The maqālāt of Abū Qāsim al-Balḫī contain several passages devoted to legal theory. The most important source found there is some extracts of K. al-futyā, a legal treatise by al-Ǧāḥiẓ of which until now only fragments remained, containing the criticisms addressed by al-Naẓẓām to the companions of the Prophet. This article provides a translation of these new extracts preceded by a study of the text and its place in the history of legal theory during this formative period of Islamic (...) thought. (shrink)

With this study, it is aimed to clarify some ambiguities about the origin of the manuscripts that the edition of Kitāb al-Tahrīsh and Kitāb al-Maqālāt, which we published recently, rest on. Those editions which we expect to open new horizons in terms of the history of Islamic theology and hadith criticism, have reached today via Yemeni libraries, like other Muʿtazila cultural heritage items. Due to the political instability caused by the long-term civil wars in the country, a (...) detailed inventory of private or official libraries in Yemen, which has rich collections of manuscripts on Islamic culture, has not been made until now. Although some of these manuscripts were collected in the Sanaa Library (Maktabat al-Awqāf), most of them are still preserved in mosques’ libraries or private collections under inappropriate conditions. Since there are no reliable records or indexes of these manuscripts, it is not possible to give reliable information about the origin of each item especially the status of those found in private collections or family libraries as called Buyūt alʿilm. Today, most of the Yemeni manuscripts found in the libraries of Europe, America and Islamic countries have been purchased by manuscript collectors, merchants, foreign researchers, or other illegal ways. The ones that have been published so far are either based on these manuscripts or similarly on copies from Yemen. This ambiguity about the origin of the manuscripts can sometimes lead to unjust accusations that target the editors of them, as if they used illegal copies on purpose. In this article, we tried to clarify the ambiguities and controversial points related to those manuscripts which our edition is based on by giving information about the obtaining manuscripts and edition processes. (shrink)

The "Text" and the "Commentary" mentioned in the title of this essay are, respectively, the "Kitāb al-Manāẓir", or "Optics", of al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham, composed in the first half of the fifth/eleventh century, and the "Tanqīḥ al-Manāẓir li-dhawī l-abṣār wa l-baṣā'ir", written by Abū l-Ḥasan (or al-Ḥasan) Kamāl al-Dīn al-Fārisī in the second half of the seventh/thirteenth century. It is known that, so far, only the first five of the seven "maqālāt"/Books that make up the Arabic text of IH's (...) "Optics" have been published, and that the "Tanqīḥ" was published in two volumes. I shall be concerned with certain episodes in the lives of these two works, my aim being to shed light on their transmission within the Islamic Arabic and Persian worlds. -/- . (shrink)

In a departure from the tradition of the Neoplatonic commentators of the Organon, the sequence of summaries in the insert two treatises between the Prior Analytics and the Posterior Analytics, namely the Resolution and the Sophistical Refutations. And even though the Tal30), while it. The contents of kitl and the different titles that the fahiktist), lead one to realize that it is an addition to the Prior Analytics offering a theory concerning the generation of the premisses of the syllogism, something (...) that may have appeared to Alfarabi as missing from Kits. (shrink)

The Sufi saints, in their texts, successfully ingrained Love as the destination of spiritual path, to accomplish the Divine. The objective of this study was to focus on the cult of Sufism, in general, and on the Sufi poetry of Fakhr al-Din ʿIrāqī, in particular as reflected in his anthology, Kitāb al-lamaʿāt. Adopting a historical approach, the study analyzed the evolution of Sufi poetry since the beginning, and examined the poetry of ʿIrāqī in the context of Islamic mysticism. This (...) qualitative study adopted an exploratory content analysis method and documentation research to examine the Sufi philosophy as reflected in the sampled poetry of ʿIrāqī. For the realization of this goal, a research was conducted on the available published resources. The documentation survey helped discover the truth of ʿIrāqī ’s poetry in the context of Spiritual love. It was discovered that ʿIrāqī ’s philosophy of Love was based on metaphysical transcendentalism, where spiritual attainment was achieved through formlessness mirrored in the form of Beauty as the manifestation of Love. (shrink)

