Mysticism of Ibn Sina in the French Works of Two Recent Decades

In the nineteenth century, with the rise of the literary schools
in France and giving heed to oriental literacy and mystical
works, the commentators and translators of Ibn Sina began to
work on his treatises. Since they knew Ibn Sina as an
Aristotelian philosopher, the following question was raised:
Why has Aristotelian Ibn Sina given heed to mystical
attitudes? In response to the question whether or not there is
any unity between the two mentioned tendencies, the French
researchers have three views: Some have attempted to find a
sort of relationship between Ibn Sina's philosophical writings
and his mystical works. Others have not questioned his
mystical character and his spiritual works and have clearly
pointed out that his intuitions and mystical words has a sort of
metaphorical and mysterious theme showing his mystical
experiences. The rest have introduced him as an Aristotelian
philosopher who has only quoted the words of Sufis and
mystics. Our goal in this paper is to critically analyze these
three perspectives.