Proceedings of the American Catholic Philosophical Association

Volume 86, 2012

Philosophy in the Abrahamic Traditions

Aspects of the Reception of Avicenna’s Theory of Prophecy in Islamic Theology

This paper explores an aspect of the ‘religious’ turn in medieval Arabic philosophy, and how this development culminated in a philosophical turn in medieval Islamic theology. The figure central to both developments is Avicenna (d. 1037), the first philosopher to have a major impact on sections of the mainstream theological scene, thanks in large part to the compelling philosophical system he developed and the fact that he theorised within that system various typically theological subjects using characteristically Islamic language. One such theme is prophecy. The paper shows how Avicenna’s psychological and socio-political theory of prophecy, which clashed with various mainstream theological tenets and hence faced much opposition, was later modified by the influential philosopher and theologian Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1210), who made this theory much more palatable to theologians. Razi’s innovation was later criticised by Ibn Kammuna (d. 1284), a Jewish member of the Arabic philosophical tradition, since it clashed with traditional Jewish prophetology.