UNESCO COLLECTION OF REPRESENTATIVE WORKS eee The Nasirean Ethics Ee oe ee cornea wale Mates ape re : ‘Educational, Scientific and Culture Organiza- By an Nasir ad-Din Tasi TRANSLATED FROM THE PERSIAN G. M, WICKENS Department of Telamiz Stusier iniversity of Toronto Chairmen of London GEORGE ALLEN & UNWIN LTDinst PUBLISHED 16 1964 ‘the Copyright Act 1936, no portion may be reproduced wrinoa? weit portions Enger) shou be made Toth alison Shady, recareh, eiicions or revit, a ‘This translation © George Allen & Unwin Lid, 1964 Pent Pent Old Spe ibe CONTENTS TRANSLATOR'S INTRODUCTION rae ‘A. Work’ Significance and Special Quality 9 3. Tiss Life and Writings cy c. The Presont Rendering B , The Work’s Style 35 , Purpose of Present Version y F. Acknowledgements 19 . Bibliography 0 Notes to Introduction a AUTHOR'S PREAMBLE 23-32 Exordium 3 Circumstances of Composition 5 Prolegomena, 26 Scheme of Work 29 FIRST DISCOURSE: On Ethics 33-149 35-73 1. Elementary Principles 33 2, The Human or Rational Soul 36 3. The Faculties of the Human Soul a 44. Man, the Noblest Being B 5, The Soul's Perfection and Deficiency 8 6. Wherein lies the Soul’s Perfection st 7. On Good, Felicity and Perfection 59 SECOND Drvisrow: On Ends 74-349 1, Limit, Nature and Alterability of Disposition 74 2, Noblest of Disciplines is Correction of Dis- positions 8 3. Classes of Virtues and Excellences of Dis- positions ry 4. Species within Classes of Virtues 8 5. Types of Vices 8s, 5. 6. Virtues and Pseudo-Virtues 89CONTENTS 7. Justice, Noblest of all Virtues ss 8, Acquisition of Virtues and Degrees of Felicity 108 9, Proserving the Soul's Health 13 x0, Treating the Soul's Sicknesses x22 SECOND DISCOURSE: On Economics 351-184 x. On Households in General 153, 2, Regulation of Property and Provisions 157 3. Regulation of Wives x61 4. Regulation of Children 166 4a. Rights of Parents 18 '5, Government of Servants and Slaves x8r tuiRp DIscouRsE: On Politics 185-260 +x, Need for Civilization and Nature of Politics 187 ‘a, On Love, Connecter of Societies 195 3. Divisions of Societies and Conditions of Cities 252 ‘4 Government of Realm and Manners of Kings 226 5, Government of Retainers and Manners of King's Followers 237 6. On Friendship and Friends 242 7. How to Deal with the Different Classes of ‘Mankind 253 8, Testaments Attributed to Plato 258. NOTES 261-333 INDEX 334-352 INTRODUCTION A. THE SIGNIFICANCE AND SPECIAL QUALITY OF THE AKHLAQ-1 NASIRI ‘Tue Nasirean cthical® digest t¢ ‘mediaeval Islam. It appeared initially least, so its author says in the Supplementary Section On the Rights of Parents, allegedly in- serted between II:4 and IT:5 some thirty years later when Tiist was already a celebrated scholar, religious propagandist, and general man-of-affai of the special circumstances of its composition in his wich was itself the object of subsequent reworking (as indeed the whole book may well have been). This preamble, touching as it does the predicament of a powerful and sensitive mind caught up in a process of violent political and spiritual changes, I of the twentieth century: but it has made little appeal to generations content to view the man nite simply as a self-seeking and hypocritical traitor who, with all his gifts, would have been denied membership of any respectable club, regiment or university of their awn day.e ‘The work, then, has a special significance as being composed by an outstandi ‘igure at a crucial time in the history he was himself spe: some twenty years later Tusi, at the side of the Hulagu, was to cross the greatest psychological Islamic civilization, playing aleading part inthe eapture of Baghdad ‘and the extinction of the generally acknowledged Caliphate there.¢ But even ifone knew nothing ofall ths, it would be dificult not to recognize the cultural zenith indicated by the more or less cas ion of so comprehensive and urbane a work of popularization; and the eminence of the elevation is all the more Apparent to us now from a careful comparison of the book not only with its extant Arabic forerunners (e.g, the Tahdhid al-Adhlag of Ibn Miskawaih,¢# d.421/r030), but also with its progressively inferior Persian successors (such as the Aa-é Jalaltof Dawant,d.908/102). While greatly indebted to the former {it influenced far more of his book than the First Discourse, to which alone he and others relate it),° Tost himself is wider in scope and more rounded and coherent in10 INTRODUCTION aed e ear ee ea Se a re ea i is are ot rey at ee Jong been seen in a sort of Dackward projection | rough that sete eae ears tages ree se ay ee a ere ee pa tr ee rae ee ee ees ae eee eee a a .arily concerned in this