The Brethren of Purity (اخوان الصفا; also translated as Brethren of Sincerity) ^[1] were an obscure and mysterious organization of neo-Platonic Arabic philosophers in Basra, Iraq (then seat of the Abbasid Caliphate) sometime during the 900s CE. They are remembered primarily because of a work they produced- the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, a giant encyclopedia in an epistolary style which greatly influenced later encyclopedias. A secret society is an organization that requires its members to conceal certain activities—such as rites of initiation—from outsiders. ... Neoplatonism (also Neo-Platonism) is a school of philosophy that took shape in the 3rd century A.D. Based on the teachings of Plato and the Platonists, it contained enough unique interpretations of Plato that some view Neoplatonism as substantively different from what Plato wrote and believed. ... Arabic can mean: From or related to Arabia From or related to the Arabs The Arabic language; see also Arabic grammar The Arabic alphabet, used for expressing the languages of Arabic, Persian, Malay ( Jawi), Kurdish, Panjabi, Pashto, Sindhi and Urdu, among others. ... Philosopher in Meditation (detail), by Rembrandt. ... Location of Basra Basra (also spelled BaÅŸrah or Basara; historically sometimes written Busra, Busrah, and the early form Bassorah; Arabic: , Al-Basrah) is the second largest city of Iraq with an estimated population of c. ... Abbasid provinces during the caliphate of Harun al-Rashid Abbasid (Arabic: العبّاسيّون AbbāsÄ«yÅ«n) was the dynastic name generally given to the caliphs of Baghdad, the second of the two great Sunni dynasties of the Islamic empire, that overthrew the Umayyad caliphs. ... Caliph is the term or title for the Islamic leader of the Ummah, or community of Islam. ... The Common Era (CE), sometimes known as the Christian Era or Current Era, is the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 (the traditional birthdate of Jesus) to the present. ... The Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (also variously known as the Epistles of the Brethren of Sincerity, the Epistles of the Brethren of Purity or Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends; Arabic: Rasail ikhwan as-safa wa khillan al-wafa ) was an encyclopedia written by... Brockhaus Konversations-Lexikon, 1902 An encyclopedia or encyclopaedia, also (rarely) encyclopædia,[1] is a comprehensive written compendium that contains information on all branches of knowledge or a particular branch of knowledge. ... Titlepage of Aphra Behns Love-Letters (1684) An epistolary novel is written as a series of documents. ...

They are generally considered a secret society because of their reclusiveness (most Western scholarship has been on the subjection of just pinning down who were the Brethren, or even what century they were active in), their esoteric teachings and learning, and their closed private meetings every 12 days[2]; the latter two are mentioned by them in the Encyclopedia. Esotericism is knowledge suitable only for an inner circle of the initiated, advanced or privileged. ...

Name

The Arabic "Ikhwan al-Safa" (short for "Ikhwan al-Safa wa Khullan al-Wafa wa Ahl al-adl wa abna al-Hamd") can be translated as either the "Brethren of Purity" or the "Brethren of Sincerity"; various scholars such as Ian Netton prefer "of Purity" because of the group's ascetic impulses towards purity and salvation. A suggestion made by Goldziher, and later written on by Philip K. Hitti in his History of Arabs, proposes that: Philip Khuri Hitti (1886 - 1978), born in Shimlan, Lebanon, was a Western scholar of Islam. ... History of the Arabs is a book written by Philip Khuri Hitti in 1937. ...

"The appellation is presumably taken from the story of the ringdove in Kalilah wa-Dimnah in which it is related that a group of animals by acting as faithful friends (ikhwan al-safa) to one another escaped the snares of the hunter."

The story concerned a ring-dove and its companions who became entangled in the net of a hunter seeking birds, or a fowler. Together, they left themselves and the ensnaring net to a nearby rat, who is gracious enough to gnaw the birds free of the net; impressed by the rat's altruistic service, a crow becomes the rat's friend, and soon a tortoise and gazelle also join the company of animals. Soon, the gazelle is trapped by another net; with the aid of the others and the good rat, the gazelle is soon freed, but the tortoise fails to leave the place quickly enough and is captured by the hunter. In the final turn of events, the gazelle repays the tortoise by distracting the hunter (serving as a decoy) as the rat, with the aid of the others, frees the tortoise. After this, the animals are designated as the "Ikwhan al-Safa" This story is mentioned as an exemplum when the Brethren speak of mutual aid in one rasa'il. The Panchatantra (also spelled Pañcatantra, Sanskrit पञ्चतन्त्र Five Chapters, Kelileh va Demneh or Kalilag and Damnag in Persian) is a collection of Sanskrit fables in prose and verse. ... Binomial name Streptopelia risoria The Barbary Dove, Ring Dove, or Ring-necked Dove, Streptopelia risoria, is a small domestic dove. ... Species 50 species; see text *Several subfamilies of Muroids include animals called rats. ... Species See text. ... Genera Chersina Dipsochelys Furculachelys Geochelone Gopherus Homopus Indotestudo Kinixys Malacochersus Manouria Psammobates Pyxis Testudo A tortoise is a land-dwelling reptile of the order Testudines. ... Species Several, see text A gazelle is an antelope of the genus Gazella. ... An Exemplum (latin for example, pl. ...

