Nasir al-Din Tusi, by far the most celebrated scholar of the 13th
century Islamic lands, was born in Tus, in 1201 and died in Baghdad in
1274. He was apparently born into a Twelver Shi‘i family. At the age of
twenty-two or a while later, Tusi joined the court of Nasir al-Din
Muhtashim, the Ismaili governor of Quhistan, Northeast Iran, where he
was accepted into the Ismaili community as a novice.Around 634/1236, we
find Tusi in Alamut, the centre of Nizari Ismaili government. He seems
to have climbed the ranks of the Ismaili da‘wat ascending to the position of chief missionary (da‘i al-du‘at).
The collapse of Ismaili political power and the massacre of the Ismaili
population, during the Mongol invasion, left no choice for Tusi except
the exhibition of some sort of affiliation to Twelver Shi‘ism and
denouncing his Ismaili allegiances (taqiyya).
In the Mongol court, Tusi witnessed the fall of the ‘Abbasid
caliphate and after a while, securing the trust of Hulegu, the Mongol
chief, he was given the full authority of administering the finances of
religious foundations (awqaf). The ensemble of Tusi’s writings
amounts to approximately 165 titles on a wide variety of subjects
(astronomy, ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic, mathematics,
medicine, philosophy, theology, poetry and the popular sciences).
Nasir al-Din Tusi, Muhammad b. Muhammad b. Hasan, by far the most
celebrated scholar of the 7th/13th century Islamic lands was born in
Tus, in 597/1201 and died in Baghdad on 18 Dhu’l Hijja 672/25 June,
1274. Thomas Aquinas and Roger Bacon were his contemporaries in the
West. Very little is known about his childhood and early education,
apart from what he writes in his autobiography, Contemplation and Action (Sayr wa suluk).
He was apparently born into a Twelver Shi‘i family and lost his
father at a young age. Fulfilling the wish of his father, the young
Muhammad took learning and scholarship very seriously and travelled far
and wide to attend the lectures of renowned scholars and ‘acquire the
knowledge which guides people to the happiness of the next world.’ As a
young boy, Tusi studied mathematics with Kamal al-Diin Hasib about whom
we have no authentic knowledge. In Nishabur he met Farid al-Din ‘Attar,
the legendary Sufi master who was later killed in the hand of Mongol
invaders and attended the lectures of Qutb al-Din Misri and Farid al-Din
Damad. In Mawsil he studied mathematics and astronomy with Kamal al-Din
Yunus (d. 639/1242). Later on he corresponded with Qaysari, the
son-in-law of Ibn al-‘Arabi, and it seems that mysticism, as propagated
by Sufi masters of his time, was not appealing to his mind and once the
occasion was suitable, he composed his own manual of philosophical
Sufism in the form of a small booklet entitled The Attributes of the Illustrious (Awsaf al-ashraf).
His ability and talent in learning enabled Tusi to master a number
disciplines in a relatively short period. At the time when educational
priorities leaned towards the religious sciences, especially in his own
family who were associated with the Twelver Shi‘i clergy, Tusi seems to
have shown great interest for mathematics, astronomy and the
intellectual sciences. At the age of twenty-two or a while later, Tusi
joined the court of Nasir al-Din Muhtashim, the Ismaili governor of
Quhistan, Northeast Iran, where he was accepted into the Ismaili
community as a novice (mustajib). A sign of close personal
relationship with Muhtashim’s family is to be seen in the dedication of a
number of his scholarly works such as Akhlaq-i Nasiri and Akhlaq-i Muhtashimi to Nasir al-Din himself and Risala-yi Mu‘iniyya to his son Mu‘in al-Din.
Around 634/1236, we find Tusi in Alamut, the centre of Nizari Ismaili
government. The scholarly achievements of Tusi in the compilation of Akhlaq-i Nasiri
in 633/1235, seems to, amongst other factors, have paved the way for
this move which was a great honour and opportunity for a scholar of his
calibre, especially since Alamut was the seat of the Ismaili imam and housed the most important library in the Ismaili state.
In Alamut, apart from teaching, editing, dictating and compiling
scholarly works, Tusi seems to have climbed the ranks of the Ismaili da‘wat ascending to the position of chief missionary (da‘i al-du‘at).
Through constant visits with scholars and tireless correspondences, a
practice which he developed from a very young age, Tusi kept his contact
with the academic world outside Ismaili circles and was addressed as
‘the scholar’ (al-muhaqiq) from a very early period in his life.
The Mongol invasion and the turmoil they caused in the eastern
Islamic territories hardly left the life of any of its citizens
untouched. The collapse of Ismaili political power and the massacre of
the Ismaili population, who were a serious threat to the Mongols, left
no choice for Tusi except the exhibition of some sort of affiliation to
Twelver Shi‘ism and denouncing his Ismaili allegiances.
