Islam Guidance

BOOKS OF GREEK PHILOSOPHERS

Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) had attacked the theories of Ptolemy and Aristotle, when he was a student in the Academy of his father, Imam Muhammad al-Baqir (a.s.), who died in A.H. 114, when the Umayyads were in power. No scientific, mathematical, or philosophical books were received or translated in that period. The work of collection and translation of books began when al-Mansur assumed the caliphate in A.H. 136. In the year 154 of the Hijra, six years after the death of Imam Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) an Indian traveler introduced a treatise on astronomy in Baghdad, which was translated into Arabic by Muhammad Ibne Ibrahim on the order of al-Mansur. The same traveler introduced another treatise on Mathematics by means of which the numerals, which are called Arabic numerals, entered the Muslims world. It was the temptation of a handsome reward, which had lured the people to bring books to Baghdad.
Al-Mansur dispatched emissaries as far as Constantinople to Emperor Leo, in quest of Greek works, and is reported to have received from the Byzantine emperor a number of books including Euclid.
Al-Hajjaj Ibne Yusuf Ibne Matar (169-216 A.H) is credited with making the first translation of the Elements of Euclid and one of the first of Almagest of Ptolemy. But these translations had not been done properly and had to be revised or retranslated during the caliphates of ar-Rashid and al-Mamun.
One of the pioneer Greek translator was Abu-Yayha ibn al-Batriq (179-189 A.H.). He is reported to have translated major works of Galen and Hippocrates for al-Mansur. He is also said to have translated Ptolemy’s Quadripartitum.
Translation work was done sporadically for al-Mansur and ar-Rashid. In A.H. 213 al-Mamun established his Bayt-al-Hikma, which was a combination of Library, Academy and Translation Bureau. He appointed Hunayn ibn-Ishaq as the Superintendent of the Bayt-al-Hikma. As the chief translator of scientific works he was assisted by his son, Ishaq, his nephew Hubaysh ibn al-Hasan and many other students.
Since most of the translators were Aramaic (Syriac) speaking, many of the Greek works, were translated first into Aramaic (Syriac) before their rendition into Arabic. In many cases Hunayn did the initial translation from Greek into Syriac and his colleagues took the second step and translated them from Syriac into Arabic. Aristotle’s Hermeneutica, for instance, was first done from Greek into Syriac by the father and then from Syriac into Arabic by the son, Ishaq, who had studied Arabic. He is credited with translating the works of Galen, Hippocrates and Dioscorides as well as Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Categories, Physics and Magna Moralia.
Another famous group of translators was Thabit ibn Qurrah (219-284 A.H) and his disciples, who were mostly Sabeans from Harran.
They were star-worshippers and as such were interested in astronomy and mathematics. Most probably they studied those subjects from Ja’far as-Sadiq (a.s.) or his students. Thabit and his disciples are credited with translating Greek mathematical and astronomical works including those of Archimedes. He also revised the previous translation of Euclid.

Imam Reza (AS) Network

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