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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 (5)The Quran (0)Ibn ʿArabī (0)Sufism (0)Philosophy (4)Ismaili thought (0)Greek sources (0)Further afield (1)Arabic grammar (0)Other (0)
GenreAll (6)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 (5)The path (0)Lives and lineages (0)Prayer and litany (0)Lyric (0)Language and grammar (0)Other, or not yet classed (1)
FormAll (5)Prose (4)Verse (0)Prose with verse (1)Diagrams (0)
LanguageAll (5)Arabic (5)Persian (0)Greek (0)Syriac (0)Ottoman Turkish (0)Chinese (0)Latin (0)Hebrew (0)Other (0)
PeriodAll (24)Archaic and classical Greek (0)Hellenistic (0)Roman imperial (0)Late antique (0)2nd century AH (5)3rd century AH (4)4th century AH (5)5th century AH (2)6th century AH (5)7th century AH (0)8th century AH (2)9th century AH (1)10th century AH (0)11th century AH (0)13th century AH (0)
In the readerAll (5)In the reader (0)Planned (0)Listed only (5)

5 of 82 works.

Works, sortable by column
Title ▲AuthorGenrePeriodLanguageStatus
The political regime (also called the Principles of existing things)السياسة المدنيةal-FārābīCounsel and governance4th century AHArabicListed only
The Unique Necklaceالعقد الفريدIbn ʿAbd RabbihCounsel and governance4th century AHArabicListed only
Opinions of the people of the virtuous cityآراء أهل المدينة الفاضلةal-FārābīCounsel and governance4th century AHArabicListed only
The refinement of characterتهذيب الأخلاقMiskawayhCounsel and governance4th century AHArabicListed only
Summary of Plato's Lawsتلخيص نواميس أفلاطونal-FārābīCounsel and governance4th century AHArabicListed only

Records

The political regime (also called the Principles of existing things)

السياسة المدنية

al-Siyāsa al-madaniyya

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

The ruler, the virtuous city and its opposites, built from a doctrine of first principles.

Attribution
authentic: TDV names al-Siyāsa al-madaniyya (Mabādiʾ al-mawjūdāt), less systematic than the Madīna and complementing it. checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)
Date
c. 940s (draft; unchecked), Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

The Unique Necklace

العقد الفريد

al-ʿIqd al-farīd

Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih (d. 328/940)

Further afield · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Book 1 al-Luʾluʾa (The Pearl) on the sultan, one of the first Andalusi mirrors in anthology form.

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
early 10th c., Cordoba (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Amīn, Zayn, Abyārī (Cairo 1940-53) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • partial · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

Opinions of the people of the virtuous city

آراء أهل المدينة الفاضلة

Ārāʾ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍila

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

The virtuous city is ruled by a philosopher-prophet whose emanation from the Active Intellect orders the city like the cosmos from the First Cause;

Attribution
authentic: TDV: al-Madīna al-fāḍila was written with a thought like the ideal city of Plato's Republic. checked in Hasan Hüseyin Adalıoğlu, “Siyâsetnâme”, TDV İslâm Ansiklopedisi (2009)
Date
c. 940s, Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Dunlop (Fuṣūl 1961); Walzer (Ārāʾ, Oxford 1985); Mahdi (Taḥṣīl) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • Walzer, Al-Farabi on the Perfect State (Oxford 1985); Mahdi tr. in Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle (1962); Najjar in Lerner and Mahdi, Medieval Political Philosophy (1963) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

  • Resonance, not influence: Laws The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
  • Resonance, not influence: Republic (recorded as lineage, shown as a resonance until its reference is checked) SEP: al-Fārābī takes 'some inspiration' from the Republic and Laws, though his access to them may have been limited since a full Arabic translation is doubted; TDV likens his Madīna to the ideal city of Plato's Republic. No quotation or named borrowing has been checked. Confidence: medium. probable

The refinement of character

تهذيب الأخلاق

Tahdhīb al-akhlāq

Miskawayh (c. 932–1030)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Character is formed by balancing the three soul-faculties (Platonic tripartition: rational, irascible, appetitive);

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
c. 1000, Rayy/Baghdad (Buyid) (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Cairo ed. · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • Constantine Zurayk, The Refinement of Character (Beirut: AUB 1968) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

  • Resonance, not influence: Republic The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked
  • Resonance, not influence: Phaedrus (chariot myth, 246a-254e) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

Summary of Plato's Laws

تلخيص نواميس أفلاطون

Talkhīṣ Nawāmīs Aflāṭūn

al-Fārābī (c. 870–950)

Philosophy · Counsel and governance · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Al-Fārābī's short summary of Plato's Laws, surviving in Arabic.

Attribution
authentic: SEP: 'we certainly have al-Fārābī's Summary of Plato's Laws'. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”
Date
c. 940s (draft; unchecked), Baghdad, Aleppo/Damascus (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Th.-A. Druart (ed., 1998), as cited in the SEP entry on al-Fārābī · cite only probable
Translations
  • Butterworth, in al-Fārābī, The Political Writings II (2015), as cited in the SEP entry · en · cite only probable
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

  • Lineage: Laws A summary of the Laws by al-Fārābī; SEP says the Arabic text survives. Confidence: high. checked in Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, “al-Farabi”