STUDIES IN ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY GENERAL EDITOR: S. NOMANUL HAQ THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS OF AL-KINDI PETER ADAMSON PETER E. PORMANNStudies in Islamic Philosophy General Editor: S. Nomanul Haq THE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS OF AL-KINDI PETER ADAMSON and PETER E. PORMANN OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESSOXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS Oxford University Press is a department of the University of Oxford. It furthers the University’s objective of excellence in research, scholarship, and education by publishing worldwide. Oxford is a registered trade mark of (Oxford University Press in the UK and in certain other countries Published in Pakistan by Ameena Saiyid, Oxford University Press No.38, Sector 15, Korangi Industrial Area, PO Box 8214, Karachi-74900, Pakistan © Oxford University Press 2012 ‘The moral rights of the author have been asserted First Edition published in 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted. in any form ot by any means, without the prior permission in writing of Oxford University Press, or as expressly permitted by law, by licence, or under terms agreed with the appropriate reprographics rights organization. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside the scope of the above should be sent to the Rights Department, Oxford University Press, at the address above You must not circulate this work in any other form and you must impose this same condition on any acquirer ISBN 978-0-19-906280-5 ‘Second Impression 2015 Printed on 80gsm Local Offset paper Printed by The Times Press Pvt. Ltd., KarachiTHE PHILOSOPHICAL WORKS OF AL-KINDI To Charles Burnett and Fritz Zimmermann, Two Great WarburgiansStudies in Islamic Philosophy General Editor S. NOMANUL HAQ, Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) Editorial Advisory Committee MICHAEL COOK, Princeton University EVERETT ROWSON, New York University ROBERT WISNOVSKY, McGill UniversityCONTENTS Foreword by the General Editor Preface Notes on Abbreviations, Usage, Transliteration Introduction Biography and Bibliographical Reports Section One: God and Eternity - On First Philosophy - Three Texts against the Infinity of the World - On the True Agent - Against the Trinity Section Two: The Soul and the Mind - On the Intellect - On Recollection - That There Are Incorporeal Substances - Discourse on the Soul - A Concise and Brief Statement About the Soul - On the Quiddity of Sleep and Dreams = Two Texts on Colour Section Three: The Cosmos = On the Proximate, Agent Cause of Generation and Corruption ~The Prostration of the Outermost Body — On the Nature of the Celestial Sphere - On Why the Ancients Related the Five Geometric Shapes to the Elements - Why the Higher Atmosphere is Cold - On Rays Section Four: Ethics - On Dispelling Sorrows ~ The Sayings of Socrates Section Five: Systematising Philosophy - On the Quantity of Aristotle’s Books - On the Definitions and Descriptions of Things - On the Five Essences - Three Fragments Bibliography Index ix xvii xix 58 73 76 93 99 107 1 19 122 134 153 173 187 194 206 217 245 267 279 297 312 322 339 351FOREWORD BY THE GENERAL EDITOR For no less than a decade we have waited rather anxiously for this welcome volume on al-Kindi, the monumental “Philosopher of the Arabs.” And now that it is in our hands all our anxieties seem well worth it. Here we have for the first time in the history of modern scholarship the whole range of al-Kindi’s philosophical ceuvre appearing in an idiomatic English translation, all collected under a single cover. Indeed, while it ought to be recognized that most of the texts thus rendered have been translated into English or other contemporary languages before, all translations in this volume are altogether new; they could therefore draw nourishment from the fresh research that has been done in the meantime. This is particularly so since the translators, established researchers in their own right, have worked under the inspired scholarship of two leading experts of medieval philosophical transmission, Charles Burnett and Fritz Zimmermann. And more, the translations are lucid, flowing, and elegant, and therefore highly accessible and engaging. In view of all this, it is hardly an exaggeration to say that this work of Peter Adamson and Peter E. Pormann—the fruit of a protracted collaborative process of consultations, revisions, and reflections—marks an important event in the scholarly world of the history of philosophy. The work is particularly valuable for those of us who are involved in teaching or presenting Arabo-Islamic philosophy