Islamic Philosophy from Its Origin to the Present: Philosophy in the ...

Dimensions of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition 147
known Ta„awwuråt (Notions), attributed to Nå∑ir al-D¥n al-apple¨s¥, and
the tradition continued well into the tenth/sixteenth century.
In Yemen, a form of Ismå‘¥lism that was closer to the Fatimids
continued, culminating in the works of the ninth/fifteenth missionary
(då‘¥) of the Yemen, Sayyidunå Idr¥s ‘Imåd al-D¥n (d. 872/1468). Interestingly
enough, this branch of Ismå‘¥lism was finally to make its home
in India along with the continuation of the Alamut tradition, which
has become known since the last century as the ≈ghå-Khånid. The
Yemeni authors followed by and large the theses presented in the
earlier classical philosophical works of ¡am¥d al-D¥n Kirmån¥ and
Nå∑ir-i Khusraw, whereas the tradition of Alamut represented more
the close link between imamology and mystical experience, between
Ismå‘¥l¥ theosophy and Sufi metaphysics. There was also the much
earlier Ismå‘¥l¥ tradition in Gujarat with its own more and more eclectic
literature, which became enmeshed with the Ismå‘¥l¥ schools that
became settled in India during later centuries.
While Ismå‘¥l¥ philosophy was developing, a number of works of
Hermetic and Neo-Pythagorean inspiration appeared that have been
claimed by some to be of Ismå‘¥l¥ inspiration and by others to belong
more generally to Shi‘ite circles—in fact to Islamic esoterism itself. The
Hermetic corpus was translated into Arabic and was known to both
alchemists and many philosophers. 47 Jåbir ibn ¡ayyån, who lived in
the second/eighth century and is the father of Islamic alchemy, wrote
many philosophical works that are of Hermetic inspiration. This was
to continue among later alchemists such as Ab¨˘l-Qåsim al-‘Iråq¥, ‘Izz
al-D¥n al-Jaldak¥, and Ab¨ Maslamah al-Majr¥†¥. 48 One must remember
that both the Turba Philosophorum and the Picatrix were translated into
Latin from Arabic and that there is, in addition to alchemical texts, a
copious Islamic Hermetic literature of considerable philosophical importance.
On the one hand, the visionary recitals of Ibn S¥nå reflect
Hermetic prototypes, whereas the works of Suhraward¥ are replete
with references to Hermes and Hermeticism. On the other hand, one
can see Hermetic themes in the works of many Sufis from Dhu˘l-N¨n
al-Mi∑r¥ to Ibn ‘Arab¥. This Islamic Hermetic philosophy dealt on many
levels with the reality of prophecy.
Neo-Pythagorean philosophy too found a place in the Islamic
intellectual citadel early in the history of Islam. The concern with the
symbolism of numbers in early Shi‘ite and Sufi circles points to this
fact, and in the fourth/tenth century there appeared a major work
entitled Raså˘il ikhwån al-„afå˘ (Epistles of the Brethren of Purity), which
contains an elaborate summary of philosophy, cosmology, and the
natural sciences bound together by the unifying thread of Pythagorean