Reviews of Books 201

Furthermore the glossary does not list all occurrences of each Arabic work, which can be seen, for
example, from entries such as «a¡ab, «a¥al, kaÅna. Some Arabic words come under the wrong root, e.g.
naÅs under n»s instead of »ns; makaÅn under mkn instead of kwn; ka-»anna, ka-maÅ and ka-daÅlika under k»n,
Å
kmw and kd» respectively instead of k. Greek verbs which have mixed principle parts such as leÂgv
Å
(e!rvÄ ei(pon ei£ rhka ei£ rhmai e!leÂxuhn) and their compounds do not come under the same heading (e.g.
pp. 239f, s.v. qaÅla nos. 1±3, p. 267 s.v. wa¡afa nos. 1.1, 2, 3). Sometimes the wrong Greek word is
matched to the Arabic, e.g. the phrase a!ponemhÂceic . . . didoyÄca tinaÂc is quoted wrongly and comes
under the heading a!poneÂmv (p. 235 s.v. inqasama no. 1.2); or a!zygeÂc under the heading a£zyj and not
a!zyghÂc as it should (p. 225, s.v. fard no. 1).
Finally the bibliography seems frugal and one misses some important contributions by scholars like
E. Savage-Smith, I. Garofalo, H. H. Biesterfeldt and others.8
Al-Dubayan's book is, despite its shortcoming, a fascinating contribution, and it is, to my
knowledge, the ®rst edition and translation of a text belonging to the Alexandrian Summaries. It
illustrates the challenges and the dif®culties which any scholar involved in Graeco-Arabic studies
must face. Al-Dubayan deserves our thanks for providing us with this new material, and it can only
be hoped that this book, which constituted his doctoral thesis, will be read not only by Graeco-
Arabists but also by all those interested in the history of neuroanatomy.
Peter E. Pormann

The Two Wings of Wisdom: Mysticism and Philosophy in the RisAÅlat U‡-‡air of Ibn Sina.
(Studia Iranica Upsaliensia 4). By Shokoufeh Taghi. pp. 228. Uppsala, Uppsala University Library,
Sweden, 200.

The Two Wings of Wisdom is the doctoral thesis presented to the University of Uppsala in 2000 by
Shokoufeh Taghi. It is often said that on completing a thesis, the student either has become utterly
bored with the subject or else remains enamoured with it. In this case we can place Dr Taghi in the
latter group.
Her book is composed of an introduction, ten chapters, conclusion, appendices and an extensive
bibliography which reveals Taghi's familiarity and ease with Persian and Arabic texts. Chapter one
focuses upon Ibn SõÅnaÅ's life, studies and journeys. The second chapter analyses the manuscripts of the
RisaÅlat u¢-¢air, and Taghi offers a critical text edition of this treatise in chapter three, followed by a
philological translation in chapter four. In chapter ®ve Taghi provides a commentary on the RisaÅlat
based on Ibn SõÅnaÅ's own works, and in chapter six she investigates the literary background of the
work. Comparisons are made in chapter seven between aspects of the RisaÅlat and KalõÅla wa Dimna,
and comparisons with the Epistles of the IkhwaÅn a¡-ÐafaÅ» are offered in chapter eight, and with the
Mi'raÅj-naÅma in chapter nine, and with the eighth, ninth and tenth classes in Ibn SõÅnaÅ's al-IshaÅraÅt wa»l-
tanbõÅhaÅt, in chapter ten.
One of Taghi's main aims in the thesis is to demonstrate ``the striking resemblance between the
contents of the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air and various aspects of Ibn SõÅnaÅ's own life as it is presented in the RisaÅlat-i
sargudhasht '' (p. 18). However, Taghi neglects the discrepancies that also exist between the two

8 E.g. E. Savage-Smith, Galen on Nerves, Veins and Arteries: a Critical Edition and Translation from the Arabic, PhD

dissertation, University of Wisconsin, (Ann Arbor, 1969); eadem, ``Galen's Account of the Cranial Nerves and the
Anatomic system'', Clio Medica, VI (1971), pp. 77±98, 173±194; I. Garofalo, Galeno. Procedimenti anatomici:
introduzione, traduzione e note (Milan, 1991); idem, ``La traduzione araba dei compendi Alessandrini delle opere del
Canone di Galeno: il compendio dell' Ad Glauconem'', Medicina nei Secoli, N.S. VI (1994), pp. 329±348; H. H.
Biesterfeldt, ``Kommunikation durch U È bersetzung. Ziele und Methoden der griechisch-arabischen U È bersetzungen
des 9. Jahrhunderts'', in Kommunikation durch Zeichen und Wort, eds. G. Binder, K. Ehrlich (Trier, 1995), pp.
137±192.

