The Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Arabic: رسائل إخوان الصفاء و خلان الوفا Rasāʾil Ikhwān aṣ-Ṣafāʾ wa Khullān al-Wafā; also variously known as the "Epistles of the Brethren of Sincerity", "Epistles of the Brethren of Purity" and "Epistles of the Brethren of Purity and Loyal Friends") was a large encyclopedia in 52 treatises (rasā'il) written by the mysterious Brethren of Purity of Basra, Iraq sometime in the second half of the 10th century CE (or possibly later, in the 11th century). It had a great influence on later intellectual leading lights of the Muslim world, such as Ibn Arabi, and was transmitted as far abroad within the Muslim world as Al-Andalus. The Encyclopedia contributed to the popularization and legitimization of Platonism in the Arabic world.
The identity and period of the authors of the Encyclopedia have not been conclusively established, though the work has been linked with as varied groups as the Isma'ili, Sufi, Sunni, Mu'tazili, Nusairi, Rosicrucians, etc.
The subject of the work is vast and ranges from mathematics, music, astronomy, and natural sciences, to ethics, politics, religion, and magic—all compiled for one, basic purpose, that learning is training for the soul and a preparation for its eventual life once freed from the body.
| “ | Turn from the sleep of negligence and the slumber of ignorance, for the world is a house of delusion and tribulations. – Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Sincerity | ” |
Read more about Encyclopedia Of The Brethren Of Purity: Authorship, Contents, Philosophy, Literature, Editions & Translations
Famous quotes containing the words brethren and/or purity:
“Mister Ward, don’t yur blud bile at the thawt that three million and a half of your culled brethren air a clanking their chains in the South?—Sez I, not a bile! Let ‘em clank!”
—Artemus Ward (1834–1867)
“They are not callow like the young of most birds, but more perfectly developed and precocious even than chickens. The remarkably adult yet innocent expression of their open and serene eyes is very memorable. All intelligence seems reflected in them. They suggest not merely the purity of infancy, but a wisdom clarified by experience. Such an eye was not born when the bird was, but is coeval with the sky it reflects. The woods do not yield another such a gem.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)