Al Farabi

Dalia Magdy Abdel Latif
900092619
Dr. Heba Raouf

Plato, Aristotle and Alfarabi
On The Notion of Citizenship

Introduction

Alfarabi was the first of all philosophers to try to link political philosophy with Islam.
Alfarabi is significant because he was able to improve the classical political tradition of Aristotle and Plato and place it within the context of Islamic religious principles. Despite the fact that there is general agreement amongst scholars that Alfarabi clearly draws from Plato in his interpretation of the philosopher-king, there is disagreement over the extent to which the appearance of Aristotle’s citizen in Alfarabi’s work modifies this philosopher-king and whether or not there is an active role for the citizen. Although Alfarabi never explicitly states how his citizen should function within a political or social context, this paper seeks to find from different works and opinions of different authors made within his works to provide an interpretation of the role of Alfarabi’s citizen.
Abu Nasr Muhammad Al-Farabi, referred to as simply Alfarabi, lived from about
870 A.D. to 950 A.D. He spent most of his life in Baghdad. Not much is known about Alfarabi’s private life. He was born of Turkish descent in the Farabi district of Turkestan. Alfarabi was generally known as the “second master “amongst his peers, Aristotle being the first. He was known as a logician, physicist, metaphysician, musician, and an astronomer. However, his most well-known achievements came when he began his broad interpretations on both Plato and Aristotle concept of the citizen. Many Muslims, Jewish and Christian philosophers turned to Alfarabi for a fuller understanding of the controversial, complex, and troublesome questions of philosophy. He tried to combine the philosophical learning of the Greek with Islam. Combining Aristotelian cosmology and psychology with Neoplatonic metaphysics and a curious political Platonism, he made a unique contribution of political

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