Alif
ibtihaj
Frui or to enjoy God, i.e. to have the bliss and beatitude of the experience of the Divine.
abad
Eternal a parte post, i.e. eternal without end as opposed to azal (q.v.), eternal a parte ante, i.e. eternal without beginning. Sometimes used synonymously with dahr (q.v.), i.e. time in the absolute sense. According to the philosophers the two terms abad and azal imply each other and the world is both pre-eternal and post-eternal, a view very seriously challenged by the orthodox (notably by Imam Ghazali), for according to them God alone is abadi and azali.
Ibda‘
Creation from absolute nothingness; to be distinguished from the cognate terms khalq, takwin, and ihdath, all of which presuppose the temporal priority of cause to effect. In ibda‘ there is no priority of cause to effect; there is only priority in essence so that effect comes to be after not-being with a posteriority in essence. Ibda‘ again is of higher order than ihdath or takwin in so far as it signifies granting existence without an intermediary, be it time, or motion, or matter, one or the other of which is necessarily presupposed in ihdath and takwin. Further, ibda‘ is specific to the creation of intelligences, khalq to that of the natural beings and takwin to that of the “corruptible” among them.
Abarkhus
Hipparachus: Greek astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of the 2nd century B.C.
Ibisqulas
Hypsicles: Greek mathematician. Some of his books were translated into Arabic by Qusta ibn Luqa and also perhaps by al-Kindi.
Ibtulamayus
Ptolemy: astronomer, mathematician, and geographer of 2nd century C.E. See Batalmiyus and al-Majisti.
al-ab‘ad al-thalathah
The three dimensions of a material body: length, width, and depth. These dimensions do not enter into the definition of a thing; they are just some of its accidents and not part of its existence, even though they determine its state.
Ablus
Apollonius; see Balinus.
Abuditqitiqa
Analytica Posteriora or the Second Analytics. Aristotle's fourth book on logic; see Analutiqa Thani.
Abidhqulis
Empedocles (c. 490-c. 435 B.C.): Greek pre-Socratic philosopher; see Anbadqulis.
Abiqurus
Epicurus. (342? -270. B.C.): Greek philosopher; the school of Epicureanism (Abiquriyah, q.v.) was named after him. He taught that the pursuit of pleasure is the end-all and be-all of morality, but emphasized that the genuine life of pleasure must be a life of prudence, honor, and justice. In natural philosophy he adopted the atomistic theory of Democritus (Dimiqratis, q.v.) and accepted the view that the element of chance or deviation occurs in the otherwise straight motion of atoms.
Abiquriyah
Epicureanism, the school of thought, mainly ethical, as founded by by Epicurus (Abiqurus, q.v.). It is noteworthy that contrary to the usual meaning of the word in English, Epicureanism on the whole inculcates simplicity of life: the fewer the desires, the better it is; for a greater number of desires is likely to bring greater dissatisfaction which one ought to avoid at all costs. Though like Cyrenaics (Qaurniyah, q.v.) Epicurus regarded pleasure or happiness as the end of life, unlike them he preferred the lasting pleasures of the mind to the immediate pleasures of the body. Prudence, honor, and justice for him were the cardinal virtues. He also gave high place to friendship and taught that one should not fear death for "death does not yet exist." He even adopted Democritean atomism for moral reasons; it abolished, according to him, all superstitious fears of death and punishment in hereafter.
ittihad fi’ l-idafah, also called ittihad fi’ l-nisbah
Union by relation, said of two or more pairs of things when the terms or parts of each pair have the same relation or ratio as the terms or parts of the other pair, e.g. the relation individually of two brothers to their father or the relation of ratio 2 : 4 to the ration 3 : 6 ; the relation between such pairs is technically called that of munasabah (q.v.).
ittihad fi’ l-jins
Union by genus, said of two or more things when they belong to the same genus, e.g. man and horse belonging to the genus animal; relation between them is technically called to be that of mujanasah (q.v.).
ittihad fi’ l-khassah
Union by property (proprium), said of two or more things when they have a common property, e.g. triangles of all kinds have the sum of their two sides greater than the third; this relation between them is technically called that of mushakalah (q.v.).
ittihad fi’ l-kamm
Union by quantity, said of two or more things when they are of equal quantity, e.g. two seers of cotton and two seers of gold with reference to weight, or one yard of cloth and one yard of a tape or stick with reference to length; the relation between such things is technically called that of musawah (q.v.).
ittihad fi’ l-kaif
Union by quality, said of two or more things of the same quality: color, taste, smell or any other quality; the relation between them is technically called that of mushabahah (q.v.)
ittihad fi’ l-nau’
Union by species, said of two or more things or individuals belonging to the same species, e.g. Zaid, Bakr, and ‘Umar subsumed under the species "man"; the relation between them is technically called that of mumathalah (q.v.).
ittihad fi’ l-maudu
Union with reference to "subject," said to be of two or more predicates when they pertain to the same subject in a proposition, for example when it is said, "Honey is yellow and sweet and soft."
ittihad fi’ l-wad’
Union with reference to the composition of parts of constituents of two or more bodies, for example the skeletal systems of two mammalians or vertebrata; this similarity in the composition of parts of two or more bodies is technically known as muwazanah (q.v.).
ittisal
A term used in logic to denote the connection between the antecedent and the consequent in a conditional or hypothetical proposition. Also means continuous. See al-qadiyat al-shartiyah.
al-athar al-‘ulwiyah
"The things on high": an expression used by Muslim philosophers and scientists for meteorological phenomena such as meteors, thunder, lightning, seasons, rain, snow, hailstorm, dew, etc. Quite often it is used as the title of works on the study of these phenomena and more particularly for Aristotle’s work Meteorolgica containing four books.
ithbat al-Bari
Proving the existence of God. Muslim philosophers seem to be fully conversant in their own way with the so-called traditional arguments for the existence of God, viz. the cosmological argument, the teleological argument, and the ontological argument; it is, however, the first which they have emphasized most and of which they have given many more variant forms than those of the others.
Uthulujiya Aristatalis
The Theology of Aristotle, a pseudo-Aristotelian work which the Muslim philosophers in all sincerity ascribed to Aristotle. It is really a running
paraphrase of the eight sections of the last three books of Plotinus’s Enneads (i.e. IV3, IV4, IV7, IV8; V1, V2, V8; and VI7).
ijitima al-naqidain
Bringing two contradictories together, which is a logical impossibility; for two contradictories cannot be predicated of the same subject at the same time in the same respect, as contradictories in their very nature exclude each other. This is, however, done to reduce the argument of an adversary in a discussion to a logical absurdity. See also muqati’ and naqidan.
al-ajsad al-saba‘ah
"The seven bodies": an expression used by the philosophers to denote seven kinds of minerals or metals: gold (dhahab), silver (fiddah), lead (rasas), black lead (usrub), iron (hadid), copper (nahas) and a hard glass substance (kharsin).
al-ajnas al-‘ashr
The ten genera, the name given sometimes to the ten Aristotelian categories; see al-maqulat al-‘ashr.
ihtijaj
To give a logical argument or proof; it has three major modes or kinds: syllogistic argument (qiyas, q.v.), inductive argument (istiqra, q.v.) and argument by analogy (tamthil, q.v.).
ihdath
Coming into temporal existence; see ibda‘.
Ihdath al-jaww
"The events of the firmament", i.e. the meteorological phenomena such as meteors, thunder, lightning, seasons, rain, snow, hailstorm, dew, formation of minerals etc. The term is often used for the science of meteorology. See also al-athar al-‘ulwiyah.
Ihsar
The quantification of a proposition through the use of one of the quantity indicators (al-faz al-musawirah, q.v.); see al-qadiyat al-mahsurah.
akhadha juz’ al-‘illah makan al-‘illah
The fallacy of taking a part of the cause or only one condition of the cause as the whole cause.
akhadha mabi’ l-‘ard makan bi’l-dhat
The fallacy of accident; it consists in confounding an essential with an accidental difference as in the following example. " ‘Is Plato different from Socrates?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Is Socrates a man?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘Then Plato is different from man.’" The fallacy lies in assuming that whatever is different from a given subject must be different from it in all respects, so that it is impossible for them to have a common predicate.
al-akhlat al-arba‘ah
The four humours, i.e. the four chief fluids of the body, viz. blood, phlegm, choler orbile and melancholy or black bile; the theory of four
humours, quite common with Muslim philosophers and physicians, originated from Hippocrates (Burqat, q.v.).
