Reading Classical Islamic Texts (in Arabic): Philosophy and Theology (TH-647)

This high level course offers an in-depth exploration of the philosophical and theological writings of some of the central thinkers of classical lslam: Abū Ma‘shar al-Balkhī, Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arī, Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’, al-Fārābī, Avicenna, al-Ghazālī, Ibn Ṭufayl, Averroes. Key texts will be read in the original Arabic, translated orally, explained grammatically, commented on ideologically, and discussed, by the students as well as by the professor. A good knowledge of Classical Arabic is required to maximize the learning in this course. Bibliographical references will be provided. Class will meet: ten mornings, from Monday July 11, 2016 to Friday July 22, 2016, 9 am – 1:30 pm.

Course Objectives 1) Students should have gained greater confidence in approaching, translating and discussing classicalIslamic works in the original Arabic text. 2) They should be able to find their way around in the major works of masters of classical Islamicphilosophy and theology. 3) They should be able to benefit from the methodological approaches adopted in these classes and applythem for their own studies and/or research projects.

Course Requirements 1) It is strongly recommended that the student arrive at the first class already able to read Arabic and havinga general knowledge about the religion of Islam, Islamic classical thought, and the history and culture of the Middle East. 2) Daily preparations and readings, class participation, final presentation.3) Attendance in class is required. If you know that you will be unable to attend a class please inform theprofessor in advance. Missing two classes will result in an automatic lowering of your final grade by 30%. Missing three or more classes will result in automatic failure of the course.

The final grade will be based upon the following: 1) Active class participation (60%).2) The presentation during Class X (July 22, 40%). Students fluent in Arabic shall join with weaker ones ingroups of 2 or 3 individuals. Each group will be responsible for the written* & oral presentation, translation, commentary on, and discussion of an original Arabic text of Islamic classical philosophy or theology during the last class. This text should be chosen by the end of class V in consultation with the professor.

* All written work is to conform to the seminary writing guidelines, which can be found online at: http://www.hartsem.edu/student/forms/researchpaperguide.pdf. It must use the transliteration system given in class I. It must be run through a grammar and spell-check program or read by the writing tutor if necessary before submission. The Hartford Seminary Grading Guidelines will be the standard of evaluation for work in the course. IMPORTANT: Plagiarism, the failure to give proper credit for the words and ideas of another person, whether published or unpublished, is strictly prohibited. All written material submitted by students must be their own original work; where the words and ideas of others are used they must be acknowledged. Credit will not be given for work containing plagiarism, and plagiarism will lead to failure of a course. Please see the Hartford Seminary Catalogue for the full plagiarism policy. General references

ENCYCLOPÆDIA OF ISLAM. New edition: Vol. i, Leiden: E. J. Brill – Paris: Maisonneuve, M. Besson, 1960; vols. ii–xii, Leiden: E. J. Brill – Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1965–2007.

DRUART, Thérèse-Anne, Brief Bibliographical Guide in Medieval Islamic Philosophy and Theology (1998-2014). http://philosophy.cua.edu/faculty/druart/bibliographical-guide.cfm .

ENDRESS, Gerhard, Islam: An Historical Introduction. Translated by Carole HILLENBRAND (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2002 –  2d ed.), viii & 301 p., ISBN 0-­‐7486-­‐1620-­‐9. DS35.6 .E5313 2004

WINTER, Tim (ed.), The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology (Cambridge : Cambridge University Press, 2008), xi, 337 p., 978-0-521-78058-2. BP166.1 .C36 2008

NASR, Seyyed Hossein & LEAMAN, Oliver (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy, 2 vols. (London - New York: Routledge, 1997), xx & 1211 & xiv p., 0-415-15667-5.

ADAMSON, Peter & TAYLOR, Richard C., The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), xviii & 448 p., 0-521-52069-X.

TAYLOR, Richard C. & LÓPEZ-FARJEAT, Luís Xavier (eds.), The Routledge Companion to Islamic Philosophy (London & New York: Rouledge, 2015), xviii & 433 p., 9780415881609.

GUTAS, Dimitri, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture. The Graeco–Arabic Translation movement in Baghdad and Early ‘Abbasid Society (London–New York: Routledge, 1998).

MICHOT, Y., From al-Ma’mūn to Ibn Sab‘īn, via Avicenna: Ibn Taymiyya’s Historiography of Falsafa, in F. OPWIS & D. REISMAN (eds.), Islamic Philosophy, Science, Culture, and Religion. Studies in Honor of Dimitri Gutas (Leiden – Boston: Brill, 2012), p. 453–475.

