Physician, astronomer,
mathematician, lawyer, ethicist, philosopher, poet (B. August, 980, Afşana
village /Babkent / Kharmisen /
The childhood and youth of İbn-i Sina passed in the last
period of the reign of Sâmanoğulları. He had the opportunity to encounter works
about philosophy, geometry, and Indian mathematics and review them in family atmosphere;
he became familiar with philosophical issues at a young age. Due to having a
strong memory and intelligence, he attracted attention at an early age.
According to his testimony, he memorized the Koran at the age of ten, he
examined the literature. He learnt the spirit and mind issues from his father
who was a believer of İsmailî. His father gave him near attar to learn Indian
arithmetic. He also continued to take law lessons from İsmail el-Zahid. Then,
he became a student of Ebu Abdullah el-Natilî who came to Bukhara and who was
an authority in philosophical issues. İbn-i Sina impressed el-Natilî with the
explanations he made about the books he read. Later, he studied books on logic.
He reviewed the books of
At that time, he was called to treat the
Sultan of Bukhara Nuh b. Mansur when he became ill. İbn-i Sina, who cured the
Sultan, also benefited from the palace library books. İbn-i Sina, who was
eighteen old years during that period, mastered all sciences. He left
He wrote his book el-Hikmetü’l-Arûdiyye that
summarized all sciences, when he was twenty one years old upon a request of his
neighbor Ebu’l-Hüseyin el-Arûdî. He presented all sciences except mathematics
in this work. He wrote the book el-Hâsıl ve’l-Mahsûl for his neighbor
Ebu Bekir el-Berkî. He wrote the book called el-Birr ve’l-İsm about
moral issues upon the request of the same person. İbn-i Sina said that Ebu
Bekir el-Berkî had the only copy of this book. He wrote the books el-Mebde’
ve’l-Meâd and el-Ersâdu’l-Külliye for el-Şirazî in Cürcan. He wrote
the beginning of El-Kanûn and some parts of other works there. He began
to write eş-Şifa in the palace of Şems ed-Devle. He wrote the books Hayy
b. Yakzan, Hidayât and Kulunç during his imprisonment in Rey
for four months. He completed eş-Şifa in
İbn-i Sina was in the Fârâbî School in the tradition of
Islamic philosophy. In a sense, he was a student and successor of Fârâbî. It
can be said that Fârâbî and İbn-i Sina were the people who had developed and
institutionalized the philosophy founded by El-Kindî. Therefore, Fârâbî and
İbn-i Sina come to mind first when the philosophy in the Islamic world after
the 11th century is mentioned. İbn-i Sina was also a historian of
philosophy, physicians and science historian, the books such as el-Kânûn
fi't-Tıbb and eş-Şifâ are
the evidences of this. İbn-i Sina created encyclopedia of the
philosophy and sciences for the first time in the science of thought history of
Islam. He produced voluminous works in disciplines such as logic, nature,
arithmetic and metaphysics. In addition, his interpretation of the some of the
surahs in Koran, his entry into the religious issues directly by discussing
namaz (T.N. prayer time), faith, prophecy and after-life, led to more acceptances
of his works in the Islamic world. İbn-i Sina was also one of the famous poets
of his time. He was one of the founders of rubai style in East, especially the
Persian literature. His works were translated into Latin and other Western
languages after the 11th century and had a significant impact in the
West. Thus, he influenced both the Islamic and Western thoughts directly;
therefore many studies have been done on his personality, ideas, and
works.