Ranks

Hierarchy was a major theme in their Encyclopedia, and unsurprisingly, the Brethren divided themselves up by four ranks (compare the similar division of the Encyclopedia into four sections and the symbolism of 4), which were: For the various types of hierarchy, see hierarchy (disambiguation) A hierarchy (in Greek: Ιεραρχία, it is derived from ιερός-hieros, sacred, and άρχω-arkho, rule) is a system of ranking and organizing things or people, where each element of the system (except for the top element) is subordinate to a single other element. ...   This article is about the year 4. ...

1. The "Craftsmen"- a craftsman had to be at least 15 years of age; their honorific was the "pious and compassionate" (al-abrār wa 'l-ruhamā).
2. The "Political Leaders"- a political leader had to be at least 30 years of age; their honorific was the "good and excellent" (al-akhyār wa 'l-fudalā)
3. The "Kings"- a king had to be at least 40 years of age; their honorific was the "excellent and noble" (al-fudalā' al-kirām)
4. The "Prophets and Philosophers"- the most aspired-to, the final and highest rank of the Brethren; to become a Prophet or Philosopher a man had to be at least 50 years old; their honorific compared them to historical luminaries such as Jesus, Socrates, or Muhammed, and was the "angelic rank" (al-martabat al-malakiyya). ^[3]

Jesus (8-2 BC/BCE — 29-36 AD/CE),[1] also known as Jesus of Nazareth, is the central figure of Christianity. ... Socrates (Greek , invariably anglicized as IPA: Sǒcratēs; ca. ... For other people named Muhammad, see Muhammad (disambiguation). ...

Identities

There have been a number of theories as to the authors of the Brethren. Among the particular Is'maili groups and missionaries who favored the Encyclopedia (as Paul Casanova shows in his 1898 work attempting to date the Brethren), authorship was sometimes ascribed to one or another Hidden Imam; this theory goes as far back as to al-Qifti's biographical compendium of philosophers and doctors, in which the first theory he recounts is "Some people say they have been written by one of the Hidden Imams". ^[4] al-Qifti denigrates this account, and instead turns to a comment he discovered, written by Abū Hayyān at-Tuhīdī (or al-Tawhīdī; d. 1023) in his Kitāb al-Imtā 'wal-Muanasa, in which Tauhidi discusses "Zaid b. Rifa'a" through the proxy of a conversation with the vizier Ib Sa'dān c. 992 CE; apparently Tawhidi had dedicated his Kitāb as-Sadiq was-Sadaqa to Zaid, but was disappointed that he was, as Stern puts it: This article is about the Shia Imam. ... The Common Era (CE), sometimes known as the Christian Era or Current Era, is the period of measured time beginning with the year 1 (the traditional birthdate of Jesus) to the present. ...

"requenting the society of the heretical authors of the Rasa'il Ikhwan as-Sada, whose names are also recorded as follows: Abu Suliaman Muhammed b. Ma'shar al-Bisti al-Maqdisi, Abu'l-Hasan 'Ali b. Harun az-Zanjani and Abu Ahmad al-Mihrajani, and al-'Aufi. At-Tauhidi also reports in this connection the opinion expressed by Abu Sulaiman al-Mantiqi, his master, on the '"Rasa'il and an argument between a certain al-Hariri, another pupil of al-Mantiqi, and Abu Sulaiman al-Maqdisi about the respective roles of Revelation and Philosophy." ^[5]

For many years, this was the only solid evidence as to the authors' identities, but it was at second-hand until al-Tawhīdī's Kitāb al-Imtā 'wal-Muanasa was published in 1942. ^[6] This publication substanially supported al-Qifti's work, although he apparently toned down the description and prominence of his charges that the Brethren were Batiniyya (an esoteric Ismaili sect) heretics, possibly so as to not tar his friend Zaid with the same brush. Stern derives a further result from the published text of the Kitāb al-Imtā 'wal-Muanasa, pointing out that a story al-Tawhīdī ascribes to a personal meeting with an "Qādī Abu'l-Hasan 'Alī b. Hārūn az-Zanjāni, [when] the founder of the sect, told me this story..." appears in almost identical form in one of the epistles. ^[7] While neat, Stern's view of things has been challenged by Tibawi, who points out some assumptions and errors Stern has made (such as the relationsuip between the story in Tawhidi's work and the Epistle; Tibawi points out that it is possible it was taken from a third source). ^[8]

al-Tawhīdī's testimony has also been described as thus:

