This edition comprises the first two books of the natural philosophy section of a unique teacher’s manual on Avicenna’s philosophy, authored by his second-generation student Abū ’l-ʿAbbās al-Lawkarī (d. after 503/1109). Al-Lawkarī was the person responsible for promoting Avicenna’s philosophy in Khorasan at a time when theologians like Abū Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d. 505/1111) condemned its most fundamental tenets. The importance of this work lies in al-Lawkarī’s endeavour to provide the resources for a condensed yet comprehensive lecture course on Avicenna’s philosophy, with the aim of perpetuating his ideas. His covert use of the work of his teacher Bahmanyār (d. 458/1066) is especially noteworthy, here as well as in other sections of this work.
Mohammad J. Esmaeili (b. 1978) is a specialist in the history of medieval Islamic philosophy and science. A member of the academic staff at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy in Tehran, he publishes in Persian and English, mainly on the history of Aristotle’s Physics in the Avicennan tradition.
Joep Lameer (b. 1953) is a specialist in the history of Islamic philosophy and logic. Besides authoring many articles and a number of monographic studies, translations, and editions, he is currently focused on making key German, Arabic, and Persian (re-)sources accessible to an English-speaking readership.
A must-have for every private, academic or institutional library specialising in the history of medieval Islamic philosophy. While the edition targets the accomplished reader of Arabic, the introductory part is accessible to a much broader readership.