Yahya Ibn Adi - Christians In The Islamic Golden Age (Philosophy)

Yahya Ibn Adi, born 893 CE, was a Syriac Jacobite Christian apologist, translator and philosopher from Tikrit who pioneered the fields of ethics and theology in Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age. Working as a translator in various Abbasid scholarly institutions, Adi was fluent in Syriac, Greek and Arabic, allowing him to engage in the philosophical dialectics of both the Muslim and Christian traditions.

Writing polemics against Islamic theology and in support of Christian theological doctrines such as the Trinity, Ibn Adi embodies a beacon of religious tolerance and open discourse, not typically associated with the Middle Ages nor the Islamicate World. His apologetics were primarily in defence of Christianity's monotheism, in response to the newly developing Islamic critiques of the faith.

As a compatriot of Al-Farabi and rival to Al-Kindi, we additionally recommend watching our videos on those respective philosophers; to get a full picture on the scholarly developments that were occurring in the Abbasid Capital at the time and during the Islamic Golden Age.

This is part six of our series on Islamic philosophy.

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PREVIOUS VIDEO Brethren of Purity - Esoteric Islamic Philosophers

TIMESTAMPS Introduction - 00:00 Personal Life - 01:13 The Trinity and Incarnation - 02:39 Ethics - 05:55 Conclusion - 08:04

SOCIAL MEDIA

CREDITS Logo by Hala Sheta

CONTENT Note: The image used for Yahya Ibn Adi is in fact a portrait of Saint Ephrem. This is because there are no definitive images or recreations of Ibn Adi. As such, we felt it was most respectful to use images of personalities and portraits from the Syriac community to represent Ibn Adi.

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By Oasis/Oases of Wisdom.