World Philosophy Atlas
Basra
- Basra
Basra, founded as an Arab garrison town near the head of the Gulf, became what the Encyclopaedia Iranica calls the intellectual crossroads of the Islamic world in the eighth to tenth centuries. Its early city lay near modern al-Zubayr, west of today's Basra, and the marker is placed at that old site. Al-Ash'ari trained there as the favourite disciple of al-Jubba'i, head of the city's Mu'tazilite theologians, before breaking with them at about forty. The essayist al-Jahiz was born and died in Basra, and al-Kindi and Ibn al-Haytham were born there. Centuries later Mulla Sadra died in Basra on his way to Mecca.
When
- 776–965 CE Kalam, letters and science From the birth of al-Jahiz to the birth of Ibn al-Haytham.
Schools and institutions
- 915 CE Mu'tazilite circle of al-Jubba'i The rationalist theologians of Basra, led by al-Jubba'i until his death there in 915.
Thinkers
- Al-Kindi c. 800 – 870 CEborn here, 800 CE (Born in Basra about 800 and educated in Baghdad.)
- Al-Jahiz c. 776 – 869 CEborn here, 776 CE (Born in Basra about 776; retired there shortly before his death in 868/869.)
- Al-Ash'ari 874 – 936 CEstudied here, 915 CE (Born in Basra in 873/874; favourite disciple of al-Jubba'i until he broke with the Mu'tazila at about forty.)
- Ibn al-Haytham c. 965 – 1040born here, 965 CE (Born in Basra about 965; died in Cairo about 1040.)
- Mulla Sadra c. 1571 – 1635/6died here, 1635–1641 (Died in Basra on his way to his seventh pilgrimage to Mecca; traditionally in 1640-1, though a grandson reports 1635-6.)
Sources: Britannica: al-Ash'ari · Britannica: al-Jahiz · SEP: al-Kindi · Encyclopaedia Iranica: Basra (Fred M. Donner) · Britannica: Ibn al-Haytham · SEP: Mulla Sadra