The paper deals with the non-usual interpretation of the main works of an-Niffary as an original and specific guide in the Sufi terminology. The specific character of the text obliges a reader to treat the text more attentively that to the ordinary texts created by the human being. The most famous Sufi treatises on Sufism and its terminology are Qushayri and Hudjwiri's works,which contain definitions of most important Sufi terms and notions. Niffary works are not so well-known, but they also (...) can be regarded in a sense as a specific guidebook on Sufi terminology. The paper deals with the peculiarities of understanding by those three mystics the Sufi term “ma'arifa”, which sometimes is mistranslated as gnosis. One of the basic distinction in such an understanding is that for Niffary there is no outward sign of successful attainment of mystical knowledge. Further both Qushayri and Hudjwiri point out that the Sufi practice can not contradict the Sunna. Meanwhile Niffary says that Sunna is significant only if there is ma'arifa, not vice versa. (shrink)

RésuméLa tradition manuscrite duKitāb al-Kašf, conserve la trace matérielle de trois phases de rédaction et de révision de l'ouvrage. Cette étude vise à expliciter les relations entre les deux versions arabes et la traduction hébraïque anonyme du XIVesiècle, en prenant en compte les additions et remaniements qui les différencient. Je conclus que la traduction hébraïque représente un stade intermédiaire de réélaboration: elle atteste d'importants ajouts et modifications philosophiques, spécialement dans les arguments portant sur la création du monde, au début de (...) l'ouvrage, mais précède l'achèvement de la révision du traité, qui a conduit aux remaniements dont témoigne la dernière version arabe, dans les chapitres abordant les questions épineuses de la corporéité divine et de la direction. L'étude des ajouts et des arguments du point de vue du contenu, du contexte et de l'argumentation contribue également à comprendre l'histoire de la stratification des phases rédactionnelles de l'ouvrage et la manière dont l'ouvrage a été transmis. (shrink)

Translator's introduction -- Mir Damad's introduction -- 1st qabas. On the kinds of creation (huduth) and the divisions of existence according to them, establishing the bases of judgment, and defining the area of dispute -- 2nd qabas. On the three kinds of essential antecedence and constructing the demonstration by way of essential priority (taqaddum bi'l-dhat) -- 3rd qabas. The two kinds of separate posteriority and constituting the demonstration by way of eternal priority -- 4th qabas. Quotations from the book of (...) god and the traditions of his messenger, and from the traditions of the lofty and pure imams -- 5th qabas. Concerning the mode of existence of the unqualified natures and the path of the demonstration by the mode of the existence of the nature -- 6th qabas. On the continuity of time and motion; setting up the course of the demonstration with respect to the continuity of the magnitude of time according to the natural system in two ways; establishing the finitude of extended continuous quantity; and invalidating a numerical infinity -- With respect to successive temporal creatures -- 7th qabas. A series of abridged arguments, unsound dialectical arguments, and criticism of certain syllogisms and controversial sophistical doubts according to the two extremes of the two groups -- 8th qabas. Inquiry into the power of God and his will after completing what remains in the care of the intellect, through the use of decisive utterance, to solve some of the difficulties and dilemmas caused by doubt and the confusions arising from idle fancies -- 9th qabas. On establishing the intelligible substances and the stages of the system of existence in the two chains of beginning and return -- 10th qabas. The decisive doctrine on the secret of predetermination (qada') and fate (qadar), how evil is related to predetermination, the colocynth of truth on prayer and its granting, and the return of the command to god in the beginning and the end -- Glossary-- Bibliography. (shrink)

Al-Fbb al-f, is apparently the first person to maintain that existence, in one of its senses, is a second-order concept [mal th]. As he interprets Metaphysics d] has two meanings, second-order being as truth'' (including existence as well as propositional truth), and first-order being as divided into the categories.'' The paronymous form of the Arabic word mawjd] distinct from their essences: for al-Kindd of all things. Against this, al-Fburr thinks that Greek more appropriately expressed many such concepts, including being, by (...) particles rather than nouns or verbs; he takes Metaphysics r's title can mean both Book of Particles'' and Aristotle's Metaphysics.''. (shrink)

Recientemente se ha encontrado una copia de la obra al-garib al-muntaqà min kalm ahl al-tuqà, hasta ahora desaparecida. En el manuscrito la autoría del Muntaqà se atribuye a Ibn Masarra. En este artículo se muestra que su más probable autor, según indican las fuentes, es Ibn Jamis al-Yaburi, importante eslabón en la historia del sufismo andalusí. Se analizan además la estructura y el contenido de esta obra ascético-mística que Ibn Jamis transmitió al cadí �Iya? de Ceuta.

