedures of coloring a silver object to imitate gold (gold leafing) and the reverse technique of removing its color back to silver.Gilding andsilvering of other metals (alum, calcium salts, iron, copper, andtutty) are also described, as well as how colors will last for years without tarnishing or changing.
Sevenvitriols (al-zajat):alum (al-shabbالشب), and white (qalqadisالقلقديس), black, red (suriالسوري), and yellow (qulqutarالقلقطار) vitriols (the impure sulfates of iron, copper, etc.), green (qalqandالقلقند).
Eleven salts (al-amlah): including brine,common salt,ashes,naphtha, livelime, andurine,rock, andsea salts. Then he separately defines and describes each of these substances, the best forms and colours of each, and the qualities of various adulterations.
Al-Razi gives also a list of apparatus used in alchemy. This consists of 2 classes:
Instruments used for the dissolving and melting of metals such as the blacksmith's hearth, bellows, crucible, thongs (tongue or ladle),macerator, stirring rod, cutter, grinder (pestle), file, shears,descensory, and semi-cylindrical iron mould.
Utensils used to carry out the process of transmutation and various parts of the distilling apparatus: the retort,alembic, shallow iron pan, potters kiln and blowers, large oven, cylindrical stove, glass cups, flasks,phials, beakers, glass funnel, crucible,aludel, heating lamps, mortar, cauldron, hair-cloth, sand- and water-bath, sieve, flat stone mortar and chafing-dish.
Although al-Razi wrote extensively on philosophy, most of his works on this subject are now lost.[47] Most of his religio-philosophical ideas, including his belief in five "eternal principles", are only known from fragments and testimonies found in other authors, who were often strongly opposed to his thought.[48]
Al-Razi's metaphysical doctrine derives from the theory of the "five eternals", according to which the world is produced out of an interaction between God and four other eternal principles (soul,matter, time, andplace).[49] He accepted a pre-socratic type ofatomism of the bodies, and for that he differed from both thefalasifa and themutakallimun.[49] While he was influenced byPlato and the medical writers, mainlyGalen, he rejectedtaqlid and thus expressed criticism about some of their views. This is evident from the title of one of his works,Doubts About Galen.[49]
A number of contradictory works and statements about religion have been ascribed to al-Razi. Many sources claim that al-Razi viewed prophecy and revealed religion as unnecessary and delusional, claiming that all humans have the ability to access and discover truth (including the existence of God) through God-given reason.[50][51][52][53] According to these sources, his skepticism of prophecy and view that no one group or religion has privileged access to the truth is driven by his view that all people have an equal basic capacity for rationality and discovery of truth, and that apparent differences in this capacity are simply a feature of interest, opportunity, and effort.[54][52] Because of his supposed rejection of prophecy and acceptance of reason as the primary method for accessing the truth, al-Razi came to be admired as afreethinker by some.[55][53]
According to al-Biruni'sBibliography of al-Razi (Risāla fī Fihrist Kutub al-Rāzī), al-Razi wrote two "heretical books": "Fī al-Nubuwwāt (On Prophecies) and "Fī Ḥiyal al-Mutanabbīn (On the Tricks of False Prophets). According to Biruni, the first "was claimed to be against religions" and the second "was claimed as attacking the necessity of the prophets."[56] However, Biruni also listed some other works of al-Razi on religion, includingFi Wujub Da‘wat al-Nabi ‘Ala Man Nakara bi al-Nubuwwat (Obligation to Propagate the Teachings of the Prophet Against Those who Denied Prophecies) andFi anna li al-Insan Khaliqan Mutqinan Hakiman (That Man has a Wise and Perfect Creator), listed under his works on the "divine sciences".[56] None of his works on religion are now extant in full.
