RésuméCet article offre une édition, une traduction et une analyse d'une préface adressée par Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, traducteur de Galien, à un mécène chrétien syro-oriental, le médecin Salmawayh ibn Bunān. Ḥunayn a composé cette Épître à Salmawayh ibn Bunān en syriaque, mais seule en a survécu une traduction arabe par son neveu. Le texte n'a reçu que peu d'attention depuis sa découverte, il y a plus de quatre-vingts ans; il n'a jamais été publié entièrement. L’Épître donne un nouvel aperçu des (...) débuts de Ḥunayn et du milieu chrétien dans lequel il évoluait, en montrant ses attaches au passé littéraire syriaque, bien illustrées par les préfaces d'un autre traducteur de Galien, son prédécesseur Sergius de Rēšʿaynā ; mais l’Épître indique aussi des éléments qui distinguent de leur prédécesseur les traducteurs abbassides comme Ḥunayn. Cette étude soutient que la demande accrue des mécènes et la lecture attentive des commentaires hippocratiques de Galien ont suscité un nouveau discours, dans l’Épître, selon lequel des lecteurs de tout niveau peuvent et devraient avoir accès aux textes scientifiques grecs. Cette Épître montre ainsi comment Ḥunayn comprenait son propre projet littéraire et scientifique et sa relation à la tradition grecque de l'Antiquité. (shrink)

Según las fuentes hanbalíes, el imám Ibn Hanbal (m. en 855) no capituló ante inquisición `abbásí. En tiempos recientes, sin embargo, se tiende a pensar que sí debió capitular porque si no, nunca habría sido liberado. Sin embargo, una comparación del proceso de Ibn Hanbal con el de Hunayn b. Isháq (m. 873), indica que los califas `abbá-síes, cuando tenían que juzgar a un sospechoso de herejía, lo hacían más bien basados en razones de estado que en motivos dogmáticos. (...) En este contexto, en la narración del proceso recogido por Hanbal b. Isháq, puede leerse una explicación plausible de por qué el califa al-Mu'tasim puede haber liberado a Ibn Hanbal a pesar de que éste desafiara a la Inquisición. = According to Hanbali sources, the imam (d. 855) did not capitulate to the `Abbásid Inquisition. In modem times, a persuasive argument has been made that he must Nave done so; otherwise, he would never Nave been released. Yet a comparison of Ibn Hanbal's trial with that of Hunayn b. Isháq (d. 873) suggests that the `Abbásid caliphs, when asked to judge suspected heretics, made their decisions based on reasons of state rather than dogmatic grounds. Against this background, the trial report of Hanbal b. Isháq can be read as a plausible account of why the caliph al-Mu'tasim might Nave released Ibn Hanbal despite the latter's defiance of the Inquisition. (shrink)

RésuméL'ouvrage galéniqueSur les Éléments selon Hippocrateest une importante source d'information concernant les théories physiques de l'antiquité tardive. Les diverses doctrines atomistes discutées par Galien ainsi que les arguments employés par lui pour les réfuter ont été étudiés de près par les premiersMutakallimūn.Les abrégés de cet ouvrage, qui semblent avoir été écrits plusieurs siècles après Galien, et dont certains remontent aux débuts de la culture islamique, présentent un intérêt particulier. Dans cet article, nous donnons une édition, une traduction et une étude (...) d'un abrégé inconnu jusqu'ici, conservé dans un unique manuscrit, qui l'attribue à Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq. Comme les autres abrégés, il s'agit en fait d'une doxographie de théories physiques qui ne reproduit pas toujours précisément ce que Galien a dit, mais qui reflète le discours de l'époque où elle a été rédigée. (shrink)

L'A. confronta due commenti su quello che nel mondo arabo viene considerato il primo libro della Metaphysica di Aristotele: alpha Elatton. Dopo averne delineato i contenuti e la penetrazione nel mondo arabo grazie alle traduzioni di Ustat e Ishaq ibn Hunayn, l'A. esamina due importanti commenti a quest'opera: Yahyá Ibn 'Adi, un commentatore cristiano della scuola di Baghdad e Averroè . I due autori leggono il testo in modo molto diverso: questo suggerisce una grande differenza tra Averroè e (...) la scuola di Baghdad, sebbene il filosofo andaluso abbia ammirato e seguito il lavoro di al-Farabi. In particolare è naturale il rifiuto da parte di Averroè di introdurre un'inchiesta puramente teologica nella trattazione, punto accettato invece da Ibn 'Adi, secondo il proposito di Averroè di rimarcare il fondamento fisico della metafisica, come è possibile comprendere soprattutto grazie alla lettura del Trattato. (shrink)

RésuméTechnê iatrikê de Galien a été traduit en hébreu trois fois. Deux fois dans le midi, autour de l'an 1199: d'abord, à partir de la version latine de Constantine l'Africain, par un médecin anonyme qui utilisait le pseudonyme “Doeg l’Édomite”; et une seconde fois de l'arabe, par Samuel Ibn Tibbon à Béziers, la Vorlage étant maintenant la version arabe de Ḥunayn Ibn Isḥāq, accompagnée par le commentaire de ʿAlī Ibn Riḍwān. Une troisième traduction, encore une fois du latin et comprenant (...) le commentaire d'Ibn Riḍwān, a été réalisée par Hillel ben Samuel à Rome à la fin du XIIIe siècle, mais elle n'entre pas dans notre sujet.Nous présentons le Tegni et décrivons son histoire. Puis nous posons la question pourquoi cet ouvrage a été traduit en hébreu deux fois exactement au même moment et dans la même région. Nous montrons que les deux traducteurs ont répondu à un besoin des médecins juifs lisant seulement l'hébreu. Doeg réalise sa traduction dans le cadre de son vaste projet de mise à disposition en traduction hébraïque de la plus grande partie du corpus de l’école de Salerne. Samuel Ibn Tibbon, pour sa part, a traduit le Tegni avec le commentaire d'Ibn Riḍwān parce que, après avoir été médecin, il évoluait graduellement vers la vocation d'un traducteur de l'arabe en hébreu d’œuvres philosophiques et ce texte médico-philosophique était en adéquation avec cette évolution d'un médecin avec des intérêts philosophiques vers un scientifique-philosophe. (shrink)

This first edition contains an elaborated version of Aristotle's Problemata Physica in Arabic translation by the famous ḥunain ibn Ishāq and in Hebrew translation by Moses ibn Tibbon, with an introduction and glossaries.

