Abū Al-Faraj ʿAlī ibn al-Husayn ibn Hindū (d. 1032) was a

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

poet, a man of letters, and a practitioner of Galenic medicine coming from Rey. Scholars have posited multiple explanations for his name, including that he was Persian and from Hindujān, his possible Indian heritage, and that he was an Arab descendant of the Islamic prophet,

Muhammad Muhammad ( ar, مُحَمَّد; 570 – 8 June 632 CE) was an Arab religious, social, and political leader and the founder of Islam. According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet divinely inspired to preach and confirm the mo ...

Education

His philosophical and medical training was extensive and he studied under Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri, Abū Al-Khayr al-Hasan ibn Siwār, and Abū al-Khayr ibn al-Khammār. He traveled to

Arrajan Arrajan (Argan) was a medieval Persian city located between Fars and Khuzestan, which was settled since Elam period and an important in the Sasanian period until the 11th century. It was the capital of a medieval province of the same name, which ...

in 965, where he continued his services for the

Buwayhids The Buyid dynasty ( fa, آل بویه, Āl-e Būya), also spelled Buwayhid ( ar, البويهية, Al-Buwayhiyyah), was a Shia Iranian dynasty of Daylamite origin, which mainly ruled over Iraq and central and southern Iran from 934 to 1062. Coupl ...

. He wrote in Arabic. He was most famous for his works of poetry than as a physician. He was also held in high esteem by his students who would travel to study with him. He was employed at

'Adud al-Dawla Fannā (Panāh) Khusraw ( fa, پناه خسرو), better known by his laqab of ʿAḍud al-Dawla ( ar, عضد الدولة, "Pillar of the bbasidDynasty") (September 24, 936 – March 26, 983) was an emir of the Buyid dynasty, ruling from ...

's ''dīwān.'' His approach to religion has been described as open-minded.

Publications

Ibn Hindū. Miftah al-tibb wa-minhaj al-tullab. he key to the science of medicine and the students' guide Mohaghegh M, Daneshpajuh MT, eds. Tehran: Institute of Islamic Studies, McGill University Tehran Branch, in collaboration with Tehran University, 1989. Later translated by Aidi Tibi as ''The Key to Medicine and a Guide for Students.'' The book, espousing the virtues of medicine, has three primary arguments. The first is to demonstrate the noble qualities of being a physician, and to locate the role of physicians within a hierarchy of prestigious professions. The second is to reinforce a hierarchy between those who see reason and accept medicine and the erroneous logic of disbeliever. And finally, ibn Hindū seeks to show the superiority of Dogmatists over Methodists and Empiricists. The above work makes mention to the existence of ''A Treatise Encouraging the Study of Philosophy'', but only a few excerpts of it survive today. Abū al-Faraj ibn Hindū, ''al-Kalim al-rūḥānīyah fī al-ḥikam al-Yūnānīyah'' (Bayrūt, 2001).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hindu, Ibn 11th-century Iranian philosophers 11th-century Iranian writers Islamic philosophers 11th-century Iranian physicians Buyid-period poets 11th-century Arabic poets