Ibn Miskuyah ( Muskūyah, 932–1030), (

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 ...

: مِسْكَوَيْه، أبو علي محمد بن أحمد بن يعقوب مسكويه الرازي) full name Abū ʿAlī Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Yaʿqūb Miskawayh al-Rāzī was a Persian chancery official of the Buyid era, and

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 ...

and

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

from Parandak, Iran. As a

Neoplatonist 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 ...

, his influence on

Islamic philosophy Islamic philosophy is philosophy that emerges from the Islamic tradition. Two terms traditionally used in the Islamic world are sometimes translated as philosophy—''falsafa'' (), which refers to philosophy as well as logic, mathematics, and p ...

is primarily in the area of

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 ...

. He was the author of the first major Islamic work on philosophical ethics entitled the ''Refinement of Character'' ( ''Tahdhīb'' ''al''-''Akhlāq''), focusing on practical ethics, conduct, and the refinement of character. He separated personal ethics from the public realm, and contrasted the liberating nature of reason with the deception and temptation of nature. Miskawayh was a prominent figure in the intellectual and cultural life of his time.

Life

Miskawayh was born in Rey, then under

Ziyarid The Ziyarid dynasty () was an Iranian peoples, Iranian dynasty of Gilaki people, Gilaki origin that ruled Tabaristan from 931 to 1090 during the Iranian Intermezzo period. The empire rose to prominence during the leadership of Mardavij. After his ...

control. Miskawayh may have been a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

convert to

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 ...

, but it seems more likely that it was one of his ancestors who converted. During his early career, he spent his life in

Baghdad Baghdad ( or ; , ) is the capital and List of largest cities of Iraq, largest city of Iraq, located along the Tigris in the central part of the country. With a population exceeding 7 million, it ranks among the List of largest cities in the A ...

, where he served as the secretary of Muhallabi, the vizier of the Buyid

emir Emir (; ' (), also Romanization of Arabic, transliterated as amir, is a word of Arabic language, Arabic origin that can refer to a male monarch, aristocratic, aristocrat, holder of high-ranking military or political office, or other person po ...

Mu'izz al-Dawla Ahmad ibn Buya (Persian language, Persian: احمد بن بویه, died April 8, 967), after 945 better known by his ''laqab'' of Mu'izz al-Dawla (, "Fortifier al-Dawla, of the Dynasty"), was the first of the Buyid emirs of Iraq (region), Iraq, ...

. He was fluent enough in

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

to have translated some pre-Islamic texts in that language into Arabic. After a long service to the Buyids of Iraq, Miskawayh moved to the court of

Rukn al-Dawla Hasan (died September 976), better known by his ''laqab'' as Rukn al-Dawla ( Persian: رکن‌الدوله دیلمی), was the first Buyid amir of northern and central Iran (c. 935–976). He was the son of Buya. Struggle for power Hasan was ...

, where he spent seven years working there with the Buyid vizier

Abu 'l-Fadl ibn al-'Amid Abu 'l-Fadl Muhammad ibn Abi Abdallah al-Husayn ibn Muhammad al-Katib, commonly known after his father as Ibn al-'Amid (died 970) was a Persian statesman who served as the ''vizier'' of the Buyid ruler Rukn al-Dawla for thirty years, from 940 ...

. In 966, a group of '' ghazi'' marched towards the Library of Rey, but Miskawayh managed to save it. After the death of Abu'l-Fadl ibn al-'Amid in 970, Miskawayh continued to serve the latter's son, Abu'l-Fath. In 975, he, along with him, left for

. He later worked as a secretary and librarian for a sequence of viziers, including

'Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw (), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla (; 24 September 936 – 26 March 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from 949 to 983. At the height of his power, he ruled an empire stretching from Makran ...

. Some contemporary sources associated him with the

Brethren of Purity The Brethren of Purity (; also The Brethren of Sincerity) were a secret society of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq, in the 9th or 10th century CE. The structure of the organization and the identities of its members have never been clear."Ha ...

, claiming that some of his writings were used in the compilation of the ''

Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity The ''Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity'' (, Rasā'il Ikhwān al-ṣafā') also variously known as the ''Epistles of the Brethren of Sincerity'', ''Epistles of the Brethren of Purity'' and ''Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Frien ...

''., page = 26 Miskawayh died in 1030 at Ray,Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "Ibn Miskawayh". Encyclopedia Britannica, 1 Jan. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Ibn-Miskawayh. Accessed 12 May 2023. then under Kakuyid control.

Works

*''Al-Fawz al-Akbar'' () - 'The Greatest Victory' contains a

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 ...

description of the

evolution Evolution is the change in the heritable Phenotypic trait, characteristics of biological populations over successive generations. It occurs when evolutionary processes such as natural selection and genetic drift act on genetic variation, re ...

of the soul. The work states that creation begins with God, with the

intellect Intellect is a faculty of the human mind that enables reasoning, abstraction, conceptualization, and judgment. It enables the discernment of truth and falsehood, as well as higher-order thinking beyond immediate perception. Intellect is dis ...

being the first existence to emanate from him. A series of emanations from the intellect results in a

chain of being The great chain of being is a hierarchical structure of all matter and life, thought by medieval Christianity to have been decreed by God. The chain begins with God and descends through angels, humans, animals and plants to minerals. The great ...

, starting with minerals and proceeding through vegetables, animals, and humans, which results in a cyclic spiritual evolution back to the source of man's creation: God. The Indian Islamic scholar Muhammad Hamidullah compared Miskawayh's views to Darwinian evolutionary thought. *''Tajārib al-Umam'' () - 'Experiences of Nations' is one of the first eyewitness chronicles of contemporary events by a Muslim historian. Miskawayh, as an official under the Buyid vizier al-Muhallabi, had access to the internal happenings of the court. The chronicle is a universal history from the beginning of Islam, but it cuts off near the end of the reign of 'Adud al-Dawla. *''Tahdhib al'Akhlaq wa Tathir al'Araq'' () - 'Refinement of Morals and Cleansing of Ethics' his major work in the field of

philosophy 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 ...

treats principally the philosophy of ethics and was written for students. *''Kitab al-Hikma al-Khalida'' () - 'Book of Eternal Wisdom' is an

translation from the Persian work ''Eternal Wisdom'' (). One manuscript is titled ''Book of Literatures of the Arabs and Persians'' ().

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Miskawayh 932 births 1030 deaths 10th-century Arabic-language writers 10th-century Iranian historians 10th-century Iranian philosophers 11th-century Arabic-language writers 11th-century Iranian historians 11th-century Iranian philosophers Alchemists of the medieval Islamic world Historians under the Buyid dynasty Buyid officials Medieval Islamic philosophers Iranian historians of Islam People from Ray, Iran 10th-century Shia Muslims 11th-century Shia Muslims Iranian Arabic-language writers

Life

Works

See also

References

Sources