Ikhwan al-Safa’
"the Brethren of Purity" a free scholarly association of scientists and philosophers established at Basra in about 373/983 with a branch in Baghdad. They authored fifty-one treatises know as Rasa’il Iknwan al-Safa’ (Treatises of the Brethren of Purity) which form an Arabic Encyclopedia of science, philosophy and religion, probably the first of its kind in the world of literature.
idrak
Perception or apprehension; the term is used, however to denote any kind of cognitive experience of the particular objects whether it is due to external sense-organs (i.e. idrak al-hiss) or on account of internal senses such as formative faculty (al-quwwat al-mustasawwirah or khayal, q.v.), estimative faculty (al-quwwaat al-mutawahhimah, q.v.), imagination (al-quwwat al-mutakhayyilah, q.v.) or rational faculty (al-quwwat al-‘aqliyyah, q.v.). Sometimes cognition, through the external senses, is distinguished from that through the internal senses by calling the former mahsusat and latter wajdaniyat.
adwar-o-akwar
The recurrent or cyclic periods in the history of cosmic evolution; a term used mostly by the philosophers of illuminationism (ishraqiyun).
Iraqalitus
Heraclitus (fl. in 5th century B.C.) Though generally called the "Obscure," he was one of the most brilliant of the pre-Socratic philosophers. He maintained that all things change and nothing is permanent.
Irkhila’us
Archelaus - Greek philosopher, the disciple of Anaxagoras (Anaksaghuras, q.v.).
Aristatalis
Aristotle(384-322 B.C.) pupil of Plato and teacher of Alexander… almost all of the works of Aristotle except his Dialogues (about 27) were available to the Muslim philosophers in their Arabic translation. The called Aristotle al-mu‘allim al-awwal, i.e. the “the first teacher”, and keenly studies his works either directly or through his commentators such as as Alexander of Aphrodisias (Iskandar Ifrudisi, q.v.), Themistius (Thamistiyus, q.v.), Simplicus(Sinbliqiyus, q.v.) and others. Muslim Philosophers are not to be blamed for being not altogether able to distinguish between the genuine and apocryphal works of Aristotle. More important of the later current among are: “The Theology of Aristotle” (Uthulujiya Aristatalis, q.v.), Liber de Causis” (Kitab Khair al-Mahd, q.v.) and Secreta Secretorum (Sirr al-Asrar, q.v.)
Arastarkhus
Aristarchus: Greek astronomer of 3rd century B.C.
Aristifus
Aristippus of Cyrene (c. 435-366 B.C.) Greek philosopher, disciple of Socrates and founder of the school of Cyrenaicism (Qaurniyah, q.v.). He taught that seeking of pleasures is the true end of life and that pleasures are to be judged by their intensity and duration alone. Physical pleasure are the keenest, and present pleasures are sure and as good as that of the future; so why not pluck pleasures as they pass?
Arshimidus
Archimedes (C. 287-212 B.C.): Greek mathematician, physicist and engineer known especially for his work in mechanics and hydrostatics. Famous for the discovery of the principle that a body immersed in fluid loses in weight by an amount equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. Many of his works were well known to Muslim Philosophers through their Arabic translation and commentaries on them by Hunain ibn Ishaq (d. 246/877), al-Mahani (d. c.261-71 /874-84) and Yusuf al-Khuri (fl. 290-6/902-8).
al-Arghanun
The Organon (the organ or instrument for acquiring knowledge): a name given by the followers of Aristotle to the collection of logical treatises. The Organon originally consisted of 6 treatises: Categoriae (Qatighuriyas, q.v.); De Interpretatione (Bari Irminiyas, q.v.); Analytica Priora (Analutiqa, q.v.); Analytica Posteriora (Analutiqa Thani, q.v.); Topica (Tubiqa, q.v.); and Sophistici Elenchi (Sufustiqa, q.v.). The Muslim philosophers, however included 3 more treatises in their Arabic version of the Oraganon, viz Isagoge (Isaghuji, q.v.), an introduction written by Porphyry (Firfuriyus, q.v.); Rhetorica (Rituriqa. q.v.), Aristotle’s treatise on the art of public speaking; and Poetica (Buyutiq, q.v.), a work on the art of Poetry.
Al-arkan al-arba‘ah
The four elements or roots: fire, air, water and earth of which all bodies in the world, mineral, plant, or animal are composed; this notion of the four elements was common to all Muslim Philosophers, but it originated with the Greek philosopher Empedocles (Anbadqulis, q.v.) who was first to postulate it; more often the term used is al-‘anasir al-arba‘ah See also ustuqussat.
