Al-Kindi Abu Yusuf Yaqub Ibn Ishaq

 If you are in search of Al-Kindi or Abu Yusuf Yaqub Ibn Ishaq then you are in the right place. Here you can find the Biography, Educational Life, Achievements, Contributions, and Philosophy of Al-Kindi. 

1- Biography:

  • Al-Kindi was born in 801 Ad in Kufah and died in 873 Ad in Baghdad.
  • His real name was Abu Yusuf  Yaqub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi.
  • He belongs to a noble family of the Kinda. Kinda was a tribe of Yaman.
  • His father was a governor of Kufah.
  • He was a philosopher, astronomer, physician, mathematician, and geographer. He was also an expert in music.

2- Educational Life:

  • He was educated at the important intellectual center of Kufah ( in modern Iraq ) and later at Baghdad, where he attracted the attention of Caliph Al-Mamun. 
  • Al-Mamun was the seventh caliph of Islam and he was also a founder of a scientific academy named House of wisdom.
  • Al-Mamun made him a member of his scientific academy called The house of wisdom.

3- Achievements:

  • He translates Greek philosophy into Arabic.

Why Al-Kindi translates Greek philosophy into Arabic:

The reason behind this was that Arabs people did not believe in Ibn Qalam. They said that these people are not part of our religion and we never accept their knowledge.
Then Al-Kindi translate the Greek philosophy into Arabic and admonish them that I know these are not members of our religion but they had written in their books about nature and this is the same knowledge that our religion and holy books give us.
The only difference is that their knowledge comes from their research while our religion or our Holy books directly come from the first cause (God).
  •  By this method, he received the title of the first Philosopher Of  Arabs.
  • Today he might be viewed as a bridge between Greek philosophers and Islamic philosophy.
  • He was appointed together with Al-Khwarizmi and the Banu Musa brothers. The main role that  Al-Kindi and his colleagues undertook in the house of wisdom involved the translation of Greek manuscripts.
  • As a member of the house of wisdom Al-Kindi played an important role in the preservation of Hellenistic science.
Hellenistic sciences are those sciences that were prominent in the Hellenistic age.

4- Philosophy:

  • He follows in his quest the way of logicians.
It is related to how the second cause generates from the first cause and the third cause from the second one. Al-Kindi said that there is a reason behind everything and that reason is the purpose of its existence.
  • Everything has a cause for its existence.
For example, if I write one sentence like .... Wash your hands before eating...Now I am the cause of its existence it was written because of me, it is the first cause. Why it was written? It was written as a guideline. Guideline for whom? Guideline for people. 
Like this second cause generates from the first and the third cause generates from the second cause. There are infinite series of causes.
  • There is only one prime cause which is God.
  • God is an efficient cause. Nothing is eternal God alone is eternal.

4- Contributions :

He is one among a small group of Muslim scientists who made original contributions in many fields.

  • Al-Kindi was the first physician who systematically determined the dosage for many drugs.
  • He worked on sound and optics.
 He said that light is greater than sound. The speed of light is 3×10^8 m/s while the speed of sound is 330 m/s.
  • He provided the foundation for modern arithmetic.
  • He discovered a method to express musical notes in terms of different frequencies.
Frequency is the number of vibrations produced in a second. According to him, different musical notes have different frequencies depending upon the number of vibrations.
For example sound of the drum is louder than the flute because the drum has a higher frequency than the flute.
  • Al-Kindi wrote more than two hundred sixty books.
  1. Thirty-two books on geometry
  2. Medicine and philosophy twenty-two each 
  3. Nine books on logic
  4. Twelve on physics
  5. Eight books on music and so on.

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