Moheïddine Ibn ’Arabî (محي الدين ابن عربي), ou : Mohyiddîn Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Alî 'Ibn Arabî al-Hâtimî, plus connu sous son seul nom de Ibn ’Arabî, est né le 27 Ramadan 560 de l'Hégire (7 août 1165, Murcie dans le pays d'al-Andalûs - 1240, Damas). Appelé aussi « Cheikh al-Akbar » (« le plus grand maître », en arabe), il est un mystique, auteur de 846 ouvrages. Son œuvre aurait influencé Dante et Jean de la croix. Dans ses poèmes il traite de l'amour, de la passion, de la beauté et de l'absence.
I. Sa vie:
En 1179, il rencontre le philosophe Averroès à Cordoue. Cette rencontre avec le vieux philosophe marqua le jeune mystique (il n'a pas alors 14 ans). Ibn ’Arabî se forma lui-même aux théologies. Il acquit une science considérable par la lecture de différents maîtres.
En 1196 à Fès à 31 ans, il a la révélation du sceau de la sainteté muhammadienne. Il dit avoir reçu les Gemmes de la sagesse d'un trait, réveillé une nuit par Mohammed. La sagesse est représentée par une pierre dont la forme représente la Tradition ; alors que la pierre est la même pour tous, elle est taillée différemment selon les formes prophétiques dictées à Abraham, Jésus ou Mohammed.
En 1203, il commence les Conquêtes spirituelles mecquoises. À la Mecque, il écrit son ouvrage métaphysique majeur : les Illuminations de la Mecque (ou : Illuminations mecquoises : "Futûhât al Makkiyâ"). Il y décrit les aspects spirituels et métaphysiques du soufisme. Conjuguant une extrême rigueur dans la conception et un travail visionnaire, cet ouvrage vaut à Ibn ’Arabî son surnom de fils de Platon.
En 1223, il s'installe à Damas où il s'éteint en 1240.
Sa pensée:
L'œuvre d'Ibn Arabi est le sommet du soufisme. Elle marque une date dans l'histoire de ce courant. Avant Ibn Arabi, le soufisme est une mystique imprégnée de la morale comme on peut le voir chez Muhâsibi, Abû Talib al-Makki et Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, c'est-à-dire une mystique pratique (sagesse et manuels pour une meilleure guidance de l'âme) et non pas intellectualiste. Après lui, c'est une théosophie complexe, la plus complète somme systématique de l'ésotérisme musulman et l'un des sommets de l'ésotérisme universel. Certains penseurs occidentaux (Guénon, Schuon) le considèrent comme une des expressions privilégiées de la "philosophia perennis". Selon Roger Deladrière, Ibn Arabi est l'auteur de "l'œuvre théologique, mystique et métaphysique la plus considérable qu'aucun homme ait jamais réalisé".
Cette œuvre immense - 846 ouvrages¹ répertoriés par O. Yahia dans son « Histoire et classification de l'œuvre d'Ibn Arabi » - traite de toutes les sciences religieuses islamiques ; celles de la Charia ou Loi exotérique (Coran, Sunna ou Tradition du prophète Muhammed, droit), celles de la Haqîqa ou Vérité métaphysique et ésotérique, et celle de la Tarîqa, c’est-à-dire la voie spirituelle et initiatique menant à la "réalisation" de la Vérité ». Henry Corbin le considère comme « un des plus grands théosophes visionnaires de tous les temps ». L'œuvre est d'un abord difficile, car, malgré son étendue immense, elle est souvent rédigée dans un style elliptique et très concis qui appelle le commentaire.
Pour Ibn ’Arabî, la voie mystique n'est ni rationnelle ni irrationnelle : l'esprit s'échappe des limites de la matière. Contrairement à la philosophie, elle se situe hors du domaine de la raison. Ainsi, contrairement à la scission dessinée par Averroès entre foi et raison, la profondeur d'Ibn ’Arabî se situe dans la rencontre entre l'intelligence, l'amour et la connaissance. Ibn ’Arabî se situe intellectuellement dans la lignée de Al-Hallaj qu'il cite à de nombreuses reprises : il estime que les véritables fondements de la foi se trouvent dans la connaissance de la science des Lettres ('Ilm Al-Hurûf). Selon lui, la science du Coran réside dans les lettres placées en tête des sourates, une conception que l'islam doctrinal actuel, nie farouchement. Aussi l'œuvre d'Ibn ’Arabî demeure-t-elle marginalisée, aujourd'hui encore, par l'orthodoxie islamique.
Le « Trésor caché »:
Cette notion renvoie au hadith (sentence du prophète) selon lequel Dieu a dit : "J’étais un trésor caché et j’ai aimé [ou voulu] à être connu. Alors j’ai créé les créatures afin d’être connu par elles" (Futuhat d'Ibn 'Arabi, II, p. 322, chap. 178). Dans ce hadith la volonté de Dieu d’être connu est véhiculée par le désir et l’amour : "Lorsque Dieu S’est connu Lui-même et a connu le monde par Lui-même, Il l’a créé selon Sa forme. Le monde fut donc un miroir dans lequel Il contemple Son image. Il n’a aimé, en réalité, que Lui-même" (Fut., II, p. 326) . Ce rapport de soi à soi se comprend par le fait que le monde tout entier, connu par Dieu dans Sa science éternelle, n’est que formes épiphaniques pour Sa manifestation (tajallî). En Se manifestant dans ces formes, Il Se connaît et Se contemple et aime la créature en S’aimant Lui-même. Voir aussi : Ibn 'Arabi, Traité de l’amour, p. 60: "Ainsi, l’objet de l’amour, sous tous ses aspects, est Dieu. L’Être Vrai en se connaissant Soi-même connaît le monde de Soi-même qu’Il manifeste selon Sa forme. Partant, le monde se trouve être un miroir pour Dieu dans lequel Il voit Sa forme. Il n’aime donc que Soi-même".
La « Wahdat al Wujûd »:
La théorie de Wahdat al-Wujûd (Unicité de l'Être) a été systématisée pour la première fois par son disciple et beau-fils Sadr al-Dîn al-Qûnawî.
Ibn 'Arabi n'a pas dit expressément cette formule, mais il a laissé entendre dans plusieurs textes de son œuvre, notamment "Futûhât" et "Fusûs al-Hikam" que "la réalité de l'Être est unique" (Haqîqat al-Wujûd wâhida), et que Dieu est l'Être au sens absolu, le véritable Être, l'Être nécessaire (chez les philosophes) qui conditionne tous les êtres subordonnés et contingents, et n'est conditionné par aucun autre être. La notion de "Wahdat al-Wujûd" chez Ibn 'Arabi n'est que l'interprétation emphatique et hyperbolique de l'unicité (tawhîd), un pilier de l'islam.
En disant que Dieu est Unique (Wâhid) et qu'il n'est autre chose que l'Être dans son aspect inconditionné, on a voulu, à tort ou à raison, rapprocher cette théorie du Panthéisme de Spinoza. Or, la conception de ce dernier s'éloigne notablement de celle d'Ibn 'Arabi, dans la mesure où le panthéisme suppose l'unité de Dieu et de la Nature (Dieu est la Nature), alors que chez Ibn 'Arabi, Dieu n'est pas connu dans sa Réalité essentielle (Huwa, Allah), mais connu par le biais de Ses noms [divins], multiples et opposés, qui gèrent l'univers depuis sa création et jusqu'à sa déchéance. D'autre part, les noms divins se reflètent dans la création, ils ne s'y incorporent pas. La thématique du miroir de la création dans lequel Dieu se reflète par l'intermédiaire de Ses noms divins n'est pas le fruit du hasard, elle intervient pour interdire toute assimilation de l'essence divine avec la substance de la création. Henry Corbin parle à ce propos de théomonisme. On pourrait dire que, contrairement au panthéisme qui naturalise Dieu et l'absorbe dans l'immanence, le théomonisme d'Ibn Arabi divinise la nature tout en préservant la transcendance de Dieu et son unicité.
Les Noms divins:
L'Imagination créatrice:
L'imagination chez Ibn Arabi joue un rôle prépondérant, et Henry Corbin a été le premier commentateur d'Ibn Arabi à en parler amplement dans son ouvrage-référence (Voir infra : Bibliographie) l'Imagination créatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn Arabi. Ce livre représente une lecture philosophique à vocation phénoménologique pour explorer un thème central, jamais étudié jusque là. Ce thème est l’imagination qui a donné lieu à l’invention de plusieurs termes connexes comme "imaginal" et "le monde imaginal" ou mundus imaginalis.
Pour H. Corbin, la doctrine d’Ibn Arabi, qualifiée de théosophie (sagesse divine) ou d’herméneutique prophétique, se base sur un concept qui est la théophanie, présence de Dieu, ou sa manifestation dans le monde des phénomènes, et là l'imagination joue un rôle décisif de la perception de cette face divine dans les choses. Elle est une imagination "créatrice" dans la mesure où celui qui aperçoit Dieu, se voit créé en lui la science de cette divinité incarnée dans le monde. Tout est interprété à la lumière de la théophanie dont l’imagination représente l’organe de perception. H. Corbin dit : "L’imagination active est essentiellement l’organe des théophanies, parce qu’elle est l’organe de la création et que la création est essentiellement théophanie" (L'imagination créatrice, p. 148). H. Corbin place le cœur au centre de cette créativité, car il est le seul organe à pouvoir supporter la transmutation de par son changement subit et incessant : "Le cœur est le foyer où se concentre l’énergie spirituelle créatrice, c’est-à-dire théophanique, tandis que l’imagination en est l’organe" (Ibid., p. 83).
De ce point de vue, H. Corbin place l’imagination au centre de toute création et cogitation. Il n’y a pas de connaissance, ni de dévoilement, ni d’interprétation d’ailleurs sans l’imagination qui est, avant tout, créativité.
L'Homme parfait:
L’homme chez Ibn 'Arabi est l’image parfaite de la création accomplie : "Qui t’a créé, puis modelé et constitué harmonieusement ? Il t’a façonné dans la forme qu’Il a voulue" (Coran, Sourate 82, verset 7-8). L’image extérieure de l’homme ressemble dans une certaine mesure au monde et à ses dimensions macrocosmiques. Ses facultés intérieures (l’intellect, l’imagination, etc.) ont une similitude avec les sphères supérieures. Cette ressemblance extérieure et intérieure est constamment évoquée dans plusieurs chapitres des Futûhât, ainsi que Mawâqi' al-Nujûm (le Couchant des étoiles) et Tadbîrât al-Ilâhiyya (Les dispositions divines). Avant Ibn 'Arabi, plusieurs philosophes, comme les Frères de la pureté (Ikhwan al-Safa) et Avicenne (Ibn Sînâ), ont systématisé dans leur métaphysique la face humaine de l’univers et l’aspect cosmologique de l’homme.
Ibn 'Arabi entend par l’homme un degré élevé et distingué, celui de l’homme parfait. La perfection humaine est liée à l’image divine qui procure les secrets ésotériques pour agir sur la créature . En outre, la présence de l’homme dans la créature contribue à la perfection de son image. L’homme parfait se distingue de l'homme ordinaire (Ibn 'Arabi dira l'homme-animal, du fait de la ressemblance anatomique et physiologique) par l’appropriation des Noms divins en ayant la volonté créatrice et le commandement du monde. Par ailleurs, L’homme parfait se distingue par l’énergie spirituelle ou l’aspiration (en arabe : himma) qui est son instrument de création. Elle représente, chez l’homme animal, le côté manuel dans ses fabrications et ses dispositions.
Outre l’appartenance à l'entité spirituelle, l’homme parfait se distingue aussi par la succession ou la lieutenance (Khilâfa) . Il est ainsi vicaire (khalîfa) et successeur (nâ'ib) par le fait qu’il maîtrise la totalité des noms et en étant une copie abrégée de la réalité cosmique et métaphysique. Ce verset nous enseigne cette vérité : "Et Il apprit à Adam tous les noms" (Coran, sourate 2, verset 31).
Si Dieu s’est qualifié de "trésor caché", c’est qu’Il est dérobé derrière la forme de l’homme parfait et se manifeste par sa théophanie dans cette forme parfaite. En étant le lieu épiphanique, l’homme parfait se connaît soi-même et connaît son Seigneur qui apparaît en lui, contrairement à l’homme animal qui connaît les réalités supérieures par l’intermédiaire de preuves cosmiques et de signes érigés dans le monde. La méditation de ces signes ne dépasse pas chez lui le seul effort spéculatif. L’homme parfait contemple plutôt ces signes en lui et extrait les perles du trésor caché dans son âme. Il associe ainsi la méditation et la contemplation.
Son influence:
L'influence d'Ibn Arabi dans l'histoire de la spiritualité islamique est immense. Non seulement elle comprend l'école d'Ibn Arabi lui-même, mais elle s'étend à de nombreuses confréries soufies telles que la Chadhiliyya, la Khalwatiya, la Mawlawiya (les fameux Derviches tourneurs), la Tchichtiya, toujours vivantes aujourd'hui. Au delà du soufisme, les œuvres d'Ibn Arabi on été méditées et commentées par de nombreux mystiques et théosophes persans d'obédience chiite. Osman Yahia a recensé 130 commentaires perse des seuls Fosûs. Plus tard encore, son influence s'étendra encore lorsque se produira la jonction de cette école avec l'Ishraq de Sohrawardi et la théosophie chiite des Saints Imams (Haydar Amoli, Ibn Abi Jomhur, Molla Sadra Shirazi).
Malgré un aussi grand nombre d'adeptes et de défenseurs prestigieux aussi bien sunnites que chiites, elle fut l'objet de violentes critiques tout au long de l'histoire, de la part des théologiens orthodoxes (voir Ibn Taymiyyah) qui lui reprochent sa conception de l'unicité de l'être qu'ils assimilent à une forme de panthéisme. Aujourd'hui encore, Ibn ’Arabî est un auteur controversé dans l'Islam. Ses approches exégétiques, sa conception du messianisme à travers la figure emblématique du Mahdi suscitent des polémiques. Il reste une référence pour les écoles soufies qui voient en lui l'héritier spirituel de Mohammed.
Notes:
Selon Corbin, « 856 ouvrages, dont 550 nous sont parvenus et sont attestés par 2917 manuscrits ».
Ses œuvres:
Voir sur Wikisource : Ibn Arabî.
C'est à l'Espagnol Miguel Asin Palacios que l'on doit la découverte des ouvrages d'Ibn Arabi, ainsi qu'à Louis Massignon et Henry Corbin. C'est grâce à ces trois chercheurs que l'enseignement du Maître de Murcia a pu renaître en terre d'Islam et se faire connaître en Occident.
* remplir la liste de livres d'Ibn Arabi en arabe
* La vie merveilleuse de Dhû-l-Nûn l'Egyptien
* Le livre de l'Extinction dans la Contemplation
* Le Traité de l'Amour
* Le Traité de l'Unité
* Le Voyage vers le Maître de la Puissance
* Les Soufis d'Andalousie
* Les Illuminations de la Mecque
* La Sagesse des Prophètes
* L'Alchimie du Bonheur parfait
* L'interprête des ardents désirs
* L'Arbre du Monde
* "Le dévoilement des effets du voyage", édition du texte arabe, traduction introduction et notes de Denis Gril, Editions de l'Eclat, 1994
* "La production des cercles", édition du texte arabe Nyberg, traduction et introduction Paul Fenton et Maurice Gloton, Editions de l'Eclat, 1996.
* Le livre des chatons des sagesses',' Editeur AL-Bouraq, 1999
* " Les trente six attestations de l'unité "
-le livre de l'arbre et des quatre oiseaux
Bibliographie De Ibn 'Arabi:
* Ibn Arabi, La prière du jour du vendredi: extrait du chapitre 69 des Futūhāt, éd. al-Bustane, Paris, 1994 (ISBN 291085602X)
* Ibn Arabi, Les trente-six attestations coraniques de l'unité, éd. al-Bustane, Paris, 1994 (ISBN 2910856011)
* Le Maître d'amour, illustrations de Nja Mahdaoui, texte de Rodrigo de Zayas - éd. Albin Michel.
* Denis Gril (trad.), Le dévoilement de l'effet du voyage (éd. de l'Eclat, 1994), Editions Lyber, et accessible gratuitement sur le site de l'Editeur-militant. Consulter le site www.lyber-eclat.net/lyber/ibnarabi/voyage.html
Sur Ibn 'Arabi et son oeuvre
* Claude Addas, Ibn Arabi et le voyage sans retour, éd. du Seuil, Paris, 1996, collection "Point-Sagesse".
* Claude Addas Ibn Arabi ou la quête du souffre rouge, Claude Addas, Paris, Gallimard, Collection "Bibliothèque des Sciences humaines", 1989.
* Henry Corbin, L'imagination créatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn Arabi, Paris, Flammarion, 1958; Flammarion-Aubier, 1993.
* Titus Burckhardt, Clef spirituelle de l’Astrologie musulmane d’après Mohyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, Milan, éd., Archè, Bibliothèque de l’Unicorne, 1974.
* William Chittick,
- The Sufi Path of Knowledge. Ibn al-Arabi’s Metaphysics of Imagination, New York, SUNY Press, 1989. - Imaginal Worlds. Ibn al-Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity, SUNY Press, 1994. - The Self-Disclosure of God : Principles of Ibn al-Arabi’s Cosmology, SUNY Press, 1997.
* Michel Chodkiewicz,
- Le sceau des saints. Prophétie et sainteté dans la doctrine d’Ibn Arabi, Paris, Gallimard, nrf, "Bibliothèque des sciences humaines", 1986. - Un océan sans rivage. Ibn Arabi, le Livre et la Loi, Librairie du XXe siècle, Paris, éd., Seuil, 1992.
* Stephen Hirtenstein,
- The unlimited mercifier : the spiritual life and thought of Ibn Arabi, Oxford, Anqa publishers ; Ashland, White Cloud Press, 1999 - Prayer and Contemplation : foundations of the spiritual life according to Ibn Arabi, ed. by Stephen Hirtenstein, Oxford – San Fransisco, Muhyiddin Ibn Arabi Society, vol.14, 1993.
* Toshihiko Izutsu, Unicité de l’existence et création perpétuelle en mystique musulmane, traduit de l’anglais par Marie-Charlotte Grandry, Paris, les Deux Océans, 1980.
* Charles-André Gilis, La doctrine initiatique du pèlerinage, éd. al-Bustane, Paris, 1994 (ISBN 2910856003)
* Charles-André Gilis, Etudes complémentaires sur le califat, éd. al-Bustane, Paris, 1995 (ISBN 2910856038)
* Osman Yahia,
- Histoire et classification de l’œuvre d’Ibn Arabi, 2 vol., Damas, Institut français, 1964; traduction arabe par Ahmad Muhammad al-Tayyib, Le Caire, éd. de l’agence égyptienne générale du livre, 2001. - “Ibn 'Arabi”, Encyclopaedia Universalis, vol. 11, Paris, 1996, p. 869-871.