Class Schedule

I. Monday July 11. Abū Ma‘shar al-Balkhī (d. 272/886) General references: PINGREE, David, Abū Ma‘shar al-Balkhī, in Dictionary of Scientific Biography, vol. I (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons,

1970), p. 32-39. YAMAMOTO, K. & BURNETT, C., ABŪ MA‘SHAR. On Historical Astrology. The Book of Religions and Dynasties (On the Great

Conjunctions). I : The Arabic Original; II : The Latin Versions (Leiden: Brill, “Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, xxxiii”, 2000).

LEMAY, R., ABŪ MA‘SHAR AL-BALKHĪ (ALBUMASAR). Kitāb al-Mudkhal al-kabīr ilā ‘ilm aḥkām al-nujūm - Liber introductorii maioris ad scientiam judiciorum astrorum. Éd. critique, 9 vols (Naples: Istituto Universitario Orientale, 1995).

LEMAY, Richard, Abū Ma‘shar and Latin Aristotelianism in the Twelfth Century. The Recovery of Aristotle’s Natural Philosophy through Arabic Astrology (Beirut: American University of Beirut, “Publications of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences. Oriental Series, 38”, 1962).

LEMAY, R., Des sages antiques aux astrologues médiévaux. Falsafa et astrologie, in R. GYSELEN (ed.), La science des cieux. Sages, mages, astrologues (Louvain: Peeters, “Res Orientales, XII”, 1999).

Reading Assignment: ADAMSON, P., Abū Ma‘shar, al-Kindī and the Philosophical Defense of Astrology, in Recherches de Théologie et Philosophie Médiévales, 69/2 (2002), p. 245-270.

Arabic text: ABŪ MA‘SHAR AL-BALKHĪ, Kitāb al-Mudkhal al-kabīr ilā ‘ilm aḥkām al-nujūm, ed. R. LEMAY, vol. II., p. 3, 19-22, 27-29.

II. Tuesday July 12. Abū l-Ḥasan al-Ash‘arī (d. 324/935-6) General references: WOLFSON, H. A., The philosophy of the Kalām (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard U. P., ‘Structure and growth of philosophic

systems from Plato to Spinoza, 4’, 1976), xxvi, 779 p., 0-674-66580-5. VAN ESS, J., Theologie und Gesellschaft im 2. und 3. Jahrhundert Hidschra. Eine Geschichte des religiösen Denkens im frühen

Islam, 6 vol. (Berlin - New York: Walter de Gruyter, since 1991). MCCARTHY, R. J., The Theology of al-Ash‘arī (Beirut: Imprimerie Catholique, 1953), xxix - 275 p. GIMARET, Daniel, La doctrine d’al-Ash‘arī (Paris: Cerf, “Patrimoines. Islam”, 1990), 601 p., 2-204-04061-4. SALIBA, G., The Ash‘arites and the science of the stars, in R. G. HOVANNISIAN & G. SABAGH, Religion and Culture in

Medieval Islam (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, “Giorgio Levi Della Vida Conferences”, 1999), p. 79-92. Reading Assignment: Risālat Istiḥsān al-khawḍ fī ‘ilm al-kalām - A Vindication of the Science of Kalām Translated by R.

J. MCCARTHY, The Theology of al-Ash‘arī, p. 119-134. Arabic text: AL-ASH‘ARĪ, Kitāb al-Luma‘ fī l-radd ‘alā ahl al-zaygh wa l-bida‘, ed. H. Gharāba (Cairo: Maṭba‘a Miṣr,

1955), p. 71-80. III. Wednesday July 13. Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (d. ± 323/935)

General references: STROUMSA, Sarah, Freethinkers of Medieval Islam. Ibn al-Rāwandī, Abū Bakr al-Rāzī, and Their Impact on

Islamic Thought (Leiden: Brill, “Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, XXXV”, 1999), xi & 261 p., 90-04-11374-6.

MOHAGHEGH, Mehdi, Faylasūf-e Ray Muḥammad bin Zakariyyā-i Rāzī (Tehran: Anjuman-e āthār ve mafākhir-e farhangī, “Intishârât, 168”, n.d.), 46 & 463 p.

GOODMAN, Lenn E., Muḥammad ibn Zakariyyā’ al-Rāzī, in NASR, Seyyed Hossein & LEAMAN, Oliver (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy, 2 vols. (London - New York: Routledge, 1997), vol. i, p. 198-215.