to an audience not trained in classical Arabic, something Arabists are having to face more and more these days. But even for the Arabist this book promises to serve as a cherished resource due to its elucidations and explications, frequently resolving al-Kindi’s technical terminology into its primitive elements. Thus the translations also constitute a kind of ta’wil that operates as a very useful aid in making sense of the incipient Arabic recasting of the multi-stream and complex Greek philosophical legacy. At the same time, the authors have written an extensive general introduction that stands out for its jargon-free clarity, coherence, and scope. They have also compiled an updated bio-bibliography of al-Kindi,FOREWORD BY THE GENERAL EDITOR vii identified all modern editions and earlier translations of the philosophical texts here translated de novo, and provided brief but comprehensive introductory notes to each of these texts. One of the chief virtues of this work is that it manages to integrate al-Kindi into the wider context of the history of philosophy, the history of a specific discipline, that is, whose vicissitudes embody a linkage and continuity between three grand cultural domains—Hellenistic, Arabo-Islamic, and Latin. In other words, the operative milieu for Adamson and Pormann is effectively the milieu of world culture. We recall that just as there exist many Greek texts which have survived only in Arabic, there happen to be writings of al-Kindi, too, and this is not the sole case, that have not been preserved in their original Arabic, but only in Latin. The Hellenized Arab philosopher al-Kindi, then, cannot be fully reconstructed in isolation from the Latin West; nor can Europe’s story of its intellectual history be complete without recourse to the Arabic legacy, or rather to the Graeco-Arabic legacy in which al- Kindi looms large. Our two authors explain with eloquent simplicity the grounds for the claim that their sage does loom large in the Graeco-Arabic legacy. Unlike Greek philosophy, Adamson and Pormann write in their introduction, Arabic philosophy was born in broad daylight. Here al-Kindi marks “the exciting beginning of a tradition that revolutionized thinking not only in the Arab and Muslim world, but also the Latin West, Renaissance Europe, and beyond” (p. xxii are also reminded by the pair of translators that al-Kindi played a central role in the Graeco-Arabic translation movement of the ninth century—that sustained activity whose importance in world intellectual history can hardly be overemphasized. An authority such as Dimitri Gutas, for example, exhorts us to inscribe this translation movement in our historical consciousness as an event comparable in significance to Pericles’ Athens, the Italian Renaissance, and the Scientific Revolution. To the al-Kindi circle of translators we owe the famous so-called Theology of Aristotle, a paraphrastic Arabic translation of books iv-vi of the Enneads of Plotinus (d. 270) in his student Porphyry’s (d. c.305) arbitrary arrangement. This falsely attributed text is of decisive importance in Arabo-Islamic philosophy and the creative and assimilative manner in which it was put into Arabic dress is explained very nicely by Adamson and Pormann. Here they provide us ampleviii FOREWORD BY THE GENERAL EDITOR evidence that the Greek text cannot be recovered by a back translation from the Arabic; this is, to be sure, generally the case with the Greek into Arabic translations, and here is an instance grounded upon unchallengeable evidence. I must thank the two authors for their painstaking effort all these years. And, as always, I remain grateful to my three colleagues— Michael Cook of Princeton, Everett Rowson of New York University, and Robert Wisnovsky of McGill—who sit on the Editorial Committee, and without whose support and advice this series could have hardly moved forward. Ghousia Ghofran Ali of Oxford University Press ought to be recognized for her graceful patience and uncompromising professionalism, Finally, the world of scholarship would join me in the sense of gratitude that I must express to Ameena Saiyid, OBE. She understands in its fullness the fact that the publishing house she so ably leads is indeed a university press, and must promote theoretical scholarship. Syed Nomanul Haq Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) February, 2012PREFACE In the beginning, there was al-Kindi. As the first author in the Islamic world to engage in philosophy, he laid the foundation for generations of thinkers to come. His age offered many opportunities: born at the beginning of the ninth century ap into the aristocracy of Iraq, he enjoyed the