Description: "Why is laughter contagious? Why do mountains exist? Why do we long for the past ever if it is scarred by suffering? Spanning a vast array of subjects that range from the philosophical to the theological, from the philological to the scientific, "The Philosipher Respons" is the record of a set of questions put by the litterateur Abåu òHayyåan al-Tawòhåidåi to the philosopher and historian Abåu °Alåi Miskawayh. Both figures were foremost contributors to the remarkable flowering of cultural and intellectual life that took place in the Islamic world during the reign of the Buyid dynasty in the fourth/tenth centuries.
Brief description: Bilal Orfali is Professor and Sheikh Zayed Chair of Arabic and Islamic Studies at the American University of Beirut and previously held the M.S. Sofia Chair in Arabic Studies at the Ohio State University. He specializes in Arabic literature, Sufism, and Qur'anic Studies. He co-edits al-Abhath Journal and Brill's series Texts and Studies on the Qur'an. He is the author and editor of more than twenty books on Arabic Studies. His recent publications include The Anthologist's Art (Brill, 2016), The Book of Noble Character (Brill, 2015), The Comfort of the Mystics (Brill, 2013), Sufism, Black and White (Brill, 2012), and In the Shadow of Arabic (Brill, 2011).
Review Quotes: "Tawhidi's questions are often epigrammatic essays; they assert the limits of human reason and dwell on man's 'deficiencies, ' while evincing a Johnsonian keenness towards observing the contradictions of the human character, the fortunes of life and the spirit of the age. . . . There was no better recorder of his distempered century than Tawhidi; but there was also no other thinker of his time whose disillusioned and restless spirit is more modern, or whose character comes across more strongly in his writings."-- "Times Literary Supplement"