275 – Abu al-Barakat Hibat Allah ibn ʿAli ibn Malka al-Baladi

The erudite savant, philosopher, master physician, and unrivaled figure of his age: Abu al-Barakat Hibat Allah ibn ʿAli ibn Malka al-Baladi. He was originally Jewish, then embraced Islam toward the end of his life and served the caliph al-Mustanjid.

Al-Muwaffaq ibn Abi Usaybiʿa (1) said: “His writings are of the highest quality, and he possessed an extraordinary natural aptitude, yet it harmed his hereafter. He used to dictate his book entitled al-Muʿtabar to Jamal ibn Faḍlan, Ibn al-Dahhan, al-Muhadhdhab ibn al-Naqqash, and to my own father, ʿAbd al-Laṭif.”

It was said that the reason for his conversion was that he once entered upon the caliph and everyone present rose for him except the chief judge. He remarked, “Commander of the Believers! If the judge has not stood because I follow a different creed, then I hereby accept Islam,” and he became Muslim.

He left three daughters and lived to about eighty years of age.

He is the formulator of the antidote Thiryāq Barshathā and authored a Treatise on the Nature of the Intellect (2).

Among his pupils was al-Muhadhdhab ʿAli ibn Habal.

He died in the early 550s AH, having reached the highest degree of proficiency in philosophy.