work with the and of other sub-poli (where he becomes, ively, or subjectively, or from a purely pragmatic standpoint. Meade io yest beeen te es con o ied for Man's conduct, the courses of the planets, and the laws of mathe- matics: all are interdependent, all absolute, real and right. Theory must precede practice: whatever is soundly thought out will be ‘fictive, but what may seem at any moment to work must not be INTRODUCTION a adopted as right merely for that reason, Key-words, loitmativs throughout the whole book, are Reason, Wisdom, Justice and Equi- 1e great and universal abstractions; but there is a truly Section on Love (IIf:2); and a polished tact and merely the long passage on ‘hat the particularities, the details of application, may vary greatly from individual to individual, and as botween different ages or civilizations. Whatever else may be charged against Tiisi, he is no inhuman fanatic who would sacrifice all men to a ‘system’. in the profoundest senso, a ‘religious’ attitude might a Muslim writer of the sevenththirteenth century. ‘Tas, however, isa heterodox Muslim, an exponent of extreme Shi'it rot to say Ismi'ili! doctrines; and as such he belongs in the tradition of Islam's greatest esoterics (many of whom, be it said, were not approach the ‘through myst being of common origin, but they are hierarchically graded; and Creation is called to ascend the grades within the limits of capac ‘This ascent isthe end of all existence, and it is by reference to Man's potentially supreme elev i nk’s urbanity and polish, its organic of construction (cf. Notes 1845 and 2006), and its deeply phical and religious spirit (albeit rolieved by shatts of courtesy and tact)—have tended to be largely ignored hitherto, particularly by Western Islamist scholars; for these have been principally concerned to ‘place’ Tast in, almost entirely through Dawani) i the line of Islamic political theoreticians and apologists. Contem- plating the work as a whole, however, and noting how the Discourses are interwoven and (so to speak) cross-referenced, ‘difficult to sed the justification for directing attention so f ‘comparatively short passages in the Third Discourse. Undoubtedly, fn those passages TUst is touching on the central problems of all religiously based societies: the relationship of time-bound revelation to the continuing and developing need for legislation and authority, the definition of de jure, and the practical necessity to harmonize de jure and do facto. But this is to state only the obvious, and his solutions, it seems to me, ae neither so detailed nor so specific that ‘one may regard him as calculatedly preparing briefs to suit the conditions of the time. These problems were assuredly ofthe greatest practical and personal concer to just such a figure as him believe that, in the asircan Ethics at all events, he doesa INTRODUCTION offer usa characterise whitfof what was‘in thea ashe we Tb nskawainsporhape does rather more than thi, and Daw 2h be cea seen to make deiberate omiions and alterations, the later albsi of a negative character for the most pert. But the arlae quality of Tuas work ie that reviews a whole proces is and thooge in an untendentiousledger-book summation, B, TUST's LIFE AND WRITINGS For present purosts, the main accepted facts of Tis’ ie can be Catalogue quite hie.” He was born in 307/20 in Ts (in NE. Persia’ th native area of Ghazal and of many other Arabo-Persian scholars of medigovl times, nov a ult; and he did in Baghdad, for ve centuries the spiritual and politcal centre of Islam, in 672/274 ing, but he showed a parti jomy and philosophy (itis important here t Avicenna, 4.429/103 high Toe amo ene coy a ae Bt esos erie Se Set Soe aera eases ies ee pert ols lp se sole ety eset eas eee penetra etter ete raed] a sate INTRODUCTION 8 opening paragraph. Be that as it may, to contrast his life in practice his elaboration of an ethical system of this kind is little more Of the too or more works (most of them in Arabic) traditionally ascribed to Tst, not many more than fifteen or so are thought to survive insubstantial form, and of these only a few are appropriate 3 mention here. x. The present work, in Persian of a heavily Arabicized character; belonging to his ‘il service, but reputedly realigned in ideas and terminology later; no good editions, though published in Persia and Indi ‘At present out of print. a Persian, of the same period; on production, Tehran University Press, No, 300, 1335 solar. 3. Hall Mushhilat al-Ishdrdt, in Arabic, of the same period; a elence of Avicenna against Fakhr ad-Din Rast (not the great Rhazes), 4.606/2: ‘work of prime importance in Avicennan leading work on es published. 