Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī and the External Senses: An Epistemological Reading of Mafātīḥ al-Ghayb

Abstract

The examination of the external senses as the key components of knowledge acquisition reflects the conceptualisation of knowledge prevalent in Islamic theological and philosophical discourses. This study focuses on the relationality between the external senses and knowledge as portrayed in Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s exegesis, Mafātīḥ al-ghayb (al-Tafsīr al-kabīr). Implementing a comparative approach, the study contextualises al-Rāzī’s composition within Islamic philosophers and theologians, encompassing mainly the discussions of the Asharites and Avicenna. This intertextual connectivity to Islamic philosophy and theology mirrors the ways al-Rāzī interweaves these allegedly incompatible disciplines into his conception of knowledge through the interpretation of the Qurʾān. The study argues that, despite the shared understanding of the external senses in Islamic scholarship, al-Rāzī’s insistence on an inclusive methodology, which extracts otherwise overlooked connections between the senses and intellect, between knowledge and essence, and between rational investigation and the divine unknown, posits him as a reconciliatory figure within disciplines who challenges the continuing repudiation of their incoherence.