Liens externes:
* musicologie.org Ibn Arabi et ses écrits sur la musique : sources, éditions, bibliographie,commentaires
* Ibn'Arabi Society Un site dédié à Ibn'Arabi
Friday, July 11, 2008
The chronology of the works of Averroes
IBN RUSHD
by M. ALONSO
IBN RUSHD, Abu 'l-Walid Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Rushd, al-Hafid (the grandson), the 'Commentator of Aristotle', famous in the Mediaeval West under the name of Averroes, scholar of the Qur'anic sciences and the natural sciences (physics, medicine, biology, astronomy), theologian and philosopher.
I. Life:
He was born at Cordova in 520/1126 and died at Marrakush in 595/1198. The Arabic biographical sources are: Ibn al-Abbar, Takmila, BAH, vi, no. 853; Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, 'Uyun; al-Ansari, supplement to the dictionaries of Ibn Bashkuwal and of Ibn al-Abbar (notice published in the complete works of Renan, iii, 329); al-Dhahabi, Annales (ibid., 345); 'Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi, Mu'dhib.
Ibn Rushd belonged to an important Andulusian family. His grandfather (d. 520/1126), a Maliki jurisconsult, had been qadi and imam of the Great Mosque of Cordova. His father was also a qadi. The biographers stress the excellent juridical education of the future Commentator; his teacher was al-Hafií Abu Muhammad ibn Rizq and he became very competent in the science of khilaf (controversies and contradictions in the legal sciences). He learned by heart the Muwatta'. Ibn al-Abbar mentions that he
studied 'a little' with Ibn Bashkuwal, which implies that he touched on the science of the traditions of the Prophet; but the same author says that the science of law and of the principles (usul), diraya, interested him more than the science of traditions, riwaya. He worked also on Ash'ari kalam which he was later to criticize. In medicine, he was the pupil of Abu Dha'far Harun al-Tadhali (of Trujillo), who was in addition a teacher of hadith (cf. 'Uyun). Ibn al-Abbar mentions another of his teachers, Abu Marwan ibn Dhurrayul (notice no. 1714), who (he says) was one of the foremost practitioners of his art. The biographers do not mention philosophic studies. Ibn Abi Usaybi'a limits himself to reporting, following al-Badhi, that Averroes studied 'philosophical sciences' (al-'ulum al-hikmiyya) with the physician Abu Dha'far. Ibn al-Abbar mentions in passing that he 'inclined towards the sciences of the Ancients ('ulum al-awa'il)', probably an allusion to his knowledge of Greek thought.
In 548/1153, Averroes was at Marrakush. Renan supposes that he was occupied there in carrying out the intentions of the Almohad 'Abd al-Mu'min 'in the building of colleges which he was founding at this time'. It is known, through the Commentary of the De Caelo, that he was engaged there in astronomical observations. It is perhaps to this period of his life that he is referring in the Commentary of book L of the Metaphysics, when he speaks of the researches which must be done on the movements of
the planets in order to found an astronomy which would be physical and not only mathematical: 'I hoped in my youth that it would be possible for me to carry out this research successfully; but now that I am old, I have lost this hope ...'. It is possible that he met at this time Ibn Tufayl, who was to play an important part in his career as a philosopher by presenting him to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, the successor of
'Abd al-Mu'min. Al-Marrakushi (Mu'dhib, ed. Dozy, 174-5) obtained the account of this interview from a pupil of Ibn Rushd, who reported the actual words of his teacher. The prince questioned Averroes on the sky: is it a substance which has existed from all eternity, or did it have a beginning? (It is known that, ever since Plato's Timaeus and the De Caelo and the Metaphysics of Aristotle down to Proclus and Johannes Philoponus (Yahya al-Nahwi), this problem had been fiercely debated). Ibn Rushd was worried by this dangerous question, but Yusuf understood this and began a discussion with Ibn Tufayl, displaying a wide knowledge of the ancient philosophers and of the theologians. Put thus at ease, Ibn Rushd in his turn began to speak and was able to show the extent of his learning. He received rewards and thenceforth enjoyed the prince's favour. This event may be dated to 1169 or slightly earlier.
Al-Marrakushi also tells us that the Commander of the Faithful complained to Ibn Tufayl of the obscurity of the texts of Aristotle and of their translations. He wished them to be clearly explained. It is said that Ibn Tufayl, considering himself to be too old and too busy, asked Averroes to undertake the work.
Averroes remained in favour throughout the reign of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (558-80/1163-84). In 565/1169, he was qadi of Seville (Mu'dhib, 222). In a passage in the fourth book of the De partibus animalium, completed in that year, he points out the duties of his post, and the fact that he was separated from his books which remained in Cordova, all thingsQwhich made difficult the writing of his paraphrase (Munk, 422). In 567/1171, he was back at Cordova, still as qadi. During this period he increased his rate of production of commentaries in spite of his numerous obligations: he travelled to various towns of the Almohad empire, in particular to Seville, from which he dates several of his works between 1169 and 1179.
In 578/1182, at Marrakush, he succeeded Ibn Tufayl as chief physician to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (Tornberg,Annales Regum Mauritaniae, 182). Then he received the office of chief qadi of Cordova.
During the reign of Ya'qub al-Mansur (580-95/1184-99), Ibn Rushd still enjoyed the prince's favour. It was only during the last years (from 1195) that he fell into disgrace. Several stories exist on this matter.
It seems that the caliph, at that time engaged in Spain in a war against the Christians, thought it advisable to gain the support of the fuqaha', who had long imposed on the people their rigorous orthodoxy (cf. D. Macdonald, Development of Muslim theology, New York 1903, 255). Indeed, not only was Averroes banished to Lucena, near Cordova, and his doctrine pronounced anathema following his appearance before a tribunal consisting of the chief men of Cordova, but edicts were issued ordering that philosophical works be burned and forbidding these studies, which were considered dangerous to religion. Those who were jealous of Ibn Rushd or doctrinally opposed to him took advantage of the occasion to criticize him in vulgar epigrams, which have been published and translated by Munk (427-8 and 517).
But once he had returned to Marrakush, to a Berber milieu which was less sensitive on matters of doctrine, the caliph repealed all these edicts and summoned the philosopher again to his court. Ibn Rushd did not have long to enjoy this return to favour, since he died in Marrakush on 9 ‘afar 595/11 December 1198. He was buried there outside the gate of Taÿhzut. Later his body was taken to Cordova, where the mystic Ibn al-'Arabi, still a young man, was present at his funeral (cf. H. Corbin, L'imagination creatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn 'Arabi, 32-8).
II. Works:
The chronology of the works of Averroes has been established by M. Alonso (La cronologia en las obras de Averroes, in Miscelanea Camillas, i (1943), 411-60). When Ibn Rushd was presented to the caliph Yusuf, he had already written some paraphrases or short commentaries (dhawami') on the Organon, the Physics and the Metaphysics, as well as the first redaction of his great medical work, the Colliget (al-Kulliyyat, the Book of Generalities), requesting his friend Abu Marwan Ibn Zuhr to write a book on the 'particularities' (al-umur al-dhuz'iyya, therapeutics), 'so that their two works together should form a complete treatise on the art of medicine' (Ibn Abi Usaybi'a). He continued to write the short or middle commentaries (talkhis)
between 1169 and 1178. But from 1174 to 1180 was the period in which his original works were produced: 'Treatises on the intellect', De substantia orbis, Fasl al-maqal, Kashf al-manahidh, Tahafut al-Tahafut.
The great commentaries (tafsir) did not begin until later. M. Cruz Hernandez (La filosofia arabe, Madrid 1963, 253) has produced a clear outline of the various tendencies which have governed the study of Averroes's work. Whereas for the Latin schoolmen Averroes is essentially the Commentator: Averroes, che'l gran comento feo (Dante, Inferno, iv, 144), Renan points out the differences which can exist between
the ideas contained in the commentaries and often presented as those of Aristotle, and the personal ideas of the philosopher.QNevertheless, even where Ibn Rushd marks this distinction, Renan's attitude is 'this may have been only a precaution to allow him to express his philosophical ideas more freely under the cover of someone else' (Oeuvres completes, iii, 61). A little later (67), on the subject of the Tahafut, he
claims that 'the doctrine set out in it is, on several points, in flagrant contradiction with that of Ibn Rushd”. It is true that he bases his judgement on the Latin version, in which he suspects there are interpolations. For him, as for the followers of Averroes in the Middle Ages, the Arab thinker is the one who revealed in Aristotle a rationalist method and doctrine, which as such were opposed to religious dogmas. This being so, Renan, following his preconceptions, considers the theological writings as artifices intended to deceive or to provide a challenge to the inquisition of the Maliki fuqaha'.
An examination of the biography and the work of Averroes shows that this assessment is entirely without foundation. Munk, on his side, has attempted to extract from the commentaries Ibn Rushd's own ideas. Asin Palacios, studying the theological Averroism of St. Thomas Aquinas, considers that the philosopher's personal ideas are to be found in the Tahafut, the Fasl and the Kashf. Gauthier takes a middle line; he himself has produced a summing up of the question (La theorie d'Ibn Rochd, 1-18) and,
demonstrating the importance of the theory of prophethood, he ends (180-1) by attributing to Ibn Rushd a doctrine fundamentally analogous to that of al-Farabi on the philosopher and the prophet:
'The double expression of one and the same truth, in terms which are abstract and clear on the one hand, in sensitive and symbolic terms on the other, philosophy and religion will thus exist side by side, without ever clashing, since, addressing themselves to two different categories of mind, their fields will remain entirely separate'. Cruz Hernandez concludes his investigation by showing the absurdity of
making a priori a choice between the philosopher and the theologian. Since Averroes was never forced to dissimulate his ideas, he considers that one must admit the sincerity of the whole work and the fundamental unity of the thought it expresses.
Only a small number of works in Arabic survive. The majority have been preserved only in Latin or Hebrew translations. Some manuscripts give the Arabic text in Hebrew characters. Brockelmann gives (I, 461 f., S I, 833-6, I2, 604 f.) a list of the manuscripts, editions and translations. M. Bouyges, Note sur les philosophes arabes connus des latins, v, a list of the Arabic texts of Averroes, in MFO, viii/1 (1922), may also be consulted. Among the works in Arabic which are known so far to have survived are: short or middle commentaries on the Physics (al-Sama' al-tabi'i); on the De Caelo et mundo (al-Sama' wa'l-'alam); on the De Generatione et corruptione (al-Kawn wa 'l-fasad); on the Meteorologica (al-$thar al-'ulwiyya); on the De
Anima (al-Nafs); on metaphysical questions (Ma ba'd al-tabi'a); on the De Sensu et Sensibilibus (al-'Aql wa 'l-ma'qul), the great Commentary on the Metaphysics (Tafsir ..., ed. M. Bouyges, Beirut 1938-48), the Fasl al-maqal and the 4amima (ed. with Fr. tr. L. Gauthier, Traite decisif, Algiers 1948, ed. G. F. Hourani, Leiden 1959), the Kashf 'an manahidh al-adilla (ed. with German tr., with the Fasl, by M. J. Müller,
Philosophie und Theologie von Averroees, Münich, text 1859, tr. 1875). There should also be mentioned the research and publications of 'Abd al-Rahman Badawi in Cairo.
III. The thought of Averroes:
It seems certain that Ibn Rushd approached philosophy through theQtheoretical sciences. As a jurist, he was interested in the usul (on this question, see R. Brunschvig, Averroes juriste, in Etudes ... Levi-Proven±al, i,Paris 1962, 35-68). Ibn al-Abbar mentions the important Kitab Bidayat al-mudhtahid wa-nihayat al-muqtasid fi
'l-fiqh, and adds: 'In it he gives the reasons for divergences, demonstrates their motivations and justifies them'. What interested him in law was a strictness of thought which, without going as far as that of philosophical syllogism, entailed a well-defined method of reasoning and a logic. On the other hand, it is known that he received his first education in philosophy from a physician. At the end of his book on the Generalities (Colliget), he stresses the method followed and writes: 'We have assembled, in our propositions, the individual facts and the general questions ... Whoever has grasped the generalities which we have written is capable of understanding what is correct and what is erroneous in the therapeutics of the writers of kunnash' ('Uyun). At the time when he was writing the Colliget, Averroes was studying the Organon and the Physics, which naturally led him to formulate the metaphysical problem.
He thus saw in Aristotle mainly the logician who follows a strict method of demonstration, the scholar who starts from the concrete in order to explain it by linking it with general propositions. He was to grasp even better the theory of knowledge when writing a commentary on the Posterior Analytics (1170).
This approach led him to discover the true Aristotle, and he thus learned to distinguish it from the image of him given by the Greek commentators such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Muslim falasifa such as Ibn Sina. This is why he criticized so vigorously the philosophy of Ibn Sina, while respecting the medical work of his predecessor (he wrote a commentary on his medical poem al-Urdhuza
fi 'l-tibb). Among the other philosophers, he was interested in the ideas of al-Farabi on logic and was inspired by his moral and political doctrines in the commentary which he wrote on Plato's Republic. But he was chiefly in the tradition of Ibn Badhdha, and wrote a commentary on his Risala on union with the Intellect and on his book on the 'Regime of the solitary'. His relations with Ibn Tufayl are well known:
Ibn Rushd wrote a commentary on Hayy b. Yaqían [q.v.]. There are definite similarities between the two philosophers, but although both recognize the convergence of the two independent attitudes inherent in philosophy and revealed faith, in Ibn Tufayl the duality of the persons Hayy and Absal who represent
them (this is resolved, at the end of the myth, in a common life devoted to contemplation far from human society) leads to a mystic vision of knowledge, which is not at all to be found in Ibn Rushd, as Renan has clearly pointed out.
A. The theologico-philosophic treatises:
It may be considered that they were written in the following order: Fasl al-maqal and its appendix the 4amima, Kashf al-manahidh (575/1179, which mentions the Fasl), Tahafut al-Tahafut (which does not mention either of the two preceding works and which, according to Bouyges, was not written before 1180).
(a) The Fasl al-maqal wa-taqrib ma bayn al-shari'a wa 'l-hikma min al-ittisal
('An authoritative treatise and exposition of the convergence which exists between the religious law and philosophy'). Ibn Rushd begins by giving a definition of philosophy entirely in accordance with the Qur'anic recommendations. He himself quotes verses LIX, 2 and VII, 184, among others. It is a rational view of creation which leads to the knowledge of the Creator. These sacred texts areQinterpreted as a recommendation to use either purely rational inferences (qiyas 'aqli), or to use them
together with inferences based on the Law (qiyas shar'i). Thus the Law establishes the legitimacy of rational speculation (naíar), whose method reaches perfection with demonstrative syllogism (burhan).
Here Averroes was involved in a quarrel among the theologians about the definition of faith and what part it should play in intellectual knowledge. His reply is clear: 'The Law imposes an obligation on the believer, since it must be obeyed when it commands rational speculation about beings: that is, before undertaking rational speculation, to proceed by degrees and to take account of what plays the same part in relation to speculation as instruments do in relation to action'. This is less a fides quaerens intellectum than a perfect faith which embraces rational knowledge. It demands the knowledge of the qiyas 'aqli, which is indispensable to the true knowledge of God, as it demands also that of the qiyas fiqhi, thanks to which, in matters of law, it is possible to know exactly the Divine commandments.
Nevertheless this obligation is bounded by the intellectual capacity of each person, since God never imposes more than an individual soul is able to carry out.
But Ibn Rushd states that a study of this magnitude cannot be made without taking previous research into account. Thus the pursuit of the above reasoning involves the obligation to examine the works of the ancients (cf. a similar idea developed by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in his Mafatih al-ÿhayb, introduction). It is therefore contrary to the Law to forbid such an examination, provided that the person carrying it out possesses dhaka' al-fitra (a technical term, derived from a Qur'anic root, to indicate a gift which is given to man of remembering things and recognizing the truth, which may be translated by 'a keen sense of the truth'), and al-'adala al-shar'iyya accompanied by ethical virtue, that is a religious and moral
qualification defined by the Law. But not all men accept proof by demonstration: some give their assent (tasdiq) only to dialectical discourses (al-aqawil al-dhadaliyya), others only to rhetorical discourses (khitabiyya).
God speaks to men through these three types of discourse in order to reach them all (cf. Qur'an, XVI, 126). If rational research ends in a truth which is not mentioned in the Qur'an, there is no problem; it is the same as in law (this new comparison with fiqh deserves to be noted), when there are inferred by a juridical syllogism ahkam which are not to be found in the text of the revealed Law. In cases where the
Qur'an does not employ rational demonstration, either it is, in its manifest meaning, in agreement with the conclusion of the syllogism, and there is no difficulty, or else it is in apparent disagreement, and it is then necessary to make an interpretation (ta'wil) of the literal meaning in a figurative (madhazi) meaning,
in accordance with the usual practice of the Arabic language. In all this Ibn Rushd's thought follows the best established categories of Muslim hermeneutics. This, he points out, is what the jurists do; for tthem it is simply a case of making a text agree with the conclusion of a Bibiography.
In addition to the works mentioned in the article: M. Alonso, Averroes observador de la naturaleza, in al-And., v (1940)
idem, El 'ta'wil' y la hermeneutica sacra de Averroes, ibid., vii (1942)
R. Arnaldez, La pensee religieuse d'Averroes:
I. La creation dans le Tahafut, in St. Isl., vii (1957),
II. La theorie de Dieu dans le Tahafut, ibid., viii (1957),
III. L'immortalite de l'ame dans le Tahafut, ibid., x (1959)
M. Asin Palacios, El averroismo teologico de Santo Tomas de Aquino, in Homenaje a F. Codera, Saragossa 1904
T. J. De Boer, Die Widersprüche der Philosophie und ihr Ausgleich durch Ibn Roschd, Strasbourg 1894
idem, The history of philosophy in Islam, London 1903
Carra de Vaux, Les penseurs de l'Islam, iv, Paris 1923
P. S. Christ, The psychology of the active intellect of Averroes, Philadelphia 1926
Cruz Hernandez, Historia de la filosofia hispano-musulmana Madrid 1957, ii
idem, La libertad y la naturaleza social del hombre segun Averroes, in L'homme et son destin, Louvain 1960
idem, Etica e Politica na filosofia de Averrois, in Rev. Portug. de Filos., xvii (1961)
H. Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie islamique, Paris 1964
H. Derenbourg, Le Commentaire arabe d'Averroes sur quelques petits ecrits physiques d'Aristote, in Arch. f. Gesch. d. Phil., xviii (1905)
J. Freudenthal and S. Fraenkel, Die durch Averroes erhaltene Fragmente Alexanders zur Metaphysik des Aristoteles, in Abhandl. d. kgl. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1884
L. Gauthier, La theorie d'Ibn Roschd sur les rapports de la religion et de la philosophie, Paris 1909
M. Horten, Die Metaphysik des Averroes, Halle 1912
idem, Die Hauptlehren des Averroes nach seiner Schrift: Die Widerlegung des Gazali, Bonn 1913
F. Lasinio, Il commento medio di Averroe alla Poetica di Aristotele (Ar. and Hebr.), in Annali delle Universita Toscane, Pisa 1872
idem, Il commento medio di Averroe alla Retorica di Aristotele, Florence 1877
idem, Studi sopra Averroe, in Annuario delle Societa Italiana per gli studi orientali, 1872-3
G. M. Manser, Die göttliche Erkenntnis der Einzeldinge und die Vorsehung bei Averroees, in J. f. Phil. und spek. Theol., xxiii (1909)
idem, Das Verhaeltnis von Glauben und Wissen bei Averroees, ibid., xxiv (1910) and xxv (1911)
I. Mehren, Etudes sur la philosophie d'Averroes concernant ses rapports avec celle d'Avicenne et de Gazzali,in Museon, vii (1888-9)
S. Munk, Melanges de philosophie juive et arabe, Paris 1859 (repr. 1927)
C. A Nallino, art. Averroe in Enciclopedia Italiana
S. Nirenstein, The problem of the existence of God in Averroes, Philadelphia 1924
G. Quadri, La philosophie arabe dans l'Europe medievale des origines a Averroes, Fr. tr. by R. Huret,Paris 1947
M. Worms, Die Lehre der Anfangslosigkeit der Welt bei den mittelalterlichen arabischen Philosophen ...
(Append. Abhandl. des Ibn Roàd über das Problem der Weltschöpfung), in Beitr. der Gesch. d.