Aribasuyus
Oribasius, Greek physician (c. 325-c. 400 C.E.).
azal
Eternal without beginning as opposed to abad, eternal without end. See also abad.
Al-as’ilat al-muta‘addadah
The fallacy of many questions; see mughalatat al-as’ilat al-muta‘addadah.
Asbusiyus
Speusippus (fl. 348-339 B.C.): Greek philosopher, nephew and disciple of Plato and after his death (348-347 B.C.) succeeded him as the head of the Academy (Aqadhamiya, q.v.)
istithna’ al-raf‘i
Negation of the consequent (tali q.v.) in the minor premise of a conditional conjunctive syllogism or negation of one of the alternatives in the minor premise of conditional disjunctive syllogism. See also al-shartiyat al-muttasilah and al-shartiyat al-munfasilah.
istithna’ al-wad‘i
Affirmation of the antecedent (muqaddam, q.v.) in the minor premise of a conditional conjunctive syllogism or of one of the alternatives in the minor premise of the conditional disjunctive syllogism. See also al-shartiyat al-muttasilah and al-shartiyat al-munfasilah.
istihalah
Qualitative change in a body from one state or condition into another, e.g. water becoming hot after it was cold; also called harakah fi’l-kaif (q.v.).
istidlal
Reasoning in general but more specifically the mode of reasoning in which we proceed from the given facts or effects to the inference of their causes. Also Inference. See also al-burhan al-’inni.
isti‘dad
Capacity, i.e. power, actual (bi’l-fi‘l) or potential (bi’l-quwwah) possessed by a thing either to act in a certain manner or to suffer a certain change; it may be innate or acquired. The term is used by the Muslim Peripatetics more often in the metaphysical discussion of potentiality and actuality. See also al-kaifiyat al-isti‘dadiyah.
istiqra’
Induction, i.e. arriving at a general conclusion or a universal proposition through the observation of particular instances, e.g. "All crow are black" or "All ruminants are cloven footed".
al-istiqra’ al-naqis
Imperfect induction, i.e. the induction which does not fulfill the conditions of scientific induction, e.g. the statement: "All animals move their lower jaw which chewing food," which is falsified by the fact that the crocodiles in the chewing process move their upper jaw rather than the lower one.
ustuqussat
Roots: a term of Greek origin for elements, i.e. fire, air, water and earth, more common them in Muslim philosophy for which is ‘anasir (q.v.). A subtle distinction, however is sometimes made between the to terms. ustuqussat is supposed to refer to the fact of composition or generation (kaun) of every natural body which is composed of roots whereas the term
‘anasir refers to the possibility of its being decomposed or corrupted (fasad) again into separate elements. See also al-arkan al-arba‘ah.
Asqalibiyus
Asclepius of Tralles: Greek philosopher and mathematician of the 6th Century C.E.; pupil of Ammonius (Amuniyus, q.v.), wrote a commentary on Aristotle's metaphysics mentioned by al-Kindi.
Asqalifiyadis
Asclepidades of Bithynia: Greek physician of 1st century B.C. opposed Hippocrates (Buqrat, q.v.) in his theory of disease.
Iskandar Ifrudisi
Alexander of Aphrodisias: the peripatetic philosopher, head of the Lyceum between 198 and 211 C.E. One of the greatest commentators on Aristotle. Some of his commentaries are known now only through Arabic translation of them. He had a considerable influence on the development of Muslim Philosophers’ theory of intellect, though in the final form their version of this theory is much more subtle and sophisticated than Alexander of Aphrodisias and even Aristotle could possibly think of; see various kinds of ‘aql.
al-asma’ al-ma ‘dulah
words used to negativise the subject or the predicate or both of a proposition. See also al-qadiyat al-ma‘dulah.
ishtibah
Perplexity felt in deciding between truth and falsity of a statement.
ishtirak al-hadd al-asqhar
The fallacy of ambiguous minor; see mughalatah ishtirak al-hadd al-asqhar.
ishtirak al-hadd al-akbar
The fallacy of ambiguous major; see mughalatah ishtirak al-hadd al-akbar.
ishtirak al-hadd al-aust
The fallacy of ambiguous middle; see mughalatah ishtirak al-hadd al-aust.
ishtirak al-lafzi
Equivocation, particularly the ambiguous use of any one of the three terms of a syllogism (qiyas, ; q.v.); see mughalatah ishtirak al-lafzi.
