Rukn al-dīn Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad al-Malāḥimī al-Khuwārazmī (died 19 October 1141) was a
Khwārazm
Khwarazm (; Old Persian: ''Hwârazmiya''; fa, خوارزم, ''Xwârazm'' or ''Xârazm'') or Chorasmia () is a large oasis region on the Amu Darya river delta in western Central Asia, bordered on the north by the (former) Aral Sea, on the ea ...
ian
Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic theologian of the
Muʿtazilī and
Ḥanafī schools. He wrote six works known by title, but of these only one is completely preserved and two partially; the rest are lost.
Ibn al-Malāḥimī was born before 1090 in Khwārazm. He was probably active in
Gurgānj, the capital of Khwārazm. In his time, Muʿtazila was popular among the Khwārazmian
Ḥanafī, whereas it had been suppressed in most Muslim countries. He initially belonged to the
Bahshamiyya Bahshamiyya ( ar, البهشمية, also known as "Ba Hashimiyya") was a Mu'tazili-influenced school of thought, rivaling the school of Abd al-Jabbar ibn Ahmad, based primarily on the earlier teaching of Abu Hashim al-Jubba'i, the son of Abu 'Ali M ...
branch of Muʿtazila, but adopted the theology of
Abu ʾl-Ḥusayn al-Baṣrī after its introduction to Khwārazm. He helped turn the school of al-Baṣrī into a serious rival to the Bahshamiyya in Khwārazm. He taught theology to
al-Zamakhsharī, who in turn instructed him in
Qurʾanic exegesis.
Ibn al-Malāḥimī was a staunch opponent of
metaphysics
Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that studies the fundamental nature of reality, the first principles of being, identity and change, space and time, causality, necessity, and possibility. It includes questions about the nature of conscio ...
. He saw in the teachings of
Ibn Sīnā
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
a dilution of Islam's prophetic character.
Christianity
Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global pop ...
, in his view, was the paradigm of a religion of divine revelation and prophecy compromised by
Greek philosophy
Ancient Greek philosophy arose in the 6th century BC, marking the end of the Greek Dark Ages. Greek philosophy continued throughout the Hellenistic period and the period in which Greece and most Greek-inhabited lands were part of the Roman Empir ...
. He wrote a compendium of the Muʿtazilī theology of al-Baṣrī, ''The Reliable Book on the Principles of Religion'', but only the first section and part of another have been preserved. He wrote an abridged version of his compendium, ''The Excellent Book on the Principles of Religion'', completed in December 1137. This work survives complete. In it he mentions two other works of his that are not known to have been preserved. Between 1137 and 1141, he completed a third book, ''The Gift to the Theologians Concerning the Refutation of the Philosophers'', a comprehensive attack on
Islamic philosophy
Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—falsafa (literally: "philosophy"), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, ...
, especially
the teachings of Ibn Sīnā. Philosophy, he argues, will be used to justify false beliefs, as the Christians do with the
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the central dogma concerning the nature of God in most Christian churches, which defines one God existing in three coequal, coeternal, consubstantial divine persons: God the F ...
and
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means ''embodied in flesh'' or ''taking on flesh''. It refers to the conception and the embodiment of a deity or spirit in some earthly form or the appearance of a god as a human. If capitalized, it is the union of divinit ...
. This work once circulated as far afield as
Yemen
Yemen (; ar, ٱلْيَمَن, al-Yaman), officially the Republic of Yemen,, ) is a country in Western Asia. It is situated on the southern end of the Arabian Peninsula, and borders Saudi Arabia to the Saudi Arabia–Yemen border, north and ...
, but is now lost. His last work, ''The Abstract'', is an abridged version of a work by al-Baṣrī on legal method completed by June 1140. It survives in a single incomplete manuscript.
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{{Authority control
11th-century births
1141 deaths
Mu'tazilites
12th-century Arabic writers
Hanafis