All Kinds of Souls

All Kind of Souls, also known as “The 16 Chapters Treatise” and “The Soul and Its Essence”, written by Avicenna. This book is the translation of his work “Resurrection” (al-Ma’aad). There are four kinds of souls: Animal, Vegetal, Natural and Angel.

The author
Avicenna, one of the greatest Muslim scientists and philosophers, known in the East as Abu Ali Sina and also Ibn Sina (980 – 1037). He was born near Bukhara, ####probably with Persian as his native language. At the age of eighteen he had mastered all the then known sciences. After the death of his father, an official of the Samanid adminstration, and the overthrow of the Samanids by the Ilekhans in 1005, he first wandered through Persia and then, from 1021 until shortly before his death, he lived at Isfahan as court physician of the Buyid rulers Shams al-Dawla and Sama al-Dawla, who by then had come under Kakuid suzerainty. He is known primarily as a philosopher and physician, Avicenna contributed also to all the sciences that were accessible in his day: natural history, physics, chemistry, astronomy, mathematics and music. He studied mathematics under “Abu Abdullah Natli”, then continued metaphysics, physics and medicine in the presence of “Abu Soheyl Masihi”. He wrote on economics, politics, moral and religious questions, Quranic exegesis and poetry. In 1654, 131 authentic and 110 doubtful works were listed in his bibliography.

Structure of the book:
This treatise includes the following chapters:
1) On the extent of the soul
2) On powers of the souls
3) On prophecy and dream
4) On theoretical intellect
5) All the sensual powers have the same source
6) The soul will not be dead while the body will do
7) The formation of soul and body, etc.

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