Sarah Stroumsa has argued that al-Razi was a freethinker who rejected all revealed religions.[57] However,Peter Adamson,Marwan Rashed and others hold that al-Razi did not reject revealed religion, on the basis of more recent evidence found in the writings of the theologian and philosopherFakhr al-Din al-Razi (died 1210).[58] Adamson states:
It is worth noting that Stroumsa’s work predates Rashed’s discovery of this evidence in Fakhr al-Dīn, so that she did not have the benefit of being able to consider how this new information could be reconciled with the Proofs. That is the goal I will set for myself in this chapter. I should lay my cards on the table and say that I am persuaded by Rashed’s account, and do not believe that Razi was staging a general attack on prophecy or religion as Abū Ḥātim would have us think.[59]
The views and quotes that are often ascribed to al-Razi where he appears to be critical of religion are found in a book written byAbu Hatim al-Razi, calledAʿlām al-nubuwwa (Signs of Prophecy), which documents a debate between Abu Hatim and al-Razi. Abu Hatim was anIsma'ili missionary who debated al-Razi, but whether he has faithfully recorded the views of al-Razi is disputed.[49] Some historians claim that Abu Hatim accurately represented al-Razi's scepticism of revealed religion while others argue that Abu Hatim's work should be treated with scepticism given that he is a hostile source of al-Razi's beliefs and might have portrayed him as a heretic to discount his critique of the Ismāʿīlīs.[60]
According to Abdul Latif al-'Abd, Islamic philosophy professor at Cairo University, Abu Hatim and his student,Ḥamīd al-dīn Karmānī (d. after 411AH/1020CE), were Isma'ili extremists who often misrepresented the views of al-Razi in their works.[61][62] This view is also corroborated by early historians likeal-Shahrastani who noted "that such accusations should be doubted since they were made by Ismāʿīlīs, who had been severely attacked by Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā Rāzī".[60] Al-'Abd points out that the views allegedly expressed by al-Razi contradict what is found in al-Razi's own works, like theSpiritual Medicine (Fī al-ṭibb al-rūḥānī).[61] Peter Adamson concurs that Abu Hatim may have "deliberately misdescribed" al-Razi's position as a rejection of Islam and revealed religions. Instead, al-Razi was only arguing against the use of miracles to proveMuhammad's prophecy,anthropomorphism, and the uncritical acceptance oftaqlīd vsnaẓar.[49] Adamson points out to a work byFakhr al-din al-Razi where al-Razi is quoted as citing theQuran and the prophets to support his views.[49]
In contrast, earlier historians such asPaul Kraus and Sarah Stroumsa accepted that the extracts found in Abu Hatim's book were either said by al-Razi during a debate or were quoted from a now lost work. According to the debate with Abu Hatim, al-Razi denied the validity of prophecy or other authority figures, and rejected prophetic miracles. He also directed a scathing critique on revealed religions and the miraculous quality of the Quran.[49][63] They suggest that this lost work is either his famousal-ʿIlm al-Ilāhī or another shorter independent work calledMakharīq al-Anbiyāʾ (The Prophets' Fraudulent Tricks).[64][65] Abu Hatim, however, did not explicitly mention al-Razi by name in his book, but referred to his interlocutor simply as themulḥid (lit.'heretic').[49][61]
Al-Razi's religious and philosophical views were later criticized byAbu Rayhan Biruni andAvicenna in the early 11th century. Biruni in particular wrote a short treatise (risala) dealing with al-Razi, criticizing him for his sympathy withManichaeism,[66] hisHermetical writings, his religious and philosophical views,[67] for refusing tomathematize physics, and his active oppositionto mathematics.[68] Avicenna, who was himself a physician and philosopher, also criticized al-Razi.[69] During a debate with Biruni, Avicenna stated:
Or from Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi, who meddlesin metaphysics and exceeds his competence. He should have remained confined to surgery andto urine andstool testing—indeed he exposed himself and showed his ignorance in these matters.[70]
Nasr-i-Khosraw posthumously accused him of having plagiarizedIranshahri, whom Khosraw considered the master of al-Razi.[71]
^His name wasrendered in Latin as eitherRhazes orRhasis. In modern academic literature he is also often referred to asRazi.
^For the spelling of his Arabic name, see for exampleKraus 1939. Sometimes it is also spelledزکریا (Zakariyyā) rather thanزکریاء (Zakariyyāʾ), as for example inDānish-pazhūh 1964, p. 1 of the edition, or inMohaghegh 1993, p. 5. In modernPersian his name is rendered asابوبکر محمدبن زکریا رازی (seeDānish-pazhūh 1964, p. 1 of the introduction), though instead ofزکریا one may also findزکریای (seeMohaghegh 1993, p. 18).
