Skip to content

Islamo-Biblica in Arabic-Islamic gnomological traditions, wisdom literatures.

 

Islamo-Biblica in Arabic-Islamic philosophy, gnomological traditions and wisdom literatures : Bibliographies.

Stephen Lambden, UCMerced,

Notes dating to the early 1980s and now under revision and correction...

The  Bible  and Isrā’īliyyat  in  gnomologcial and  philosophical literatures.

Common to most cultures and religions, concepts of transcendent, divine and/or  human "wisdom" have played an important part in the history of religions and their universe of discourse. Wisdom sayings, literatures, and gnomological speculations of various kinds form an important part of the Ancient Near Eastern and Abrahamaic religious heritage.  The Hebrew Bible and associated writings contain varieties of wisdom literature. This is evidenced in the books of  Job, Proverbs, and Ecclesiates as well as the Wisdom of Solomon and other sacred texts of antiquity.  From the earliest times, the Muslim world appropriated and reinterpreted the gnomological and philosophical heritage of antiquity. This sometimes meant assimilating and reinterpreting the role of biblical figures and Hellenistic philosophers and sages considered  fountainheads of ḥikmat (wisdom), philosophy, and science.  A wide range of Islamic philosophical texts refers to the Bible and ancient philosophers, some of whom are identified with biblical figures. In the Greek rationalist tradition "wisdom", the developed, properly functioning intellect, was reckoned the cause of true happiness (Peters, 520-521). It was in Greece that philosophy as the `love of wisdom' took shape (Rudolph, 11).

Baha'-Allah had a very high regard for the Greek sages and philosophers of antiquity; including the Athenian philosopher Socrates (469-399 BCE), Plato (429-347 BCE), who regarded wisdom as the supreme virtue (Republic 441c-d), and Aristotle (384-322 BCE), who distinguished mundane practical wisdom from that speculative wisdom (sophia) which became philosophy. Of Greece, Baha'-Allah wrote, "We made it a seat ḥikmah (wisdom) for a prolonged period" (TB:149).   

The  term "wisdom" (ḥikma) is quite frequently found in the Qur'an (around nineteen times). It often signifies that "wisdom" which "implies knowledge of high spiritual truths" (Goichon, 377). "Wisdom" and divine revelation are intimately related. In the Islamic holy Book, references to "Wisdom" are often found in conjunction with references to "the Book" (e.g. 2:129, 151, 231, 251, etc). Divine "wisdom" was granted to various Israelite prophets and other sages and Messengers of God, including Abraham, Luqman, David, Jesus, and Muhammad.

In the ethical and intellectual history of Islam, concepts of "wisdom" (ḥikma) are centrally important.  Throughout the Islamic centuries, "wisdom" not only indicated aspects of religious piety, but also the "foreign" (non-Islamic) sciences. It came to be virtually synonymous with philosophy (falsafah) and at times included `irfani (deep spiritual), religio-theosophical or gnostic branches of inspired learning to some degree distinct (though not wholly separate) from rational dimensions of knowledge (`ilm, see Peters, 740). Among the various Islamic dimensions of "wisdom" are to be counted ḥikmat ilāhiyya (`divine philosophy’, `metaphysics`), ḥikmat ishrāqiyya (`illuminationist wisdom") and ḥikmat lanuniyya ("inspired wisdom"  e.g. Hermetic gnosis; Corbin 1993:125).

It will be convenient to mention in this section the very important and wide-ranging  Fihrist (Catalogue) of the probably Persian Book dealer of Baghdad, the Shī`īte writer Abū’l-Faraj  Isḥāq b. Warrāq al-Nadīm (d.380/990).  His Catalogue has been described by  Dodge as dealing “with almost every phase of medieval culture” (1970 1:xi) and by Peters as “the single most important document on philosophy among the Arabs” (1968:277). It has also been described as “a unique specimen of literature, an encyclopedia or a compendium of the knowledge possessed by learned Muslims in 10th century Baghdad” (Eir.IX:465f). In this work there is an important and detailed section on the scriptures considered revealed by Muslims in which the author acknowledges assistance from the Christian priest Yūnus Qass.

The polymatic Shī`īte polymathic scholar and scientist  Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī (d.c. 442/1051)  

 

Ḥikma (“wisdom”, philosophy”... ) in the writings of  the Bāb and Bahā’-Allāh

Various modes of “wisdom” and “philosophy” are fairly frequently mentioned in Bābī and Bahā'ī primary texts. The Arabic ḥikma, and Persian khirad, danā, etc, may indicate inspired wisdom, spiritual insight, prudence or a balanced, mature, sense of judgement. In Bābī-Bahā’ī texts these and related terms can also refer to various dimensions of philosophy, science and theology.

In his writings, the Bāb mentions Aristotelian, Ishrāqī and other philosophers and thinkers such as Ibn al-`Arabi, with whom he at times disagreed on theological matters. This especially if the apophatic divine transcendence was in any way compromised. In this respect the Bāb quite frequently counters the basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa  (`undifferentiated  reality’) concept  of a `simple'  holistic ontology  deriving, among others, from Mullā Ṣadrā, Sadr al-Din Shirazi. In his Kitab al-ta`rifāt  Jurjānī has the following entry for basīṭ:

al-basīṭ,  has three modes [1] al-basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa: this is what has no constituents (juz`) basically like the Creator (al- bāri`). [2] It is that for which there is no created, natural, auxilary vessel made up of [subsidary] bodies (markabā an min al-asjad)  and it is that for which there are no subdivisions (ajzā’) more diminutive throughout [3] The basī³  is also something [both] spiritual and bodily  (ruḥānī wa jismānī) line the elements (`anāṣir) (K. Ta`rifāt, 46).  

In his letter to Mīrzā Muhammad Sa`īd Ardistānī [Zavāra`ī] he asserts that God, through the divine bounty, taught him the ma`ārif al-ḥaqq (gnosis of the Truth) through his natural fitra (`innate disposition’). On the basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa (`undifferentiated [simple] reality’) concept deriving from Mullā Ṣadrā he writes,

Now as for the response regarding the basīt al-ḥaqīqa which the ḥukamā’ (philosophers) have mentioned relative to the stability of existence (li-ithbāt al-wujūd) in terms of [there being a link between] the Originator [God] (al-mujid) and the non-existent (al-mafqūd) there is no doubt that this is erroneous (bātil) in the estimation of one from whom the scent of musk (= the Bāb) deriveth through fairmindedness...” (INBA 69:00 ).

In his Risāla Dhahabiyya the Bāb makes similar statements rejecting as “unadulterated heresy” (shirk mahd) anything which suggests the hulul-like knowableness of the divine Essence (`ilmiyya al-dhāt) or a concept of waḥdat al-wujūd (`existential oneness') which presupposes a linked association  between the Divine dhāt (transcendent Essence) and the Divine Activity (al-af`āl) and Attributes (al-ṣifāt).  He demolishes a pantheistic understanding of Ibn al-`Arabī in the following words:

.. There was no existence alongside Him until the supremely pure Utterance (al-qawl) [was actualized] within existence (bi’l-wujūd). And the proofs [which abolish error] were assuredly detailed (abstat)? in the archetype of the doubled [letter] “A”  (fī al-nashka al-alifayn) in clarification of the inwardness of the letter “H” (sirr al-hā’) for the abolishing of the [wayward] utterance of these men. The basis for the mention of this matter is the statement which is [found] in a passage of Muḥyī  al-Dīn [ibn al-`Arabī] -- may God postpone [his] retribution-- according to what he states in the Fuṣuṣ [al-hikam]  which  [statement] is unadulterated heresy in the estimation of the intimates of esoterica (ahl al-bātin).  The [only befitting] description of God is by virtue of His Own Logos-Self (li-nafsihi) then [secondarily] the description [of Him] through the family of God (āl Allāh  = the Imams)...” (Dhahabiyya, INBA 86:69)

Among the quite numerous philosophical works of Bahā-Allāhis an important Lawh-i Basīṭ al-ḥaqīqa (Tablet [Expository of] the Undifferentiated [Uncompounded] Reality). 

The philosophical alwāḥ of Bahā-Allāh and the related  works of his Baha’i successors have not to date been either comprehensively collected or academically studied. A few useful papers on reating to Bahā-Allāh’s Lawḥ-i ḥikmat (Tablet of Wisdom, c. 187?/8?) which contains several statements of Bahā-Allāh about the magnitude and importance of the philosophical tradition of antiquity. Singled out for specific mention and praise are

Hermes cf. Qaysari

The ancient Greek figure Murtistus (c. 6th cent BCE., spellings vary) is also mentioned as “one of the ḥukamā’  (philosophers)”  in the Lawh-i Hikma  of Baha'-Allah. He is said to have invented “an apparatus” capable of transmitting sound over a distance of “sixty miles” (TB:  xx /tr.150). This is clearly a reference to the pneumatic organ used in military engagements. 

In one of his alwāḥ Bahā-Allāh sets forth quite a number of different Islamic understandings of that al-ḥikma (“wisdom") mentioned in Q.  2:269 [272], "..whoso is given  al-ḥikma, (the wisdom) has been given much good".  Bahā’-Allāh records that this  "wisdom" has been taken, among other things, to signify the Divine decrees, medical knowledge and alchemical gnosis (cited Mazandarānī, AA 3:120-121).

As in the Qur’ān, the Bahā'ī scriptures frequently accord God the attribute, the All-Wise (al-ḥakīm).  He is the ultimate Source of "Wisdom" which is communicated by divine revelation to His Messengers and thence to humankind. From the Bahā'ī point of view the "wisdom" of the true, spiritual philosopher, is ultimately rooted in the "wisdom" of the Word of God.

"Wisdom" has a variety of ethical, spiritual and metaphysical significances within Bābī and Bahā'ī scripture. Most of the Islāmic senses of "wisdom" are present, though ethically based dimensions are paramount.  In his Aṣl-i kull al-khayr ("Words of Wisdom" ), Bahā'u'llāh defines the "essence of wisdom (al al-ḥikmat)" as "the fear of God (al-khashiyatu `anu'llāh), the dread of His scourge and punishment, and the apprehension of His justice and decree." (MAM., 25 tr. TB,155). True wisdom is essentially based upon that relationship with God in which there is a receptive consciousness of His ultimately equitable control of human destiny. In his Words of Paradise (Kalimat-i-Firdawsiyyih)  Bahā'u'llāh writes that God's "greatest gift and most wondrous blessing hath ever been and will continue to be wisdom (Per. khirad)."

     In the Tablet of Medicine (Lawḥ-i-ṭibb  c.1871) Bahā'u'llāh highlights the importance, in this Dispensation, of "two decrees" which are beloved and desired of God. The first decree consists of the qualities of "wisdom and eloquence" (hikmat va bayan). These twin qualities are regarded as the basis of successful Bahā'ī teaching activity and the avoidance of difficulties, tests or trials (Fananapazir & Lambden, 1989:24). Within the Tablet of the Proof (Lawḥ-i-Burhān), Bahā'u'llāh also exhorts his followers to "wisdom" (ḥikmat), which is again, in the following terms, linked with "eloquence": "O ye loved ones of God! Drink your fill from the wellspring of wisdom, and soar ye in the atmosphere of wisdom, and walk ye in the garden of wisdom, and speak forth with wisdom and eloquence (ḥikmat wa'l-bayān)."  (TB: 213).

