Ya'qub ibn Ishaq as-Sabah al-Kindi

Arab philosopher and scientist, d. c. 870.

Details about al-Kindi's early life are sketchy. He was a member of the Kindah tribe, which had risen to prominence in the 5th and 6th centuries and provided many men of prominent positions. According to some sources his father was governor of Kufah, a centre of Arab culture and learning.

After moving to Baghdad to further his studies, al-Kindi's outstanding scholarship brought him to the attention of caliph al-Ma'mun, who appointed him to his "House of Wisdom" as a translator of manuscript on philosophy and science.

Being of Arab descent, al-Kindi was not fluent in Greek. His role was to polish the translations of others. As a result he came to know nearly the entire Greek and a substantial amount of the Indian literature. Being of brilliant intellect he soon surpassed what he had to translate, wrote his own philosophical and scientific works and came to be known as "the philosopher of the Arabs.".

For al-Kindi philosophy was synonymous to enquiry into nature. Following Plato and Aristotle he wrote on logic, philosophy, geometry, mathematics, medicine, music and astrology and produced original results in all areas. His works on arithmetic include manuscripts on Indian numbers, the harmony of numbers, measuring proportion and time and much more. His independent attitude to the classical works can be seen in the introduction to one of his works, where he says:

"It is good ... that we endeavour in this book, as is our habit in all subjects, to recall that concerning which the Ancients have said everything in the past, that is the easiest and shortest to adopt for those who follow them, and to go further in those areas where they have not said everything ..."

Al-Kindi did not refrain from "going further" where he was dissatisfied with explanations offered by "the Ancients." He criticised for example the Greek writer Anthemius' description of how a mirror was used to set a ship on fire during a battle:

"Anthemius should not have accepted information without proof ... He tells us how to construct a mirror from which twenty-four rays are reflected on a single point, without showing how to establish the point where the rays unite at a given distance from the middle of the mirror's surface. We, on the other hand, have described this with as much evidence as our ability permits, furnishing what was missing, for he has not mentioned a definite distance. "

Al-Kindi spent much work on philosophical terminology and developed a vocabulary for philosophical thought in Arabic. His work Fi Hudud al-AshyaÕ Wa-Rusumiha ("On the Definitions of Things and their Descriptions"), in which he defines terms such as finitude, creation, the first cause and others, show the conflict between a philosophy that is independent from religion as it developed in Greece and philosophy in an Islamic context. Al-Kindi's position was clear in that respect:

"We ought not to be embarrassed of appreciating the truth and of obtaining it wherever it comes from, even if it comes from races distant and nations different from us. Nothing should be dearer to the seeker of truth than the truth itself, and there is no deterioration of the truth, nor belittling either of one who speaks it or conveys it."

But Al-Kindi departed from Greek philosophy to accommodate the idea of God the creator of the Universe. Aristotle postulated a Prime Mover who set the world in motion, but in his system matter existed before it was set in motion (and therefore before time). For Aristotle time begins with movement. In al-KindiÕs system the world was created; matter, time and movement all had a beginning and will come to an end at some point in the future.

During al-Ma'mun's reign al-Kindi received much praise for his work. Later caliphs were less inclined to allow a philosophy detached from Islamic theology. Some reports say that other members of the "House of Wisdom" took advantage of this, denounced al-Kindi and had his library transferred to them.

Al-Kindi's contributions to medicine dealt with the correct dosage of drugs, ophthalmology, proper use of chemistry and the errors of alchemy. One of the biggest hospitals in present-day Baghdad is named after him.

Al-Kindi's works are contained in over 270 treatises, of which 32 are on geometry, 22 on medicine, 22 on philosophy, 9 on logic and 12 on physics. A list of his major works includes

• Fi al-falsafa al-ula (On First Philosophy)
• Risalah fi al-hilah li-daf' al-ahzan (On the Art of Averting Sorrows)
• Fi hudud al-ashya' wa-rusumiha (On the Definitions of Things and their Descriptions)
• Fi wahdaniya allah wa tunahiy jirm al-'alam (On the Unity of God and the Limitation of the Body of the World)
• Fi kammiya kutub Aristutalis wa ma yahtaj ilahi fi tahsil al-falsafa (The Quantity of the Books of Aristotle and What is Required for the Acquisition of Philosophy)

References

Kennedy-Day, K, al-Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Ishaq
http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/kin.htm, accessed 23 December 2003.

O'Connor, J. J. and E. F. Robertson, Al-Kindi.
http://www-gap.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/~history/Mathematicians/Al-Kindi.html, accessed 23 December 2003.

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