Epistles of the Brethren of Purity

About this text · the edition and the print, who wrote the epistles (contested), the translations compared, companions

Contents · read one part a page

1. I · The animals' case against man (Epistle 22)¶1–35
   • Epistle 22 · The animals' case against man before the king of the jinn (faṣl 3–6 and the close)
   • 4 · Why the animals differ in form
   • 5 · The keenness of the animals' senses
   • 6 · The animals' complaint of man's injustice
   • The closing faṣl · The last claim, the verdict, and the Brethren's word on this epistle
2. II · The order of being (Epistle 32), and what philosophy is (Epistle 13)¶36–74
   • Epistle 32 · The intellectual principles, after the Pythagoreans
   • 1 · Number and the order of beings
   • 2 · Existence, duration, completeness, perfection
   • 3 · Body, matter and form
   • 4 · How Intellect, Soul and Matter receive the Creator's effusion
   • 5 · Questions on the principles
   • 6 · The spiritual and bodily principles and their ranks
   • Epistle 13, its close · Philosophy: becoming like God as far as is humanly possible

Not yet in the reader: Epistle 1, On number (OpenITI 140–412, about 6,900 words) and Epistle 5, On music (OpenITI 1214–1670, about 13,800 words): queued for later.