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Melbourne Library, on 21 Apr 2019 at 21:48:01, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186302280256
 202 Reviews of Books

works. The similarities that she witnesses lie in the seven journeys taken by the bird in the RisaÅlat u¢-
¢air and the seven stages of Ibn SõÅnaÅ's life as presented in the sargudhasht. In the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air, Ibn SõÅnaÅ
``explains his own ascension and shows how he thereby has acquired the same honor and validity of
the ultimate station of prophethood or wisdom'' (p. 189), while in the sargudhasht the seven stages of
his life are described which all lead to a higher state of being.
The problem is that Taghi does not discuss the discrepancy between one station in the RisaÅlat u¢-
¢air in which the importance of sexual abstinence is advocated. Taghi concedes that ``if the mystic
reaches the higher stations but has not attained abstinence in this matter he can easily commit a sin
which would destroy his spiritual life'' (p. 90). Now, on the basis of such advice in the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air
one would expect Ibn SõÅnaÅ to have adopted a celibate life. However, we read in the sargudhasht
(composed by Ibn SõÅnaÅ's student and biographer JuzjaÅnõÅ) that ``the master was vigorous in all his
powers, the sexual being the most powerful and predominant of his concupiscent faculties, and he
indulged in it often.''1 And this despite the fact that he never married.
What seems more likely is that in the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air Ibn SõÅnaÅ was discussing the ideal spiritual
development of the individual. The reports of his life certainly are not congruent with his
philosophical doctrines. In terms of ``orthodox'' Islamic practice and observance Ibn SõÅnaÅ was far
from a spiritual man, as in the IshaÅraÅt (considered Ibn SõÅnaÅ's last work) he was also prepared to offer
arguments that sanctioned the consumption of alcohol.2 Thus it cannot be argued that Ibn SõÅnaÅ's
laxity in spiritual matters was a matter of youthful exuberance. Yet the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air provides an
eloquent testimony to Ibn SõÅnaÅ's attraction to the possibility of re®ning the soul (through asceticism
and morti®cation) to such a degree that it may perceive and participate in the Universal Intellect.
Despite the major ¯aw in the book, Taghi's work is readable and a valuable contribution to studies
on Ibn SõÅnaÅ. Her critical edition and translation into English (and into Persian ± see appendix B) of
the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air is of special interest in this respect. The English translation is perhaps too literal and
awkward, but it does provide researchers with an accurate and useful rendition. The translation of
technical terms is on the whole good and consistent. The one exception that struck my eye was
tanazzul which Taghi translates as reincarnation. Other interesting sections in the work include the
comparisons made between the RisaÅlat u¢-¢air and other texts (chapter 7±10).
Lloyd Ridgeon

Indigo. By Jenny Balfour-Paul. pp. viii, 264, illus.: 150 colour, 50 bl & wh. London, British
Museum Press, 1998.

My architect and designer colleagues who have travelled in the Islamic world and particularly North
Africa often ask me if the colour blue has a religious signi®cance in Islam. Some of them are well
known designers and a few have been involved ± directly or indirectly ± with modern urban
developments in Islamic countries. None, however, specialise in the ®eld of Islamic studies, and their
perception comes more from visual experience: houses blue both on the exterior and interior, and
blue in all its shades from light sky blue to blue-black as a predominant colour for all kinds of objects.
This impression is not surprising, particularly on the part of those who may have come across some of
the general books on Su® mysticism such as Nadir Ardalan's The Sense of Unity: the Su® tradition in
Persian architecture (Chicago and London, 1973, pp. 47±54) peppered with ideas about the ``secrets of
colours''. My colleagues, who seem to expect a concise account of the signi®cance of the colour in
Islam, and perhaps a short bibliography of easily accessible relevant material, are often disappointed

1 Cited in L. E. Goodman, Avicenna (London, 1992), pp. 43±44.

2 Ibid.

Downloaded from https://www.cambridge.org/core. University of Melbourne Library, on 21 Apr 2019 at 21:48:01, subject to the Cambridge Core terms of use, available at
https://www.cambridge.org/core/terms. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1356186302280256