GOODMAN, Lenn E., Rāzī vs Rāzī - Philosophy in the Majlis, in H. Lazarus-Yafeh (ed.), The Majlis (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1999), p. 84-107.

Reading Assignment: MOHAGHEGH, Mehdi, Notes on the “Spiritual Physic” of al-Rāzī”, in Studia Islamica, XXVI (Paris: Maisonneuve-Larose, 1967), p. 5-22.

Arabic text: ABŪ ḤĀTIM AL-RĀZĪ (d. ± 933), The Proofs of Prophecy - A‘lām al-nubuwwa. A parallel English-Arabic text translated, introduced, and annotated by Tarif KHALIDI (Provo: Brigham Young University Press, 2011), xxiii & 243 & 269 p. — P. 24-25, 84-85, 167-168, 20-21.

IV. Thursday July 14. Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ (± 350/961) General references: DE CALLATAŸ, G., Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’. A Brotherhood of Idealists on the Fringe of Orthodox Islam (Oxford: Oneworld, 2005). EL-BIZRI, Nader (ed.), The Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ and their Rasā’il. An Introduction. Foreword by Farhad DAFTARY (Oxford: Oxford

University Press, in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity”, 2008). MARQUET, Yves, La philosophie des Ikhwân al-Ṣafâ’. Nouvelle édition augmentée (Paris: S.É.H.A. - Milan:

Archè, “Textes et travaux de Chrysopoeia, 5”, 1999), xv & 620 p., 88-7252-211-0. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity: The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn. An Arabic Critical Edition

and English Translation of Epistle 22. Edited and Translated by L. E. GOODMAN & R. MCGREGOR (Oxford: Oxford University Press - London: The Institute of Islmaili Studies, 2009), xxv & 389 & 280 p.

Reading Assignment: MICHOT, Yahya, Misled and Misleading… Yet Central in their Influence: Ibn Taymiyya’s Views on the Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’, in The Ikhwān al-Ṣafā’ and their Rasā’il. An Introduction. Edited by Nader EL-BIZRI. Foreword by Farhad DAFTARY (Oxford: Oxford University Press, in association with the Institute of Ismaili Studies, “Epistles of the Brethren of Purity”, 2008), p. 139-179.

Arabic text: IKHWĀN AL-ṢAFĀ’, Rasā’il, ed. Kh. D. AL-ZIRIKLī, 4 vols. (Cairo: al-Maṭba‘at al-‘Arabiyya, 1347/1928), vol. iii, p. 96-97, 293-299.

V. Friday July 15. Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (d. 339/950) General references: REISMAN, David C., Al-Fārābī and the philosophical curriculum, in ADAMSON, Peter & TAYLOR, Richard C., The Cambridge

Companion to Arabic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 52-71. AL-FĀRĀBĪ, The Political Writings, Volume II: “Political Regime” and “Summary of Plato’s Laws”, translation, annotations

and introduction by Charles E. BUTTERWORTH (Ithaca-London: Cornell University Press, 20015) xvi & 204 p., 9780801453809.

WALZER, Richard, Al-Fārābī on the Perfect State. Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī’s Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila. A revised Text with Introduction, Translation, and Commentary (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1985), vii & 571 p.

ARIOLI, Daniel H., The First Ruler and the Prophet. On the Identity-in-Difference of Politics, Religion and Philosophy in the Thought of Alfārābī and Ibn Sīnā, in Polity, 46.4 (2014), p. 547-561.

WAIN, Alexander, A Critical Study of Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila: The Role of Islam in the Philosophy of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī, in Journal of Islamic Philosophy, 8 (2012): 45-78.

Reading Assignment: BLACK, Deborah L., Al-Fārābī, in NASR, Seyyed Hossein & LEAMAN, Oliver (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy, 2 vols. (London - New York: Routledge, 1997), vol. i, p. 178-197.

