Introduction

In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate.

Introduction

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds; and blessing and peace be upon the whole body of the prophets and messengers, and above all upon Muḥammad and his household, the good and the pure.

And now. I chanced upon a manuscript copy of this precious work, the date of whose writing falls about the year 1100 A.H., and I pored long over it at a time when I was engrossed in uncovering the hidden things of the secrets of the science of the soul (ʻilm al-nafs) and in studying its states; and it disclosed itself to me as though it were a wellspring of light out of which break rays that illumine the murk of ignorance — this although it is no more than a few lines, and in them lofty thoughts and high meanings that guide the bewildered man, whom his proof has betrayed, to the evenness of the way. Its style has reached the highest of the degrees of perfection and the loftiest of the ascents of beauty; and no wonder, for its author is the greatest philosopher the seventh century brought forth, and the brightest firebrand that appeared in a pitch-black darkness. So I chose to comment upon it with a commentary that accords with the manner of the age, setting before it an ample introduction which sets out the standing of spirit and matter philosophically in the three eras — the Greek era, then the Arab-Islamic, then the European — and mentioning a summary of modern psychology (al-bisikūlūjiyā) (1), so that it may be sufficient to the purpose; and by it I seek to serve sound science.

A word on the treatise itself

The greatest philosopher, Naṣīr al-Dīn, composed this treatise for his pupil Muʼayyad al-Dīn, the astronomer and engineer, who assisted him at the observatory of Marāghah. Among the ancients its title is mentioned in the roll of his compositions by Muḥammad ibn Shākir ibn Aḥmad al-Kutbī, who died in the year 764, in his book Fawāt al-Wafayāt; and among the moderns it is mentioned by Muḥammad Ḥasan Khān, the celebrated Persian man of letters known as al-Ḥakīm, in his book Kanj Dānish (1) — which he composed on geography and the countries — and by the illustrious scholar Shaykh ʻAbd al-ʻAzīz al-Jawāhirī in his large book Āthār al-Shīʻah al-Imāmīyah

— Notes —

[scan 8] (1) The science of the soul.

[5] (1) Kanj Dānish is a Persian phrase meaning “the storehouse of gnosis”; it inquires into the countries, the histories, and the lives of famous men.