A CRITICAL MIND 143
Razi in the list are two Aristotelian pseudepigrapha, the Book of the
Apple and the Book of the Golden House, which Maimonides describes
as “ravings (hazayot), empty words, and nonsense.” Immediately follow-
ing Razi on the list are two works by the Jewish Neoplatonist Isaac Is-
raeli, the Book of Defi nitions and the Book of Elements. These are given
the same description, with an added explanation that puts Israeli in the
same category as Razi: “[These books] are all ravings (hazayot), empty
words and nonsense, because Isaac Israeli was only a physician.” Thus
Razi appears bracketed between two entries that describe authors who,
like him, are guilty of false pretenses. Their literary productions deserve
the title “ravings” because of their false pretenses, but one suspects that
they also receive the title, as it were, by contamination, because of their
proximity (and similarity) to Razi.^87
A comparison with other medieval Arabic texts indicates that the ap-
plication of the term hadhayan to Razi’s book on metaphysics and to his
thought refl ects a standard practice among Muslim writers. Particularly
close to Maimonides in this respect is the tenth- century phi losopher
Amiri, who wonders at the fact that people are willing to describe Razi
as a phi losopher “because of his profi ciency in medicine— this, in spite of
his various ravings (sunuf hadhayanatihi) about the fi ve eternal principles
and about the corrupt spirits.”^88 Amiri alludes here to two central ele-
ments in Razi’s metaphysics: his creation myth, which was based on the
interaction between the fi ve eternal principles, and his antiprophetic teach-
ing, which regarded the prophets as inspired by the souls of evil men who
had become demons.^89 These notions were developed in Razi’s book on
metaphysics (K. al-ilm al- ilahi, which is apparently identical with the
book mentioned by Maimonides as Ilahiyat). The comparison with Amiri’s
text suggests that Maimonides may be using the term hadhayan to de-
note specifi cally the mythical part of Razi’s philosophy.
This conjecture is supported by the evidence of Abu Rayhan al- Biruni,
who says that, while reading Razi’s book on metaphysics, he came across
the names of Mani’s books, especially the Book of Secrets, on which Razi
draws. This reference intrigued Biruni for more than forty years, until a
caravan leader (barid) arriving from Hamadhan came to him in Khwar-
ism and offered him a load of Manichean books, among them the coveted
Book of Secrets. Biruni says that upon receiving this book and consulting
it, “the joy that engulfed me was like the joy of a thirsty person beholding
a mirage, and my grief thereafter was similar to his disappointment as he
(^87) SeeEpistles, 552.
(^88) Rowson, A Muslim Phi losopher on the Soul and its Fate, 74– 75; and see above, apud
note 60.
(^89) Ibid., 203, 214– 17.