Moral Obligation to Worship God Alone

Hannah C Erlwein

doi:10.5617/jais.9371

Abstract

This article examines how, in his al-Tafsīr al-kabīr, Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī (d. 606/1210) addresses the problem of the obligation to thank the benefactor (wujūb shukr al-munʿim) within the context of the Quranic command to worship God alone. The obligation to thank one’s benefactor was a contentious problem among classical Islamic thinkers before Rāzī, and it was frequently discussed in fiqh and kalām works in the context of the ontology and epistemology of moral values and legal norms. Rāzī’s analysis in the Tafsīr, however, sheds light on another way in which the “thanking one’s benefactor”-problem was of relevance for classical Islamic thinkers: it is used to frame the rationale for monotheism in terms of the gratitude God deserves for being humans’ provider. This aspect of the “thanking one’s benefactor”-problem has not been highlighted in the secondary literature. This article discusses how Rāzī’s analysis of God’s sole deservedness of worship has theological, legal, and ethical/moral implications. The theological implications are found in the questions it raises about the notorious problem of causality. The legal implications become apparent in Rāzī’s interest in the ratio legis of the Quranic command and in establishing that the obligation arises with God’s sovereign decree. The ethical or moral implications, finally, are seen in his concern with how humans come to know of the goodness of monotheism and the repugnancy of polytheism. The article contextualises Rāzī’s position in the Tafsīr against the background of the fiqh and kalām debates about the “thanking one’s benefactor”-problem.

Highlights

The problem of the obligation to thank one’s benefactor preoccupied generations of classical Islamic scholars
The obligation to thank one’s benefactor was a contentious problem among classical Islamic thinkers before Rāzī, and it was frequently discussed in fiqh and kalām works in the context of the ontology and epistemology of moral values and legal norms
Rāzī’s analysis in the Tafsīr, sheds light on another way in which the “thanking one’s benefactor”-problem was of relevance for classical Islamic thinkers: it is used to frame the rationale for monotheism in terms of the gratitude God deserves for being humans’ provider

Summary

Introduction

The problem of the obligation to thank one’s benefactor (wujūb shukr al-munim) preoccupied generations of classical Islamic scholars. As in his previous analysis, Rāzī is once more concerned with stressing that it is God alone, to the exclusion of other possible entities, who is causally responsible for the existence of provisions What makes this particular part of his commentary interesting to us is that it gives a first indication of how Rāzī connects the question why God alone should be worshipped with the problem of the obligation to thank one’s benefactor. Rāzī’s discussion, in the Maḥṣūl, of the ratio legis, and especially the notion of suitability, are relevant for situating the aforementioned quote from the Tafsīr, i.e., “coordination between a ruling and the description, which is [characterised as] suitable, indicates a causal connection, and here the command to worship [God] is in relative conjunction with the mention of the description of God’s lordship.”. Rāzī’s discussion, in the Maḥṣūl, of the ratio legis, and especially the notion of suitability, are relevant for situating the aforementioned quote from the Tafsīr, i.e., “coordination between a ruling and the description, which is [characterised as] suitable, indicates a causal connection, and here the command to worship [God] is in relative conjunction with the mention of the description of God’s lordship.” In line with his discussion in the Maḥṣūl, in the Tafsīr Rāzī makes the point that the ratio legis of the command to practice monotheism— i.e., God’s being humans’ benefactor—is characterised by suitability.

Compare OPWIS 2012

11 Al-GHAZĀLĪ 1993

19 Compare also the section on Ghazālī in REINHART 1995