Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's Depictions of Paradise and Hell in his al-Tafsir al-Kabir

The thesis consists of an introduction and three parts. After explaining the topic, objective, scope and methodology of the thesis, detailed explanations are provided as to Fakh al-Din al Razi's life, his academic life and scholar personality, as well as his disciples and his works. Then, some evaluations are made about Tafsir al-Kabir. The first part of the thesis defines Paradise and Hell both literally and as a term and discusses issues such as life after death and teachings of worldwide beliefs about it as well as the vastness of Paradise, time and obligations in Paradise, and obtaining and inheriting Paradise. The topic is followed by some further explanations as to the layers of Paradise, namely And, Naeem, Firdaws, Mawa, Dar-us Salam, Husna, Gurfe, and Dar-al Muqama and more. At the end of this part, detailed information is given about the attributes and types of blessings in Paradise. In part two which contains depictions of Hell, after the word Hell is defined both literally and as a term, explanations are given as to its characteristics, its fuel and its guardian angels, as well as being thrown into Hellfire, and whether or not everyone will enter it. After that, further explanations are given about the layers of Hell, namely Jahannam, Ladthaa, Hatamah, Sa'err, Saqar, Jaheem, Haawiyah and more, as well as the attributes and the types of perdition. In part three, comparisons are made between Fakh al-Din al Razi's views and those of other scholars regarding controversial topics such as the existence, eternity of Paradise and Hell, and who their dwellers will be, seeing Allah, the purgatory and its dwellers. Keywords: Paradise, Hell, Blessings, Perdition