patronage of the ‘Abbasid caliphal court at the height of its intellectual ambition. The caliphs and other patrons of this period are justly celebrated for sponsoring a massive translation movement that rendered Greek works of philosophy and science into Arabic. During this Renaissance of Hellenic learning in a new, Islamic context, al-Kindi counts as one of the leading Renaissance men. He made himself indispensable to his powerful masters by co-ordinating and correcting the efforts of (mostly Christian) colleagues who produced the translations. In his own independent writings, he explored and built upon the ideas that emerged from those translations. Like Michelangelo fashioning sculptures inspired by just-discovered classical artworks, al-Kindi reacted to the new philosophical corpus in Arabic as he helped to compile it. Al-Kindi’s great curiosity led him to many subjects, but he is rightly known as the ‘philosopher of the Arabs’ for his works in this area. In his writings, he explored themes ranging from the eternity of the world and divine providence to the structure of the universe, the human soul, and the good life. The philosophical fruits of his labours, insofar as they have survived, are here translated into English—many appearing in this language for the first time. Al-Kindi thus becomes easily accessible, not only because his writings are rendered into idiomatic English, but also because they are elucidated in a variety of ways. The reader will find here an introduction to al-Kindi’s life and contribution to philosophy. Moreover, all the individual chapters have introductory sections that prepare the reader for the subsequent arguments, and explain the salient features of al-Kindi’s thought. As this thought is at times complex and even baffling to the uninitiated, we have provided a relatively large amount of this supportive material.a PREFACE Finally, the index will provide a quick guide to the key subjects with which al-Kindi grappled throughout his philosophical endeavours. We have cast a fairly wide net, so to speak, when selecting the works to be included here. A few works by al-Kindi, however, do not appear here despite having some relevance for his philosophy. For instance, we have translated only one of his numerous works on meteorology—the one with the most overtly philosophical content— and passed over his mathematical, medical, musical, astrological and optical works entirely. Still, the volume does what its title promises: read it, and you will have read what survives of al-Kindi’s philosophy. shee This volume results from an encounter at the Warburg Institute in 2001, more than a decade ago. Fritz Zimmermann and Charles Burnett, to whom we dedicate this volume in profound gratitude, had been organising an Arabic reading class there for many years. When Peter Adamson (PA) came to the Philosophy Department at King’s College London, he joined this reading class. At that time, Peter E. Pormann (PEP) was replacing Philip J. van der Eijk in Newcastle, but spent long weekends in London for personal reasons; on most Fridays, he went to the Warburg, and took part in this famous Arabic reading class. Very soon, PA and PEP decided that they would like to work jointly on an Arabic text. PA had just turned his PhD thesis into a book; it dealt with the so-called Theology of Aristotle, a translation of Neo-Platonic material produced in al- Kindi’s circle. He therefore became more interested in al-Kindi and his own philosophical thought. PA therefore suggested to PEP that they work on this topic, and the latter was immediately enthusiastic. Much enthusiasm was indeed required to bring this project to fruition. PA had already produced some rough drafts of certain texts, and the two began to revise each others’ translations. Until 2008, the process took place largely on paper. One would send the other a draft translation which the other would revise on paper; the text thus revised would be sent back, and the corrections entered into the electronic word document. In this way, we translated, revised, and further revised each other’s work over the course of some seven years. When we looked back at our translations, however, we found that they were still of quite varying style and quality. As we matured as scholars (one might say), we became lessPREFACE xi and less comfortable with very literal translations which often hide the sense of the underlying original more than they reveal it. Therefore, we embarked on a second course of revisions, this time by exchanging and changing the electronic documents directly. In this process, it was not uncommon that the same translation would change hands three, four, or even five times. The revisions during this second wave were naturally most profound for the earliest translations that we had produced in 2001 or '02. But we went through everything again with a fairly fine comb. For us, this long and protracted process of revision brought a two-fold benefit. The first advantage, we hope, is the improvement of our translations that we suppressed ‘until the ninth year’, to speak with Horace. The second is that we have both learned a great deal in the process. We come, by inclination and training, from quite different backgrounds. PA is a philosopher, with expertise in the history of ancient philosophy and its further developments in the Arabic tradition. PEP is a medical historian with strong interests in the history and philosophy of science; but he also went through a rigorous philological training in Classics and Arabic (the latter under the strict eye of his esteemed teacher Manfred Ullmann). As we were revising each other’s translations, we found that our weaknesses were not only complemented by each other’s strengths, but also mitigated by what we were able to learn from each other. Although the translations presented here went through numerous revisions, we are still acutely aware of their shortcomings and idiosyncrasies, Undoubtedly, attentive readers will find inconsisten- cies (that they may, perhaps, excuse in view of the genesis of this work). Not all such ‘inconsistencies’, however, result from error or inadvertence. For we contend that it would often be wrong to render the same Arabic word with the same English one in all, or even most, cases. For instance, where in good and idiomatic Arabic, an author may introduce quotation after quotation with qala (‘he said’), translating it by strings of ‘he said’ would be tedious in English. More importantly, it would also convey the wrong impression about al-Kindi’s style. To be sure, at times his repetitions and formulaic arguments seemed laborious even to his contemporaries, as we know from various parodies. But on occasion, we can discern a real effort on his part to render his prose melodious. This is certainly the case in the highly rhetorical opening and concluding paragraphs of his epistles, but these tendencies also show up elsewhere in hisxii PREFACE, writing, sometimes quite unexpectedly. We therefore endeavoured to render al-Kindi’s prose into real, idiomatic, modern English, whilst trying to preserve the specific style of al-Kindi’s prose. Given that al-Kindi is the first, and certainly one of the most important Arab and Muslim philosophers, it is astounding that no one before us has tried to provide an easily accessible translation of his philosophical works into English. This said, most of the individual texts collected and translated here had been rendered before into various European languages, among them English. Where such versions existed, we always consulted them; we therefore owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to previous scholars that we are eager to acknowledge here. Likewise, we consulted the secondary scholar- ship about al-Kindi’s ceuvre. At the end of the introductory sections, we record the editions, translations, and studies that we used. Yet, in all cases, the translations included here are our own, and often depart from previous interpretations. We are indebted not only to previous scholarship, but also to many friends, colleagues, and institutions. PA was able to devote time to the translation project, and to his earlier monograph on al-Kindi, thanks to the generosity of the Leverhulme Trust. More recently he was able to take sabbatical time with the support of the School of Advanced Study, and some of this time was devoted to these translations. More generally, the stimulating environment at King’s—both in the philosophy department and the Ancient Commentators Project—and London generally has been a constant inspiration for PA’s research. When PEP began to work on al-Kindi’s philosophical works, he benefited from a congenial environment at Newcastle’s Classics department where he taught not only Greek language and literature, but also philosophy and history of medicine. He then moved to Merton College, Oxford, where he spent three happy years (2001-4), and later joined the Warburg Institute as a Frances Yates research fellow (2004-6). In 2006, he took up his post as a Wellcome Trust University Award holder in the department of Classics and Ancient History at Warwick, and still continues to enjoy the generosity of the Trust. As al-Kindi was not only a philosopher, but also a medical man, PEP hopes that the Trust will not view this work with an unfavourable eye; in any case, it was