Brethren of Purity
Medieval secret society of Muslim philosophers / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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The Brethren of Purity (Arabic: إخوان الصفا, romanized: Ikhwān Al-Ṣafā; also The Brethren of Sincerity) were a secret society[1] of Muslim philosophers in Basra, Iraq,[2] in the 9th or 10th century CE.[3]
The structure of the organization and the identities of its members have never been clear.[4][5] Their esoteric teachings and philosophy are expounded in an epistolary style in the Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity (Rasā'il Ikhwān al-ṣafā'), a giant compendium of 52 epistles that would greatly influence later encyclopedias. A good deal of Muslim and Western scholarship has been spent on just pinning down the identities of the Brethren and the century in which they were active.