Regime (Rule) of the solitary
تدبير المتوحد
Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid
Ibn Bājja (Avempace) (c. 1085–1139)
Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only
In an imperfect city the philosopher must govern himself alone and perfect his intellect by himself: the political question turns inward.
- Attribution
- authentic: SEP gives it as his Tadbīr al-mutawaḥḥid, with Asín Palacios's edition and Spanish translation and Dunlop's 1945 article. ✓ checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”
- Date
- early 12th c., Saragossa, Fez (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
- Editions
- M. Asín Palacios (ed. and Spanish tr.), El régimen del solitario (Madrid, 1946), as cited in the SEP bibliography · cite only ✓ checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”
- Translations
- Lawrence Berman in Lerner and Mahdi (1963) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet
Connected works
- Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
- Lineage: Republic SEP: Avempace reads and quotes Plato, and turns the analogy the other way: the Republic takes the soul as the model of the city, he starts from the ideal city and carries its order into the solitary soul. A documented reading, with the direction reversed. Confidence: high. ✓ checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Bajja [Avempace]”
Solace for the Ruler during Hostility of Subjects (Waters of Comfort)
سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباع
Sulwān al-muṭāʿ fī ʿudwān al-atbāʿ
Ibn Ẓafar al-Ṣiqillī (d. c. 565/1170)
Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only
Stories and parables on how rulers and subjects weather misfortune, with consolation from Providence;
- Attribution
- authentic not yet checked
- Date
- c. 1159-60, Sicily, then Hama (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
- Editions
- Beirut 1995; Tunis 1279/1862; Istanbul 1285/1868 · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
- Translations
- Michele Amari, Italian (Florence 1851) and Solwan; or Waters of Comfort (London 1852) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet
The Lamp of Kings
سراج الملوك
Sirāj al-mulūk
al-Ṭurṭūshī (d. 520/1126)
Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only
A learned jurist's mirror: kingship as divine trust, with long stories of Persian kings and Prophetic ḥadīth;
- Attribution
- authentic not yet checked
- Date
- c. 1122, Alexandria (Fatimid vizier al-Maʾmūn al-Baṭāʾiḥī) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
- Editions
- Būlāq 1872; Jaʿfar al-Bayātī (London 1990) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
- Translations
- Maurice Alarcón, Lámpara de los príncipes (Madrid 1930-31) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet
Commentary on Plato's Republic
جوامع سياسة أفلاطون
Jawāmiʿ siyāsat Aflāṭūn
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126–1198)
Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only
Ibn Rushd's commentary on Plato's Republic, kept in Hebrew; it takes the Republic as the political philosophy he lacked in Aristotle's Politics.
- Attribution
- authentic: SEP: he wrote a commentary on Plato's Republic and begins it by saying he will abstract the demonstrative arguments and remove the dialectical ones. ✓ checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”
- Date
- c. 1194 (draft; unchecked) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
- Editions
- E. I. J. Rosenthal (ed. and tr.), Averroes' Commentary on Plato's Republic (Cambridge UP, 1956): the Hebrew text with English translation; the Arabic original is lost · cite only probable
- Translations
- Ralph Lerner, Averroes on Plato's Republic (Cornell UP, 1974) · en · cite only probable
- Rosenthal 1956 (with the Hebrew text) · en · cite only probable
Not in the reader yet
Connected works
- Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
- Lineage: Republic It is a commentary on the Republic (SEP, which also notes that its brevity does not show deep knowledge of the whole text). Confidence: high. ✓ checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “Ibn Rushd [Averroes]”; Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”
Divine governance of the human kingdom
التدبيرات الإلهية في إصلاح المملكة الإنسانية
al-Tadbīrāt al-ilāhiyya fī iṣlāḥ al-mamlaka al-insāniyya
Ibn ʿArabī (560–638/1165–1240)
Ibn ʿArabī · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 6th century AH · Listed only
Counsel on governing the human being as a kingdom under the intellect. Its preface sets it against the Sirr al-asrār's governance of the worldly kingdom, and addresses both the servant of kings and the traveller on the path.
- Attribution
- authentic: The text opens in his own name, 'Muḥammad b. ʿAlī al-ʿArabī al-Ḥātimī al-Ṭāʾī' (Nyberg, first text page, unnumbered), and speaks in the first person of its composition (pp. 120–121). Yahia 1964, the specialist reference, is not yet in hand. ✓ checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)
- Date
- Composed at Mawrūr (Morón) 'in under four days' (dūn al-arbaʿa al-ayyām, Nyberg p. 121); the year is not yet established (draft: before 598/1202), Mawrūr (Morón), al-Andalus (basis: date of composition) probable
- Editions
- H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919), Arabic text of the Tadbīrāt pp. 103–240 (title page unnumbered; p. 240 ends 'tamma al-kitāb'), with sigla B1, B2, B3, U · public domain ✓ checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)
- Critical Arabic edition with Urdu, Abrar Ahmed Shahi (Ibn al-Arabi Foundation, 2020, 3rd ed.) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
- Translations
- Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi, Divine Governance of the Human Kingdom (Fons Vitae, 1997), reported by the draft as made from Ottoman Turkish; unchecked · en · cite only not yet checked
Connected works
- Resonance, not influence: Opinions of the people of the virtuous city The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
- Resonance, not influence: Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
- Resonance, not influence: The refinement of character The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
- Lineage: The Secret of Secrets The preface names it (Nyberg pp. 120–121, read from the page images). At Mawrūr, with Abū Muḥammad al-Mawrūrī, Ibn ʿArabī found the 'Kitāb Sirr al-asrār', which 'the sage' (al-ḥakīm) composed for Dhū l-Qarnayn; he was asked to set against it the governance of the human kingdom, 'in which is our happiness'. He says he put into his book more on governing a kingdom than the sage did and made clear what the sage left out, and that the sage's book is a quarter or a third of its size. He names the author only as 'the sage' and the king as Dhū l-Qarnayn; the title identifies the book. Confidence: high. ✓ checked in H. S. Nyberg (ed.), Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-ʿArabī (Leiden: Brill, 1919); the Tadbīrāt is printed in the Arabic section, text pp. 103–240 (see LEDGER)
- Resonance, not influence: Republic Both treat the ruled soul as a polity under reason. No source seen documents a route from the Republic to the Tadbīrāt; the Tadbīrāt's preface names the Sirr al-asrār, not the Republic or al-Fārābī. Confidence: low. probable