Arabic text: AL-FĀRĀBĪ, Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila, p. 32-34, 40-41. VI. Monday July 18. Avicenna (d. 428/1037)

General references: GOHLMAN, W. E., The Life of Ibn Sina. A Critical Edition and Annotated Translation (Albany: State University of New York

Press, “Studies in Islamic Philosophy and Science”, 1974). GUTAS, Dimitri, Orientations of Avicenna’s Philosophy: Essays on his Life, Method, Heritage (Variorum) (Farnham, Surrey:

Ashgate, 2014), xiv & 368 p., ISBN 9781472436337. GUTAS, D., Biography, in Encyclopædia Iranica, t. III, art. Avicenna, p. 67-70. AVICENNA, The Metaphysics of The Healing. A Parallel English-Arabic Text by Michael MARMURA (Provo: Brigham Young

University, “Islamic Translation Series”, 2005). MICHOT, Y., AVICENNE. Livre de la Genèse et du Retour. Traduction française intégrale. Version exploratoire (Oxford, Ṣafar

1423 - May 2002). (www.muslimphilosophy.com/sina/works/AN195.pdf) MCGINNIS, Jon, Avicenna (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010). GUTAS, Dimitri, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition. Introduction to Reading Avicenna’s Philosophical Works. Second,

Revised and Enlarged Edition, Including an Inventory of Avicenna’s Authentic Works (Leiden - Boston: Brill, 2014), xxxi & 617 p., 978-9004-20172-9.

MARMURA, M., Plotting the Course of Avicenna’s Thought, in Journal of the American Oriental Society, 111 (Ann Arbor, 1991), p. 333-342.

MICHOT, Y., A Mamlūk Theologian’s Commentary on Avicenna’s Risāla Aḍḥawiyya : Being a Translation of a Part of the Dar’ al-Ta‘āruḍ of Ibn Taymiyya, with Introduction, Annotation, and Appendices, in Journal of Islamic Studies, Oxford, Part I, 14/2 (May 2003), p. 149–203; Part II, 14/3 (Sept. 2003), p. 309–363.

Reading Assignment: FACKENHEIM, Emil L., A Treatise on Love by Ibn Sînâ, in Mediaeval Studies (1945), p. 208-228. Arabic text: LUCCHETTA, Fr., Avicenna. Epistola sulla Vita Futura - al-Risālat al-Aḍḥawiyya fî l-Ma‘ād. I. Testo arabo,

traduzione, introduzione e note (Padova: Editrice Antenore, “Università di Padova. Pubblicazioni dell’Istituto di Storia della Filosofia e del Centro per Ricerche di Filosofia Medioevale, Nuova serie, 5”, 1969). — P. 43-63.

VII. Tuesday July 19. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111)

General references: GHAZĀLĪ, Abū Ḥāmid (al-), The Incoherence of the Philosophers - Tahāfut al-Falāsifa, A parallel English-Arabic text

translated, introduced, and annotated by Michael E. MARMURA (Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University Press, “Islamic Translation Series”, 2000), xxxi & 261 p., ISBN 0-8425-2466-5.

GHAZĀLĪ, Abū Ḥāmid (al-), al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl, in Richard J. MCCARTHY, Freedom and Fulfillment. An Annotated Translation of al-Ghazālī’s al-Munqidh min al-ḍalāl and other relevant works of al-Ghazālī (Boston: Twayne Publishers, “Library of Classical Arabic Literature, 4”, c. 1980).

GRIFFEL, Frank, Al-Ghazālī’s Philosophical Theology (New York: Oxford University Press, 2009). GRIFFEL, Frank, Al-Ġazâlî’s Concept of Prophecy: The Introduction of Avicennan Psychology into Aš‘arite Theology, in

Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 14 (2004), p. 101-144. GARDEN, Kenneth, The First Islamic Reviver. Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī and his Revival of the Religious Sciences (Oxford:

Oxford University Press, 2014), xiii & 238 p., 978-0-19-998962-1. MARMURA, Michael E., al-Ghazālī, in ADAMSON, P. & TAYLOR, R. C. (eds.), The Cambridge Companion to Arabic

Philosophy, p. 137-154. TAMER, Georges (ed.), Islam and Rationality. The Impact of al-Ghazālī. Papers Collected on His 900th Anniversary, vol. I

(Leiden - Boston : Brill, “Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, 94”, 2015), xxiii & 454 p., 978-90-04-29094-5.

GRIFFEL, Frank (ed.), Islam and Rationality. The Impact of al-Ghazālī. Papers Collected on His 900th Anniversary, vol. II (Leiden - Boston : Brill, “Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, 98”, 2015), xx & 364 p., 978-90-04-30695-0.

TREIGER, Alexander, Inspired Knowledge in Islamic Thought: Al-Ghazālī’s Theory of Mystical Cognition and its Avicennian Foundation (London & New York: Routledge, 2011).

