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Al-Kindi

Not to be confused with Abd al-Masih ibn Ishaq al-Kindi.
For the surname, see al-Kindi (surname).

al-Kindi
al-Kindi on Iraqi stamp from 1962
Bornc. 801
Kufa, Abbasid Caliphate (now in Iraq)
Diedc. 873 (aged approximately 72)
Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate (now in Iraq)
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionIslamic philosophy
School
Main interests
Philosophy, Islamic theology (kalam), logic, ethics, mathematics, physics, chemistry, psychology, pharmacology, medicine, metaphysics, cosmology, astrology, music theory

Abū Yūsuf Yaʻqūb ibn ʼIsḥāq aṣ-Ṣabbāḥ al-Kindī (/ælˈkɪndi/; Arabic: أبو يوسف يعقوب بن إسحاق الصبّاح الكندي; Latin: Alkindus; c. 801–873 AD) was an Arab Muslim polymath active as a philosopher, mathematician, physician, and music theorist. Al-Kindi was the first of the Islamic peripatetic philosophers, and is hailed as the "father of Arab philosophy".[2][3][4]

Al-Kindi was born in Kufa and educated in Baghdad.[5] He became a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, and a number of Abbasid Caliphs appointed him to oversee the translation of Greek scientific and philosophical texts into the Arabic language. This contact with "the philosophy of the ancients" (as Hellenistic philosophy was often referred to by Muslim scholars) had a profound effect on him, as he synthesized, adapted and promoted Hellenistic and Peripatetic philosophy in the Muslim world.[6] He subsequently wrote hundreds of original treatises of his own on a range of subjects ranging from metaphysics, ethics, logic and psychology, to medicine, pharmacology,[7] mathematics, astronomy, astrology and optics, and further afield to more practical topics like perfumes, swords, jewels, glass, dyes, zoology, tides, mirrors, meteorology and earthquakes.[8][9]

In the field of mathematics, al-Kindi played an important role in introducing Hindu numerals to the Islamic world, and their further development into Arabic numerals along with al-Khwarizmi which eventually was adopted by the rest of the world.[10] Al-Kindi was also one of the fathers of cryptography.[11][12] Building on the work of al-Khalil (717–786),[13] Al-Kindi's book entitled Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages gave rise to the birth of cryptanalysis, was the earliest known use of statistical inference,[14] and introduced several new methods of breaking ciphers, notably frequency analysis.[15][16] He was able to create a scale that would enable doctors to gauge the effectiveness of their medication by combining his knowledge of mathematics and medicine.[17]

The central theme underpinning al-Kindi's philosophical writings is the compatibility between philosophy and other "orthodox" Islamic sciences, particularly theology, and many of his works deal with subjects that theology had an immediate interest in. These include the nature of God, the soul and prophetic knowledge.[18]

  1. ^ Klein-Frank, F. Al-Kindi. In Leaman, O & Nasr, H (2001). History of Islamic Philosophy. London: Routledge. p 165
  2. ^ Nasr, Seyyed Hossein (2006). Islamic philosophy from its origin to the present: philosophy in the land of prophecy. State University of New York. pp. 137–138. ISBN 978-0-7914-6799-2.
  3. ^ Abboud, Tony (2006). Al-Kindi: the father of Arab philosophy. Rosen. ISBN 978-1-4042-0511-6.
  4. ^ Greenberg, Yudit Kornberg (2008). Encyclopedia of love in world religions. Vol. 1. ABC-CLIO. p. 405. ISBN 978-1-85109-980-1.
  5. ^ "Al-Kindi biography". www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 26 October 2007.
  6. ^ Klein-Franke 2001, p. 165.
  7. ^ Corbin 1993, p. 155.
  8. ^ Adamson 2005, p. 33.
  9. ^ Adamson 2007, p. 7.
  10. ^ "Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Sabbah Al-Kindi". Archived from the original on 26 October 2007. Retrieved 26 October 2007.
  11. ^ "The man who cracked the Kama Sutra code". The Telegraph. 4 October 2000. ISSN 0307-1235. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  12. ^ Borda, Monica (2011). Fundamentals in Information Theory and Coding. Springer. p. 122. Al Kindi, an Arab scientist from 9th century is considered the father of cryptology, his book on this subject being, at this moment, the oldest available.
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference LB was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Broemeling, Lyle D. (2011). "An Account of Early Statistical Inference in Arab Cryptology". The American Statistician. 65 (4): 255–257. doi:10.1198/tas.2011.10191. S2CID 123537702.
  15. ^ "Al-Kindi Distinguished Statistics Lectures". Statistics at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. The lectures are named after Al-Kindi (801–873 CE), a prominent figure in the House of Wisdom, whose book entitled "Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" is believed to be the earliest writing on statistics. In his book, Al-Kindi gave a detailed description on how to decipher encrypted messages using statistics and frequency analysis. This text arguably gave rise to the birth of both statistics and cryptanalysis.
  16. ^ Singh, Simon (2000). The Code Book. New York City: Anchor Books. pp. 14–20. ISBN 9780385495325.
  17. ^ Klein-Franke 2001, p. 172.
  18. ^ Adamson 2005, p. 34.

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