In the ninth century, Arabic philosophy was in ferment, and an inquisition of heretics was in process. Al-Kindi, a court scholar, physician, and philosopher functioning at Baghdad, courageously produced, in that context, a treatise, Fi al-Falsafah al-Ula, in which he attempted to unify the philosophical tradition, starting from Aristotle, with basic Islamic concepts. Part One of the treatise is here published for the first time in a non-Arabic language. Al-Kindi, in this treatise, tries to show, by philosophical reasoning, that the (...) world could not have come spontaneously into being ex nihilo, that there must be a unique, eternal being, and that the ad hoc unity and plurality of individual things rest on a prior, creative, self-subsisting, and eternal unity, which is the Ultimate Cause. This volume contains a résumé of al-Kindi studies, a description and analysis of the text, On First Philosophy, a "reevaluation" of al-Kindi’s relation to the Mu'Tazilah sect of Moslem theologians, a translation of On First Philosophy, and a learned passage-by-passage commentary on it, with perspicuous discussions of nuances in Arabic terminology. This is primarily a book for medieval specialists, but students of ontology and theology will find some of al-Kindi’s argumentation relevant to their concerns.—W.G. (shrink)

A translation and commentary on al-Kindi's “On First Philosophy,” a seminal work of early Islamic thought.

In this study, after a short introductory information on the etymology, origin, and transition of botanical knowledge in Medieval Islamic Civilisation, we made a comparison of illustrated botanical works in Maghreb and Masriq through two illustrated books. We studied on randomly selected illustrations from Kitab al- Hashaish at-Tibb li-Diskuridus al-Aynzarbi translated by Istefan ibn Basil & Hunayn ibn Ishaq from Dioscorides’ Materia Medica, and Kitab al-Adwiyat al-Mufradat of Abu Ja’far Ahmad al-Ghafiqi, the Andalusian physician, pharmacist, and herbalist. We (...) made comparisons on the illustrations of nine plants and one lichen, chosen from Codex Osler of al-Ghafiqi, and Codices Ayasofya of Istefan-Hunayn, with real photos of plants and lichen, via the methods used currently in the science-art of botanical illustration. With this «botanical illustrative method», we conclude that in the same century, the work of al-Ghafiqi has been copied in a more accurate way than that of Istefan-Hunayn translation. -/- تخصص هذه الدراسة - بعد تقديم معلومات تمهيدية موجزة عن علم أصل الكلمات، وأصول وتطور المعرفة النباتية في الحضارة الإسلامية في العصور الوسطى - للتحليل المقارن للمؤلفات في علم النبات المصور في المغرب والمشرق، من خلال كتابين مصورين. و لهذه الغاية، قمنا بتحليل سلسلة من الرسوم، إختيرت بشكل تلقائي، أُخذت من كتاب النباتات الطبية لصاحبه دِيُسوفُورِيدس، و من ترجمة ابن استيفان ابن باسل و حنين ابن إسحاق لدراسة المادة الطبية لديسوفوريدس، و من كتاب الأدوية البسيطة لأبو جعفر أحمد الغافقي، و هو طبيب و صيدلي و عشاب أندلسي. لقد أجرينا مقارنات لرسوم تسعة نباتات و أشنة وقع الإختيار عليها من كتاب أوسلر للغافقي و من كتب أياصوفيا لإستيفان و حنين، مع صور حقيقية لعينات من هذه الأنواع، باستخدام الطرق المطبقة في وقتنا الراهن في فن وعلم الرسوم النباتية. و بعد تطبيق هذا المنهج التصويري النباتي، نستطيع أن نخلص إلى أنه، و على الرغم من إنتاجها في نفس القرن، فإن نسخ رسوم الغافقي النباتية كانت أكثر دقة من تلك الموجودة في ترجمة استيفان - حنين. الكلمات المفتاحية دِيُسوفُورِيدس، الغافقي، تاريخ علم النبات، الأندلس -/- Este estudio –tras una breve información introductoria sobre etimología, orígenes y evolución del conocimiento botánico en la civilización islámica medieval– está dedicado a un análisis comparativo de los tratados botánicos ilustrados en el Magreb y en el Máshreq, a través de dos libros ilustrados. Para ello, hemos analizado una serie de ilustraciones, elegidas al azar, extraídas del Libro de plantas medicinales de Dioscórides por Anazarba, traducción de Istefan ibn Basil y Hunayn ibn Ishaq del tratado De materia medica de Dioscórides, y del Libro de los medicamentos simples de Abu Ya'far Ahmad al-Gafiqi, médico, farmacéutico y herbolario andalusí. Hemos llevado a cabo comparaciones de las ilustraciones de nueve plantas y un liquen, escogidos del códice Osler de al-Gafiqi y de los códices Ayasofya de Istefan-Hunayn, con fotografías reales de especímenes de dichas especies, acudiendo a los métodos aplicados actualmente en el arte y ciencia de la ilustración botánica. Tras este «método ilustrativo botánico», podemos concluir que, aunque llevadas a cabo en el mismo siglo, las copias de ilustraciones de al-Gafiqi han resultado más precisas que las de la traducción de Istefan-Hunayn. (shrink)

Professor Guillaume's translation of the Sira of Ibn Ishaq is now reissued. The translator used Ibn Hisham's abridgement and also included many additions and variants found in the writings of early authors. The book thus presents in English practically all that is known of the life of the Prophet.In the introduction, the translator discusses the character of the Sira in the light of the opinion of early Arabian scholars, noting especially the difficulties of the poetry. As the earliest monument (...) of Arabian prose literature, the Sira remains a work of the first importance. (shrink)