isalat al-wujud
"The principiality of existence or being," i.e. the ontolgical priority of the being or existence (anniyah, q.v.) of a thing to its quiddity or essence (mahiyah, q.v.): a doctrine expounded by Mulla Sadrah (979-1050/1571-1649) as against the opposite view held by the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers. See also mahiyah.
ashab al-buddawah
An expression used in Arabic religio-philosophical literature for the followers of Buddah who is himself sometimes named as Buda Yusuf (q.v.).
ashab al-Mazallah
"The People of the Shaded Place," i.e. the Stoics, so called because the founder of the school of Stoicism, Zeno (fl. 308 B.C.), use to teach in a stoa (a porch) in Athens. The Stoics inculcated a complete control of one’s desires and appetites and indifference towards pleasure and pain, for thus alone could one become master of one’s self and attain virtue for virtue’s sake. All men, according to them are of one blood, of one family; and so one should treat others as "sacred beings". As for their view of the universe their doctrine is pantheistic. The teachings of the Stoics had a considerable influence on Muslim philosophical thinking, particularly in the field of logic. See also rawaqiyah.
aslah
"Most fitting or best," a thesis of Muslim theodicy that God does what is best for mankind.
al-usul al-muta‘arafah
Self-evident first principles or axioms like a part is less than the whole of which it is part, equals added to equals are equals, or two contradictories cannot be true of the same thing at the same time and in the same respect.
al-usul al-maudu‘ah
Necessary presuppositions of a science which are accepted as initial truths and which are the base of the entire superstructure of that science like the principles that every event has a cause and that the same cause has the same effect.
idafah
Relation, one of the ten Aristotelian categories (al-maqulat al-‘ashr, q.v.); it denotes the relationship between two things such as father and son or master and apprentice or, more generally, the relation of a thing to all other objects.
i‘tibar
Consideration. (AnAc)
i‘tibari
Relational, relative. (AnAc)
addad
Contraries; for the logical nature of contraries, see diddan.
al-atraf al-arba‘ah
The fallacy of four terms; see mughalatat al-atraf al-arba‘ah.
al-a‘dad al-tabi‘iyah
"Natural numbers", i.e. cardinal numbers, one, two, etc.
‘Arif
Enlightened knower. (AnAc)
‘ayn
External, objective. (AnAc)
a‘yan
Objective reality. (AnAc)
al-a ‘yan al-thabitah
The eternal essences of things which together form the world of Ideas or the spiritual world which is intermediary between God and the material world of sensible phenomena. {Permanent archetypes, fixed entities, fixed essences [see Sadra, al-Asfar, “in the convention of some ahl al-Kashf wa’l-Yaqin, mahiyyat are called ‘al-a‘yan al-thabitah’, 1: 49, line 4]. updated by: (AnAc)}
Aghathadhimun
Agathodaemon (other Arabic variants are Aghathudhimun and Aghadhimun) represented in the tradition of the philosophy of Illuminationism (al-hikmat al-ishraqiyah) as one of the ancient Egyptian sages. Sometimes he is considered the son of Hermes II, sometimes the associate of Socrates (Suqratis, q.v.) and occasionally one of the pupils of Ptolemy (Batlamiyus, q.v.). More generally he is considered an authority in the occult sciences. It is said that he invented a clock that could lure the snakes, scorpions and other reptiles out their holes. Ibn al-Nadim lists him among the foremost alchemists. In short, it is difficult to identify Aghathadhimun, and in all probability the name stands merely for a mythical personality.
Aflatun
Plato(428-7 -348-7 B.C.): one of the greatest of Greek philosophers; disciple of Socrates (Suqratis, q.v.) on whose dialectic his whole philosophy is mainly based. The central doctrine is his theory of Ideas according to which Ideas, Forms, or Universals are eternally real as opposed to the transitory and relatively unreal objects of sense-perception (see al-muthul al-Aflatuniyah). Though some of Plato’s dialogues, viz. the Republic, the Laws and the Timaeus were available to the Muslim philosophers as early as Hunain ibn Ishaq (195-264/809-10-877), it is interesting to note that most of the Muslim philosophers did not recognize Plato to be a real representative of Greek philosophy, or at least they subordinated him to Aristotle. Nevertheless Plato’s influence on Muslim philosophy, particularly on Muslim ethics and political philosophy, is quite visible, while it is paramount on the philosophers of Illuminationism (Ishraqiyun) who being critics of Aristotle and Muslim Aristotelians (Mash‘iyun,) regarded Plato as the chief authority in philosophy and made the Platonic mysticism as the keynote of their theosophical Illuminationism.
al-Aflatuniyat al-Muhdathah
Neoplatonism, a school of philosophy which wove all the strands of existing systems (Platonism, Aristotelianism, Pythagoreanism, Stoicsim, Gnosticism, etc.) into a single web of thought. Founded by Ammonius Saccas (Amuniyus, q.v.) in the second century C.E. in Alexandria, ending
with Proclus (Buruqlus, q.v.) in the 5th century. Its greatest interpreter however was Plotinus. See al-Shaikh al-Yunani and Uthulujiya Aristatalis for the influence of this school on Muslim philosophical thought.
Afudiqtiqi
Analytica Posteriora or the Second Analytics, Aristotle’s fourth book on logic; see Analutiqa Thani.
Aqadhamiya
Academy: Plato’s school of philosophy in Athens, established by him in 387 B.C. The Academy lasted under various forms until closed by Christian intolerance of the Roman Emperor Justinian I the Great in 529 C.E., whereupon the seven(?) philosophers (Neoplatonists) took refuge in Persia at the court of Nushirwan the Great.
Uqlidis
Euclid: Greek geometer; flourished in Alexandria about 300 B.C. He systematized the geometrical knowledge of his time in the 13 books of Elements, first translated into Arabic by al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf al-Matar (fl. in 170/786). Many commentaries are written on this work by Muslim scientists. The name of Uqlidis soon became synonymous with geometry itself. Many of his other works were well known to to the Muslim scholars but some writings on mechanics ascribed by them to Euclid, for example, a book on the "Heavy and Light" dealing with the notion of specific gravity mentioned in al-Fihrist and tow treatises on "Lever" and "Balance" do not seem to be genuine.
Uqlidis (al-Magharah)
Euclides of Megara(450-374B.C.): Greek Eleatic philosopher, contemporary of Plato, and like him, disciple of Socrates; founder of the Megarian school. Titles only of his works are know now. Often mistaken by medieval Muslim writers for Euclid (Uqlidis) the geometer.
iqna‘
Lit. "persuasion"; in logic it means a mode of reasoning by which the mind of the listener is convinced by a statement even when it lacks the required demonstration or proof.
iktisab
Acquisition. (AnAc)
iltizam
Concomitance [see S. Afnan, Avicenna: His Life and Works, 93]; entailment. See also lazim. (AnAc)
ilja'
Coercion, constraint. (AnAc)
a’immat al-asma’
al-a’immat al-sab‘ah
The term a’immat al-asma’ (lit. the leading names) refers to the seven principal names of God, viz. al-hayy (the Living); al-‘alim (the knower), al-Murid (the Willing, or the Purposer); al-Qadir (the Powerful); al-Sami‘ (the Hearer); al-Basir (the seer); al-Mutakallim (the speaker). The qualities or attributes denoted by these seven principal names of God are named al-a’immat al-sab‘ah (lit. the seven leaders).
Imtidad
Extension. (AnAc)
al-imtidadat al-thalath
The three dimensions of a body: length, breadth and depth. See also al-ab‘ad al-thalathah.
al-ummahat al-sufliyah
“the lower mothers”: and expression used to denote the four elements: fire, air, water, and earth. See also al-arkan al-arba‘ah.
al-ummahat al-‘ulwiyah
“the higher mothers”: as opposed to al-ummahat al-sufliyah (the lower mothers) the term denotes the intelligences and souls of the celestial spheres. See also al-‘uqul al-‘asharah.
al-ummahat al-fada’il
"The cardinal virtues ", e.g. Plato’s four cardinal virtues of wisdom, courage, temperance and justice. Cardinal virtues are "the mothers of virtues", i.e. Other virtues are regarded as merely derivative forms of these virtues.
Amuniyus
Ammonius Saccas (c. 175-c. 250 C.E.): teacher of Plotinus (Fulutin, q.v.) and reputed founder of Neoplatonism. The surname Saccas (the sack-bearers) was derived from the occupation by which he originally earned his living.
an
The instant or present moment as an indivisible wedge between past and future.
Analutiqa
Analytica Priora or the First Analystics: Aristotle’s third book on logic; other variants are Anulutiqa and Analutiqa Awwal- also entitled as al-Qiyas in Arabic; it deals with the combination of propositions in the different forms of syllogism(qiyas, q.v.)
