Ibn Sina's al-Mabdaʼ wa-al-maʻād A Thematic Analysis, Studies' Appraisal and Codicological Aspect

Abstract

Al-Mabda 'wa Al-Ma'ad is one of Ibn Sina's philosophical works in which many significant issues of Metaphysics and Natural philosophy are explained. It is noteworthy to say that later thinkers such as Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, Shahāb al-Dīn Suhrawardī and Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī have referred to this book. However this book has similarities with other Ibn Sina's works, especially Salvation (al-Najat), it contains different contents such as the perception of intelligibles, motion, the spheres and soul. These topics are definitely invaluable for further development in the history of Ibn Sina's reception. Since 1332/1953 to 1400/2021, four works were published on this books, two works included the text and the other two are Persian and French translations. In this article, having briefly introduced the book and evaluated the studies on it, it is meticulously examined the list of the MS copies of the as well as close look at fifty copies of them. Furthermore, the new detailed updated list of the work including seventy one copies has been reported in the appendix. On the basis of the current study, it’s essential to establish a critical edition of the work as well as avoiding the previous errors both in content and in methodology