Ibn ar-Rawandi

Abu al-Hasan Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Ishaq al-Rawandi, commonly known as Ibn al-Rawandi, was a scholar and theologian who lived from 827 to 920 CE. In his early days, he was a Mu'tazilite scholar, but then rejected the Mu'tazilite doctrine. Afterwards, he became a Shia scholar; there is some debate about whether he stayed a Shia until his death or became a skeptic, though most sources confirm his eventual rejection of all religion and becoming an atheist. Although none of his works have survived, his opinions had been preserved through his critics and the surviving books that answered him. His book with the most preserved fragments (through an Ismaili book refuting al-Rawandi's ideology) is the Kitab al-Zumurrud (The Book of the Emerald). Al-Rawandi is frequently mentioned in classical Islamic literature as one of the zanādiqa, a term referring to individuals who outwardly profess Islam while concealing beliefs that contradict it. He extended his critique to prophethood, though he did not deny the existence of a Creator. The German orientalist Josef van Ess argued that Ibn al-Rawandi's shift did not align with any particular philosophical doctrine, but rather reflected "an individualistic dialectical tendency, motivated initially by personal resentment against the Mu‘tazilites, which later evolved into a broader rejection of religious foundations." Ibn al-Rawandi is considered an early example of what modern scholarship terms individual atheism or isolated intellectual dissent. Despite his polemical and critical approach, his thought did not give rise to a distinct school or following. Van Ess further noted that Ibn al-Rawandi "remained on the margins of Islamic theological discourse, and his ideas left no significant legacy."