mostly carried out in his spare time. Without the support of these institutions, we would not have been able to work on this project, but we are equally grateful to a large number of individuals.PREFACE, xiii Our greatest debt of thanks is due to Charles Burnett and Fritz Zimmermann. These two scholars embody the best traditions of the Warburg Institute: profound and meticulous scholarship coupled with great humanity and generosity of spirit. These giants never failed to lend a helping hand to young scholars at the beginning of their career, as we were when starting to work on al-Kindi. We often consulted them about individual points of interpretation, and they readily helped us with their advice. It is with great pleasure and gratitude that we dedicate this volume to them. Other friends and colleagues lent their support in various ways. They are too many to name here, but it would be remiss not to mention at least Anna A. Akasoy, David Burrell, Cristina D’Ancona, Philip J. van der Eijk, Gerhard Endress, Dimitri Gutas, Rotraud Hansberger, Dag N. Hasse, Verity Harte, Pauline Koetschet, Inna Kupreeva, MM McCabe, Marwan Rashed, Richard Sorabji, Tony Street, Richard C. Taylor, Manfred Ullmann, Uwe Vagelpohl, Maude Vanhaelen, Elvira Wakelnig, and Raphael Woolf. We are greatly indebted to John McGinnis and Hans Hinrich Biesterfeldt, the external readers, for their numerous comments and corrections. Hinrich Biesterfeldt in particular went above and beyond the call of duty: he read the entire manuscript carefully, and compared it to the Arabic source text, thus saving us from many errors and omissions. For their patience with this long-awaited volume, we would like to thank Nomanul Haq and Oxford University Press. Manal Shakir and Shahla Naqvi, our desk editors at OUP, saw the book through a complicated production process; and Aileen Das compiled the index. We are grateful to them for their excellent work. And we also thank those whose forbearance was tested on a more daily basis: our wives Ursula and Zakia. PA, London, Straubing PEP, HamburgNOTES ON ABBREVIATIONS, USAGE, TRANSLITERATION Our guiding principle in compiling this volume has been ease of use and accessibility. If you come to the subject of Arabic philosophy for the first time, you could read the general introductions, and then, according to your inclinations, choose the chapters on a topic that interests you. There you will find an introductory section, explaining the main issue and general argument. The notes to the translation will explain points of detail, or justify our reading of the text; they also contain further references to scholarly discussion. For a first impression of al-Kindi’s thought, however, they are unnecessary. Now a few technical points regarding the scholarly apparatus. AR refers to "Abii Rida 1950-53, and RJ to Rashed and Jolivet 1998; these are the two fundamental editions of al-Kindi’s philosophical works, Other abbreviations that only occur in a single text are explained in the relevant introductory section; for instance, GW refers to Guidi and Walzer 1940, but is only used in On Dispelling Sorrows. In the margins of the translations here produced, we give references to the page numbers of these editions. The bibliography at the end lists primary sources under their editors and translators; for instance, ‘tr. Armstrong 1966-88, iv. 59’ refers to Armstrong's translation of Plotinus’ works, volume four, page 59; a full biblio- graphical record for this translation can be found in the bibliography under ‘Armstrong...(1966-88)’. We have added section and paragraph numbers to the texts included here. Sections are designated by capital Roman numbers (1, II, III etc.), and paragraph numbers by Arabic numbers (1, 2, 3 etc.). Only the longer texts are divided into sections. Therefore, §1 or §§2-5 refers to paragraph one and paragraphs two to five, respectively, in a shorter work; and §X1.2 or §§VII.3-4 to section nine, paragraph two, and section seven, paragraphs three to four, respectively, in a longer work. In the notes to the translations we use short titles of Kindian works for cross-referencing, e.g. First Phil. for on First Philosophy.xvi NOTES ON ABBREVIATIONS, USAGE, TRANSLITERATION All dates, unless otherwise stated, refer to the Christian calendar (40), also known as Common Era (ce). The Arabic is transliterated as follows: vy both eb ge hog d; 3 2 HS Bes PR wo HF & ’ pes & fi é db ¢ mo wy 3, & gy, tdiphthongs: ay, aw; nisbINTRODUCTION Al-Kindi was born into one of the most vibrant periods of human history, the heyday of the ‘Abbasid age. The ‘Abbasids had seized power in the 750s from the Umayyads, who had reigned in their capital Damascus from 661 to 750. Although the ‘Abbasid caliphs hailed from excellent Arab stock, they had assembled a large number of supporters in the East, notably non-Arabs and also some non-Muslims.’ The ‘Abbasids founded a new capital, the ‘City of Peace (Madinat as-Salam)’, better known today as Baghdad. Although they moved their centre of power from a Greek-speaking to a Persian- and Aramaic-speaking environment, they pursued an extremely philhellenic cultural and scientific policy. They partly justified this stance with a mythical story. When Alexander the Great conquered the Achaemenid Empire, he stole Persian wisdom, had it translated into Greek, and stored it in the library of Alexandria. Therefore, when the ‘Abbasids sponsored the translation of Greek thought into Arabic, they merely reclaimed their own lost heritage. The newly founded capital Baghdad quickly expanded and probably grew into the largest metropolis on earth in al-Kindi’s lifetime, boasting perhaps as many as one million inhabitants at a time when in most European cities there lived fewer than one hundred thousand inhabitants.’ Baghdad became a melting pot of different cultures, languages, and religions: if you could make it there, you could make it anywhere, to misquote Sinatra. The buzz of this city also attracted al-Kindi from his native Basra on the Persian Gulf. He would have encountered there in the 810s and ’20s a vibrant intellectual scene that enjoyed great sponsorship from the “Abbasid elite. The court became a centre not only of imperial power and politics, but also of intellectual debate. The so-called majlis figured prominently in the ‘Abbasid court culture. Majlis literally means ‘place where one sits down’, and the caliph and his entourage regularly organised sessions where he and his boon companions would invite the intellectual and cultural elite to discuss the prominent topics of the day. Religious controversiesxviii INTRODUCTION such as the Christian doctrine of the trinity, for instance, could be debated, with different exponents arguing for and against the merits of such an idea. At times, medical matters would attract the attention of the court, especially if important courtiers or the caliph himself fell ill. Last, but not least, scientific and philosophical points of debates stirred the curiosity of the nobility, and could, at times, lead to violent disagreements. The atmosphere at court can best be illustrated through one of the many anecdotes that later sources report. The most famous translator of the ‘Abbasid age, Hunayn ibn “Ishaq (d. c. 876) was allegedly tricked by one of his rivals at court, the physician Bubtiga° ibn Gibril (d. 870). Buhti8a‘ brought a wonderful icon before the caliph al-Mutawakkil (reg. 847-61), and the caliph admired and respected it greatly. Buhti8i‘ then alleged that Hunayn was a freethinking heretic who did not respect such holy things as icons. Hunayn was summoned by the caliph. Before he got there, however, Buhti8i‘ falsely advised Hunayn to show contempt for the icon, insinuating that the caliph did not condone the worship of idols, such as icons. Hunayn then displayed his disrespect for the icon by spitting on it. This angered the caliph who had him thrown into jail, and nearly executed. Hunayn lingered there for six months. Then the caliph fell ill, and during the night, Jesus Christ appeared to him in a dream. Jesus told the caliph that he had forgiven Hunayn his sins, and that the caliph should release Hunayn from jail to treat him. When Hunayn did so successfully, the caliph reinstated Hunayn with even greater power than before. We should state at the outset that this anecdote, reported by the medical historian Ibn ’Abi ’Usaybi‘a (d. 1270), is of doubtful historicity.» But the atmosphere that it illustrates undoubtedly reflects the intrigues and competition for patronage that existed at court in the mid-ninth century. In this case, different doctors vie for the position of personal physician to the caliph that entails not only considerable prestige, but also immense material rewards. Prominent power-brokers such as the Banii Misa, the three sons of a famous highwayman turned plutocrat, sponsored many scientific and cultural endeavours, not least many translations from Greek and Syriac into Arabic. Al-Kindi’s was also the age when most medical practitioners were still Christians or Jews. The famous litterateur al-Gahiz could make fun of a Muslim miserly physician who complained that potential patients expected him to dress andINTRODUCTION xix speak like the inhabitants of GondéSapir, a city in south-western Iran then famous for its Christian medics, among them the Buhti3i* family.