Abu al-Hassan al-Amiri

Abu'l Hasan Muhammad ibn Yusuf al-'Amiri was born in Nishapur, Khorasan, in modern-day Iran. He began his career studying under Abu Zayd al-Balkhi in Khurasan, before moving to Rey and ultimately Baghdad. It was in Baghdad where he met noted 10th-century intellectuals such as al-Tawhidi and Ibn Miskawayh. Al 'Amiri retired to Bukhara, where he had access to the Samani library, and died in Nishapur in 992. He believed that philosophy did not contradict the teachings of Islam and tried to focus and base his beliefs on both philosophy and Islam. His views contrasted with other philosophers who believed that philosophy's teachings are very different from Islam's or any other cultures. Al-'Amiri argued that revealed truth must be superior to philosophy. Al-'Amiri believed that the ancient Greeks did not have a final say on philosophy because, as a society, the Greeks lacked a prophet who had a final say in all its forms. Al-'Amiri's sought to defend Islam against forms of philosophy which were regarded as independent of revelation. ==Works==

• ''al-I'lam bi manaqib al-Islam'' (An Exposition on the Merits of Islam) • ''Inqadh al-bashar min al jabr wa'l-qadar'' (Deliverance of Mankind from the Problem of Predestination and Free Will). Here al-'Amiri attempts a resolution of the problem of free will by the application of Aristotelian principles. • al-Taqrir li-awjuh al-taqdir (The Determination of the Various Aspects of Predestination) al-'Amiri continues to address the problem of free will. • ''Kitab al-amad 'ala'l-abad'' (On the Afterlife). ==References==