Phil. d. Mittelalters, iii/4, Münster 1900
M. Allard, Le rationalisme d'Averroes d'apres une etude sur la creation, in BEO, xiv (1952-4)
J. Windrow Sweetman, Islam and Christian theology, ii, 2nd part, London n.d., 73-210.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam © 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
by M. ALONSO
IBN RUSHD, Abu 'l-Walid Muhammad b. Ahmad b. Muhammad b. Rushd, al-Hafid (the grandson), the 'Commentator of Aristotle', famous in the Mediaeval West under the name of Averroes, scholar of the Qur'anic sciences and the natural sciences (physics, medicine, biology, astronomy), theologian and philosopher.
I. Life:
He was born at Cordova in 520/1126 and died at Marrakush in 595/1198. The Arabic biographical sources are: Ibn al-Abbar, Takmila, BAH, vi, no. 853; Ibn Abi Usaybi'a, 'Uyun; al-Ansari, supplement to the dictionaries of Ibn Bashkuwal and of Ibn al-Abbar (notice published in the complete works of Renan, iii, 329); al-Dhahabi, Annales (ibid., 345); 'Abd al-Wahid al-Marrakushi, Mu'dhib.
Ibn Rushd belonged to an important Andulusian family. His grandfather (d. 520/1126), a Maliki jurisconsult, had been qadi and imam of the Great Mosque of Cordova. His father was also a qadi. The biographers stress the excellent juridical education of the future Commentator; his teacher was al-Hafií Abu Muhammad ibn Rizq and he became very competent in the science of khilaf (controversies and contradictions in the legal sciences). He learned by heart the Muwatta'. Ibn al-Abbar mentions that he
studied 'a little' with Ibn Bashkuwal, which implies that he touched on the science of the traditions of the Prophet; but the same author says that the science of law and of the principles (usul), diraya, interested him more than the science of traditions, riwaya. He worked also on Ash'ari kalam which he was later to criticize. In medicine, he was the pupil of Abu Dha'far Harun al-Tadhali (of Trujillo), who was in addition a teacher of hadith (cf. 'Uyun). Ibn al-Abbar mentions another of his teachers, Abu Marwan ibn Dhurrayul (notice no. 1714), who (he says) was one of the foremost practitioners of his art. The biographers do not mention philosophic studies. Ibn Abi Usaybi'a limits himself to reporting, following al-Badhi, that Averroes studied 'philosophical sciences' (al-'ulum al-hikmiyya) with the physician Abu Dha'far. Ibn al-Abbar mentions in passing that he 'inclined towards the sciences of the Ancients ('ulum al-awa'il)', probably an allusion to his knowledge of Greek thought.
In 548/1153, Averroes was at Marrakush. Renan supposes that he was occupied there in carrying out the intentions of the Almohad 'Abd al-Mu'min 'in the building of colleges which he was founding at this time'. It is known, through the Commentary of the De Caelo, that he was engaged there in astronomical observations. It is perhaps to this period of his life that he is referring in the Commentary of book L of the Metaphysics, when he speaks of the researches which must be done on the movements of
the planets in order to found an astronomy which would be physical and not only mathematical: 'I hoped in my youth that it would be possible for me to carry out this research successfully; but now that I am old, I have lost this hope ...'. It is possible that he met at this time Ibn Tufayl, who was to play an important part in his career as a philosopher by presenting him to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf, the successor of
'Abd al-Mu'min. Al-Marrakushi (Mu'dhib, ed. Dozy, 174-5) obtained the account of this interview from a pupil of Ibn Rushd, who reported the actual words of his teacher. The prince questioned Averroes on the sky: is it a substance which has existed from all eternity, or did it have a beginning? (It is known that, ever since Plato's Timaeus and the De Caelo and the Metaphysics of Aristotle down to Proclus and Johannes Philoponus (Yahya al-Nahwi), this problem had been fiercely debated). Ibn Rushd was worried by this dangerous question, but Yusuf understood this and began a discussion with Ibn Tufayl, displaying a wide knowledge of the ancient philosophers and of the theologians. Put thus at ease, Ibn Rushd in his turn began to speak and was able to show the extent of his learning. He received rewards and thenceforth enjoyed the prince's favour. This event may be dated to 1169 or slightly earlier.
Al-Marrakushi also tells us that the Commander of the Faithful complained to Ibn Tufayl of the obscurity of the texts of Aristotle and of their translations. He wished them to be clearly explained. It is said that Ibn Tufayl, considering himself to be too old and too busy, asked Averroes to undertake the work.
Averroes remained in favour throughout the reign of Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (558-80/1163-84). In 565/1169, he was qadi of Seville (Mu'dhib, 222). In a passage in the fourth book of the De partibus animalium, completed in that year, he points out the duties of his post, and the fact that he was separated from his books which remained in Cordova, all thingsQwhich made difficult the writing of his paraphrase (Munk, 422). In 567/1171, he was back at Cordova, still as qadi. During this period he increased his rate of production of commentaries in spite of his numerous obligations: he travelled to various towns of the Almohad empire, in particular to Seville, from which he dates several of his works between 1169 and 1179.
In 578/1182, at Marrakush, he succeeded Ibn Tufayl as chief physician to Abu Ya'qub Yusuf (Tornberg,Annales Regum Mauritaniae, 182). Then he received the office of chief qadi of Cordova.
During the reign of Ya'qub al-Mansur (580-95/1184-99), Ibn Rushd still enjoyed the prince's favour. It was only during the last years (from 1195) that he fell into disgrace. Several stories exist on this matter.
It seems that the caliph, at that time engaged in Spain in a war against the Christians, thought it advisable to gain the support of the fuqaha', who had long imposed on the people their rigorous orthodoxy (cf. D. Macdonald, Development of Muslim theology, New York 1903, 255). Indeed, not only was Averroes banished to Lucena, near Cordova, and his doctrine pronounced anathema following his appearance before a tribunal consisting of the chief men of Cordova, but edicts were issued ordering that philosophical works be burned and forbidding these studies, which were considered dangerous to religion. Those who were jealous of Ibn Rushd or doctrinally opposed to him took advantage of the occasion to criticize him in vulgar epigrams, which have been published and translated by Munk (427-8 and 517).
But once he had returned to Marrakush, to a Berber milieu which was less sensitive on matters of doctrine, the caliph repealed all these edicts and summoned the philosopher again to his court. Ibn Rushd did not have long to enjoy this return to favour, since he died in Marrakush on 9 ‘afar 595/11 December 1198. He was buried there outside the gate of Taÿhzut. Later his body was taken to Cordova, where the mystic Ibn al-'Arabi, still a young man, was present at his funeral (cf. H. Corbin, L'imagination creatrice dans le soufisme d'Ibn 'Arabi, 32-8).
II. Works:
The chronology of the works of Averroes has been established by M. Alonso (La cronologia en las obras de Averroes, in Miscelanea Camillas, i (1943), 411-60). When Ibn Rushd was presented to the caliph Yusuf, he had already written some paraphrases or short commentaries (dhawami') on the Organon, the Physics and the Metaphysics, as well as the first redaction of his great medical work, the Colliget (al-Kulliyyat, the Book of Generalities), requesting his friend Abu Marwan Ibn Zuhr to write a book on the 'particularities' (al-umur al-dhuz'iyya, therapeutics), 'so that their two works together should form a complete treatise on the art of medicine' (Ibn Abi Usaybi'a). He continued to write the short or middle commentaries (talkhis)
between 1169 and 1178. But from 1174 to 1180 was the period in which his original works were produced: 'Treatises on the intellect', De substantia orbis, Fasl al-maqal, Kashf al-manahidh, Tahafut al-Tahafut.
The great commentaries (tafsir) did not begin until later. M. Cruz Hernandez (La filosofia arabe, Madrid 1963, 253) has produced a clear outline of the various tendencies which have governed the study of Averroes's work. Whereas for the Latin schoolmen Averroes is essentially the Commentator: Averroes, che'l gran comento feo (Dante, Inferno, iv, 144), Renan points out the differences which can exist between
the ideas contained in the commentaries and often presented as those of Aristotle, and the personal ideas of the philosopher.QNevertheless, even where Ibn Rushd marks this distinction, Renan's attitude is 'this may have been only a precaution to allow him to express his philosophical ideas more freely under the cover of someone else' (Oeuvres completes, iii, 61). A little later (67), on the subject of the Tahafut, he
claims that 'the doctrine set out in it is, on several points, in flagrant contradiction with that of Ibn Rushd”. It is true that he bases his judgement on the Latin version, in which he suspects there are interpolations. For him, as for the followers of Averroes in the Middle Ages, the Arab thinker is the one who revealed in Aristotle a rationalist method and doctrine, which as such were opposed to religious dogmas. This being so, Renan, following his preconceptions, considers the theological writings as artifices intended to deceive or to provide a challenge to the inquisition of the Maliki fuqaha'.
An examination of the biography and the work of Averroes shows that this assessment is entirely without foundation. Munk, on his side, has attempted to extract from the commentaries Ibn Rushd's own ideas. Asin Palacios, studying the theological Averroism of St. Thomas Aquinas, considers that the philosopher's personal ideas are to be found in the Tahafut, the Fasl and the Kashf. Gauthier takes a middle line; he himself has produced a summing up of the question (La theorie d'Ibn Rochd, 1-18) and,
demonstrating the importance of the theory of prophethood, he ends (180-1) by attributing to Ibn Rushd a doctrine fundamentally analogous to that of al-Farabi on the philosopher and the prophet:
'The double expression of one and the same truth, in terms which are abstract and clear on the one hand, in sensitive and symbolic terms on the other, philosophy and religion will thus exist side by side, without ever clashing, since, addressing themselves to two different categories of mind, their fields will remain entirely separate'. Cruz Hernandez concludes his investigation by showing the absurdity of
making a priori a choice between the philosopher and the theologian. Since Averroes was never forced to dissimulate his ideas, he considers that one must admit the sincerity of the whole work and the fundamental unity of the thought it expresses.
Only a small number of works in Arabic survive. The majority have been preserved only in Latin or Hebrew translations. Some manuscripts give the Arabic text in Hebrew characters. Brockelmann gives (I, 461 f., S I, 833-6, I2, 604 f.) a list of the manuscripts, editions and translations. M. Bouyges, Note sur les philosophes arabes connus des latins, v, a list of the Arabic texts of Averroes, in MFO, viii/1 (1922), may also be consulted. Among the works in Arabic which are known so far to have survived are: short or middle commentaries on the Physics (al-Sama' al-tabi'i); on the De Caelo et mundo (al-Sama' wa'l-'alam); on the De Generatione et corruptione (al-Kawn wa 'l-fasad); on the Meteorologica (al-$thar al-'ulwiyya); on the De
Anima (al-Nafs); on metaphysical questions (Ma ba'd al-tabi'a); on the De Sensu et Sensibilibus (al-'Aql wa 'l-ma'qul), the great Commentary on the Metaphysics (Tafsir ..., ed. M. Bouyges, Beirut 1938-48), the Fasl al-maqal and the 4amima (ed. with Fr. tr. L. Gauthier, Traite decisif, Algiers 1948, ed. G. F. Hourani, Leiden 1959), the Kashf 'an manahidh al-adilla (ed. with German tr., with the Fasl, by M. J. Müller,
Philosophie und Theologie von Averroees, Münich, text 1859, tr. 1875). There should also be mentioned the research and publications of 'Abd al-Rahman Badawi in Cairo.
III. The thought of Averroes:
It seems certain that Ibn Rushd approached philosophy through theQtheoretical sciences. As a jurist, he was interested in the usul (on this question, see R. Brunschvig, Averroes juriste, in Etudes ... Levi-Proven±al, i,Paris 1962, 35-68). Ibn al-Abbar mentions the important Kitab Bidayat al-mudhtahid wa-nihayat al-muqtasid fi
'l-fiqh, and adds: 'In it he gives the reasons for divergences, demonstrates their motivations and justifies them'. What interested him in law was a strictness of thought which, without going as far as that of philosophical syllogism, entailed a well-defined method of reasoning and a logic. On the other hand, it is known that he received his first education in philosophy from a physician. At the end of his book on the Generalities (Colliget), he stresses the method followed and writes: 'We have assembled, in our propositions, the individual facts and the general questions ... Whoever has grasped the generalities which we have written is capable of understanding what is correct and what is erroneous in the therapeutics of the writers of kunnash' ('Uyun). At the time when he was writing the Colliget, Averroes was studying the Organon and the Physics, which naturally led him to formulate the metaphysical problem.
He thus saw in Aristotle mainly the logician who follows a strict method of demonstration, the scholar who starts from the concrete in order to explain it by linking it with general propositions. He was to grasp even better the theory of knowledge when writing a commentary on the Posterior Analytics (1170).
This approach led him to discover the true Aristotle, and he thus learned to distinguish it from the image of him given by the Greek commentators such as Alexander of Aphrodisias and the Muslim falasifa such as Ibn Sina. This is why he criticized so vigorously the philosophy of Ibn Sina, while respecting the medical work of his predecessor (he wrote a commentary on his medical poem al-Urdhuza
fi 'l-tibb). Among the other philosophers, he was interested in the ideas of al-Farabi on logic and was inspired by his moral and political doctrines in the commentary which he wrote on Plato's Republic. But he was chiefly in the tradition of Ibn Badhdha, and wrote a commentary on his Risala on union with the Intellect and on his book on the 'Regime of the solitary'. His relations with Ibn Tufayl are well known:
Ibn Rushd wrote a commentary on Hayy b. Yaqían [q.v.]. There are definite similarities between the two philosophers, but although both recognize the convergence of the two independent attitudes inherent in philosophy and revealed faith, in Ibn Tufayl the duality of the persons Hayy and Absal who represent
them (this is resolved, at the end of the myth, in a common life devoted to contemplation far from human society) leads to a mystic vision of knowledge, which is not at all to be found in Ibn Rushd, as Renan has clearly pointed out.
A. The theologico-philosophic treatises:
It may be considered that they were written in the following order: Fasl al-maqal and its appendix the 4amima, Kashf al-manahidh (575/1179, which mentions the Fasl), Tahafut al-Tahafut (which does not mention either of the two preceding works and which, according to Bouyges, was not written before 1180).
(a) The Fasl al-maqal wa-taqrib ma bayn al-shari'a wa 'l-hikma min al-ittisal
('An authoritative treatise and exposition of the convergence which exists between the religious law and philosophy'). Ibn Rushd begins by giving a definition of philosophy entirely in accordance with the Qur'anic recommendations. He himself quotes verses LIX, 2 and VII, 184, among others. It is a rational view of creation which leads to the knowledge of the Creator. These sacred texts areQinterpreted as a recommendation to use either purely rational inferences (qiyas 'aqli), or to use them
together with inferences based on the Law (qiyas shar'i). Thus the Law establishes the legitimacy of rational speculation (naíar), whose method reaches perfection with demonstrative syllogism (burhan).
Here Averroes was involved in a quarrel among the theologians about the definition of faith and what part it should play in intellectual knowledge. His reply is clear: 'The Law imposes an obligation on the believer, since it must be obeyed when it commands rational speculation about beings: that is, before undertaking rational speculation, to proceed by degrees and to take account of what plays the same part in relation to speculation as instruments do in relation to action'. This is less a fides quaerens intellectum than a perfect faith which embraces rational knowledge. It demands the knowledge of the qiyas 'aqli, which is indispensable to the true knowledge of God, as it demands also that of the qiyas fiqhi, thanks to which, in matters of law, it is possible to know exactly the Divine commandments.
Nevertheless this obligation is bounded by the intellectual capacity of each person, since God never imposes more than an individual soul is able to carry out.
But Ibn Rushd states that a study of this magnitude cannot be made without taking previous research into account. Thus the pursuit of the above reasoning involves the obligation to examine the works of the ancients (cf. a similar idea developed by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi in his Mafatih al-ÿhayb, introduction). It is therefore contrary to the Law to forbid such an examination, provided that the person carrying it out possesses dhaka' al-fitra (a technical term, derived from a Qur'anic root, to indicate a gift which is given to man of remembering things and recognizing the truth, which may be translated by 'a keen sense of the truth'), and al-'adala al-shar'iyya accompanied by ethical virtue, that is a religious and moral
qualification defined by the Law. But not all men accept proof by demonstration: some give their assent (tasdiq) only to dialectical discourses (al-aqawil al-dhadaliyya), others only to rhetorical discourses (khitabiyya).
God speaks to men through these three types of discourse in order to reach them all (cf. Qur'an, XVI, 126). If rational research ends in a truth which is not mentioned in the Qur'an, there is no problem; it is the same as in law (this new comparison with fiqh deserves to be noted), when there are inferred by a juridical syllogism ahkam which are not to be found in the text of the revealed Law. In cases where the
Qur'an does not employ rational demonstration, either it is, in its manifest meaning, in agreement with the conclusion of the syllogism, and there is no difficulty, or else it is in apparent disagreement, and it is then necessary to make an interpretation (ta'wil) of the literal meaning in a figurative (madhazi) meaning,
in accordance with the usual practice of the Arabic language. In all this Ibn Rushd's thought follows the best established categories of Muslim hermeneutics. This, he points out, is what the jurists do; for tthem it is simply a case of making a text agree with the conclusion of a Bibiography.
