Examination of the Al-Wāḥid Rule from the Viewpoint of Rukn al-Dīn Ibn Malāḥimī al-Khwārazmī

The al-Wāḥid rule (the one does not emanate of it except one) is one of the important and controversial philosophical rules that had been paid attention by philosophers and theologians. From the beginning of its setting forth in the Islamic world, this theory has been accepted by the philosophers and denied by many of theologians. Philosophers like al-Fārābī and Avicenna have set forth and proved this theory in the Islamic world. One can say that all the important demonstrations to prove this rule have been set forth by Avicenna. In this regard, by numerous evidences such as limitedness in God’s power or regarding God as being an obliged agent, the theologians apposed this theory. One of these theologians is Ibn Malāḥimī al-Khwārazmī that criticized this rule on the basis of incoherence of this rule with the speeches of the philosophers themselves as well as claiming limitedness of the Divine power. This article examined the history of the al-Wāḥid rule, its conceptual clarification and the Ibn Malāḥimī al-Khwārazmī’s arguments and criticisms in order.