The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia

Abstract

The Islamic fnlellectual Tradition in Persia is an edited collection of essays by SeyyedHossein Nasr, the Iranian metaphysician and ontolgist, on Muslim philosophers and theintimate relationship between Persian culture and its philosophical schools. The 24 essayswere written over a period of four decades and scattered among numerous journals and collections.The book is divided into six parts: Islamic thought and Persian culture; earlyIslamic philosophy; the works of al Suhrawardj; philosophers, poets, and scientists; laterIslamic philosophy; and Islamic thought in modem Iran. The essays highlight Nasr's prolificand learned scholarship on the development of Islamic philosophy and illuminatemany aspects of the rich philosophical traditions in Islamic Persia and its history.Throughout this unique collection of articles, Nasr covers the lives and works ofmore than fifteen prominent thinkers and scientists who made significant contributions tothe evolution of the Islamic intellectual traditions in the Muslim world in general and inIslamic Persia in particular. Among those covered are al Farabi, lbn Sina, al BirOni, N????irKhusraw, Fakhr al Din al Razi, al Suhrawardi, Quib al Din Shirazi, $adr al Din Shiriizi,and Mullii HadT Sabzawari. Nasr presents their ideas through their actual works andinforms readers of their conditions and life stories in an easy and enjoyable sty le, whichallows the reader to learn about their ideas and conditions through the lives of these greatphilosophers. Their lives and works cover a wide spectrum of the Muslim mind and beara noticeable interplay of ideas from different fields, ideas that can neither be separatedfrom their conditions nor confined to one field.The book touches on many subjects of pure academic interest and provides an insightinto Persian culture. Although the essays are useful in researching the intellectual historyof Muslim philosophers in the largest sense, no one essay researches the development ofspecific ideas or aspects of the Persian philosophers. Nasr 's essays describe al Fara bi asthe "second teacher" in philosophy and elaborates on lbn Sina's contributions to logic andlanguage, metaphysics and cosmology, medicine pharmacology, and psychology. Someof their works cover classical debates on being and existence, what is learned and what isrealized, discursive knowledge and the insights of illumination, and concepts of unity and ...