It is befitting that in a response to a question about his latter day advent as the expected Zoroastrian messiah figure Shāh Bahrām, Bahā'u'llāh states that it is "insight" (bīnā'ī) which leads to "wisdom" (dānā'ī) and results in that true faith which is "salvation". "The quintessence of wisdom (dānā'īy-i-khirad; lit. `the wisdom of wisdom'), he further teaches, derives from "insightful vision" (bīnā'īy-i-basar) (see  Daryā-yi danish, 68f). Similar statements are found, among other places, at the end of Bahā'u'llāh's "first arāz"  where we read, "in the estimation of men of wisdom (sāḥibān-i ḥikmat), keenness of understanding (again, dānā'ī-yi-khirad) is due to keenness of vision" (see TB:35 and the Persian original). True "wisdom" indicates prudence; the wise and learned communication of the Bahā'ī teachings to prospective converts. On occasion it implies the holding of a `noble silence' (cf. the Islāmic taqīya, `prudent dissimulation'). In a large number of Tablets Bahā'u'llāh exhorts his followers to "wisdom" when in circumstances of possible martyrdom, persecution or strife.     

     Bahā'u'llāh's Tablet of Wisdom (Lawḥ-i-Hikmat)  may be considered the centerpiece of Baha'i `wisdom literature'. Shoghi Effendi reckoned this Arabic Tablet to be a work in which Bahā'u'llāh "sets forth the fundamentals of true philosophy" (GPB:219). Therein Bahā'u'llāh equates the "beginning of Wisdom (ḥikmat) and the origin thereof" with the human acknowledgement of Divine revelation (see TB:150). There are many Tablets in which Bahā'u'llāh himself or his revelation are counted the fountainheads of "Wisdom".

Lawh-i Haft Purshish

The fourth question: "Our books have announced the [future] appearance of Shāh Bahrām with manifold signs for the guidance of mankind..."

O friend! "Whatsoever hath been announced in the Books hath been revealed and made clear. From every direction the signs have been manifested. The Omnipotent One [yazdān] is calling, in this Day, and announcing the appearance of the Supreme Heaven [m_īū-yi aam]"  [PDC:77]." The world is illumined by the lights of His appearance, yet rare indeed are the eyes endowed with insight. Ask of the one true God to bestow insight upon His servants. Insight leadeth to wisdom (dana'i) and hath ever been the cause of salvation. Keenness of wisdom (dānā'ī-yi khirad) is derived from insightful vision. Were the peoples of the world to gaze with their own eyes, they would see that the world is, in this Day, illumined with a new radiance. Say: the Day-Star of Wisdom (khurshid-i dana'i) is manifest and the Sun of Knowledge (aftab-i danish) evident. Happy the one who attaineth thereunto, who seeth clearly and hath recognised Him.

See also 1st Taraz etc.

 

Select Bibliography

Arberry, Arthur. J.

  • The Koran Interpreted.  Oxford:OUP, 1986.

Bahā'u'llāh,

  • Tablets of Bahā'u'llāh Revealed after the Kitāb-i-Aqdas, [=TB] Haifa: Bahā'ī World Centre, 1978;
  • Daryā-yi Danish  New Delhi: Bahā'ī Publishing Trust, 1985.
  •  

Conze, Edward.

  • Buddhist Wisdom Books, The Diamond and the Heart Sutra  Rev. Ed. London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1988.

Corbin, H.

  • A History of Islamic Philosophy.  London, New York: Kegan Paul International, 1993.

Fananapazir, K and Lambden, S.

  • `The Tablet of Medicine (Lawḥ-i Ṭibb) of Bahā'u'llāh: A Provisional Translation with Occasional Notes' BSB 6:4-7:2 (October 1992), pp. 17-65.

Goichon, A.M.

  • Ḥikma.  EI2  III: 377-8.

Mazandarānī, Fādil-i,

  • Āthār al-asrār  vol. 3  n.p. [Tehran]: BPT, 128 BE. 

Hajime, Nakamura.

  • Mahāyāna Buddhism, in  Kitagawa, J.M. and Cummings, M.D. (Eds.), Buddhism and Asian History..  (London: Collier Macmillan Publishers, 1989), pp. 214-239. 

Encyclopedia Judaica [ =JE].  Jerusalem: Keter Publishing House Ltd. 1972;

Peters, R.E.

  • Allah's Commonwealth. New York: Simon  and Schuster, 1973.
  • The Rider Encyclopedia of Eastern Philosophy and Religion...  London: Rider Books, 1989.

Scott, R.B.Y.

  • `Wisdom; Wisdom Literature' JE 16:557-563.
  • The Way of Wisdom in the Old Testament, London: Collier Macmillan, 1971.

Shaked, Saul (tr.),

  • Wisdom of the Sassanian Sages (Denkard VI)..  Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1979.

Shoghi Effendi,

  • God Passes By. Wilmette, Illinois: BPT., 1974.

Von Rad, Gerhard,

  • Wisdom in Israel.  London: SCM Press Ltd. 1972.

Williams, P.

  • Mahāyāna Buddhism.  London, New York: Routledge, 1989.

 

Reference works and Select Bibliographies.

Unsorted 2009-10. Under revision. In progress - last revised 14-12-2016.

Select Reference works.

  • Encyclopedia of Philosophy. 8 vols. New York: Macmillan, 1967. *
  • Paulys Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft. Ed. G. Wissowa, W. Kroll, and K. Mittelhaus. Stuttgart: J. B. Metzler, 1894-1970; Munich: A. Druckenmuller, 1973-74.
  • Brill's New Pauly.  Encyclopedia of the Ancient World, Antiquity. Vols. 1-20. Leiden-Boston: Brill, 200X=X + Supplement vols. * The Brill’s New Pauly: Encyclopaedia of the Ancient World "was published between 2002 and 2014 in 28 volumes (15 volumes in the main series on "Antiquity"; 5 volumes in the secondary series on "Classical Tradition"; an index volume for each of these series; and 6 Supplements). The index to Pauly–Wissowa is available on CD-ROM."
  • See: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Realencyclop%C3%A4die_der_classischen_Alte...