5. Qawd"id al-'Agdid, as for 4. 6. Zij-i I-Khdnt, in Persian, from his later life; astronomical- astrological calculations of great value, made for Hulagu; no good edition saf al-Ashraf, in Persian, from his later life; a SU mystical ‘by some to conflict with his other writings:! no good , though many times published, al-Taslim (Tasauwurdt), in Persian, from his eazlier life as likely, correctly ascribed to him); a treatise of far-ranging ical content, from a markedly Ism&'ll standpoint, of considerable importance in relation to the present work; well edited by W. Ivanow, Ismaili Society Series A~4 (Brill, Leiden 1950}. ©, THE PRESENT RENDERING In default of any good edition, or of any superior and accessible ‘MSS, the present rendering has been based for the most part on six texts, The first of these takes priority, supplemented by the second. 1. The Lahore edition of 2952 (no editor's name), loaned to me for a time by the Institute of Oriental Studies, Cambridge University, Unusually well printed, and probably the mest generally reliable. Unfortunately, I was obliged to return this text before maling my final revision, and could obtain no other, 2, The Lucknow lithograph of 1309/2892, provided in photostat™ INTRODUCTION ‘one instance, wgif = ‘aware’ is a oe a met re ahh Be le aiming etme wr te aes eee erltthe Lalore edition of 1955- Shuai as, bot bay i at th many brief lacunae and repetitions. ena well-written MS dated 1055/1645. Probably i eee eae of tht fariy, ut te by ay fom ridge Univer oe eleions (wanlaad) from the tex, edited Jl adsbin Hom (em Note bto this Introd His Partially wef, but wth gover eror and omisons, and tlevancies inthe annotation. Often fends to agree with 3 many ors. : Se lack of any really good, or even readily available, text made it it et attempt to correlate pagination between my peso ere aN eee eee aed ea era ern ee eee ong ee eee via idations on Islamic matters for the Yslamist and non-Islamist ali allotted space I had already eo linguistic concerns a high priority. Any term or turn of phrase con- sidered to be doubtful, unexpected or ambiguous has been reproduced in the original in order that the Islamist may, if he so wishes, arrive at his own evaluation; ako given in the original are all but'a very few of the most obvious and commonplace technicalities. Such a procedure, even where a good text is readily available, does nothing nore than recognize the linguistic disparity of Arabo-Persian on the fone hand and English on the other, as also the uncertainty still INTRODUCTION 15 heavily overhanging the use of the technical terms by the different ‘writers themselves. Thus, while I have in most eases assumed that ‘he Islamist would readily realize that my ‘essence’ is equivalent to hat (or that jauhar normally = ‘substance’ and ‘arad = it seemed more than necessary to make clear that the one ind'at variously renders as ‘craft, discipline, art, technique’ ‘The Notes are used, moreover, to ‘bind’ the text together by faizly laborate cross- and back-referencing. Again, this seemed a necessary and logical scheme to follow in view of my thesis, in paragraph A above, that the work has long suffered a grave injustice by being ‘treated as three roughly joined entities, of which only a chapter or so of the third had any real importance. At the same time, and with all these varied considerations, it seemed desirable to leave un cluttered, for more or less rapid reading, a text that was, after all, produced in the first place for just such a purpose. For this reason, ‘the Notes have been relegated to the end in a continuous sequence, ‘the one disadvantage of high mumeration being outweighed by many benefits of uniformity and economy of treatment: in the case of technical terms, in particular, the same Note often does duty many times over throughout the book. D. THE STYLE OF THE AKHLAQ-I NAGIRT Among the many traditional judgments handed down about this work, one of the most common is that its style is execrable: indeed, T mow of only one opinion clearly to the contrary." Difficulty over the fact amount to? First by far, there is Arabic vocabulary. Its undoubtedly ‘tme that the Arabic content is so high that no one not specially trained as an Arabist could handle the text with any so, since Tas often uses his Arabie vocabulary in a to Persian practice at any time (cf. the concent ‘nouns, with nothing but the genitival relations Note 1323, drawing attention to the use of bar-hiidslan as an equiva lent for gama when the latter means ‘to undertake’ rather than "to rise’). But if this Arabicized style presents no technical problem to roperly equipped, it does constitute an enigma in itself. Why insist on using it when it had for some 200 years been more or less possible to write on these matters in fairly normal Persian?0 fone accepted the theory of simple adaptation from Ibn Miskawaih,INTRODUCTION lstrian rendering straight from the Arabic; but even (hat Tbn Miskawaih!