Al-Kindi

(c. 801 - c. 870)

Regarded as the first great Arab philosopher, al-Kindi wrote about acoustics, arithmetic, astronomy, meteorology, mineralogy, metallurgy, medicine, and music. A scholar at the Abbasid court in Baghdad, he argued that mathematics was the basis of science and that sound was the result of waves of air hitting the eardrum.

All Writing

Miscellany

When a theologian renting from ninth-century Islamic philosopher al-Kindi hosted two cousins for a monthlong visit, the landlord increased the rent proportionally. His reasoning: a dwelling has a “limited existence.” A tenant enjoys this without the burden of ownership, then leaves the space “a dung heap and in dilapidation, only repairable at grievous expense.”

Issues Contributed