Recent Developments in the Study of Arabic Philosophy and Its Impact on the West
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375 Wilson, EJ, Dinkha, S., Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's
REVIEW ESSAY Wilson, E.J., Dinkha, S., Hunayn Ibn Ishaq’s “Questions on Medicine for Students”. Transcription and Translation of the Oldest Extant Syriac Version (Vat. Syr. 192). Studi e testi, 459. Città del Vaticano: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 2010. xxiii + 615 pp., facsims. GRIGORY KESSEL, PHILIPPS UNIVERSITÄT - MARBURG “Opuscule couvrant seulement quelques feuillets de manuscrits, l’Isagoge se trouve au centre de difficultés de tous ordres et continue à faire l'objet de multiples interprétations.”1 This statement was pronounced by Danielle Jacquart, a prominent historian of Medieval medicine, with regard to a Latin version of the medical treatise Questions on Medicine for Students (hereafter: Questions), the Syriac text of which is provided in the volume under review. As the review will demonstrate, the Syriac version of the text despite its undisputed importance, is also not destined to occupy the place it deserves, but this time it is because of the printed edition. unayn ibn Isāq (808-873) is a chief representative of the Greek-Arabic translation movement that produced a whole body of translations of Greek scientific literature.2 Being mainly involved in translation activity, unayn also authored a number of original treatises, many of which (written in both Syriac and Arabic) fell into oblivion. The disappearance of texts produced by unayn does not provide evidence for their lack of popularity in the following centuries. Quite to the contrary, the literary production of Ḥunayn laid a foundation (taking into consideration only the field of medicine) for the development of medical science not only in the Islamic East but also, although to a less extent, in the Latin West. -
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See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329572822 Interpretation in Muslim Philosophy Book · January 2012 CITATIONS READS 0 323 1 author: Abduljaleel Alwali United Arab Emirates University 3 PUBLICATIONS 0 CITATIONS SEE PROFILE All content following this page was uploaded by Abduljaleel Alwali on 11 December 2018. The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file. Interpretation in Muslim Philosophy By Prof. Abdul Jaleel Kadhim Al Wali Philosophy Department Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences United Arab Emirates University Al Ain Abu Dhabi UAE Phone: +971-50-663-6703 [email protected] Abstract Muslim philosophers had been preoccupied with the question of interpretation since the Islamic Philosophy was first developed by its founder Al Kindi till its interpretative maturity by Ibn Rushd who represents the maturity of rationalism in Islamic Arab philosophy. Rational option was the most suitable for Arab Muslim civilization as it expresses the vitality of civilization and its ability to interact with other contemporary civilizations and trends. Islamic philosophy interpretation themes are various as they adopted the following terms: 1. Interpreting the approval of the Greek philosophy in Muslim culture. 2. Interpreting the relationship between religion and philosophy. 3. Interpreting the relationship between Mind and Mind ( Plato and Aristotle ) 4. Interpreting the relationship between nature and Metaphysics. The goals of interpretation for Muslim philosophers are different as Al Kind pointed that they are oriented towards the Greek philosophy in general and towards religion and philosophy in particular while Al Farabi pointed that they are oriented towards the Greek philosophy in general and towards Plato and Aristotle. -
Of Book Titles and Other Texts
