The Comprehensive Epistle
An Arabic Critical Edition and English Translation of Al-Risãla Al-Jãmi'a, Vol. 1
Will be published approx. on 6. August 2026
Book
Hardback
256 pages
978-0-19-898007-0 (ISBN)
Description
The Risãla al-Jãmi'a ('The Comprehensive Epistle'), attributed to the anonymous Ikhwãn al-Safã?, is an important document in the history of philosophy, sciences, and religious thought in medieval Islamic civilization. Also known as 'The Crown of the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity', it represents the culmination of those 52 Epistles which constitute the oldest mediaeval encyclopaedia of sciences, thought to date from the 10th century. Yet, while following the main themes and four classificatory sections of the Rasã'il, the Jãmi'a distils rather than summarizes the content, delving further into esoteric topics and adopting a more distinctly Ismaili position. In support of their doctrine, the Ikhw?n marshal rational and textual evidence based on the Qur'an and scripture on the one hand and the works of Hellenic as well as Islamic philosophers on the other.
The present volume consists of Chapters 1-63 of the first half of the Jãmi'a, covering mainly the first section of the Ras??il (Riyãiyya ta 'limiyya, Propaedeutical-mathematical sciences) and including also an extended discussion on good and evil. This new critical edition draws on 20 manuscripts to establish a more reliable edition of the Arabic text. Translated here for the first time into English and copiously annotated, the work is elucidated by technical and analytical introductions.
The present volume consists of Chapters 1-63 of the first half of the Jãmi'a, covering mainly the first section of the Ras??il (Riyãiyya ta 'limiyya, Propaedeutical-mathematical sciences) and including also an extended discussion on good and evil. This new critical edition draws on 20 manuscripts to establish a more reliable edition of the Arabic text. Translated here for the first time into English and copiously annotated, the work is elucidated by technical and analytical introductions.
More details
Persons
Mourad Kacimi is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Philology, Translation and Communication at the University of Valencia. He was awarded a doctorate in Arab and Islamic Studies from the University of Alicante in 2015. In 2012, he published the first monograph on the medieval Catalan novel Història de Jacob Xalabín. He is the author of studies and translations of Arabic historical, literary, and philosophical texts, which span Islamic thought and science, Arab-Islamic cultural traditions, medieval Arab-Islamic history, and Arabic literature (medieval and contemporary). He has also published various articles and book chapters on his current area of focus, the Brethren of Purity (Ikhwãn al-Safã').
Carmela Baffioni is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, having previously been Professor of the History of Islamic Philosophy and Professor of the History of Muslim Philosophies and Sciences at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale' until 2012. Professor Baffioni is also a member of the Academia Europaea, the Accademia Ambrosiana, the Academie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences and the Accademia dei Lincei.
Carmela Baffioni is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Ismaili Studies, having previously been Professor of the History of Islamic Philosophy and Professor of the History of Muslim Philosophies and Sciences at the University of Naples 'L'Orientale' until 2012. Professor Baffioni is also a member of the Academia Europaea, the Accademia Ambrosiana, the Academie Internationale d'Histoire des Sciences and the Accademia dei Lincei.
Content
- Foreword
- Editor's Introduction
- Translator's Introduction
- Index
- Index of Qur'anic citations
- Bibliography