Analutiqa Thani
Analytica Posteriora or the Second Analystics: Aristotle’s fourth book on logic; other variants are Abuditiqta or Afudiqtiqi, also entitled as al-Burhan in Arabic; it deals with the conditions to be fulfilled by the premises of a valid demonstration and thus distinguishes a sound syllogism from an unsound one.
Anbadqulis
Empedocles (c. 490 -c. 435 B.C.), known to Muslim philosophers by other Arabic variants of his name: Abidqulis, Abidhqulis, etc. A pre-Socratic philosopher, physicist, physician and social reformer, Postulated the existence of the four elements (al-‘anasir al-arba‘ah, q.v.) or roots (ustuqussat, q.v.) out of the mixture of which all things came to be, love and hate being the cause of motion and so of the mixing of these elements. Held the view that sense-impressions are caused by effluxes from the objects. All these views of Empedocles became current with Muslim philosophers; but their knowledge of him was based mainly on what reached them through the works of Aristotle and Plutarch, and they often associated him with Neoplatonists.
intiza‘i
Abstract [amr intiza‘i, see Asfar, 1: 48, line 6]. (AnAc)
al-an al-da’im
"The ever-abiding now", wherein tow eternities, i.e. azal (q.v.) and abad (q.v.) perpetually meet; the present moment as an image of eternity. Al-an al-da’im is usually considered to be the root of time (asl al-zaman) or its very inner essence (batin al-zaman)
Indaruniqus
Andronicus (fl. 1st century B.C.): Greek Peripatetic philosopher, the famous editor of Aristotle’s works; See Matatafusiqi.
al-insan al-kamil
"The perfect man", i.e. the one in whom are combined all the various attributes of divinity and humanity, or one who has realised in his person all levels of being -a notion common to the Muslim philosophers and mystics. Interesting to note is the highly eclectic conception of "the perfect man" held by the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwan al-Safa, q.v.): "The perfect man" is of East Persian origin, Arabian in faith, Babylonian in education, Hebrew in astuteness, a disciple of Christ in conduct, as pious as a Syrian monk, a Greek in natural sciences, an Indian in the interpretation of mysteries and, above all a Sufi or a mystic in his whole spiritual outlook".
an-i sayyal
The present moment in constant flux and so ever indivisible.
infi‘al
Lit. "being acted on:, but technically the category of "passion" as one of the ten Aristotelian categories (al-maqulat al-‘ashr, q.v.) also called yanfa‘il (to be acted on). Infi‘al as opposed to fi‘l (q.v.) (the category of action) is the reception of the effect of an affecting agent.
infi‘alat
Sensible qualities of things or persons such as are of transitory nature, for example the blush on the face of man on account some embarrassment or pallidness on account of fear; the sudden change of one state into another is called istihalah (q.v.). Opposed to infi‘aliyat; see below
infi‘aliyat
Sensible qualities of things such as are firmly rooted in them like sweetness in honey or salinity in brine; opposed to infi‘alat (q.v.); see also al-kaifiyat al-mahsusah.
Anaksaghuras
Anaxagoras (c. 499 -c.428 B.C.): the last philosopher of the Ionian school of Greek philosophy. He taught that their are infinitesimally small particles (or seeds) containing the mixture of all qualities. These were distributed in the universe originally in a chaotic form, to which nous, i.e. Mind gave an order and system by a movement of rotation. All things come to be and cease to be through the coming together and separation of the seeds. Nous, however, is simple, unmixed and alone. It is the cause of original motion in the material elements or "seeds"; without partaking of the nature of matter, it is itself a spiritual essence. Since the universe displays harmony, order and purposiveness, it is a teleological principle. Anaxagoras indeed was the first to give a teleological explanation of the universe.
Anaksimans
Anaximander of Miletus (c. 610 - c. 545 B.C.) a pupil of Thales (Thalis al-Malti, q.v.). He wrote a book on natural philosophy considered to be the first Greek work on philosophy. In this he expounded his notion of the "boundless" or "infinite" which according to him, is the first principle or primary substance, eternal and imperishable containing within itself all contraries such as heat and cold and moist and dry. The phenomenal universe has been evolved through the separation and union of these contrary elements.
