Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in The Conceptualization Process of al-Mushakala (Verbal Similarity)

Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 606/1210), one of the 12th century thinkers, who is known for his works in the field of al-kalam (Islamic theology), philosophy and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), wrote a work called Nihayat al-ijaz fi diryat al-i' jaz on the 'ilm al belagha (science of eloquence) consisting of the sciences of 'ilm al-bayan (the science of clarity of language), 'ilm al-ma ani (the science of meanings) and 'ilm al-badi' (the science of ornamentation). al-Razi, who did not include the art of al-Mushakala (lexical simulation), which is defined as stating a word (lafz) by the form of another (word) in that book, used this art extensively in his tafsir called Mefatihu'l-gayb. However, since al-Mushakala was not yet termed in his time, he mentioned this art with different names. In fact, he did not explain while interpreting the verses and referred to another verse mentioned before. Since al-Razi's thoughts about al-Mushakala could not be determined exactly and his statements were misunderstood, the subject of our study is the extraction of general rule from the small materials that al-Razi mentions about the art of al-Mushakala. In this direction, the conceptual framework of the art of al-Mushakala will be included in the introduction of the article. In the first part, the nature of the art of al-Mushakala according to al-Razi will be explained, and in the second part, it will be discussed whether this art is a metaphor or a reality for him.