Die philosophischen Abhandlungen des al-Kindi

protera prior things. This corresponds, to a certain extent, to the title: "liber introductorius in artem logicae demonstrationis" introductory book into the art of logical demonstration; however, this is said to contain teachings compiled by his alleged student Muḥammad, "Machomet."

Who is this Muḥammad?

The name and the designation "student of al-Kindi" 1 likely refer to the famous abū Naṣr Muḥammad ben Muḥammad al-Fārābī, who truly spent a long time in Bagdād studying, where al-Kindi had lived a short time before. However, there are concerns against this. al-Fārābī's biographers report: 2 "He (al-Fārābī) left his hometown, in which he was raised, and came to Bagdād on his travels; not only knowing Turkish but also other languages, he applied himself in Bagdād to Arabic and then to philosophical studies. At that time, the aged philosopher abū-Bišr Mattā ben Jūnus read about logic 3 to a large number of listeners in Bagdād and dictated to his students the commentary on seventy different volumes; in his words, clear and simple, so that he presented the deepest meaning with the easiest words. