Abdallah ibn Abbas ibn al-Fadl

Abdallah ibn al-Fadl al-Antaki was an Arab Orthodox translator and theologian active in Antioch during the middle of the eleventh century, during a period of renewed Byzantine rule over the city. He was responsible for a large number of patristic translations, as well as original theological and philosophical works.

Life and work

Little is known of his life, apart from what can be gleaned from manuscripts of his texts. He was a deacon and the grandson of a bishop also called Abdallah. He received an excellent education in both Arabic and Greek, having studied Arabic grammar with the famous poet Abul ʿAla Al-Maʿarri and patristic texts with an unidentified teacher called Symeon.

Intellectually, he can be seen as the meeting point of the Hellenism of the Byzantine empire and that of the Arabic world.

Works The Book of Benefit (Kitab al-Manfa‘a) Discourse on the Holy Trinity (Kalam fi l-lahut) Book of the Joy of the Believer (Kitab Bahjat al-Mu'min) Exposition of the Orthodox Faith (Sharh al-Amana al-Mustaqima wa-Ibanat Ghalat al-Ya'aqiba wa-l-Nastur 'Ala Sabil al-Ijaz) Questions and Responses on the Trinity and the Incarnation (Masa'il wa-Ajwiba hawla al-Tathlith wa-l-Ittihad)