Abu al-Futuh al-Razi ( ar, أبو الفتوح الرازي), full name Abū al-Futūḥ al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAlī ibn Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Khuzāʿī al-Rāzī al-Nīsābūrī () or Abu al-Futuh Jamal al-Din al-Razi al-Nisaburi (), also known as Khaza'i Nishaburi (
fl. 6th A.H./12th century), was a
Shiʿite theologian and author. He came from an
Arab
The Arabs (singular: Arab; singular ar, عَرَبِيٌّ, DIN 31635: , , plural ar, عَرَب, DIN 31635: , Arabic pronunciation: ), also known as the Arab people, are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in Western Asia, ...
family originally from
Nishapur
Nishapur or officially Romanized as Neyshabur ( fa, ;Or also "نیشاپور" which is closer to its original and historic meaning though it is less commonly used by modern native Persian speakers. In Persian poetry, the name of this city is wr ...
and supposedly from the
Khuza'a tribe, which settled in Nishapur. His grandfather had moved to
Rayy
Shahr-e Ray ( fa, شهر ری, ) or simply Ray (Shar e Ray; ) is the capital of Ray County in Tehran Province, Iran. Formerly a distinct city, it has now been absorbed into the metropolitan area of Greater Tehran as the 20th district of municip ...
, where he taught and later died in or after 1131 CE.
His most famous work, ''
Rawz al-jinan wa Ruh al-Janan'', is considered the first Persian-language exegesis on the
Quran
The Quran (, ; Standard Arabic: , Classical Arabic, Quranic Arabic: , , 'the recitation'), also romanized Qur'an or Koran, is the central religious text of Islam, believed by Muslims to be a revelation in Islam, revelation from God in Islam, ...
.
The book, consisting of twenty volumes, is the earliest surviving Persian
tafsīr
Tafsir ( ar, تفسير, tafsīr ) refers to exegesis, usually of the Quran. An author of a ''tafsir'' is a ' ( ar, مُفسّر; plural: ar, مفسّرون, mufassirūn). A Quranic ''tafsir'' attempts to provide elucidation, explanation, in ...
with an
Imāmī Shīʿī emphasis. It delves into mystical themes regularly.
[Abu l-Futuh al-Razi's entry in Brill Online Encyclopedia of Islam](_blank)
by Gleave, Robert M.[Abu l-Futuh al-Razi's entry in Encyclopedia Islamica](_blank)
by Negahban, Farzin
References
{{Authority control
Quranic exegesis scholars
1131 deaths
People from Ray, Iran
12th-century Persian-language writers
12th-century Arabs
Iranian Shia scholars of Islam