Abu Yūsuf Ya'qūb ibn'Isḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (Arabic: أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي‎; Latin: Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was born in 801 and died in 873, is known as the first philosopher born of Islamic circles. During his lifetime, in addition to Arabic, he was fluent in Greek. Many of the works of the Greek philosophers were translated into Arabic; among others the work of Aristotle and Plotinos. Unfortunately there is a work of Plotinus which he translated as Aristotle's Aristotelian Theology by Aristotle, which in the future caused a little confusion.

He is an Arab philosopher and is regarded as the first Muslim philosopher. Ethnically, al-Kindi was born from an Arab-blooded family originating from the Kindah tribe, one of the great tribes of the South Arabian Peninsula region. One of the advantages of al-Kindi is to bring Greek philosophy to the Muslims after first Islamizing these foreign thoughts.

Al Kindi has written many works in various disciplines, from metaphysics, ethics, logic and psychology, to medicine, pharmacology, mathematics, astrology and optics, as well as practical topics such as perfumes, swords, zoology, glass, meteorology and earthquakes.

Among them he was very appreciative of mathematics. This is because mathematics, for al-Kindi, is a mukaddimah for anyone who wants to study philosophy. This preamble is so important that it is impossible for a man to attain expertise in philosophy without first mastering mathematics. Mathematics here includes the science of numbers, harmony, geometry and astronomy. (more...)

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