"The Ikhwan al-Safa' remain an anonymous group of scholars, but when Abu Hayyan al-Tawhidi was asked about them, he identified some of them: Abu Sulayman al-Busti (known as al-Muqaddasi), 'Ali b. Harun al-Zanjani, Muhammad al-Nahrajuri (or al-Mihrajani), al-'Awfi, and Zayd ibn Rifa'i." [9]

The last contemporary source comes from the surviving portions of a work (the Kitāb Siwan al-Hikma; c. 950) by Abu Sulaiman al-Mantiqi (al-Tawhīdī's teacher), which was a sort of compendium of biographies; al-Mantiqi is primarily interested in the Brethren's literary techniques of using parables and stories, and so he says onl this little before giving some extracts:

"Abū Sulaimān al-Maqdisī: He is the author of the fifty-two Epistles inscribed The Epistles of the Sincere Brethren; all of them are full with Ethics and the science of... They are current among people, and are widely read. I wish to quote here a few paragraphs in order to give an idea of the manner of their parables, thus bringing my book to an end." ^[10]

There exists another comment by Shahzúry or (Shahrazūrī) as recorded in the Tawārikh al-Hukamā (or alternatively, the Tawárykh al-Hokamá), which states:

"Abū Solaymán Mah. b. Mosh'ir b. Nasby, who is known by the name of Moqadisy, and Abú al-Hasan b. Zahrún Ryhány, and Abú Ahmad Nahrajúry, and al-'Aufy, and Zayd b. Rofá'ah are the philosophers who compiled the memoirs of the Ikhwán al-cafâ, which have been recorded by Moqaddisy." ^[11]

Amusingly, Aloys Sprenger mentions this in a footnote: Author: Sprenger, Aloys, 1813-1983 Bibliography: Title: A catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustany manuscripts, of the libraries of the King of Oudh, compiled under the orders of the Govt. ...

"Since I wrote the first part of this notice I found one of the authors of these memoirs mentioned in the following terms: "Zayd b. Rofa, one of the authors of the Ikhwan al safa, was extremely ignorant in tradition, and he was a liar without shame."" [12]

References

• ↑  volume 4, pg 685-688 of the 1998 edition of the The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy; ed. Edward Craig, ISBN 0415-18709-5
• ↑  pg 36, Muslim Neoplatonists: An Introduction to the Thought of the Brethren of Purity, Ian Richard Netton, 1991. Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0-7486-0251-8
• ↑  "Notices of some copies of the Arabic work intitled "Rasàyil Ikhwàm al-cafâ"" by Aloys Sprenger, originally publised by the Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal (Calcutta) in 1848 [13]
• ↑  "The authorship of the Epistles of the Ikhwan-as-Safa", by Samuel Miklos Stern, published by Islamic Culture of Hyderabad in 1947
  • ↑  pg 1; "It can be easily understood too that the Ismā'ilis, among whom the Rasa'il enjoyed a quasi-canonical authoirty, ascribed to someone or other of their "Hidden Imams"." Here Stern is drawing upon Dr. H. Hamdānī's "The Rasail Ikhwan al-Safa in the Ismaili Literature", published in Der Islam in 1936. Compare also this quote from pg 7 of the "Ikhwan as-Safa and their Rasa'il: A Critical Review of a Century and a Half of Research" (by A. L. Tibawi, as published in volume 2 of The Islamic Quarterly in 1955; pgs. 28-46): "It tends, however, to prove one thing, namely, that the Rasa'il were popular with later Isma'ili missionaries who read, copied, and summarized them to suit their own purpose. But, as stated above, it has yet to be proved that Isma'ili bent of the tracts and of the genuine ar-Risāla al-Jāmi'a was itself a proof of early Isma'ili connexion. Indeed, the tracts speak in two voices on this Isma'ili bent."
  • ↑  pg. 3
  • ↑  pg. 4
  • ↑  pg. 5
• ↑  pg 12-13 of "Ikhwan as-Safa and their Rasa'il: A Critical Review of a Century and a Half of Research", by A. L. Tibawi, as published in volume 2 of The Islamic Quarterly in 1955; pgs. 28-46

The Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy is a major encyclopedia of philosophy that was first published by Routledge in 1998. ... Author: Sprenger, Aloys, 1813-1983 Bibliography: Title: A catalogue of the Arabic, Persian and Hindustany manuscripts, of the libraries of the King of Oudh, compiled under the orders of the Govt. ... Hyderabad may refer to: Hyderabad, India, the capital city of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India Hyderabad District, India Hyderabad state, the pre-1956 Indian state Hyderabad, Pakistan, the city in Sindh, Pakistan Hyderabad District, Pakistan External Links Hyderabad Portal This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated...

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

Brethren of Purity

• Article at Encyclopedia Britannica
• "Ikhwanus Safa: A Rational and Liberal Approach to Islam" -(by Asghar Ali Engineer)
• Article on the Brethren at Everything2