Revisiting Fakhr al-Din al-Razi’s Responses to the Theological Doubts over the Unity of Divine Acts

Abstract

The Principle of the Unity of Divine Acts which can be defined as conditionality of everything to Divine permission, Providence and will, has caused numerous objections. Fakhr al-Din al-Razi has tried to respond to the aforementioned objections. In this article, in order to review these responses and provide a proper explanation of the Unity of Divine Acts, I shall include the objections into three categories which are (1) objections based on restriction of the domain of divine power, (2) those which are based on restriction of the Knowledge and the Will of God, and (3) those which are based on rationality of good and evil. I shall then reread and analyze al-Razi’s ideas about these objections. It is concluded that none of the objections cast doubt on the principle of the unity of divine acts. Furthermore, while some of al-Razi’s responses are satisfactory, his other responses are based on doubtful foundations.

Keywords

• the unity of divine acts
• divine omniscience
• divine omnipotence
• divine absolute will
• fakhr al-din al-razi