Christian Al Kindi Who He Is - Islam & Muslims

AL-KINDI + ‘Philosopher of the Arabs’
— from the keyboard of Ghurayb

Abi Yusuf Ya‘qtb ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi, an Arab aristocrat from the tribe
of Kindah, was born in Basrah ca. 800 CE and passed away in Baghdad
around 870 (orca. 196-256 AH). This remarkable polymath promoted
the collection of ancient scientific knowledge and its translation into
Arabic. Al-Kindi worked most of his life in the capital Baghdad, where
he benefitted from the patronage of the powerful ‘Abbassid caliphs al-
Ma’min (rg. 813-833), al-Mu‘tasim (rg. 833-842), and al-Wathiq (rg.
842-847) who were keenly interested in harmonizing the legacy of
Hellenic sciences with Islamic revelation. Caliph al-Ma’mun had
expanded the palace library into the major intellectual institution BAYT
al-HIKMAH (‘Wisdom House’) where Arabic translations from Pahlavi,
Syriac, Greek and Sanskrit were made by teams of scholars. Al-Kindi
worked among them, and he became the tutor of Prince Ahmad, son of
the caliph al-Mu‘tasim to whom al-Kindi dedicated his famous work On
First Philosophy.

Al-Kindi was a pioneer in chemistry, physics, psycho-somatic
therapeutics, geometry, optics, music theory, as well as philosophy of
science. His significant mathematical writings greatly facilitated the
diffusion of the Indian numerals into S.W. Asia & N. Africa (today
called ‘Arabic numerals’). A distinctive feature of his work was the
conscious application of mathematics and quantification, and his
invention of specific laboratory apparatus to implement experiments.
Al-Kindi invented a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of a
drug; as well as a system linked to phases of the Moon permitting a
doctor to determine in advance the most critical days of a patient’s
illness; while he provided the first scientific diagnosis and treatment
for epilepsy, and developed psycho-cognitive techniques to combat
depression.

The tenth century book seller Ibn al-Nadim states al-Kindi wrote
over 250 books—regrettably less than one-sixth of them are extant,
some in medieval Latin translations. In the mid-twentieth century a
manuscript in Turkey was identified containing twenty-four short

philosophic writings; these were published in Cairo in 1950. Fresh
discoveries and new studies over the past several decades have made
his seminal contribution to both Islamic and world civilisation
appreciated more accurately. Recent research shows that Al-Kindi also
made fundamental contributions in cryptography, weather forecasting,
botany, study of environmental pollution, pharmacology, cosmetics
and the manufacture of perfume products (his Book On Chemistry of
Perfume was recently published).

During the first half of the ninth century (third century AH) al-Kindi
gathered together an outstanding group of scholars in Iraq from
several religions, known today as the ‘Kindi Circle’, whose influence
persisted several centuries until the era of al-Ghazali. He directed them
in the study of Greek, Persian and Indian wisdom, organized the
production of a vast body of works on all aspects of natural science,
and acted as the spiritual leader of his ecumenical circle. He specified
the guiding principle behind this great effort:

We must not be ashamed to admire the truth or to acquire it,
from wherever it comes. Even if it should come from far-flung
nations and foreign peoples, there is for the student of truth
nothing more important than the truth ...; Study the books of

wisdom! for that is the feast of the rational souls.
| On First Philosophy |

Perhaps his most important achievement was the formation of a
philosophical terminology (specific terms for concepts) and of a
philosophical language in Arabic, which led to a linguistic and
conceptual transformation. He systematized this in his glossary of
terms and definitions (Kitab al-Hudiid /Epistle on Definitions and the
Description of Things). In the long run this signaled the rise of a rational
discourse beyond the discourse of traditionist ‘wlama’ or speculative
theologians. Al-Kindi intended a coalition of the Islamic Faith with
Hellenic thought (Falsafah & Science). Philosophy and science were
understood to vindicate the pursuit of rational scientific activity in the
service of Islam.

In his On Definitions al-Kindi gave six definitions of philosophy
(Rasa@’il, ed. Abū Ridah, I pp.172-4):

1. Love of wisdom. 2. To make oneself resemble divine
actions to the extent possible for humans (i.e. to perfect
virtue). 3. To be concerned with death—with the soul
abandoning preoccupation with the body, and the death of
the passions. 4. The ‘Art of arts’ and the Wisdom of
wisdoms. 5. Human knowledge of oneself [al-Kindi likes
this definition, for it leads to knowledge of man as
microcosm]. 6. Knowledge of eternal and universal things to
the extent possible for humans (i.e. the essence of philosophy).

Al-Kindi’s teaching on Mind (a/-‘aql) stressed the immaterial substance
of intelligible realities as well as of the rational soul. He also taught that
human knowledge (“ilm insani) may derive from various sources and
may still be expected to develop, to increase and be perfected. He and
his circle took this duty very seriously. He emphasized the ultimate
condition and value of scientific knowledge as a religious enterprise for
intellectuals: Only he who purifies his soul will gain true happiness
and ultimate vision of truth.