® influenced far more than the tyle is for the most part too uniform to justify ‘The other criticism usually directed against the style of the AMilag touches the length and involvement of the sentences, It can be allowed that T¥st’s addiction to conditional and syllogistic arguments phical voeabulary® ever est Weight and universality of A y of subject, at any rate, it must have come as naturally to Tast to lapse into Arabic (or near-Arabie) and formalized sentence-structures as it does to many a modem Muslim scie specialization in the European language of tion, Certainly, Tist could, where no techni vwrite both simple and attractive, as well ash jn his mother tongue: the long passage on Me Tli4 is an example of the former, the text between Notes 1478 and 1488 provides a fair instanc latter. It may be remarked that Tust’s very versatility of style, commenied on by more than one writer, has often posed problems in the identification of his writings.® ‘My own policy in translating has been to try to follow the changes in pace and style as far as English usage wo "nthe whole, however, I have not parallelled his Arabi iberately with Latinisms, and I have tried in most cases to breale up the longer sentences and to vary the constructions as often as permissible, Paragraphing is entirely my own. In one respect, that of trans- Iieration, I have bowed almost wholly to the weight of Arabic (ex. bri, Creator’, not bart): Thope my Persian friends will take no ‘exception to this. Thave used parentheses for two purposes: partly ‘to add necessary emphasis or elucidation to the original, partly to mark off long sections of involved arguments; in the former case, cnly one or two words at a time are normally at issue, INTRODUCTION y E, THE PURPOSE OF THE PRESENT VERSION once criticized above the frequent assessments of ies that would appear to be based on no thorough knowledge of the text at first hand. As one who at least now has that knowledge, I have reached the conviction that only years of study, ideally culminating in monographs by several hands, would be adequate to assess the full importance, as well as the derivation and the in luence of a work like the present, Basically, the present trans- lation (together with its Notes) represents only a beginning— considerations of space alone would have forbidden its being more. But a beginning was sorely needed: as Sir Hamilton Gibb has sug- gested in another connection,‘ it is a paralysed reluctance to make a beginning, where there is no sure hope of bringing the enterprise to 2 definitive conclusion, that is impeding the proper development of Islamic Studies at the present time, particularly in the West. T do not here propose, then, to ofier definitive conclusions on any of the three aspects cited above. Of the work's importance I have ‘ried to give some idea in A. On sources, I am prepared (at least, in ‘a general way) to let Tast speak for himself: this isin fact what most ‘writers have done, albeit they tend to pounce triumphant! precise (or outwardly precise) name rather than to give full we ‘Tast's much more common vaguenesses and generalizations Philosophers say. ; ‘Plato and others ..; ‘It has been As regards influences, again, the salient facts are not in dis iy Notes 1869, 2006 and 2130 for some typical examples), but it will also produce an overwhelming majority of trivial and arbitrary deviations. Perhaps the best example of what I have in mind regarding much pretended source-analysi 6n the Second Discourse, to the effect that it derives from Bryson through Avicents (see my Notes 3537 and 542). One is cheered to see s0 many having a fuller and easier acquaintance with Bryson than one's own, and one presumes that detailed verification of the facts has been made, at least by the frst link in the imposing chain of authority! But it should be obvious to any who read the Second Discourse carefully that a vast amount of identical and similar material ean be instanced from earlier Islamic moralistic works and i I would cite, to take only a few cases, the ndma, the Siyasatnéma, and the Thyd’ or the ppethaps more than a coincidence that all of these works are of Persian origin)® Even where this sort of analysis i conscientiously made, however, B to be found in the standard comment38 INTRODUCTION INTRODUCTION belatedly. Tt would be quite extraordinary, too, if his as did not in many ways repeat or resemble sch are known to us, but exact correspondences are few the Notes, particularly to TIT: 1ow). In other words, TUst cannot reasonably be assumed to have pre} ‘modem scholar mi reading them witha whose influence is much more direct and central, the closest corres- ces often peter out ‘They were not modern ir references and going self here, as a e preamble show).” By Tass own ‘ny longer Imew, or cared about, time virtually no Muslim the Gre language ané none would be using the ten by the great terpftere of erly Abbasid days. These tense often ely de, aad not lv Eom bask cra) al long since oarved thie purpose in giving ® pow Jpilelsleae to Tdamie thought. Where books vere seered to at time of steady and digests of F, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Thave to thank: In the first place, my sometime colleague, Professor A. J. Arberry, ‘bridge University, for proposing my name to uNEsco to ‘kj my present colleague, Pri ‘and certainly as to pe c Note 313 on Porphyry of Tyre, and 435 on and foremost, they were nearly all Muslim hey nurtured and developed were often ‘mes Indian or Persian, occasionally more or of Jess original Dut like most Muslims (and, jumour over an unexpectedly prolonged gesta- ladies who, among many other wve been subject while this work was pro- ly my own, vwill be aso ‘name Aristotle surely struck again and again by the frequency of ‘na work that breathes the spirit 1 ©. BIBLIOGRAPHY One brings to a translation of this kind a professional reading and impression, but certain works, more than onc: Brockelmann: Geschichte der Arabischen Literatur, by Carl Brockelmann, 2 vols. and 3 suppl vols, Weimar-Leiden r868-1942 (and reissued).20 INTRODUCTION ildgi Jalal (also known 28 Lavdni’ ab-Ishrag ft Aba), by Muhammad b, Asad Dawani, ed. by ‘and M.'K. Shirazi, Caleutta rorr. See also Note ¢ roduction. Donaldson: Studies in Muslim Ethics, by D. ML. Donaldson, London 1953. (Broad in scope and containing much useful detail, but somewhat amateurish). Dazy: Supplément aux Didtionnaires Avabes, by R. Dony, 2 vols. Lelden-Paris 2927. Tavaluable for evidence of some usages. Dunlop: See Note 1820. EX: Enoyelopardia of Islam: rauch of the first edition is now outdated, and wherever possible the currently appearing edition has been referred to, or the interim digest Handwirlerbuch des Islam (Leiden 947). Thn Miskawaih:t! Takdhib al-ARhlag (wa-Tathir al-A'rdg), by iskawail ‘iya). Also known, and referred to the Kitab al-Tahara. Unfortunately, I was not able to srisons with this work until quite late, when a Beirat— 196r edition (no editor named) came to hand. Ivanow: See » 8 above. It may be added that all Ivanow's many ‘writings on Ismé‘lism are valuable. Lane: Arabic-English Lexicon, by E. W. Lane, 8 parts, London. 1863-93. ‘Rosenthal: See Note k to this Introduction. Walzer: Greek into Arabic, by R Walzer, Oxford (Cassirer) 1962. [All the articles therein ate of great value and most of general ‘eference here, but I single out one on Tbn Miskawvaih, 220-35, ‘which T was able to read at a very late stage in my work. G. M WICKENS ‘Toronto, August 196 ©. Tost in his preamble, other writers by a sort of compulsive reaction ‘wherever the work is discussed (ef. the article by A. KC. S. Lambton on Dawini in the new edition of the Encyclopaedia of Islam, and also ‘Paragraph E above), pete ieee ‘die blumenscichste Ethik von allen’. In fact, Da owery'in any sont, fen fr ls ao than Ts hin & W. F. Thompson, Practical Philosophy of the Mt (London 1839) 1. This charge is so generally applicable 1 to places where this ssoms to show through in the pres f. Tist's pair-inchand attitude to aa Ses oe Paee ne ace aceasta Se eee2 NOTES TO THE INTRODUCTION writer (S. G. Haim, Arab Nationalism (University of California 1962), particularly p. 12, on Afghini) as powerful quasi-politcal attitude in, ‘the Near Hast up to quite recont times. 'k. Cf. the several writings on the institution of the Caliphate, and on political theory in Islam, by Sir Hamilton A. R. Gibb; the Lambton vwriters male little allowance for Tast's position as an Iranian ‘the long tradition of resistance to the Abbasid Caliph markable passage in the text between Notes 2205 and 223 m. For a fuller list see article on Tas in the Encyclopaedia ‘together with the references there assembled. See also recent pul of the University of Tehran, both by and about Tas, parti ‘connection with the soventh centenary (Islamic lunar reckoning) Geath, 1956. T would draw particular attention to Nos. 296, 298, 300, 302, 304-9 and 311 in the Tehran University series; as also to many Valuable articles throughout 3936-57 in their periodical referred to 26r, possibly overstates by grouping the merits in jgorous and artistic, and well suited to the ‘but each of these is true in some measure (December 1953, 11/2, influence in literature (in Persian) 4, Flourished carly sixth/twelfth century. His celebrated Four Dis. courses was edited by M.M. Qazvint and lovingly translated into English by E. C. Browne (Gibb Memorial Series, Old Series XI, r9r0 and roar respectively). 1 See Arberry, op. cit, 260: my article noted in d, 25-26; Tvanow, op. cit, xxiti and xxiv. 9. Sco e.g. remark in last © See the Foreword to Roolvinke and others: Amste 'u, References to all of these ‘he technically Arabie Mya’) wil be found in any history of Persian literature, for they are all classics of the first rank vv. See my Note r. w. Tahdful al-Paiasifa, ed. M. Bouyges (Beirut 1927), 5. 4. See text between Notes 1820 and 1822. ote 2 to text. las of the Muslin Peoples (R. PREAMBLE EXORDIUM In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate: Praise without 1 lauds unnumbered befit the Majesty of who, as in the beginning of the primal ‘originates creation’), brings forth the reali- ties of the species from the preludes of generation; and who converted the primary-matter of Man (having the brand of the world of creation) forty times, in ascending degrees towards perfection, from form to form and state to stat kneaded Adam’s cl of attainment to fitting receptivity, He it once (‘Our commandment is but one ( is’ and ‘As a twinkling of the eye, or closer’, garment of human form, which bore the pattern of the world of command (‘And He sends down the spirit of His bidding’), Thus its primal existence received the sign of completion and the cycle of formation 1% . Man’s spirituality rinciple of existence of his form's specificity, and which 0 being there, ie, at the beginning of existence, ina twinkling} He causes to pass through the academy of "Taught man what he knew not’ and the workshop of ‘Do ye righteously’, stripping ‘he essence and refining the attributes, progressing up the ascending degrees of perfection and adorning with righteous deeds, year by year and state by state, step by step and stage by stage: wntil at length He brings it to the appointed place of ‘Return to thy Lord” and all at once asks back its borrowed form, which was the primal dress of human primary-matter, and which in primal being had been distinguished by so much kneading and nurture: ‘When their term comes they shall not delay it by a moment nor put it forward’. And call ‘Whose is the kingdom today?’, with the answer ‘God's, ‘the Omnipotent’, comes down from kingdom-possessing into the void of the worlds of dominion and power; and the time comes for “All things perish save His face’; and the promise ‘As He originated you, so ye will return’ is fulfilled; and the mystery of ‘I was a hidden treasure’ attains completion. “That is the ‘ordinance of the Almighty, the Al-knowing’. Blessings unbounded and salutations unnumbered are fitting commendation of the sanctified existence of the leader of guides in religion, the senior exemplar of the people of certainty, His Excel- Ieney Muhammad, the Chosen One, The salvation of creatures from24 THE NASIREAN ETHICS the darknesses of perplexity and ignorance is through the light of his direction and guidance; and the safety of the Faithful from the abysses of negligence and error lies in grasping the ‘firm halter’ of his virtue. God bless him, and his Family, and his Companions, and given them peace, much peace! To continue: the writer of this discourse and author of this epistle, ‘the meanest of mankind, Mubammad b. Hasan al-Tasi, Imown as says thus: the writing of this book, entitled The Nasivea ‘came about at a time when he had been compelled ‘to leave his native land on account of the turmoil of the age, the hand fof destiny having shackled him to residence in the territory of Quhistan. There, for the reason set down and recalled at the outset of the book, this compilation was undertaken; and, to save both him- ‘self and his honour, he completed the composition of an exordium in ‘style appropriate to the custom of that community for the eulogy and adulation of their lords and great ones. This is in accordance with the sense of the verse. ‘And humour them while you remain in their house; ‘And placate them while you are in their land’ and also the well-attested tradition: ‘With whatsoever a man protects himself and his honour, be recorded to him as a avout’. While such a course is contrary to the