* For a vivid example of the way intellectuals were integrated into the political elite—and the dangers that such integration could involve—we might consider also the case of al-Kindi’s protégé as- Sarahsi (d. 899). Although as-Sarahsi’s philosophical output is largely lost, we know that the titles of his works often duplicated those of al-Kindi’s, and their contents most likely did as well. But the parallels do not end here: just as al-Kindi served as the tutor to Ahmad, son of the caliph al-Mu‘tasim (reg. 833-42), so as-Sarahsi taught the son of the later caliph al-Mu‘tadid (reg. 892-902). For as-Sarahsi, this association with the court had an unfortunate end. Although an erstwhile boon companion of the caliph, as-Sarahsi fell from grace in 896: he was imprisoned and beaten, and eventually executed.’ As we will see, al-Kindi, too, was harshly treated by the caliph al-Mutawakkil in a court intrigue. Beyond the fates and fortunes of these elite figures, the ninth century witnessed a great amount of wider social, political, and religious disagreement and unrest. Certain groups within society strove to reassert their identity, as, for instance, in the Su‘abiya movement. The movement, made up of non-Arabs and especially Persians, demanded equality with their Arab overlords, and gave rise to an eventual rebirth of the Persian language in Arabic letters. Owing to political and military tensions, the caliph al-Mu‘tasim (reg. 833-42) abandoned Baghdad as his capital and settled some 125 kilometres to the north in the city of Samarra’; its official name became ‘Surra man ra’a (He who saw [it] rejoiced)’. Yet, although the administration remained in Samarra’ for the next sixty years (until 892), Baghdad remained the cultural and intellectual centre. On the religious front, various factions debated topics ranging from the createdness of the Qur’an to the attributes of God, and human free will.6 The caliph al-Ma’miin (reg. 811-33) sided with the Mu'tazila, a rationalist group of theologians. In 833, shortly before his untimely death, he even declared their doctrine that the Qur’an. was created as official, and instituted an ‘inquisition (mihna)’ to make sure that the major clerics and theologians in his empire adhered to this and other doctrines.’ It was in these exhilarating and exciting times that al-Kindi grew up.xx INTRODUCTION The Man In four of mine four of yours are sweet, But I do not know which one causes me agony. Is it your face in my eye, your taste in my mouth, Your words in my ear, or the love in my heart? Love verses attributed to al-Kindi* Compared with the pre-Socratics, we know a lot about al-Kindi, or so it would appear. His elder contemporary al-Gahiz (776-868), the most prominent prose author of the ‘Abbasid age, devoted a chapter to him in his Book of Misers, and he has entries in many of the so-called bio-bibliographical dictionaries, beginning in the late tenth century with Ibn an-Nadim’s Catalogue (Kitab al-Fihrist). But just like the episode reported by Ibn Abi Usaybi‘a about Hunayn and the icon, a lot of the information that we have about al-Kindi is of doubtful historicity.” The second major source for al-Kindi’s life is obviously his considerable ceuvre. These two types of sources—the external evidence in writings about him, and the internal evidence in the works by him—allow us to give a brief sketch about his life, in which a few facts escape all possible doubt. Al-Kindi hailed from a famous Arab family that traced its ori not only to the Companions of the Prophet, but to no less a personage than the mystical Qahtan, the ancestor of the South Arabian people. His Arab credentials were therefore impeccable. Al-Kindi was probably born in Basra, the original centre of the Mu‘tazila. Yet he must have found his way fairly quickly to Baghdad where he rose to prominence at the courts of the caliphs. He dedicated a number of his epistles to high-ranking members of the court, not least his most important philosophical work On First Philosophy to the caliph al-Mu‘tasim. As al-Mu‘tasim moved his court to Samarra’, it is likely that al-Kindi spent some time there. The long list of al-Kindi’s works, more than three hundred items, shows that he took an interest in nearly everything. He wrote not only on philosophy, medicine, mathematics, and astrology, but also music, zoology, geology, swordsmanship, perfume-making, sexual hygiene, and theology, to name but a few topics. Moreover, he took an active interest in translating works from Greek into Arabic. He probably did not know much Greek himself, but rather relied on others to produce useful Arabic versions; more on this below.INTRODUCTION xxi The verses quoted at