^Influence of Islam on World Civilization by Prof. Z. Ahmed, p. 127.
^Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, Fuat Sezgin, Māzin ʻAmāwī, Carl Ehrig-Eggert, and E. Neubauer.Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyāʼ ar-Rāzī (d. 313/925): Texts and Studies. Frankfurt am Main: Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, 1999.
^abTschanz David W., PhD (2003). "Arab(?) Roots of European Medicine".Heart Views.4 (2).
^abElgood, Cyril (2010).A Medical History of Persia and The Eastern Caliphate (1st ed.). London: Cambridge. pp. 202–203.ISBN978-1-108-01588-2.By writing a monograph on 'Diseases in Children' he may also be looked upon as the father of pediatrics.
^"Ar-Razi (Rhazes), 864–930 C.E."www.unhas.ac.id. Archived fromthe original on 20 February 2020. Retrieved27 February 2020.Ar-Razi was a pioneer in many areas of medicine and treatment and the health sciences in general. In particular, he was a pioneer in the fields of pediatrics, obstetrics and ophthalmology.
^Gunton, Simon. The History of the Church of Peterborough. London, Richard Chiswell, publisher, 1686. Facsimile edition published by Clay, Tyas, and Watkins in Peterborough and Stamford (1990). Item Fv. on pp. 187–8.
^Sezgin, Fuat (1970).Ar-Razi. In: Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums Bd. III: Medizin – Pharmazie – Zoologie – Tierheilkunde = History of the Arabic literature Vol. III: Medicine – Pharmacology – Veterinary Medicine. Leiden: E. J. Brill. p. 276; on Thabit's work cf. pp. 260–261 (no. 3).
^Sezgin 1970, p. 260, referring toMeyerhof, Max (1930). "The 'Book of Treasure', an Early Arabic Treatise on Medicine".Isis.14 (1):55–76.doi:10.1086/346485.JSTOR224380. p. 72.
^Bashar Saad, Omar Said,Greco-Arab and Islamic Herbal Medicine: Traditional System, Ethics, Safety, Efficacy, and Regulatory Issues, John Wiley & Sons, 2011.ISBN9781118002261,page
^See the list of 35 works given byDaiber 2017, pp. 389–396. Of these, only three are extant in full (see p. 396), though fragments of many other works also survive (edited byKraus 1939).
^Adamson, Peter (2021),"Abu Bakr al-Razi", in Zalta, Edward N. (ed.),The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Summer 2021 ed.), Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University, retrieved21 December 2023,While we have ample surviving evidence for his medical thought, his philosophical ideas mostly have to be pieced together on the basis of reports found in other authors, who are often hostile to him.
^abcdefghMarenbon, John (14 June 2012).The Oxford Handbook of Medieval Philosophy. Oxford University Press. pp. 69–70.ISBN9780195379488.
^Goodman, Lenn (1995). Audi, Robert (ed.).The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: The Cambridge University Press. pp. 20–21.ISBN0-521-40224-7.In keeping with the Epicureanism he might have imbibed from Galenic sources, he rejects special prophecy as imposture, arguing that reason, God's gift to all alike, is sufficient guidance.
^Groff, Peter (2007).Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 180–181.ISBN9780748620890.Accordingly, al-Razi takes a rather dim view of prophecy, which in his view is both unnecessary and delusional, and indeed he criticizes all revealed religions as provincial and divisive. No one individual or group can legitimately claim a monopoly on the truth; each succeeding generation has the ability to improve upon and even transcend its predecessor's insights through rational argumentation and empirical inquiry.
^abWalker, Paul E. (2000).Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy. New York: Routledge. p. 744.ISBN0-415-22364-4.Chief among his positive contributions is his advocacy of a doctrine of equal aptitude in all humans, which grants no special role for unique and divinely favoured prophets and which recognizes the possibility of future progress in the advancement of knowledge.
