The Biographical Encyclopedia of Islamic Philosophy

561 Pages·2015·2.83 MB·English

by  Oliver Leaman

i
The Biographical Encyclopedia
of Islamic Philosophy
Also available from Bloomsbury
Biographical Encyclopedia of British Idealism, edited by William Sweet
Dictionary of Early American Philosophers, edited by John R. Shook
Dictionary of Eighteenth-Century German Philosophers,
edited by Heiner F. Klemme and Manfred Kuehn
Dictionary of Modern American Philosophers,
edited by John R. Shook
Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers,
edited by John W. Yolton, John Valdimir Price and John Stephens
Dictionary of Seventeenth and Eighteenth-Century Dutch Philosophers,
edited by Wiep van Bunge, Henri Krop, Bart Leeuwenburgh, Han van Ruler,
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Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century French Philosophers,
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edited by James E. Crimmins
The Qur’an: A Philosophical Guide, Oliver Leaman
THE BIOGRAPHICAL EnCYCLOPEdIA
OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY
EdITEd BY
Oliver Leaman
Bloomsbury Academic
An imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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First Published in Paperback 2015
First published 2006
© Oliver Leaman and Contributors 2006, 2015
Oliver Leaman has asserted his right under the Copyright, designs and Patents Act, 1988,
to be identified as Editor of this work.
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be accepted by Bloomsbury or the author.
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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBn: PB: 978-1-4725-6944-8
ePdF: 978-1-4725-6945-5
ePub: 978-1-4725-6946-2
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A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
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COnTEnTS
Preface to the Paperback Edition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .ix
Islamic History Timeline . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xvii
How to Use The Encyclopedia . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxiii
General Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxv
List of Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxxvii
List of Biographical Entries and Authors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xli
Entries A–Z . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 501
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 503
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PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EdITIOn
I was pleased when the publishers approached me about a paperback edition for this volume,
since the first edition was well received but also very expensive, and so only limited to librar-
ies and research institutes. now the book is available at a much more bearable price and so
accessible more generally. The various authors have sought to bring out in their work the
lives and works of the major thinkers in the Islamic philosophical world, broadly interpreted,
and the paperback edition has presented me with the opportunity to add a new entry on
Muhammad Arkoun, who alas has died in the interim and who could not have been dealt
with in the first edition, since I decided not to include living thinkers.
This is very much a book about books, the emphasis throughout is providing the reader
with bibliographical resources to explore the topic more deeply. It has been possible to cor-
rect some errors that existed in the first edition, but I am sure others exist, hopefully not too
egregious ones. The contributors have also often moved on to other positions and this has
been noted in the list of contributors where it has been possible to contact them and receive
a reply.
Oliver Leaman
Lexington May 2014
vii
viii
IntRODUCtIOn
It is the aim of this volume to include entries on Islamic philosophers and to constitute a
comprehensive list of all those who could be given that description. Philosophy flourished in
the Islamic world for many centuries, and continues to be a significant feature of cultural life
today. The compilation of biographical dictionaries has long been a tradition within Islamic
culture, and it would be helpful to have a modern version of such dictionaries. We are only
including thinkers who are no longer alive.
The issue of the definition of Islamic philosophy has been controversial, and it probably
should be classified as an essentially contested concept. There is nothing specifically Islamic
about this issue, it occurs in all systems of philosophy which are classified under the label of a
particular religion. Religion is a matter of faith and often seems to be opposed to philosophy,
which is a system of ideas built on a foundation of reason. Yet much of the work which goes
on under the label of Islamic philosophy has nothing to do with religion at all, or at least
makes no direct link with religion. One thinks in particular of logic here, and the other more
technical aspects of philosophy. Then there is the fact that philosophy itself as a technical
term had a range of meanings within the Islamic world. It is sometimes translated as falsafa,
itself a neologism stemming from the Greek, where this term referred largely to philosophy
within the Peripatetic tradition. Sometimes philosophy is translated as hikma, or more gener-
ally wisdom, and that is the sense in which we are going to take it here, since this will include
all kinds of theoretical enquiry which were in their time regarded as philosophy or philo-
sophical. It was not only those who were formally philosophers who discussed philosophy,
and scientists, theologians, jurisprudents, and physicians all made important contributions
to the topic.
Of course the idea of philosophy as a technical profession is quite modern and Socrates
would himself have been horrified at the prospect of philosophers being paid for their ser-
vices. He argued that the philosopher should be able to earn his living doing something else,
thus leaving him free to say what he likes when doing philosophy. Most of the Islamic phi-
losophers earned their livings doing a variety of occupations, and philosophy itself was often
a sideline or minor interest in a far more extensive career as something else. nonetheless, the
resulting work is often of major significance, and it will be represented here.
So we are taking a wide notion of philosophy here, and we are regarding it as any intel-
lectual enquiry which directly or indirectly raises issues of primary philosophical significance.
So we shall include some of the major thinkers within the Islamic sciences, those who wrote
on grammar, theology, law, and the Traditions of the Prophet, since these areas of work
clearly came to form part of the context of the philosophical curriculum of the time. This is
not to say that they were all philosophers or regarded themselves as philosophers, but their
ideas and arguments became part and parcel of what philosophers worked on. On the other
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