Thesis (M.A.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. John L. Iskander, committee chair; Richard C. Martin, Louis A. Ruprecht, committee members. Electronic text (75 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed June 3, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 73-75).

One major trajectory of early 'aql traditions is scrutinized: the Aqbil! Adbir! creation narrative "lamma khalaqa llahu l-'aqla (When god had created the intelligence ...)". In Part I early Sunni and Shii transmission and reception of the varying texts dominates the discussion, with analysis of chief motifs. Then successive transformations are traced, with attention devoted to ideas of 'first creation'. The original context of the Aqbil! reports is convincingly explained within the thought forms of 1st & 2nd century theological ideas of voluntarism or predestination, without recourse to Goldziher's "new-Platonic element". The late neo-Platonising form "awwalu ma khalaqa llahu l-'aqlu, (The first (thing) God created is the intellect ...)", is shown to be not earlier than the mid-3rd/9th century. / In a related class of narratives, 'aql pre-exists in the realm of the divine Throne. The focus is the notion of the divinely provisioned innate trait of 'intelligence' or 'wisdom' as a "light in the heart" inequitably apportioned among humanity. Part II examines the creative manner in which the sixth Shi'iimam Ja'far al-Sadiq (d.148/765) transforms the Aqbil! tradition by integrating this heavenly sapiential 'aql with the 'Adam-Iblis' conflict into a binary listing of the character traits (akhlaq, khisal). His myth of the creation, empowerment, and opposition between 'aql and jahl (intelligence & ignorance, or wisdom & folly) propounds a psycho-ethical scheme for the inner purgative struggle, wherein 'aql operates as chief of the character traits, Ja'far stresses the cognitive function (ma'rifah) in the perfection of 'aql peculiar to the inner circles of humanity (prophets, saints$ $ Imams, the faithful). An assessment is given of the repercussions of al-Sadiq's contribution for continuing Shii and Sufi enrichments of the 'aql creation narratives (eg. with al-Hakim al-Tirmidhi).

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In this study, the relationship between medical thought and philosophy is investigated through the works of the famous Islamic thinker, Abu Bakr Muhammad b. Zakariya al-Razi (ca. 250-323/864-935). In one of the texts we shall be examining Razi thought that he could resolve the problem of the world's creation through allegory. Razi's interlocuter was concerned to defend the idea of epistemological "revelation." Although Razi agrees that the Intellect was sent by the Creator, he insists that this was done primarily for the benefit of the "self," which had become entangled in "material confusion." He is particularly concerned to counter the authoritarian implications of his opponent's epistemological position, which appears to emphasize doctrinal truth at the expense of all other considerations. These considerations are taken up by Razi in another work, the Kitab al-tibb al-ruhani. There, he draws on the science of medical treatment for application in ethics, but with some interesting implications for the problem of knowledge. The real object must be to bring man to his proper destination, and in this Razi's views coincide with the early mystical tradition in Islam, from al-Hujwiri to al-Ghazzali, where the problem essentially consists of existential realization rather than a merely abstract or intellectual process.

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