View source for Habib ibn Bahriz

{{Short description|Bishop of the Church of the East (fl. 9th c.)}}
'''Ḥabīb ibn Bahrīz'''{{efn|{{langx|ar|حبيب بن بهريز}}}} ({{floruit}} early 9th century), also called '''ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahrīz''',{{efn|{{langx|syr|ܥܒܕܝܫܘܥ ܒܪ ܒܗܪܝܙ}}; {{langx|ar|عبد يشوع بن بهريز}}, ʿAbd Īshūʿ ibn Bahrīz}} was a bishop and scholar of the [[Church of the East]], famous for his translations from [[Syriac language|Syriac]] into [[Arabic]]. He also wrote original works on logic, canon law and apologetics.
Ibn Bahrīz was probably born in the mid to late 8th century. His place of birth is unknown. He was a contemporary of the [[Abbasid caliph]] [[al-Maʾmūn]] ({{reign|813|833}}) and the physician [[Jibrīl ibn Bukhtīshūʿ]]. He may have died shortly before Ibn Bukhtīshūʿ's own death in 827.<ref name=MNS>Mark N. Swanson, "ʿAbdīshūʿ ibn Bahrīz", in David Thomas and Barbara Roggema (eds.), ''Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History'', Vol. 1 (600–900) (Brill, 2008), pp. 550–552.</ref> He was of [[Persians|Persian]] descent, as indicated by his father's name, Bahrīz. His own given name was Ḥabīb, while ʿAbdishoʿ ('servant of Jesus') was a religious name he took upon entering the church.<ref name=BHR>Barbara H. Roggema, [https://gedsh.bethmardutho.org/Abdisho-bar-Bahriz "ʿAbdishoʿ bar Bahrīz,"] in ''Gorgias Encyclopedic Dictionary of the Syriac Heritage'', edited by [[Sebastian P. Brock]], Aaron M. Butts, [[George A. Kiraz]] and Lucas Van Rompay (Gorgias Press, 2011; online ed. Beth Mardutho, 2018).</ref> He served as the [[Nisibis (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)#Diocese of Harran|bishop of Ḥarrān]] and later as [[Adiabene (East Syriac ecclesiastical province)|metropolitan of Mosul and Ḥazza]].<ref name=MNS/><ref name=BHR/> According to [[al-Jāḥiz]], he had ambitions of becoming [[Catholicos of the Church of the East|catholicos]], but the Muslim writer comments mockingly that he lacked the requisite height, voice or lengthy beard.<ref name=MNS/>
Ibn Bahrīz was an early translator in the [[Graeco-Arabic translation movement|Graeco-Syro-Arabic translation movement]].<ref name=MNS/> According to [[Ibn al-Nadīm]], Ibn Bahrīz wrote summaries of [[Aristotle]]'s ''[[Categories (Aristotle)|Categories]]'' and ''[[On Interpretation]]'', translated many philosophical works into Arabic and wrote commentaries on the classics for al-Maʾmūn.<ref name=BHR/> The caliph also commissioned an Arabic treatise on logic, ''Kitāb ḥudūd al-manṭiq'' ('Definitions of Logic'), which Ibn Bahrīz based on the ''Categories'' and [[Porphyry (philosopher)|Porphyry]]'s ''[[Isagoge]]''.<ref name=MNS/><ref name=BHR/> Ibn Bahrīz was also connected with other Abbasid elites. He translated [[Nicomachus of Gerasa]]'s ''[[Introduction to Arithmetic]]'' from Syriac into Arabic for [[Tahir ibn Husayn|Ṭāhir ibn al-Ḥusayn]].<ref name=BHR/><ref name=AT>Alexander Treiger, "From al-Biṭrīq to Ḥunayn: Melkite and Nestorian Translators in Early ʿAbbāsid Baghdad", ''Mediterranea: International Journal on the Transfer of Knowledge'' '''7''' (2022): 143–181. {{doi|10.21071/mijtk.v7i.13666}}</ref> He also translated works of medicine for Ibn Bukhtīshūʿ.<ref name=MNS/>
Ibn Bahrīz also wrote works in defence of his church's [[Christology]], including one directed against two [[Syriac Orthodox|Jacobite]] works. Ibn al-Nadīm wrote that "his wisdom was close to the wisdom of Islam", because he defended the "[[Hypostatic union|oneness of hypostasis]]" against the doctrine of the Jacobites and [[Melkites]].<ref name=BHR/> One apologetic treatise by Ibn Bahrīz is known, entitled ''Maqāla fī l-tawḥīd wa-l-tathlīth'' ('Treatise on the Unity and Trinity'). It is a defence of the [[Trinity]] and an argument that it does not imply [[Tritheism]]. It is preserved in two manuscripts in private collections in [[Aleppo]] and has never been published.<ref name=MNS/> His handbook on canon law relating to marriage and inheritance, written in Syriac, has been published.<ref name=BHR/> According to [[ʿAbdishoʿ bar Brikha]], he also wrote an "explanation of the different church services".<ref>[[George Percy Badger|G. P. Badger]] (ed.), ''The Nestorians and Their Rituals'', Vol. 2 (Joseph Masters, 1852), p. 373.</ref>
Ibn Bahrīz is probably the "ʿAbdīshūʿ, the Nestorian mutrān [metropolitan]" who took part in a public debate or discussion of different Christologies in the 820s before an unnamed Muslim [[vizier]]. There is a short record of this event in Arabic by an anonymous author, probably a Jacobite, which has been titled ''A Christological Discussion'' by its editor. It is preserved in three manuscripts. The Melkite and Jacobite participants—[[Theodore Abū Qurra]] and [[Abū Rāʾita al-Takrītī]], respectively—are well known.<ref name=STK>Sandra Toenies Keating, "''A Christological Discussion''", in David Thomas and Barbara Roggema (eds.), ''Christian–Muslim Relations: A Bibliographical History'', Vol. 1 (600–900) (Brill, 2008), pp. 553–555.</ref>
==Editions==
Only two works by Ibn Bahrīz have been published, his Syriac lawbook and his Arabic treatise on logic.<ref name=BHR/>
*Walter Selb, ''ʿAbḏīšōʿ bar Bahrīz, Ordnung der Ehe und der Erbschaften sowie Entscheidung von Rechtsfällen'' (Hermann Böhlaus, 1970).
*M. T. Dānishpazhūh, ''al-Manṭq li-Ibn al-Muqaffaʿ wa Ḥudūd al-manṭiq li-Ibn Bihrīz'' (Anjumân-i Shâhanshâhi Falsafah-i Iran, 1978).
''A Christological Discussion'' has been edited and translated into English:
*Sandra Toenies Keating, ''Defending the "People of Truth" in the Early Islamic Period: The Christian Apologies of Abū Rāʾiṭah'' (Brill, 2006), pp.&nbsp;347–351 (analysis), 352–357 (text).
==Notes==
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==References==
{{reflist}}
[[Category:8th-century births]]
[[Category:9th-century deaths]]
[[Category:9th-century bishops of the Church of the East]]
[[Category:Church of the East canonists]]
[[Category:Church of the East writers]]
[[Category:Nestorians in the Abbasid Caliphate]]
[[Category:Syriac–Arabic translators]]
[[Category:History of logic]]
[[Category:Iranian Christians]]
[[Category:Syriac writers]]