Üsûlûcyâ

Üsûlûcyâ (Aristotle’s Theology) is a text that was commissioned by the Umayyad caliph Mu‘tasım (833–842) and translated from Greek into Arabic by the first Islamic philosopher, Kindî (252/866), from Books IV, V, and VI of Plotinus’s (d. 270) work Enneads (Enneadlar). Whether the work was derived from a previously summarized Greek text or directly from the Enneads remains a subject of ongoing debate among historians of philosophy. However, since the translation in your hands was commissioned at a very early stage in the Islamic world, it is evident that certain alterations were made to the content and terminology. Since Arabic was still in its formative stages as a language of philosophy at the time this work was translated, it is evident that some Greek terms were rendered into Arabic in their original form. Üsûlûcyâ, prepared for publication and translated from Arabic by Cahid Şenel, is an important classical text whose influence on virtually every philosopher of Islamic philosophy, on theological debates, and especially on the theory of wahdat al-wujood (unity of being) that developed after İbnü’l-Arabî, its influence is clearly evident.