Abu ?l-?Abbas al-Lawkari (d. after 503/1109): Bayan al-?aqq bi-?aman al-?idq. An Early ‘Reader’ in Avicenna’s Philosophy

This edition comprises the first two books of the natural philosophy section of a unique teacher's manual on Avicenna's philosophy, authored by his second-generation student Abu 'l-?Abbas al-Lawkari (d. after 503/1109). Al-Lawkari was the person responsible for promoting Avicenna's philosophy in Khorasan at a time when theologians like Abu ?amid al-Ghazali (d. 505/1111) condemned its most fundamental tenets. The importance of this work lies in al-Lawkari's endeavour to provide the resources for a condensed yet comprehensive lecture course on Avicenna's philosophy, with the aim of perpetuating his ideas. His covert use of the work of his teacher Bahmanyar (d. 458/1066) is especially noteworthy, here as well as in other sections of this work.