ABSTRACT
Al-Kindi was the first important Arab philosopher. He was a polymath whose written output was prodigious: 242 written works are attributed to him, although few are extant. His works dealt with logic, arithmetic, metaphysics, music, geometry, astronomy, medicine, theology, politics, alchemy and meteorology. He vigorously encouraged and participated in the burgeoning movement of the eighth and ninth centuries to translate the writings of Greek and Indian thinkers into Arabic and he sought at all times, by means of his thorough assimilation of Greek rationalism, to provide philosophical justification for Islamic theological dogma.
