A Study on the Effect of Sayyid Murtada's Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa on Fakhr Razi's 'Ismat ol-Anbiyaa

Sayyid Murtada is the first theologian in the Muslim world who theorized at length about the infallibility of the prophets; meanwhile, he considers lapses permissible for them. Similarly, Fakhr Razi, who has been the source of enormous changes in Ash'ari theological views, limits the infallibility of prophets just to the period of their prophethood, during which committing minor sins are permitted for them. However, he has been considerably influenced by Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa in justification of the verses concerning rebuke. This influence can be studied in two fields of form and content. In regard with the form, the chapters and even the type of questions in each chapter, the number of rebuke verses and their arrangement in the book written by Fakhr Razi are similar to those of Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa. On the other hand, the type of phraseology and even the key words in a lot of questions and answers in 'Ismat ol-Anbiyaa, repeat the same text of Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa. In regard with the content, Sayyid Murtada has often used the rules of creative interpretation for the analysis of the verses conflicting with the infallibility; Fakhr Razi has exactly employed Sayyid Murtadas rules, without naming him, to justify the very same verses. As a result, through proving that Fakr Razi's 'Ismat ol-Anbiyaa has been considerably influenced by Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa, the claim of Sayyid Murtada's theological-principle effectiveness on other Muslim sects will be confirmed.

Keywords: Sayyid Murtada, Fakhr Razi, Tanzih ol-Anbiyaa, 'Ismat ol-Anbiyaa, prophets, rebuke, infallibility

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* Assistant professor, department of the Qur'an and hadith sciences, Isfahan University

** Ph.D. candidate of the Qur'an and hadith sciences, Isfahan University, (corresponding author)