ABSTRACT
The intellectual life of Islam after the attacks of Ash'ari and Ghazzali upon nationalistic philosophy can be largely described as the gradual transition from the rationalism of Aristotelian philosophy toward the intuitive and illuminative wisdom of the ishraqis1 and Sufis. Although Islam began to weaken politically and culturally during the later part of the 'Abbasid Caliphate, Muslim thought especially in the Shi'ife world continued the process of divorcing itselffrom the categories of Peripatetic philosophy. One of the most influential and colourful figures in this movement, who played a major role in the attack against the rationalists, was Fakhr al-Din Razi, who is considered to be the reviver ofIslam in the sixth/twelfth century as Ghazzali was in the fifth/eleventh. 2 Razi is in many ways a second Ghazzali; in fact, he may without exaggeration be considered to be one of the greatest Muslim theologians.