Index of Book Titles and Other Texts Aeneid, Virgil 902 Asrār al-ḥikma al-mashriqiyya (The Mysteries Āghāz wa-anjām (The Beginning and the End), of Illuministic Philosophy), Ibn Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī 662–63, 672 Sabʿīn 898 Aḥwāl-i qiyāma (The circumstances of Asrār-nāme (Book of secrets), ʿAṭṭār 281 resurrection) 1040, 1042–44 Asrār al-shahāda (The spiritual realities of in paradise 1055 fig.47.9 martyrdom), Sarbāz Burūjirdī 1056 records raining from the sky 1054 fig.47.8 Asrār al-tawḥīd (Secrets of oneness) 580 n. 9 ʿAjāʾib al-makhlūqāt, al-Qazwīnī 932–33, Auf rauhem Wege, Mark Lidzbarski 1132 936, 938–39 Awṣāf al-ashrāf (Attributes of the nobles), al-Ajwiba ʿan al-asʾila al-Ṣiqilliyya (The Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī 662 responses to the Sicilian questions), Ibn Sabʿīn 898 Bahjat al-nāẓirīn wa-āyāt al-mustadillīn (The Akhbār Makka, al-Azraqī 357 n. 80 delight of onlookers and the signs for Akhlāq-i Muḥtashamī (The Muḥtashamid investigators), Marʿī b. Yūsuf ethics), Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī 662 al-Karmī 25, 931–32, 935–36, 939–42 Akhlāq-i Nāṣirī (The Nasirean Ethics), Naṣīr Bāl-i Jibrīl (Gabriel’s Wing), Muḥammad al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī 662 Iqbāl 954 n. 7 ʿAlāmāt al-qiyāma, al-Barzanjī 1249 Baṣāʾir al-darajāt, al-Ṣaffār al-Qummī 608 Alf layla wa-layla (A Thousand and One Beiträge zur Eschatologie des Islam (1895), Nights) 25, 286, 435, 587, 923–27 Josef Bernhard Rüling 6 Almagest, Ptolemy 357, 1088, 1094 Between Heaven and Hell: Islam, Salvation, Alter und Heimat der mandäischen Religion, and the Fate of Others (2013), Mohammad Mark Lidzbarski 1134 Khalil 10 Anwār al-tanzīl wa-asrār al-ta ʾwīl (The lights Biḥār al-anwār (Seas of light), Muḥammad of revelation and the secrets of Bāqir al-Majlisī 614, 1253 interpretation), al-Bayḍāwī 223, 228, The Birds, Aristophanes 253 n. -
The History of Arabic Sciences: a Selected Bibliography
THE HISTORY OF ARABIC SCIENCES: A SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY Mohamed ABATTOUY Fez University Max Planck Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin A first version of this bibliography was presented to the Group Frühe Neuzeit (Max Planck Institute for History of Science, Berlin) in April 1996. I revised and expanded it during a stay of research in MPIWG during the summer 1996 and in Fez (november 1996). During the Workshop Experience and Knowledge Structures in Arabic and Latin Sciences, held in the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin on December 16-17, 1996, a limited number of copies of the present Bibliography was already distributed. Finally, I express my gratitude to Paul Weinig (Berlin) for valuable advice and for proofreading. PREFACE The principal sources for the history of Arabic and Islamic sciences are of course original works written mainly in Arabic between the VIIIth and the XVIth centuries, for the most part. A great part of this scientific material is still in original manuscripts, but many texts had been edited since the XIXth century, and in many cases translated to European languages. In the case of sciences as astronomy and mechanics, instruments and mechanical devices still extant and preserved in museums throughout the world bring important informations. A total of several thousands of mathematical, astronomical, physical, alchemical, biologico-medical manuscripts survived. They are written mainly in Arabic, but some are in Persian and Turkish. The main libraries in which they are preserved are those in the Arabic World: Cairo, Damascus, Tunis, Algiers, Rabat ... as well as in private collections. Beside this material in the Arabic countries, the Deutsche Staatsbibliothek in Berlin, the Biblioteca del Escorial near Madrid, the British Museum and the Bodleian Library in England, the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Süleymaniye and Topkapi Libraries in Istanbul, the National Libraries in Iran, India, Pakistan.. -
Theories of the Soul Vs. Medical Knowledge: Averroës As an Authority in Thirteenth-Century France
Theories of the Soul vs. Medical Knowledge: Averroës as an Authority in Thirteenth-Century France Heather Thornton McRae, University of Missouri The intellectual florescence of thirteenth-century France, and Paris in particular, was vibrant, yet it confronted scholastic thinkers with a range of both new and continuing problems. The most famous of the continuing problems was the how to fully reconcile Aristotelian philosophy with revealed scripture. Both had lengthy commentary traditions that complicated the attempt. Christian doctrine had the four Church Fathers as well as key medieval works, such as Peter Lombard’s Sentences, while Aristotle had commentaries from both the late antique and Islamic worlds as well as Christian commentaries for those few works available in Latin in the