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Science of the Cosmos and the Soul [‘Ilm al-’afaq wa al-’anfus]

Edited with notes and Introductions in English and Persian by Gholamreza Dadkhah

Shams al-Din Samarqandi, Gholamreza Dadkhah

Series: Bibliotheca Iranica: Iranshahr Scientific and Philosophical Writings 1
Availability: In stock
Published: 2014
Page #: xii + 300
Size: 6 x 9
ISBN: ISBN 13: 978-1568593272, 1-56859-327-9
plates, bibliography, index, notes


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Quick Overview

This volume is a little-known work of Samarqandi, having been not mentioned in any of the traditional sources. This book was evidently compiled during the later stage of the author`s life and probably at the request of a state official called Zaki ’Ibrahim, to whom Samarqandi also dedicated his commentary on Qistas in 692/1293. As stated in the work, the author had been in Tabriz in 688/1289, which implies that it was written after that date. The "‘Ilm al-’afaq wa al-’anfus," as the name explicitly suggests, contains two categories of sciences: one concerns the external world, and the other is related to the internal world. The work, then, includes most of the author`s thoughts concerning philosophy, physics and Sufism. The two categories, however, are elaborately integrated into a unified science called ‘‘science of the cosmos and the soul,’’ a name having been coined, as Samarqandi holds in the introduction, by the Leader of believers, ‘Ali. The work, therefore, should not be compared with encyclopedic writings such as Jami‘ al-‘ulum of Fakhr al-Din Razi, Durrat al-taj of Qutb al-Din Shirazi (d. 710/1310) and Nafa’is al-funun of Shams al-Din Muhammad Amuli (d. 753/1352), because, though it consists of several parts, each of which is in turn an independent science, the author provides one subject and one end or telos for all the parts. NOTE:Main Text in Persian and Arabic; Introduction in English.

author

Shams al-Din Samarqandi

Shams al-Din Muhammad b. ’Ashraf ?usayni Samarqandi, simply known as Shams al-Din Samarqandi, was an eminent Iranian scientist-philosopher of the 7th/13th and 8th/14th centuries. He was best known in Iran, Turkey and the Indian subcontinent for his works on mathematics, logic, theology and philosophy. Very little is known of Samarqandi`s life; he was evidently a native of Samarqand, the second largest city in Uzbekistan and the capital of the present Samarqand Province. The date of his birth is unknown and that of his death has been a subject of dispute: 600, after 690, 702, 721 and 722 A.H., are posed by both traditional sources and modern scholars. Our research, however, mostly based on manuscript sources, clearly indicates that he was active in the last two decades of the 7th and early decades of the 8th centuries A.H., and that he authored most of his works during this period and very likely died on shawwal 22, 722/ Aban 28, 701/ November 11, 1322.
author

Gholamreza Dadkhah

Gholamreza Dadkhah is a graduate of Tehran University, Faculty of Theology and Islamic Studies. His areas of specialization and interest are the intellectual tradition in sixth and seventh century Transoxiana, and the manuscript transmission of Avicenna's works. Among his publications are the edition of Shams al-Din Samarqandi's (d. 722/1322) Science of the Cosmos and the Soul, the edition of Burhan al-Din Nasafi's (d. 684/1286) Commentary upon the Foundation of Intellectual Perspicacity, and the monograph Logic in Sixth Century Iran (forthcoming).

Acknowledgements vii

List of Illustrations ix

Table of Transliteration xi

INTRODUCTION:

Shams al-Din Samarqandi: His Life and Training 1

Works and Thought 3

Science of the Cosmos and the Soul (‘Ilm al-’afaq wa al-’anfus) 7

Manuscripts Used in Preparing this Edition 10

Sources 12

Persian and Arabic Texts [1-287]

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