Description
Book SynopsisMaqālīd al-ʿulūm (Keys to the Sciences) is a significant source on definitions of Arabic scientific terms in the post-classical period. Composed by an anonymous author, it contains over eighteen hundred definitions in the realm of twenty-one religious, literary, and rational sciences. The work was dedicated to the Muzaffarid Shāh Shujāʿ, who ruled over Shiraz and its neighbouring regions from 759/1358 to 786/1384. The present volume contains a critical edition of Maqālīd al-ʿulūm based on its three extant manuscripts. In the introduction, the editors review previous scholarship on the text, present an overview of patronage at the court of Shāh Shujāʿ and identify some of the sources used by the author of the work. They suggest that the work in its structure mirrors Abū ʿAbdullāh Khwārazmī’s Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm, completed in 366/976.
Trade Review"Die Edition mit ihrem Apparat ist sehr schön gestaltet und bietet einen guten Ansatzinpunkt, um die Maqālīd al-ʿulūm in die wissenschaftsgeschichtliche Diskussion einzubinden. Insgesamt. Insgesamt handeltes sich um eine sehr erfreuliche Ergänzung der vorhandenen Literatur zur islamischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte." Rüdiger Lohlker, in Wiener Zeitschrift Für Die Kunde Des Morgenlandes 111 (2021)
Table of ContentsEnglish Section Acknowledgements Introduction 1 A Review of the Previous Scholarship 2 Patronage at the Court of Shāh Shujāʿ 3 The Structure and the Sources of the Work 4 Mafātīḥ al-ʿulūm as the Model for Maqālīd al-ʿulūm 5 Some Serendipitous Knowledge of the Author 6 Maqālīd al-ʿulūm and the Taʿrīfāt: Similarities and Differences 7 The Question of the Reception of the Work 8 The Present Edition Appendix 1: Other Works in Prose Dedicated to Shāh Shujāʿ or His Viziers Appendix 2: Sources of the Maqālīd al-ʿulūm Bibliography Arabic Section Table of Contents Maqālīd al-ʿulūm Index of Technical Terms
