God, Universe and Human: Observations on al-Baṭalyevsī's Kitāb al-Ḥadāʾiq

Abstract

Various studies on Islamic philosophy have taken different approaches to both central and smaller works. This article aims to evaluate the outlines of the philosophical structure Ibn Sīd al-Batalyawsī (d. 521/1127) constructed in his Kitāb al-Ḥadāʾiq within the framework of these different approaches. Unlike the evaluations in the literature, this study evaluates the work within its internal coherence and integrity. In this respect, while previous evaluations in the literature have generally focused on the historical origins of the work and the philosophical movements that influenced it, this study attempts to reconstruct the integrity of the work by starting from the work itself. To this end, this study analyzes Ibn Sīd al-Batalyawsī's Kitāb al-Hadāʾiq philosophically. In the most general sense, the study identifies which philosophical problem or problems this work is constructed around. Since the work has not been sufficiently researched in the Turkish and English literature, it is first necessary to determine which philosophical problems and how it provides solutions to them. To this end, this study highlights the philosophical theses put forward by al-Batalyawsī, while at the same time showing his contributions to the Islamic philosophical literature with a problematic approach.