Although under Mongol domination, Tusi’s allegiance to any particular
community or persuasion could not have been of any particular
importance, the process itself paved the ground for Tusi to write on
various aspects of Shi‘ism, both from Ismaili and Twelver Shi‘i
viewpoints, with scholarly vigour and enthusiasm. The most famous of his
Ismaili compilations are Rawda-yi taslim, Sayr wa suluk, Tawalla wa tabarra, Akhlaq-i Muhtashimi and Matlub al-mu’minin. Tajrid al-i‘tiqad, al-Risala fi’l-imama and Fusul-i Nasiriyya are among his works dedicated to Twelver Shi‘ism.
In the Mongol court, Tusi witnessed the fall of the ‘Abbasid
caliphate and after a while, securing the trust of Hulegu, the Mongol
chief, he was given the full authority of administering the finances of
religious foundations (awqaf). During this period of his life,
Tusi’s main concern was combating Mongol savagery, saving the life of
innocent scholars and the establishment of one of the most important
centres of learning in Maragha, Northwest Iran. The compilation of Musari‘at al-musari;, the Awsaf al-ashraf and Talkis al-muhassal are the scholarly writings of Tusi in the final years of his life.
The ensemble of Tusi’s writings amounts to approximately 165 titles
on a wide variety of subjects. Some of them are simply a page or even
half a page, but the majority with few exceptions, are well prepared
scholarly works on astronomy, ethics, history, jurisprudence, logic,
mathematics, medicine, philosophy, theology, poetry and the popular
sciences. Tusi’s fame in his own lifetime guaranteed the survival of
almost all of his scholarly output. The adverse effect of his fame is
also the attribution of a number of works which neither match his style
nor has the quality of his writings.
Tusi’s major works: (1) Astronomy: al-Tadhkira fi ‘ilm al-hay’a; Zij Ilkhani; Risala-yi Mu‘iniyya and its commentary. (2) Ethics: Gushayish-nama; Akhlaq-i Muhtashami; Akhlaq-i Nasiri, ‘Deliberation 22’ in Rawda-yi taslim and a Persian translation of Ibn Muqaffa‘’s al-Adab al-wajiz. (3) History: Fath-i Baghdad which appears as an appendix to Tarikh-i Jahan-gushay of Juwayni (London, 1912-27), vol. 3, pp. 280-92. (4) Jurisprudence: Jawahir al-fara’id. (5) Logic: Asas al-iqtibas. (6) Mathematics: Revision of Ptolemy’s Almagest;
the epistles of Theodosius, Hypsicles, Autolucus, Aristarchus,
Archimedes, Menelaus, Thabit b. Qurra and Banu Musa. (7) Medicine: Ta‘liqa bar qunun-i Ibn Sina and his correspondences with Qutb al-Din Shirazi and Katiban Qazwini. (8) Philosophy: refutation of al-Shahrastani in Musara‘at al-musari‘; his commentary on Ibn Sina’s al-Isharat wa’l-tanbihat which took him almost 20 years to complete; his autobiography Sayr wa suluk; Rawda-yi taslim and Tawalla wa tabarra. (9) Theology: Aghaz wa anjam; Risala fi al-imama and Talkhis al-muhassal and (10) Poetry: Mi‘yar al-ash‘ar.
Nasir al-Din Tusi, setakat ulama yang paling terkenal tanah Islam abad ke-13, dilahirkan di Tus, pada tahun 1201 dan meninggal dunia di Baghdad pada tahun 1274. Beliau nampaknya dilahirkan dalam sebuah keluarga Syiah Dua Belas.beliau kehilangan bapanya pada usia yang muda. pada usia yang muda juga beliau berminat untuk memperlajari ilmu matematik, astronomi dan sains intelek. setelah itu beliau berkerja ya sebagai seorang tenaga pengajar, berada di perpustakaan membuat kerja-kerja penyuntingan, dan menyusun kerja-kerja ilmiah.pada zaman beliau juga berlakunya pencerobohan orang Monggol terhadap kerajaan Ismailiyyah dan kejatuhan Khilafah Abbasiyah. tulisan karya beliau berjumlah kira-kira 165 buah tajuk pelbagai subjek. antara subjek nya adalah astronomi, etika, sejarah, perundangan, logik, matematik, perubatan, falsafah, teologi, puisi dan sains popular. antara karya beliau ialah (1) Astronomi: al-Tadhkira Wayar 'ilm al-hay'a Zij Ilkhani; Risala-yi Mu'iniyya. (2) Etika: Gushayish; Akhlaq-i Muhtashami; Akhlaq-i Nasiri, 'Perbincangan 22' di Rawda-yi Taslim dan terjemahan Parsi Ibn Muqaffa's al-Adab al-wajiz.
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