For abbreviations, see Legenda and Bibliography

I) Latin Translation

Dominicus Gundissalinus (?), second half of the XII c.

Avicenna Latinus, Liber de Philosophia prima sive Scientia divina, I-IV, édition critique par S. Van Riet, introduction par G. Verbeke, Peeters-Brill, Louvain-Leiden 1977.

Avicenna Latinus, Liber de Philosophia prima sive Scientia divina, V-X, édition critique par S. Van Riet, introduction par G. Verbeke, Peeters-Brill, Louvain-Leiden 1980.

Avicenna Latinus, Liber de Philosophia prima sive Scientia divina, I-X, lexiques par S. Van Riet, Peeters-Brill, Louvain-la-Neuve-Leiden 1983 (includes addenda and corrigenda of the first two volumes).

 

II) Persian Translations

II.1) ʿAlī Riḍā Ṭarzaʾī Ibn Šams al-Dīn Ḫalḫālī (before 1048H/1638-9)

Persian translation and commentary of parts of the Ilāhiyyāt.

Mss.: (1) Hyderabad, Asafiya, 431 falsafa (1048H/1638-9); (2) Rampur, Raza Library, 1138F (1048H/1638-9; place of copying: Kabul); (3) Tehran, Dānišgāh, Miškāt 251 (1084H/1673-4; copyist: ʿAbd al-Ẓahīr Ibn al-Maʿṣūm; cf. ʿAbd al-Ẓahīr Ibn Maʿṣūm Karahrūdī, copyist of ms. Khoy, Madrasa-i Namāzī 623 [1083H/1672], q.v.; in the cover pages, the author is portrayed as student of Āqā Ḥusayn Ibn Muḥammad al-Ḫwānsārī, 1016-1099H/1607-1687; on fol. 2v, last line, there is a reference to Mīr Damād); (4) Tehran, Dānišgāh, 9081 (1087H/1676-7); (5) Tehran, Maǧlis, 1912 (beginning of XII/XVIII c.); (6) Tehran, Maǧlis, 1840/2 (no date).

Mss. (2), (4)-(7) have been directly inspected: they incorporate the Arabic text of the Ilāhiyyāt that is translated into Persian. Ms. (2) contains an explicit ascription to Ḫalḫālī; ms. (1) bears the same date of ms. (2); mss. (4)-(7) contain the same translation of ms. (2). For this reason – although they are currently regarded in recent scholarship as witnesses of a different translation (see below, II.2) – they are taken here as witnesses of the translation by Ḫalḫālī (see Panzeca 2017). Whether ms. (3) contains this translation or a different one remains to be assessed.

II.2) Sayyid ʿAlī Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Asad Allāh Imāmī Iṣfahānī (XI-XII/XVII-XVIII c.), allegedly descendant of ʿAlī ʿUrayḍī, son of Imām al-Ṣādiq

Persian translation and commentary of the Ilāhiyyāt.

Ms.: Tehran, Millī, 20348-5.

In Nāǧī Iṣfahānī 2004, pp. 59 nr. 66, 83-84, 100 nr. 66, 128, this author is named Sayyid ʿAlī al-ʿUrayḍī Darab Imāmī (XI/XVII c.) (a forthcoming edition of the translation is announced, pp. 59, 100). He also authored a Persian translation of the Išārāt.

II.3) Persian translations of Treatise I of the Ilāhiyyāt are recorded in Nāǧī Iṣfahānī 2004, pp. 100-101.

II.4) Attested Translations

II.4.1) A Persian translation of the Ilāhiyyāt and the Išārāt is ascribed to Mullā Raǧab ʿAlī Tabrīzī (d. 1080H/1669) in Nasr-Aminrazavi 2015, p. 283.

II.4.2) A Persian translation of the Ilāhiyyāt is ascribed to Ḥusayn Ibn Muḥammad Ḫwānsārī (1016-1099H/1607-1687) in Zabihullah Safa, Literary History of Iran, Ferdowsi Publications, Tehran 1378, vol. 5, p. 315. 

 

III) Modern Overall Translations

III.1) Die Metaphysik Avicennas enthaltend die Metaphysik, Theologie, Kosmologie und Ethik, übersetzt und erläutert von M. Horten, Haupt, Halle-New York 1907; repr. Minerva, Frankfurt am Main 1960.

