Research Catalog

Details

Additional authors

1. Wright, Owen, 1938-
2. ‏البزري, نادر
3. Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. Rasāʼil. 5. English.

Description

1. xxv, 185, 195 pages cm.

Summary

1. The Ikhwan al-Safa' (Brethren of Purity), the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity based in Basra and Baghdad, hold an eminent position in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopaedia, the Rasa'il Ikhwan al-Safa' (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity). This compendium contains fifty-two epistles offering synoptic accounts of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age; divided into four classificatory parts, it treats themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics, and theology, in addition to didactic fables.
2. The present volume is the third of this definitive series consisting of the very first critical edition of the Rasa'il in its original Arabic, complete with the first fully annotated English translation. Prepared by Professor Owen Wright, Epistle 5: 'On Music' presents technical concepts such as rhythm, tone, and metre, alongside more subtle aspects such as the psychological applications drawn from the fourfold theory of humours and the correspondence of numeric proportions, which emphasize the Ikhwan's view of music as ultimately spiritual in nature.
3. Owen Wright is Professor of Musicology of the Middle East at SOAS, University of London. His research interests focus on the textual sources for the history of music in the Middle East. Previously, he acted as the Editor of the SOAS Musicology Series, which is published by Ashgate (Aldershot). He has several published studies on music, and his latest publications include Demetrius Cantemir: The Collection of Notations II, and articles in various journals. --Book Jacket.

Series statement

1. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity

Uniform title

1. Rasāʼil. 5. English

Alternative title

1. Rasāʼil. 5.
2. ‏رسايل اخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء
3. Rasāʼil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ wa-khullān al-wafāʼ

Subject

1. Music > Philosophy and aesthetics
2. Ästhetik
3. Musik
4. Islamische Philosophie

Call number

1. ReCAP 14-36024

Bibliography (note)

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language (note)

1. Text in Arabic with an English translation.

Author

1. Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.

Alternate script for author

1. اخوان الصفاء.

Title

1. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity : on music : an Arabic critical edition and English translation of Epistle 5 / edited by Owen Wright.

Imprint

1. Oxford : Oxford University Press, 2010.

Type of content

1. text

Type of medium

1. unmediated

Type of carrier

1. volume

Series

1. Epistles of the Brethren of Purity

Bibliography

1. Includes bibliographical references and index.

Language

1. Text in Arabic with an English translation.

Added author

1. Wright, Owen, 1938-
2. Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ.
3. Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ. Rasāʼil. 5. English.

Added title page title

1. Rasāʼil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʼ wa-khullān al-wafāʼ

Alternate script for added title page title

1. رسايل اخوان الصفاء وخلان الوفاء

LCCN

1. 2011384130

ISBN

1. 9780199593989 (hbk.)
2. 0199593981 (hbk.)

Research call number

1. ReCAP 14-36024