Skip to the content
Mashrabaمشربة

Works

Every work of the authors in the library’s orbit, in the reader or not: who wrote it, when, how it survives, where it can be read, and how it connects to other works. 82 so far. Where a field has not been checked against its source, it says so.
Checked on 2026-10-31
Table and recordsStreams
TraditionAll (12)The Quran (0)Ibn ʿArabī (1)Sufism (2)Philosophy (2)Ismaili thought (0)Greek sources (0)Further afield (7)Arabic grammar (0)Other (0)
GenreAll (7)Scripture and exegesis (0)Ḥadīth and the Prophet's life (0)Law (0)Creed and kalām (0)Metaphysics and cosmology (0)Sciences of letters and names (0)Counsel and governance (7)The path (0)Lives and lineages (0)Prayer and litany (0)Lyric (0)Language and grammar (0)Other, or not yet classed (0)
FormAll (7)Prose (7)Verse (0)Prose with verse (0)Diagrams (0)
LanguageAll (7)Arabic (2)Persian (3)Greek (0)Syriac (0)Ottoman Turkish (0)Chinese (0)Latin (2)Hebrew (0)Other (0)
PeriodAll (43)Archaic and classical Greek (0)Hellenistic (0)Roman imperial (1)Late antique (4)2nd century AH (3)3rd century AH (4)4th century AH (1)5th century AH (6)6th century AH (7)7th century AH (5)8th century AH (4)9th century AH (3)10th century AH (3)11th century AH (2)13th century AH (0)
In the readerAll (7)In the reader (0)Planned (0)Listed only (7)

7 of 82 works.

Works, sortable by column
Title ▼AuthorGenrePeriodLanguageStatus
Solace for the Ruler during Hostility of Subjects (Waters of Comfort)سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباعIbn Ẓafar al-ṢiqillīCounsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
The Lamp of Kingsسراج الملوكal-ṬurṭūshīCounsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
Secret of Secrets (Latin versions)Secretum secretorum (Latin)John of Seville and Philip of Tripoli (Latin translators)Counsel and governance6th century AHLatinListed only
Statesman's BookPolicraticusJohn of SalisburyCounsel and governance6th century AHLatinListed only
Counsel for Kings (Book of Counsel for Kings)نصیحة الملوکal-GhazālīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only
Persian Kalīla and Dimnaکلیله و دمنه (Naṣrallāh Munshī)Naṣrallāh MunshīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only
Four Discoursesچهار مقالهNiẓāmī ʿArūḍīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only

Records

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

Connected works

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

Connected works

Secret of Secrets (Latin versions)

Secretum secretorum (Latin)

Secretum secretorum

John of Seville and Philip of Tripoli (Latin translators) (12th–13th c. CE)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 6th century AH · Listed only

Two Latin translations carried the work to Europe, where it became one of the most copied 'Aristotelian' texts (hundreds of manuscripts).

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
12th-13th c., Toledo/Spain; Tripoli/Antioch (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • R. Steele, Opera hactenus inedita Rogeri Baconi, fasc. V (Oxford 1920) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • Steven J. Williams, The Secret of Secrets (Ann Arbor 2003) discusses translations · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

  • Resonance, not influence: The Secret of Secrets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Statesman's Book

Policraticus

Policraticus

John of Salisbury (d. 1180)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Latin · 6th century AH · Listed only

The commonwealth as body: prince as head, priests as soul, army as hands;

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
1159, Canterbury/Chartres (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Webb (Oxford 1909); Nederman CUP tr. (1990) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • Cary Nederman (CUP 1990); Pike (1938) 'Frivolities of Courtiers' · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Counsel for Kings (Book of Counsel for Kings)

نصیحة الملوک

Naṣīḥat al-mulūk

al-Ghazālī (450–505/1058–1111)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Faith as foundation of kingship;

Attribution
disputed: The draft says the first half may be his and the second part from another hand. TDV treats it as al-Ghazālī's, written in Baghdad under the Seljuks. The scope doc names Patricia Crone, 'Did al-Ghazālī write a mirror for princes?', JSAI 10 (1987): title and year 1987 seen in OpenAlex; the argument has not been read. probable
Date
c. 1105-09, Tus / Baghdad (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Jalāl al-Dīn Humāʾī (Tehran 1315 sh/1937) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • F. R. C. Bagley, Ghazali's Book of Counsel for Kings (OUP 1964) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Persian Kalīla and Dimna

کلیله و دمنه (Naṣrallāh Munshī)

Kalīla va Dimna

Naṣrallāh Munshī (fl. c. 538/1144)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Persian rendering of Kalīla with embellishments;

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
c. 1144, Ghazna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Mojtabā Mīnuvī (Tehran 1343 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Four Discourses

چهار مقاله

Chahār maqāla

Niẓāmī ʿArūḍī (fl. c. 551/1156)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Discusses the secretary, poet, astrologer and physician: those needed by the king.

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
c. 1156, Samarkand/Herat (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • E. G. Browne (London 1910, text) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • E. G. Browne (1899; rev. 1921) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works