Abà « Muḥammad ÿAbd AllÃÂh ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Sëd al-Baá¹Âalyawsë (; 1052âÂÂ1127), also spelled Ibn Assëd or Abenasid, was an Andalusian grammarian and philosopher. He is the earliest Islamic philosopher from the West whose works have survived.
Ibn al-Sëd was born in 1052 (year 444 of the Hijra) either in Silves or in Badajoz (Baá¹Âalyaws) at the court of al-MuáºÂaffar, the Afá¹Âasid ruler of Badajoz. He received a literary and grammatical education. His teacher was Abà « l-Ḥasan ÿAlë ibn Aḥmad ibn Ḥamdà «n al-Muqrëþ al-Baá¹Âalyawsë, called Ibn al-Laá¹Âëniyya, who died in 1073. When Badajoz fell to the Almoravids in 1094, Ibn al-Sëd went to Teruel in the territory of the Banà « Razën. There he held the office of kÃÂtib (secretary) to the ruler, Abà « MarwÃÂn ÿAbd al-Malik. After falling into disgrace, he fled to Toledo, then Zaragoza and finally Valencia. In Zaragoza, sometime before 1110, he met the young philosopher Ibn BÃÂjja, whom he debated on the role of logic in grammar. He stayed in Zaragoza for about ten years. In Valencia, he taught Ibn BashkuwÃÂl. He died toward the end of July 1127 (521 of the Hijra) at Valencia.
Ibn al-Sëd wrote some 20 works on Arabic grammar, philology and philosophy. He wrote a fahrasa (an outline of his teachers and the works he studied under them) and commentaries on the Adab al-KitÃÂb of Ibn Qutayba, the Muwaá¹Âá¹Âaþ of MÃÂlik and the Saqá¹ al-Zand of al-Maÿarrë. This last generated a strong response from Ibn al-ÿArabë and a counter from Ibn al-Sëd entitled al-Intiá¹£ÃÂr mim-man ÿadala ÿan al-Istibá¹£ÃÂr. The commentary on Ibn Qutayba was entitled Improvisation (al-Iqtiá¸ÂÃÂb). He also wrote on theological differences within Islam in The Equitable Judgment on the Causes Originating Discrepancies in the Community (al-Iná¹£ÃÂf fë al-asbÃÂb al-mà «jiba li-khtilÃÂf al-umma). His most important philosophical works are the Book of Questions (KitÃÂb al-MasÃÂþil) and the Book of Circles (KitÃÂb al-ḤadÃÂiþq). The latter was translated into Hebrew twice (including by Samuel ibn Tibbon) and became influential in Jewish circles. Bahiya ibn Paquda and Isaac Abravanel used it. Among Muslims, it was known to Ibn Ṭufayl and Ibn Sabÿën.
Ibn al-Sëd was one of the earliest philosophers to explicitly seek to reconcile the Islamic religion with the "sciences of the ancients". In the Book of Questions, he argues that philosophy and religion are two different means in pursuit of the same goal, the truth. Religion establishes the same truths by means of persuasion and imagination as philosophy does by demonstration. This is because some humans have insufficient understanding to grasp truths by demonstration. The demonstration of religion is ultimately to be found in miracles. Religion remains a necessary precondition for philosophy because the pursuit of truth depends on virtues that can only come from religion. In this reasoning, Ibn al-Sëd leans heavily on al-FÃÂrÃÂbë.
In the Book of Circles, Ibn al-Sëd introduced emanationist metaphysics to al-Andalus. Ultimately derived from Neoplatonism and from the Neopythagorean Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity, partially through al-FÃÂrÃÂbë, the metaphysical system of the Book of Circles is complex and eclectic. Ibn al-Sëd says that this system goes back to Socrates, Plato and Aristotle. The Agent Intellect enlightens human intellect and the perfection of the human being comes about through returning to its source by study of, in ascending order, mathematics, physics, metaphysics and theology. Then union with the Agent Intellect is attained. The fifth chapter deals with the question of negative theology, the seventh and final chapter with the immortality of the soul. This last was incorporated verbatim into the 13th-century Sicilian Questions.