"So man in his true being is the rational soul, and it is a single substance in all men. All men in their true being are a single thing, but they are many in persons. Since their souls are one, and love is only in the soul, all of them must then show affection for one another and love one another." Yahya b. Adiyy, Reformation of Morals, p.107.
Following Plato and Aristotle, Yahya presents the human soul as consisting of three parts. Is this theory of the soul and moral behavior compatible with the Quran and Islamic beliefs? Come up with three points to back up your claim. Give citations from the reading for these points.
book is attached for answer
-----·· --- ------ EASTERN CHRISTIAN TEXTS Volume I • EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Daniel C. Peterson DIRECTING EDITOR Carl W Griffin ASSOCIATE EDITOR Kristian S. Heal ADVISORY BOARD Sidney II. Griffith, Chair Edward G. MathewsJr. Sebastian P. Brock S. Kent Brown Gerald Browne S. Peter Cowe John Gee Brian Hauglid Bo Holmberg Samir Khalil Samir David G. K. Taylor Richard A. Taylor Herman Teule Niichel van Esbroeck Witold Witakowski Robin Darling Young Institute for the Study and Preservation of Ancient Religious Texts Brigham Young University • In collaboration with the Centre de documentation et de recherches arabes chretiennes (CEDRAC), Univcrsite Saint-Joseph, Lebanon Ya~yii ibn S4di The Reformation of Morals A parallel Arabic-English text translated and introduced by Sidney H. Griffith Brigham Young University Press • Provo) Utah • 2002 ····························································--------"""""-------------- xii Preface YaQyii's RefOrmation of1\;JoraLs is not without its limitations. In it the author fails to take into consideration the broader spectrum of the inter- religious life of his own time and place. Jewish, Christian, and Muslim population~, along with some others, made up the broad community of the "People of the Book" that the Qur:ian recognizes; Yal).ya alludes only to Christians and Muslims. He pays no attention at all to non- biblical religious communities. In the world of which he speaks, only men seem to have the potential for full humanity; women are spoken of only in terms of a lesser potential. Philosophically, Yal).yii's work lacks the intellectual acuity and development to be found in the ethical writings of other scholars in his time, like his teacher al-Farabi. Yal).ya writes in a more popular and didactic vein. Nevertheless, The Reforma- tion of Morals may be viewed as a philosophically well-informed essay on moral improvement in an "Islamochristian" context that was heir to the religious and philosophical traditions of late antiquity. Its suc- cess in its O\Vn Arabic-speaking milieu over the centuries can help remind the postmodern reader that shared moral values nurtured by a humane philosophy of human development can foster the growth of a measure of tolerance between the upholders of religious convic- tions that are inherently critical of one another. Translation is often a lonely and frustrating task, but the translator is never vvithout a community of supporters. fu the present instance, thanks are due to Daniel Peterson, Kristian Heal, Carl Griffin, Morgan Davis, Brian Hauglid, Muhammad Eissa, and the staff of Brigham Young Uni- versity's Middle Eastern Texts Initiative; their encouragement and timely advice made the English translation of YaJ:iya ibn 'Adi's The Reformation of l~!forals a possibility. Peter Starr and Bo 1-Iolmberg saved the translator from many infelicities of expression and outright errors in translation; they have his profound gratitnde. Monica]. Blanchard and Therese-Anne Druart, among other colleagues at The Catholic University of America, provided much bibliographical and scholarly support; public thanks are too small a recompense for their help. Finally, thanks be to the doyen of Arab Christian studies in our time, Samir Khalil Samir, S.J., for the superb edition of the Arabic text of The Reformation of Morals republished here, from which the English translation has been made. -SIDNEY H. GRIFFITH The Catholic University of America Washington, D.C. JO June 2002 Introduction YaJ:iya ibn 'Adi (893-974C.E.), 1 whose full name is Abii Zakariyya Yal:tya ibn cAdi ibn I:lamid ibn Zakariyya al-Takriti al-Mantiqi, was a Syrian Orthodox or 'Jacobite" Christian \\lho was born in the city of Takrit in Iraq. As a young man he moved to Baghdad, where he studied with Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yiinus (ca. 870-ca. 940), the philosopher from the Church of the East,2 and with the famous Muslim philosopher Abii Na~r al-Farabi (ca. 870-950). By the mid-940s YaJ:iya had become a major figure in a new generation of intellectuals in Baghdad. While he earned his living as a professional scribe, he was also for a while one of the leading exponents of the Peripatetic school of thought in the caliph's capital city.3 He attracted numerous disciples, both Christian and Muslim, not a few of whom went on to become eminent scholars in their own right. Because of this obviously successful scholarly career, YaQya and his circle of intellectual associates have come to be seen by later historians as important participants in the cultural l. For pre-1970 discussions ofYa~ya and his .. vorks in the standard reference sources for Arab Christian studies, see Georg Graf, Die Philosophie und Gotteslehre des]a(Jjd ibn 'll.d£ undspiiterer Autoren: Skiwn nach meist ungedruckten Quellen (Miln- ster: Aschendorffschen Buchhandlung, 1910); Augustin P€rier, Ya~yii hen 54.df: Un philosophe arabe chritien du xe siecle (Paris: Gabalda & Geuthner, 1920); Georg Graf, Geschichte der christlichen arabischen Literatur (voL 2; StT 133; Vatican City: Biblioteca Apostolica Vaticana, 1947), 233-49. 