Ankimas
Anaximenes of Miletus (d. c. 528 B.C.) According to him, air is the primary substance from which all things are derived by varying degrees of compression or rarefaction. Probably the first to teach that moon receives its light from the sun.
inqi?a'
Lapse, passing away. tajaddud wa inqida': renewal and lapse (AnAc)
al-anwar al-mudabbirah
"The regent lights", which according to the philosophers of Illuminationism (Ishraqiyun), govern the affairs of the celestial spheres.
Anulutiqa
Analytica Priora or the First Analystics, Aristotle’s third book on logic; see Analutiqa.
anniyah
"Thatness" of a thing, i.e. its existence as opposed to quiddity. In God alone, according to the Muslim philosophers, is His essence one with His existence; in everything else it is possible to think of its essence without knowing whether it exists or not. The term anniyah is used sometimes in the sense of huwiyah ("itness") of a thing, i.e. its self-identity. See also huwa huwa.
Ahrun al-Quss
Aaron of Alexandria (fl. between 610 and 641 C.E.). His Pandect, a Greek medical encyclopedia divided into 30 sections, was the first book translated from Syriac into Arabic by Masarjawaih of Basra in 64/683 under the title Qarabahin.
ahl al-khibrah
Persons possessing practical experience in a field of study; the experts in a subject.
ahl al-‘ulwiyah
People possessed with heavenly visions.
ahl al-mazall
Lit. "the people of the shaded place", a name given to the Stoics: see ashab al-mazallah and rawaqiyah.
ahl al-mizan
Lit. "the people of the balance", but technically the term means simply logicians because of their use of logic, which is sometimes called "the science of balance" (‘ilm al- mizan) to weigh the truth and falsity of statements and arguments.
ihmal
Indetermination as to the quantity of a proposition (opposed to ihsar, q.v.) ; see al-qadiyat al-muhmalah.
Udimas
Eudemus of Rhodes: Greek philosopher of 4th century B.C.; pupil and friend of Aristotle whose work Eudemian Ethics (Udhimya, see below) is supposed to have been edited by him.
Udhimya
Eudemina Ethics, the title of one of the three books by Aristotle on ethics; see Udimas.
Utuluqus
Autolycus (fl. c. 310 B.C.): Greek astronomer and mathematician. His work on "the revolving sphere" was known to Muslim scientists and philosophers through its Arabic translation by Hunain ibn Ishaq (d. 264/877).
awwaliyat
A priori data or premises which have the status of first principles, i.e. the propositions which are inherent in the intellectual faculty of man-the Laws of Thought, for example.
Iyamlikhus
Iamblichus (d. c. 335 C.E.): a Neoplatonic philosopher, pupil of Porphyry (Firfuriyus, q.v.). He developed more the mystical side of Neoplatonism (al-Aflatuniyat al-Muhdathah, q.v.)
Irin al-Mijaniqi
Heron the Mechanic of Alexandria (fl. early 1st century B.C.); author of numerous works on mathematics, physics and mechanics, some of which were known to the Muslim philosophers and scientists through Arabic translations by Thabit ibn Qurrah and Qusta ibn Luqa.
al-Isaghuji
Arabicised form of the Greek word Isagoge meaning "introduction", sometimes translated as al-Madkhal. It is originally an Introduction to Aristotle’s logical treatise on Categories (al-Qatighuriyas, q.v.) composed by Porphyry (Firfuriyus, q.v.). It deals with the five predicates (al-alfaz al-khamsah, q.v.) and also with the terms of speech and their abstract meanings. This little treatise, first translated into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffa‘ has been commented on a number of times. Besides the adaptations and epitomes of this work, many independent works on logic by Muslim philosophers have been entitled as al-Isaghuji, the most famous of them being one by al-Abhari (c.597-664, c.1200-1265).
aina
Lit. "Where?", but technically the category of place as one of the ten Aristotelian categories (al-maqulat al-‘ashr, q.v.); it denotes the particular place where a thing is.
Ayudhukhus
Eudoxus of Cnidos (c. 408 -c.355 B.C.): studied philosophy under Plato. Known chiefly for his works on mathematics and astronomy, some of which reached the Muslim philosophers and scientists.
ayyu
"Which one?" or "What?" -one of the interrogative pronouns used in order to discuss the form and matter of definitions and propositions in connection with the problems that arise in science. Ayyan denotes that form of the question which is put to know the differential quality of a thing in order to distinguish it from other things belonging to the same class; see also muta‘alliqat al-qiyas wa‘l-burhan.
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