Work · Philosophy in the Islamic World
The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects
Survey in two parts: the communities with a revealed scripture – Muslims, Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians and dualists – and those who follow their own opinion, among them the Greek philosophers from Thales to Proclus, the Arabic philosophers, above all Ibn Sina, and the religions of India; doctrines are reported in their own terms before any judgement.
Introduction
Al-Shahrastani completed “The Book of Religious and Philosophical Sects” (Kitāb al-milal wa-l-niḥal) in 1127–28 and dedicated it to the Seljuq vizier al-Marwazi. Five introductions explain the method: doctrines are classified by how their adherents relate to revelation and reported in their own terms, without polemic. The first part covers the Muslim schools – Muʿtazilites, Ashʿarites, Shiʿites, Kharijites and others – and then the Jews, Christians, Zoroastrians, Manicheans and other dualists. The second part treats those who follow their own reasoning: the Sabians, the Greek sages from Thales and the Seven Sages to Plato, Aristotle and the commentators, the Arabic philosophers, above all a long and faithful summary of Ibn Sina, the pre-Islamic Arabs and the religions of India. The work became a standard source in the Islamic world; William Cureton edited it in 1842–46, and a French translation with commentary by Daniel Gimaret, Guy Monnot and Jean Jolivet appeared in 1986–93.
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