JANSSENS, Jules, Al-Gazzālī and His Use of Avicennian Texts, in Problems in Arabic Philosophy, redigit Mikols MAROTH (Piliscsaba: The Avicenna Institute of Middle Eastern Studies, “Acta et studia, II”, 2003), ISBN 963-86359-24, p. 37-49.

MICHOT, Y., La pandémie avicennienne au VIe/XIIe siècle. Présentation, editio princeps et traduction de l’introduction du Livre de l’advenue du monde (Kitāb ḥudūth al-‘ālam) d’Ibn Ghaylān al-Balkhī, in Arabica, XL/3 (Paris, Nov. 1993), p. 287-344.

Reading Assignment: AL-GHAZĀLĪ, Deliverance from Error (al-Munqidh min al-Ḍalāl), in W. MONTGOMERY WATT, The Faith and Practice of al-Ghazālī (London: George Allen and Unwin, ), p. 19-85. — P. 19-43.

Arabic text: IBN GHAYLĀN AL-BALKHĪ, Kitāb ḥudūth al-‘ālam, in Y. MICHOT, Y., La pandémie avicennienne au VIe/XIIe siècle. — P. 335-344.

VIII. Wednesday July 20. Ibn Ṭufayl (d. 581/1185-6) General references: GOODMAN, Lenn E., Ibn Ṭufayl, in NASR, Seyyed Hossein & LEAMAN, Oliver (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy, 2 vols.

(London - New York: Routledge, 1997), vol. i, p. 313-329. IBN ṬUFAYL, Abū Ja‘far, Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān. A philosophical tale translated with introduction and notes by Lenn Evan

GOODMAN (New York: Twayne Publishers, 1972), ix & 246 p. PUIG MONTADA, Josef, Philosophy in Andalusia, Ibn Bājja and Ibn Ṭufayl, in ADAMSON, P. & TAYLOR, R. C. (eds.), The

Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy, p. 155-179. Reading Assignment: GUTAS, Dimitri, Ibn Tufayl on Ibn Sînâ's Eastern Philosophy, in Oriens 34 (Leiden: E. J. Brill,

1994), p. 222-241. Arabic text: IBN ṬUFAYL, Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān (Cairo: Hindawi Foundation for education and Culture, 2011), p. 48-54.

IX. Thursday July 21. Averroes (d. 595/1198)

General references: Averroes-Database: http://dare.uni-koeln.de/?q=node/32 for Averroes’ works; http://dare.uni-koeln.de/?q=node/34 for

Manuscripts and early printed materials of Averroes’ works; http://dare.uni-koeln.de/?q=node/129 for secondary literature.

URVOY, Dominique, Ibn Rushd, in NASR, Seyyed Hossein & LEAMAN, Oliver (eds.), History of Islamic Philosophy, 2 vols. (London - New York: Routledge, 1997), vol. i, p. 330-345.

TAYLOR, Richard C., Averroes: religious dialectic and Aristotelian philosophical thought, in ADAMSON, Peter & TAYLOR, Richard C., The Cambridge Companion to Arabic Philosophy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005), p. 180-200.

GRIFFEL, Frank, The Relationship between Averroes and al-Ghazālī as it Presents itself in Averroes’ Early Writings, Especially in his Commentary on al-Ghazālī’s al-Mustaṣfā, in J. INGLIS (ed.), Medieval Philosophy and the Classical Tradition in Islam, Judaism and Christianity (Richmond, 2002), p. 51-63.

NAJJAR, I. Y., Faith and Reason in Islam. Averroes’ Exposition of Religious Arguments. With an Introduction by M. FAKHRY (Oxford: Oneworld, “Great Islamic Writings”, 2001).

Reading Assignment: IBN RUSHD, Kitāb Faṣl al-maqāl, in HOURANI, George H., AVERROES on the Harmony of Religion and Philosophy. A Translation, with introduction and notes, of Ibn Rushd’s Kitāb Faṣl al-maqāl, with an appendix (Ḍamīma) and an extract from Kitāb al-Kashf ‘an manāhij al-adilla (London: Luzac & Co., 1976), p. 1-20.

Arabic text: IBN RUSHD, Kitāb Faṣl al-maqāl fī-mā bayna l-ḥikma wa l-sharī‘a min al-ittiṣāl, ed. M. ‘Amāra (Cairo: Dār al-Ma‘ārif, 1983), p. 54-67.

X. Friday July 22. Presentations