Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī was a Muslim mystic who died in 378 H / 988 C.E. He is named by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of the two Malay treatises of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī as the authority on which the *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* — one of the principal sources of the *Tibjān fī maʿrifat al-adyān* — draws for the seven additional sects that the tract adds, in some manuscripts, to the seventy-two Islamic sects.
The seven additional sects
The *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* — the schematic overview of the seventy-two Islamic sects that is one of the principal sources of the *Tibjān* of Raniri — adds, in some manuscripts, seven further sects drawn from a work of Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī. The seven sects are: the Dahriyya, the Hanābila, the Ibāḥiyya, the Bāṭiniyya, the Barāhima, the Ashʿariyya, and (the one explicitly cited by Raniri in the *Tibjān*) the Karrāmiyya. The seven sects are also found in a small Arabic treatise of three pages in which ar-Rāzī is named as author (London, India Office Library, Levy 1777).
The Karrāmiyya in the Tibjān
The first of the seven sects derived from ar-Rāzī — the Karrāmiyya — is cited by Raniri in the *Tibjān* (p. 24 of the Voorhoeve facsimile). The doctrines that Raniri records for the Karrāmiyya are the same as those recorded in the Moluccan manuscript of Leiden Cod. Or. 1255; they are also found in the other manuscripts of the Maʿrifat al-madhāhib and in the small Arabic treatise of ar-Rāzī himself. The doctrines are: the throne is the place of God; man dies of himself, not by the angel of death; the ladder by which Muḥammad ascended to heaven was of gold, silver, and precious stones; a wali (saint) stands above a prophet; the Quran is created.
Significance
Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī is the authority on which the *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* draws for the seven additional sects that the tract adds to the seventy-two Islamic sects. The transmission of these sects from ar-Rāzī’s work, through the Maʿrifat al-madhāhib, to the *Tibjān* of Raniri — and so to the Malay-Indonesian world — is one of the channels by which the scholastic classification of Muslim heresies was carried to the Malay-Indonesian archipelago.
See Also
- Abu Hanifa
- al-Fikh al-akbar
- Ma’rifat al-madhahib
- P. Voorhoeve
- Pulo Ai
- Raniri
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §2b (“De bronnen van de Tibjān”), pp. 13–15, where ar-Rāzī and the seven additional sects are discussed.
Ṣafīnat al-awliyāʾ no. 27.27; Ethé, Catalogue of the India Office Library I, col. 302 above (cited by Voorhoeve).
Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī was a Muslim mystic who died in 378 H / 988 C.E. He is named by Voorhoeve in the introduction to the 1955 edition of the two Malay treatises of Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī as the authority on which the *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* — one of the principal sources of the *Tibjān fī maʿrifat al-adyān* — draws for the seven additional sects that the tract adds, in some manuscripts, to the seventy-two Islamic sects.
The seven additional sects
The *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* — the schematic overview of the seventy-two Islamic sects that is one of the principal sources of the *Tibjān* of Raniri — adds, in some manuscripts, seven further sects drawn from a work of Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī. The seven sects are: the Dahriyya, the Hanābila, the Ibāḥiyya, the Bāṭiniyya, the Barāhima, the Ashʿariyya, and (the one explicitly cited by Raniri in the *Tibjān*) the Karrāmiyya. The seven sects are also found in a small Arabic treatise of three pages in which ar-Rāzī is named as author (London, India Office Library, Levy 1777).
The Karrāmiyya in the Tibjān
The first of the seven sects derived from ar-Rāzī — the Karrāmiyya — is cited by Raniri in the *Tibjān* (p. 24 of the Voorhoeve facsimile). The doctrines that Raniri records for the Karrāmiyya are the same as those recorded in the Moluccan manuscript of Leiden Cod. Or. 1255; they are also found in the other manuscripts of the Maʿrifat al-madhāhib and in the small Arabic treatise of ar-Rāzī himself. The doctrines are: the throne is the place of God; man dies of himself, not by the angel of death; the ladder by which Muḥammad ascended to heaven was of gold, silver, and precious stones; a wali (saint) stands above a prophet; the Quran is created.
Significance
Abū’l-Qāsim ar-Rāzī is the authority on which the *Maʿrifat al-madhāhib* draws for the seven additional sects that the tract adds to the seventy-two Islamic sects. The transmission of these sects from ar-Rāzī’s work, through the Maʿrifat al-madhāhib, to the *Tibjān* of Raniri — and so to the Malay-Indonesian world — is one of the channels by which the scholastic classification of Muslim heresies was carried to the Malay-Indonesian archipelago.
See Also
- Abu Hanifa
- al-Fikh al-akbar
- Ma’rifat al-madhahib
- P. Voorhoeve
- Pulo Ai
- Raniri
- Tibjan fi ma’rifat al-adyan
Source
Twee Maleise geschriften van Nūruddīn ar-Rānīrī: in facsimile uitgegeven met aantekeningen door P. Voorhoeve. Uitgaven van de Stichting De Goeje, No. 16. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1955. Inleiding §2b (“De bronnen van de Tibjān”), pp. 13–15, where ar-Rāzī and the seven additional sects are discussed.
Ṣafīnat al-awliyāʾ no. 27.27; Ethé, Catalogue of the India Office Library I, col. 302 above (cited by Voorhoeve).