Abu Sulayman Sijistani

Who was Abu Sulayman Sijistani?

Abu Sulayman Muhammad Sijistani, also called al-Mantiqi, named for his origins in Sijistan or Sistan province in present-day Iran, became the leading philosopher of Islamic humanism in the Baghdad of his time.

Deeply religious, he regarded both religion and philosophy as valid and true; but separate, concerned with different issues, and proceeding by different means. He thus rejected the claims of the mutakallimiin theologians to have built a theology "proved" by rationality, and of the Brethren of Purity to offer a synthesis of philosophy and religion.

His best-known work is Siwan al-hikma, a history of philosophy from the beginning to his own time.