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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 (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 (12)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 (10)The path (2)Lives and lineages (0)Prayer and litany (0)Lyric (0)Language and grammar (0)Other, or not yet classed (0)
FormAll (12)Prose (10)Verse (2)Prose with verse (0)Diagrams (0)
LanguageAll (12)Arabic (5)Persian (5)Greek (0)Syriac (0)Ottoman Turkish (0)Chinese (0)Latin (2)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 (12)In the reader (0)Planned (0)Listed only (12)

12 of 82 works.

Works, sortable by column
Title ▲AuthorGenrePeriodLanguageStatus
Divine governance of the human kingdomالتدبيرات الإلهية في إصلاح المملكة الإنسانيةIbn ʿArabīCounsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
Four Discoursesچهار مقالهNiẓāmī ʿArūḍīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only
The Walled Garden of Truthحدیقة الحقیقةSanāʾīThe path6th century AHPersianListed only
Commentary on Plato's Republicجوامع سياسة أفلاطونIbn Rushd (Averroes)Counsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
Persian Kalīla and Dimnaکلیله و دمنه (Naṣrallāh Munshī)Naṣrallāh MunshīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only
The Conference of the Birdsمنطق الطیرFarīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭārThe path6th century AHPersianListed only
Counsel for Kings (Book of Counsel for Kings)نصیحة الملوکal-GhazālīCounsel and governance6th century AHPersianListed only
Statesman's BookPolicraticusJohn of SalisburyCounsel and governance6th century AHLatinListed only
Secret of Secrets (Latin versions)Secretum secretorum (Latin)John of Seville and Philip of Tripoli (Latin translators)Counsel and governance6th century AHLatinListed only
The Lamp of Kingsسراج الملوكal-ṬurṭūshīCounsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
Solace for the Ruler during Hostility of Subjects (Waters of Comfort)سلوان المطاع في عدوان الأتباعIbn Ẓafar al-ṢiqillīCounsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only
Regime (Rule) of the solitaryتدبير المتوحدIbn Bājja (Avempace)Counsel and governance6th century AHArabicListed only

Records

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
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
Read it at 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

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

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

The Walled Garden of Truth

حدیقة الحقیقة

Ḥadīqat al-ḥaqīqa

Sanāʾī (d. c. 525/1131)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Mathnawī with sections on kings and justice, mixed with mystic teaching.

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
c. 1131, Ghazna (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Modarres Razavi (Tehran 1329 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • David Pendlebury (The Walled Garden of Truth, London 1974) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

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”

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

The Conference of the Birds

منطق الطیر

Manṭiq al-ṭayr

Farīd al-Dīn ʿAṭṭār (d. c. 618/1221)

Sufism · The path · Persian · 6th century AH · Listed only

Birds seek the Simurgh, their king;

Attribution
authentic not yet checked
Date
c. 1177, Nishapur (basis: date of composition) not yet checked
Editions
  • Gowharin (Tehran 1342 sh) · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Translations
  • Darbandi and Davis (Penguin 1984) · en · cite only (unchecked) not yet checked
Not in the reader yet

Connected works

  • Resonance, not influence: Spiritual Couplets The first draft claims influence; not yet checked. not yet checked

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

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

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

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

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

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]”