TABRIZI, MAHOMET ABU-BEKR-AT-BEN MAHOMET°

TABRIZI, MAHOMET ABU-BEKR-AT-BEN MAHOMET ° (probably second half of 13^th century), Persian Muslim commentator on the 25 propositions appearing at the beginning of the second part of Moses Maimonides' Guide of the Perplexed. There is no information concerning Tabrizi's life. In his 25 propositions, Maimonides had presented a summary of the main doctrines of Aristotelian philosophy, which he used as the basis of his proofs for the existence, unity, and incorporeality of God. Tabrizi in his commentary set out to prove these propositions in detail, for Maimonides had presented only the doctrines themselves, indicating that proofs could be found in Aristotle's Physics and Metaphysics and their commentaries. Tabrizi based his proofs of the propositions on the works of Arabic authors rather than on the original works of Aristotle, but his discussions of the propositions are comprehensive. Written in Arabic, Tabrizi's commentary was translated into Hebrew twice. One translation, in Arabicized Hebrew, is by Isaac b. Nathan of Córdoba, and was probably composed in Majorca around 1347 (Venice, 1574). The other, in native rabbinic Hebrew, is anonymous and extant only in manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, cod. héb., 974). Ḥasdai Crescas relied heavily upon Isaac b. Nathan's translation of Tabrizi's commentary in his critique of Aristotelian philosophy in Or Adonai. It was also utilized by Moses b. Joshua of Narbonne.

bibliography:

H.A. Wolfson, Crescas' Critique of Aristotle (1929), index s.v.Altabrizi; Steinschneider, Uebersetzungen, 362; G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science 3, pt. 2 (1948), index s.v.Muhammad b. Muhammad; Steinschneider, Cat Bod, 1143.