Although the existence of an Arabic translation of a section of Proclus' commentary on Plato's Timaeus lost in the Greek has been known since long, this text has not yet enjoyed a modern edition. The present article aims to consummate this desideratum by offering a critical edition of the Arabic fragment accompanied by an annotated English translation. The attached study of the contents and structure of the extant fragment shows that it displays all typical formal elements of Proclus' commentaries, whereas (...) its conciseness and shortcomings raise certain doubts about its completeness. As a parergon, the article includes an analysis of a hitherto neglected letter by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq, which is attached to the fragment in the manuscript transmission. In addition to providing some insight into the origins of the Proclian fragment, this letter sheds some light on the Syriac and Arabic reception of some works by Hippocrates and Galen, especially Hippocrates' On Regimen in Acute Diseases and the history of its Arabic translation. Résumé Bien que l'existence d'une traduction arabe d'une section perdue en grec du commentaire de Proclus sur le Timée soit connue depuis longtemps, ce texte n'avait fait jusqu'à présent l'objet d'aucune édition. Le présent article vise à remédier à ce manque, en proposant une édition critique du fragment arabe accompagnée d'une traduction anglaise annotée. L'étude qui l'accompagne, consacrée au contenu et à la structure du fragment transmis, montre qu'il présente, au plan formel, tous les éléments caractéristiques des commentaires de Proclus, quand bien même sa concision et ses défauts soulèvent certains doutes quant à sa complétude. En forme d'appendice, l'article propose une analyse d'une lettre de Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq négligée jusqu'à présent, jointe au fragment sous sa forme transmise. Loin de se borner à nous fournir des renseignements sur les origines du fragment de Proclus, cette lettre jette aussi quelque lumière sur la réception syriaque et arabe de certaines œuvres d'Hippocrate et de Galien, tout particulièrement sur le traité Du régime dans les maladies aiguës d'Hippocrate et sur l'histoire de sa traduction arabe. (shrink)

This volume presents the first edition of the Arabic translation, by Hunayn ibn Ishaq, of Galen's Critical Days (De diebus decretoriis), together with the first translation of the text into a modern language. The substantial introduction contextualizes the treatise within the Greek and Arabic traditions. Galen's Critical Days was a founding text of astrological medicine. In febrile illnesses, the critical days are the days on which an especially severe pattern of symptoms, a crisis, was likely to occur. The (...) crisis was thought to expel the disease-producing substances from the body. If its precise timing were known, the physician could prepare the patient so that the crisis would be most beneficial. After identifying the critical days based on empirical data and showing how to use them in therapy, Galen explains the critical days via the moon's influence. In the historical introduction Glen Cooper discusses the translation of the Critical Days in Arabic, and adumbrates its possible significance in the intellectual debates and political rivalries among the 9th-century Baghdad elite. It is argued that Galen originally composed the Critical Days both to confound the Skeptics of his own day and to refute a purely mathematical, rationalist approach to science. These features made the text useful in the rivalries between Baghdad scholars. Al-Kindi (d.c. 866) famously propounded a mathematical approach to science akin to the latter. The scholar-bureaucrat responsible for funding this translation, Muhammad ibn Musa (d. 873), al-Kindi's nemesis, may have found the treatise useful in refuting that approach. The commentary and notes to the facing page translation address issues of translation, as well as important concepts. (shrink)

One of the most important medieval documents in the history of medicine and scholarship, and of culture in general, is doubtless the bibliographical treatise (“epistle”, Risāla) by Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (808-873) addressed to his patron and patron of the arts, the gentleman courtier ‘Alī b. Yaḥyā b. al-Munaǧǧim (d. 275 / 888-889), listing the translations of Galen into Syriac and Arabic. Its transmission and publication history, though, is extremely complicated.

In 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. (shrink)

Galen’s Commentaries on the Hippocratic Epidemics constitute one of the most detailed studies of Hippocratic medicine from Antiquity. The Arabic translation of the Commentaries by Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq is of crucial importance because it preserves large sections now lost in Greek, and because it helped to establish an Arabic clinical literature. The present contribution investigate the translation of this seminal work into Syriac and Arabic. It provides a first survey of the manuscript tradition, and explores how physicians in the medieval (...) Muslim world drew on it both to teach medicine to students, and to develop a framework for their own clinical research. (shrink)

The author examines the question of Galen's affinity with astrology, in view of Galen's extended astrological discussion in the De diebus decretoriis . The critical passages from Galen are examined, and shown to be superficial in understanding. The author performs a lexical sounding of Galen's corpus, using key terms with astrological valences drawn from the Critical Days, and assesses their absence in Galen's other works. He compares Galen's astrology with the astrology of Ptolemy's Tetrabiblos, and evaluates their respective strategies of (...) scientific reasoning. Three types of inference are introduced and applied to Galen's astrology. Finally, he concludes that the empirical side of Galen's science does not depend upon astrological methods or concepts, but that these were introduced for their rhetorical effect in presenting his new medical methodology. It is suggested that continued attention to Galen's astrology has obscured the truly important empirical scientific method that Galen developed. (shrink)

Los summaria alexandrinorum (conocidos como ǧawāmiʿ al-iskandarāniyyīn en árabe) son resúmenes de obras galénicas que solo sobreviven en versiones hebreas o árabes. Tradicionalmente, estas traducciones se han atribuido a Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq (s. IX) y se han vinculado a la enseñanza de la medicina en la Alejandría de los siglos VI y VII. En este artículo presentamos la edición de uno de estos ǧawāmiʿ al-iskandarāniyyīn, en concreto el compendio árabe del De simplicium medicamentorum facultatibus de Galeno que se conserva en (...) el manuscrito Huntington 600/2 de la Bodleian Library de Oxford. Con la publicación de este texto inédito pretendemos contribuir a comprender mejor la naturaleza y el origen de este tipo de textos, así como a facilitar su consulta y estudio por parte de otros especialistas. Añadimos una breve introducción sobre los summaria alexandrinorum y su importancia en la enseñanza y la transmisión de la medicina en la Edad Media, seguida de una serie de apuntes acerca del De simpl. med. fac. A continuación, se describe el manuscrito fuente tanto en forma como en contenido y se fijan los criterios de edición. Asimismo, se han extraído del texto los usos y las características más comunes de la farmacopea galénica. Con el fin de ofrecer una edición rigurosa, se ha cotejado el texto con la traducción completa del De simpl. med. fac. al árabe, así como con otros tratados de simples andalusíes. (shrink)

