Ibn Mattawayh, al-Tadhkira fi ahkam al-jawahir wa-l-a'rad/Kausalität in der mu'tazilitischen Kosmologie: Das Kitab al-Mu'attirat wa-miftah al-muskilat des Zayditen al-Hasan ar-Rassas (st. 584/1188)

Ibn Mattawayh, al-Tadhkira fi ahkam al-jawahir wa-l-a'rad. Edited by DANIEL GIMARET. 2 vols. Cairo: IFAO, 2009. Pp. 818. euro89 (paper).

Kausalität in der mu'tazilitischen Kosmologie: Das Kitab al-Mu'attirat wa-miftah al-muskilat des Zayditen al-Hasan ar-Rassas (st. 584/1188). By Jan Thiele. Islamic Philosophy, Theology, and Science, vol. 84. Leiden: Brill, 2011. Pp. x + 155 + 57 (Arabic). $136.

A good case can be made that Islamic theology (Him al-kaläm) is the most neglected field of classical Islamic studies. Only a handful of scholars have made delving into this difficult field their life's work. Even with today's signs of growing interest, the place of theology in the intellectual life of medieval Muslims is far from appreciated by many Islamicists, not to mention the interested public. A necessary condition for progress is the publication of reliable editions of theological works representing the various traditions. While the pace of publication has markedly picked up in recent years, many important texts remain in manuscript and the quality of available editions is distressingly uneven. Two recent contributions to the library of published theological texts are particularly welcome for they not only enrich the body of kaläm scholarship, but each in its own way provides a key to unlocking the rich treasure house of Mu'tazili thought.

Already known for several outstanding editions of theological works, Daniel Gimaret has given us-despite the handicap of serious loss of vision-a superb complete edition of one of the most valuable surviving works of Basran Mu'tazili kaläm, al-Tadhkira fi ahkäm al-jawähir wa-l-acräd of Ibn Mattawayh (fl. first half fifth/eleventh century), a student of the qädi(Abd al-Jabbär (d. 415/1025). An earlier effort to publish this work in Egypt (Cairo, 1975) did not extend beyond the first part of this large treatise. It is emblematic of the snail's pace of kaläm studies that more than three decades passed before a complete edition of this essential work has become available.

Ibn Mattawayh's Tadhkira is in a very literal sense sui generis. In the preface to his edition (in both French and Arabic) Gimaret mentions as the only comparable treatise al-Masä'il fi al-khiläf bayn al-basriyyïn wa-l-baghdâdiyyïn, a work on a far smaller scale of another student of cAbd al-Jabbär, Abu Rashid al-Nisäbün (fl. first half fifth/eleventh century) (complete edition by Ma'n...