A Critical Analysis of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s View on the Impossibility of Knowability of the Divine Essence

The present research seeks to answer the two questions from “What does the impossibility of knowledge of the divine essence mean?” and “What are the reasons for this impossibility?” The following conclusions have been obtained in this research: the nonidentity of essence and attributes, and the nonidentity of existence and quiddity in God cannot be accepted; the inconceivability of God essence is true, but there may be other ways of knowing Him. Furthermore, some of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s reasons are similar to like examples than independent reasons. Therefore, the data and results seem to show that Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī does not have a consistent manner on the issue and in some cases believes in the knowability of the divine essence. The authors will address the possibility of the knowability of the divine essence from the perspective of Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī in another independent study.