2. Abil Bis hr is normally described as a "Nestorian," an adjective of oppro- brium used in his O'\o\'11 day by the theological adversaries of his community as well as by Muslim writers. It seems best to avoid it in modern scholarly discussion. See Sebastian P. Brock, "The 'Nestorian' Church: A Lamentable Misnomer," B]RL 78 (1996): 2~-35. 3. See F. E. Peters, Aristotle and the Arabs: The Aristotelian Tradition in Islam (New York: Ne'v York University Press, 1968), 160-63. - xiii - xiv Introduction revival during the Buyid age that Joel Kraemer has described as the humanistic renaissance of Islam in its fourth century.4 And it is for this reason as \vell that bibliographers both medieval and modern have made every effort to keep track of Ya}:iya's \Yorks. In the tenth century his friend, the Muslim bio-bibliographer Mul)ammad ibn lsl)aq ibn al-Nadim (d. 995), recorded his accomplishments in his famous Fihrist, and in 1977 Gerhard Endress published an analytical inventory of all the known works ofYal)ya ibn 'Adi.5 I Yal;tya ibn 'Adi al-Takriti 6 By Yal).ya ibn cAdi's day, 13.krit in Iraq, located approximately mid- way along the Tigris River between Baghdad and Mosul, had long been an intellectual and spiritual center of the Jacobite church. I-Iere was the seat of the maphriiin, since the seventh century the hierarch in charge of Jacobite church affairs in the Persian territories beyond the frontier of the Roman Empire.7 Nearby was the monastery of Mar Mattai, with its well-kno\vn library, an intellectual resource that seems to have served the needs of the entire Syriac-speaking community without regard for denominational identity. In the late eighth century, Catholicos/Patriarch Timothy I (d. 823) of the Church of the East in 4. See Joel L. Kraemer, Humanism in the Renaissance ef Islam: The Cultural Revival during the Buyid Age (Leiden: Brill, 1986), 104-39. For a brief survey of the Christian participants in this earlier renaissance in the world of Islam, see Khalil Samir, "ROie des chretiens clans !es renaissances arabes," Annales de phi- losophie de L'Universiti Saint-Joseph 6 (1985): 1-31. 5. See Bayard Dodge, ed. and trans., The Fihrist ef al-Nadim: A Tknth-Century Survey ef Muslim Culture (2 vols.; Ne;,v York: Columbia University Press, 1970), 2:631-32, and sub nomine; Gerhard Endress, The VVorks ef Yaftyii ibn 'Adi: An Analytical Inventory (\.Yiesbadcn: Dr. Lud;,vig Reichert Verlag, 1977). See also the important additions and corrections to Endress's Inventory in the review by Samir Khalil, "Ya\lya ibn 'Adl (893-974)," BA Ch 3 (1979): 45-63. 6. There is some variation in the sources regarding the nisbah of YaJ:iya ibn CAdi. Since Bar riebraeus, himself from Takrit and, like YaJ:iya, ajacobite, assigns him the toponyrnic aL-Takriti, one may be confident that it is likely to be correct. See Gerard Troupeau, "Quelle Ctait la nisba de YaJ:iya ibn cAdi?" Arabica 41 (1994): 416-18. 7. SeeJ. :NL Fiey, "Tagrlt: Esquisse d'histoirc chrCtienne," OrSyr 8 (1963): 289-342; repr. in Communaulis ryriaques en Iran et lrak des origines a 1552 (CStS 106; London: Variorum Reprints, 1979). Introduction xv a letter requests his correspondent Mar Pethion to look for a number of books for him in the library of the monastery of Mar Mattai.8 Also natives of Takrit were I:.labib ibn Khidmah Abii Ra'i\ah (d. before 850) 9 and his nephew, Nonnus ofNisibis (d. after 862),10 two of the earliest Jacobite intellectuals to engage in the apologetical effort to defend the Christian faith from the religious challenges of Islam. Abu R~r'i1ah, the firstJacobite we kno\v by name to \Vrite Chris- tian theology in Arabic, was in all probability a layman, a malpOnO or "teacher," whose role in the community was both to teach Syriac and to function as a catechist, an exegete, and a professional theologian.11 In his Arabic letters and treatises he wrote to rebut both the theologi- cal claims of the Melkites and specifically those of their champion in Arabic, Theodore Abfi Qurrah (ca. 755-ca. 830),12 as well as the Mus- lim mutakallimiin (theologians) of the day who questioned Christian doctrines. 13 Nonnus, \Vho \Vas a deacon, wrote in both Syriac and Arabic. He instructed Syriac-speaking Christians in \vays to respond to ques- tions from ~tfuslims about religion, and he commented on important 8. See Ti1nothy's Letter 43, the Syriac text of \vhich is still unpublished, in Vat. Syr. 605, fol. 303v. See also Oskar Braun, "Briefe des Katholikos Timothcos I," OrChr 2 (I902): 1-32. On Timothy's role in the translation movement, see Sebas- tian P. Brock, "Two Letters of the Patriarch 1'imothy from the Late Eighth Cen- tury on Translations from Greek," Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 9 (1999): 233-46. 9. See Georg Graf, Die Schriften desjacobiten lfabib ibn Hidma AbU RiiJif,a (CSCO 130-31; Louvain: Peeters, 1951). Sec also Sandra Toenies Keating, "Dia- logue between Muslims and Christians in the Early 9th Century: The Example of l:fabib ibn J