Audi, Robert, ed.

  • The Cambridge Dictionary of Philosophy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995.

Endress, Gerhard, and Gutas, Dimitri.

  • A Greek and Arabic Lexicon: Materials for a Dictionary of the Medieval Translations from Greek into Arabic. Handbuch der Orientalistík Abt. l : Der Nahe und Mittlere Osten 11. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1992- .

Evangeliou, Christos C.

  • The Hellenic Philosophy: Between Europe, Asia and Africa. Studies on Ancient Greek and Islamic Philosophy. Binghamton, N.Y.: Institute of Global Cultural Studies, 1997.

Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman ( eds.)

  • History of Islamic philosophy.  Routledge, 1995.*
  • Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy.  London: Routledge, 1998. *

Sharif, M.M.

  • A History of Muslim Philosophy. 2 vols., Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1963-66.*

Urmson, J. O.

  • The Greek Philosophical Vocabulary. London: Duckworth, 1990.

West, M. L.

  • Early Greek Philosophy and the Orient. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.*

Islamic Philosophy (General).

Afnan, Soheil.

  • A Philosophical Lexicon in Persian and Arabic. Beirut: Dar E1-Mashreq, [1968].*

Alon, Hai.

  • Socrates in Mediaeval Arabic Literature. Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science, Texts and Studies 10. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1991.*

Badawĩ, 'Abd al-Raḥmān,

  • ed. al-Aflaţunîya al-Muhdatha 'inda 'l-'Arab. 2nd ed.; Kuwait: Wikalat al-Matbū'āt, 1977.
  • ed., Commentaires sur Aristote perdus en Grec et autres épitres. Recherches de l'Institut de Lettres Orientales de Beyrouth, N.S. A. Langue Arabe et Pensée Islamique 1. Beirut: Dar El-Machreq, 1971.
  •  "New Philosophical Texts Lost in Greek and Preserved in Arabic Translations." In Morewedge, ed. Islamic Philosophical Theology, pp. 3-13.

Barnes, Jonathan.

  • The Presocratic Philosophers. The Arguments of the Philosophers. Revised edition; London: Routledge, 1982.

Bidez, Joseph, and Cumont, Franz.

  • Les mages hellénisés: Zoroastre, Ostaneš et Hystaspe. 2 vols. Paris: Société d'Éditions "Les Belles Lettres," 1938.*

Blackburn, Simon.

  • The Oxford Dictionary of Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford Uni voi sity Press, 1994.

de Boer, T. J.

  • The History of Philosophy in Islam, Paris: P. Geuthner, 1921-1926.

Bürgel, J.-Ch.

  •  "A New Arabic Quotation from Plato's Phaido and Its Relation to a Persian Version of the Phaido." Actos do IV Congresso de Estudos Arabes e Islâmicos (Lisbon: 1968 [1971]), pp. 281-90.

 Dancy, Jonathan, and Sosa, Ernest, eds.

  • A Companion to Epistemology. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy 3. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1992.

Fakhry, Majid.

  • Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. Studies in Oriental Culture 5. 2nd ed. New York: Columbia University Press, 1983. *
  • Philosophy, Dogma, and the Impact of Greek Thought In Islam. London: Variorum, 1994.
  • A History of Islamic Philosophy, Columbia University Press, 1983. *

Grant, Edward.

  • Studies in Medieval Science and Natural Philosophy. London: Variorum Reprints, 1981

Gutas, Dimitri.

  • Greek Wisdom Literature in Arabic Translation: A Study of the Graeco-Arabic Gnomologia. New Haven, CT: American Oriental Society, 1975.

Guttenplan, Samuel, ed.

  • A Companion to the Philosophy of Mind. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy 5. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1994.

Hadas, Moses, and Smith, Morton,

  • Heroes and Gods: Spiritual Biographies in Antiquity. New York: Harper & Row, 1965.

Honderich, Ted, ed.

  • The Oxford Companion to Philosophy. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995.

Houráni, George F., ed.

  • Essays on Islamic Philosophy and Science. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1975.

Marmura, M., ed.  CHECK

  • Islamic Theology and Philosophy. Albany: SUNY Press, 1984.

Morewedge, Parviz, ed.,

  • Islamic Philosophical Theology. Studies in Islamic Philosophy and Science. Albany: State Unversity of New York Press, 1979.
  • Islamic Philosophy and Mysticism. Studies in Islamic Philosophy and Science. Delmar, N.Y.: Caravan Books, 1981.
  • ed. Islamic Philosophical Theology. Albany: SUNYPress, 1979.

Corbin, H., in collaboration with S.H. Nasr, and O. Yahya 

  • Historie de la philosophie islamique. Paris: Gallimard, 1964.*
  • Trans.

Some Major Philosophers and Philosophical Movements.

Presocratics and the Pythagoreans.

Guthrie, Kenneth Sylvan, ed.

  • The Pythagorean Sourcebook and Library. Grand Rapids, Mich.: Phanes Press, 1988.

Gorman, Peter,

  • Pythagoras, A Life. London, Boston, Henley,: Routledge & Kegan Paul Ltd., 1979.*

Guthrie, W. K. C.

  • A History of Greek Philosophy. Vol. 1 : The Earlier Presocratics and the Pythagoreans.
  • Vol. 2: The Presocratic Tradition from Parmenides to Democritus.
  • Vol. 5: The Later Plato and the Academy. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1962- .

Ibn al-Ţayyib.

  • Produs' Commentary on the Pythagorean Golden Verses: Arabic Text and Translation. Edited and translated by Neil Linley. Arethusa Monographs 10. N.p., n.d.

Miskawayh, Abu 'Alî Ahmad b. Muhammad.

  • Al-Hikma al-Khālida: Jawîdãn Khi-rad. Edited by 'Abd al-Rahmān Badawï. Dirāsāt Islamĩya 13; Cairo: al-Nahda al-Mişrîya, 1952.

O'Meara, Dominic J.

  • Pythagoras Revived: Mathematics and Philosophy in Late Antiquity. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1989.*

Naşr, S.H.

  • An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrine. New York, SUNY, 1993.*

Rahman, F.

  • Prophecy in Islam: Philosophy and Orthodoxy. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.*
  • The Philosophy of Mullā Sadra. Albany, N.Y.: SUNY Press, 1976.*
  • Essence and Existence in Avicenna. Vol. 4, Medieval and Renaisance Studies. London: Warburg Institute, 1958.

Rosenthal, Franz.

  • The Classical Heritage in Islam. Trans. Emile and Jenny Marmorstein. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1975.*
  • Science and Medicine in Islam. Aldershot, Hampshire: Variorum, 1990.
  • "The Symbolism of the Tabula Cebitis according to Abu'l-Faraj Ibn al-Ţayyib." In Recherches d'islamologie: Recueil d'articles offert à G. Anawati et L. Gardet par leurs collègues et amis. Louvain, 1977, pp. 273-83.

Rowson, Everett K.

  •  A Muslim Philosopher on the Soul and Its Fate. American Oriental Séries 70. New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1988.

Empedocles.

  • The Poem of Empedocles: A Text and Translation with an Introduction. Ed. and trans. Brad Inwood. Phoenix Presocratics 3. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1992..

Kingsley, Peter.

  • Ancient Philosophy, Mystery, and Magic: Empedocles and Pythagorean Tradition. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995.

Hermes and Hermetic Philosophy

Kim, Jaegwon, and Sosa, Ernest, eds.

  • A Companion to Metaphysics. Blackwell Companions to Philosophy 6. Cambridge, Mass.: Blackwell, 1995.

Fowden, Garth.

  • The Egyptian Hermes: A Historical Approach to the Late Pagan Mind. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Corrected printing: Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993.*

Ammonius,

  • In Aristotelis Categorias Commentrius. In Commentarla in Aristotelem Graeca. Vol. 4, part 4.

Pseudo-Ammonius.

  • Die Doxographie des Pseudo-Ammonias: Ein Beitrag zur neuplatonischen Überlieferung im Islam. Ed. and trans. Ulrich Rudolph. Deutsche morgenländische Gesellschaft, Abhandlungen für Kunde des Morgenlandes 49.1; Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1989.

Plato and Neoplatonism

  • al-Muthul al-'Aqllya al-Aflaţunlya. Ed. 'Abd al-Rahmān Badawï. Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale du Caire, Textes et Traductions d'Auteurs Orientaux 12. Cairo: Dar al-Kutub al-Mişriya, 1947.
  • Plato's Cosmology: The Timaeus of Plato. Trans. Francis Cornford. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1937.

Baine-Harris, R,

  • ed. 1976 The Significance of Neoplatonism.  Norfolk Virginia, International Society for Neoplatonic Studies, 1976.*

Cleary, John J.

  • ed. The Perennial Tradition of Neoplatonism. Leuven University Press,1997.  (xxxiv+578pp). *

Findlay, J. N.

  • Plato: The Written and Unwritten Doctrines. International Library of Philosophy and the Scientific Method. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1974.

Lloyd, A. C.

  • The Anatomy of Neoplatonism. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1990.
  •  "Neoplatonic Logic and Aristotelian Logic." Phronesis 1.1 (Nov. 1955): 59-72; 1.2 (May 1956): 146֊60.

Long, A. A., and Sedley, D. N.

  • The Hellenistic Philosophers. 2 vols. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1987.*

Sambursky, Shmuel.

  • The Concept of Place in Late Neoplatonism: Texts with Translation, Introduction, and Notes. Jerusalem: Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities, 1982.

Aristotle

  • Commentarla in Aristotelem Graeca. Academiae Litterarum Regiae Borussicae. Berlin: Georgii Reimen, 1882-1909.
    The Complete Works of Aristotle: The Revised Oxford Translation. Bollingen Series 71.2. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1984.
  • Pseudo-Aristotle. The Apple, or Aristotle's Death (De Porno sive De Morte Aristotilis). Trans. Mary F. Rousseau. Mediaeval Philosophical Texts in Translation 18. Milwaukee: Marquette University Press, 1968.
  • "The Book of the Apple Ascribed to Aristotle Edited in Persian and English." Ed. D. S. Margoliouth. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society n.s. 24 (1892): 187-252.

Theologia Aristotelis ("Theology of Aristotle") =Ar. Uthūlūjiyā Arisṭāṭālīs] 

أثولوجيا  أرسطاطاليس

Actually an Arabic paraphrase of parts of the Enneads of Plotinus with other materials... There are at least two versions or recensions of the  so-called `Theology of Aristotle'...: 

"The so-called Theology of Aristotle is the longest, and most famous, text to preserve an Arabic version of the Enneads of Plotinus. The Theology is split into ten sections (each called a mimar, a Syriac word for ‘chapter’). It also has, at its beginning, a preface and some mysterious ‘headings’ which seem to itemize points drawn from a stretch of Enneads IV.4. The preface begins with an important statement of the provenance of the text, and is the source for the title Theology of Aristotle. " Extract from the SEP - See further  http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/theology-aristotle/#TheOthAraPloTex

Adamson, Peter S.

