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Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books A History of Muslim Philosophy Volume 1, Book 3 Chapter 21: Al-Kindi By Ahmed Fouad El-Ehwany Life Al-Kindi (c. 185/801- c. 260/873) was the first Muslim philosopher. Philo­sophical studies in the second/eighth century were in the hands of Christian Syriacs, who were primarily physicians. They started, through encourage­ment by the Caliph, to translate Greek writings into Arabic.

Being the first Arab Muslim to study science and philosophy, al-Kindi was rightly called “the Philosopher of the Arabs.” His full name is: Abu Yusuf Ya`qub ibn Ishaq ibn al-Sabbah ibn `Imran ibn Isma`il ibn al-Ash`ath ibn Qais al-Kindi. Kindah was one of the great Arab tribes before Islam. His grandfather al-Ash`ath ibn Qais adopted Islam and was considered one of the ( Sahabah ) of the Prophet. Al-Ash`ath went with some of the pioneer Muslims to al-Kufah, where he and his descend­ants lived.

Ishaq ibn al-Sabbah, al-Kindi's father, was Governor of al-Kufah during the reign of the `Abbasid Caliphs al-Mahdi and al-Rashid. Most probably al-Kindi was born in the year 185/801,[^1] a decade before the death of al-Rashid. Al-Kufah and al-Basrah, in the second/eighth and third/ninth centuries, were the two rivalling centres of Islamic culture. Al-Kufah was more inclined to rational studies; and in this intellectual atmosphere, al-Kindi passed his early boyhood.

He learnt the Qur'an by heart, the Arabic grammar, literature, and elementary arithmetic, all of which formed the curriculum for all Muslim children. He, then, studied Fiqh and the new-born discipline called Kalam . But it seems that he was more interested in sciences and philo­sophy, to which he consecrated the rest of his life, especially after he went to Baghdad.

A complete knowledge of Greek science and philosophy required proficiency in Greek and Syriac languages into which latter many Greek works had already been translated. It seems that al-Kindi learnt Greek, but certainly he mastered the Syriac language from which he translated several works. He also revised some of the Arabic translations, such as al-Himsi's translation of Plotinus' Enneads , which passed to the Arabs as one of the writings of Aristotle.

Al-Qifti, the biographer, says that “al-Kindi translated many philosophical books, clarified their difficulties, and summarized their deep theories.”[^2] In Baghdad he was connected with al-Ma'mun, al-Mu'tasim, and the latter's son Ahmad.