Ибн әл-Рауанди: Дінтен күдіктенген ойшыл және сынашы.

Early skeptic of Islam and a critic of religion in general

Abu al Hasan Ahmad ibn Yahya ibn Ishaq al Rawandi (أبو الحسن أحمد بن يحيى بن إسحاق الراوندي), commonly known as Ibn al Rawandi (ابن الراوندي;‎ 827–911 CE), was a scholar and theologian. 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).

Abu al Husayn Ahmad bin Yahya ben Isaac al Rawandi was born in 827 CE in Greater Khorasan, modern day northwest Afghanistan. Al Rawandi was born in Basra during the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Al Ma'mun. His father, Yahya, was a Persian Jewish scholar who converted to Islam and schooled Muslims on refuting the Talmud. He joined the Mu'tazili of Baghdad and gained prominence among them. However, he eventually became estranged from his fellow Mu'tazilites and formed close alliances with Shia Muslims Among his arguments, he critiques dogma as antithetical to reason, argues miracles are fake, that prophets (including Muhammad) are just magicians, and that the Paradise as described by the Quran is not desirable. Some scholars also try to account for the more positive view of Ibn al Rawandi in some Muslim sources. Josef van Ess has suggested an original interpretation that aims at accommodating all the contradictory information. He notes that the sources which portray Ibn al Rawandi as a heretic are predominantly Mutazilite and stem from Iraq, whereas in eastern texts he appears in a more positive light. As an explanation for this difference, van Ess suggests "a collision of two different intellectual traditions," i. e., those in Iran and in Iraq. He further suggests that Ibn al Rawandi's notoriety was the result of the fact that after Ibn al Rawandi left Baghdad, "his colleagues in Baghdad profiting from his absence could create a black legend." In other words, van Ess believes that Ibn al Rawandi, although eccentric and disputatious, was not a heretic at all. However, these views are discounted by most scholars given the weight of evidence to the contrary.