This annotation explores Ibn Sina’s intellectually productive period in Isfahan, where his elevated political status and favorable working conditions enabled him to finalize the major parts of The Canon of Medicine and The Cure. Supported by Emir Ala al-Dawla and assisted by a team of devoted scribes, he completed extensive medical, philosophical, and astronomical writings, including an abridgment of Ptolemy’s Almagest. Despite this scholarly flourishing, Ibn Sina’s personal relations remained strained: he maintained few loyal disciples and engaged in long-standing intellectual conflicts with contemporaries such as Miskawayh and Kirmani. His polemical style, sharp criticisms, and self-assertive attitude contributed to the mixed reputation reflected in historical accounts. The text highlights the paradox of a scholar whose extraordinary intellectual legacy was accompanied by a complex, often contentious personal character

Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Isfahan period, canon of medicine, The Cure (Ash-Shifa), Medieval Islamic philosophy, Scholarly patronage, Intellectual rivalries, Historical biographical analysis

Afnan, Avicenna: His Life and Works, p. 70.

Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, p. 467.

Ahmed H. al- Rahim, “Avicenna’s Immediate Disciples: Their Lives and Works,”Avicenna and His Legacy, Langermann, ed., p. 9.

Entitled Najat or The Salvation, see Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, pp. 115 ff. Many analysts have explored the differing nuances between this work and the relevant sections of The Cure. Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, p. 225.

Gohlman, The Life of Ibn Sina, pp. 81– 82.

Rahim, “Avicenna’s Immediate Disciples,” pp. 1– 26.

Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, p. 503 fn.

David C. Reisman, “The Life and Times of Avicenna,” in Interpreting Avicenna: Critical Essays, Peter Adamson, ed., Cambridge, 2013, pp. 15– 19.

Ibid., p. 19.

Gutas, Avicenna and the Aristotelian Tradition, p. 330.

Ibid., p. 158.

Ibid., p. 223.

Afnan, Avicenna: His Life and Works, p. 77.

Ibid., p. 78.David C. Reisman, “The Life and Times of Avicenna: Patronage and Learning in Medieval Islam,” Interpreting Avicenna: Critical Essays, Peter Adamson, ed., Cambridge, 2013, p. 24.