Brethren of Purity

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The Brethren of Purity, also known as The Brethren of Sincerity, were a secret society active during the reign of the Buyid dynasty. Presumably composed of Muslim philosophers centered in the Buyid port city of Basra, the structure of the organization and the identities of its members have never been clear. 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.

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