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1. Intellectual development
Al-Tusi's intellectual development cannot be divorced from the drama of his own life, and the catastrophe of the Mongol invasion of the Islamic east. From his birth in Tus in Khurasan in northwest Iran in ah 597/ad 1201 up to his middle or late twenties, al-Tusi lived in a Twelver Shi'i milieu, in a family whose idea of learning was, according to his own account, the study of the religious law, and whose behaviour was measured by its practice. His jurist father, however, was sufficiently broad-minded to encourage him beyond scholastic studies to the philosophical and natural sciences, and to acquaint himself with the doctrines of other schools and sects. To study philosophy, al-Tusi went to nearby Nishapur, where he was taught by a scholar whose teaching lineage went back to Ibn Sina. Early in his career, as al-Tusi himself later wrote, he was not convinced that the intellect could answer the ultimate metaphysical questions, since it would thereby be inquiring into its own origins, something of which it would be incapable. Perhaps as a way out of his perplexity, and quite possibly as the result of sectarian connections through an uncle, he turned to the Isma'ilism of his day, which had been influenced by the Neoplatonic speculations of Isma'ili thinkers in the third and fourth centuries ah (ninth and tenth centuries ad ). Isma'ili doctrine turned on the concept of an infallible Imam, without whose guidance, it claimed, the unaided intellect was unable to reach the truth. From his late twenties or early thirties, al-Tusi was in the service of the local Isma'ili leaders of northern Iran, writing a number of theological and philosophical works for them in both Persian and Arabic and beginning his contribution to a major revival of Peripatetic philosophy in eastern Islamic lands. With the Mongol invasion of Iran in the middle of the thirteenth century the Isma'ili strongholds were destroyed, and al-Tusi found himself involved in the negotiations leading to the surrender of the Grand Isma'ili Master to the invaders. His efforts were appreciated by the Mongol conqueror Hleg, who took him on as an advisor, in which capacity he assisted at the sacking of Baghdad in ah 656/ad 1258. Later al-Tusi was put in charge of religious endowments and affairs. Hleg also had the great observatory and library at Maraghah built for al-Tusi, where he led a team of scientists and mathematicians from as far away as China. It is clear that immense resources were put at his disposal for this project, where the teaching and study of philosophy went on hand in hand with that of the exact sciences. The end of his Isma'ili period also marked al-Tusi's turn (or return) to Twelver Shi'ism, and the last period of his life witnessed not only a remarkable output of scientific works but also a reformulation of Imami theology in philosophical terms which was as influential in the Shi'i world as was that of Fakhr al-Din alwww.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H036.htm 1/5
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Razi in the Sunni. Al-Tusi died in ah 672/ad 1274 in Baghdad, in the same year as Thomas Aquinas. He was buried according to his last wishes beside the shrine of the seventh Twelver Imam, Musa ibn Ja'far, in Kazimayn just outside Baghdad. Among his most remarkable students were the philosopher Qutb al-Din alShirazi (d. ah 710/ad 1310) and the Imami jurist and theologian, the 'Allamah al-Hilli (d. ah 726/ad 1325). If in his early life al-Tusi believed in the need for reason to be sustained by a non-rational (or supra-rational) guarantor, his move to Twelver Shi'ism, with its doctrine of the hidden, inaccessible Imam, indicates a growing strength in his convictions about the ability of the intellect. His sectarian shifts have given rise to much argument concerning his genuine doctrinal loyalties, but throughout his life there runs a consistent philosophical thread whose main characteristic was the defence, rehabilitation and elaboration of Ibn Sina's method and theories. It is through his interpretations in texts, epitomes, commentaries and refutations that subsequent generations in the Islamic east have approached their understanding of Ibn Sina. His output as an author in both Arabic and Persian was prodigious, including lasting contributions to logic, metaphysics, ethics, mathematics and astronomy.
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Submission), but of more enduring consequence was his later Twelver work, the Tajrid al-kalam (Abstract of Theology). This has been the subject of numerous commentaries down to the present century, the most important of which is the 'Allamah al-Hilli's Kashf al-murad (Disclosing the Intention). After the Tajrid, practically all Imami theological works would be expressed in the terminology of metaphysics, with Mulla Sadra eventually achieving a comprehensive and lasting fusion.
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gradual absorption into religious education, which in turn affected the development of theology, particularly among Shi'i scholars (see Science in Islamic philosophy). See also: Ibn Sina; al-Razi, Fakhr al-Din; Science in Islamic philosophy JOHN COOPER Copyright 1998, Routledge. List of works (1235, 1265) Akhlaq-i Nasiri (The Nasirean Ethics), trans. G.M. Wickens, London: George Allen & Unwin, 1964. (An excellent, meticulous translation of the Akhlaq-e Nasiri, with a brief introduction and notes.) (1242) Rawdat al-taslim (The Garden of Submission), trans. C. Jambet, La convocation d'Alamt: somme de philosophie ismalienne (Radat al-taslm: Le jardin de vraie foi), Lagrasse and Paris: ditions Verdier and ditions UNESCO, 1996. (A work of Isma'li theology.) (1244-5) Asas al-iqtibas (The Ground for the Acquisition of Knowledge), ed. M. Radawi, Tehran: Tehran University Press, 1947. (Al-Tusi's major logical text, in Persian.) (probably after 1246) Sayr wa suluk (Contemplation and Action), ed. and trans. S.J.H. Badakhchani, London: Institute for Ismaili Studies, 1997. (This is the autobiography which al-Tusi wrote during his stay with the Isma'ilis, and is untinged with the complaints which he later made of this period in his life.) (before 1258) Sharh al-Isharat (Commentary on the Isharat), ed. S. Dunya in Ibn Sina, al-Isharat wa-'ltanbihat, Cairo: Dar al-Ma'arif, 1957-60, 4 parts, 3 vols in 2; also in Ibn Sina, al-Isharat wa-'l-tanbihat, Tehran: Matba'at al-Haydari, 1957-9, 3 vols. (Both these editions contain al-Tusi's commentary as parts of Fakhr al-Din al-Razi's commentary, to which al-Tusi is responding. The Tehran edition also contains Qutb al-Din al-Razi's commentary, which sets out to adjudicate between al-Tusi and al-Razi.) al-Tusi (probably before 1270-1) Tajrid al-kalam (Abstract of Theology). (The text of this, al-Tusi's major theological work (also known as Tajrid al-'aqa'id and Tajrid al-i'tiqad), can be found in the commentary by his pupil Hasan ibn Yusuf ibn al-Mutahhar al-Hilli, Kashf al-murad fi sharh tajrid al-i'tiqad, Qum: Jama'at al-Mudarrisin, no date.)
References and further reading Dabashi, H. (1995) 'Khwajah Nasir al-Din al-Tusi: The Philosopher/Vizier and the Intellectual Climate of His Times', in S.H. Nasr and O. Leaman (eds) History of Islamic Philosophy, London: Routledge: 527-84. (Good introduction to al-Tusi, his work and his times.) Ibn Sina (980-1037) Kitab al-isharat wa-'l-tanbihat (Remarks and Admonitions), trans. A.-M. Goichon, Livre des directives et remarques, Beirut: Commission Internationale pour la Traduction des Chefs d'Oeuvres, and Paris: Vrin, 1951. (A useful French translation of Ibn Sina's text with introduction and notes by the translator; also contains many of al-Tusi's explanations in the notes, as well as some of his criticisms of al-Razi.) Madelung, W. (1985) 'Nasir al-Din Tusi's Ethics Between Philosophy, Shi'ism, and Sufism', in R.G.
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Hovannisian (ed.) Ethics in Islam, Malibu, CA: Undena, 85-101. (Discusses the developments of al-Tusi's ethical ideas in relation to his political involvement and religious allegiances.) Morewedge, P. (1975) 'The Analysis of "Substance" in Tusi's Logic and in the Ibn Sinian tradition', in G. Hourani (ed.) Essays on Islamic philosophy and science, Albany, NY: State University of New York Press. (Morewedge is one of the few scholars to have made specific studies of al-Tusi's metaphysics, and this article discusses substance in the Asas al-iqtibas.) Mudarris Radawi, M.T. (1975) Ahwal wa athar-e... Abu Ja'far Muhammad... al-Tusi... (Life and Works of... Abu Ja'far Muhammad... al-Tusi...), Tehran: Bunyad-e Farhang-e Iran. (In the absence of any comprehensive work on al-Tusi in a European language, it is necessary to turn to this Persian work which contains a comprehensive inventory of al-Tusi's works.)
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