Abstract

There has always been this supposition in our philosophical tradition that Ibn Sina at first did not understand the Metaphysics of Aristotle and then by the help of Farabi's book – which was devoted to aghraz al – maba'daltabi'ah-could understand it. This supposition for this reason prevails among the historians of Islamic philosophical thought that Ibn Sina himself affirms in his autobiography that has repeatedly read the Metaphysics of Aristotele but has not understand it. But this understanding of Shaikh's autobiography-given Ibn Sina's genius and also by considering the brevity of Farabi's book – it seems susceptible to criticism. In this paper on the basis of proofs and evidences from other writings of Ibn Sina a new understanding of his autobiography is presented which differs from common understanding and it is shown that Ibn Sina's intention is not that he had difficulty in understanding the content of the Metaphysics but he has not been in agreement about the formulation of some commentaries of it.