Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī on Prayer and the Planets: An Islamic Theory of Theurgy

This article examines Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī’s (d. 606/1210) theory of the relationship between supplicatory prayer ( duʿāʾ ) and astrology. Rāzī’s text on astrological elections ( Kitāb al-Ikhtiyārāt al-ʿalāʾiyya ) ends with a chapter on the most astrologically propitious time to perform supplicatory prayer ( duʿāʾ ) based on an epistle written by Yaʿqūb ibn Isḥāq al-Kindī (d. ca. 870). Through a close reading of this chapter in the Ikhtiyārāt , Kindī’s source text, and select passages from Rāzī’s Kitāb al-Sirr al-maktūm, al-Jāmiʿ al-ʿulūm , and al-Maṭālib al-ʿāliya , the article shows that Rāzī’s theory of prayer ( duʿāʾ ) is closely connected to his theory of planetary invocation ( daʿwat al-kawākib ).