The sources of Risālah fī ʻilm al-akhlāq

1. The Qurʼan God 5 authority 5 citations · 3 passages

   ch. 1 · ch. 2 · ch. 6

   A scriptural text invoked as decisive proof, attributed by the text itself to divine speech and cited with no reference apparatus.

   He is tender toward His servants, and He is my sufficiency and the best of trustees.

2. Aristotle 1 authority · 1 endorsed 2 citations · 3 passages

   ch. 2 2 passages anchored here · ch. 5

   Aristotle is named as the holder of the position, and the treatise proceeds on it as its own, which is endorsement rather than bare report.

   Arisṭū and those who followed him held that this endures so long as one keeps to the use of the means, which are the virtues confined between the extremes.

3. Rare sayings that pass current as proverbs 1 neutral · 1 endorsed 2 citations · 3 passages

   ch. 1 · ch. 4 2 passages anchored here

   A recognised body of transmitted sayings is invoked as a textual source, with no author attached because the genre is anonymous.

   On what passes current as proverbs, from among the rare sayings.

4. Abū Isḥāq al-Shīrāzī 1 extended 1 citation

   ch. 2

   The note quotes the main text as its object and elaborates it, which is a citation of the work by its annotator.

   [24] ( 1 ) His words, 'because both extremes of justice,' and so forth.

Each stands at a single passage. The chapter carries the anchors.

ch. 1 6 sources

An unattributed panegyric verse on the vizier · Maxims of the excellent on the beauties of conduct · Sayings of the sages on the noble traits of character · The Qurʼanic invocation of the divine name (basmalah) · The revealed Books and the mission of the Messengers · The science of the refinement of character, also called spiritual medicine

ch. 2 11 sources

A lexical definition of conceit as exceeding the measure of one's refinement · A maxim on the blameworthiness of both extremes of the middle course · A saying on the dullard reared among the learned and the clever man reared among the ignorant · Arabic lexical usage of the verb for keeping to the middle · The canons of the medicine of bodies · The demonstrations of the sages on the wretchedness of wicked souls after death · The divine revealed laws set forth by the prophets · The lexical derivation of the epithet for the God-devoted · The prophets' reports of the chastisement awaiting the wicked · The rules of the science of character laid down by the caliphs, the friends of God and the God-devoted sages · The statutory law laid down by men of discernment

ch. 3 20 sources

A maxim on bearing with the bad neighbour · A maxim on losing the roots · A maxim on magnifying one's worth by overlooking base affairs · A maxim on revering superiors and being gentle with inferiors · A maxim on the false brother, the false scholar and the false ascetic · A maxim on the five traits the man who hates disgrace must shun · A maxim on the happy man · A maxim on the ignorant man's dominion and the intelligent man's · A sage's answer on what gladness is · A sage's answer on why he gathers money · An unattributed verse on the spark and the fire · Marginal gloss on 'the learned' (printed note, page 49) · Marginal gloss on al-balam (printed note, page 39) · Marginal gloss on al-khibb (printed note, page 50) · The Qurʼanic phrase that above every man of knowledge there is one who knows more · The counsels of the sages (naṣāʼiḥ al-ḥukamāʼ) · The rulings of the true Law (sharīʻah) · The sayings of the sages on the debauchee, the wrathful and the glutton · Waṣīyat Luqmān li-ibnihi (the counsel of Luqmān to his son) · Waṣīyat al-Furs (the counsel of the Persians)

ch. 4 5 sources

A maxim on books as the containers of wisdom · The doctrine of the Hour and the reckoning of the return · The rule of the revealed law on purification with dust · The saying that God is one and loves the one alone · Verses of admonition

ch. 5 15 sources

A maxim on the best of kings, whom the innocent trusts and the suspect fears · A maxim that he who takes counsel is fortified and he who acts alone errs · A sage's enumeration of the best and ugliest traits of kings · An unattributed hemistich that judgement comes before the courage of the courageous · An unattributed verse on anarchy and chieftains · Another sage's warning against making diversion attractive to a king · Aphorisms closing the second part, on brothers, hardship, judgement and the noble man · Marginal gloss on al-nashz (printed note, page 67) · Marginal gloss on al-nifāq (printed note, page 64) · Marginal gloss on al-tharāʼ (printed note, page 67) · The books of wisdom (kutub al-ḥikmah) · The reports of the kings of ages past · The sage's definition of the man with the best claim to kingship · The saying of Ardashīr ibn Abak on Satan and the hour of anger · The transmitted rule that a judge shall not judge while angry

ch. 6 5 sources

A divine address in the first person on the world, death and the reckoning · A divine address to Mūsá on the wealth of the poor and orphans · A homiletic series addressed to the son of Ādam · A maxim that the man who reflects hits the mark and the man who hurries misses it · The earlier scriptures, the scriptures of Ibrāhīm and Mūsá