El ms. árabe num. 1.077 de El Escorial contiene una obra de Abū Isḥāq al-Garnāṭī, cuyo último capítulo lo constituye la enumeración de veintidós normas jurídicas, en cuatro de las cuales los andalusíes no siguieron la doctrina de Mālik, y en las dieciocho restantes se apartaron de la de Ibn al-Qāsim. Ese mismo texto aparece también al final de K. al-Mufīd del cordobés Ibn Hišām. En este artículo su autor, tras definir el concepto de ‛amal local, plantea la cuestión de (...) la autoría del citado texto, ofrece una edición crítica y traducción del mismo a partir de las dos fuentes mencionadas y hace un estudio diacrónico de la aplicación en al-Andalus de esas controvertidas normas. Dicho estudio muestra que tales diferencias con respecto a Mālik o Ibn al-Qāsim no siempre se mantuvieron, sino que caracterizaron más bien el fiqh «temprano» andalusí. (shrink)

El ms. árabe num. 1.077 de El Escorial contiene una obra de Abū Isḥāq al-Garnāṭī, cuyo último capítulo lo constituye la enumeración de veintidós normas jurídicas, en cuatro de las cuales los andalusíes no siguieron la doctrina de Mālik, y en las dieciocho restantes se apartaron de la de Ibn al-Qāsim. Ese mismo texto aparece también al final de K. al-Mufīd del cordobés Ibn Hišām. En este artículo su autor, tras definir el concepto de ‛amal local, plantea la cuestión de (...) la autoría del citado texto, ofrece una edición crítica y traducción del mismo a partir de las dos fuentes mencionadas y hace un estudio diacrónico de la aplicación en al-Andalus de esas controvertidas normas. Dicho estudio muestra que tales diferencias con respecto a Mālik o Ibn al-Qāsim no siempre se mantuvieron, sino que caracterizaron más bien el fiqh «temprano» andalusí. (shrink)

Tras una rápida revisión de los escasos datos conocidos sobre la vida y la obra de Ibn Abī l-Riŷāl , se analiza el contenido de su Urŷūza fī aḥkām al-nuŷūm comparándola con su célebre al-Kitāb al- Barī‘ fī aḥkām al-nuŷūm concluyéndose que se trata de dos obras independientes y que la Urŷūza no es un resumen del Barī‘. El trabajo continúa con datos biobibliográficos del historiador, matemático y astrólogo Ibn Qunfuḏ al-Qusanṭīnī , autor de un comentario a la Urŷūza de (...) Ibn Abī l-Riŷāl dedicado a Abū Bakr b. Abī Muŷāhid Gazī Ibn al-Kās, visir de los sultanes meriníes Abū Fāris y Abū Zayyān . La obra parece haber sido redactada durante el breve reinado de este último y antes de la deportación del dedicatario a Mallorca en 1375. Se analiza el contenido del comentario, las fuentes citadas en el mismo, las técnicas astrológicas utilizadas tanto por Ibn Qunfuuḏ como por Ibn Abī l-Riŷāl y el uso, por parte del comentarista de un zīŷ derivado del de Ibn Isḥāq. El artículo termina con un comentario detallado de los horóscopos contenidos en la obra de los que uno corresponde al equinoccio vernal del año 571 de JC, en el que se produjo una conjunción de Saturno y Júpiter que anunció el advenimiento del Islam, mientras que los once restantes constituyen una historia astrológica del Marruecos meriní entre 1348 y 1366. Dos de ellos habían sido publicados en un artículo anterior. En lo que respecta a los nueve restantes, en seis de ellos se identifica el sujeto o acontecimiento al que aluden, quedando tres por identificar. (shrink)

El manuscrito 2461 de la Biblioteca General de Rabat conserva un tercer zi)3 del astrónomo Muhammad ibn al-Raqqám al-Andalusí (m. 1315): al-Ziy al-Mustawfa. Los cánones (capitulo 18) y la tabla del movimiento del apogeo de al-Mustawfa están relacionados con el trabajo de Ibm Isháq al-Túnisí (1193-1222), quien compiló, probablemente, un conjunto de tablas carentes de cánones. Ibn al-Raqqám conocía bien el ziy de Ibn Isháq del que realizó dos recensiones conocidas hasta ahora: al-Ziy al- amil y al-Ziy al-Qawim. En al-Mustawfó, (...) tercera recensión de la misma obra, Ibn al-Raqqám aclara cuál era la opinión de Ibn Isl3áq sobre el movimiento de los apogeos planetarios y la división que existía, a este respecto, entre los astrónomos de la escuela andaluso-magrebí. (shrink)

The Hippocratic Aphorisms is a well-known treatise which was very popular throughout the ages. This paper studies the Arabic translation of [Hdotu]unayn ibn Ishaq, the renowned Arab translator, of the first book of the Aphorisms as well as the commentary of Ibn al-Nafis, the thirteenth-century Arab doctor, on the same book. This study highlights the difficulties that occasionally confronted the Arab commentator while commenting. The obscurity of a few Hippocratic sentences as well as [Hdotu]unayn's interpretation and alteration in meaning (...) were probable sources for those difficulties. Ibn al-Nafis, however, was unaware of the role played by [Hdotu]unayn in shaping the Arabic text. Ibn al-Nafis reflected a deep trust in the Arabic text to the degree of commenting on every single word. He used both his intellect and his knowledge of other commentaries to solve those problematic phrases. He did not exhibit an interest in philological matters to help explain the text. His commentaries reflect his respect and appreciation for both Hippocrates and Galen, the latter of whom exercised some influence on [Hdotu]unayn and Ibn al-Nafis in their understanding of the work. Nonetheless both [Hdotu]unayn and Ibn al-Nafis showed traces of independence from Galen's influence. (shrink)

This brief note aims at contributing to the study of the reception of parabiblical narratives in hadith literature and Islamic historiography. Taking the Testament of Abraham as a case study, it sets out to analyse a particular literary motif shared by this text and an early version of the miʿrāǧ (Ascension) of the Prophet Muhammad. The comparative analysis demonstrates that the Testament of Abraham could have provided a number of elements for the redaction of at least one particular section of (...) the miʿrāǧ. This hypothesis finds support in other cases of textual correspondence between several sections of the Testament of Abraham and other Islamic works such as the Tafsīr of Muqātil ibn Sulaymān (d. 150/767), the unedited Kitāb Mubtadaʾ al-dunyā wa-qiṣaṣ al-anbiyāʾ of Abū Ḥuḏayfa al-Buḫārī Isḥāq ibn Bišr (d. 206/821) and Ibn ʿAsākir’s Taʾrīḫ madīnat Dimašq (d. 571/1176). The examined material thus throws additional light on the continuity between late antique apocrypha and nascent Arabic literature. (shrink)

