- Lived:
- c. 872–950 CE · born (probably) in Fārāb, Central Asia; worked in Baghdad and Aleppo; died in Damascus
- Tradition:
- Islamic falsafa — Greek-inspired philosophy in Arabic; called "the Second Teacher," second only to Aristotle
- The Big Idea:
- Reason is not enough on its own — it ripens only inside the right political order. Philosophy needs a city, and religion is philosophy translated into images the whole city can live by.
- In their words:
- "So it is clear that the idea of the philosopher, supreme ruler, prince, legislator, and imam is but a single idea." (from The Attainment of Happiness)
- If you remember one thing:
- He fused Plato's philosopher-king with the prophet-lawgiver of Islam — and quietly suggested that religion is truth's popular translation, philosophy set to pictures.