Ibrahim al-Haqilani (February 18, 1605 – July 15, 1664;Latinized asAbraham Ecchellensis) was aMaroniteCatholicphilosopher andlinguist involved in the translation of theBible intoArabic. He translated several Arabic works intoLatin, the most important of which was theChronicon orientale attributed toIbn al-Rahib.
Born in Haqil,Lebanon, hislast name derived from his place of birth. Ibrahim was educated at theMaronite College inRome. After taking hisdoctorate intheology andphilosophy, he returned for a time to his native land.[1]
Ibrahim wasordained as adeacon and later taught Arabic andSyriac, first inPisa and then inRome in theCollege of the Propaganda. In 1628, he published a Syriacgrammar. Called toParis in 1640 to assistGuy Michel Lejay in the preparation of hispolyglot Bible, Ibrahim contributed to that work the Arabic and Latin versions of theBook of Ruth and the Arabic version of3 Maccabees.[2]
In 1646, Ibrahim was appointed professor of Syriac and Arabic at theCollège de France. Being invited by theCongregation of the Propaganda to take part in the preparation of an Arabic version of the Bible, Ibrahim went again in 1652 or 1653 to Rome. He published several Latin translations of Arabic works, of which the most important was theChronicon Orientale of Ibnar-Rahib (1653), a history of thepatriarchs of Alexandria.[2]
Ibrahim engaged in an interesting controversy withJohn Selden about the historical grounds ofepiscopal polity, spurring him to publish hisEutychius vindicatus, sive Responsio ad Seldeni Origines (1661). WithGiovanni Alfonso Borelli he wrote a Latin translation of the 5th, 6th and 7th books of theConics by thegeometricianApollonius of Perga (1661).[2] Ibrahim was also the first person to identify the Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran as descended from the Gnostic movements going back to the 1st century.[citation needed]
One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Ecchellensis, Abraham".Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 8 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 847.| International | |
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