Abū al-Ma’ālī Sadr al-Dīn Muhammad b. Ishāq al-Qūnawī nacque probabilmente a Konya nel 605/1209 e morì nel 673/1274. L’influenza che Ibn al-’Arabī esercitò su Qūnawī fu decisiva e lo _shaykh al-akbar_ riservò questa questa particolare formazione esclusivamente a lui, forse proprio perché il compito del suo erede spirituale e interprete era già stato “ previsto”. In questo intervento tracceremo uno dei punti fondamentali del pensiero di Qūnawī, basandoci sulla prima epistola del carteggio che si concentra proprio sulla questione del _rapporto (...) tra conoscenza filosofica e illuminazione divina_, questione che si ritrova nell’opera del nostro sufi e che lo contraddistingue all’interno del pensiero sufi in generale, collocandolo nella scuola ibnarabiana. Abū al-Ma‘ālī Sadr al-Dīn Muhammad b. Ishāq al-Qūnawī was born probably in Konya in 605/1209 and died in 673/1274. The influence that Ibn al-‘Arabī exerted on Qūnawī was decisive and the _shaykh al-akbar_ reserved this intense education and this particular training exclusively for him, perhaps precisely because the task of his spiritual heir and interpreter had already been “foreseen”. In this intervention we will trace one of the fundamental points of Qūnawī’s thought, relying on the first epistle of the correspondence that focuses precisely on the question of the _relationship between philosophical knowledge and divine illumination_, a question that is found throughout the work of our Sufi and that it distinguishes it within Sufi thought in general, placing it within the Ibnarabian school. (shrink)

Yaaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi’s philosophy was a fundamental beginning for Arabic mediaeval philosophy. This philosopher was a great admirer and student of Greek philosophy, and influenced philosophers such as Avicenna. Some of his treatises were translated into Latin.

Name der Zeitschrift: Der Islam Jahrgang: 94 Heft: 2 Seiten: 385-422.

This paper discusses two passages from Alexander of Aphrodisias’s commentary on Aristotle’s _ Topics _ that are transmitted in Ps-Jābir’s _ Kitāb al-Nukhab _. It argues that the Arabic translation of Alexander’s commentary may have been made from a fuller version than what came down to us in Greek. Especially since the author(s) of the Jābir-corpus form a tradition different from the school of Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq (d. 873) and authors associated to the ‘Baghdad school’, whose earliest figure is Abū (...) Bishr Mattā b. Yūnus (d. 940), the Arabic fragments of Alexander’s commentary preserved in the _ Kitāb al-Nukhab _ promise to shed more light on the early reception of the _ Topics _ and the different contexts in which Aristotelian dialectic was studied in the Islamic world. (shrink)

This paper discusses two passages from Alexander of Aphrodisias’s commentary on Aristotle’s Topics that are transmitted in Ps-Jābir’s Kitāb al-Nukhab. It argues that the Arabic translation of Alexander’s commentary may have been made from a fuller version than what came down to us in Greek. Especially since the author of the Jābir-corpus form a tradition different from the school of Ḥunayn b. Isḥāq and authors associated to the ‘Baghdad school’, whose earliest figure is Abū Bishr Mattā b. Yūnus, the Arabic (...) fragments of Alexander’s commentary preserved in the Kitāb al-Nukhab promise to shed more light on the early reception of the Topics and the different contexts in which Aristotelian dialectic was studied in the Islamic world. (shrink)

The Greek original of Galen's is lost, nor has a copy of the complete translation into Arabic, made by Hunayn b. Ishāq in the first half of the ninth century, come down to us, though some passages of it are quoted by various Arab authors. A summary of the translation, however, was discovered by P. Kraus in a miscellaneous manuscript in Cairo and published by him in the Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Egypt, vol. (...) v/i. (shrink)

The Greek original of Galen's is lost, nor has a copy of the complete translation into Arabic, made by Hunayn b. Ishāq in the first half of the ninth century, come down to us, though some passages of it are quoted by various Arab authors. A summary of the translation, however, was discovered by P. Kraus in a miscellaneous manuscript in Cairo and published by him in the Bulletin of the Faculty of Arts of the University of Egypt, vol. (...) v/i. (shrink)

Cosmological arguments attempt to prove the existence of God by appeal to the necessity of a first cause. Schematically, a cosmological argument will thus appear as: (1) All contingent beings have a cause of existence. (2) There can be no infinite causal chains. (3) Therefore, there must be some non-contingent First Cause. Cosmological arguments come in two species, depending on their justification of the second premiss. Non-temporal cosmological arguments, such as those of Aristotle and Aquinas, view causation as requiring explanatory (...) or conceptual priority, and thus insist that there can be no infinite regresses in such priority. Temporal cosmological arguments, also called kalam cosmological arguments due to their historical roots in Islamic kalam philosophers such as Abu Yusuf Ya'qub b. Ishaq al-Kindi and Abu Ali al-Hussain ibn Sina, view causation as requiring temporal priority, and thus insist that there can be no infinite temporal regresses.1 The kalam cosmological argument thus requires some supporting argument showing the incoherence of an infinite temporal regress of causally related events. William Lane Craig, in "The Finitude of the Past and the Existence of God"2, attempts to provide such an argument: (4) An actual infinite cannot exist. (5) An infinite temporal regress of events is an actual infinite. (6) Therefore an infinite temporal regress of events cannot exist. (9) I will not be concerned here with the general status of cosmological arguments, kalam or otherwise, or with contesting Craig's assumption that an infinite past would (unlike an infinite future) constitute a problematic actual infinity. I am rather concerned with Craig's general working principle, embodied in (4) above, that actual infinities are impossible. Craig, of course, is not alone in denying the possibility of the actually infinite. Resistance to such infinities is at least as old as Aristotle (Physics 3.5.204b1 – 206a8), and, as Craig rightly points out, persists through much of modern (i.e., post-scholastic, pre-twentieth-century) philosophy.. (shrink)

