430)Ismaili Mail promotes "Epistles of the Brethren of Purity - The Ikhwan Al-Safa’ and Their Rasa’il" with comment by me; Quotes of Aga Khan IV.

"....in Islam, but particularly Shia Islam, the role of the intellect is part of faith. That intellect is what seperates man from the rest of the physical world in which he lives.....This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives. Of that I am certain"(Aga Khan IV, Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania, August 17th 2007)

"In Islamic belief, knowledge is two-fold. There is that revealed through the Holy Prophet (s.a.s.) and that which man discovers by virtue of his own intellect. Nor do these two involve any contradiction, provided man remembers that his own mind is itself the creation of God. Without this humility, no balance is possible. With it, there are no barriers"(Aga Khan IV, 16 March 1983, Aga Khan University, Karachi, Pakistan)



My comment on the posted article:
"The Epistles of the Ikhwan al-Safa give us a classification that reveals a continuum of knowledge ranging from rationally-acquired knowledge of the mind to transcendental knowledge of the divine. This kind of all-encompassing and holistic treatment of knowledge and intellect is a hallmark of Shia Islam and the subsequent development of cosmological, philosophical and theological doctrines by the Fatimid Ismaili Muslims reflects this holistic ethos. In today’s world where new discoveries are being made daily about nature and the universe through scientific enquiry, the treatises of the Ikhwan al-Safa(Brethern of Purity) and Fatimid cosmologist-philosopher-theologians offer priceless ways to integrate science and religion in Islam."(Easy Nash, December 26th 2008)

Other related:

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/01/306the-uninterrupted-thread-of-search.html

http://www.iep.utm.edu/i/ikhwan.htm



Published on ISMAILI MAIL:
Epistles of the Brethren of Purity - The Ikhwan Al-Safa’ and Their Rasa’il: An Introduction

December 26, 2008
Posted by ismailimail in Books, Institute of Ismaili Studies, Islam.

Description
Ikhwan al-Safa’ (The Brethren of Purity) were the anonymous adepts of a tenth-century esoteric fraternity of lettered urbanites that was principally based in Basra and Baghdad. This brotherhood occupied a prominent station in the history of science and philosophy in Islam due to the wide reception and assimilation of their monumental encyclopedia: Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ (The Epistles of the Brethren of Purity) . This compendium contained fifty-two epistles that offered synoptic explications of the classical sciences and philosophies of the age. Divided into four classificatory parts, it treated themes in mathematics, logic, natural philosophy, psychology, metaphysics and theology, in addition to moral and didactic fables. The Ikhwan were learned compilers of scientific and philosophical knowledge, and their Rasa’il constituted a paradigmatic legacy in the canonization of philosophy and the sciences in mediaeval Islamic civilization.

This present volume gathers studies by leading philosophers, historians and scholars of Islamic Studies, who are also the editors and translators of the first Arabic critical editions and first complete annotated English translations of the Rasa’il Ikhwan al-Safa’ , which will be published in the OUP Series that this present volume initiates, as well as being members of the Editorial Board.

Oxford University Press - Institute of Ismaili Studies - AmazonRelated: Ikhwan al-Safa

http://www.iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=110037


Easy Nash

The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)