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[Chapter 16: Ibn Sina, par Shams Inati]
"Ibn Slna, Avicenna (370/980-429/1037), also known as al-Shaykh al-Ra'ls ("Master and Head"), is among the very few medieval Muslim thinkers to have written an autobiography, which was completed by his student Abu 'Ubayd al-Juzjanl. [...]
Ibn Slna was born in Afshanah (a small village neighbouring Bukhara, the capital of the Samanid dynasty), where his father Abd Allah, originally from Balkh, met and married Sitarah. They had three sons, All, al-Husayn (Ibn Slna) and Mahmud. When Ibn Slna was about five years of age, the family moved to Bukhara. There the father was appointed governor of Kharmayathnah, a village in the suburbs of Bukhara.
The rest of the story of Ibn Slna s life, education and career is well known, and there is no need to recount it here in detail. Suffice it to say that the most striking features of this story, as he and al-Juzjanl tell it, are (1) his completing the study of the Qur'an and Islamic literature by the age of ten and the rest of the sciences, including Islamic law, astronomy, medicine, logic and philosophy, by the age of eighteen, and (2) his enormous productivity in spite of the unstable political conditions under which he lived that forced him at times to flee from one territory to another, to move in disguise and even to be imprisoned. His great achievement in the various branches of learning seems to have resulted from a rare memory that enabled him to retain by heart, for example, the Qur'an and Aristotle's Metaphysics; a high intellectual curiosity that helped him consider and solve difficult problems even in his sleep ; and an inner determination that generated extraordinary physical and intellectual energy. The number of works he wrote (estimated to be between 100 and 250), the quality of his work and his other involvement in medical practice, teaching and politics all reveal an unusual level of competence.
At a very early age, Ibn Slna was introduced to various religious, philosophical and scientific teachings. For example, he was introduced to the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Isma'llism by his father, who was a member of this sect. He was also exposed to the Sunni doctrine, as his fiqh teacher, Isma ll al-Zahid, was a Sunni, and to Twelve-Imam Shi'ism. In addition, he was given some background in logic, geometry and astronomy by his other teacher, al-Natill. He exercised his independence of thought very quickly, however. First, he dispensed with teachers, continuing his education on his own; and second, he did not adhere to any of the doctrines to which he was exposed. Rather, he drew on various sources, selecting only what he considered convincing. Thus, we see in his system traces of Platonism, Aristotelianism, Neoplatonism, Galenism, Farablanism and other Greek and Islamic ideas. His system is unique, however, and cannot be said to follow any of the above schools. Even al-Shifd', which reflects a strong Aristotelian tendency, is not purely Aristotelian, as it is usually considered. The theory of creation, for example, which is basically Neoplatonic, and that of prophecy, which is Islamic in essence, are but two examples of its many non-Aristotelian teachings. Al-Juzjanl confirms the uniqueness of this work and asserts that it is nothing but the product of Ibn Sina's own thought. Ibn Slna himself makes a similar point, stressing his originality in this work, especially, in the Logic and Physics.
The most important of Ibn Sina's books are al-Qdnun fi'l-tibb ("The Canon of Medicine"), al-Shifd' ("Healing"), al-Najdh ("Deliverance"), 'Uyiin al-hikmah ("Sources of Wisdom"), Ddnishndma-yi 'ald'i ("The Book of Science Dedicated to Ala al-Dawlah") and al-Ishdrdt wa'l-tanbihdt ("Remarks and Admonitions"). Al-Qdnun fi'l-tibb consists of five parts. Translated into Latin a number of times, it was considered the most important medical source both in the East and in the West for about five centuries (i.e., until the beginning of the eleventh/seventeenth century) and continues to be the primary source of Islamic medicine wherever it is practised to this day, such as the Indo-Pakistani subcontinent. The enormous amount of material in al-Shifd', which is the most detailed philosophical work of Ibn Slna, is grouped under four main topics: Logic, Physics, Mathematics and Metaphysics. Logic is divided into nine parts, Physics into eight, and Mathematics into four. Physics (with the exception of the two parts dealing with animals and plants, which were completed after Mathematics) was the first to be written, followed by Metaphysics, then Logic, and finally Mathematics. Al-Najdh, which is a summary of al-Shifd', also consists of four parts. The Logic, Physics and Metaphysics of this work were prepared by Ibn Slna, and the Mathematics by al-Juzjanl. 'Uyun al-hikmah, known also as al-Mujaz ("Epitome"), seems to have been intended for class instruction in logic, physics and metaphysics.
This is evident from the simplicity, clarity and brevity with which the work is presented. Ddnishndma-yi 'ald'i also consists of four parts and is particularly significant in that it is the first work of Islamic Peripatetic philosophy in the Persian language. Al-Ishdrdt wa 'l-tanbihdt, which is the most mature and most comprehensive philosophical work of Ibn Slna, also consists of Logic, Physics and Metaphysics. It closes with a treatment of mysticism, a treatment that may be classified more properly under ethics considered in its Sufi sense than metaphysics. In addition, Ibn Sina left a number of essays and poems." (pp.230-232)
-Oliver Leaman & Seyyed Hossein Nasr, History of Islamic philosophy, Routledge, 2008 (1996 pour la première édition aux USA et au Canada), 1211 pages.
