Hunayn Ibn Research Articles

The Transmission System of the Greco-Arabic Translation Movement during the Abbasid Era and its Philosophical Contribution

<em>This study aims to determine the factors underlying the occurrence of the Greco-Arabic Translation Movement, how its process takes place, how the translation transmission system works, who are the figures behind it, and what its contributions are to the advancement of philosophy. This article uses the qualitative method through library research with data sources in the form of historical books written in the Abbasid dynasty, a book titled ‘Greek Thought, Arabic Culture’ by Dimitri Gutas, and articles related to the object of research. It can be concluded that the factors underlying the occurrence of the translation movement were the conquests by the Arabs, the Abbasid Revolution and the demography of Baghdad, and the pre-Abbasid translation movement. Based in Baghdad, this project lasted from the 8th century to the 10th century AD. The translation transmission system applied is the Greco-Syriac-Arabic translation. Some of the figures who played crucial roles in this project were caliph al-Mansur, caliph Harun ar-Rashid, caliph al-Ma’mun, Hunayn ibn Ishaq, the Banu Musa brothers, and Thabit ibn Qurra. This movement birthed the philosophy study. This project contributed to the advancement of philosophy both in classical and modern eras of Arab civilization and the world.</em>

A note about the Greek script and the Greek language as found in Kitāb al-Fihrist by Ibn an-Nadīm

Abstract: the article deals with the note on the history of the Greek language and the Greek script as found in the Kitab al-Fihrist by Ibn an-Nadim. The author analyses the composition of the passage as well as the ways and methods applied to transcribe the Greek technical linguistic terms with Arabic letters. The results obtained invite a strong suggestion that the note as a whole was not written by Ibn an-Nadim himself but was constructed on the basis of the material from the Greek manual Kitāb fī aḥkām al-iʿrāb ʿalā madhab al-yūnāniyyīn composed by Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873 AD).

The Abbasid Knowledge Society in the Third Century AH (In Light of Hunayn ibn Ishaq's Treatise Addressed to Ali bin Yahya Almunajjem).

The Abbasid Knowledge Society in the Third Century AH (In Light of Hunayn ibn Ishaq's Treatise Addressed to Ali bin Yahya Almunajjem).

The Greek Verbal Lemmas from the Lexicon by Bar Bahlul, their Origin and the Lost Work by Hunayn ibn "Ishaq Principles of i'rāb / According to the Greek Scholars"

The Greek Verbal Lemmas from the Lexicon by Bar Bahlul, their Origin and the Lost Work by Hunayn ibn "Ishaq Principles of i'rāb / According to the Greek Scholars"

Understanding Christian–Muslim scholarly cooperation under ‘Abbāsid rule from 800–1000 CE

ABSTRACTAmongst the understudied fields in mainstream history is the significant role many Christian scholars had in the Islamic Golden Age. Amongst the many prominent figures, Hunayn ibn ‘Ishāq was one of the leaders of the translation movement established by Islamic caliphs in the 9th century. Other examples and more in-depth analyses of several Christian scholars’ works and contributions will shed light on and give a holistic picture of the advancement of knowledge in the Middle East from the 9th to 10th centuries. This article highlights what historical psychosocial conditions allowed for such interreligious cooperation and progress. It also highlights the role of shared scholarship as a model for coexistence, tolerance, and finding common ground in the ‘Abbāsid society in Baghdad, which I argue are products of the outlook of scholars at the time. It is argued that the cooperation of Muslim and Christian scholars was a result of two components of what can be interpreted as being a “social contract.” The first is an agreement between Muslim and Christian scholars, and the second is an agreement between Christian scholars and the ‘Abbāsid government.

REFUTING THE ALLEGED TRANSMISSION OF GREEK GRAMMATIAL CONCEPTS INTO ARABIC GRAMMER

The first contact of Greek and Arabic grammar was probably made in Alexandria (Egypt) and Antioch (Syria) since both cities were renowned Hellenistic centers of education and learning (CHM. Versteegh, 1977:1-2). However, not all historical scholars agree on this matter, and the question whether Arabic language and thought have been directly influenced by their ancient Greek counterpart is still debated. The modern historian Ahmad Amin in his book Ouha al-Islam (1969) mentions that the renowned linguist and translator Hunayn Ibn Ishaq (260H I 873 C.E.) a. Ruska, 1980:134) went to Rome to learn Greek and later returned to Basrah to learn from Khalil (Amin Ahmad, 1978: v.1:313). This idea is strongly supported by Mustafa Nazif who states that Khalil was visited by Hunayn to study Arabic (1978:vo1.1:313). Modern historians assert that in the ninth century C.E. Arabic scholarship was influenced by Greek science and thought. Bustani, for example, was known to be very competent in Greek, and Khalil influenced by Aristotelian ideas, especially by the concept of cause and effect (Mahdi al-Makhzumi,1986:68). Mustafa Sadiq Rafiy suggests that Arabic phonetic signs such as the harakat did not originate from Arabia but from Syria which was governed by the Byzantines whohad introduced small harakai signs as reading aids in the text of the Bible (K. Brockelmann, 1968:vol.1:105).

The Fragment of Al-Kindī's Lost Treatise on Observations of Halley's Comet in A.D. 837

1. IntroductionIn the first half of the ninth century, a generation of Muslim scholars emerged under the support of the Abbasid Caliphs in Baghdad, among whom the great polymath al-Kindl stands tall. There is an astrological work written by him (on the duration of the reign of the Arabs), in which he mentions an uprising in a.d. 866, and so he must have died later than that date,' most likely around 870. He started his work under al-Ma'mun (reigned 813-833) but served mostly under the caliphate of al-MuTasim (reigned 833-842), during which his career reached to its peak.2 Since he was still alive in the late 860s and most likely an active scholar around 830, he probably was bom about 800.3The most important feature of al-Kindl's wider historical context is that he worked during the translation movement that was encouraged by the Abbasid Caliphs.4 Al-Kindl's scientific works had a two-fold influence on the development of the sciences in the early stage of the Islamic period: they expounded the newly translated Greek texts, and then promoted them by discussing their authenticity.Ibn al-Nadlmin his al-fihrist devotes several sections to al-Kindl's scientific works, such as arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, meteorology, and spherics.5 The list of Al-KindT's meteorological works includes two lost treatises, entitled His treatise on what was observed of the great atmospheric phenomenon in 222 a.h. (Kitab risalatih fima rasada min al-athar al-cazim fisanat ithnatayn wa cishnn wa mi 'atayn li- 'l-hijra) and His treatise on a comet that appeared and [al-Kindl] observed it for some days until it faded out (Kitab risalatih fi kawkab alladhi zahara wa rasadahu ayyaman hatta idmahalla).6The title of the first treatise indicates that it concerns al-Kindl's observation of an 'atmospheric' phenomenon that appeared in 222 a.h./a.d. 837 and which we can probably identify as a comet.7 Rada supposes that this would have been al-Kindl's treatise on observations of Halley's Comet which appeared in that year.8 In this article, I will demonstrate that this conjecture is definitely correct. Moreover, it is quite possible that the second treatise was associated with the same topic.9Recently, I came across a treatise entitled Nayazik,'0 during my research into a collection of manuscript images from Princeton University Library. This treatise is said to be an Arabic commentary on Aristotle's lost treatise on comets, written by Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-clbadl from the ninth century.12 Hunayn, who was contemporary to al-Kindl, translated numerous Greek scientific texts into Arabic.13 However, Hunayn's commentary on Aristotle's treatise has not come down directly to us in the original form although a recension (with later additions) is currently at our disposal. Much of the text concerns the implications of for judicial astrology.14 The recension was certainly written after 299 a.h./a.d. 912 (see below), and as a whole it still awaits a detailed study. However, there is a passage in it dealing with al-Kindfs observational report of a comet that appeared in 222 a.h7a.d. 837.15 This passage (with some hiatuses) also appears in another treatise regarding prognosis of entitled 'The gift of sages on description of the prognosis of comets (Tuhfat al-albab fibayan hukm al-adhnab) written by al-Maqdisiwho lived c. 1675, probably in Cairo.16 Further research shows that the report is very likely a summary or a fragment of al-Kindfs lost treatise on observations of Halley's Comet in a.d. 837 (see below).17 Only one other description of Halley's Comet's appearance in 837 has previously been known from Islamic sources, to be found in the voluminous History of Ibn al-Athlr; this has been examined by Rada and Cook.18The return of Halley's Comet in a.d. 837 marks its closest known approach to Earth and has been among the closest ones for any comet ever seen in history. It was also the most thoroughly documented account of Halley's Comet during the first millennium. …

Pisma Orybazjusza jako źródło informacji o pożywieniu ludzi w późnym Cesarstwie Rzymskim

The article makes an attempt at the presentation of medical works written by Oribasius (ca. 325 – ca. 400 A.D.), well educated physician from Pergamon, and a close friend of Julian the Apostate. It discusses the content of the treatises, reasons for their compiling and circumstances accompanying the creation of three of his extant writings, notably Collectiones medicae, Synopsis ad Eustathium fi­lium, and Libri ad Eunapium. Moreover, the study presents available information about his lost medical work, whose title is now unknown. The authors focused on these parts of Oribasius’ works, which concern food and dietetic, i.e. five books of Collectiones medicae (from I to V), book IV of Synopsis ad Eustathium filium and a part of book I of Libri ad Eunapium. The above-mentioned books enlist the most important foods like cereals, cereal products (breads, cakes, groats, pancakes), vegetables, fruits, meats, fishes, and seafood, dairy products, soft and alcoholic drinks as well as enumerating some specific diets and groups of food divided ac­cording to their properties or influence on human body. An important part of the article is a succinct presentation of sources of Oriba­sius’ dietetic expertise, and moreover a brief discussion of the medic’s impact on medical systems in three different cultural circles, namely the Byzantine, Arab, and Latin. The authors’ research corroborates the already existing view that major dietetic parts of Collectiones medicae, Synopsis ad Eustathium filium and Libri ad Eunapium are based on writings of Galen (which he, however, reworked with a view of their simplification), but there are many fragments taken from other authorities, for instance Pedanius Dioscurides, Athenaeus from Attalia, Diocles of Carystus, Rufus of Ephesus to mention but a few. As for medical authors, who excerpted or translated Oribasius’ works, the most renowned are Aetius of Amida, Paul of Aegina, Alexander of Tralles, Hunayn ibn Ishāq, and the representatives of the medical school of Salerno. Finally, the authors claim, that Oribasius’ heritage is important especially for two reasons. First of all, it helped preserve a large amount of citations from an­cient works, which today are lost, and known only thanks to the physician’s pains­taking work. Secondly, it contains a cornucopia of information about food, which reflect culinary habits of Late Roman society, and specifically of the Late Roman food market.

“The sheikh of the translators”

With the ascension to power of the Abbasid dynasty in 750 CE and the transfer of the capital of the Muslim Empire to the newly-created city of Baghdad, the middle of the eighth century heralded an era that in Islamic history is referred to as the “Golden Age,” during which period the Muslim world became an unrivaled intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. Approximately eighty years after the dynasty’s rise to power, the Abbasid Caliph (ruler) al-Ma’mun (d. 833 CE) established in Baghdad Bayt al-Hikma (the House of Wisdom), an educational institution where Muslim and non-Muslim scholars together sought to gather the world’s knowledge not only via original writing but also through translation. Probably the most well-known and industrious translator of the era was Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873 CE), known in the West by the Latinized name “Joannitius.” Referred to as “the sheikh of the translators,” he is reported to have mastered the four principal languages of his time: Greek, Syriac, Persian, and Arabic. Hunayn is credited with an immense number of translations, ranging from works on medicine, philosophy, astronomy, and mathematics, to magic and oneiromancy. This article looks at Hunayn’s work, briefly places this key figure within the translatorial habitus, discusses his methodology towards translation, as described in his own works, and examines that methodology in light of the sociological and sociolinguistic factors of the time.

The sociological turn in translation and interpreting studies

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Galen, De Diebus Decretoriis. From Greek into Arabic: A Critical Edition, with Translation and Commentary, of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, Kitab Ayyam al-buhran (Medicine in the Medieval Mediterranean) By GLEN M. COOPER

Galen, De Diebus Decretoriis. From Greek into Arabic: A Critical Edition, with Translation and Commentary, of Hunayn Ibn Ishaq, Kitab Ayyam al-buhran (Medicine in the Medieval Mediterranean) By GLEN M. COOPER

"Abominable Mixtures": The &lt;i&gt;Liber vaccae&lt;/i&gt; in the Medieval West, or The Dangers and Attractions of Natural Magic

"ABOMINABLE MIXTURES": THE LIBER VACCAE IN THE MEDIEVAL WEST, OR THE DANGERS AND ATTRACTIONS OF NATURAL MAGIC By MAAIKE VAN DER LUGT In his magnum opus on the history of magic, Lynn Thorndike devoted a few pioneering pages to the Liber vaccae or Book of the Cow. He identified and described several of the manuscripts of this singular Arabic compilation of magical experiments, pointed out the many different titles under which it was known in the medieval West, and discussed its false attribution to Plato, Galen, and Hunayn ibn Ishâq. By contrast, given his habit of paraphrasing the texts he examined at great length, Thorndike's account of the content of the work is uncharacteristically patchy. He hastily referred to "elaborate experiments in unseemly generation and obstetrics," the aim of which was "to make a rational animal from a cow or ape or other beast, or to make bees." In his opinion, the experiments of the Liber vaccae were, in fact, "unmentionable," and "hardly such as can be described in detail in English translation."1 Among medieval readers, the Liber vaccae elicited no less outspoken reactions . The text clearly exerted a certain attraction among the learned, as indicated by the relatively large number of manuscripts and citations. Substantial parts of the Liber vaccae were also integrated into a Latin treatise on magic and wonders, the De mirabilibus mundi. Some scholars had no qualms about it. However, most readers dismissed the Liber vaccae as "abominable," "full of perversion," and accused it of "uprooting the laws of nature," and "violating her secrets." This article is an attempt to understand better the dubious reputation of the Liber vaccae, through a detailed study of its contents and the ways it was read and transmitted in the Latin Middle Ages. Since Thorndike, valuable scholarship has contributed to our knowledge of the Liber vaccae. The dismal quality of the extant Latin text — the Arabic original is almost entirely lost — seriously complicates any project to edit the text critically. In several erudite articles concerned with the place of the Liber vaccae within ancient and Near Eastern magical, religious, and philosophical traditions , the late David Pingree has nevertheless provided highly useful tran1 Lynn Thorndike, A History of Magic and Experimental Science, 8 vols. (New York, 1923-58), 2 (1923): 778-82, 809-10. Thorndike's account is partly indebted to M. Steinschneider , Zur pseudoepigraphischen Literatur, insbesondere der geheimen Wissenschaften des Mittelalters. Aus Hebräischen und Arabischen Quellen (Berlin, 1862), 52-64. 230TRADITIO scriptions and paraphrases of important parts of the work. He has also identified several more Latin manuscripts.2 A full transcription of one manuscript has, moreover, recently been made available by Paolo Scopelliti and Abessattar Chaouech.3 In an important book, William Newman has provided a stimulating reading of the experiments on artificial generation, as part of a study on alchemy and pre-modern homunculus traditions.4 Sophie Page proposed a penetrating analysis of the structure and rationale of a larger sample of experiments.5 However, as we shall see, these various attempts at unravelling the magic of Liber vaccae differ on several important points and can be complemented on others. Moreover, no systematic study of its reception in the Latin West has yet been undertaken. The Liber vaccae contributed to the rise of learned magic during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. During that period, magic underwent a profound transformation. Until then, it had been an aggregate of definitions, recipes, and practices, devoid of a theoretical underpinning, and without much of a unifying structure or identity. Under the influence of new magical texts, translated from the Greek, and, especially, the Arabic, magic became something of an organized field, with a certain claim to scientific status.6 Although the Liber vaccae lacks an articulate description of its theoretical foundations, we shall see that the experiments, however extravagant, 2 David Pingree, "Plato's Hermetic Book of the Cow," in Il neoplatonismo nel Riñosamente , ed. Pietro Pini (Rome, 1993), 133-45; "Artificial Demons and Miracles," Res orientales 13 (2001): 109-22 (with a summary of the Latin text and English translation of the first book); "From Hermes to Jâbir and the Book of the Cow," in...

“Abominable Mixtures”: TheLiber vaccaein the Medieval West, or The Dangers and Attractions of Natural Magic

In hismagnum opuson the history of magic, Lynn Thorndike devoted a few pioneering pages to theLiber vaccaeorBook of the Cow.He identified and described several of the manuscripts of this singular Arabic compilation of magical experiments, pointed out the many different titles under which it was known in the medieval West, and discussed its false attribution to Plato, Galen, and Hunayn ibn Ishâq. By contrast, given his habit of paraphrasing the texts he examined at great length, Thorndike's account of the content of the work is uncharacteristically patchy. He hastily referred to “elaborate experiments in unseemly generation and obstetrics,” the aim of which was “to make a rational animal from a cow or ape or other beast, or to make bees.” In his opinion, the experiments of theLiber vaccaewere, in fact, “unmentionable,” and “hardly such as can be described in detail in English translation.”

A Pseudo-Galenic Treatise on Regimen: The Hebrew and Latin Translations from Hunayn Ibn Ishāq's Arabic Version

A Pseudo-Galenic Treatise on Regimen: The Hebrew and Latin Translations from Hunayn Ibn Ishāq's Arabic Version

Abū Zayd Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq al-‘Ibādī: A Physician Translator Par Excellence

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5915/40-1-5279 Abū Zayd Hunayn ibn Ishāq al-'Ibādī, a physician and Translator Par Excellence, lived in the early 9th century CE and 2nd century AH (after Hijra), during the Abbasid Caliphate. He was a product of the crucible of early civilization that fostered advancement of art, science, medicine, and philosophy like no other civilization before it. The practice of medicine that evolved during this period came to be termed Islamic medicine. Because of his genius, he was able to convert nearly all accessible and extant Greek medical, philosophical and scientific works into Syriac and Arabic. Since Syriac was later to die off as a language, his translations into Arabic were the ones that have been preserved over the centuries. These were responsible not only for influencing early medicine, but through later translations into Hebrew, Latin, and other European languages, they were to influence the art, science, and teaching of medicine in the East and West for centuries to come. In this paper we will endeavor to examine in some depth his life, his works, his achievements, and the impact that his contributions made to the practice of medicine during the civilization and far beyond.

