Short Biography Of Abu Yusuf Al – Kindi Essays Example

Al-Kindi was born in Basra, located on the Shatt al-Arab river which is between Iran and Kuwait. He was raised up in Kufa, which is one of the cities in Iraq. He died in Baghdad where he had worked for a while, translating Greek scientific manuscripts (Adamson 3). He was a Muslim philosopher who adapted and promoted the Greek philosophy. Apart from being a philosopher, Al-kindi was also a mathematician and a scientist who did great works in these areas.
The central theme in his philosophy was the compatibility between Islam and philosophy. He also believed that revelations guarantee matters of faith which reason alone can’t discover. That made him feels that a revelation is superior to reason. He stated that the excellent source of knowledge is revelation. In his philosophies, he dealt with the topic of Metaphysics and Epistemology. Al-Kindi said that the goal of Metaphysics is having a better knowledge of God. This was when he claimed that philosophy and theology have no distinction because they are concerned with the same subject. In metaphysics, he made the oneness of God the primary theme. He also acknowledged God as Creator, who created the world from nothing hence the world isn’t eternal.
In Epistemology, he talks about the first intellect which is a distinct, intangible and universal understanding. The first intellect is of God’s creation and through it other things were created. He claims that the soul is an immaterial substance operating through a physical body. He continuously believed that prophecy is more comprehensive clearer than philosophy because it is divine. Lastly, he said that actual words are the cause of understanding in our minds, and they are the causes of construction and usage of language.

Work Cited

al-Qadi, Wadad. "An Umayyad Papyrus in Al-Kindi's Kitab Al-Qudat?" Der Islam 84.2 (2007): 200-45