In addition to the works mentioned in the article: M. Alonso, Averroes observador de la naturaleza, in al-And., v (1940)
idem, El 'ta'wil' y la hermeneutica sacra de Averroes, ibid., vii (1942)
R. Arnaldez, La pensee religieuse d'Averroes:
I. La creation dans le Tahafut, in St. Isl., vii (1957),
II. La theorie de Dieu dans le Tahafut, ibid., viii (1957),
III. L'immortalite de l'ame dans le Tahafut, ibid., x (1959)
M. Asin Palacios, El averroismo teologico de Santo Tomas de Aquino, in Homenaje a F. Codera, Saragossa 1904
T. J. De Boer, Die Widersprüche der Philosophie und ihr Ausgleich durch Ibn Roschd, Strasbourg 1894
idem, The history of philosophy in Islam, London 1903
Carra de Vaux, Les penseurs de l'Islam, iv, Paris 1923
P. S. Christ, The psychology of the active intellect of Averroes, Philadelphia 1926
Cruz Hernandez, Historia de la filosofia hispano-musulmana Madrid 1957, ii
idem, La libertad y la naturaleza social del hombre segun Averroes, in L'homme et son destin, Louvain 1960
idem, Etica e Politica na filosofia de Averrois, in Rev. Portug. de Filos., xvii (1961)
H. Corbin, Histoire de la philosophie islamique, Paris 1964
H. Derenbourg, Le Commentaire arabe d'Averroes sur quelques petits ecrits physiques d'Aristote, in Arch. f. Gesch. d. Phil., xviii (1905)
J. Freudenthal and S. Fraenkel, Die durch Averroes erhaltene Fragmente Alexanders zur Metaphysik des Aristoteles, in Abhandl. d. kgl. Akad. d. Wiss. zu Berlin, 1884
L. Gauthier, La theorie d'Ibn Roschd sur les rapports de la religion et de la philosophie, Paris 1909
M. Horten, Die Metaphysik des Averroes, Halle 1912
idem, Die Hauptlehren des Averroes nach seiner Schrift: Die Widerlegung des Gazali, Bonn 1913
F. Lasinio, Il commento medio di Averroe alla Poetica di Aristotele (Ar. and Hebr.), in Annali delle Universita Toscane, Pisa 1872
idem, Il commento medio di Averroe alla Retorica di Aristotele, Florence 1877
idem, Studi sopra Averroe, in Annuario delle Societa Italiana per gli studi orientali, 1872-3
G. M. Manser, Die göttliche Erkenntnis der Einzeldinge und die Vorsehung bei Averroees, in J. f. Phil. und spek. Theol., xxiii (1909)
idem, Das Verhaeltnis von Glauben und Wissen bei Averroees, ibid., xxiv (1910) and xxv (1911)
I. Mehren, Etudes sur la philosophie d'Averroes concernant ses rapports avec celle d'Avicenne et de Gazzali,in Museon, vii (1888-9)
S. Munk, Melanges de philosophie juive et arabe, Paris 1859 (repr. 1927)
C. A Nallino, art. Averroe in Enciclopedia Italiana
S. Nirenstein, The problem of the existence of God in Averroes, Philadelphia 1924
G. Quadri, La philosophie arabe dans l'Europe medievale des origines a Averroes, Fr. tr. by R. Huret,Paris 1947
M. Worms, Die Lehre der Anfangslosigkeit der Welt bei den mittelalterlichen arabischen Philosophen ...
(Append. Abhandl. des Ibn Roàd über das Problem der Weltschöpfung), in Beitr. der Gesch. d.
Phil. d. Mittelalters, iii/4, Münster 1900
M. Allard, Le rationalisme d'Averroes d'apres une etude sur la creation, in BEO, xiv (1952-4)
J. Windrow Sweetman, Islam and Christian theology, ii, 2nd part, London n.d., 73-210.
The Encyclopaedia of Islam © 1999 Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
Friday, June 27, 2008
Ibn Rushd, Bridging Islamic Traditions and Greek Thought
Ibn Rushd
By Martin Nick
Ibn Rushd provoked discussion about the relationship between the Muslim faith and philosophical reasoning, stating the two are not only compatible but are in fact complimentary. He was also interested in other scientific subjects, such as medicine and astronomy. The following is a brief account of Ibn Rushd’s life and achievements
Ibn Rushd’s Early Life.
Abu Al Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Rushd, widely known simply as Ibn Rushd, was born in 1126 in the town of Cordova, then part of the Muslim dynasty in Spain. The young Ibn Rashid grew up in his hometown, spending much of his early life in studies and academic pursuit. On the whole, he led a calm life, and was close to his father and grandfather; they were both accomplished judges in Cordova. His grandfather, in particular, was very involved in Fiqh (Maliki School) and was also kacting Imam of the Jamia Mosque in Cordova. Ibn Rushd acquired a great deal of knowledge from his father and grandfather as the family was scholarly oriented and this gave him the proper setting to shine in education. He also had formal tutors appointed for him in the subjects of law and philosophy and was very interested in the study of medicine as well. Ibn Rushd was indeed at the right time at the right place to further his academic interests. At his disposal were around 500,000 books and manuscripts on various subjects housed at the grand library of Cordova. The extensive library collection started to build up under Al-Hakam, the eminent Umayyad Caliph of Spain who ruled two centuries earlier. This invaluable resource for information made possible the academic awakening in Muslim Spain, a trend in which Ibn Rushd took active part.
Building a Career and Venturing into Aristotelian Logic
After reaching a certain level of academic maturity and scholarly accomplishment, Ibn Rushd continued the family tradition by becoming a chief Qadi (judge) of Cordova as his father and grandfather had. As Ibn Rushd was rising to prominence, in 1169 Ibn Tufail introduced him to Caliph Abu Yaqub who was incidentally also interested in philosophical trends. Abu Yaqub challenged Ibn Rushd by asking him whether the heavens were created or not. The Caliph provided the answer before Ibn Rushd, which took the pressure away from the latter. They proceeded to have a long amiable conversation, which impressed the caliph. He sent Ibn Rushd home as a dignitary with expensive presents. Along with the gifts, the caliph presented Ibn Rushd an appointment proposal for a thorough analysis of the philosophical works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ibn Rushd accepted and spent years of arduous labor working on the project and balancing it with his demanding career as a chief Qadi. After the philosopher Ibn Tufayl died, Ibn Rushd got appointed in his place as personal physician to the Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf in 1182 and then to his son Abu Yusuf Yaqub in 1184.
Ibn Rushd continued his work on interpreting Aristotle until 1195 and finalized it by producing a methodical set of commentaries on most of the great philosopher’s works. Most notable are the famous De anima (Of the Soul), Physica, and Metaphysica. Others include De Partibus Animalium, Rhetorica, Parva Naturalia, Nicomachean Ethics, Meteorologica, and Poetica. On Politica, Ibn Rushd wrote an indirect commentary in the sense that he retrieved it through Plato’s Republic, which can be viewed as a rewording of Politica. On most of the other works he wrote thorough analyses accompanied by summaries. Sometimes the analysis on a particular work was longer than the original text. Ibn Rushd’s commentaries and interpretations proved so effective to understanding Aristotle that they are all included into the Latin publication of Aristotle's complete works. Unfortunately, that is the most authentic representation of the commentaries in existence today. The Arabic original script has been lost.
Without any doubt, the analysis Ibn Rushd wrote on Aristotle’s work had an enormous eye-opening effect on Muslim and Christian philosophical and intellectual thought throughout the Middle Ages.
Building the Philo-theological Bridge
If controversy can be accounted for in the work of Ibn Rushd, it would have to be about the sensitive topic of bringing philosophical reasoning into the religious realm – a subject many theologians of the time considered inappropriate. In this respect, Ibn Rushd managed to stir quite a debate around him, which eventually erupted into a crisis. When in venturing into the topic of compatibility between the science of philosophy and the interpretation of Islamic doctrines, Ibn Rushd was again influenced by the reasoning of Ancient Greek texts. On the same subject, he wrote his 3-part magnum opus representing 3 religious philosophical books. They were written during the course of two years and completed in 1180. Ibn Rushd entitled the three treatises the Fasl, Manahij, and Tahafut al Tahafut – as his work in defense of philosophy. The Fasl and the Manahij reveal statements that were quite revolutionary for their time. Among other things, a main theme in these two works is related to the statement that only certain men can fully comprehend the doctrines in the Shariah – the religious law as revealed by the Prophet. These men had to be metaphysicians and to be basing their interpretations on syllogism – certain proof. As opposed to the metaphysician, the dialectic Muslim theologian who is basing his prophetic interpretations on dialectical argumentation is incapable of fully understanding the Shariah. Therefore, it is the philosopher ‘s highest deed to find the true and essential revelation contained in the religious law. Thus, the essential meaning should not be and cannot be communicated to the ordinary people. They must instead limit their comprehension to the Shariah’s external and direct moral found in metaphorical compositions and easy to understand stories. On such grounds, Ibn Rushd came to the conclusion that there are three types of arguments and that each should be applied in communication to the respective type of people it is meant for. The three types of people were classified as philosophers, theologians, and the masses. The three respective types of argumentation that should be applied were classified as demonstration, dialectical, and persuasive.
In the third book, Ibn Rushd makes an extensive effort to present a well-grounded defense to philosophy. However, the work failed to bring back the reputation of philosophy. It was so because of the fact that in the Iberian Peninsular and North Africa at the time works based on assumptions, no matter whether well founded or not, were looked down on. These claims, in their revolutionary for the time statements, won quite a few enemies for Ibn Rush. Many theologians found his claims nothing more that offensive suppositions. Soon after, Ibn Rushdi found no more purpose in his life. In his mind, he was misunderstood and alienated. The Caliph, however, continued to respect and support him, believing he was only trying to arrive at the absolute truth. So, after he came back to Marakesh, the Caliph invited Ibn Rushd to his court to stay and work there. Despite this generous offer, Ibn Rushd’s depression grew and soon after he fell sick and died. A burial was held for him in Marakesh, but his remains were eventually moved to the family tomb in Cordova.
Some historian sources claim that Ibn Rushd's works encompassed more than twenty thousand pages of manuscript. While this may be somewhat of an exaggeration, he certainly produced extensive and innovative, if not outright revolutionary, works in a number of disciplines. The one with most substance and impact were undoubtedly those on philosophy and religion, and those on jurisprudence. Ibn Rushd also wrote on medicine and is said to have written more that twenty books on the subject. On jurisprudence, he wrote what is considered to be the best 12-th century manuscript on the Maliki School of Fiqh. The book was called Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid. Latin translations of Ibn Rushd’s books were widely spread but the books were also translated in other languages, including German and English. Most of the Arabic originals are now lost but many of the translations have remained, especially those on philosophy in Latin. This is indicative of the interest towards Ibn Rushd’s works in the west. Two of the preserved famous translations are the commentary on Plato's Republic, and on Al Farabi's Logic. An impressive eighty-seven of his translated manuscripts are still in existence today.
SIGNIFICANT DATES
1126 (520 AH by the Islamic Calendar) - Ibn Rushd is born in Cordova, Muslim Spain.
1169 (565 AH) - Becomes Judge in Sevilla. Translates Aristotle's famous book “de Anima,”(Of the Soul) in the same year.
1171 (567 AH) - Relocates to Cordova to act as Qaadi – Judge – for the next ten years. Writes commentaries on major works of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Plato's Politcia.
1182 (578 AH) – Relocates to Marrakesh as the Caliph’s physician; soon afterwards returns to Cordova to act as Great Qaadi, or Chief Judge.
1195 (591 AH) – Ibn Rushd finds himself in conflict with the Caliph when tension builds up as theologians disfavor the former. Accused of heresy. Banned to Lucena, near Cordova. His books are destroyed.
1198 (595 AH) Ibn Rushd dies in Marrakesh.
Martin Nick.
By Martin Nick
Ibn Rushd provoked discussion about the relationship between the Muslim faith and philosophical reasoning, stating the two are not only compatible but are in fact complimentary. He was also interested in other scientific subjects, such as medicine and astronomy. The following is a brief account of Ibn Rushd’s life and achievements
Ibn Rushd’s Early Life.
Abu Al Walid Muhammad Ibn Ahmad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Rushd, widely known simply as Ibn Rushd, was born in 1126 in the town of Cordova, then part of the Muslim dynasty in Spain. The young Ibn Rashid grew up in his hometown, spending much of his early life in studies and academic pursuit. On the whole, he led a calm life, and was close to his father and grandfather; they were both accomplished judges in Cordova. His grandfather, in particular, was very involved in Fiqh (Maliki School) and was also kacting Imam of the Jamia Mosque in Cordova. Ibn Rushd acquired a great deal of knowledge from his father and grandfather as the family was scholarly oriented and this gave him the proper setting to shine in education. He also had formal tutors appointed for him in the subjects of law and philosophy and was very interested in the study of medicine as well. Ibn Rushd was indeed at the right time at the right place to further his academic interests. At his disposal were around 500,000 books and manuscripts on various subjects housed at the grand library of Cordova. The extensive library collection started to build up under Al-Hakam, the eminent Umayyad Caliph of Spain who ruled two centuries earlier. This invaluable resource for information made possible the academic awakening in Muslim Spain, a trend in which Ibn Rushd took active part.
Building a Career and Venturing into Aristotelian Logic
After reaching a certain level of academic maturity and scholarly accomplishment, Ibn Rushd continued the family tradition by becoming a chief Qadi (judge) of Cordova as his father and grandfather had. As Ibn Rushd was rising to prominence, in 1169 Ibn Tufail introduced him to Caliph Abu Yaqub who was incidentally also interested in philosophical trends. Abu Yaqub challenged Ibn Rushd by asking him whether the heavens were created or not. The Caliph provided the answer before Ibn Rushd, which took the pressure away from the latter. They proceeded to have a long amiable conversation, which impressed the caliph. He sent Ibn Rushd home as a dignitary with expensive presents. Along with the gifts, the caliph presented Ibn Rushd an appointment proposal for a thorough analysis of the philosophical works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle. Ibn Rushd accepted and spent years of arduous labor working on the project and balancing it with his demanding career as a chief Qadi. After the philosopher Ibn Tufayl died, Ibn Rushd got appointed in his place as personal physician to the Caliph Abu Yaqub Yusuf in 1182 and then to his son Abu Yusuf Yaqub in 1184.
Ibn Rushd continued his work on interpreting Aristotle until 1195 and finalized it by producing a methodical set of commentaries on most of the great philosopher’s works. Most notable are the famous De anima (Of the Soul), Physica, and Metaphysica. Others include De Partibus Animalium, Rhetorica, Parva Naturalia, Nicomachean Ethics, Meteorologica, and Poetica. On Politica, Ibn Rushd wrote an indirect commentary in the sense that he retrieved it through Plato’s Republic, which can be viewed as a rewording of Politica. On most of the other works he wrote thorough analyses accompanied by summaries. Sometimes the analysis on a particular work was longer than the original text. Ibn Rushd’s commentaries and interpretations proved so effective to understanding Aristotle that they are all included into the Latin publication of Aristotle's complete works. Unfortunately, that is the most authentic representation of the commentaries in existence today. The Arabic original script has been lost.
Without any doubt, the analysis Ibn Rushd wrote on Aristotle’s work had an enormous eye-opening effect on Muslim and Christian philosophical and intellectual thought throughout the Middle Ages.
Building the Philo-theological Bridge
If controversy can be accounted for in the work of Ibn Rushd, it would have to be about the sensitive topic of bringing philosophical reasoning into the religious realm – a subject many theologians of the time considered inappropriate. In this respect, Ibn Rushd managed to stir quite a debate around him, which eventually erupted into a crisis. When in venturing into the topic of compatibility between the science of philosophy and the interpretation of Islamic doctrines, Ibn Rushd was again influenced by the reasoning of Ancient Greek texts. On the same subject, he wrote his 3-part magnum opus representing 3 religious philosophical books. They were written during the course of two years and completed in 1180. Ibn Rushd entitled the three treatises the Fasl, Manahij, and Tahafut al Tahafut – as his work in defense of philosophy. The Fasl and the Manahij reveal statements that were quite revolutionary for their time. Among other things, a main theme in these two works is related to the statement that only certain men can fully comprehend the doctrines in the Shariah – the religious law as revealed by the Prophet. These men had to be metaphysicians and to be basing their interpretations on syllogism – certain proof. As opposed to the metaphysician, the dialectic Muslim theologian who is basing his prophetic interpretations on dialectical argumentation is incapable of fully understanding the Shariah. Therefore, it is the philosopher ‘s highest deed to find the true and essential revelation contained in the religious law. Thus, the essential meaning should not be and cannot be communicated to the ordinary people. They must instead limit their comprehension to the Shariah’s external and direct moral found in metaphorical compositions and easy to understand stories. On such grounds, Ibn Rushd came to the conclusion that there are three types of arguments and that each should be applied in communication to the respective type of people it is meant for. The three types of people were classified as philosophers, theologians, and the masses. The three respective types of argumentation that should be applied were classified as demonstration, dialectical, and persuasive.
In the third book, Ibn Rushd makes an extensive effort to present a well-grounded defense to philosophy. However, the work failed to bring back the reputation of philosophy. It was so because of the fact that in the Iberian Peninsular and North Africa at the time works based on assumptions, no matter whether well founded or not, were looked down on. These claims, in their revolutionary for the time statements, won quite a few enemies for Ibn Rush. Many theologians found his claims nothing more that offensive suppositions. Soon after, Ibn Rushdi found no more purpose in his life. In his mind, he was misunderstood and alienated. The Caliph, however, continued to respect and support him, believing he was only trying to arrive at the absolute truth. So, after he came back to Marakesh, the Caliph invited Ibn Rushd to his court to stay and work there. Despite this generous offer, Ibn Rushd’s depression grew and soon after he fell sick and died. A burial was held for him in Marakesh, but his remains were eventually moved to the family tomb in Cordova.
Some historian sources claim that Ibn Rushd's works encompassed more than twenty thousand pages of manuscript. While this may be somewhat of an exaggeration, he certainly produced extensive and innovative, if not outright revolutionary, works in a number of disciplines. The one with most substance and impact were undoubtedly those on philosophy and religion, and those on jurisprudence. Ibn Rushd also wrote on medicine and is said to have written more that twenty books on the subject. On jurisprudence, he wrote what is considered to be the best 12-th century manuscript on the Maliki School of Fiqh. The book was called Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid. Latin translations of Ibn Rushd’s books were widely spread but the books were also translated in other languages, including German and English. Most of the Arabic originals are now lost but many of the translations have remained, especially those on philosophy in Latin. This is indicative of the interest towards Ibn Rushd’s works in the west. Two of the preserved famous translations are the commentary on Plato's Republic, and on Al Farabi's Logic. An impressive eighty-seven of his translated manuscripts are still in existence today.
SIGNIFICANT DATES
1126 (520 AH by the Islamic Calendar) - Ibn Rushd is born in Cordova, Muslim Spain.
1169 (565 AH) - Becomes Judge in Sevilla. Translates Aristotle's famous book “de Anima,”(Of the Soul) in the same year.
1171 (567 AH) - Relocates to Cordova to act as Qaadi – Judge – for the next ten years. Writes commentaries on major works of Greek philosophers such as Aristotle’s Metaphysics and Plato's Politcia.
1182 (578 AH) – Relocates to Marrakesh as the Caliph’s physician; soon afterwards returns to Cordova to act as Great Qaadi, or Chief Judge.
1195 (591 AH) – Ibn Rushd finds himself in conflict with the Caliph when tension builds up as theologians disfavor the former. Accused of heresy. Banned to Lucena, near Cordova. His books are destroyed.
1198 (595 AH) Ibn Rushd dies in Marrakesh.
