While pursuing my PhD at the Iranian Institute of Philosophy in Tehran, I extensively studied the theories of motion in Aristotle, Philoponus, Avicenna, and Buridan. During this period, I came across a mention of LawkarÄ«âs natural philosophy in one of Shlomo Pinesâ writings, which captured my interest. I discovered that the natural philosophy part of LawkarÄ«âs voluminous abstract of (mostly) Avicennan philosophy, the BayÄn al-ḥaqq bi-á¸amÄn al-á¹£idq, had remained unedited to this day. LawkarÄ« is generally believed to be a second-generation student of Avicenna through the latterâs most talented student, BahmanyÄr b. MarzbÄn. Besides, LawkarÄ« is credited with the spread of Avicennan philosophy in Khorasan. These two considerations are reason enough to warrant the publication of whatever philosophical work of his that remains.
My primary focus in academia being the history of natural philosophy, I decided to prepare an edition of the entirety of the natural philosophy section of the BayÄn al-ḥaqq. Since 2012, I have been dedicating intermittent efforts to this task, balancing it alongside my manifold academic responsibilities and projects at the Institute. A draft version of the edition is now available. However, I cannot predict how long it will take to finalise the entire text, spanning over 700 pages. This being the case, I decided to publish a first instalment, so to speak, covering the Physics (called SamÊ¿ al-kiyÄn by LawkarÄ«, an early rendering of Aristotle's Phusikê akroasis, later mostly referred to as al-SamÄÊ¿ al-á¹abÄ«Ê¿Ä«)1 and the De caelo (al-SamÄʾ wal-Ê¿Älam), which constitute natural philosophyâs first two books. In this way, my readers will already have about one-third of the text available, enabling them to assess to what extent these two books reproduce the core of Avicennaâs thought, whether or not LawkarÄ« introduced any new ideas and, if so, whether these ideas stemmed from himself or were perhaps adopted by him from others.
In all the years I have been working on this project, I have enjoyed the unremitting support of Joep Lameer from The Netherlands, my mentor and long-time friend. Joep spent a significant amount of his valuable time reading and correcting my drafts, always offering advice, particularly on codicology, Middle Arabic, and the structure and content of the Introduction, overseeing its English redaction. Additionally, he dedicated his time to converting the editionâs Word file into a presentable format using Classical Text Editor. Hence, it is no exaggeration to say that over the years, Joep evolved from being an interested sounding board into a distant collaborator. My heartfelt thanks go to him, without whom the present volume might never have seen the light.
Besides Joep Lameer, numerous individuals have contributed significantly to the development of this book over the past decade, directly related to its central theme or through general discussions and conversations or sharing material with me. I am deeply indebted to every one of them and would like to express my sincere gratitude towards them. I want to acknowledge the following individuals in no particular order: Hossein Masoumi Hamedani, Jules Janssens, Marwan Rashed, Sajjad Nikfahm-Khubravan, Hanif Amin Beidokhti, Qais Qudah, Jan Just Witkam, Jari Kaukua, Michael Chase, Roxanne Marcotte, Meryem Sebti, Teymour Morel, Marie-Geneviève Guesdon, Mahmoud Yosefsani, Jan Hogendijk, and the late Janis Eshots.
I am also grateful to my colleagues and friends with whom I have had numerous discussions and conversations over the past years regarding Avicennaâs philosophy and school, either through emails or in person. These include Gholamhossein Ibrahimi Dinani, Dimitri Gutas, Hans Thijssen, Frans de Haas, Andreas Lammer, Richard Sorabji, Amos Bertolacci, Mohammad Azadpur, Mohammadhossein Heshmatpour, the late Robert Sharples, the late Edward Booth and others, whom I should also like to thank.
I would also like to acknowledge the support and assistance of various institutions and centres, including the Iranian Institute of Philosophy and its directors, Tehran University Central Library, the Central Library of Astan Quds Razavi, the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, the British Library and Leiden University Library. Their resources and facilities have been invaluable in completing this book.
What is a manuscript, however good it may be, without a publisher? I would, therefore, like to thank Maurits van den Boogert of Brill Publishers for proposing to publish the present edition in the invaluable series Islamic Philosophy, Theology and Science. Texts and Studies, founded by the late and highly esteemed Hans Daiber.
Lastly, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my wife, Effat, and my children, Soheil and Sara, for their unwavering support and understanding throughout this intellectual journey. Their patience and encouragement have been a constant source of motivation for me to complete this book. I am genuinely grateful for their love and sacrifices, as they have been eagerly awaiting and counting down the day of its publication.
Mohammad Javad Esmaeili
Iranian Institute of Philosophy, Tehran
4 Bahman 1403 shâ23Â January 2025
A. Lammer, Elements of Avicennaâs Physics, 12â15, 35, 38.