Abu Isa al-Warraq, full name ''Abū ʿĪsā Muḥammad ibn Hārūn al-Warrāq'' (, died 861–2 AD/247 AH), was a 9th-century

Arab Arabs (, , ; , , ) are an ethnic group mainly inhabiting the Arab world in West Asia and North Africa. A significant Arab diaspora is present in various parts of the world. Arabs have been in the Fertile Crescent for thousands of years ...

skeptic scholar and critic of Islam and religion in general. He was a

mentor Mentorship is the patronage, influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the perso ...

and friend of scholar

Ibn al-Rawandi Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Ishaq al-Rawandi (), commonly known as Ibn al-Rawandi (;‎ 827–911 CEAl-Zandaqa Wal Zanadiqa, by Mohammad Abd-El Hamid Al-Hamad, First edition 1999, Dar Al-Taliaa Al-Jadida, Syria (Arabic)), was a scholar and ...

in whose work ''The Book of the Emerald'' he appears. A modern critic of

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

Ibn Warraq Ibn Warraq (born 1946) is the pen name of an anonymous author critical of Islam. He is the founder of the Institute for the Secularisation of Islamic Society and used to be a senior research fellow at the Center for Inquiry, focusing on Qurani ...

, derives his pseudonym from al-Warraq.

Views of revealed religions

Al-Warraq was skeptical of the existence of God. He wrote "He who orders his slave to do things that he knows him to be incapable of doing, then punishes him, is a fool," referring to a God that would order humans to act in unrealistic ways then punish them for failing. Al-Warraq challenged the notion of revealed religion. He argued that if humans are capable of figuring out that, for instance, it is good to be forgiving, then a prophet is unnecessary, and that we should not heed the claims of self-appointed prophets, if what is claimed is found to be contrary to good sense and reason. Al-Warraq admired the intellect not for its capacity to submit to a god, but rather for its inquisitiveness towards the wonders of science. He explained that people developed the science of astronomy by gazing at the sky, and that no prophet was necessary to show them how to gaze; he also said that no prophets were needed to show them how to make flutes, either, or how to play them.

Views of Islam

Al-Warraq doubted claims portraying Muhammad as a prophet:

Views on Christianity

Few Arab scholars of the period directly engaged with Christianity, partially due to a lack of access to Christian scriptures in Arabic, and partially due to a belief that Christian documents were defective and unfruitful to study. Al-Warraq wrote ''Radd ʿalā al-thalāth firaq min al-Naṣārā'' ("The Refutation of three Christian sects"), one of the most detailed attacks on Christianity of the period, where he shows unusual familiarity with Christian theology and history. He criticizes the conflicting notions of the incarnation of Jesus as contradictory, that he was both human and divine. He cites how Christian denominations themselves have struggled and disagreed with each other on the meaning of the incarnation and the

Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, thr ...

References

10th-century people from the Abbasid Caliphate Former Muslim critics of Islam Freethought Place of birth unknown 889 births 994 deaths 10th-century Arab people Shia hadith scholars Critics of religions Middle Eastern agnostics {{Islamic-scholar-stub