• Al-Rāzī’s Discussion on the Meaning of Speech [Kalām] & its Origins: Introduction & Translation

    Author(s):
    Bakir S. Mohammad, FRSA (see profile)
    Contributor(s):
    Kristof D’hulster, Hadel Jarada, Michelle Quay, Kayvan Tahmasebian
    Editor(s):
    Rebecca Ruth Gould
    Date:
    2021
    Subject(s):
    Islam--Study and teaching, Middle Eastern literature, Poetics, Poetry, Translating and interpreting
    Item Type:
    Article
    Tag(s):
    GlobalLit, Islamic studies, Literary theory, Poetics and poetry, Translation
    Permanent URL:
    http://dx.doi.org/10.17613/bmsa-3992
    Abstract:
    Known as one of the Sultans of the theologians, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (1150 – 1210) was a Persian Sunnī scholar of Arab origins who was renowned for mastering various disciplines including but not limited to exegesis [tafsīr], principles of Islamic jurisprudence [uṣūl al-fiqh], theology [kalām], logic [manṭiq], astronomy [falak], cosmology, physics, anatomy, and medicine. This paper delves into al-Rāzī’s discussion on semantics and its relation to the foundations of languages by examining multiple views on the composition of speech. By raising the rather simple question as to what constitutes speech (kalām) and what does not, al-Rāzī presents us with a terse, yet enlightening presentation of rhetoric's very building blocks, the word. His focus then moves to the vexed issue of whether the waḍʿ or establishment of speech is through divine revelation or human convention?
    Notes:
    This series is part of a project that has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme (Grant agreement No. 759346.) For more working papers of the series, visit https://globallit.hcommons.org/licit-magic-working-papers/. For a presentation of the series, visit https://medium.com/global-literary-theory.
    Metadata:
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    Published as:
    Online publication     Show details
    Status:
    Published
    Last Updated:
    2 years ago
    License:
    Attribution

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