This paper examines the debate on gender equality which is considered by some groups to be in conflict with Q.S. An-Nisa [4]: ​​11. With a philosophical approach and referring to the concept of inheritance of Sa'id Ramadan al-Buthi in the _Kitab_ _al-Mar'ah Bayna Thughyan al-Nizam al-Gharbi wa Lata'if al-Tashri' al-Rabbani_, this paper tries to refute these allegations and offers a more gender-friendly interpretation. For al-Buthi, the verse has actually liberated women because the provisions are caused by the responsibilities imposed by (...) Islam on men as prospective husbands and not experienced by women. On the contrary, if women are empowered than men, that is a moral responsibility, not a _sharia_ responsibility. Thus, women have been given freedom by the _sharia_ in order to determine the choice to participate in bringing about stability in life, regardless of the existence of a condition of women more empowered than men that will not be the cause of changes in the provisions of _sharia_ concerning inheritance. (shrink)

Abú Hayyán al-Tawhidi (d. 414/1023) actively contributed to the rich and diverse debate that took place in all fields of adab in the middle Abbasid period. In the 251h night of this Kitab al-imta wal-l-ma ánasa, al-Tawhidi talks about the respective virtues of poetry and prose. This highly entertaining debate where jest and earnest (jidd wa-hazl) are skillfully interwoven, also stands under the influence of Aristotelian ideas that were applied lo literary theory. The article offer> a commented translation with references (...) to other contemporary sources. (shrink)

This paper discusses two passages from Alexander of Aphrodisias’s commentary on Aristotle’s Topics that are transmitted in Ps-Jābir’s Kitāb al-Nukhab. It argues that the Arabic translation of Alexander’s commentary may have been made from a fuller version than what came down to us in Greek. Especially since the author(s) of the Jābir-corpus form a tradition different from the school of Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (d. 873) and authors associated to the ‘Baghdad school’, whose earliest figure is Abū Bishr Mattā b. (...) Yūnus (d. 940), the Arabic fragments of Alexander’s commentary preserved in the Kitāb al-Nukhab promise to shed more light on the early reception of the Topics and the different contexts in which Aristotelian dialectic was studied in the Islamic world. (shrink)

Abū Ḥayyān al-Andalusī’s work, Kitāb al-idrāk li-lisān al-Atrāk, is considered one of the oldest lexicographical and grammatical studies related to the Turkish language. Considering the author’s claim that he wrote his work by interviewing people whom he considered to be authoritative, it can be said that the work possesses an original structure. At the same time, this work, which was authored with the aim of teaching Turkish to Arabs, is significant as it indicates that Turkish was one of the (...) dominant languages in regions where the Arab population is in the majority. The last part of this threepart work comprises syntax. In this section, Abū Ḥayyān aims to compile Turkish grammar rules by identifying the equivalents of Arabic grammatic rules in Turkish. Therefore, the aforementioned work can also be seen as a comparative grammar study. The aim of this article is to highlight some grammatical differences that Abū Ḥayyān deemed significant and explicitly or implicitly pointed out between the two languages. In this article, which we limited to the third chapter of Kitāb al-idrāk and made use of the literature review method, it was observed that an attempt was made to establish Turkish grammatical rules based on the general principles of Arabic, but it was concluded that some of the issues that are seen as differences between the two languages actually stem from this method. (shrink)

This article revisits the controversy between Abū Bakr al-Rāzī and Abū al-Qāsim al-Balḫī. Based on the testimony of the Kitāb taṯbīt dalāʾil al-nubuwwa of the Qāḍī ʿAbd al-Ǧabbār, it is shown that the two philosophers must have clashed at the court of Aḥmad b. Sahl al-Marwazī, governor of Balḫ, during the 910s, and that the virulence of the tone of their exchange can be explained above all by this context of professional rivalry. In terms of content, their conversation must (...) have focused on the question of divine justice and on the best way to give an account of prophecy and Qurʾanic wisdom. We then turn to the study of chap. VIII, 4 of Faḫr al-Dīn al-Rāzī's Al-maṭālib al-ʿāliya and show that, contrary to a recently held view, this chapter constitutes an echo not of Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, but of the first argument of Ibn al-Rāwandī's Kitāb al-zumurrud, which contrasted the autonomy of reason with the necessity of prophecy in order to conclude from the former to the negation of the latter. Finally, it is suggested that Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's doctrine of prophecy, like that of the great theologians of his time, both Muʿtazilites and Ašʿarites, aims to escape the dilemma set up by Ibn al-Rāwandī a few decades earlier. (shrink)