Q. & A. 711 to 1707 with solved Papers css 1971 to date

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EMINENT SCHOLARS OF MEDIEVAL ISLAM
AI-Kindi (Philosopher of the Arab)
’Abdullah al-Ma’mun, the Caliph of Baghdad, lay restless in his royal chambers, brooding on his deep desire to have his reign remembered as a period of enlightenment, an era of unsurpassed scholars and great philosophers. He had almost completed plans for a magnificent House of Wisdom, a center of learning that would include a library, a translation bureau, and a school. It would be his monument, and all was finally in readiness for its construction. What was it, then, that disturbed him, now that his dream was about to become a reality? A nagging doubt kept him awake at night, an unanswered question prevented sleep. Was his purpose truly worthy in the eyes of God?
W*s it right to spread ideas, to stimulate new thoughts, to revive the wisdom of the ancients, the Greek philosophies? Should he encourage the use of reason and logic to examine a world created by God? God’s truth had been given to man by the revelations of the Holy Prophet (PBUH). But suppose reason and logic led elsewhere. If man could not_ prove the validity of supernatural mysteries, did that mean he disproved God? The caliph slipped into a troubled doze. As he slept, he relaxed, the tenseness of his recent nights eased by a curious dream. Aristotle, smiling reassurance, appeared to him and touched his forehead with enlightenment. ”There is no conflict,” the Greek sage murmured gently. ”Reason and rJigion are allies, not enemies.” Ma’mun awoke abruptly. His night visitor had disappeared, but the caliph felt a renewed confidence in his project

858 Political and Cultural History of Islam

and its value. He ordered construction of the learning center to begin immediately. For such a caliph, at such a time, and in such a place there could probably have been no more congenial a philosopher than Abu Yusuf Ya’qub al-Kindi.
Baghdad during the reign of al-Ma’mun was perhaps the foremost cultural center in the world.1 Each week in the palace the caliph held scholarly session for the intellectuals of Islam. There, they sat around a table, listening to one another’s views, discussing the issues of the day, and sometimes reconciling their differences. One evening, the self assured young philosopher al-Kindi strode into the meeting room, looked around him, then took a seat fairly close to the caliph. At that time, a man’s place at the table indicated his status, and al-Kindi had placed himself in a position above a prominent theologian. ”How dare you sit above me?” complained the deeply affronted man, al-Kindi shrugged. ”Because,” he replied simply.” { know what you know, and you don’t know what I know.”
Al-Kindi was the first formal philosopher of Islam and the foremost philosopher of pure Arab ancestry. A devout Muslim, he felt it was his personal mission in life to try to reconcile the bitter disputes between theologians and philosophers that recurrently plagued the Arab-Islamic world. During a lifetime devoted to this cause, he learned that the role of arbiter or peacemaker can be a thankless one. Al-Kindi defined Falsafah, an Arabic word derived from the Greek word for philosophy, as ”knowledge of things as they are in reality, according to human capacity.” Truth, he claimed, is universal and supreme, and the truths of religion and philosophy are in accord.
In an effort to placate L-iOi>e theologians who viewed the aims of philosophy as essentially opposed to the dictates of faith and revelation, al-Kindi proposed that the holy scriptures be looked upon as allegories that can guide the thoughts oi mcr- of reason. He argued that revelation was intended for all men and that it offers afiipie truth to all men in accordance with their abilities to perceive and understand. The masses, he insisted, were given the gift offs’th. The elite, the educated, were given the intellect to expand upon the words of revelation by applying logic and reason. For example, al-Kindi pointed out, the Qur’an tells the Muslims that the sun, moon, stars, mountains, trees, and beasts ”offer worship” to God. This is a true
Ziauddin Ahmad, Influence of Islam on World Civilization. P 4
Eminent Scholars of Medieval Islam
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statement and an inspiration to all the faithful. For the unsophisticated, however, the words evoke simply a poetic image of all creation bending in prayer, and for them that is enough. But, alKindi suggested, the scholar can view the universal phenomenon of worship as an obedience to the will of God. The behavior of all entities, both animate and inanimate, follows laws established by the Supreme Power.2
Al-Kindi’s tireless effort to make philosophy acceptable to the theologians eventually revitalized Islamic thought. But the difficulties he encountered along the way are reflected in the advice he offered to his students: ”For a seeker of learning aspiring to be a philosopher,” he said, ”six prerequisites are essential: a superior mind, uninterrupted passion, gracious patience, a free-from-worry heart, a comintroducer, and a long, long time. Should one of prerequisites be lacking, the student is bound to fail.” This role as court physician, al- Kindi was apparently prudent and less free of worry than he was in his true philosophical career. He advi? *d his colleagues medical profession: ”Take no risks, bearing in mind or health there is no substitute. To the extent to which physician likes to be mentioned as the restorer of a patient’s should guard against being cited as its destroyer because of his death.
The realm of science, al-Kindi did not produced much work, but he did present an embryonic concept of physics and wrote a series of astrological works. An astrologer to the caliphs, he believed science genuine, although he distinguished between true astrologers. Alchemists, however, he criticized, them with deceptive claims and vain get-rich-schemes. He was the first Arab writer to form a comprehensive and systematic classification of the sciences. His ingenuity and inventiveness as a man of letters done his ability to coin phrases. Otherwise, his style was long-winded, sprinkled with far fetched terms. He was a scholar, not a writer. The intelligent man who helps God and practices good works attains the highest position for himself, he said, since those caught up by bodily pleasures could not achieve the perfect state. In his personal affairs, he is remembered as having been ”thrifty.” A contemporary, al-Jahiz, recorded his name in a Book of Misers, written shortly before his death.
M Saeed Sheikh, Studies in Muslim Philosophy, P 70.

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In his later life, al-Kindi fell victim to an unkind fate and to the machinations of jealous rivals. Three of the caliphs, al-Kindi had served had supported philosophical thought, and he had flourished under their patronage. The unsympathetic attitude of a fourth caliph, however, brought about loss of popular prestige and personal fortune. The sixty-year-old al- Kindi suffered more when two competitors convinced the caliph that the philosopher was dangerous and untrustworthy. The ruler ordered the conspirators to confiscate the scholar’s personal library, known to all of Baghdad as alKindiyah, and al-Kindi received fifty lashes. Although a friend managed to retrieve the library by means of subtle extortion, the public beating left a permanent mark on al-Kindi’s spirit. He retired to his home, sad and sulky.
If pride bordering on arrogance and thrift bordering on avarice can be counted against al-Kindi, they were more than offset by his brilliance of mind and his many other virtues, intellectual courage, a love of truth, an open mind, abstinence, and patience. He viewed suffering and death as an inescapable part of human life, and he succumbed in silence and dignity. He died about 873 at the age of seventy-two.