German translation of the Arabic text, reconstructed according to the following testimonia:

Ms. Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 4 (= a)

Ms. Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 84 (= b)

Ms. Berlin, Deutsche Staatsbibliothek, Minutoli 229 (= c)

Ms. London, India Office, 477 (= d)

III.2) Avicenne, La Métaphysique du Shifāʾ. Livres I à V, traduction, introduction, notes et commentaires par G. C. Anawati, Vrin, Paris 1978. Avicenne, La Métaphysique du Shifāʾ. Livres de VI à X, traduction, notes et commentaires par G. C. Anawati, Vrin, Paris 1985.

French translation of the ed. Cairo 1960, with a list of corrigenda of the Arabic text of Ilāhiyyāt I-V.

III.3) Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), Metafisica. La Scienza delle cose divine (al-Ilāhiyyāt) dal Libro della Guarigione (Kitāb Al-Šifāʾ), a cura di O. Lizzini e P. Porro, Bompiani, Milano 2002, 2006².

Italian translation based on the ed. Cairo 1960, with systematic comparison with the ed. al-Āmulī 1997-8.

III.4) İbn Sînâ, Kitâbu'ş-Şifâ, Metafizik, ed. and transl. E. Demirli, Ö. Türker, 2 vols, Litera Yayıncılık, Istanbul 2004-5, 2013, 2017, 2018 (with Arabic text); repr. Vakıflar Genel Müdürlüğü Yayınları, Istanbul 2011 (1 vol. without Arabic text); repr. Tūrkiye Yazma Eserler Kurumu Başkanlıǧı Yayınları, Istanbul 2014 (with Arabic text); repr. Litera Yayıncılık, Istanbul, 2014 (1 vol. without Arabic text).

Turkish translation of the ed. Cairo 1960, with consultation of some Istanbul mss.

III.5)  Avicenna, The Metaphysics of The Healing, a parallel English-Arabic text translated, introduced, and annotated by M. E. Marmura, Brigham Young University Press, Provo (Utah) 2005.

English translation of the ed. Cairo 1960, with readings selected from the critical apparatus, and personal emendations by the translator.

III.6) Libro della Guarigione, Le Cose Divine di Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā), a cura di A. Bertolacci, UTET (Unione Tipografico-Editrice Torinese), Torino 2007.

Italian translation of the ed. Cairo 1960, based on a systematic comparison with: (a) four ancient manuscripts not taken into account in the ed. Cairo (Oxford, Bodleian, Pococke 125, Pococke 117 and Pococke 110; Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek, Or. 4); (b) the printing Ibn Sīnā 1885 (with additional readings with respect to those reported in the ed. Cairo) and the ed. al-Āmulī 1997-8; (c) the Latin Medieval translation; (d) the metaphysical section of Avicenna’s Kitāb al-Naǧāt (Book of the Salvation), in which many passages of the Ilāhiyyāt are reproduced verbatim.

 

IV) Partial Translations/Anthologies

IV.1) M. E. Marmura, “Avicenna, Healing: Metaphysics X”, in Medieval Political Philosophy: A Source-book, ed. R. Lerner, M. Mahdi, Free Press of Glancoe, New York 1963, pp. 98-111 (English translation of Ilāhiyyāt X.2-5); 2nd ed., ed. J. Parens, J. C. Macfarland, Cornell University Press, Ithaca 2011, pp. 77-88 (English translation of Ilāhiyyāt X.1-5)

IV.2) Avicena, Cuestiones divinas (Ilāhiyyāt). Textos Escogidos, edición y traducción de C. A. Segovia, Biblioteca Nueva, Madrid 2006 (in Spanish).

IV.3) J. McGinnis, D. C. Reisman, Classical Arabic Philosophy. An Anthology of Sources, Indianapolis, Cambridge 2007, pp. 219-223 (in English).

IV.4) אנתולוגיה לכתבי אבן סינא (Antologyah le-khitve Even Sina, Anthology of the Writings of Avicenna), ed. S. Harvey, Tel Aviv University, Tel Aviv 2009 (in Hebrew).

IV.5) J. O. Schmitt, Avicenna, Grundlagen der Metaphysik. Eine Auswahl aus den Büchern I–V der Metaphysik. Arabisch – lateinisch – deutsch. Übersetzt, eingeleitet und mit Anmerkungen versehen (Herders Bibliothek der Philosophie des Mittelalters 32), Herder, Freiburg i. B. 2016 (in German).

IV.6) M. Sebti, Avicenne. Prophétie et gouvernement du monde, Cerf, Paris 2021, pp. 255-279 (French translation of Ilāhiyyāt X)