  • Arabic Plotinus: A Philosophical Study of the 'Theology of Aristotle', London, Gerald Duckworth & Co. Ltd. 2002. ISBN 0715631632
  • The Arabic Plotinus: a Philosophical Study of the “Theology of Aristotle”, London: Duckworth. Adamson, P., 2004a
  • “Non-Discursive Thought in Avicenna's Commentary on the Theology of Aristotle,” in J. McGinnis (ed.), Interpreting Avicenna: Science and Philosophy in Medieval Islam, Leiden: Brill, 2004 pp. 87–111.
  • “Correcting Plotinus: Soul's Relationship to Body in Avicenna's Commentary on the Theology of Aristotle”, in P. Adamson, H. Baltussen and M.W.F. Stone (eds.), Philosophy, Science and Exegesis in Greek, Arabic and Latin Commentaries, London: Institute of Classical Studies, vol. 2 (2004) 59–75.

Aouad, M., 1989,

  •   “La ‘Théologie d'Aristote’ et autres textes du Plotinus Arabus,” in Dictionnaire des Philosophes antiques I, edited by R. Goulet, Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 541–590.

Baidawi, `Abd al-Rahman 

  • 1947a, Plotinus apud Arabes, Cairo: Dirasa Islamiyya. Badawi, A.,
  • 1947b, Aristu ‘inda al-‘Arab, Cairo: Dirasa Islamiyya.  1947.
  • Aflūṭīn ind al-`Arab. Cairo: 1955. pp. 1-164.

Bucur, C. and Bucur, B. G.,

  • “‘The Place of Splendor and Light’: Observations on the Paraphrasing of Enn 4.8.1 in the Theology of Aristotle,” Le Muséon 119 (2006)  271–92.

D'Ancona, C.

  • 1991, “Per un Profilo Filosofico dell'Autore della ‘Theologia di Aristotele,’” Medioevo 17: 82–134.
  • 1992, “La doctrine de la création ‘mediante intelligentia’ dans le Liber de Causis et dans ses sources,” Revue des sciences philosophiques et théologiques 76, 209–233. Reprinted in D'Ancona Costa (1995), 73–96.
  • 1993, “Il tema della ‘docta ignorantia’ nel neoplatonismo arabo. Un contributo all'analisi delle fonti di ‘Teologia di Aristotele,’ mimar II,” in Concordia Discors: Studi offerti a Giovanni Santinello, Padua: Editrice Antenore, 3–22.
  • 1995, Recherches sur le Liber de Causis, Paris: Vrin.
  • 1997, “Divine and Human Knowledge in the Plotiniana Arabica,” The Perennial Tradition of Neoplatonism, edited by J. L. Cleary, Leuven: Leuven University Press, 419–442.
  • 1999, “Porphyry, Universal Soul and the Arabic Plotinus,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 9: 47–88.
  • 2001, “Pseudo-Theology of Aristotle, Chapter I: Structure and Composition,” Oriens 36: 78–112.
  • 2003a, “The Timaeus Model for Creation and Providence. An Example of Continuity and Adaptation in Early Arabic Philosophical Literature,” in G.J. Reydams-Schils (ed.), Plato's Timaeus as Cultural Icon, Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 206–37.
  • D'Ancona, C. (ed.), 2003b, Plotino, La discesa dell'anima nei corpi (Enn. IV 8[6]), Padua: Il Poligrafo.

Fenton, P.,

  • 1986, “The Arabic and Hebrew Versions of the Theology of Aristotle,” in Kraye et al. (1986), 241–264.

Dieterici, Friedrich,

  •  Die sogenannte Theologie des Aristoteles aus arabischen Handschriften zum ersten Mai heraus-gegeben. Leipzig, 1882

Endress, G.,

  •  1973, Proclus Arabus: Zwanzig Abschnitte aus der Institutio Theologica in arabischer Übersetzung, Beirut: Orient-Institut der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.

Fenton, Paul

  • Paul Fenton, "The Arabic and Hebrew Versions of the The Theology of Aristotle" in Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages: The ‘Theology’ and Other Texts, Jill Kraye, Charles B. Schmitt and W. F. Ryan,  London, 1986.

Gutas, Dimitri,

  • Greek thought, Arabic culture : the Graeco-Arabic translation movement in Baghdad and early ʻAbbāsid society (2nd-4th/8th-10th centuries),  London, Routledge, 1998.
  • "The Spurious and the Authentic in the Arabic Lives of Aristotle." In Kraye et al., eds. Pseudo-Aristotle, pp. 15-35.
  • 2007, “The Text of the Arabic Plotinus. Prolegomena to a Critical Edition,” in C. D'Ancona (ed.), Libraries of the Neoplatonists, Leiden: Brill (2007), 371–84.

Ibn Babuwayh al-Qumi.

  • Extract in `Uyun Akhbar al-Rida'   Cf. GAL I:187..

Kraemer, J.,

  • 1986, Philosophy in the Renaissance of Islam: Abu Sulayman al-Sijistani and his Circle, Leiden: Brill. Kraye, J. et al. (eds.), 1986, Warburg Institute Surveys and texts XI: Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages, London: Warburg Institute.

Kraye, Jill; Ryan, W. F.; and Schmitt, C. B., eds.

  • Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages. Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts 11. London: The Warburg Institute, 1986.

Lewis, Geoffrey.

  • `Der Plotinianis Arabicis' in Plotini Opera tommus II,  Enneades IV-VI ed. Paul Henry and Hans-Rudolf Schwyzer, (Paris and Bruxelles, 1959), xxvi-xxxvi.

Kraye, Jill; Ryan, W. F.; and Schmitt, C. B., eds.

  • Pseudo-Aristotle in the Middle Ages. Warburg Institute Surveys and Texts 11. London: The Warburg Institute, 1986.

Peters, F. E.

