Ibn al-Tayyib

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Abū al-Faraj ʿAbd Allāh ibn al-Ṭayyib

Syriac
into Arabic.

Life

According to

Ibn Abī Uṣaybiʿa's biographical dictionary.[2]

Ibn al-Ṭayyib held the office of patriarchal secretary (kātib al-jāthalīq)

Ibn Sīnā, seems to have heard about it.[2]

There is some uncertainty about the date of Ibn al‑Ṭayyib's death. According to

Ṣalībā ibn Yūḥannā places his burial in AH 434, that is, between August 1042 and August 1043.[8] He records that he was buried in the chapel of the monastery Dayr Durtā.[2][7]

After his death, a debate took place in Cairo between his student Ibn Buṭlān and

ʿAlī ibn Riḍwān concerning whether a medical student should learn only through books or through teachers as well. Ibn Buṭlān defended the role of his teacher.[7]

Works

Over forty works written by Ibn al-Ṭayyib have been identified and all are written in Arabic.[1] Besides his knowledge of Syriac and Arabic, he may have known some Greek.[7]

Samir Khalil Samir notes that in all his works in every genre, Ibn al-Ṭayyib always structures his introduction or prologue in the same way as a series of answers to seven implicit questions: who wrote it, to whom, for what purpose, etc.[9]

Exegesis

Ibn al-Ṭayyib "remains the foremost biblical exegete in Arabic"

Ge'ez and subsequently into Amharic. It was highly influential on the Amharic Andemta commentaries.[11]

Besides the Firdaws, he wrote separate commentaries on the

general epistles, but it is now lost. The three separate commentaries seem to have been abridged for incorporation into the Firdaws. Although his exegetical works are the longest he wrote on religious topics, they are still largely unedited and unpublished. Only the commentary on Genesis in the Firdaws has seen a critical edition. The opening section of the introduction of the Firdaws is lost.[10]

Ibn al-Ṭayyib's exegesis belongs to the traditions of the school of Antioch, emphasising literal, moral and historical interpretation. According to the introduction to his commentary on the Gospels, his goal was the preservation of the Syriac exegetical tradition in Arabic. This seems to have been a motivation in all his exegetical writing. To that end, he was a compiler and synthesist more than an original interpreter. When he relies on Greek fathers like Theodore of Mopsuestia and John Chrysostom, he appears to be drawing from other compilations.[10]

Theology and canon law

Ibn al-Ṭayyib wrote over a dozen treatises on theology. His theological magnum opus was Maqāla fī l-usūl al-dīniyya (Treatise on Religious Principles). It is lost, although a description of its contents survives. Al-Muʾtaman ibn al-ʿAssāl records that he wrote a fourteen-chapter systematic theology (possibly the Maqāla) and a treatise on christology, the Kitāb al-ittiḥād. Despite his close proximity to Muslims, Ibn al-Ṭayyib never mentions Islam in his theological works. A desire to defend against Islamic accusations of tritheism may lie behind his emphasis on the unity of the Trinity.[12]

He held to the traditional theology of the Church of the East and wrote a "Refutation of Those Who Say that Mary is the Mother of God", denying the

Virgin Mary the title of Theotokos. He also wrote a defence of theological rationalism in Qawl fī l-ʿilm wa-l-muʿjiza (Treatise on Science and Miracle).[12]

He wrote a treatise on the

dhimma was permitted to judge these matters among themselves, but errors could lead to lawsuits taken to Islamic courts.[11] He also wrote a short "Response to an Enquiry about the Ending of Marriages and Divorce".[12]

Ibn al-Ṭayyib is probably responsible for the Arabic translation of the Syriac Diatessaron of Tatian.[1]

Philosophy

In philosophy, Ibn al-Ṭayyib was an

Ibn Rushd (Averroes) and the Jewish philosopher Maimonides were all acquainted with his philosophy.[2]

He wrote commentaries on the entire Organon of Aristotle, but only that on the Categories has survived in full and only an abstract of the commentary on the Posterior Analytics survives. He also wrote a commentary on the Isagoge of Porphyry, which was itself an introduction to the Categories. Taken all together, this Aristotelian project seems to have been designed as a curriculum for teaching logic. His commentaries are not particularly original. In structure and content they follow closely the commentaries of Olympiodorus. He is more systematic than his models, endeavouring to build an Aristotelian system exclusively from the texts of Aristotle. His interpretations of Aristotle never derive from other commentators but always exclusively from the Aristotelian texts.[7]

Ibn al-Ṭayyib's commentary on the

Hebrew translation, which was popular among the Jews of medieval Spain. Only a few questions are preserved from the original work in Arabic. It evidently relied on Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq's revision of Aristotle's text.[7] It was cited as a source by Pedro Gallego in his Book of Animals in the 13th century.[5]

Ibn al-Ṭayyib epitomised and paraphrased the

Ibn Miskawayh.[3] He also translated the pseudo-Aristotelian On Virtues and Vices from Syriac.[7]

Medicine

Ibn al-Ṭayyib wrote several medical treatises, including commentaries on Hippocrates and Galen.[1]

He wrote commentaries called thimār on the sixteen collected volumes of Galen known as the Summaria Alexandrinorum, which formed the basis of the curriculum in the medical school of Alexandria.[9][7] Risāla fī l-Quwā al-ṭabīʿīya, his commentary on Galen's On the Natural Forces, prompted a rebuttal by Ibn Sinā and the two works were often copied together.[7]

Notes

  1. ^ Also transliterated Abū l-Faraj ʿAbdallāh ibn al‑Ṭayyib,[2] Abu ʾl-Faradj ʿAbd Allāh ibn al‑Ṭayyib[3] or Ibn aṭ-Ṭaiyib.[4] Ibn al‑Ṭayyib's name has sometimes been mixed up with that of the scribe ʿAbdallāh ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī ʿĪsā al-Shammās al-ʿIbādī, who may have been his secretary.[2]
  2. ^ Also spelled al-ʿIrāḳī.[3] This nisba is not found in medieval sources.[2]
  3. ^ Pedro Gallego in the 13th century called him Abenfarag.[5]
  4. Nestorian.[3]
  5. ʿAḍud al-Dawla (978–983).[7]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i Butts 2018.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Faultless 2010, pp. 667–668.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Vernet 1971.
  4. ^ Faultless 2003, p. 178 n5.
  5. ^ a b Marquant 2013, p. 13 (in the PDF).
  6. ^ Thomas 2001, p. 143.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Ferrari 2011.
  8. ^ a b Faultless 2003, pp. 177–178 n4.
  9. ^ a b Khalil Samir 2001, pp. 23–24.
  10. ^ a b c Faultless 2010, pp. 668–669.
  11. ^ a b c d Wilmshurst 2011, pp. 229–230.
  12. ^ a b c Faultless 2010, pp. 669–670.
  13. ^ Jany 2020, s.v. "The Law of the Church of the East", pp. 117–146, esp. 136–145.
  14. ^ Kaufhold 2012, pp. 308–309.

Bibliography

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