Martin Nick.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Averroes as a Physician
(Abul Walid Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn Rushd)
(1126-1198)
Edited and prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead
On the occasion of the 800th Anniversary of Averroes
During the DAAD fellowship hosted by Heidelberg University, July-October, 1998)
Introduction:
The medical school of the western Caliphate was both medically and philosophically antagonistic to Ibn Sina (1037) Avicenna, who is usually regarded as the chief representative of Islamic Medicine. The Arabic physician that emanated from the Cordova center of Islam showed a modification, owing to its intimate contact with the Christian West, and the medical and philosophical literature issued by the Christians and Jews of Moslem Spain is based more on the practical realities and attach less importance to dialectic vanities.
The eminent Arabic writers of the western Caliphate are small in number as compared to those of the Eastern, but their influence on the Latin West was far-reaching. The most of the Western Moslem physicians who reached any degree of eminence date long after Razes and Avicenna: the four most eminent of these were Albucasis, Avenzear, Averoes and Maimonides, all of whom exercised a great influence over the Scholastics of the Latin West.
Muslim Spain has produced some of the brightest intellectual luminaries of the Middle Ages. One of them was Ibn Rushd known in the West as Averroes, who is universally aknoweldge as the great philosopher of Islam and one of the greatest of all times. George Sarton in his introduction of history of science said that " Averroes was great because of the tremendous stir he made in the minds of men for centuries. A history of Averroism would include up to the end of the sixteenth-century, a period of four centuries which would perhaps deserve as much as any other to called the Middle Ages, for it was the real transition between ancient and modern methods."
Abul Waleed Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn Muhammed Ibn Rushd
* He was born in Cordova, the metropolis of Moslem Spain in 520 A.H. (1126 C.E.). Both his father and grand father were prominent judges. His family was well known for scholarship and it gave him fitting environment to excel in learning. He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy and (according to Leo Africanus) he was a friend of Avenzoar, the great Moslem clinician. He studied medicine, philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Harun and from Ibn Baja (1138) and he learned 'Fiqh' (Islamic jurisprudence) from Hafiz Abu Muhammed Ibn Rizq.
* Ibn Rushd under Islamic protection centered on the masterworks of Plato and Aristotle as preserved by an evolving series of lengthy and often innovative commentators, ideas that by now had been banned for centuries and virtually forgotten in the adjoining Holy Roman Empire.
* Like his father and his grandfather, he too became a judge, first in Seville and then Cordova, though his main love was philosophy. Supposedly, one night over dinner, he entered into a discussion with Almohad prince Abu Ya'qub Yusuf over the origin of the world and the nature of the mind.
* Averroes' ruminations on Aristotle's account of existence and the nature of the soul so impressed the ruler that he commissioned Averroes to write an entire set of commentaries. A few years later the prince appointed Averroes as his personal physician; under his auspices, Averroes spent the rest of his life writing commentaries on virtually all of Aristotle's works, producing detailed and original reconstructive commentaries on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Physics, Posterior Analytics, De Caelo, and De Anima, as well as Plato's Republic.
* Ibn Rushd was a genius of encyclopedic scope. He spent a great part of his fruitful life as a judge and as a physician. Yet he was known in the West for being the grand commentator on the philosophy of Aristotle, whose influence penetrated the minds of even the most conservative of Christian Ecclesiastes in the Middle Ages, including men like St. Thomas Aquinas. People went to him for consultation in medicine just as they did for consultation in legal matters and jurisprudence.
* At the age of twenty-seven, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions. Upon the ascendancy of Yousuf, he was introduced to him by another great Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufail to help in translating, abridging and commenting on some works of Aristotle (in 1169 C.E.).
* Ibn Rushd was appointed a judge (Qaadi) in Seville at the age of forty-four. That year he translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima" (Animals). This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott. Two years later he was transferred to Cordova, his birthplace where he spent ten years as judge in that town. During those ten years Ibn Rushd wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle including the Metaphysics. He was later called back to Marrakesh to work as a physician for the Caliph there, before his return to Cordova as Chief Judge.
* Ibn Rushd was well versed in the matters of the faith and law, which qualified him for the post of Qaadi (judge), but he was also keenly interested in philosophy and logic. So he tried to reconcile philosophy and religion in many of his works. Besides this area of study, he was deeply interested in medicine as well, as was his predecessor Ibn Sina (Avicenna). According to the French philosopher Renan Paris 1866), Ibn Rushd wrote seventy-eight books on various subjects.
* A careful examination of his works reveals that Averroes was a deeply religious man. As an example, we find in his writing, "Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith in the omnipotence and oneness of God the Almighty."
* In his medical and philosophical works we see the depth of his faith and knowledge of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions, which he often quotes in support of his views in different matters.
* Ibn Rushd said that true happiness for man can surely be achieved through mental and psychological health, and people cannot enjoy psychological health unless they follow ways that lead to happiness in the hereafter, and unless they believe in God and His oneness.
* Ibn Rushd commented that Islam aims at true knowledge, which is knowledge of God and of His creation. This true knowledge also includes knowing the various means that lead to worldly satisfaction and avoidance of misery in the Hereafter. This type of practical knowledge covers two branches: (1) Jurisprudence which deals with the material or tangible aspect of human life and (2) the spiritual sciences which deal with matters like patience, gratitude to God, and morals. He compared spiritual laws to medicine in their effect on human beings physically on one hand, and morally and spiritually on the other. He pointed out that spiritual health is termed 'Taqwa' (righteousness and God-fearing) in the Qur'an.
* Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions in philosophy, logic, medicine, music and jurisprudence. Ibn Rushd's writings spread more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. He wrote 20 books on medicine.
In Philosophy:
* His most important work Tuhafut al-Tuhafut was written in response to al-Ghazali's work. Ibn Rushd was criticized by many Muslim scholars for this book, which, nevertheless, had a profound influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science. His views on fate were that man is in neither full control of his destiny nor it is fully predetermined for him.
* He wrote three commentaries on the works of Aristotle, as these were known then through Arabic translations. The shortest Jami may be considered as a summary of the subject. The intermediate was Talkhis and the longest was the Tafsir. These three commentaries would seem to correspond to different stages in the education of pupils; the short one was meant for the beginners, then thintermediate for the students familiar with the subject, and finally the longest one for advanced studies. The longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Qur'anic concepts.
* Ibn Rushd wrote many books on the question of theology, where he tried to use his knowledge of philosophy and logic. It is not surprising then that his works greatly influenced European religious scholarship, though Averroes is innocent of many views of Western so-called Averroism.
* Professor Bammate in his booklet "Muslim Contribution to Civilization" quotes Renan: St. Thomas Aquinas was "the first disciple of the Grand Commentator (i.e., Averroes). Albert Alagnus owes everything to Avicenna, St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroes." Professor Bammate continues: "The Reverend Father Asin Palacios, who has carried out intensive studies of the theological Averroism of St. Thomas and, in no way classifies Averroes with Latin Averroists, takes several texts of the Cordovan philosopher and compares them with the Angelic Doctor of (St. Thomas). The similarity in their thought is confirmed by the use of expressions similar to that of Ibn Rushd. It leaves no room for any doubt about the decisive influence that the Muslim Philosopher (Averroes) had on the greatest of all Catholic theologians.
In Medicine:
* The philosophical, religious, and legal works of Ibn Rushd have been studied more thoroughly than his medical books, since he was primarily a theologian-philosopher and scholar of the Koranic sciences.
* Among his teachers in medicine were Ali Abu Ja'lfar ibn Harun al-Tarrajjani (from Tarragona) and Abu Marwan ibn Jurrayul (or Hazbul, according to al-Safadi).
* Ibn Rushd's major work in medicine, al-Kulliyyat ("Generalities"), was written between 1153 and 1169.
* Its subject matter leans heavily on Galen, and occasionally Hippocrates' name is mentioned. It is subdivided into seven books: Tashrih al-a'lda' ("Anatomy of Qrgans"), al-Sihha ("Health"), al-Marad ("Sickness"), al-'Alamat ("Symptoms"), al-Adwiya wa 'l-aghdhiya ("Drugs and Foods"), Hifz al-sihha ("Hygiene"), and Shifa al-amrad ("Therapy")
* Ibn Rushd requested his close friend Ibn Zuhr to write a book on al-Umur al-juz'iyya (particularities, i.e., the treatment of head-to-toe diseases), which he did, and called his book al-Taisir fi 'l-muddawat wa 'l-tadbir ("An Aid to Therapy and Regimen").
* Ibn Rushd's al-Kulliyyat and Ibn Zuhr's al-Taisir were meant to constitute a comprehensive medical textbook (hence certain printed Latin editions present these two books together), possibly to serve instead of Ibn Sina's al-Qanun, which was not well received in Andalusia by Abu '1-,Ala' Zuhr ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn Zuhr (Ibn Zuhr's grandfather).
* Two Hebrew vesions of al-Kulliyyat are known, one by an unidentified translator, another by Solomon ben Abraham ben David.
* The Latin translation, Colliget, was made in Padua in 125 5 by a Jew, Bonacosa, and the first edition was printed in Venice in 1482, followed by many other editions.
* Ibn Rushd wrote a talkhis (abstract) of Galen's works, parts of which are preserved in Arabic manuscripts.
* He showed interest in Ibn Sina's Urjuza fi 'I-tibb ("Poem on Medicine," Canticum de medicina . . . ), on which he wrote a commentary, Sharh Urjuzat Ibn Sina.
* It was translated into Hebrew prose by Moses ben Tibbon in 1260; a translation into Hebrew verse was completed at Beziers (France) in 1261 by Solomon ben Ayyub ben Joseph of Granada.
* Further, a Latin translation of the same work was made by Armengaud, son of Blaise, in 1280 or 1284, and a printed edition was published at Venice in 1484.
* Another revised Latin translation was made by Andrea Alpago, who translated Ibn Rushd's Maqala fi '1-Tiryaq ("Treatise on Theriac," Tractatus de theiaca).
* Ibn Rushd's unsuccessful attempts to defend philosophers against theologians paved the way for a decline in Arabic medicine.
* The great image of the Hakim (physician-philosopher), which culminated in the persons of al-Razi and Ibn Sina, has been superseded by that of faqih musharik fi ''l- ulum (a jurist who participates in sciences), among whom were physician-jurists and theologian-physicians.
* Because Ibn Rushd'frame as a physician was eclipsed by his frame as a philosopher, his book Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb stands no comparison to 'Continents' of Rhazes and 'Canon' of Avicenna.
* Averroes wrote a commentary on Avicenna's poem Canticum de Medicina (translated into Latin by Armengaud). and also mentioned the Philosophia Orientalis of the latter.
* His commentary of the Canticum was published at Vinice in 1484 under the title Incipit translatio Canticor. Avi. cum commento Averrhoys facta ab Arabico in Latinum a mag. Armegando blassi de Montepesulaano.
* The German physician Max Meyerhof remarked that: "In Spain, the philosophical bias predominated among medical men. The prototypes of this combination are the two Muslims, Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).
In Astronomy:
* He wrote a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitab fi-Harakat al-Falak.
* According to Draper, Ibn Rushd is credited with the discovery of sunspots. He also summarized Almagest and divided it into two parts: description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres. This summary of the Almagest was translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in 1231.
* His book on jurisprudence 'Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid' has been held by Ibn Jafar Zahabi as possibly the best book on the Maliki School of Fiqh.
General:
* Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into various languages, including Latin, English, German and Hebrew.
* Most of his commentaries on philosophy are preserved in the Hebrew translations, or in Latin translations from the Hebrew, and a few in the original Arabic.
* His commentary on zoology is entirely lost. Ibn Rushd also wrote commentaries on Plato's Republic, Galen's treatise on fevers, al-Farabi's logic, and many others. Eighty-seven of his books are still extant.
* Ibn Rushd has been held as one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the twelfth century.
* According to the Western writers, Ibn Rushd influenced Western thought from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
* His commentaries were used as standard texts in preference to the treatises of Aristotle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
* His books were included in the syllabi of Paris and other Western universities till the advent of modern experimental sciences. Ibn Rusd was studied in the University of Mexico until 1831.
* The intellectual movement initiated by Ibn Rushd continued to be a living factor in European thought until the beginning of modern expermintal science.
(1126-1198)
Edited and prepared by Prof. Hamed A. Ead
On the occasion of the 800th Anniversary of Averroes
During the DAAD fellowship hosted by Heidelberg University, July-October, 1998)
Introduction:
The medical school of the western Caliphate was both medically and philosophically antagonistic to Ibn Sina (1037) Avicenna, who is usually regarded as the chief representative of Islamic Medicine. The Arabic physician that emanated from the Cordova center of Islam showed a modification, owing to its intimate contact with the Christian West, and the medical and philosophical literature issued by the Christians and Jews of Moslem Spain is based more on the practical realities and attach less importance to dialectic vanities.
The eminent Arabic writers of the western Caliphate are small in number as compared to those of the Eastern, but their influence on the Latin West was far-reaching. The most of the Western Moslem physicians who reached any degree of eminence date long after Razes and Avicenna: the four most eminent of these were Albucasis, Avenzear, Averoes and Maimonides, all of whom exercised a great influence over the Scholastics of the Latin West.
Muslim Spain has produced some of the brightest intellectual luminaries of the Middle Ages. One of them was Ibn Rushd known in the West as Averroes, who is universally aknoweldge as the great philosopher of Islam and one of the greatest of all times. George Sarton in his introduction of history of science said that " Averroes was great because of the tremendous stir he made in the minds of men for centuries. A history of Averroism would include up to the end of the sixteenth-century, a period of four centuries which would perhaps deserve as much as any other to called the Middle Ages, for it was the real transition between ancient and modern methods."
Abul Waleed Muhammed Ibn Ahmed Ibn Muhammed Ibn Rushd
* He was born in Cordova, the metropolis of Moslem Spain in 520 A.H. (1126 C.E.). Both his father and grand father were prominent judges. His family was well known for scholarship and it gave him fitting environment to excel in learning. He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy and (according to Leo Africanus) he was a friend of Avenzoar, the great Moslem clinician. He studied medicine, philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Harun and from Ibn Baja (1138) and he learned 'Fiqh' (Islamic jurisprudence) from Hafiz Abu Muhammed Ibn Rizq.
* Ibn Rushd under Islamic protection centered on the masterworks of Plato and Aristotle as preserved by an evolving series of lengthy and often innovative commentators, ideas that by now had been banned for centuries and virtually forgotten in the adjoining Holy Roman Empire.
* Like his father and his grandfather, he too became a judge, first in Seville and then Cordova, though his main love was philosophy. Supposedly, one night over dinner, he entered into a discussion with Almohad prince Abu Ya'qub Yusuf over the origin of the world and the nature of the mind.
* Averroes' ruminations on Aristotle's account of existence and the nature of the soul so impressed the ruler that he commissioned Averroes to write an entire set of commentaries. A few years later the prince appointed Averroes as his personal physician; under his auspices, Averroes spent the rest of his life writing commentaries on virtually all of Aristotle's works, producing detailed and original reconstructive commentaries on Aristotle's Metaphysics, Physics, Posterior Analytics, De Caelo, and De Anima, as well as Plato's Republic.
* Ibn Rushd was a genius of encyclopedic scope. He spent a great part of his fruitful life as a judge and as a physician. Yet he was known in the West for being the grand commentator on the philosophy of Aristotle, whose influence penetrated the minds of even the most conservative of Christian Ecclesiastes in the Middle Ages, including men like St. Thomas Aquinas. People went to him for consultation in medicine just as they did for consultation in legal matters and jurisprudence.
* At the age of twenty-seven, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions. Upon the ascendancy of Yousuf, he was introduced to him by another great Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufail to help in translating, abridging and commenting on some works of Aristotle (in 1169 C.E.).
* Ibn Rushd was appointed a judge (Qaadi) in Seville at the age of forty-four. That year he translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima" (Animals). This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott. Two years later he was transferred to Cordova, his birthplace where he spent ten years as judge in that town. During those ten years Ibn Rushd wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle including the Metaphysics. He was later called back to Marrakesh to work as a physician for the Caliph there, before his return to Cordova as Chief Judge.
* Ibn Rushd was well versed in the matters of the faith and law, which qualified him for the post of Qaadi (judge), but he was also keenly interested in philosophy and logic. So he tried to reconcile philosophy and religion in many of his works. Besides this area of study, he was deeply interested in medicine as well, as was his predecessor Ibn Sina (Avicenna). According to the French philosopher Renan Paris 1866), Ibn Rushd wrote seventy-eight books on various subjects.
* A careful examination of his works reveals that Averroes was a deeply religious man. As an example, we find in his writing, "Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith in the omnipotence and oneness of God the Almighty."
* In his medical and philosophical works we see the depth of his faith and knowledge of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions, which he often quotes in support of his views in different matters.
* Ibn Rushd said that true happiness for man can surely be achieved through mental and psychological health, and people cannot enjoy psychological health unless they follow ways that lead to happiness in the hereafter, and unless they believe in God and His oneness.
* Ibn Rushd commented that Islam aims at true knowledge, which is knowledge of God and of His creation. This true knowledge also includes knowing the various means that lead to worldly satisfaction and avoidance of misery in the Hereafter. This type of practical knowledge covers two branches: (1) Jurisprudence which deals with the material or tangible aspect of human life and (2) the spiritual sciences which deal with matters like patience, gratitude to God, and morals. He compared spiritual laws to medicine in their effect on human beings physically on one hand, and morally and spiritually on the other. He pointed out that spiritual health is termed 'Taqwa' (righteousness and God-fearing) in the Qur'an.
* Ibn Rushd made remarkable contributions in philosophy, logic, medicine, music and jurisprudence. Ibn Rushd's writings spread more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. He wrote 20 books on medicine.
In Philosophy:
* His most important work Tuhafut al-Tuhafut was written in response to al-Ghazali's work. Ibn Rushd was criticized by many Muslim scholars for this book, which, nevertheless, had a profound influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science. His views on fate were that man is in neither full control of his destiny nor it is fully predetermined for him.
* He wrote three commentaries on the works of Aristotle, as these were known then through Arabic translations. The shortest Jami may be considered as a summary of the subject. The intermediate was Talkhis and the longest was the Tafsir. These three commentaries would seem to correspond to different stages in the education of pupils; the short one was meant for the beginners, then thintermediate for the students familiar with the subject, and finally the longest one for advanced studies. The longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Qur'anic concepts.
* Ibn Rushd wrote many books on the question of theology, where he tried to use his knowledge of philosophy and logic. It is not surprising then that his works greatly influenced European religious scholarship, though Averroes is innocent of many views of Western so-called Averroism.
* Professor Bammate in his booklet "Muslim Contribution to Civilization" quotes Renan: St. Thomas Aquinas was "the first disciple of the Grand Commentator (i.e., Averroes). Albert Alagnus owes everything to Avicenna, St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroes." Professor Bammate continues: "The Reverend Father Asin Palacios, who has carried out intensive studies of the theological Averroism of St. Thomas and, in no way classifies Averroes with Latin Averroists, takes several texts of the Cordovan philosopher and compares them with the Angelic Doctor of (St. Thomas). The similarity in their thought is confirmed by the use of expressions similar to that of Ibn Rushd. It leaves no room for any doubt about the decisive influence that the Muslim Philosopher (Averroes) had on the greatest of all Catholic theologians.
In Medicine:
* The philosophical, religious, and legal works of Ibn Rushd have been studied more thoroughly than his medical books, since he was primarily a theologian-philosopher and scholar of the Koranic sciences.
