The Book of the Dove

— Notwithstanding Bar Hebraeus’ modesty concerning his spiritual experience, the hundred sentences which form an important part of his book are styled by himself as being founded upon revelations. Indeed they are the most original part of the book, and they give it a serious counterweight against the Ethikon. The number of these sentences seems to have been chosen in accordance with a well known Eastern predilection. Euagrius Ponticus, one of Bar Hebraeus’ admired spiritual teachers, has written a book, entitled Centuriae Centuries, consisting of six times a hundred sentences. Zamakhsharī’s Golden Necklaces are a hundred in number; and on the authority of ‘Alī a collection of hundred sentences is current in Arabic literature.

Influence of Ghazālī’s Iḥyā’

— The other chapters of the Book of the Dove consist each of ten sections; here Bar Hebraeus seems to go back directly to Ghazālī’s example, whose Iḥyā’ The Revival of Religious Sciences also consists of four books, each containing ten chapters. The literary relation between Ghazālī and Bar Hebraeus will be discussed further on. Here some general remarks may find their place.

Ghazālī seems to have been the first to divide the subject of mystical ethics into four books, each of which has its distinct aim. It is at least not known to me that any of his predecessors has resorted to such a division; moreover he explains his reason for doing so in his introduction: the usual division of the fiqh jurisprudence into four parts has been his example. So this is a novum innovation. Those four parts are: I ritual and corporeal acts; II adab polite conduct, social acts; III the purifying of the soul from vices; IV the providing of the soul with excellent qualities. This is exactly the same division as that of the Ethikon. The general parallelism between Iḥyā’ and Ethikon may further be shown in a striking way by the juxtaposition of the chapters of the third books: