New New Arabic Original bdg. Dust wrapper. 4to. (30 x 23 cm). Introduction in English and Persian; facsimile text n Arabic. [30], 395, [11] p. An anonymous commentary on Kitâb al-Tadhkira by Ibn Mattawayh. Facsimile Edition of Mahdavi Codex 514 (6th / 12th century).= Shars Kitâb al-Tadhkirah fi? ahkâm al-jawâhir wa-al-a'râd. Ibn Mattawayh. Introduction and indices by Sabine Schmidtke. EBN MATTAWAYH (Mattûya), ABÛ MO?AMMAD HASAN b. A?mad b. Mattawayh, Mu'tazilite theologian of the Basran school, a student of Qâzî 'Abd-al-Jabbar (d. 415/1025). Where Ebn Mattawayh lived and the date of his death are not known. Wilferd Madelung has established that his Majmû' was written rather soon after 'Abd-al-Jabbar's death and that the late date sometimes given for Ebn Mattawayh's death as 468/1075 or 469/1076 has no foundation. Two works of his survive and are being published: a complete treatise of Mu!tazilite theology and a treatise on the "fine points" of theology. His Ketâb al-majmû' fi'l-mo?i? be'l-taklif is, as D. Gimaret has shown in his preface to the second volume, an independent, explicative, and sometimes critical rewriting of ?Abd- al-Jabbar's al-Mohit fi'l-taklif. The first of the two parts of Ebn Mattawayh's al-Tadkera fi a?kam al-jawaher wa'l-a'raz has been published (ed. S. N. Lo?f and F. Badir'un, Cairo, 1975). The first volume is a treatise on the "physics, or natural philosophy, of the Mu'tazilite world view: substances, atoms, bodies, their various properties (colors, tastes, odors, sounds, heat and cold, speech and language), existence and nonexistence, the basic accidents (akwan), etc.; and on all the auxiliary matters that form the background and supposition for arguments in the greater questions of theology: the eternity and justice of God, creation, the temporality of the Koran, man's power, moral responsibility (taklif), etc. According to the editors of the first part, the second and final part, fi'l-?ayat, which would be the "biology" of the theologian's world view, was being prepared for publication. The Ta?kera might be usefully read in conjunction with a treatise on the same subject by another disciple of ?Abd al-Jabbar, Abu Rasid Sa?id b. Mo?ammad b. Sa'id Nîsabûrî, al-Masâ 'el fi'l-?elâf bayn al-Basriyin wa'l-Bagdadiyin (Beirut, 1979). Ebn Mattawayh was one of the Mu'tazilites who favored 'Ali b. Abi ?aleb. Ebn Abi'l-?adid cites three times Ebn Mattawayh's Ketab al-kefaya (now lost), showing him to hold 'Ali superior to Abû Bakr (I, p. 8), and even saying that Ali was protected from sin and error (ma'?ûm) although, contrary to the Imami position, this was not necessary for his imamate (VI, pp. 376-77)-ma'sûmîya (protection from sin) necessarily being a quality of the Prophet during the time of his mission (VII, p.10). Source: Encyclopedia Iranica.
