The Metaphysics of The Healing, by Avicenna.

• Author: Shefer-Mossensohn, Miri
• Position: The Metaphysics of the Healing, by Avicenna: A Parallel English-Arabic Text - Book review

The Metaphysics of The Healing, by Avicenna: A Parallel English-Arabic Text. By Michael E. Marmura. Brigham Young University--Islamic Translation Series. Provo, Utah: Brigham Young University PRESS, 2004 (distributed by Univ. of Chicago Press), Pp. xxvii + 441 + 378 (Arabic). $49.95.

A recent addition to the Islamic Translation Series (ITS), published by the Middle Eastern Texts Initiative at Brigham Young University with the aim of making Islamic texts that are recognized as world treasures avail able to a wider audience by way of" translation, is the parallel English-Arabic text of al-Ilahiyyat ('The Meta physics"), the concluding part of Ibn Sina's magnum opus Kitab al-Shifa' ("The Book of Healing"'). Ibn Sina (d. 1037) was undoubtedly one of the more influential thinkers in philosophy, medicine, and many other branches of knowledge, renowned not only in the Muslim world but also in Europe. Al-Shifa' is indeed a masterpiece of intellectual activity. In it Ibn Sina sought to understand the world, God's role in it, classify and analyze various bodies of knowledge, and understand what "truth'" was. Scholars of philosophy and theology have found the book an important addition to their library; and as al-Ilahiyyat was quickly added to the catalogues of various online Islamic bookstores in recent years, it is likely also reaching a large audience of non-academic Muslim scholars.

The translator and annotator. Michael E. Marmura, is professor emeritus at the University of Toronto. Marmura is internationally famous for his many studies in Islamic philosophy and theology and in Arabic languages and literature. His translation into English and annotation of this section of al-Shifa' builds on this dual expertise. Marmura has produced a text that is fluid while remaining loyal to the original Arabic prose. Marmura based his translation and reproduction of the Arabic text on the 1960 Cairo edition, and consulted previous translations of the work, especially G. C. Anawati's French translation from the 1970s and 1980s.

In the translator's introduction, Marmura establishes the relationship of" al-Ilahiyyat to Kitab al-Shifa', to other philosophical realises by Ibn Sina, and to the...