Ḥabëb ibn Bahrëz ( early 9th century), also called ÿAbdishoÿ bar Bahrëz, was a bishop and scholar of the Church of the East, famous for his translations from Syriac into Arabic. He also wrote original works on logic, canon law and apologetics.
Ibn Bahrëz was probably born in the mid to late 8th century. His place of birth is unknown. He was a contemporary of the Abbasid caliph al-Maþmà «n () and the physician Jibrël ibn Bukhtëshà «Ã¿. He may have died shortly before Ibn Bukhtëshà «Ã¿'s own death in 827. He was of Persian descent, as indicated by his father's name, Bahrëz. His own given name was Ḥabëb, while ÿAbdishoÿ ('servant of Jesus') was a religious name he took upon entering the church. He served as the bishop of ḤarrÃÂn and later as metropolitan of Mosul and Ḥazza. According to al-JÃÂḥiz, he had ambitions of becoming catholicos, but the Muslim writer comments mockingly that he lacked the requisite height, voice or lengthy beard.
Ibn Bahrëz was an early translator in the Graeco-Syro-Arabic translation movement. According to Ibn al-Nadëm, Ibn Bahrëz wrote summaries of Aristotle's Categories and On Interpretation, translated many philosophical works into Arabic and wrote commentaries on the classics for al-Maþmà «n. The caliph also commissioned an Arabic treatise on logic, KitÃÂb ḥudà «d al-maná¹Âiq ('Definitions of Logic'), which Ibn Bahrëz based on the Categories and Porphyry's Isagoge. Ibn Bahrëz was also connected with other Abbasid elites. He translated Nicomachus of Gerasa's Introduction to Arithmetic from Syriac into Arabic for ṬÃÂhir ibn al-Ḥusayn. He also translated works of medicine for Ibn Bukhtëshà «Ã¿.
Ibn Bahrëz also wrote works in defence of his church's Christology, including one directed against two Jacobite works. Ibn al-Nadëm wrote that "his wisdom was close to the wisdom of Islam", because he defended the "oneness of hypostasis" against the doctrine of the Jacobites and Melkites. One apologetic treatise by Ibn Bahrëz is known, entitled MaqÃÂla fë l-tawḥëd wa-l-tathlëth ('Treatise on the Unity and Trinity'). It is a defence of the Trinity and an argument that it does not imply Tritheism. It is preserved in two manuscripts in private collections in Aleppo and has never been published. His handbook on canon law relating to marriage and inheritance, written in Syriac, has been published. According to ÿAbdishoÿ bar Brikha, he also wrote an "explanation of the different church services".
Ibn Bahrëz is probably the "ÿAbdëshà «Ã¿, the Nestorian mutrÃÂn [metropolitan]" who took part in a public debate or discussion of different Christologies in the 820s before an unnamed Muslim vizier. There is a short record of this event in Arabic by an anonymous author, probably a Jacobite, which has been titled A Christological Discussion by its editor. It is preserved in three manuscripts. The Melkite and Jacobite participantsâÂÂTheodore Abà « Qurra and Abà « RÃÂþita al-Takrëtë, respectivelyâÂÂare well known.
Only two works by Ibn Bahrëz have been published, his Syriac lawbook and his Arabic treatise on logic.
A Christological Discussion has been edited and translated into English: