827-911: Ibn al-Rawandi

Ibn Al-Rawandi of Khorasan in present day Afghanistan is one of the earliest Islamic sceptics. None of his 114 books have survived, but he is often cited by his many critics in their furious refutations.

 

During his lifetime, Al-Rawandi jumps from Mutazilite to Shīʿite to radical scepticism bordering on atheism. Disguised in the voices of Indian Brahmins, his works reject miracles, attack the Qurʾān as an absurd book full of inconsistencies and holds that prophets are unnecessary and fraudulent. Even the prophet!