''Nasirean Ethics'' () is a 13th-century

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

book in philosophical ethics that is written by Khaje Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. This book is divided to three part:

ethics Ethics is the philosophy, philosophical study of Morality, moral phenomena. Also called moral philosophy, it investigates Normativity, normative questions about what people ought to do or which behavior is morally right. Its main branches inclu ...

domestic economy Domestic may refer to: In the home * Anything relating to the human home or family ** A domestic animal, one that has undergone domestication ** A domestic appliance, or home appliance ** A domestic partnership ** Domestic science, sometimes cal ...

and

politics Politics () is the set of activities that are associated with decision-making, making decisions in social group, groups, or other forms of power (social and political), power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of Social sta ...

Author

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

, and

theologian Theology is the study of religious belief from a religious perspective, with a focus on the nature of divinity. It is taught as an academic discipline, typically in universities and seminaries. It occupies itself with the unique content of ...

that was born into

Shia Shia Islam is the second-largest branch of Islam. It holds that Muhammad designated Ali ibn Abi Talib () as both his political successor (caliph) and as the spiritual leader of the Muslim community (imam). However, his right is understood ...

family in Tus in 1201. He was of the

Ismaili Ismailism () is a branch of Shia Islam. The Isma'ili () get their name from their acceptance of Imam Isma'il ibn Jafar as the appointed spiritual successor ( imām) to Ja'far al-Sadiq, wherein they differ from the Twelver Shia, who accept ...

, and subsequently

Twelver Twelver Shi'ism (), also known as Imamism () or Ithna Ashari, is the Islamic schools and branches, largest branch of Shia Islam, Shi'a Islam, comprising about 90% of all Shi'a Muslims. The term ''Twelver'' refers to its adherents' belief in twel ...

Shia

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic belief. Nasir al-Din has about 150 works in different languages (Persian,

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

).H. Daiber, F.J. Ragep, "Tusi" in Encyclopaedia of Islam. Edited by: P. Bearman, Th. Bianquis, C.E. Bosworth, E. van Donzel and W.P. Heinrichs. Brill, 2007. Brill Online. Quote: "Tusi's prose writings, which number over 150 works, represent one of the largest collections by a single Islamic author. Writing in both Arabic and Persian, Nasir al-Din dealt with both religious ("Islamic") topics and non-religious or secular subjects ("the ancient sciences")."Seyyed Hossein Nasr. The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia. Curson Press, 1996. See p. 208: "Nearly 150 treatises and letters by Nasir al-Din Tusi are known, of which 25 are in Persian and the rest in Arabic. There is even a treatise on geomancy which Tusi wrote in Arabic, Persian, and Turkish, demonstrating his mastery of all three languages."

Reason of writing

At the end of thirteen century, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote this book when he was in

Quhistan Quhistan () or Kohistan (, "mountainous land") was a region of medieval Persia, essentially the southern part of Khurasan. Its boundaries appear to have been south of Khorasan to north, Yazd to West, Sistan to South, Afghanistan to East. Quhistan ...

to response to request of Nasir al-Din Abu al-Fath Abd al-Rahim ibn Abi Mansur, a Nizari Ismaili governor, for translating a famous

book, Tahdhib al-Akhlaq, that was written by Miskawayh. The Miskawayh's book was about ethics but Nasir al-Din al-Tusi added the parts of domestic economy and politics of his work.

Akhlaq-i Nasiri has three parts. The first part is the Persian interpretation of ''Refinement of Morals'' (''Tahdhib al-Akhlaq'') of the earlier philosopher Miskawayh. The second part is about domestic economy and management of household affairs and contains the main mutual rights within the family as the most fundamental units of societies and the third part is about the political ideas of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. In this part is seen the influence of Platonic,

Neoplatonic Neoplatonism is a version of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a series of thinkers. Among the common id ...

and Aristotelian political ideas but also he mentioned to the ideas of Pre-Islamic rulers of

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

specially

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire, also known as the Persian Empire or First Persian Empire (; , , ), was an Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great of the Achaemenid dynasty in 550 BC. Based in modern-day Iran, it was the large ...

and

Sasanian The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranians"), was an Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign ...

Influence over later books

Akhlaq-i Nasiri had influenced

Jalaladdin Davani Jalal al-Din al-Dawani (; 1426/7 – 1502), also known as Allama Davani (), was a theologian, philosopher, jurist, and poet, who is considered to have been one of the leading scholars in late 15th-century Iran. A native of the town of Davan, Fars ...

in Akhlaq-i Jalali, Hosayn Va'iz Kashifi in Akhlaq-i Mohseni and Mulla Mahdi Naraqi in Jame' al-Sa'adat.

References

Bibliography

English translation of the book * {{cite book, author=Nasir ad-Din Tusi, title=The Nasirean Ethics, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pzv-xqd4kA4C, year=2011, publisher=Routledge, isbn=978-0-415-61047-6, translator-last=Wickens, translator-first=G. M. 13th-century Persian books Ethics books

Author

Reason of writing

Contents

Influence over later books

See also

References

Bibliography