^Groff, Peter (2007).Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. pp. 180–181.ISBN9780748620890.Elsewhere, he argues that all human beings have the same fundamental capacity for reason and that the apparent inequality of people in this respect is ultimately a function of opportunity, interest and effort. Accordingly, al-Razi takes a rather dim view of prophecy, which in his view is both unnecessary and delusional, and indeed he criticizes all revealed religions as provincial and divisive. No one individual or group can legitimately claim a monopoly on the truth; each succeeding generation has the ability to improve upon and even transcend its predecessor's insights through rational argumentation and empirical inquiry.
^Groff, Peter (2007).Islamic Philosophy A-Z. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press Ltd. p. 41.ISBN9780748620890.More specifically, freethinking might be defined as independent thinking within an Islamicate context which (1) relies upon natural reason alone as a means to reach the truth, and (2) rejects the authority and veracity of revelation, prophecy and tradition... See belief; Ibn al-Rawandi; Islam; prophecy; rationalism; al-Razi (Abu Bakr)
^abDeuraseh, Nurdeng (2008). "Risalat Al-Biruni Fi Fihrist Kutub Al-Razi: A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Works of Abu Bakr Al-Rāzī (d. 313 A.h/925) and Al-Birūni (d. 443/1051)".Journal of Aqidah and Islamic Thought.9:51–100.
^abSeyyed Hossein Nasr, and Mehdi Amin Razavi,An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, vol. 1, (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), p. 353, quote: "Among the other eminent figures who attacked Rāzī are the Ismāʿīlī philosopher Abū Ḥatem Rāzī, who wrote two books to refute Rāzī's views on theodicy, prophecy, and miracles; and Nāṣir-i Khusraw. Shahrastānī, however, indicates that such accusations should be doubted since they were made by Ismāʿīlīs, who had been severely attacked by Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā Rāzī"
^abcAbdul Latif Muhammad al-Abd (1978).Al-ṭibb al-rūḥānī li Abū Bakr al-Rāzī. Cairo: Maktabat al-Nahḍa al-Miṣriyya. pp. 4, 13, 18.
^Ebstein, Michael (25 November 2013).Mysticism and Philosophy in al-Andalus: Ibn Masarra, Ibn al-ʿArabī and the Ismāʿīlī Tradition. BRILL. p. 41.ISBN9789004255371.
^Rafik Berjak and Muzaffar Iqbal, "Ibn Sina—Al-Biruni correspondence",Islam & Science, December 2003.
^Corbin, Henry (1998).The Voyage and the Messenger: Iran and Philosophy. North Atlantic Books. p. 72.ISBN9781556432699.Al-Razi was posthumously accused of having plagiarized his master in Nasr-i-Khosraw polemics, and the latter did not hide his sympathy for Iranshahri.
Goodman, L.E (1960–2007). "al-Rāzī". In Bearman, P.; Bianquis, Th.; Bosworth, C.E.; van Donzel, E.; Heinrichs, W.P. (eds.).Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition.doi:10.1163/1573-3912_islam_SIM_6267.
Hitti, Philip Khuri (1 January 1969).Makers of Arab History. St. Martin's Press.
Iskandar, Albert Z. (2008). "Al-Rāzī". InSelin, Helaine (ed.).Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd ed.). Berlin: Springer. pp. 155–156.ISBN978-1-4020-4559-2.
Kahl, Oliver (2015).The Sanskrit, Syriac and Persian Sources in the Comprehensive Book of Rhazes. BRILL.ISBN978-90-04-29024-2.
Walzer, Richard (1962).Greek Into Arabic Essays on Islamic Philosophy (Oriental Studies I ed.). Harvard University Press.ISBN978-0674362758.{{cite book}}:ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
Stroumsa, Sarah Stroumsa (1999).Freethinkers of Medieval Islam: Ibn al-Rāwandī, Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, and Their Impact on Islamic Thought. Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies. Vol. 35. Leiden: Brill.ISBN978-90-04-11374-9.
Ziai, Hossein (2005). "Recent trends in Arabic and Persian philosophy". InAdamson, Peter; Taylor, Richard C. (eds.).The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. pp. 405–425.ISBN978-0521520690.