early Middle Ages. The most famous of the Muslim Aristotelian scholars in Europe was Ibn Rushd, known in Latin as Averroës, or often simply The Commentator. A twelfth-century Andalusi Islamic jurist, physician, theologian, and philosopher, Averroës presented curious and thoughtful scholars, such as Albertus Magnus, with the difficult question of how to use and learn from the knowledge that Averroës provided while not stumbling over his religiously problematic positions. At the heart of this conflict was the changing notion of auctoritas (authority). As late as the early twelfth century, men like William of St. Thierry were writing that knowledge was acquired through the intellect while auctoritas was exclusively the means for acquiring faith. 1 However, this long-held view changed at the turn of the twelfth century, which saw the end to what is sometimes called the Age of Authority, because men noted that authority was the weakest form of proof, as Thomas Aquinas observes time and again in his famous Summa 1 Heinrich Fichtenau, Heretics and Scholars in the High Middle Ages: 1000-1200, trans. -
The Importance of Translation Mathematics Old Script ABSTRACT
Malaysian Journal of Mathematical Sciences 3(1): 55-66 (2009) The Importance of Translation Mathematics Old Script 1Shahrul Nizam Ishak, 2Noor Hayati Marzuki, 3Jamaludin Md. Ali School of Mathematical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia E-mail: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] ABSTRACT In this paper, a concise discussion of the text study will be carried out by focusing on the significant of Malay mathematics old script translation. We also discuss the importance of the translation work that need to emphasize. Stages of the translation period based on history knowledge also been highlighted. An example of the translation from Rau ḍat al-Ḥuss āb f ī ‘Ilm al-Ḥis āb that was written by Malay ‘Ulama 1 in 1307H/1893M is also shown here. The book was printed in Egypt and has been used in teaching and learning among the student at the Holy Mosque ( Masjid al- Har ām). Therefore, from this work hope that the introduction of the book presented here is sufficient to stimulate interest in readers and researchers to embark and investigate the beauty and the power of script translation in providing more knowledge especially in the mathematics education area. Keywords: Mathematics Translation, Old Script, Rau ḍat al-Ḥuss āb. INTRODUCTION The amount of translation into Arabic from Greek, Syrian, Persian and Sanskrit was at its peak during the ninth and tenth century. ‘Ulama of Islam, Christianity, Judaism and even Zoroastrianism were employed in the translation and writing new scientific masterpieces. In the course of time the works of Euclid, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Apollonius, Archimedes, Heron, Diophantus and the Hindus were accessible in Arabic. -
House of Wisdom
House of Wisdom ,romanized: Bayt al-Ḥikmah), alsoبيت الحكمة :The House of Wisdom (Arabic known as the Grand Library of Baghdad, refers to either a major Abbasid public academy and intellectual center in Baghdad or to a large private library belonging to the Abbasid Caliphs during the Islamic Golden Age.[1][2] The House of Wisdom is the subject of an active dispute over its functions and existence as a formal academy, an issue complicated by a lack of physical evidence following the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate and a reliance on corroboration of literary sources to construct a narrative. The House of Wisdom was founded either as a library for the collections of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid in the late 8th century (then later turned into a public academy during the reign of Al-Ma'mun) or was a private collection created by Al-Mansur (reign 754–775) to house rare books and collections of poetry in both Arabic and Persian.[1][3] The House of Wisdom and its contents were destroyed in the Siege of Baghdad in 1258, leaving very little in the way of archaeological evidence for the House of Wisdom, such that most knowledge about it is derived from the works of contemporary scholars of the era such as Al-Tabari and Ibn al-Nadim. The House of Wisdom existed as a part of the major Translation Movement taking place during the Abbasid Era, translating works from Greek and Syriac to Arabic, but it is unlikely that the House of Wisdom existed as the sole center of such work, as major translation efforts arose in Cairo and Damascus even earlier than -