A Pseudo-Galenic Treatise on Regimen: The Hebrew and Latin Translations from Hunayn Ibn Ish?q's Arabic Version

Sefer ha-Hanhagah is a fragmentary text that contains only the introduction to an originally larger work on the different kinds of food, their properties, names, and suitability for different human bodies. This larger work survives only in a Latin translation by Accursius de Pistoia (fl. 1200), entitled De dissolutione continua. Sefer ha-Hanhagah lacks unity and covers a wide variety of subjects, including: the necessity of consuming food; the suitability of different kinds of food for human bodies; exercise and sleep; appetite; coarse foods; habit. It concludes that proper diet requires detailed knowledge about the properties of the different kinds of food and the different natures of human bodies. Sefer ha-Hanhagah is not identical with any extant treatises composed by Galen on the preservation of health or on diet. Given its pseudo-Galenic character, it is possible that Sefer ha-Hanhagah is a summary of original Galenic material. A possible source of this work is the summary of Galen's De alimentorum facultatibus reportedly produced by Ḥunayn Ibn Isḥāq. Ḥunayn claims that he drew on the Greek original of this work and on a number of other works containing much of what the ancients said about the subject of nutrition to prepare a summary in Syriac. This work he subsequently divided into three parts and translated into Arabic as the K. al-aghdhiya (Book on foodstuffs). Ḥunayn's statement that he consulted a number of works tallies with our impression that Sefer ha-Hanhagah is a composite work. Still, we cannot be certain that Sefer ha- Hanhagah indeed goes back to Ḥunayn, for it is possible that Zeraḥyah Ḥen's belief that the text he translated goes back to Ḥunayn was erroneous.

Interpreting the self: autobiography in the Arabic literary tradition

Acknowledgments Introduction 1 PART ONE A Thousand Years of Arabic Autobiography The Fallacy of Western Origins 17 The Origins of Arabic Autobiography 36 Toward a History of Arabic Autobiography 52 Arabic Autobiography and the Literary Portrayal of the Self 72 PART TWO Translations Hunayn ibn Ishaq (d. 873 or 877) 107 Al-Tirmidhi (d. between 905 and 910) 119 Al-Mu'ayyad al-Shirazi (d. 1077) 132 'Imad al-Din al-Katib al-Isfahani (d. 1201) 145 'Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (d. 1231) 156 Ibn al-'Adim (d. 1262) 165 Abu Shama (d. 1268) 179 Al-Simnani (d. 1336) 188 'Abd Allah al-Turjuman [Fray Anselmo Turmeda) (d. 1432?) 194 Jalal al-Din al-Suyuti (d. 1505) 202 Al-'Aydarus (d. 1628) 208 Yusuf al-Bahrani (d. 1772) 216 'Ali Mubarak (d. 1893) 224 Conclusion 241 Annotated Guide to Arabic Autobiographical Writings 255 Glossary 289 References 295 List of Contributors 311 Index 313

On the Fringes of the Corpus Aristotelicum: the Pseudo-Avicenna Liber Celi Et Mundi

AbstractIn this article, I examine a Latin paraphrase of Aristotle's De caelo known as the Liber celi et mundi. The text was translated from Arabic in the third quarter of the twelfth century, and thus pre-dates all four Latin translations of De caelo in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. It was probably written by the ninth century Arab, Hunayn ibn Ishaq. I show the weakness of a previous theory that the Liber celi et mundi derives indirectly from Themistius's paraphrase of De caelo. The text was translated into Latin by Dominicus Gundissalinus and his Jewish colleague, Johannes Hispanus. From c.1250, it was mis-attributed to Avicenna, and there is evidence that it had earlier been attributed to Aristotle by certain English writers. I consider the function of the Liber cell el mundi within the corpus of early Aristotelian translations, and the date of its expulsion from the corpus.

Hunayn IBN ISHÂQ, Questions on Medicine for Scholars, translated into English by Paul Ghalioungui, AI-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo, 1980, XLIX = 164 pp

Hunayn IBN ISHÂQ, Questions on Medicine for Scholars, translated into English by Paul Ghalioungui, AI-Ahram Center for Scientific Translations, Cairo, 1980, XLIX = 164 pp

The Elements of Vision: The Micro-Cosmology of Galenic Visual Theory according to Hunayn Ibn Ishaq

The Elements of Vision: The Micro-Cosmology of Galenic Visual Theory according to Hunayn Ibn Ishaq