* Among his teachers in medicine were Ali Abu Ja'lfar ibn Harun al-Tarrajjani (from Tarragona) and Abu Marwan ibn Jurrayul (or Hazbul, according to al-Safadi).
* Ibn Rushd's major work in medicine, al-Kulliyyat ("Generalities"), was written between 1153 and 1169.
* Its subject matter leans heavily on Galen, and occasionally Hippocrates' name is mentioned. It is subdivided into seven books: Tashrih al-a'lda' ("Anatomy of Qrgans"), al-Sihha ("Health"), al-Marad ("Sickness"), al-'Alamat ("Symptoms"), al-Adwiya wa 'l-aghdhiya ("Drugs and Foods"), Hifz al-sihha ("Hygiene"), and Shifa al-amrad ("Therapy")
* Ibn Rushd requested his close friend Ibn Zuhr to write a book on al-Umur al-juz'iyya (particularities, i.e., the treatment of head-to-toe diseases), which he did, and called his book al-Taisir fi 'l-muddawat wa 'l-tadbir ("An Aid to Therapy and Regimen").
* Ibn Rushd's al-Kulliyyat and Ibn Zuhr's al-Taisir were meant to constitute a comprehensive medical textbook (hence certain printed Latin editions present these two books together), possibly to serve instead of Ibn Sina's al-Qanun, which was not well received in Andalusia by Abu '1-,Ala' Zuhr ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan ibn Zuhr (Ibn Zuhr's grandfather).
* Two Hebrew vesions of al-Kulliyyat are known, one by an unidentified translator, another by Solomon ben Abraham ben David.
* The Latin translation, Colliget, was made in Padua in 125 5 by a Jew, Bonacosa, and the first edition was printed in Venice in 1482, followed by many other editions.
* Ibn Rushd wrote a talkhis (abstract) of Galen's works, parts of which are preserved in Arabic manuscripts.
* He showed interest in Ibn Sina's Urjuza fi 'I-tibb ("Poem on Medicine," Canticum de medicina . . . ), on which he wrote a commentary, Sharh Urjuzat Ibn Sina.
* It was translated into Hebrew prose by Moses ben Tibbon in 1260; a translation into Hebrew verse was completed at Beziers (France) in 1261 by Solomon ben Ayyub ben Joseph of Granada.
* Further, a Latin translation of the same work was made by Armengaud, son of Blaise, in 1280 or 1284, and a printed edition was published at Venice in 1484.
* Another revised Latin translation was made by Andrea Alpago, who translated Ibn Rushd's Maqala fi '1-Tiryaq ("Treatise on Theriac," Tractatus de theiaca).
* Ibn Rushd's unsuccessful attempts to defend philosophers against theologians paved the way for a decline in Arabic medicine.
* The great image of the Hakim (physician-philosopher), which culminated in the persons of al-Razi and Ibn Sina, has been superseded by that of faqih musharik fi ''l- ulum (a jurist who participates in sciences), among whom were physician-jurists and theologian-physicians.
* Because Ibn Rushd'frame as a physician was eclipsed by his frame as a philosopher, his book Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb stands no comparison to 'Continents' of Rhazes and 'Canon' of Avicenna.
* Averroes wrote a commentary on Avicenna's poem Canticum de Medicina (translated into Latin by Armengaud). and also mentioned the Philosophia Orientalis of the latter.
* His commentary of the Canticum was published at Vinice in 1484 under the title Incipit translatio Canticor. Avi. cum commento Averrhoys facta ab Arabico in Latinum a mag. Armegando blassi de Montepesulaano.
* The German physician Max Meyerhof remarked that: "In Spain, the philosophical bias predominated among medical men. The prototypes of this combination are the two Muslims, Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).
In Astronomy:
* He wrote a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitab fi-Harakat al-Falak.
* According to Draper, Ibn Rushd is credited with the discovery of sunspots. He also summarized Almagest and divided it into two parts: description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres. This summary of the Almagest was translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in 1231.
* His book on jurisprudence 'Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid' has been held by Ibn Jafar Zahabi as possibly the best book on the Maliki School of Fiqh.
General:
* Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into various languages, including Latin, English, German and Hebrew.
* Most of his commentaries on philosophy are preserved in the Hebrew translations, or in Latin translations from the Hebrew, and a few in the original Arabic.
* His commentary on zoology is entirely lost. Ibn Rushd also wrote commentaries on Plato's Republic, Galen's treatise on fevers, al-Farabi's logic, and many others. Eighty-seven of his books are still extant.
* Ibn Rushd has been held as one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the twelfth century.
* According to the Western writers, Ibn Rushd influenced Western thought from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries.
* His commentaries were used as standard texts in preference to the treatises of Aristotle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.
* His books were included in the syllabi of Paris and other Western universities till the advent of modern experimental sciences. Ibn Rusd was studied in the University of Mexico until 1831.
* The intellectual movement initiated by Ibn Rushd continued to be a living factor in European thought until the beginning of modern expermintal science.
Arab Golden Age and Education
The educational standards during the Abbasid era were high. Elementary education, both for boys and for girls, flourished. Theological colleges were maintained, and extension courses from mosques as centers radiated outward to areas beyond.
Private as well as public libraries were common, and one street alone in Baghdad contained a thousand book sellers' shops. Paper, introduced from China via Samarkand, was manufactured in the provinces from vegetable fibber.
Music was cultivated, and among the musicians mentioned was one Ibrahim al-Mousili who, "could detect a false note among thirty lute-players, and tell the player to tighten up her string." He received as much as (equivalent) US $20,000 for one song from the doting Haroun al-Rashid.
All this time, while Europe was almost illiterate and Charlemagne himself could hardly write his name, a great intellectual awakening was taking place in which the Arab, with nothing but an intellect stimulated by great mental curiosity and a language which had then been the vehicle only of revelation and desert poetry, took a great and glorious part.
The currents of learning and culture which had earlier originated in Egypt, Babylonia, Phoenicia had been funneled into Greece, and having been there assimilated and vastly augmented by the Greek mind, had spread again in the form of Hellenism to the adjoining world. Among the centers of Hellenism one remembers Edessa, Antioch and Alexandria.
As the night of the Dark Ages settled down over Europe this learning had become embalmed in manuscripts and books buried in monasteries throughout the Near East, and available chiefly to monks and prominent scholars. But the flame of Hellenic learning, into which the Arab learning had been infused, feeble though it was, and was kept burning among them.
Among the by-products of the recurrent raids to which Haroun was addicted was that among the loot many manuscripts were brought to the capital. Haroun al-Rashid and his immediate successors dispatched emissaries far and wide in search of more and ever more manuscripts.
A college of translation, called the "House of Wisdom," was set up in Baghdad, and for more than a century, translation work was vigorously carried on, from Greek into Syriac and then into Arabic. Interest among the Arabs centered, however, not on Greek history, drama, and poetry, but rather on medicine and mathematics, as well as on the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato and the astronomy of Ptolemy.
An important name to remember is that of Hunyan, a Nestorian Christian whose chief contribution among very many was the Translation of Galen's Anatomy. Outstanding work was done as well as the Sabeans, or star worshipers, particularly and naturally along the line of astronomy.
A current from India also contributed to the stream with the introduction of the digits known as Arabic numerals, as well as the decimal system and the use of zero. The century of translation was but the prelude to the original contributions made through the Arabic language and under the stimulus of Arab encouragement.
Some of the translators themselves did significant original work. It was the Nestorian Christian physician Yuhanna who used apes as subjects for dissection. He also wrote the oldest work on the disorders of the eye, and his pupil Hunayan produced a ten volume treatise on the eye.
Private as well as public libraries were common, and one street alone in Baghdad contained a thousand book sellers' shops. Paper, introduced from China via Samarkand, was manufactured in the provinces from vegetable fibber.
Music was cultivated, and among the musicians mentioned was one Ibrahim al-Mousili who, "could detect a false note among thirty lute-players, and tell the player to tighten up her string." He received as much as (equivalent) US $20,000 for one song from the doting Haroun al-Rashid.
All this time, while Europe was almost illiterate and Charlemagne himself could hardly write his name, a great intellectual awakening was taking place in which the Arab, with nothing but an intellect stimulated by great mental curiosity and a language which had then been the vehicle only of revelation and desert poetry, took a great and glorious part.
The currents of learning and culture which had earlier originated in Egypt, Babylonia, Phoenicia had been funneled into Greece, and having been there assimilated and vastly augmented by the Greek mind, had spread again in the form of Hellenism to the adjoining world. Among the centers of Hellenism one remembers Edessa, Antioch and Alexandria.
As the night of the Dark Ages settled down over Europe this learning had become embalmed in manuscripts and books buried in monasteries throughout the Near East, and available chiefly to monks and prominent scholars. But the flame of Hellenic learning, into which the Arab learning had been infused, feeble though it was, and was kept burning among them.
Among the by-products of the recurrent raids to which Haroun was addicted was that among the loot many manuscripts were brought to the capital. Haroun al-Rashid and his immediate successors dispatched emissaries far and wide in search of more and ever more manuscripts.
A college of translation, called the "House of Wisdom," was set up in Baghdad, and for more than a century, translation work was vigorously carried on, from Greek into Syriac and then into Arabic. Interest among the Arabs centered, however, not on Greek history, drama, and poetry, but rather on medicine and mathematics, as well as on the philosophy of Aristotle and Plato and the astronomy of Ptolemy.
An important name to remember is that of Hunyan, a Nestorian Christian whose chief contribution among very many was the Translation of Galen's Anatomy. Outstanding work was done as well as the Sabeans, or star worshipers, particularly and naturally along the line of astronomy.
A current from India also contributed to the stream with the introduction of the digits known as Arabic numerals, as well as the decimal system and the use of zero. The century of translation was but the prelude to the original contributions made through the Arabic language and under the stimulus of Arab encouragement.
Some of the translators themselves did significant original work. It was the Nestorian Christian physician Yuhanna who used apes as subjects for dissection. He also wrote the oldest work on the disorders of the eye, and his pupil Hunayan produced a ten volume treatise on the eye.
How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs
Book review
How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs
By: Peter BetBasso
Author : De Lacy O'Leary, D.D.
Publisher : Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Date : 1949 (according to the inside title page: "owing to
production delays this book was published in 1980")
Pages : 196
Index
Table of Contents
I Introduction
II Helenism in Asia
1. Hellenization of Syria
2. The Frontier Provinces
3. Foundation of Jundi-Shapur
4. Diocletian and Constantine
III The Legacy of Greece
1. Alexandrian Science
2. Philosophy
3. Greek Mathematicians
4. Greek Medicine
IV Christianity as a Hellenizing Force
1. Hellenistic Atmosphere of Christianity
2. Expansion of Christianity
3. Ecclesiastical Organization
V The Nestorians
1. First School of Nisibis
2. School of Edessa
3. Nestorian Schism
4. Dark Period of the Nestorian Church
5. The Nestorian Reformation
VI The Monophysites
1. Beginning of Monophysitism
2. The Monophysite Schism
3. Persecution of the Monophysites
4. Organization of the Monophysite Church
5. Persian Monophysites
VII Indian Influence, I: The Sea Route
1. The Sea Route to India
2. Alexandrian Science in India
VIII Indian Influence, I: The Sea Route
1. Bactria
2. The Road Through Marw
IX Buddhism as a Possible Medium
1. Rise of Buddhism
2. Did Buddhism Spread West?
3. Buddhist Bactria
4. Ibrahim Ibn Adam
X The Khalifate of Damascus
1. Arab Conquest of Syria
2. The Family of Sergius
3. The Camp Cities
XI The Khalifate of Baghdad
1. The 'Abbasid Revolution
2. The Foundation of Baghdad
XII Translation Into Arabic
1. The First Translators
2. Hunayn Ibn Ishaq
3. Other Translators
4. Thabit Ibn Qurra
XIII The Arab Philosophers
Commentary on the book:
O'Leary writes a fascinating history of a critically important phase in mesopotamian history. After all, it was the Arabs who brough with them into Spain the Arabic versions of the Greek works, from which translations were made into Latin and spread throughout Europe, which was then in its dark age. It is this Greek body of knowledge that brought Europe out of its dark age and into the renaisance - the rebirth or revival.
The question remains: by whom, where, and when was the Greek body of knowledge transmitted to the Arabs themselves?
O'Leary tells us:
Greek scientific thought had been in the world for a long time before it reached the Arabs, and during that period it had already spread abroad in various directions. So it is not surprising that it reached the Arabs by more than one route. It came first and in the plainest line through Christian Syriac writers, scholars, and scientists. Then the Arabs applied themselves directly to the original Greek sources and learned over again all they had already learned, correcting and verifying earlier knowledge. Then there came a second channel of transmission indirectly through India, mathematical and astronomical work, all a good deal developed by Indian scholars, but ertainly developed from material obtained from Alexandria in the first place. This material had passed to India by the sea route which connected lexandria with north-west India. Then there was also another line of passage through India which seems to have had its beginnings in the Greek kingdom of Bactria, one of the Asiatic states founded by Alexander the Great, and a land route long kept open between the Greek world and Central Asia, especially with the city of Marw, and this perhaps connects with a Buddhist medium which at one time promoted intercourse between east and west, though Buddhism as a religion was withdrawing to the Far East when the Arabs reached Central Asia. [pages 2-3].
Chapter II gives a history of how Western Asia came under Greek influence.
Chapter III discusses the Christian Church. A notable passage occurs in the very last paragraph of the Chapter:
It has been disputed whether Muhammad owed most to Jewish or Christian predecessors, apparently he owed a great deal to both. But when we come to the 'Abbasid period when Greek literature and science began to tell upon Arabic thought, there can be no further question. The heritage of Greece was passed on by the Christian Church. [page 46].
This passage leads naturally to Chapter IV, titled the Nestorians. In this chapter O'Leary discusses the Nestorian contribution in the transmission of Greek knowledge to the Arabs. I can only cite briefly, as it is a lengthy chapter. In brief, through the many schools the "Nestorians" (Assyrian Church of the East) founded, including the Schools at Edessa, Nisibis, and Jundi-Shapur, the Greek works were translated into Syriac for use in the curriculums. These works included Theophania, Martyrs of Palestine, and Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; the Isagoge of Porphyry (an introduction to logic); Aristotle's Hermeneutica and Analytica Priora; and many, many others.
O'Leary states:
In the first place Hibha [a Nestorian] had introduced the Aristotelian logic to illustrate and explain the theological teaching of Theodore, of Mopseustia, and that logic remained permanently the necessary introduction to the theological study in all Nestorian education. Ultimately it was the ristotelian logic which, with the Greek medical, astronomical, and mathematical writers, was passed on to the Arabs. [page 61]
Later, O'Leary states:
Nestorian missions pushed on towards the south and reached the Wadi l-Qura', a little to the north-east of Medina, an outpost of the Romans garrisoned, not by Roman troops, but by auxiliaries of the Qoda' tribes. In the time of Muhammad most of these tribes were Christian, and over the whole wadi were scattered monasteries, cells, and hermitages. From this as their headquarters Nestorian monks wandered trhough Arabia, visiting the great fairs and preaching to such as were willing to listen to them. Tradition relates that the Prophet as a young man went to Syria and near Bostra was recognized as one predestined to be a prophet by a monk named Nestor (Ibn Sa'd, Itqan, ii, p. 367). Perhaps this may refer to some contact with a Nestorian monk. The chief Christian stronghold in Arabia was the city of Najran, but that was mainly Monophysite. What was called its Ka'ba seems to have been a Christian cathedral. [page 68]. But the most definite link between Nestorians and the Arabs was through Jundi-Shapur.
O'Leary states:
From the time of Maraba onwards there is fairly continuous evidence of translation from the Greek and of work in Aristotelian logic. [page 70]
Some examples are:
Maraba II, skilled in Philosophy, medicine, and astronomy, and to have been learned in the wisdom of the Persians, Greeks, and Hebrews, wrote a commentary (in Syriac) on the Dialectics of Aristotle.
Shem'on of Beth Garmai translated Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History.
Henan-isho' II, Catholicos (Patriach) from 686 to 701, composed a commentary (again, in Syriac) on Aristotle's Analytica.
Founded originally as a prisoner camp, Jundi-Shapur had citizens who spoke Greek, Syriac, and Persian. But in the course of time all academic instruction was administered in Syriac [page 71]. It is interesting that even though the people of Jundi-Shapur used the speech of Khuzistan, which was not Syriac, Hebrew nor Persian, the language used in the classroom was Syriac, "as is obvious from the fact that Syriac translations were made for the use of lecturers". [page 72].
Finally, O'Leary states in closing Chapter III:
When Baghdad was founded in 762 the khalif and his court became near neighbors of Jundi-Shapur, and before long court appointments with generous emoluments began to draw Nestorian physicians and teachers from the academy, and in this Harun ar-Rashid's minister Ja'far Ibn Barmak was a leading agent, doing all in his power to introduce Greek science amongst the subjects of the Khalif, Arabs, and Persians. His strongly pro-Greek attitude seems to have been derived from Marw, where his family had settled after removing from Balkh, and in his efforts he was ably assisted by Jibra'il of the Bukhtyishu' family [a famous Assyrian family which produced nine generations of physicians] and his successors from Jundi-Shapur. Thus the Nestorian heritage of Greek scholarship passed from Edessa and Nisibis, through Jundi-Shapur, to Baghdad. [page 72].
Chapter IV discusses the Monophysites (the "Jacobites", or the Syrian Orthodox Church).
A detailed history of Monophysitism is given. One of the most well known Monophysite translators was Sergius of Rashayn, "a celebrated physician and philosopher, skilled in Greek and translator into Syriac of various works on medicine, philosophy, astronomy, and theology". [page 83]. Other Monopysite translators were Ya'qub of Surug, Aksenaya (Philoxenos), an alumnus of the school of Edessa, Mara, bishop of Amid.
Chapters VII and VIII discuss the indian influence via sea and land routes, although this is small in comparison to the Nestorian and Monophysite contributions. As is the case with the Buddhist connection discussed in Chapter IX.
Chapters X and XI are historical and contain little in the way of how Greek knowledge was transmitted to the Arabs.
Chapter XII discusses the various early translators. These included:
Abu Mahammad Ibn al-Muqaffa', a Persian who converted to Islam, although many believed his conversion to be insincere. He translated from Old Persian to Arabic Kalilag wa-Dimnag, which was itself a translation of a Buddhist work brought back from India (along with the game of chess) by the Assyrian Budh.
Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Ibn Matar Al-Hasib, An Arab, judging from his name, who translated the Almagest and Euclid's Elements.
Yuhanna Ibn Batriq, an Assyrian, who produced the Sirr al-asrar.
Abd al-Masih Ibn 'Aballah Wa'ima al-Himse, also an Assyrian, who translated the Theology of Aristotle (but this was an abridged paraphrase of the Enneads by Plotinus).
Abu Yahya al-Batriq, another Assyrian, who translated Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.
Jibra'il II, son of Bukhtyishu' II, of the prominent Assyrian medical family mentioned above, Abu Zakariah Yahya Ibn Masawaih, an Assyrian Nestorian. He authored a textbook on Ophthalmology, Daghal al-'ayn (The Disease of the eye).
Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, an Assyrian, son of a Nestorian druggist, was the foremost translator of his time; O'Leary states:
Most of the translators of the next generation received their training from Hunayn or his pupils, so that he stands out as the leading translator of the better type, though some of his versions were afterwards revised by later writers.
The complete curriculum of the medical school of Alexandria was thus made available for Arab students. This included a select series of the treatises of Galen:
1. De sectis
2. Ars medica
3. De Pulsibus ad tirones
4. Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo
5. De ossibus ad tirones
6. De musculorum dissectione
7. De nervorum dissectione
8. De venraum arteriumque dissectione
9. De elementis secumdum Hippocratem
10. De temperamentis
11. De facultatibus naturalibus
12. De causis et symptomatibus
13. De locis affectis
14. De pulsibus (four treatises)
15. De typis (febrium)
16. De crisibus
17. De diebus decretoriis
18. Methodus medendi
[pages 166-167]
Yet for all his contributions, Hunayn was not always treated well by the Khalifate. In one incident, the Khalif Mutawakkil ordered Hunayn to prepare a poison for the Khalif's enemies. When Hunayn refused the Khalif cast him into prison. [page 168].
Hunayn son Ishaq also contributed, as did his nephew Hubaysh Ibn Al-Hasan. Hubaysh translated the texts of Hippocrates and the botanical work of Dioscorides, "which became the basis of the Arab pharmacopoeia". [page 169].
Another one of Hunayn's pupils was 'Isa Ibn Yahya Ibn Ibrahim. Indeed, "almost all leading scientists of the succeeding generation were pupils of Hunayn". [page 170].
Other translators included:
Yusuf al-Khuri al-Qass, who translated Archemides lost work on triangles from a Syriac version. He also made an Arabic of Galen's De Simplicibus temperamentis et facultatibus. Qusta Ibn Luqa al-Ba'lbakki, a Syrian Christian, who translated Hypsicles, Theodosius' Sphaerica, Heron's Mechanics, Autolycus Theophrastus' Meteora, Galen's catalog of his books, John Philoponus on the Phsyics of Aristotle and several other works. He also revised the existing translation of Euclid.
Abu Bishr Matta Ibn Yunus al-Qanna'i, who translated Aristotle's Poetica Abu Zakariya Yahya Ibn 'Adi al-Mntiqi, a monophysite, who translated medical and logical works, including the Prolegomena of mmonius, an introduction to Porphyry's Isagoge.
To these may be added Al-Hunayn Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Khurshid at-Tabari an-Natili, and the monophysite Abu 'Ali 'Isa Ibn Ishaq Ibn Zer'a.
The salient conclusion which can be drawn from O'Leary's book is that Assyrians played a significant role in the shaping of the Islamic world via the Greek corpus of knowledge.
If this is so, one must then ask the question, what happenned to the Christian communities which made them lose this great intellectual enterprise which they had established. One can ask this same question of the Arabs. Sadly, O'Leary's book does not answer this question, and we must look elsewhere for the answer.
Peter BetBasso
How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs
By: Peter BetBasso
Author : De Lacy O'Leary, D.D.
Publisher : Routledge & Kegan Paul, London
Date : 1949 (according to the inside title page: "owing to
production delays this book was published in 1980")
Pages : 196
Index
Table of Contents
I Introduction
II Helenism in Asia
1. Hellenization of Syria
2. The Frontier Provinces
3. Foundation of Jundi-Shapur
4. Diocletian and Constantine
III The Legacy of Greece
1. Alexandrian Science
2. Philosophy
3. Greek Mathematicians
4. Greek Medicine
IV Christianity as a Hellenizing Force
1. Hellenistic Atmosphere of Christianity
2. Expansion of Christianity
3. Ecclesiastical Organization
V The Nestorians
1. First School of Nisibis
2. School of Edessa
3. Nestorian Schism
4. Dark Period of the Nestorian Church
5. The Nestorian Reformation
VI The Monophysites
1. Beginning of Monophysitism
2. The Monophysite Schism
3. Persecution of the Monophysites
4. Organization of the Monophysite Church
5. Persian Monophysites
VII Indian Influence, I: The Sea Route
1. The Sea Route to India
2. Alexandrian Science in India
VIII Indian Influence, I: The Sea Route
1. Bactria
2. The Road Through Marw
IX Buddhism as a Possible Medium
1. Rise of Buddhism
2. Did Buddhism Spread West?
3. Buddhist Bactria
4. Ibrahim Ibn Adam
X The Khalifate of Damascus
1. Arab Conquest of Syria
2. The Family of Sergius
3. The Camp Cities
XI The Khalifate of Baghdad
1. The 'Abbasid Revolution
2. The Foundation of Baghdad
XII Translation Into Arabic
1. The First Translators
2. Hunayn Ibn Ishaq
3. Other Translators
4. Thabit Ibn Qurra
XIII The Arab Philosophers
Commentary on the book:
O'Leary writes a fascinating history of a critically important phase in mesopotamian history. After all, it was the Arabs who brough with them into Spain the Arabic versions of the Greek works, from which translations were made into Latin and spread throughout Europe, which was then in its dark age. It is this Greek body of knowledge that brought Europe out of its dark age and into the renaisance - the rebirth or revival.
The question remains: by whom, where, and when was the Greek body of knowledge transmitted to the Arabs themselves?
O'Leary tells us:
Greek scientific thought had been in the world for a long time before it reached the Arabs, and during that period it had already spread abroad in various directions. So it is not surprising that it reached the Arabs by more than one route. It came first and in the plainest line through Christian Syriac writers, scholars, and scientists. Then the Arabs applied themselves directly to the original Greek sources and learned over again all they had already learned, correcting and verifying earlier knowledge. Then there came a second channel of transmission indirectly through India, mathematical and astronomical work, all a good deal developed by Indian scholars, but ertainly developed from material obtained from Alexandria in the first place. This material had passed to India by the sea route which connected lexandria with north-west India. Then there was also another line of passage through India which seems to have had its beginnings in the Greek kingdom of Bactria, one of the Asiatic states founded by Alexander the Great, and a land route long kept open between the Greek world and Central Asia, especially with the city of Marw, and this perhaps connects with a Buddhist medium which at one time promoted intercourse between east and west, though Buddhism as a religion was withdrawing to the Far East when the Arabs reached Central Asia. [pages 2-3].
Chapter II gives a history of how Western Asia came under Greek influence.
Chapter III discusses the Christian Church. A notable passage occurs in the very last paragraph of the Chapter:
It has been disputed whether Muhammad owed most to Jewish or Christian predecessors, apparently he owed a great deal to both. But when we come to the 'Abbasid period when Greek literature and science began to tell upon Arabic thought, there can be no further question. The heritage of Greece was passed on by the Christian Church. [page 46].
This passage leads naturally to Chapter IV, titled the Nestorians. In this chapter O'Leary discusses the Nestorian contribution in the transmission of Greek knowledge to the Arabs. I can only cite briefly, as it is a lengthy chapter. In brief, through the many schools the "Nestorians" (Assyrian Church of the East) founded, including the Schools at Edessa, Nisibis, and Jundi-Shapur, the Greek works were translated into Syriac for use in the curriculums. These works included Theophania, Martyrs of Palestine, and Ecclesiastical History by Eusebius; the Isagoge of Porphyry (an introduction to logic); Aristotle's Hermeneutica and Analytica Priora; and many, many others.
O'Leary states:
In the first place Hibha [a Nestorian] had introduced the Aristotelian logic to illustrate and explain the theological teaching of Theodore, of Mopseustia, and that logic remained permanently the necessary introduction to the theological study in all Nestorian education. Ultimately it was the ristotelian logic which, with the Greek medical, astronomical, and mathematical writers, was passed on to the Arabs. [page 61]
Later, O'Leary states:
Nestorian missions pushed on towards the south and reached the Wadi l-Qura', a little to the north-east of Medina, an outpost of the Romans garrisoned, not by Roman troops, but by auxiliaries of the Qoda' tribes. In the time of Muhammad most of these tribes were Christian, and over the whole wadi were scattered monasteries, cells, and hermitages. From this as their headquarters Nestorian monks wandered trhough Arabia, visiting the great fairs and preaching to such as were willing to listen to them. Tradition relates that the Prophet as a young man went to Syria and near Bostra was recognized as one predestined to be a prophet by a monk named Nestor (Ibn Sa'd, Itqan, ii, p. 367). Perhaps this may refer to some contact with a Nestorian monk. The chief Christian stronghold in Arabia was the city of Najran, but that was mainly Monophysite. What was called its Ka'ba seems to have been a Christian cathedral. [page 68]. But the most definite link between Nestorians and the Arabs was through Jundi-Shapur.
O'Leary states:
From the time of Maraba onwards there is fairly continuous evidence of translation from the Greek and of work in Aristotelian logic. [page 70]
Some examples are:
Maraba II, skilled in Philosophy, medicine, and astronomy, and to have been learned in the wisdom of the Persians, Greeks, and Hebrews, wrote a commentary (in Syriac) on the Dialectics of Aristotle.
Shem'on of Beth Garmai translated Eusebius' Ecclesiastical History.
Henan-isho' II, Catholicos (Patriach) from 686 to 701, composed a commentary (again, in Syriac) on Aristotle's Analytica.
Founded originally as a prisoner camp, Jundi-Shapur had citizens who spoke Greek, Syriac, and Persian. But in the course of time all academic instruction was administered in Syriac [page 71]. It is interesting that even though the people of Jundi-Shapur used the speech of Khuzistan, which was not Syriac, Hebrew nor Persian, the language used in the classroom was Syriac, "as is obvious from the fact that Syriac translations were made for the use of lecturers". [page 72].
Finally, O'Leary states in closing Chapter III:
When Baghdad was founded in 762 the khalif and his court became near neighbors of Jundi-Shapur, and before long court appointments with generous emoluments began to draw Nestorian physicians and teachers from the academy, and in this Harun ar-Rashid's minister Ja'far Ibn Barmak was a leading agent, doing all in his power to introduce Greek science amongst the subjects of the Khalif, Arabs, and Persians. His strongly pro-Greek attitude seems to have been derived from Marw, where his family had settled after removing from Balkh, and in his efforts he was ably assisted by Jibra'il of the Bukhtyishu' family [a famous Assyrian family which produced nine generations of physicians] and his successors from Jundi-Shapur. Thus the Nestorian heritage of Greek scholarship passed from Edessa and Nisibis, through Jundi-Shapur, to Baghdad. [page 72].
Chapter IV discusses the Monophysites (the "Jacobites", or the Syrian Orthodox Church).
A detailed history of Monophysitism is given. One of the most well known Monophysite translators was Sergius of Rashayn, "a celebrated physician and philosopher, skilled in Greek and translator into Syriac of various works on medicine, philosophy, astronomy, and theology". [page 83]. Other Monopysite translators were Ya'qub of Surug, Aksenaya (Philoxenos), an alumnus of the school of Edessa, Mara, bishop of Amid.
Chapters VII and VIII discuss the indian influence via sea and land routes, although this is small in comparison to the Nestorian and Monophysite contributions. As is the case with the Buddhist connection discussed in Chapter IX.
Chapters X and XI are historical and contain little in the way of how Greek knowledge was transmitted to the Arabs.
Chapter XII discusses the various early translators. These included:
Abu Mahammad Ibn al-Muqaffa', a Persian who converted to Islam, although many believed his conversion to be insincere. He translated from Old Persian to Arabic Kalilag wa-Dimnag, which was itself a translation of a Buddhist work brought back from India (along with the game of chess) by the Assyrian Budh.
Al-Hajjaj Ibn Yusuf Ibn Matar Al-Hasib, An Arab, judging from his name, who translated the Almagest and Euclid's Elements.
Yuhanna Ibn Batriq, an Assyrian, who produced the Sirr al-asrar.
Abd al-Masih Ibn 'Aballah Wa'ima al-Himse, also an Assyrian, who translated the Theology of Aristotle (but this was an abridged paraphrase of the Enneads by Plotinus).
Abu Yahya al-Batriq, another Assyrian, who translated Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos.
Jibra'il II, son of Bukhtyishu' II, of the prominent Assyrian medical family mentioned above, Abu Zakariah Yahya Ibn Masawaih, an Assyrian Nestorian. He authored a textbook on Ophthalmology, Daghal al-'ayn (The Disease of the eye).
Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, an Assyrian, son of a Nestorian druggist, was the foremost translator of his time; O'Leary states:
Most of the translators of the next generation received their training from Hunayn or his pupils, so that he stands out as the leading translator of the better type, though some of his versions were afterwards revised by later writers.
The complete curriculum of the medical school of Alexandria was thus made available for Arab students. This included a select series of the treatises of Galen:
1. De sectis
2. Ars medica
3. De Pulsibus ad tirones
4. Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo
5. De ossibus ad tirones
6. De musculorum dissectione
7. De nervorum dissectione
8. De venraum arteriumque dissectione
9. De elementis secumdum Hippocratem
10. De temperamentis
11. De facultatibus naturalibus
12. De causis et symptomatibus
13. De locis affectis
14. De pulsibus (four treatises)
15. De typis (febrium)
16. De crisibus
17. De diebus decretoriis
18. Methodus medendi
[pages 166-167]
Yet for all his contributions, Hunayn was not always treated well by the Khalifate. In one incident, the Khalif Mutawakkil ordered Hunayn to prepare a poison for the Khalif's enemies. When Hunayn refused the Khalif cast him into prison. [page 168].
Hunayn son Ishaq also contributed, as did his nephew Hubaysh Ibn Al-Hasan. Hubaysh translated the texts of Hippocrates and the botanical work of Dioscorides, "which became the basis of the Arab pharmacopoeia". [page 169].
Another one of Hunayn's pupils was 'Isa Ibn Yahya Ibn Ibrahim. Indeed, "almost all leading scientists of the succeeding generation were pupils of Hunayn". [page 170].
Other translators included:
Yusuf al-Khuri al-Qass, who translated Archemides lost work on triangles from a Syriac version. He also made an Arabic of Galen's De Simplicibus temperamentis et facultatibus. Qusta Ibn Luqa al-Ba'lbakki, a Syrian Christian, who translated Hypsicles, Theodosius' Sphaerica, Heron's Mechanics, Autolycus Theophrastus' Meteora, Galen's catalog of his books, John Philoponus on the Phsyics of Aristotle and several other works. He also revised the existing translation of Euclid.
Abu Bishr Matta Ibn Yunus al-Qanna'i, who translated Aristotle's Poetica Abu Zakariya Yahya Ibn 'Adi al-Mntiqi, a monophysite, who translated medical and logical works, including the Prolegomena of mmonius, an introduction to Porphyry's Isagoge.
To these may be added Al-Hunayn Ibn Ibrahim Ibn al-Hasan Ibn Khurshid at-Tabari an-Natili, and the monophysite Abu 'Ali 'Isa Ibn Ishaq Ibn Zer'a.
The salient conclusion which can be drawn from O'Leary's book is that Assyrians played a significant role in the shaping of the Islamic world via the Greek corpus of knowledge.
If this is so, one must then ask the question, what happenned to the Christian communities which made them lose this great intellectual enterprise which they had established. One can ask this same question of the Arabs. Sadly, O'Leary's book does not answer this question, and we must look elsewhere for the answer.
Peter BetBasso
The Great Translator
Hunein Ibn Ishak
(809 - 877)
By Fred Aprim
It is written that it would be a rearity to find any Arabic translation of the most popular Greek medicine and philosophy publications without discovering that Syriac was the mean through which the translation took place. Most of the Greek work was translated to Syriac first and then from Syriac into Arabic language.
Hunayn bin (son of) Ishaq's (Iskhaq in Syriac / Isaac in English) outline of life and work are well known from his autobiography written in the form of letters to 'Ali bin Yahya. (Text from two manuscripts in the Aya Sofia Mosque at Istanbul, with translation by G. Bergestrasser, Leipzig, 1925) He was a native of Hira, near Baghdad, and the son of a Nestorian druggist (Pharmacist). He is endorsed by his name 'Abadi, which shows that he belonged to the subject people of Hira. Hunayn followed in the footsteps of other Nestorian physicians like Jirgis (Giwargis) bin Bakhtishu (ca. 771) the dean of the Jundi-Shapur hospital (south-western Persia). Jundi-Shapur was noted for its academy of Medicine and Philosophy founded about AD 555. Nothing is known though of the Bakhtishu who was the father of this Jirjis, but the name occurs several times in the course of the history of Baghdad.
In AD 765 the Caliph Al-Mansur, afflicted with a stomach disease which had baffled his physicians, summoned for Bakhtishu, who soon won the confidence of the caliph and became the court physician, though he retained his Nestorianism. Invited by the caliph to embrace Islam his retort was that he preferred the company of his fathers, be they in heaven or in hell. Bakhtishu became in Baghdad the founder of a brilliant family which for (6) or (7) generations, covering a period of (2 1/2) centuries, exercised an almost continuous monopoly over the court medical practice. Jibril (Gabriel) bin Bakhtishu, in AD 801 became chief physician of the Baghdad hospital under the Caliph Al-Rashid and in AD 805 the caliph's private physician until his death in AD 829. The Bakhtishu family played an important part in the cultural education of the Arabs.
Hunayn in AD 857 as a youth began as a dispenser to Yahya (Youkhanna) Bin Massawayh, the great doctor and pupil of Gabriel bin Bakhtishu. Massawayh, is said, having been fed up with Hunayn's continuous questioning, have said to him:"What have the people of Al-Hira have to do with medicine?--go and change money in the bazaar." (read Ibn al-'Ibri, p. 250) The young Hunayn left the service of Masawayh in tears, but challanged himself to study Greek in "the land of the Greeks" where he stayed for (2) years and obtained a sound knowledge of the Greek language and familiarity with textual criticism such as had been developed in Alexandria. Later he settled for some time at Basra and attended the popular school of Al-Khalil bin Ahmad (Al-Faraheedi) and there he became fluent in Arabic before returning to Baghdad in AD 826. He was then introduced by Gabriel bin Bakhtishu (now physician-in-ordivary to caliph Al-Ma'mun) to Musa bin Shakir and his sons, known as "Sons of Musa", wealthy patrons of learning. Subsequently this caliph founded a library-academy which he called the "House of Wisdom" (Dar Al-Hikma) and appointed Hunayn as its superintendent. In this capacity Hunayn had charge of all the scientific translation work, in which he enjoyed the collaboration of his son Ishaq bin Hunayn and his nephew Hubaysh bin Al-Hasan, whom he trained. Hunayn's ability as a traslator may be attested by the report that when in the service of the sons of bin Shakir he and others received about 500 dinars (about £ 250) per month and that Al-Ma'mun paid him in gold the weight of the books he translated.
