Major Works

• Plato’s Laws

  - Parens, Joshua and Joseph Macfarland, "Plato's Laws," in Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. Cornell University Press, Ithica, NY, 2011.
  Excerpt from Alfarabi’s introduction: “Our purpose in making this introduction is this: the wise Plato did not feel free to reveal and uncover every kind of knowledge for all people. Therefore he followed the practice of using symbols, riddles,… More

• Harmonization of the Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.

• Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione

  - Alfarabi’s Commentary and Short Treatise on Aristotle’s De Interpretatione. Trans. F.W. Zimmerman. London: Oxford University Press, 1981.
  Book Review: “This book represents a comprehensive study of Alfarabi’s expositions of Aristotle’s logical treatise, the De Interpretatione. It includes a substantial Introduction, a translation of Alfarabi’s lengthy commentary and his… More

• Book of the Opinions of the Inhabitants of the Virtuous City

  - Recommended edition: Al Farabi. Alfarabi on the Perfect State. Trans. Walzer, Richard. New York, NY. Oxford University Press, 1985.
  From Book Review: “Farabi is Islam’s first and, pace Ibn Sina, perhaps greatest Islamic Neoplatonist. He is certainly more original than his successor who leaned heavily upon him. Farabi in The Virtuous City produced a work “written by a… More

• Aims of Aristotle’s Metaphysics

  - Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Trans. Jon McGinnis and David C. Reisman. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 2007.
  Excerpt: “1. Our intention in this treatist is to point out the aim and primary divisions of the book by Aristotle known as the Metaphysics, since many people have the preconceived notion that the point and purpose of this book is to discuss the… More

• The Book of Letters

  - Medieval Islamic Philosophical Writings. Ed. Muhammad Ali Khalidi. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005.
  Excerpt: “The capacities for dialectic, sophistry, and for the uncertain or dubious philosophy must precede the capacity for the certain philosophy, which is demonstrative philosophy, since one becomes aware of demonstrations after these others (i.e.… More

• Book of Religion

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  Excerpt: “1. Religion is opinions and actions, determined and restricted with stipulations and prescribed for a community by their first ruler, who seeks to obtain through their practicing it a specific purpose with respect to them or by means of them.… More

• The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle

  - Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle. Trans. Muhsin Mahdi. Ithaca, New York: Cornell University Press, 1962.
  Excerpt: “1. First he investigated the human things that make man enviable as to which of them constitutes the perfection of man as man, for every being has a perfection. Thus he investigated whether man’s perfection consists only in his having… More

• Selected Aphorisms

  - Alfarabi: The Political Writings. Trans. Charles Butterworth. Contains Selected Aphorisms. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2001.
  Introduction by Translator: “In the Selected Aphorisms, Al Farabi begins with, then develops, a comparison between the health of the soul and that of the body. That is, somewhat abruptly, he starts his exposition by defining the health of each and… More

• Political Regime

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  • Part one found in:   Classical Arabic Philosophy: An Anthology of Sources. Trans. Jon McGinnis and David C. Reisman. Indianapolis: Hackett Publishing Co. Inc., 2007.
  • Part two found in:   Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. 2nd. Edition. Eds. Joshua Parens and Joseph C. MacFarland. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011.
  Excerpt: 1. The principles by which the six types of bodies and accidents subsist are divided into six major levels, each one comprising a single kind. The First Cause is in the first level. The secondary causes are in the second. The active intellect is in… More

• Enumeration of the Sciences

  - Alfarabi. The Political Writings. Translated by Charles Butterworth. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2001.  
  From the publisher: This volume presents four of Alfarabi’s most important texts, making his political thought available to classicists, medievalists, and scholars of religion and Byzantine and Middle Eastern studies. In a clear prose translation by… More

Other Works

• Directing the Attention to the Way to Happiness

  - Medieval Political Philosophy: A Sourcebook. 2nd. Edition. Eds. Joshua Parens and Joseph C. MacFarland. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2011. pp. 13-53.
  Excerpt: “1. The human things through which nations and citizens of cities attain earthly happiness in this life and supreme happiness in the life beyond are of four kinds: theoretical virtues, deliberative virtues, moral virtues, and practical arts. 2.… More

Commentary

• Farabi’s Plato by Leo Strauss

  - Strauss, Leo. ”Farabi’s Plato.” In Louis Ginzberg: Jubilee Volume. New York: The American Academy for Jewish Research, 1945, pp. 357-393.
  Excerpt: “It is generally admitted that one cannot understand the teaching of Maimonides’ Guide for the Perplexed before one has understood the teaching of “the philosophers”; for the former presents itself as a Jewish correction of the latter. To… More

• Aristotle’s Politics in Arabic Philosophy

  - Pines, Shlomo. “Aristotle’s Politics in Arabic philosophy.” In Israel Oriental Studies, Vol. V, 1975, pp. 150-160.
  Overview: A famous scholar provides a characteristically erudite account of the uncertain presence of Aristotle’s Politics in medieval Islam, shedding light on a couple of important passages of Alfarabi in the process.

