Al-Kindi
Islamic · Middle East · 801 to 873
Baghdad scholar often called the first philosopher of the Arabic world, who worked to make Greek thought at home in Islamic learning.
What it is
Al-Kindi lived in ninth-century Baghdad, around 800 to 870 CE, and is regarded as the first philosopher of the Arabic tradition. He worked with a circle of translators who put works of Aristotle, the Neoplatonists and Greek mathematicians into Arabic, and wrote his own short treatises, many addressed to members of the ruling family.
His thought was shaped by Neoplatonism, though Aristotle was his main authority. He also wrote on mathematics, medicine, optics and music, and was known for his writings on astrology. He set many of the questions that later Arabic philosophers took up, including how reason and revealed religion fit together.
The main ideas
- The world was created. In On First Philosophy he argued that the world is not eternal, and that God is the one, simple source of everything.
- Philosophy and revelation. He tried to show that philosophy is compatible with Islamic teaching, and so started the debate over whether philosophy has a place in Islamic theology.
- The intellect. He wrote on the intellect and the soul, including a short work On the Intellect that later thinkers read closely.
- Translation as a project. He gathered and edited Arabic versions of Greek works, so that his readers had Aristotle and Plotinus in their own language.
What it looks like in practice
Picture someone from a devout family who is also curious about science and logic, and who wonders whether the two can be held together. Al-Kindi's answer was that reason and revelation can agree, and that the study of the world is a way of knowing God. This is an illustration of the idea, not a saying of Al-Kindi.
Books and moments
- On First Philosophy is his best-known work, arguing that the world had a beginning and that God is one.
- On the Intellect is a short treatise on mind that influenced later thinkers.
- His letters to the caliph's family were short epistles that made philosophy available to a ruling circle.
Questions and criticism
- Did he really begin a tradition? He is called the first Arab philosopher, but much of his thought depends on the Greek works he had translated.
- Can reason prove that the world began? His argument against an eternal world has been admired and criticised, and later philosophers divided on it.
- Is philosophy compatible with revelation? His answer was yes, and later thinkers such as Al-Ghazali pushed back.
Close neighbours
Avicenna and Averroes followed the path he began, and Al-Farabi worked in the same tradition. The pages on Ibn Sina, Averroes and Al-Farabi show how.
Written by epchē in our own words, and checked against independent sources on 9 October 2026. The sources are listed below.
Who they connect to
Influenced
- Al-Farabi · Al-Farabi reworked al-Kindi's scheme of the kinds of intellect. (scholars disagree about this link)
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) · Avicenna inherited the Arabic philosophical vocabulary that al-Kindi helped to set.
Influenced by
- Plotinus · A paraphrase of Plotinus circulated in Arabic as the Theology of Aristotle in al-Kindi's circle.
Other Islamic thinkers
- Al-Razi · 865 to 925
- Al-Farabi · 872 to 950
- Ibn Miskawayh · 932 to 1030
- Ibn Sina (Avicenna) · 980 to 1037
- Al-Ghazali · 1058 to 1111
- Ibn Tufayl · 1105 to 1185
- Averroes (Ibn Rushd) · 1126 to 1198
- Suhrawardi · 1154 to 1191
- Ibn Arabi · 1165 to 1240
- Nasir al-Din al-Tusi · 1201 to 1274