Al-Ma'mun died in AD 833 and was succeeded by Al-Mu'tasim, who found it difficult to control the populace of Baghdad and formed a guard of Turkish slave-soldiers. But this body-guard, holding a privileged position, soon became insubordinate and many complaints were made about their conduct. At last Al-Mu'tasim removed himself and his court to Samarra (north of Baghdad) in AD 836, and there the caliphs reigned until AD 892. These disorders affected scholarship adversely and the "House of Wisdom" fell into decay which was not checked during the brief reign of Wathiq (AD 842-847). The next Caliph was Al-Mutawakkil (847-861), although he was bigoted, fanatical, and sadistic, he was a generous patron of scientific research and is generally reckoned as having reopened the "House of Wisdom". It was during this Caliph's reign where Hunayn reached the summit of his glory not only as a translator but as a practitioner when he was appointed by the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil as his private physician. Al-Mutawakkil, however, once committed him to jail for a year for refusing the offer of rich rewards to concoct a poison for an enemy. When brought again before the caliph and threatened with death his reply was:
"I have skill only in what is beneficial, and have studied naught else".
Asked by the caliph, who then claimed that he was simply testing his physician's integrity, as to what prevented him from preparing the deadly poison, Hunayn replied:
"Two things: my religion and my profession. My religion decrees that we should do good even to our enemies, how much more to our friends. And my profession is instituted for the benefit of humanity and limited to their relief and cure. Besides, every physician is under oath never to give anyone a deadly medicine." (read Ibn al-'Ibri, pp251-252)
In AD 861 Al-Mutawakkil was murdered by his Turkish guards at his son's instigation. Hunayn enjoyed the favour of that son Al-Montasir (AD 861-862), and his successors Al-Mosta'in (AD 862-866), Al-Mo'tazz (AD 866-869), Al-Muhtadi (AD 869-870), and Al-Mu'tamid (AD 870-892), and was engaged in making a translation of Galen's De constitutione artis medicae at the time of his death, which took place in 873 according to the Fihrist, or 877 according to Ibn Abi Usaibi'a.
Of the numerous works ascribed to Hunayn, some should undoubtedly be credited to his two assistants, his son and nephew, and to other students of his school, such as 'Isa bin Yahya bin Ibrahim (Essa Youkhanna Oraham), and Musa (Moshe) bin Khalid. Almost all the leading scientists of the succeeding generation were pupils of Hunayn like Staphanos bin Basilos, who translated the Dioscorides into Syriac, and this Syriac version was then translated into Arabic by Hunayn himself for the "Sons of Musa". In many cases Hunayn evidently did the initial translation from Greek into Syriac and his colleagues took the second step and translated from Syriac into Arabic.
Aristotle's Hermeneutica, for instance, was first done from Greek into Syriac by Hunayn, the father, and then from Syriac into Arabic by the son Ishaq, who was the better in Arabic and who became the greatest translator of Aristotle's works.
Altogether Hunayn translated into Syriac (20) books of Galen, (2) for Gabriel Bakhtishu's son, (2) for Salmawaih bin Bunan, (1) for Gabriel Bakhtishu, and (1) for bin Massawayh, and also revised the (16) translations made by Sargis Al-ras'ayni of Ras Al-'ayn on the Khabur River, who translated the famous "Corpus Galena".
Rainer Degen, of Marburg wrote a paper on the oldest known Syriac Manuscript of the greatest Nestorian translator and physician Hunayn bin Ishaq, after his return from a trip to Paris in 1973, and Baghdad in 1974, where he attended the great festivals in commemoration of the 1100th year of the death of this great Nestorian. Anton Baumstark wrote so much about Hunayn in Aristoteles bei den Syrern vom V. - VIII. Jahrhundert. Syrische Texte. 1. Band: Syrisch-arabische Biographien des Aristoteles / Leipzig 1900, and classified him as "der gröBte aller syrischen Gelehrten des Mittelalters".
Degan writes; "Not a single paper about Ishaq's Syriac works was read in both Paris and Baghdad, where various aspects of Hunayn's life and work were treated by the learned speakers, the Syriac part of his works played only a minor role. (Read the presented papers in Baghdad under a volume entitled "Ephraim Hunayn Festival. Baghdad 4-7/2/1974, published by Al-Ma'arif Press, 1974)."
What would we expect from the authorities in Iraq? A government which has adopted the policy of Arabization in all aspects of the Christians' life, But to have the same happen in Paris is the part we find hard to believe!
Degen started in 1971 to collect all the available information about the remains of Syriac medical texts for the planned 'Corpus Medicorum Syriacorum,' and he got a microfilm from the Vatican Library in which he found that what the two S.E. & J.S. Assemani had written in "Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae codicum manuscriptorum catologus, partis Iae t. 3, complectens, reliquos codices chaldaicos sive syriacos," Rome 1759, p. 409, Vatican Syriac 192, describing the content of the work of Paul of Aegina's misleading titled "Syntagma medicum" was totally wrong. The book " Syntagma medicum" is not a translation from a Greek original, but the oldest Arabic manuscript of the famous "Book of Medical Questions for the Beginners" [widely known in Arabic as 'Kitab al-Masa'il al-Ttibbiyah'] by Hunayn bin Ishaq. This book was used in the 16th century as the best introductory work in medicine.
One of the oldest Syriac manuscripts is to be found in the Mingana Collection in the Selly Oak Colleges Library, Birmingham. Its number is Mingana Syriac 661. The Catalogue does not say from where Alphonse Mingana acquired the manuscript, but in a note on page XXI somebody, perhaps Dr. Gottschalk, mentioned after Mingana's death that "Dr. Mingana was also convinced that the Syriac MSS. Nos. 628-662 came from Mount Sinai." According to A. Mingana this manuscript is "written in an early East Syrian [Assyrian] hand bordering on a West Syrian [Assyrian] sirta of about AD 1100."
Degen asks: But, from where do we know that the text of the leaves is Hunayn's?
Because Degen found the contents of that manuscripts in a similar Syriac manuscript in Mingana's Collection: Syriac 594 which is a modern copy of a likewise modern manuscript in Alqosh. When Degen got the microfilm of the Arabic manuscript Khudabakhah 2142/1 (preserved in the Oriental Public Library, Patna / India), he was able to identify the author of the Syriac work. The mentioned Arabic manuscript is the only one that preserved a once widespread and famous treatise -- the book of Nourishment (Kitab al-Aghdiya) -- of Hunayn bin Ishaq.
Some of Hunayn's Translations:
1. A selected series of the Treatises of Galen
- De sectis
- Ars medica
- De pulsibus ad tirones
- Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo
- De ossibus ad tirones
- De musculorum dissectione
- De nervorum dissectione
- De venarum arteriumque dissectione
- De elementis secundum Hippocratem
- De temperamentis
- De facultibus naturalibus
- De causis et symptomatibus
- De locis affectis
- De pulsibus (four treatises)
- De typis (febrium)
- De crisibus
- De diebus decretoriis
- Methodus medendi
2. Hippocrates and Dioscorides.
3. Plato's Republic (Siyasah).
4. Aristotle's Categories (Maqulas), Physics (Tabi'iyat) and Magna Moralia (Khulqiyat).
5. Seven books of Galen's anatomy, lost in the original Greek, have luckily been preserved in Arabic.
6. Arabic version of the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint did not survive.
7. Many published works of R. Duval in Chemistry, like the two transcripts at the British Museum:
a. Wright. Catalogue, P. 1190 - 1191, MV
b. Coll' orient, 1593
represent basically translations of Hunayn's work with very minor reading differences.
8. In Chemistry again we have a book titled ['An Al-Asma'] meaning "About the Names", which did not reach the researchers but was used in "Dictionary of Ibn Bahlool" of the 10th century.
9. "Kitab Al-Ahjar" or the "Book of Stones".
Referrences
De Lacy O'Leary, "How Greek science passed to the Arabs"
Phillip Hitti, "History of the Arabs"
Nina Bigholeeviskaya (Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarrad translator), "Thaqafat al-Siryan fi al-'Aisoor al-WisTta"
Nineveh magazine, 2nd quarter 1984
(809 - 877)
By Fred Aprim
It is written that it would be a rearity to find any Arabic translation of the most popular Greek medicine and philosophy publications without discovering that Syriac was the mean through which the translation took place. Most of the Greek work was translated to Syriac first and then from Syriac into Arabic language.
Hunayn bin (son of) Ishaq's (Iskhaq in Syriac / Isaac in English) outline of life and work are well known from his autobiography written in the form of letters to 'Ali bin Yahya. (Text from two manuscripts in the Aya Sofia Mosque at Istanbul, with translation by G. Bergestrasser, Leipzig, 1925) He was a native of Hira, near Baghdad, and the son of a Nestorian druggist (Pharmacist). He is endorsed by his name 'Abadi, which shows that he belonged to the subject people of Hira. Hunayn followed in the footsteps of other Nestorian physicians like Jirgis (Giwargis) bin Bakhtishu (ca. 771) the dean of the Jundi-Shapur hospital (south-western Persia). Jundi-Shapur was noted for its academy of Medicine and Philosophy founded about AD 555. Nothing is known though of the Bakhtishu who was the father of this Jirjis, but the name occurs several times in the course of the history of Baghdad.
In AD 765 the Caliph Al-Mansur, afflicted with a stomach disease which had baffled his physicians, summoned for Bakhtishu, who soon won the confidence of the caliph and became the court physician, though he retained his Nestorianism. Invited by the caliph to embrace Islam his retort was that he preferred the company of his fathers, be they in heaven or in hell. Bakhtishu became in Baghdad the founder of a brilliant family which for (6) or (7) generations, covering a period of (2 1/2) centuries, exercised an almost continuous monopoly over the court medical practice. Jibril (Gabriel) bin Bakhtishu, in AD 801 became chief physician of the Baghdad hospital under the Caliph Al-Rashid and in AD 805 the caliph's private physician until his death in AD 829. The Bakhtishu family played an important part in the cultural education of the Arabs.
Hunayn in AD 857 as a youth began as a dispenser to Yahya (Youkhanna) Bin Massawayh, the great doctor and pupil of Gabriel bin Bakhtishu. Massawayh, is said, having been fed up with Hunayn's continuous questioning, have said to him:"What have the people of Al-Hira have to do with medicine?--go and change money in the bazaar." (read Ibn al-'Ibri, p. 250) The young Hunayn left the service of Masawayh in tears, but challanged himself to study Greek in "the land of the Greeks" where he stayed for (2) years and obtained a sound knowledge of the Greek language and familiarity with textual criticism such as had been developed in Alexandria. Later he settled for some time at Basra and attended the popular school of Al-Khalil bin Ahmad (Al-Faraheedi) and there he became fluent in Arabic before returning to Baghdad in AD 826. He was then introduced by Gabriel bin Bakhtishu (now physician-in-ordivary to caliph Al-Ma'mun) to Musa bin Shakir and his sons, known as "Sons of Musa", wealthy patrons of learning. Subsequently this caliph founded a library-academy which he called the "House of Wisdom" (Dar Al-Hikma) and appointed Hunayn as its superintendent. In this capacity Hunayn had charge of all the scientific translation work, in which he enjoyed the collaboration of his son Ishaq bin Hunayn and his nephew Hubaysh bin Al-Hasan, whom he trained. Hunayn's ability as a traslator may be attested by the report that when in the service of the sons of bin Shakir he and others received about 500 dinars (about £ 250) per month and that Al-Ma'mun paid him in gold the weight of the books he translated.
Al-Ma'mun died in AD 833 and was succeeded by Al-Mu'tasim, who found it difficult to control the populace of Baghdad and formed a guard of Turkish slave-soldiers. But this body-guard, holding a privileged position, soon became insubordinate and many complaints were made about their conduct. At last Al-Mu'tasim removed himself and his court to Samarra (north of Baghdad) in AD 836, and there the caliphs reigned until AD 892. These disorders affected scholarship adversely and the "House of Wisdom" fell into decay which was not checked during the brief reign of Wathiq (AD 842-847). The next Caliph was Al-Mutawakkil (847-861), although he was bigoted, fanatical, and sadistic, he was a generous patron of scientific research and is generally reckoned as having reopened the "House of Wisdom". It was during this Caliph's reign where Hunayn reached the summit of his glory not only as a translator but as a practitioner when he was appointed by the Caliph Al-Mutawakkil as his private physician. Al-Mutawakkil, however, once committed him to jail for a year for refusing the offer of rich rewards to concoct a poison for an enemy. When brought again before the caliph and threatened with death his reply was:
"I have skill only in what is beneficial, and have studied naught else".
Asked by the caliph, who then claimed that he was simply testing his physician's integrity, as to what prevented him from preparing the deadly poison, Hunayn replied:
"Two things: my religion and my profession. My religion decrees that we should do good even to our enemies, how much more to our friends. And my profession is instituted for the benefit of humanity and limited to their relief and cure. Besides, every physician is under oath never to give anyone a deadly medicine." (read Ibn al-'Ibri, pp251-252)
In AD 861 Al-Mutawakkil was murdered by his Turkish guards at his son's instigation. Hunayn enjoyed the favour of that son Al-Montasir (AD 861-862), and his successors Al-Mosta'in (AD 862-866), Al-Mo'tazz (AD 866-869), Al-Muhtadi (AD 869-870), and Al-Mu'tamid (AD 870-892), and was engaged in making a translation of Galen's De constitutione artis medicae at the time of his death, which took place in 873 according to the Fihrist, or 877 according to Ibn Abi Usaibi'a.
Of the numerous works ascribed to Hunayn, some should undoubtedly be credited to his two assistants, his son and nephew, and to other students of his school, such as 'Isa bin Yahya bin Ibrahim (Essa Youkhanna Oraham), and Musa (Moshe) bin Khalid. Almost all the leading scientists of the succeeding generation were pupils of Hunayn like Staphanos bin Basilos, who translated the Dioscorides into Syriac, and this Syriac version was then translated into Arabic by Hunayn himself for the "Sons of Musa". In many cases Hunayn evidently did the initial translation from Greek into Syriac and his colleagues took the second step and translated from Syriac into Arabic.
Aristotle's Hermeneutica, for instance, was first done from Greek into Syriac by Hunayn, the father, and then from Syriac into Arabic by the son Ishaq, who was the better in Arabic and who became the greatest translator of Aristotle's works.
Altogether Hunayn translated into Syriac (20) books of Galen, (2) for Gabriel Bakhtishu's son, (2) for Salmawaih bin Bunan, (1) for Gabriel Bakhtishu, and (1) for bin Massawayh, and also revised the (16) translations made by Sargis Al-ras'ayni of Ras Al-'ayn on the Khabur River, who translated the famous "Corpus Galena".
Rainer Degen, of Marburg wrote a paper on the oldest known Syriac Manuscript of the greatest Nestorian translator and physician Hunayn bin Ishaq, after his return from a trip to Paris in 1973, and Baghdad in 1974, where he attended the great festivals in commemoration of the 1100th year of the death of this great Nestorian. Anton Baumstark wrote so much about Hunayn in Aristoteles bei den Syrern vom V. - VIII. Jahrhundert. Syrische Texte. 1. Band: Syrisch-arabische Biographien des Aristoteles / Leipzig 1900, and classified him as "der gröBte aller syrischen Gelehrten des Mittelalters".
Degan writes; "Not a single paper about Ishaq's Syriac works was read in both Paris and Baghdad, where various aspects of Hunayn's life and work were treated by the learned speakers, the Syriac part of his works played only a minor role. (Read the presented papers in Baghdad under a volume entitled "Ephraim Hunayn Festival. Baghdad 4-7/2/1974, published by Al-Ma'arif Press, 1974)."
What would we expect from the authorities in Iraq? A government which has adopted the policy of Arabization in all aspects of the Christians' life, But to have the same happen in Paris is the part we find hard to believe!
Degen started in 1971 to collect all the available information about the remains of Syriac medical texts for the planned 'Corpus Medicorum Syriacorum,' and he got a microfilm from the Vatican Library in which he found that what the two S.E. & J.S. Assemani had written in "Bibliothecae Apostolicae Vaticanae codicum manuscriptorum catologus, partis Iae t. 3, complectens, reliquos codices chaldaicos sive syriacos," Rome 1759, p. 409, Vatican Syriac 192, describing the content of the work of Paul of Aegina's misleading titled "Syntagma medicum" was totally wrong. The book " Syntagma medicum" is not a translation from a Greek original, but the oldest Arabic manuscript of the famous "Book of Medical Questions for the Beginners" [widely known in Arabic as 'Kitab al-Masa'il al-Ttibbiyah'] by Hunayn bin Ishaq. This book was used in the 16th century as the best introductory work in medicine.
One of the oldest Syriac manuscripts is to be found in the Mingana Collection in the Selly Oak Colleges Library, Birmingham. Its number is Mingana Syriac 661. The Catalogue does not say from where Alphonse Mingana acquired the manuscript, but in a note on page XXI somebody, perhaps Dr. Gottschalk, mentioned after Mingana's death that "Dr. Mingana was also convinced that the Syriac MSS. Nos. 628-662 came from Mount Sinai." According to A. Mingana this manuscript is "written in an early East Syrian [Assyrian] hand bordering on a West Syrian [Assyrian] sirta of about AD 1100."
Degen asks: But, from where do we know that the text of the leaves is Hunayn's?
Because Degen found the contents of that manuscripts in a similar Syriac manuscript in Mingana's Collection: Syriac 594 which is a modern copy of a likewise modern manuscript in Alqosh. When Degen got the microfilm of the Arabic manuscript Khudabakhah 2142/1 (preserved in the Oriental Public Library, Patna / India), he was able to identify the author of the Syriac work. The mentioned Arabic manuscript is the only one that preserved a once widespread and famous treatise -- the book of Nourishment (Kitab al-Aghdiya) -- of Hunayn bin Ishaq.
Some of Hunayn's Translations:
1. A selected series of the Treatises of Galen
- De sectis
- Ars medica
- De pulsibus ad tirones
- Ad Glauconem de medendi methodo
- De ossibus ad tirones
- De musculorum dissectione
- De nervorum dissectione
- De venarum arteriumque dissectione
- De elementis secundum Hippocratem
- De temperamentis
- De facultibus naturalibus
- De causis et symptomatibus
- De locis affectis
- De pulsibus (four treatises)
- De typis (febrium)
- De crisibus
- De diebus decretoriis
- Methodus medendi
2. Hippocrates and Dioscorides.
3. Plato's Republic (Siyasah).
4. Aristotle's Categories (Maqulas), Physics (Tabi'iyat) and Magna Moralia (Khulqiyat).
5. Seven books of Galen's anatomy, lost in the original Greek, have luckily been preserved in Arabic.
6. Arabic version of the Old Testament from the Greek Septuagint did not survive.
7. Many published works of R. Duval in Chemistry, like the two transcripts at the British Museum:
a. Wright. Catalogue, P. 1190 - 1191, MV
b. Coll' orient, 1593
represent basically translations of Hunayn's work with very minor reading differences.
8. In Chemistry again we have a book titled ['An Al-Asma'] meaning "About the Names", which did not reach the researchers but was used in "Dictionary of Ibn Bahlool" of the 10th century.
9. "Kitab Al-Ahjar" or the "Book of Stones".
Referrences
De Lacy O'Leary, "How Greek science passed to the Arabs"
Phillip Hitti, "History of the Arabs"
Nina Bigholeeviskaya (Dr. Khalaf Al-Jarrad translator), "Thaqafat al-Siryan fi al-'Aisoor al-WisTta"
Nineveh magazine, 2nd quarter 1984
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