Al-Kindi, a Ninth-Century Physician, Philosopher, And
AL-KINDI, A NINTH-CENTURY PHYSICIAN, PHILOSOPHER, AND SCHOLAR by SAMI HAMARNEH FROM 9-12 December, I962, the Ministry of Guidance in Iraq celebrated the thousandth anniversary of one of the greatest intellectual figures of ninth century Baghdad, Abui Yuisuf Ya'qiib ibn Ishaq al-Kind? (Latin Alkindus).1 However, in the aftermath ofthis commendable effort, no adequate coverage of al-Kindl as a physician-philosopher ofardent scholarship has, to my knowledge, been undertaken. This paper, therefore, is intended to shed light on his intel- lectual contributions within the framework of the environment and time in which he lived. My proposals and conclusions are mainly based upon a study of al-Kindi's extant scientific and philosophical writings, and on scattered information in the literature of the period. These historical records reveal that al-Kindi was the only man in medieval Islam to be called 'the philosopher of the Arabs'.2 This honorary title was apparently conferred upon him as early as the tenth century if not during his lifetime in the ninth. He lived in the Abbasids' capital during a time of high achievement. As one of the rare intellectual geniuses of the century, he con- tributed substantially to this great literary, philosophic, and scientific activity, which included all the then known branches of human knowledge. Very little is known for certain about the personal life of al-Kind?. Several references in the literary legacy ofIslam, however, have assisted in the attempt to speculate intelligently about the man. Most historians of the period confirm the fact that al-Kindl was of pure Arab stock and a rightful descendant of Kindah (or Kindat al-Muliuk), originally a royal south-Arabian tribe3. -
A Thesis for the Decree of Ph.D., in the University of Edinburgh By
"MQLINOS AM) THE IMPLICATIONS OF THE SPIRIT OF QUIETISM. n A Thesis for the Decree of Ph.D., in the University of Edinburgh by. H. A. A^new, M.A. , BJL., Research Student in the Dejrt., of Ecclesiastical History (Faculty of Divinity) in the University. OCTOBER CONTENTS. CHAPTER. PAGE Int r o due t i on. 1 1. Hoots of Quietism: Neoplatonism, Dionysius. 3 2. Islamic Mysticism & Passivism in (a) the East; (b) Spain. Jewish influences. 21 3. Golden age of Mysticism (a) Spain; (b) The Netherlands. 43 4. The Alumbrados of Spain. 6? 5. The Illuminati of Italy. 88 6. Miguel Molinos: Valencia, Rome. 118 7. His Works. 137 8. The Growing Opposition. 163 9. The Trial. 179 10. Quietism in France. 200 11. Permanent worth of Quietism. 214 BIBLIOGRAPHY. INTRODUCTION: Beneath the anti-Reformation rigourism of the 17th century Spain and Italy, a school or thought was developing - and teaching men a doctrine of stillness and non-resistance. This is the school whose history and aims we now propose to investigate. The principal idea of this research is not only to judge the immediate influences which caused Molinos to expound his doctrine of Quietism, but to trace the close cultural contacts between the old and the new, and to draw attention to that particular mystical and semi-mystical atmosphere to which Spain was exposed by reason of its geographical and political position. As this thesis is only a chapter in the history of movements I have not attempted to do more than briefly outline the antique elements which might help to further our under standing of this growth of Quietism and the quietistic spirit in the 17th Century. -
Science in the Medieval Islamic World Was the Science Developed And
Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Umayyads of Córdoba, the Abbadids of Seville, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids in Persia, the Abbasid Caliphate and beyond, spanning the period roughly between 786 and 1258. Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas, especially astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. Medieval Islamic science had practical purposes as well as the goal of understanding. For example, astronomy was useful for determining the Qibla, the direction in which to pray, botany had practical application in agriculture, as in the works of Ibn Bassal and Ibn al-'Awwam, and geography enabled Abu Zayd al- Balkhi to make accurate maps. Islamic mathematicians such as Al- Khwarizmi, Avicenna and Jamshīd al-Kāshī made advances in algebra, trigonometry, geometry and Arabic numerals. Islamic doctors described diseases like smallpox and measles, and challenged classical Greek medical theory. Al-Biruni, Avicenna and others described the preparation of hundreds of drugs made from medicinal plants and chemical compounds. Islamic physicists such as Ibn Al-Haytham, Al-Bīrūnī and others studied optics and mechanics as well as astronomy, criticised Aristotle's view of motion. The significance of medieval Islamic science has been debated by historians. The traditionalist view holds that it lacked innovation, and was mainly important for handing on ancient knowledge to medieval Europe. The revisionist view holds that it constituted a scientific revolution. Whatever the case, science flourished across a wide area around the Mediterranean and further afield, for several centuries, in a wide range of institutions. -
NICOLA POLLONI Gundissalinus and Avicenna
NICOLA POLLONI Gundissalinus and Avicenna : Some Remarks on an Intricate Philosophical Connection Dominicus Gundissalinus is a peculiar figure in the twelfth-century cultural landscape. Born in the Iberian Peninsula between 1115 and 1125, he received his philosophical education in Chartres possibly under Thierry of Chartres and William of Conches as many traces in his original productions indicate1. At least since 1148, Gundissalinus was archdeacon of Cuéllar, a village not far from Segovia, where supposedly he was resident until 11612. Then, he moved to Toledo, where he was based from 1162. This fact is to be linked to the presence, in the Castilian town, of the Jewish philosopher Abraham ibn Daud. As pointed out by Bertolacci3, Ibn Daud’s translation of the prologue to Avicenna’s Liber sufficientiae — i.e., the Kitāb al-Šifāʾ — is to be seen as an invitation to the Toledan archbishop, John II, to sponsor and support a series of translations into Latin of Avicenna’s work. As a result, Gundissalinus arrived in Toledo, his presence probably required there by the same archbishop with the purpose of collaborating with Ibn Daud on the ‘Avicenna project’, the first accomplishment of which was the Latin translation of Avicenna’s De anima, realized before 11664. 1 SISMEL. EDIZIONI DEL GALLUZZO Cf. N. HÄRING, Thierry of Chartres and Dominicus Gundissalinus, « Mediaeval Studies », 26, 1964, pp. 271-286 ; K. M. FREDBORG, The Latin Rhetorical Commentaries by Thierry of Chartres, Pontifical Institute of Medieval Studies, Toronto 1988 ; EAD., The Dependence of Petrus Helias’ Summa super Priscianum on William of Conches’ Glosae super Priscianum, « Cahiers de l’Institut du Moyen Âge grec et latin », 11, 1973, pp. -
The Islamic Connection
THE ISLAMIC CONNECTION CONTRIBUTIONS MADE BY THE ARABS TO MATHEMATICS by John E. Sasser, Ph.D. COPYRIGHT Copyright © 2007 by John E. Sasser. All rights reserved. No part of this paper may be reproduced in any form, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy recording, or any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author. 2 The Arab Contribution to Mathematics CONTENTS Foreword...............................................……............... 4 Dedication..................................................…….......... 5 Preface........................................................…….......... 7 Map............................................................…….......... 9 List of Illustrations…………………………………... 10 Introduction..................................................……........ 11 The Search for Knowledge.....................…................. 23 Antiquity and the European Renaissance: Translations. Geometry: Geometric Constructions……………….. Trigonometry Direction Time NumberTheory: ……………………………………. The Hindu-Arabic Numeration System. Astronomy and the Calendar: Algebra: Conclusion..........................................……................. References........................................……................... Glossary……………………………………………... Index......................................................…….............. 3 The Arab Contribution to Mathematics FOREWORD This paper describes selected principal contributions to mathematics and the Arabs. Selection of appropriate examples to illustrate