Arberry, A.J. (1950).The Spiritual Physick of Rhazes.{{cite book}}:|work= ignored (help)
Brockelmann, Carl.Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur, I, pp. 268–71 (second edition), Suppl., Vol. I, pp. 418–21. (overview of extant manuscripts of al-Razi's works)
Dānish-pazhūh, Muḥammad Taqī (1964).Kitāb al-asrār wa-Sirr al-asrār. Tehran: Commission Nationale Iranienne pour l'UNESCO. (edition of theKitāb al-asrār and fascimile of theSirr al-asrār in ms. Goharshad 953)
Karimov, Usmon I. (1957).Neizvestnoe sochinenie ar-Razi "Kniga taĭny taĭn". Tashkent: Izd-vo Akademii nauk Uzbekskoĭ SSR.OCLC246883935. (fascimile of theSirr al-asrār in a Tashkent ms., with Russian translation)
Review inFigurovsky, N.A. (1962). "Review of Karimov 1957".Ambix.10 (3):146–149.
Koetschet, Pauline (2019).Abū Bakr al-Rāzī: Doutes sur Galien. Introduction, édition et traduction. Scientia Graeco-Arabica. Vol. 25. Berlin: De Gruyter.doi:10.1515/9783110629767.ISBN9783110629767.S2CID189234965. (critical edition and French translation ofal-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs)
Kraus, Paul (1939).Abi Bakr Mohammadi Filii Zachariae Raghensis: Opera Philosophica, fragmentaque quae supersunt. Pars Prior. Universitatis Fouadi I litterarum facultatis publicationum. Vol. 22. Cairo: Jāmiʿat Fuʾād al-Awwal.OCLC496583777. (edition of extant philosophical works)
Mohaghegh, Mehdi (1993).Kitâb Al – Shukûk ʻAlâ Jâlînûs. Tehran: International Institute of Islamic Though and Civilization.OCLC257281952. (edition ofal-Shukūk ʿalā Jalīnūs, superseded byKoetschet 2019)
Ruska, Julius (1937).Al-Rāzī's Buch Geheimnis der Geheimnisse. Mit Einleitung und Erläuterungen in deutscher Übersetzung. Quellen und Studien zur Geschichte der Naturwissenschaften und der Medizin. Vol. VI. Berlin: Springer. (German translation of theKitāb al-asrār)
Taylor, Gail Marlow (2015).The Alchemy of Al-Razi: A Translation of the "Book of Secrets". CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.ISBN9781507778791. (English translation of Ruska 1937's translation of the Arabic)
Adamson, Peter (2016). "Atomismus bei ar-Rāzī". In Buchheim, Thomas; Meißner, David; Wachsmann, Nora (eds.).Sōma: Körperkonzepte und körperliche Existenz in der antiken Philosophie und Literatur. Archiv für Begriffsgeschichte, Sonderheft 13. Hamburg: Meiner. pp. 345–360.
Adamson, Peter (2017). "Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (d. 925), The Spiritual Medicine". In El-Rouayheb, Khaled; Schmidtke, Sabine (eds.).The Oxford Handbook of Islamic Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 63–82.
Goodman, Lenn E. (1972). "Razi's Psychology".Philosophical Forum.4:26–48.
Goodman, Lenn E. (1975). "Razi's Myth of the Fall of the Soul: Its Function in His Philosophy". In Hourani, G. (ed.).Essays in Islamic Philosophy and Science. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. pp. 25–40.
Goodman, Lenn E. (2015). "How Epicurean was Rāzī?".Studia graeco-arabica.5:247–280.
Ruska, Julius; Garbers, Karl (1939). "Vorschriften zur Herstellung von scharfen Wässern bei Gabir und Razi".Der Islam.25:1–34.doi:10.1515/islm.1938.25.1.1.S2CID161055255. (contains a comparison ofJabir ibn Hayyan's and Abu Bakr al-Razi's knowledge of chemical apparatus, processes and substances)
Shader, H. H., ZDMG, 79, pp. 228–35 (see translation into Arabic byAbdurrahman Badawi inal-Insan al-Kamil, Islamica, Vol. XI, Cairo, 1950, pp. 37–44).
"Dr Al Razi's city tour of Baghdad." Educational podcast released by the Leiden Learning & Innovation Centre as part of the Massive Open Online Course "Cosmopolitan Medieval Arabic World."
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