Pythagoras -- Confucius -- Heracleitus -- Parmenides -- Zeno of Elea -- Socrates -- Democritus -- Plato -- Aristotle -- Mencius -- Zhuangzi -- Pyrrhon of Elis -- Epicurus -- Zeno of Citium -- Philo Judaeus -- Marcus Aurelius -- Nagarjuna -- Plotinus -- Sextus Empiricus -- Saint Augustine -- Hypatia -- Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius -- Śaṅkara -- Yaqūb ibn Ishāq aṣ-Ṣabāḥ al-Kindī -- Al-Fārābī -- Avicenna -- Rāmānuja -- Ibn Gabirol -- Saint Anselm of Canterbury -- al-Ghazālī -- (...) Peter Abelard -- Averroës -- Zhu Xi -- Moses Maimonides -- Ibn al-'Arabī -- Shinran -- Saint Thomas Aquinas -- John Duns Scotus -- William of Ockham -- Niccolò Machiavelli -- Wang Yangming -- Francis Bacon, Viscount Saint Alban (or Albans), Baron of Verulam -- Thomas Hobbes -- René Descartes -- John Locke -- Benedict de Spinoza -- Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz -- Giambattista Vico -- George Berkeley -- Charles-Louis de Secondat, baron de La Brède et de Montesquieu -- David Hume -- Jean-Jacques Rousseau -- Immanuel Kant -- Moses Mendelssohn -- Marie-Jean-Antoine-Nicolas de Caritat, marquis de Condorcet -- Jeremy Bentham -- Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel -- Arthur Schopenhauer -- Auguste Comte -- John Stuart Mill -- Søren Kierkegaard -- Karl Marx -- Herbert Spencer -- Wilhelm Dilthey -- William James -- Friedrich Nietzsche -- Friedrich Ludwig Gottlob Frege -- Edmund Husserl -- Henri Bergson -- John Dewey -- Alfred North Whitehead -- Benedetto Croce -- Nishida Kitarō -- Bertrand Russell -- G.E. Moore -- Martin Buber -- Ludwig Wittgenstein -- Martin Heidegger -- Rudolf Carnap -- Sir Karl Popper -- Theodor Wiesengrund Adorno -- Jean-Paul Sartre -- Hannah Arendt -- Simone de Beauvoir -- Willard Van Orman Quine -- Sir A.J. Ayer -- Wilfrid Sellars -- John Rawls -- Thomas S. Kuhn -- Michel Foucault -- Noam Chomsky -- Jürgeb Gabernas -- Sir Bernard Williams -- Jacques Derrida -- Richard Rorty -- Robert Nozick -- Saul Kripke -- David Kellogg Lewis -- Peter (Albert David) Singer. (shrink)

İstihsânın tanımı ve meşrûiyeti problemi, fıkıh usûlünün önemli tartışma konularından biridir. Hanefî kurucu imamları ile İmâm Mâlik’in, hukukun katılığını gidermek için kullanmış olduğu bu yönteme, ilk dönemlerden itibaren çeşitli itirazlar yönelmiştir. Malikiler de istihsânı kullanmasına rağmen, istihsâna yönelik ağır eleştiriler Hanefîler üzerine yoğunlaşmıştır. İmam Şafiî’nin ağır eleştirisi sonrasında Hanefî usûlcüler, istihsânı hem tanımlamak hem de meşrû olduğunu kanıtlamak için çeşitli ilmî faaliyetlerde bulunmuşlardır. Özellikle Ebü’l-Hasen el-Kerhî ve Ebû Bekr el-Cessâs ile başlayan bu süreç, diğer mezhep usûlcülerinin de katkısıyla zengin bir (...) birikimi ortaya çıkarmıştır. Kerhî’nin istihsân tanımının, usûlcüler arasında şöhret bulduğu ve usûl eserlerinde istihsânın meşruiyetinin bu tanım üzerinden yapıldığı görülmektedir. Kerhî’nin istihsânın meşruiyetine yönelik değerlendirmeleri, öğrencisi Cessâs ile sonraki asırlarda Ebû Zeyd ed-Debûsî, Ebü’l-Usr el-Pezdevî ve Şemsüleimme es-Serahsî tarafından da devam ettirilmiştir. Cessâs’ın istihsânın meşruiyetine yönelik açıklamaları ise İmam Şâfiî’nin istihsân aleyhine yönelik sözlerinin eleştirisi ile başlar. O, istihsânı temelde iki alt başlığa ayırarak, meşruiyet delillendirmesi yapar. İstihsânı lafız ve mâna olmak üzere iki kısımda ele alan Cessâs, lafzî olarak istihsânın kullanılmasında herhangi bir ihtilafın bulunmadığını, bunu bütün müçtehitlerin kabul ettiğini, dahası istihsâna karşı olan İmam Şâfiî’nin bile bu anlamdaki istihsânı kullandığını söyler. Ona göre üzerinde tartışma olan istihsân türü ise ikinci kısımdaki; yani mana itibariyle olan istihsândır. Cessâs, bu kısmın da esasında kıyas ameliyesi olduğunu, İmam Muhammed eş-Şeybânî’nin eserlerine gönderme yaparak ispata çalışır. Gerçekten de İmam Muhammed’in eserlerinde, istihsânın kullanım alanlarına bakıldığında, pek çok yerde çatışan iki kıyasın varlığı görülmektedir. Dahası İmam Muhammed, bazen “istihsânın bu türü kıyasa dahildir.” diyerek açıkça istihsânın -en azından bazı türlerini- kıyas içerisinde değerlendirmiştir. Hanefî usûlcüler, istihsân tanım ve değerlendirmelerini, muarızlarının da kabul edebileceği şekilde yapmak suretiyle istihsâna yönelik olumsuz havayı kırmak istemişlerdir. İstihsânın “Daha güçlü delil sebebiyle benzerlerine verilen hükümden vazgeçmektir.” şeklindeki tanımı genel kabul görmüştür. Burada istihsân, kıyas ile ilişkilendirerek tanımlanmış; güçlü olan delile istihsân, zayıf olan delile ise kıyas denilmiştir. İstihsânın kıyas ile ilişkilendirilerek tanımlanması isabetli olmakla birlikte, yine bu tanımlarda istihsânın kıyastan daha güçlü olduğu tezi, İmam Muhammed’in istihsâna dair verdiği örneklerle birlikte değerlendirildiğinde, zaman zaman tanım ile tanımlanan arasında tezatlar oluşturmaktadır. Zira çoğu durumda kıyas ile istihsân çatıştığında, istihsân alınmakla birlikte, tam tersi durumun; yani kıyasın alındığı durumlar da olabilmektedir. Bunlardan başka İmam Muhammed’in eserlerinde, Kerhî’nin de tasnifini yaptığı istihsân çeşitlerine yönelik örnekler bulunmakla birlikte, bazen kıyasın istihsânen alınması gibi garip durumlar ile de karşılaşılmaktadır. Bu da zikri geçen tanımların “efrâdını câmî, ağyârını mâni” olmadığı anlamına gelir. İstihsâna yönelik menfi tutum, bir kısım Şâfiî çevrelerde devam etmiş, istihsânın meşrûiyetine yönelik eleştiriler fıkıh usûlü eserlerinde varlığını sürdürmüştür. İstihsân, Şâfiî çevrelerce “delilsiz hüküm verme” olarak tanımlandığından, şer‘î bir delil olan kıyasın şer‘î olmayan -Gazzâlî’nin deyimi ile mevhum- bir delil olan istihsân sebebiyle terkedilmesini kabul etmemişlerdir. Zâhirîlerden İbn Hazm ise istihsânın keyfiliğe kapı araladığını, istihsânı kullananların verdiği örnekler üzerinden iddia eder. Ona göre, Hanefîlerin istihsân olarak kabul ettiği bir durumu, Mâlikîler istikbah olarak kabul edebilmektedir. Bu da apaçık bir çelişkiyi doğurmaktadır. İbn Hazm’ın bu değerlendirmesinin haklılık tarafı yok değildir. Zira İmam Muhammed’in el-Hücce alâ ehli’l-Medîne isimli eserinde, Mâlikîlerin istihsânının eleştirildiği görülürken, Mâlikîlerden el-Bâcî’nin eserlerinde Hanefîlerin istihsânının eleştirildiği görülmektedir. İstihsân eleştirisi, Ebû İshâk eş-Şîrâzî, İmâmü’l-Harameyn el-Cüveynî ve Gazzâlî gibi Şâfiîler tarafından da devam ettirilmiştir. Cüveynî, istihsânı istinbâta değil, nefsin şehvetine dayanan bir yöntem olarak görürken, Gazzâlî, istihsanı indî yorum olarak görür. İstihsâna karşı olumsuz tavrın temel sebebi, kanaatimizce, tanımlar üzerinden yürütülmüş, içerik çoğu zaman ihmal edilmiştir. Oysa İmam Muhammed’in eserlerine bakıldığında, istihsânın sanılanın aksine bir aslının bulunduğu, bu aslın bazen bir eser, bazen bir zaruret, bazen başka bir kıyas, bazen de örf olduğu görülür. In legal methodology, the problem of the defining istiḥsān and the legitimacy of its definition is among the critical discussion topics. To overcome the rigorism of law, istiḥsān was used by the founder scholars of Ḥanafī school of law and Malik b. Anas - however this use received various objections. Although the Mālikī scholars also used istiḥsān strong criticisms of istiḥsān have been directed on the Ḥanafīs. After the severe criticism of Muḥammad b. Idrīs al-Shāfiʿī, the Ḥanafī scholars carried out various intellectual activities to define istiḥsān and to prove that it is legitimate. This process -which started especially with Abū’l-Ḥasan al-Karkhī and Abū Bakr al-Jaṣṣāṣ, revealed a rich accumulation with the contribution of the legal theorists in other school of laws. It is known that al-Karkhī's definition of istiḥsān has become widespread among the legal theorists, and the legitimacy of istiḥsān in the works of legal theory was based on his definition. Al-Karkhī's considerations on the legaliticamy of using istiḥsān can be traced in his student al-Jaṣṣāṣ, in the following centuries, Abū Zayd al-Dabūsī, Abū l-‘Usr al-Bazdawī and al-Sarakhsī’s works. Al-Jaṣṣāṣ' explanations on the legitimacy of istiḥsān begin with the criticism of Imam al-Shāfiʿī's against istiḥsān. He provides the proof of legitimacy for istiḥsān in divided two sub-headings. Al-Jaṣṣāṣ, who deals with istiḥsān in two parts as word and meaning, argues that there is no disagreement about the use of istiḥsān and that all mujtahids accept istiḥsān, and even al-Shāfiʿī, who opposes to the use of istiḥsān, employs istiḥsān in this sense. The type of istiḥsān on which there is a deabte is the istiḥsān used in relation to its meaning. Al-Jaṣṣāṣ states that this use is a qiyas operation; he justifies his point of view by referring to the works of Muḥammad b. Hasan al-Shaybānī. Indeed, when we look at how al-Shaybānī explained the istiḥsān’s examples in his works, it is seen that there are two conflicting juristic analogy made in many examples. Moreover, al-Shaybānī openly considered some types of istiḥsān part of qiyas by stating that some examples “can be included in this type of istiḥsān” Ḥanafī scholars wanted to break the hostile atmosphere toward istiḥsān by defining and evaluating the istiḥsān in a way that their opponents could accept. The definition of Istiḥsān “to abandon the judgment given to similar ones due to stronger evidence.” has been generally accepted. In this definition, istiḥsān is defined by associating with qiyas, and referred to an istihsan that is presented as the more substantial evidence, and qiyas is the weaker evidence. Although it is appropriate to define istiḥsān in relation to qiyas, the claim that in the definition istiḥsān is put in stronger place than qiyas might casuse to some the contradictions- in particular when the example’s of al-Shaybānī are taken into consideration. Because in most cases, when qiyas conflicts with istiḥsān, istiḥsān is taken. But in an opposite case, qiyas might be taken. Apart from these, there are examples of the types of istiḥsān that al-Karkhī has classified in the works of al-Shaybānī, but sometimes there are also strange situations such as taking the qiyas by istiḥsān. This also means that the term is not sufficiently defined. The negative attitude towards istiḥsān in some Shāfiʿī circles and the criticisms against the legitimacy of istiḥsān continued in the works of the fiqh method. Istiḥsān is defined as making a judgment without evidence by Shāfiʿī circles. Therefore, they did not accept the abandonment of qiyas, which is a sharī proof, because of istiḥsān, which is a non-sharī notable proof. Based on the examples given by the users of istiḥsān, Ibn Ḥazm, one of the Ẓāhirītes, claims that istiḥsān opens the door to arbitrariness. According to him, a situation that is accepted as istiḥsān according to Ḥanafīs can be taken as istiḥsān according to Mālikīs. This creates an apparent contradiction. There are some valid points in the assessment of Ibn Ḥazm. Because while it is seen that the istiḥsān of Mālikīs is criticized in al-Shaybānī's book named al-Ḥujjah, it can be also found that the istiḥsān of Ḥanafīs is charged in the works of Abū’l-Walīd al-Bājī, one of the Mālikīs. The criticism toward istiḥsān was continued by Shāfiʿīs such as Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī, Imam al-Haramayn al-Juwaynī and Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī. While al-Juwaynī sees istiḥsān as a method based on the lust of the soul, not istinbat/legal deduction, al-Ghazālī understands istiḥsān as a personal comment. The main reason for the negative attitude towards istiḥsān is that the content based on the definitions, has been neglected most of the time. However, when we look at the works of al-Shaybānī, it can be seen that there is a proof of istiḥsān contrary to what is believed-and that this can be sometimes a work, sometimes a necessity, sometimes another comparison, or sometimes a custom. (shrink)