the beginning of this section, if they are really by al-Kindi, may illustrate a prominent feature of his character: his fondness for numbers and divisions. He appears to have rationalised even the most human and most intimate feeling of love. The person who quotes these verses rightly exclaimed: ‘By God, he even divides philosophically’ in poetry and matters of the heart. Al-Gahiz portrays al-Kindi also as having a great fondness for numbers, especially when they relate to money. In his Book of Misers, a parody of greedy behaviour, al-Kindi appears as a landlord eager to squeeze every penny out of his tenants. Once, the head of a family of six who rented from al-Kindi mentioned that two guests would be staying with him for a month. Al-Kindi promptly increased the rent by thirty-three per cent (or two sixths, for the additional ‘tenants’). The head of the family asked al-Kindi about the reason for the increase; after all, his guests would occupy the same space. Al-Kindi retorts by writing a long epistle, in which he demonstrates by various means that the increase is justified (additional water usage; waste production, and so on). In conclusion, he says: We have shown to you that temporary guests should be treated in the same way as tenants, and that each visitor has to bear part of the expense. Al-Gahiz also relates al-Kindi’s advice on how to resist the temptation of buying fruit early in the season when it is still very expensive. He discusses the state of the soul, saying that it is prone to temptation and novelty:!? Things that have freshly arrived bring sweetness and joy, and new things happiness and desire. When you resist it [the soul], it will retreat (irtaddat); and when you hold it back, it will be restricted (irtada‘at). Both these anecdotes reflect aspects of al-Kindi’s writing. In the long letter, he proves a minor point in many different ways; and in his discussion of the buying of fruit, he gives advice about how to counter the affections of the soul. Previous scholars have argued about the question whether or not al-Gahiz’s Kindi is the same as the philosopher of the Arabs, that is, the author of the present philosophical works. But this questionxxii INTRODUCTION rather misses the point: al-Gahiz’s Book of Misers is a work of ’Adab, of carefully constructed prose literature, aiming more to entertain than to inform. Al-Gahiz undoubtedly had our al-Kindi in mind when he wrote his parody of the miserly landlord who writes long epistles about why it is meet to charge for guests, and gives advice on how to avoid the temptation of buying fruits early in the season. Yet, this account should not be taken at face value, nor as a true representation of al-Kindi’s behaviour and character. It is certainly a fictitious account, but one that may well contain a grain of truth. More importantly, al-Kindi appears to have been notorious enough to merit the witty sarcasm of the most prominent author of Arabic prose. We find other interesting anecdotes about al-Kindi in later literature. One is the canal episode that also features two promi- nent courtiers, Muhammad and Ahmad, two of the three Bani Misa. It is a story of rivalry and envy, and vying for influence that resembles in some respects that related above about Hunayn. The caliph al-Mutawakkil (reg. 847-61) commissions the two Bani Missa to build a canal. But rather than doing the job themselves, they entrust the task to a sub-contractor. The latter commits a serious error in the construction of the canal. Previously, the two brothers had developed an enmity against al-Kindi, as the latter used astrology to predict the future. They even managed to get al-Kindi beaten (and probably also jailed). This allowed them to purloin his extensive library. But now, al-Mutawakkil hears of the problems with the canal project, and gets very angry about the great expense and insufficient progress. He sends out one Sind ibn “ali to inspect the construction. When he comes, the two Bani Miisa beg Sind not to report the truth about the canal project. Sind, however, is so appalled by how the Bani Miisa treated al- Kindi that he refuses to help them unless they restore al-Kindi’s library to him. They comply. Sind then agrees to conceal the real extent of the problems, but warns them that in two months’ time the floods will recede and the truth will then come out. But, he adds, the astrologers predict that al-Mutawakkil will die very soon. If they are right, the Bani Misa will live, otherwise, they shall perish. Like al-Gahiz’s portrayal of al-Kindi, or Ibn Abi *Usaybi‘a’s report about Hunayn, this anecdote is carefully constructed, The Banii Miisa reject astrology at the beginning of