Al-Kindi was committed to formulate agreements between certain
philosophical ideas and specific articles of Islamic faith, elaborating a
mode of philosophic tawhid where Allah was described as ‘The ONE First
Real’ /al-Wahid al-Haqq al-Awwal. He defended the Qur’anic doctrines of
creation from nothing and that the universe will come to an end. His
writing On the Unity of God and the Limitation of the Body of the World
affirmed the finite temporal nature of the created world—against
Aristotle. In his cosmologic work On the Prostration of the Outermost
Sphere he explained that the heavens are possessed of souls and freely
follow God’s command, moving in such a way that the providentially
intended sublunary events will occur. According to al-Kindi, this is
what the Qur’an refers to when stating that the stars ‘prostrate’
themselves before God (c.f. Q 55:6). He viewed philosophy to be the
contents of “the science of things and their true nature” - and identical
to the message of the Prophets: the science of divine Sovereignty and
divine Oneness, and sacred teachings of morality and ethics. Al-Kindi
thus prayed for God’s assistance in pursuit of knowledge and venerated
the Prophet’s message.

Among the many important writings produced by the Kindi Circle
we should mention an extensive commentary-paraphrase from the
Enneads books IV-VI by PLOTINUS (d. 270 or 271 CE), the great Neoplatonic
mystic from Alexandria. This was translated for Prince Ahmad by the
Christian ‘Abd al-Masth ibn Na‘imah from Hims (in central Syria) with al-
Kindi editing its Arabic terminology. This highly influential writing was
transmitted and received by Muslim thinkers as the true ‘Theology
[uthuliujivvah/divine science] of Aristotle’. Its teaching on Soul and self-
knowing was fundamental for al-Kindi’s enterprise of rational research.
Closely related to the ‘Theology of Aristotle’ were translated selections
from the Elements of Theology of the major Neoplatonic thinker PROCLUS
(d. 485 CE). Such writings convey a monotheistic, creationist
interpretation of cosmologic Soul-science and served al-Kindi’s Circle as
a philosophic model for Islamic tawhid. The distinctive literary style
and consistent technical vocabulary of the Arabic Plotinus and Proclus
translations produced for al-Kindi confirm that a group of multi-
religious collaborators united by a common purpose promoted Hellenic
thought in Arabic in order to propagate a natural theology
transcending factional dogmas. The same circle of early translators
working under al-Kindi’s direction translated the Neo-Pythagorean
guide to number theory by Nichomachus, /ntroduction to Arithmetic,
reworked by al-Kindi from a version by Habib b. Bihriz (Metropolitan of
Mosul). The most productive translator of philosophic works in his
group was Yuhanna or Yahya b. al-Bitriq, a former mawlā of caliph al-
Ma’ min.

For the last twenty years of his life this great scientist suffered
humiliation and censure. When caliph al-Mutawakkil (rg. 847-861) took
power he championed the cause of Hanbali traditionalism to win
popular support for his rule. This caliph put an end to the Mihnah
/inquisition which had enforced Mu‘tazilite doctrine, repressed the
minority Shi‘ah as well as non-Muslims, and had al-Kindi placed under
house arrest while his personal library was confiscated. The triumph of
orthodoxy could not tolerate the marriage of revelation and scientific
rationalism. Al-Kindi’s legacy persisted as a distinct school highly

esteemed by professional scholars: mathematicians, astronomers,
physicians, and within the secretarial class in government
administration and courts. It was transformed into literature and
became part of the Islamic-Hellenic synthesis central to the classical
canon of Adab which furnished the basis for a rationalist ethics of
knowledge and virtue.

Al-Kindi’s scientific studies provided arguments for the harmonious
co-existence of rational and religious sciences—not only for Islam, but
for all divinely revealed Faiths. D. Gutas states that the Kindi Circle
“developed an overarching vision of the unity and interrelatedness of
all knowledge and its research along verifiable and rational lines.”
Without the achievements of this ‘philosopher of the Arabs’ who brought
reason into the orbit of revelation, and because of al-Kindi’s
systematisation and Arabisation of philosophic language, his great
successors al-FARABI and IBN SINA would have been unable to express
their ideas. If the ‘Kindi Circle’ and their continuators had not created
the language of Arabic-Islamic rationalism, then Europe and the
Muslim world from the Middle Ages until today would not have found a
common language in assigning names to the principles of Being and
understanding human epistemic faculties. He spearheaded the first
truly international ecumenist movement known in history.

CRE)

Further Reading:

Rasa’il al-Kindi al-Falsatiyah, ed. Abu Ridah (2 vols., Cairo: 1950 & 1953).

Gerhard Endress, “The Circle of al-Kindi: Early Arabic Translations from the Greek and the Rise
of Islamic Philosophy,” in G. Endress & R. Kruk, eds., The Ancient Tradition in Christian and
Islamic Hellenism |for H. J. Drossaart Lulofs] (Leiden: Research School CNWS, 1997) pp. 43—76.

F. W. Zimmermann, “The Origins of the So-Called Theology of Aristotle,” in Pseudo-Aristotle in
the Middle Ages, ed. J. Kraye et al. (London : Warburg Institute, 1986) pp. 110-240.

L. Gari, “Arabic Treatises on Environmental Pollution up to the End of the Thirteenth Century,”
Environment and History v. 8 /4 (2002) pp. 475-488.

Peter Adamson, A/-Kindi (New York: Oxford University Press, 2007).
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