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 records Streams

TraditionAll (6)The Quran (0)Ibn ʿArabī (0)Sufism (0)Philosophy (5)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 (6)Prose (5)Verse (0)Prose with verse (1)Diagrams (0)

LanguageAll (6)Arabic (6)Persian (0)Greek (0)Syriac (0)Ottoman Turkish (0)Chinese (0)Latin (0)Hebrew (0)Other (0)

PeriodAll (82)Archaic and classical Greek (7)Hellenistic (0)Roman imperial (4)Late antique (4)2nd century AH (5)3rd century AH (6)4th century AH (6)5th century AH (8)6th century AH (12)7th century AH (16)8th century AH (4)9th century AH (4)10th century AH (3)11th century AH (2)13th century AH (1)

In the readerAll (6)In the reader (0)Planned (0)Listed only (6)

6 of 82 works.

Works, sortable by column
Title ▲	Author	Genre	Period	Language	Status
The political regime (also called the Principles of existing things)السياسة المدنية	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The Unique Necklaceالعقد الفريد	Ibn ʿAbd Rabbih	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Opinions of the people of the virtuous cityآراء أهل المدينة الفاضلة	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinnرسائل إخوان الصفا؛ نزاع الإنسان والحيوان	Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ	Other, or not yet classed	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
The refinement of characterتهذيب الأخلاق	Miskawayh	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed only
Summary of Plato's Lawsتلخيص نواميس أفلاطون	al-Fārābī	Counsel and governance	4th century AH	Arabic	Listed 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

Resonance, not influence: Choice Reports (Book 1: al-Sulṭān) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

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

Epistles of the Brethren of Purity; The Case of the Animals versus Man before the King of the Jinn

رسائل إخوان الصفا؛ نزاع الإنسان والحيوان

Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ; Tadāʿī al-ḥayawān ʿalā l-insān

Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ (10th c. CE (anonymous group))

Philosophy · Other, or not yet classed · Arabic · 4th century AH · Listed only

Epistle 22 is a debate before a jinn-king;

Attribution

authentic not yet checked

Date

10th c., Basra (basis: date of composition) not yet checked

Editions

Cairo/Beirut editions; Butrus al-Bustani (Beirut 1957) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked

Translations

Lenn Goodman and Richard McGregor (OUP/IIS 2009) for the Animals; Epistles partial (IIS) · 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: Kalīla and Dimna (Fables of Bidpai) The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

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”