“On the Composition of the Bajats” (on culinary art).

“On the Composition of the Bajats” (on culinary art). Kitab al-Ashribah (on drinks). Tahdhib al-Akhlaq (on ethics). Numbers 2, 3, 13 are now extant and have been published. We also have five others which are not mentioned by Yagiit and al-Qifti. These are: Risalah fi al-Ladhdhat w-al-Alam fi Jauhar al-Nafs (MS. in Istanbul, Raghib Majmu`ah No. 1463, f. 57a-59a). Ajwibah wa As'ilah fi al-Nafs w-al-`Aql (in the above-mentioned Majmu`ah in Raghib, Istanbul). Al-Jawab fi al-Masa'il al-Thalath (MS.

in Teheran - Fihrist Maktabat al-Majlis, II, No, 634[31]). Risalah fi Jawab fi Su'al 'Ali Ibn Muhammad Abu Hayyan al-Sufi fi Haqiqat al.'Aql , (Meshed Library in Iran, I, No. 43[137)). Taharat al-Nafs , (MS. in Koprulu, Istanbul, No. 767). Muhammad Baqir ibn Zain al-'Abidin al-Khawansari attributes to him also some treatises written in Persian ( Raudat al-Jannah , Teheran, 1287/1870, p. 70).

As to the chronological order of his works, we know only from Miskawaih himself that al-Fauz al-Akbar was written after al-Fauz al-Asghar , and that Tahdhib al-Akhlaq was written after Tartib al-Sa`adah .[^7] Miskawaih's Personality Miskawaih was essentially a historian and moralist. He was also a poet. Tauhidi blames him for his miserliness and hypocrisy. He indulged in alchemy not for the sake of science, but in search of gold and wealth, and was most servile to his masters.

But Yaqut mentions that in later years he subjected himself to a fifteen-point code of moral conduct.[^8] Temperance in appetites, courage in subduing the ferocious self, and wisdom in regulating the irrational impulses were the highlights of this code. He himself speaks of his moral transformation in his Tahdhib al-Akhlaq ,[^9] which shows that he practised a good deal of what he wrote on ethics.

Philosophy First Philosophy The most important part of Miskawaih's philosophical activity is dedicated to ethics. He is a moralist in the full sense of the word. Three important books of his on ethics have come down to us: (1) Tartib al-Sa`adah , (2) Tahdhib al-Akhlaq , and (3) Jawidan Khirad . Miskawaih's al-Fauz al-Asghar is a general treatise similar in conception to the earlier part of al-Farabi's Ara' Ahl al-Madinat al-Fadilah . It is divided into three parts.

The first part deals with the proofs of the existence of God, the second with soul and its modes, and the third with prophethood.