belief, and divergent from the path, of the People of the Shari'a and the Sunna, there was ‘do. For this reason, the book was provided with manner aforementioned. Now, inasmuch a5 the content of this book comprises one of the branches of Philosophy,® {and bears no relation to the agreement or disagreement of school ar sect or denomination, students of profitable matters, despite differences of belief, were eager to peruse it, 90 that numerous manu- Scripts thereof were circulated among men. Later, when the favour fof our Maker (glorified be His Nameal), by the ‘monarch of the age (may his justice become gen: this grateful servant an egress from that dlisere he found that a number of outstanding scholars and virtuous men had honoured this bool: by deigning to peruse it, the glance of their approval having traced upon it the mark of selection. He resolved Accordingly to replace the book’s exordium, which was in an «n- acceptable manner, thus to avoid the disgrace of anyone's hastening to disapprove and revile before being aware of the truth of the Situation and the necessity that impelled to such discourse, and in Gisregard of the sentiment: ‘Maybe, while you reproach, he has an ‘excuse.’ Thus, in accordance with such an idea, the writer has pro- duced this exordium in place of that preface, so that there may be no sediment at the top of the vat! If copyists will pay heed to these PREAMBLE 25 words and open the bok in this form, it wil be nearer what is ight God it is, who prospers and assists! a AN ACCOUNT OF THE REASON LEADING TO THE COMPOSITION OF THIS BOOK {Xt began) at the time of my residence in Quhistin, in the service of the Govemor of that territory, His Highness Nasir al-Di al-Rabiim b, Abi Mansir (God cover him course ofa discussion on the Book of Purily and perfect phi Abmad’b. Mubammad b. Ya"qab Raiy (God water his grave, be ised for the correction ishing its theme by pro- ing allusion and eloquent expression. (These four ines, once delivered as a fragment, readily describe that book: ‘By my soul, a book possessed of every virtue; ‘One become a guatantor for the perfection of piety. "Its author has revealed the truth entire, mn, after concealment, To the writer of these pages the Governor si his precious book should be revived by changing its ver ate and cendern {ttm Arabic into Pesan ford the people of th ae, tho ae the most pi af the omament of pois, wl deck themseives ment of virtue by penning the bejeweled dees of be a revival of goodness inthe fulest ese pages was minded to accept this int ration obediently, but repeated refeetion presented afresh image to the fancy, and he said To strip such sublime ideas of such subtle words (which ar a tunic fastened upon them), and to trans them inthe des of banal expression: this would be perversion and no man of dscerament becoming avare thereof coule retrain from caviling and eritcism,’ Moreover although that book contains the sublimest ofthe topics of Practica! Philosophy, yet it omits two others, namely Politics and Economies obliterated with the process of time, is of importan ‘exigencies of past events render it necessary and ess seemed fitter that my endeavours should not be pledged to the ob tion of (merely) translating that book; rather that, while accepting6 THE NASIREAN ETHICS subservience, and within the measure of possibility, a compendium should be drawn up in exposition of all the topics of practical Se es eee ssuch an undertaking, of escape from the attack of th disparagement of the detractor), nevertheless it was insisted that he press on to accomplish the enterprise. In this sense a beginn {As the reason for its composition was my master’s extempore observa- tion and behest, I called the book The Nasirean Ethics. (Trusting) in the universal gonersity and the massive grace of those noble ones to whose notice this compendium may come, we hope that shou ‘they observe a slip or a blunder, they will confer upon it, of our excuse—if God Almighty so willl A SECTION TO RECOUNT THE PROLEGOMENA THAT MUST PRECEDE ENGAGEMENT WITH THE MATTER IN QUESTION ‘Since our concern in this books with one of the parts of Philosophy,* itis ecsential to give first an exposition of the meaning of the term and its divisi its components, so to make clear the sense to which our enquiry is limited. Thus, we say that the term ‘philosophy’, fies knowing things as they are ‘and fulfilling functions as one should, within the measure of ability, so that the human soul may arrive at the perfection to which it is directed. This being so, philosophy is divided into two, Theory and Practice.” Theory conceives the true natures of existent things, and acknowledges the laws and consequences thereof as they in within the measure of the human faculty. Practice is the exerci ‘movements and the perseverance in disciplines, to bring what isin the area of potency out to the limit of the act, so long as it leads from defect to perfection, according to human’ ability. In whomsoever ‘these two concepts are realized, such is a perfect philosopher! and ‘aman of excellence, his rank being the highest among human kind, ‘Thus He says (be He exalted above the mere one who says!) gives Wisdom to whomsoever He will, and whoever is given Wisdom has been given much good,’ PREAMBLE 27 Now, since Philosophy is to know all things as they are and to fulfil fanctions as one should, therefore it is divided with regatd to the divisions of existent things, according to those divisions, These are ‘two: that, the existence of which is not determined by the voluntary ‘movements of human persons; and that, the existence of whiel dependent upon wolvement with matter; and, secondly, a movledge of that which cannot exist so long as there be no involve- rent with matter. This latter division is also twice divided: on the one hand into the intellection and conception of which i ent with matter does not enter as a con- t which is Imown only by consideration of involvement with matter, Thus, in this way, there are three divisions of Speculative Philosophy: the frst is called Metaphysics, the second ‘Mathematies, and the third Natural Science. Each of these three sciences contains several parts, some of which are to be considered as fundamentals and others a3 derivatives! ‘The fondamentals of Metaphysics are in two branches: first, know= ledge of God (exalted and almighty be Hel) and those brought near His presence, who by His command (mighty and exalted be He!) became the first principles and causes of other existent as intelligences and souls and their judgments and called Theology The second category is knowledge of universal things, the states of existent beings from the standpoint oftheir bei existent, such as unicity and plurality, necessity and potent anteriorty and phenomenality, and so on. This is called Pri Philosophy. having several sorts of derivatives, such as knowledge of prophecy, the imamate, the circumstances of the life to come, and similar lopics, ‘The fundamentals of Mathematics are of four ledge of measurements, their laws and consequene called Geometry second, knowles first, know. and this is es, and the measurements of their motions and theit distances, and this is called Astronomy (astrology™ falls outsid rth comes knowledge of composite relationshi and its dispositions, and this is called the Seience of Composition (When it is applied to sounds, having regard to their relation to each other, and the amount of time, and the motions and the rests that occur between sounds, i is called the Soience of Mfusi.*) The deriva-PREAMBLE 29 to the understandings of people of ‘men of sagacity, ing and un- ledge of the ast principles of motabls, such a5 time = tenes and infinity, and s0 on, and this aed Tetowledge of simple aad eomposnd bodes, ‘zd lower simple elements and this is Trowedge of universal and ‘exigency of the divine assistance, such as a sa 2 nae tguloe tea in, snow, earthquakes and the like, and thi Meteorology; subdivided into three kinds: that which ividually, e.g. devotions and the statutory 9 that which refers to the inhabitants of dwellings in such as id other transactions; that which of action is that of ‘ircumstances, longation of time, between epochs, and ti tution of peoples and dynasties. This category thus falls, as regards the perticular,"® the divisions of Philosophy, for the speculation of a philoso- fined to examining the propositions of intellects and in- ‘and these are not touched by erated or replaced according severance of dynasties. From the summary® standpoint, however, it does enter into the questions of Practical Philosophy, as will be explained hereafter in the proper place, if God Almighty wills known. Thus, in reality, i , it for the acquisition of other sciences. This oe ae lined acts*” on the part of the human FIRST ENGAGEMENT WITH THE MATTER IN QUESTION? AND A CATALOGUE OF THE SECTIONS OF THE BOOK species, in a way: fe here and herea subdivided: that which munity associated within a dwelling or home, on the the other, that which concerns a community associated Practical Philosophy, ;, each Discourse comprising one division inevitably contains several Secti sciences and the questions (involved) in a gi , according to the Discourse, ordering of their affairs and st nature or in convention. The