  • Aristotle and the Arabs: The Aristotelian Tradition in Islam. New York: New York University Press; and London: University of London, 1968.*

  • Aristoteles Arabus: The Oriental Translations and Commentaries on the Aristotelian Corpus. New York University Department of Classics Monographs on Mediterranean Antiquity. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1968. Review by H. Daiber, Gnomon 42 (1970): 538-47.*

  • "Hermes and Harran: The Roots of Arab-Islamic Occultism." In Michel M. Mazzaoui and Vera B. Moreen, eds., Intellectual Studies on Islam: Essays Written in Honor of Martin B. Dickson. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 1990, pp. 185-215.
  • "The Origins of Islamic Platonism: The School Tradition." In Morewedge, ed., Islamic Philosophical Theology, pp. \4-45.
    Plato. Aflāļūn fi 'l-Islām. Edited by 'Abd al-Rahman Badawĩ. Wisdom of Persia 13; Tehran: McGill University Institute of Islamic Studies, 1974.*

Pinès, Shlomo

  • `La longue récension de la Théologie d'Aristote dans ses rapports avec la doctrine ismaélienne' in Revue des études Islamiques 22 (1954) 7-20.
  •  
  • Pinès, S., 1954, “La Longue Recension del la Théologie d'Aristote dans ses rapports avec la doctrine ismaélienne,” Revue des études islamiques, 22, 7–20.

Rizvi, S.,

  • 2007, “(Neo)Platonism Revived in the Light of the Imams: Qadi Sa‘id al-Qummi and (d. AH 1107/AD 1696) and his Reception of the Theologia Aristotelis,” in P. Adamson, Classical Arabic Philosophy: Sources and Reception, London: Warburg Institute, 176–207.

Rowson, E.K.,

  • “The Theology of Aristotle and Some Other Pseudo-Aristotelian Texts Reconsidered,” Journal of the American Oriental Society 112 (1992), 478–484.

Rosenthal, F.,

  • “Ash-Shayh al-Yûnânî and the Arabic Plotinus Source,” Orientalia 21 (1952), 461–92; 22 (1953), 370–400; 24 (1955), 42–66.

Henry, P. and Schwyzer, H.-R. (eds.), 1959,

  • Plotini Opera, Tomus II: Enneades IV-V, Paris and Brussels: Desclée de Brouwer, 1959.
  • The above "Contains an English translation by G. Lewis of nearly all the Arabic Plotinus materials, facing the Greek edition of the source passages in the Greek original." (so the  SEP.)

 Sorabji, Richard.

  • "The Ancient Commentators on Aristotle." In Sorabji, ed., Aristotle Transformed.*
  •  ed. Aristotle Transformed: The Ancient Commentators and Their Influence. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1990.*

Stern, S. M.

  • EI2, s.v. "Anbaduķlīs." *
  • “Ibn Hasdây's Neoplatonist: A Neoplatonic Treatise and its Influence on Isaac Israeli and the Longer Version of the Theology of Aristotle,” Oriens  (1961) 23–4, 58–120. Reprinted in Stern, Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Thought, London: Variorum, 1983.
  • "Ibn Masaira, Follower of Pseudo-Empedocles—An Illusion." In Actas, 4 Congresso de Estudos Arabes e Islâmicos, Coimbra—Lisboa 1968. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971, pp. 325-37. Reprinted in S. M. Stern, Medieval Arabic and Hebrew Thought, chap. v.

Taylor, R.C., 1998,

  • “Aquinas, the Plotiniana Arabica and the Metaphysics of Being and Actuality,” Journal of the History of Ideas 59, 241–264.
  • Thillet, P., 1971, “Indices Porphyriens dans la Théologie d'Aristote,” in Le Néoplatonisme, Paris: Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, 293–302.

Vajda, G.,

  • 1951, “Les notes d'Avicenne sur la ‘Théologie d'Aristote’,” Revue Thomiste 51, 346–406.

Wakelnig, E.,

  •  2006, Feder, Tafel, Mensch. al-‘Amiris Kitab al-Fusul fi l-Ma‘alim al-ilahiya und die arabische Proklos-Rezeption im 10. Jh., Leiden: Brill.

Zimmerman, F.W.,

  • "The Origins of the So-Called Theology of Aristotle." In Kraye et al., eds. Pseudo-Aristotle, pp. 110-240.
  • 1986, “The Origins of the So-Called Theology of Aristotle,” in Kraye et al. (1986), 110–240.
  • 1994, “Proclus Arabus Rides Again,” Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 4, 9–51.

Cebes.

  • The Tabula of Cebes. Edited and translated by John T. Fitzgerald and L. Michael White. Society of Biblical Literature Texts and Translations 24, Graeco-Roman Religion Series 7; Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983.

Diogenes Laertius.

  • Lives of the Eminent Philosophers. Trans. R. D. Hicks. 2 vols. Loeb Classical Library. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1925.

lamblichus.

  • Neuplatonische Pythagorica in arabischem Gewände: Der Kommentar des lamblichus zu den Carmina aurea: Ein verlorener griechischer Text in arabischer Überlieferung. Ed. Hans Daiber. Koninklijke Nederlandse Akademies van Wetenschappen Verhandelingen, Afdeling Letterkunde, Nieuwe Reeks, Deel 161; Amsterdam: 1995.

Pseudo-Plutarch / Aetius.

Aetius,Aëtius, or Aetios (Ἀέτιος) [Pseudo-Plutarch]

  • Περὶ τῶν ἀρεσκόντων φιλοσόφοις φυσικῶν δογμάτων, "The Opinions of the Philosophers".
  • Aetius Arabus: Die Vorsokratiker in arabischer Überlieferung. Edited by Hans Daiber. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner, 1980.

 Pseudo-Majrītī.

  • Picatrix: Das Ziel des Weisen von Pseudo-Magati. Trans. Hell-mutt Ritter and Martin Plessner. Studies of the Warburg Institute 27. London: Warburg Institute, 1962.
  • Das Ziel des Weisen [Ghãyat al-Haklm]. Ed. Hellmut Ritter. Studien der Bibliothek Warburg 12.1. Berlin: B. G. Teubner, 1933.

Simplicius.

  • Commentaire sur les Catégories. Translated by Ph. Hoffman. Philosophia Antiqua 50.1. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1990. In Aristotelis Categorias Commentarium. Ed. C. Kalbfleisch. Commentario in Aristotelem Graeca. Vol. 8.

Apollonius of Tyana.

Pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana.

  • Buch über das Geheimniss der Schöpfung und die Darstellung der Natur (Buch der Ursachen) [Sirr al-Khalîqa]. Ed. Ursula Weisser. Sources and Studies in the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, Natural Sciences Series 1. Aleppo: Institute for the Study of Arabic Science, 1979.
  • Daş "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana.trans. Ursula Weisser. Ars Medica. Texte und Untersuchungen zu Quellenkunde der Alten Medizin III. Arabische Medizin 2. Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 1980. Abridged translation of Sirr al-Khalïqa.

Select Islamic Philosophers

al-Fārābī.

  • Alfarabi՝ s Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle [Tahsil al-Sa'āda, Falsafat Aflātūn, Falsafat Arista]. Translated by Muhsin Mahdi. Agora Paperback Editions; rev. ed. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1969.
  • Kitāb al-Jam' bayna Ra`yay al-Hakïmayn. Ed. Albayr Naşrî Nâdir. 4th ed.; Beirut: Dar al-Mashriq, 1968. Ed. and trans. Charles Butterworth. Islamic Philosophy Translation Series. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, ADD.

al-Rāzī, Abu Bakr

  • Rasa'il Falsafìya. [Ed. Paul Kraus]. 2nd ed.; Beirut: Dar al-Afaq al-Jadĩda, 1977.

Ibn Rushd or Averroes = Abu'l-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad (b. Cordoba,  = 1126-1198).

  • Tahāfut al-tahāfut ("The Incoherence of the Incoherence"). Translated by S. Van den Bergh. London: Luzac and Co., 1954.
  • Averroes on Plato's Republic. Trans. Ralph Lerner. Agora Paperback Editions. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1974.
  • Tafsir Ma Ba'd al-Tabī'a. Edited by Maurice Bouyges. Bibliotheca Arabica Scholasticorum, Sèrie Arabe vi; 2nd ed.; Beirut: Dar El-Machreq, 1967.
     Avicenna
  • Kitāb al-Ishārāt wa՝l-Tanbīhāt ma'a Shark Naşir al-Dīn al-Tūsl. ed. Sulayman Dünyâ. 4 vols, in 3. Dhakhā'ir al-'Arab 22. Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, n.d.
  • Corbin, Henry. Avicenna and the Visionary Recital. Translated by Willard R. Träsk. Bollingen Series 66; New York: Pantheon Books, 1966. Reprinted Irving, Texas: Spring Publications, 1980. *

XXX

Stace, W. T.

  • Mysticism and Philosophy. Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott, 1960.

Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta. Ed. H. van Arnim. 4 vols. Leipzig: Teubner, 1903.

Van Ess, Josef.

  • Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte Des Religiosen Denkens Im Fruhen Islam Texte Xxii-Xxxv Josef Van Ess Hardcover / Walter De Gruyter Inc / April 1995 / 3110142678
  • Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2. Und... Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte Des Religiosen Denkens Im Fruhen Islam Josef Van Ess Hardcover / Walter De Gruyter Inc / November 1991 / 311012212X
  • Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte Des Religiosen Denkens Im Fruhen Islam Josef Van Ess Hardcover / Walter De Gruyter Inc / January 1991 / 3110118599
  • Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2. Und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte Des Religiosen Denkens Im Fruhen Islam 6 Bande Josef Van Ess Hardcover / Walter De Gruyter Inc / December 1992 / 3110131617 List Price $303.75
  • Theologie Und Gesellschaft Im 2 Lund 3 Jahrundert Hidschra: Eine Geschichte Des Religioesen Denkens Im Fruehen Islam Josef Van Ess Hardcover / Walter De Gruyter Inc / November 1993 / 3110137267
  • Zwischen Hadit Und Theologie: Studien Zum Entstehen Pradestinatianischer Uberlieferung Josef Van Ess Book / 216 Pages / January 1975 / 3110042908
  • Anfange Muslimischer Theologie: Zwei Antiqadaritische Traktate Aus Dem Ersten Jahrhundert Der Higra Josef Van Ess, Umar, al-Hasan ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hanafiyah Book / 280 Pages / January 1977

Walzer, R.

  • EI2, s.v. "Aflātūn."*
  • EI2, s.v. "Aristūtālīs."*
  • "Al-Biruni and Idolatry." In Commémoration Cyrus: Hommage universel. Acta Iranica, ser. 1. Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1974, vol. 3, pp. 317-23.
     

Watt, W. Montgomery. EI2,

  • s.v. "Iskandar"* 
  • "Transmigration." In Encyclopedia of Religion. New York: Macmillan, 1987.

Westerink, L. G.

  • "Proclus commentateur des Vers ďorT In G. Boss and G. Seel, eds. Proclus et son influence. Zurich: GMB Editions du Grand Midi, 1989. Pp. 61-78.
     

Yarshater, Ehsan.,

  • éd. Biruni Symposium. Persian Studies Series 7. New York: Columbia University, Iran Center, 1976.
  •  

Yates, Frances A.

  • Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1964.
  • Mullā Sadra: His Life and Works." In History of Islamic Philosophy, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman. Pp. 643-62
  • "Shihāb al-Dīn Suhrawardi." In History of Islamic Philosophy, ed. Seyyed Hossein Nasr and Oliver Leaman, pp. 434-64.
  • "The Source and Nature of Authority: A Study of al-Suhrawardï's Illuminationist Political Doctrine." In Butterworth, ed., The Political Aspects, pp. 304^4.

Zimmermann, F. W.

  • "The Origins of the So-Called Theology of Aristotle." In Kraye et al., eds. Pseudo-Aristotle, pp. 110-240.