Ḥikmat-i ʿAlāʾī حكمة علائي Avicenna ابن سينا

Content

Persian summary of his own philosophical teachings by Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd Allāh (أبو علي الحسين بن عبد الله), known as Ibn Sīnā (ابن سينا, latinised as Avicenna, d. 1037), written for the Kākūyid amir ʿAlāʾ al-Dawlah Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Rustam Dushmanziyār (علاء الدولة أبو جعفر محمد بن رستم دشمنزيار, reg. ca 1008-1041).

The text is divided into three sections:

• Logic (علم منطق, ff. 258v-271r);
• Metaphysics (علم برين, ff. 271v-295v);
• Physics (علم زيرين و علم طبيعي, ff. 295v-310r).

The text is often known by the title The Book of Wisdom for ʿAlāʾ (دانشنامه علائى).

Extent and format

Ff. 258v-310r

It is part of

Compendium of philosophical and scientific texts by and about Avicenna (ابن سينا)

1208 images

Ref: Add MS 16659

Written in

Persian and Farsi in Arabic script

Type

Manuscript item

Access & Reference

Original held at

British Library: Oriental Manuscripts

Access conditions

Unrestricted

Archive reference

Add MS 16659, ff 258v-310r

History of this record

Date(s)

1182 (AH, Hijri qamari)

Related material

Finding aids

• Cureton, William and Charles Rieu, Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens (London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 978, pp. 447-51
• Rieu, Charles, Catalogue of the Persian Manuscripts in the British Museum , 3 vols. (London: The British Museum, 1879-83), vol. 2, pp. 438-39

Select Bibliography

Translations:

• The 'Metaphysica' of Avicenna (ibn Sīnā). A Critical Translation-Commentary and Analysis of the Fundamental Arguments in Avicenna's 'Metaphysica' in the 'Dānish Nāma-i ʿAlāʾī' ('The Book of Scientific Knowledge') , Parviz Morewedge (ed.) (New York: Columbia University Press, 1973)
• Avicenna, Le Livre de science , translated by Mohammad Achena and Henri Massé, 2 vols., 2nd edition (Paris: Les Belles Lettres/UNESCO, 1986)

Study:

• Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu, Mathematicians, Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th-19th c.) (Istanbul: IRCICA, 2003), no. 317, p. 124, item E3

Subjects

Logic -- Early works to 1800Metaphysics--Early works to 1800Philosophy -- Early works to 1800Physics--Early works to 1800

People & organisations

Avicenna

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Ḥikmat-i ʿAlāʾī حكمة علائي Avicenna ابن سينا, British Library: Oriental Manuscripts, Add MS 16659, ff 258v-310r, in Qatar Digital Library <https://www.qdl.qa/archive/81055/vdc_100148048612.0x00000d> [accessed 4 July 2026]

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