• Philosophy in the Renaissance of Islam by Joel Kraemer

  - Kraemer, Joel. Philosophy in the Renaissance of Islam. Leiden: E.J. Brill. 1986.
  Overview: This important work of intellectual history provides outstanding historical background to Alfarabi. Excerpt: “In Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam, I portrayed the cultural revival that took place in the cosmopolitan atmosphere of Baghdad… More

• The Jihād of the Falāsifa

  - Kraemer, Joel. “The jihād of the falāsifa.” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam, vol. 10, 1987.
  Overview: The first of a number of articles to treat the question of war and jihād in Alfarabi. The author’s interpretation is learned but also rather literal.

• Du Coran à la Philosophie

  - Langhade, Jacques. Du Coran à la Philosophie. Damas: Institut Français de Damas, 1994.
  Overview:  This extremely informative book offers a summary of Alfarabi’s teachings on language, religion, and philosophy, as well as extensive historical and religious background to them.

• Al-Fārābi’s Philosophical Lexicon

  - Alon, Ilai. Al-Fārābi’s Philosophical Lexicon. Wiltshire, England: Aris & Phillips Ltd. 2002.
  Overview: This helpful reference work contains examples of the usage of important Arabic terms in Alfarabi. This edition consists of two volumes; volume one quotes the Arabic text of al-Farabi’s philosophical definitions and those of parallel authors,… More

• Can a Tenth Century Aristotelian Help us Understand Plato’s Laws? by Steven Harvey

  - Harvey, Steven. "Can a Tenth Century Aristotelian Help us Understand Plato's Laws?" in Plato's Laws: From Theory of Practice. Eds. Samuel Scolnicov and Luc Brisson. Sankt Augustin: Akademica Verlag, 2003.  
  Overview: Argues that even if al-Farabi did not have access to the same Platonic text that we possess, he can still help us understand Plato’s Laws. From the publisher: “The articles of this volume are a selection of the papers presented at the Sixth… More

• Y-a-t-il une pensée politique dans le Kitāb al-Ḥurūf d’al-Fārābī?

  - Gannagé, Emma. “Y-a-t-il une pensée politique dans le Kitāb al-Ḥurūf d’al-Fārābī?” In Mélanges d’Université Saint-Joseph: Volume LVII 2004, pp. 229-257.
  Overview: Discusses some of the more puzzling aspects of the second chapter of the Book of Letters, such as the relationship between philosophy and religions and the political hierarchy of human arts.

• Farabi et l’École d’Alexandrie

  - Vallat, Philippe. Farabi et l’École d’Alexandrie. Paris: J. Vrin, 2004.
  Overview: This book is noteworthy for the very thorough list of primary and secondary sources in its index, far superior in detail to that available on this site. The book itself is erudite but notoriously difficult to follow.

• Philosophy and ‘Jihād.’ Al-Fārābī on Compulsion to Happiness

  - Sweeney, Michael. “Philosophy and ‘Jihād.’ Al-Fārābī on Compulsion to Happiness.” Review of Metaphysics. Vol. 60, No. 3 (March 2007), pp. 543-572.
  Overview: A spirited effort to understand Alfarabi’s views of jihād in a manner very different from both Butterworth and Kraemer. Excerpt: “Abu Nasr Muhammed Alfarabi (870-950 A.D), arguably the most important political philosopher of medieval Islam,… More

• Reflections on al-Fārābī’s Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍīla

  - Rudolph, Ulrich. “Reflections on al-Fārābī’s Mabādi’ ārā’ ahl al-madīna al-fāḍīla.” In In the Age of Alfarabi: Arabic Philosophy in the Fourth/Tenth Century. Ed. Peter Adamson. London: Warburg Institute, 2008, pp.1-14.
  Overview: Tries to explain the unusual structure of Alfarabi’s Virtuous City by referring to other important religious texts of the period. Overview of volume: The papers in this volume were given at a conference held at the Warburg Institute in 2006 to… More

• Escaping the Scholastic Paradigm: The Dispute between Strauss and His Contemporaries about How to Approach Islamic and Jewish Medieval Philosophy

  - Parens, Joshua.  “Escaping the Scholastic Paradigm: The Dispute between Strauss and His Contemporaries about How to Approach Islamic and Jewish Medieval Philosophy,” in Encountering the Medieval in Modern Jewish Thought, 203–227, eds. Aaron Hughes and James Diamond. Leiden and Boston: Brill, 2012.
  Overview: Shows how disputes over the interpretation of Alfarabi are linked to the larger issue of the difference between Christian and Judeo-Islamic thought. Excerpt: “At first it might appear to be a mere accident that many of the same contemporary… More