Ibrahim an-Nazzam
To - Nazzam, full name Abū Ibrāhīm ibn Ishaaq ibn Hani Saiyar ʾ at - Nazzam (Arabic أبو إسحاق ابراهيم بن سيار بن هانئ النظام, DMG Abu Ishaq Ibrahim b Saiyar b Hani ʾ at - Nazzam, .. d. 835-845 ) was a mu'tazilitischer theologian and philosopher.
To - Nazzam received his education in Basra, and although for the most part with his maternal uncle Abū l - al - ʿ Hudhail Allaf, whose loyal assistant ( Ghulam ) he was. Father's side he came from a slave family and was Maula a clan of the Arab tribe Association of Bakr b. Wa ʾ il. After 819 the caliph al - Ma ʾ mun his residence from Merv had moved to Baghdad, he was given access to his farm. At times, he referred to by the Court a salary that was so high that he could entertain others with it. Whether he was referring this content as a theologian, however, is not clear, since he was also a good poet and orator, and thus could have been active in the position of the entertainer.
In natural-philosophical level, at - Nazzam turned against the atomistic conceptions of his teacher Abū l - Hudhail. According to his theory made body does not consist of aggregates of very small particles which are held together only by the omnipotence of God, but of elements which penetrate each other and either be visible on the surface or remain concealed inside. With the changing concealment and on - the -surface contact of certain bodies, he also explained the changes in temperature, consistency, etc.
A striking feature of his teaching system was also his anti- atomistic theory of motion. After this movement must ( TAFRA ) put into effect, because it is not possible between an infinite divisibility of space that the moving body touches every single point in the "jump". Movement played ex negative an important role in his epistemology. He defined truth as namely " peace of heart" ( al - qalb sukun ). The criterion for truth is so subjective. Whether it matches the external reality was less important to him.
Reaching significance had in his teaching system advances the concept of the Spirit ( ruh ). He introduced himself to the spirit, building on the Platonic pneuma concept as a subtle body, like a gas mixes with the body and penetrates him until the fingertips, but again triggers the death of this compound and continued to exist independently. Student of to - Nazzam, among them Ahmad ibn Chābit led away these thoughts and subsequently developed a theory of the transmigration of spirits ( tanāsuḫ ).
On - Nazzāms works are lost except for a few fragments. Josef van Ess has based these fragments to reconstruct his teaching system.