ABU ISḤĀQ IBN AL-'ASSĀL. - Coptic theologian and exegete of the 13th century. He was the son of the sheikh Fahr ad-Daula, of great fame in Coptic literature; two brothers of A. also remained celebrated.

After completing journeys in Syria, he returned to Cairo where he wrote the "Collection of the Foundations of Religion," his masterpiece, finished in 1260. Then he published a compendium of it. He also wrote the "Introduction to the Epistles of St. Paul," a commentary on the Apocalypse and an Arabic-Coptic dictionary. Only a small part of his works has been published.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: A. Mallon, Ibn al-'Assat: les trois écrivains de ce nom, in Journal Asiatic, 10 (1905), pp. 509-29; id., Une école de savants égyptiens au Moyen Age, in Mélanges de la Fisc. Or., 1 (1906), pp. 109-32; G. Graf, Das Schriftstellerverszeichnis des Abū Ishāq ibn al-'Assāl, in Or. Christianus, 2 (1912), pp. 205-27; id., Die hoptische Gelehrtenfamilie der Awhād al-'Awal, in Orientalia, 1 (1932), pp. 34-56, 129-48, 193-204; P. Sbath, Vingt traités, Cairo 1929.

Maurizio Gordillo

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Abu Isḥāq ibn al-'Assāl

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