I was wondering weather there is a full copy of the encyclopedia that was created in the tenth century named, "Risail Ikhwan as-Safa" in English available online.
It is mentioned a few spots on our site including here:
"A famous encyclopaedia in 51 volumes was written by a group of Ismailis 1000 years ago under the supervision of Imam Taki Mohammed, who personally wrote the 52nd volume. The said encyclopaedia deals with Logic, Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine, Astronomy... What's the title of this famous work? (Risail Ikhwan as-Safa)"
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Also, what is up with the number 52? Like many of our granths are also versed into 52's.. like Bavan Ghathee && Bavan Bodh.. Just out of curiosity.. Do you think this encyclopedia is related somehow to these ginans? Coincedince or not?
I was wondering weather there is a full copy of the encyclopedia that was created in the tenth century named, "Risail Ikhwan as-Safa" in English available online.
It is mentioned a few spots on our site including here:
"A famous encyclopaedia in 51 volumes was written by a group of Ismailis 1000 years ago under the supervision of Imam Taki Mohammed, who personally wrote the 52nd volume. The said encyclopaedia deals with Logic, Sciences, Mathematics, Medicine, Astronomy... What's the title of this famous work? (Risail Ikhwan as-Safa)"
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Also, what is up with the number 52? Like many of our granths are also versed into 52's.. like Bavan Ghathee && Bavan Bodh.. Just out of curiosity.. Do you think this encyclopedia is related somehow to these ginans? Coincedince or not?
I found a book! In the liturature counter in you JK there should be a book by the name of "The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity:The Ikhwån al-Íafå’ and their Raså’il. An Introduction"
Thanks to Kmaherali in his post in the book section I was able to find it here and checked my lituratre counter and found the book (Page 19):
Ikhwån al-Íafå’ (The Brethren of Purity) were the
anonymous adepts of a 10th-century esoteric fraternity of
scholars principally based in Basra and Baghdad. This
brotherhood occupied a prominent station in the history of
science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception
and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia: Raså’il
Ikhwån al-Íafå’ (The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This
compendium contained fifty-two epistles that offered
synoptic explications of the classical sciences and
philosophies of the age. Divided into four classificatory
parts, it treated themes in mathematics, logic, natural
philosophy, psychology, metaphysics and theology, in
addition to moral and didactic fables. The Ikhwån were
learned compilers of scientific and philosophical
knowledge, and their Raså’il constituted a paradigmatic
legacy in the canonization of philosophy and the sciences in
mediaeval Islamic civilization.
This present volume gathers studies by leading
philosophers, historians and scholars of Islamic studies, who
are also the editors and translators of the first Arabic critical
edition and complete annotated English translation of the
Raså’il Ikhwån al-Íafå’, which will be published in
association with Oxford University Press that this present
volume initiates.
The chapters of this present volume explore the conceptual
and historical aspects of the philosophical and scientific
contents of the Raså’il and their classification, as well as
investigating the authorship and dating of this corpus and
the impact that the Ikhwån’s intellectual tradition exercised
in the unfolding of the history of ideas in Islam.
hussainkhan55 wrote:Where is the whole book available?
I am not quite sure, however parts of this encyclopedia set are translated in this book at your local liturature counter.. More information on this book is available at the Wiki page.. Check it out it is real interesting..
The ‘Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopedia, the Rasa ‘il Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains 52 epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables.
Epistles 39 and 40 return to the Aristotelian philosophy of certain earlier Epistles. Epistle 39 explains movement and rest, the kinds of physical movement, and the species of moved beings, before introducing the divine Mover and the idea that when He ceases to move the world, it will end. The highly composite Epistle 40 addresses themes beyond the various types of causes and effects, including ‘divine gifts’, God’s origination and organization of the world, emanation, and the frequently invoked analogy of numbers. The main section of Epistle 41: ‘On the Definitions and Descriptions’ defines variously categorized phenomena and follows a diverse range of chapters detailing colors, numbers, ratios, and geometry.
"For Those With Eyes to See": On the Hidden Meaning of the Animal Fable in the Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa'', Journal of Islamic Studies, 2018
The animal fable as narrated by the Ikhwn al Safa in their Rasail is, without doubt, the most famous part of the Brethren’s encyclopaedic corpus. The work clearly stands out in medieval literature on animals by addressing a great number of issues that remain even today central to man’s reflection about himself and his place in the universe. The fable features a trial in which legatees of the animal cause sue man for unjust treatment and literally box him into a corner. Man’s physical and intellectual abilities, his religious and metaphysical aspirations, his moral conduct, his rights and obligations vis-a-vis the rest of creation are all bitterly called into question throughout the narrative until the very last part when man saves the game in extremis by adducing the immortality of his soul.
I do appreciate Risaail Akhwannus Safa. But in ancient times it was mostly common practice to explain ethical values and day to day happenings through animal fables. There are many animal fables found in Hindu Mythology Literature, in Greece literature the famous book is Aesop's Fables written 2500+ years back and translated in 150 languages. Animal stories are found in religious books, even Quran has given examples of insects and animals, same way there are stories about animals in Ginans.
Looks like animals were more SHAREEF than today's mostly human beings.
The Ikhwan al-Safa was an intellectual catalyst in the development of the history of ideas
Posted by Nimira Dewji
The earliest revelation to Prophet Muhammad was about knowledge and learning. The Qur’anic injunction and Prophetic tradition to seek knowledge led to the founding of many institutions of learning. Scientific research was considered a response of the faithful to the persistent call of the Qur’an to ponder the universe in order to understand God’s creation. The pursuit of knowledge was emphasised by Hazarat Ali and his descendants to the present day, by Mawlana Hazar Imam Aga Khan IV.
With the expansion of Muslim rule into the eastern Mediterranean regions and western Asia, the diverse pre-Islamic traditions of learning were incorporated by the Muslim rulers into their cultures, fostering an intellectually fertile environment.
This began the period of translation and compilation, ushering in the era of knowledge exchange whose effects are felt today. There was a remarkable increase of institutions dedicated to learning; knowledge was valued and resources were dedicated to its advancement.
By the tenth century, Islamic civilisations were characterised by a diversity of intellectual and literary traditions in various fields such as philosophy, astronomy, medicine, arts, mysticism, natural sciences, among others. Early Muslim thinkers debated about philosophy, revelation, and the place of reason in a person’s relationship with the Creator.
One such group of intellectuals was the Ikhwan al-Safa (‘Brethren of Purity’), an anonymous tenth-century group of authors based in Basra and Baghdad, Iraq, who compiled an encyclopedic work – Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). Seeking to show compatibility of the Islamic faith with other religions and intellectual traditions, the Ikhwan drew on diverse schools of wisdom including Babylonian, Greek, Persian, and Indian traditions.
Ikhwan al-Safa Rasail
Arabic manuscript illumination from the 12th century, showing the Ikhwan. Source: Wikipedia
The Ikhwan occupied a prominent position in the history of scientific and philosophical ideas in Islam owing to the wide intellectual reception and dissemination of diverse manuscripts of their philosophically oriented Rasa’il.
“The multiplicity of the voices that were expressed in their Epistles reflects a genuine quest for wisdom,” notes El-Bizri.
Although the exact date of the Rasa’il and the identities of its authors remain a mystery, it is generally agreed that the authors were high-ranked men of learning from the Shi‘a community, and that they had some connection with the Ismaili movement.
Some historians situate this brotherhood to the eighth century, attributing the compiling of the Rasa’il to the early Ismaili Imams Jafar al-Sadiq, Abd Allah (Wafi Ahmed), or his son Ahmad b. Abd Allal (al-Taqi); others situate the Ikhwan to just before the founding of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa in 909. Daftary notes that the Ismaili origin of the Rasa’il was recognised by Paul Casanova in 1898, “long before the modern recovery of Isma’ili literature” (The Ismai’ilis their History and Doctrines p. 246).
Historians agree that the efforts of the authors of the Rasa’il to collate the sciences and compose a pioneering encyclopeadia, indicate their originality during their time. The Ikhwan emphasised knowledge of oneself as a path towards knowledge of the Creator.
Comprising fifty-two epistles on a wide range of topics, the Rasa’il is divided into four main sections:
Mathematics – 14 epistles
dealing with arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, geography, and music – the healing qualities of music as well as the tuning of instruments. The Ikhwan viewed music as spiritual in nature.
Physical or Natural Sciences – 17 epistles
dealing with matter and form, metallurgy, meteorology, classes of plants and animals, the composition of the human body, the phonetic and structural properties of languages.
Sciences of the Soul and Intellect – 10 epistles
discussing a distinction between the intellect and the intelligible, the mystical expression of the essence of love, definitions of the various types of motion, among other topics.
Theology – 11 epistles
on differences between the varieties of religious opinions, the call to God, the actions of spiritualists, the cosmic hierarchy, and the essence of magic and talismanic properties, among other topics.
El-Bizri states that “the Rasa’il corpus is brimming with a wealth of ideas and constitutes a masterpiece of medieval literature that presents a populist yet comprehensive adaptation of scientific knowledge. …By influencing a variety of Islamic schools and doctrines, the Brethren’s heritage acted as a significant intellectual prompt and catalyst in the development of the history of ideas in Islam. As such, their work rightfully holds the station assigned to it among the distinguished Arabic classes and the high literature of Islamic civilization.”
Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa Epistles
Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Godefroid de Callataÿ adds that the Rasa’il “was written in Arabic during the classical age of Islam and whose nature, contents and purposes have no equivalent of any kind both inside and outside the Muslim world.”
In the image below, the Ikhwan show the various spheres surrounding Earth – in the centre – as they were understood at the time. The closest to Earth is the sphere of the Moon followed by spheres of Mercury, Venus, Sun, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.
Rasail Ikhwan
Page from Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa copied by al-Hasan ibn al-Nu’mani, dated 1546. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
In their description, the Ikhwan quote from the Qur’an:
“The Sun cannot overtake the Moon, nor can the night outrun the day: each floats in [its own] orbit” (36:40).
Several printed editions that aimed to reconstruct the original Arabic version were established, beginning in Calcutta, India, in 1812 which was re-printed in 1846, followed by a complete edition in Bombay between 1887 and 1888, followed by several editions elsewhere. Western scholars began to take an interest in the Rasa’il in the late nineteenth century. The German scholar Friedrich Dieterici (d. 1903) published studies on Islamic philosophy with the Ikhwan al-Safa’ as the main subject of his attention, published in German between 1861 and 1872. Several important studies have been devoted to the sources and contents of the Rasa’il and selected epistles have been translated into Spanish, Italian, Urdu, and English.
The Institute of Ismaili Studies has published several critical editions and English translations of the Rasa’il.
“From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Commencement Ceremony at the Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
May 26, 1996
Speech at AKDN
“It is no exaggeration to say that the original Christian universities of Latin West, at Paris, Bologna and Oxford, indeed the whole European renaissance, received a vital influx of new knowledge from Islam — an influx from which the later western colleges and universities, including those of North Africa, were to benefit in turn.”
Mawlana Hazar Imam
Acceptance of Charter of Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan, March 16, 1983
Speech published in Hikmat, II (July 1984)
For more on Islam and science, visit Easy Nash’s Science and Religion in Islam: The Link
Sources:
Nader El-Bizri, The Ikhwan al-Safa and their Rasail: An Introduction, The Institue of Ismaili Studies
Godefroid de Callataÿ, The Classification of the Sciences according to the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’, The Institute of IsmailI Studies
From the Manuscript Tradition to the Printed Text: The Transmission of the Rasa’il of the Ikhwan al-Safa’ in the East and West, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
A tenth-century brotherhood discussed the healing qualities of music
The Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) is a unique work in Islamic history consisting of fifty-two essays (rasa’il) on a wide range of subjects ranging from cosmology to physical sciences, ethics to aesthetics, and revelation to metaphysics. The authors of this encyclopaedic collection, who are believed to have lived in Basra in Iraq in tenth century, are said to have some connection with the Ismaili movement.
Ikhwan al-Safa Rasail Ismaili
Arabic manuscript illumination from the 12th century CE showing the Ikhwan. Source: Wikipedia
Although the exact date of the Rasa’il and the identities of its authors remain a mystery, it is generally agreed that the authors were high-ranked men of learning from the Shi‘a community, and that they had some connection with the Ismaili movement.
Some historians situate this brotherhood to the eighth century, attributing the compiling of the Rasa’il to the early Ismaili Imams Jafar al-Sadiq, Abd Allah (Wafi Ahmed), or his son Ahmad b. Abd Allal (al-Taqi); others situate the Ikhwan to just before the founding of the Fatimid dynasty in North Africa in 909. Daftary notes that the Ismaili origin of the Rasa’il was recognised by Paul Casanova in 1898, “long before the modern recovery of Isma’ili literature” (The Ismai’ilis their History and Doctrines p. 246).
Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa
Manuscript of the Rasa’il, dated mid-thirteenth century, Syria. Source: The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Historians agree that the efforts of the authors of the Rasa’il to collate the sciences and compose a pioneering encyclopeadia, indicate their originality during their time. The Ikhwan emphasised knowledge of oneself as a path towards knowledge of the Creator.
The authors of the Rasa’il drew on a wide variety of sources: Babylonian, Judaeo-Christian, Persian, Indian, as well as the influences of diverse schools of Hellenistic wisdom, are found in the Rasa’il. Common throughout the Rasa’il is the use of fables, parables, and allegories for explaining their views.
The Ikhwan’s view of music is spiritual in nature, thus the risala on music reflects the harmonious beauty of the universe. “It is clear from what we have expounded that the art of music is used by all peoples and is enjoyed by all animals that possess the sense of hearing, and that musical tones [naghamat] have a spiritual effect on souls, just as the other arts have physical effects on bodies” ( Epistles of the Brethren of Purity, On Music, p 84).
Rasail-Music
The Ikhwan said that the proper use of music at the right time has a healing influence on the body. The four strings of an ancient musical instrument, the lute, correspond to the four elements and humours, based on the Hippocratic theory. Humour, from the Latin “liquid” or “fluid” is one of the four fluids of the body that were thought to determine a person’s temperament as well as physical and mental health: blood, phlegm, black bile, and yellow bile, representing various attributes:
Music-Table2
In addition to representing the four elements, the humours represent the four seasons:
Yellow bile – Summer
Black bile-Autumn
Phlegm – Winter
Blood – Spring
The notes of each string were regarded as capable of strengthening one humour and weakening another. Thus high sounds moderate a “heavy combination of humours, which are characterized as hot, while low sounds, considered to be cold and wet, counteract a combination of humours deemed too hot and dry” (Ibid.). Sounds in the middle “help maintain a balance among the humours” (Ibid.). Hence a good physician is able to add a suitable combination of music therapy, selecting the appropriate period of day or night for performing the melodies.
The treatise on music in the Rasa’il includes a theoretical contribution to the study of sound, the science of rhythm, and the science of instruments, devoting a section to the making and tuning of seventeen instruments with the oud (ud) (related to the Greek lute), being described in detail. The list includes a few Greek and Byzantine instruments: urghan (organ), armuniki (panpipes), Persian djank (harp), among others.
oud fatimid music ikhwan
Ivory plaque showing oud player, Fatimid Egypt, 973-1171. Source: S.S. Abdoun, Chrysalis Foundation
El-Bizri states that “the Rasa’il corpus is brimming with a wealth of ideas and constitutes a masterpiece of medieval literature that presents a populist yet comprehensive adaptation of scientific knowledge. …By influencing a variety of Islamic schools and doctrines, the Brethren’s heritage acted as a significant intellectual prompt and catalyst in the development of the history of ideas in Islam. As such, their work rightfully holds the station assigned to it among the distinguished Arabic classes and the high literature of Islamic civilization.”
Godefroid de Callataÿ adds that the Rasa’il “was written in Arabic during the classical age of Islam and whose nature, contents and purposes have no equivalent of any kind both inside and outside the Muslim world.”
Sources:
Amnon Shiloah, Music in the World of Islam, Wayne State University Press. Detroit,1995
Godefroid de Callataÿ, The Classification of the Sciences according to the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’, The Institute of IsmailI Studies
N.S.Gill, Hippocratic Method and the Four Humors, ThoughtCo
Nader El-Bizri, The Ikhwan al-Safa and their Rasail: An Introduction, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
Seifed-Din Shehadeh Abdoun, The Oud Across Arabic Culture, School of Music, Musicology & Ethnomusicology Division, University of Maryland, 2011
From the Manuscript Tradition to the Printed Text: The Transmission of the Rasa’il of the Ikhwan al-Safa’ in the East and West, The Institute of Ismaili Studies