The main evidence used in a matter of proving prophethood in Kalām is miracles. For this reason, other extraordinary situations that miraculously occur have always been on the agenda of theologians. Of these the most similar to miracle is karāma events that occur extraordinary in the hands of Walī. Karāma has been discussed on certain theoretical grounds in kalām books during the beginning period of Sunnī kalām. As in other theological debates, the leading adversaries of Sunnī theologians in the issue (...) of karāma were Muʿtazilite theologians. This study discusses approaches towards karāma in early period of Sunnī kalām. Accordingly, the scholars who determined the basic approaches of Ashʿariyya and Māturīdiyya kalām schools are included in the study. İmām al-Ashʿarī, Ibn Fūrak, al-Bāqillānī, ʿAbd al-Qāhir al-Baghdādī, Abu’l-Maʿālī İmām al-ḥaramayn al-Juwaynī, Abū ʿAbdallāh al-Ḥalīmī and Abū Isḥāq al-Isfarāyīnī from Ashʿarī school; Abū Manṣūr al-Māturīdī, Ḥakīm as-Samarqandī, Abū al-Yusr al-Bazdawī and Abū al-Muīn an-Nasafī from Māturīdiyya school, in this context, are included in the study. Besides, some authors from fields other than kalām are included in the scope of the study in order to determine the first use of the concept of karāma and different approaches are discussed. In the study, after the views of the theologians on the subject are presented descriptively, these views are critically assessed. (shrink)

La linguistique arabe est sans aucun doute la première science conçue et cultivée en arabe pour répondre à certains besoins scientifiques et idéologiques de la nouvelle société islamique. Les premiers travaux en ce domaine datent du VIII e siècle, et leurs auteurs, les premiers linguistes, sont précisément contemporains de l'arabisation des institutions, de l'administration, de la monnaie etc., sous le Khalife Omeyade ʿAbd al-Malik ibn Marwān. Ces premiers travaux étaient intimement liés à l'exégèse coranique, à l'orthoépie coranique, à la jurisprudence (...) islamique, c'est-à-dire aux disciplines associées à l'organisation de la nouvelle société et à sa culture. C'est à cette époque qu'Abū al-Aswad al-Duʾalī inventa des signes graphiques permettant de distinguer les différentes fonctions grammaticales des éléments linguistiques. C'est à la même époque que l'on a engagé la codification massive et systématique des données de l'arabe, comme en témoignent, à peine plus tard, les travaux d'ʿAbdallāh ibn Isḥāq , d'Abū ʿAmr ibn al-ʿAlāʾ et de bien d'autres. Ils ont également initié l'étude de la grammaire au sens large, puisque celle du système phonétique y est incluse. Tous ces travaux ont tracé la voie de plusieurs disciplines: phonologie, phonétique, métrique, lexicographie, et favorisé la naissance des grandes théories du langage. Et, de fait, au cours de la seconde moitié du VIII e siècle, al-Khalīl ibn Aḥmad a fondé plusieurs de ces disciplines. Sa connaissance des mathématiques et son recours aux procédés combinatoires l'ont aidé non seulement à inventer des disciplines telles que la métrique et la lexicographie, mais aussi à formuler les catégories grammaticales. Son élève, l'éminent linguiste Sībawayh, a ensuite codifié la plupart des analyses et des explications d'al-Khalīl, et les a enrichies en maintes occasions. Cette période héroïque de la linguistique arabe s'est prolongée grâce à de grands successeurs qui vont fonder des écoles linguistiques à Bassorah, Kufa, Bagdad, etc. D'autres écoles ont également vu le jour à Fuṣṭāṭ et ailleurs, et la recherche linguistique va ainsi se poursuivre jusqu'à la fin du XI e siècle, au moins. (shrink)

The Arabic philosophical fable _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _is a classic of medieval Islamic philosophy. Ibn Tufayl, the Andalusian philosopher, tells of a child raised by a doe on an equatorial island who grows up to discover the truth about the world and his own place in it, unaided—but also unimpeded—by society, language, or tradition. Hayy’s discoveries about God, nature, and man challenge the values of the culture in which the tale was written as well as those of every contemporary society. (...) Goodman’s commentary places _Hayy Ibn Yaqzan _in its historical and philosophical context. The volume features a new preface and index, and an updated bibliography. “One of the most remarkable books of the Middle Ages.”—_Times Literary Supplement_ “An enchanting and puzzling story.... The book transcends all historical and cultural environments to settle upon the questions of human life that perpetually intrigue men.”—_Middle East__ Journal_ “Goodman has done a service to the modern English reader by providing a readable translation of a philosophically significant allegory.”—_Philosophy East and West_ “Add[s] bright new pieces to an Islamic mosaic whose general shape is already known.”—_American Historical Review_. (shrink)