WORKS:
eş-Şifâ' (written in
encyclopedia style: consists of logic, nature, arithmetic and theology
sections. 22 volumes, Cairo, 1952-1983), en-Necât (gives information on
the basics of philosophy), el-Îşârât ve't-Tenbîhât (the subjects
addressed in eş-Şifâ are presented with a new systematic way here), Dânişnâme-i
'Alâ'î /Hikmet-i'Alâ'î (written in encyclopedia style and in Persian, can
be considered as his first philosophy book), el-Mebde' ve 'l-Me'âd
(about metaphysics and moral), Uyûnü'l-Hikme (about logic, nature and
metaphysics), et-Ta'lîkât (course notes about the basics of philosophy),
el-Mübâhaşât (the answers of his student’s questions asked to him), Hayy
b. Yakzân (about the power of human body and soul), el-Hikmetü'l-Meşrikiyye
(logic, nature, arithmetic and metaphysics), el-İnsâf (20 volumes,
responds to the criticism of people who don’t understand Aristotle enough), el-Hidâye
(systematic information about the logic, nature, theology part of philosophy), el-Hikmetü'l-'Arûziyye
(philosophic work in encyclopedia style), Ahvâlü'n-Nefs (definition,
creation, powers, immortality of the soul and its connection with the body), Lisânü'l-Arab
(Arabic dictionary), el-Kânûnfi't-Tıbb (General issues of medicine
science and drugs, Tashkent 1954-1961. Last Turkish translation: Prof. Dr. Esin
Kahya, 1995-2003), el-Urcûze fi't-Tıbb (summary of the el-Kânûnfi't-Tıbb),
Def'u 'l-Mazarri 7-Külliyye ani'l-Ebdâni'l-însâniyye /Tedârik ü Enva
'i'l-Hatâ'i'l-Vâkı'afi't'Tedbîr (philosophic, has not survived until
today). Felsefî Kıssalar (
REFERENCE: O. N. Ergin / İbn Sînâ Bibliyografyası
(1937, gen. 2. bs. 1956), George C. Anawati / Mü'eîlef-Ğlü İbn Sina (Kahire,
1950), Saîd-i Nefisi / Bibliographie des prinçipaux travaux européens sur
Avicenna (Tahran, 1953), Yahya Mehdevî / Fihrist-i Nüshahâ-yı Musannefâtı İbn
Sina (Tahran, 1954), M. Züheyr el-Bâbâ / Min Müellefâti İbn Sina (Halep, 1984),
J. L. Janssens / An Annotated Bibliography on İbn Sina (1970-1989), M. Cunbur /
"Türkiye'de 1983-1986 Yılları Arasında İbn Sina'ya Dair Yayınlar":
İbn Sinâ (980-1030) Anma ve Tanıtma Toplantıları (1984-85, 1986,87),
"Türkiye'de Cumhuriyet Döneminde Îbn Sinâ Hakkında Yazılar" / Îbn
Sina Kongresi Tebliğleri (haz: Ali Haydar Bayat, 1984), İ. Möminov /
Vidayuşiysya Misliteli Sredney Azii (Moskova, 1966), S. Mirzayev / Îbn Sinaning
Şarkşunaslık İnstitüfide Mevcud Eserleri (Taşkent, 1955), S. Rahimov / Ebu Ali
Îbn Sina Ta'lim ve Terbiye Hakkında (Taşkent, 1967), A. İrisov / Ebu Ali İbn
Sina Hayatı ve İcadı (Taşkent, 1980), A. İrisov / İbn Sina Ma'rifetperver Edib
(Taşkent, 1962), N. Kamilov / İbn Sina ve Dante (Taşkent, 1983), M. Asım / İbn
Sina Kıssası (Taşkent, 1982), A. Kayımov / Ebu Reyhan Beruniy Ebu Ali İbn Sina
(Taşkent, 1987), Büyük Türk Filozof ve Tıb Üstadı İbni Sina: Şahsiyeti ve
Eserleri Hakkında Tetkikler (1937), GAL (c. 1, sayfa: 589-600), Suppl. (c. 1,
sayfa: 812-816), İbn Sina Doğumunun Bininci Yılı Armağanı (ed: Aydın Sayılı,
l984), TDEA (c. 4, sayfa: 320), TDVİA (c. 20, s. 319-358), Uluslararası İbni
Sina Sempozyumu Bildirileri (haz: M. Cunbur-O. Doğan, 1984), D. Gutas / İbn
Sinâ'nın Mirası (der: M. Cüneyt Kaya, 2004), TDOE –TDE Ansiklopedisi (c.5,
2005), İhsan Işık / Ünlü Bilim
Adamları (Türkiye Ünlüleri Ansiklopedisi, C. 2, 2013) - Encyclopedia of
Turkey’s Famous People (2013).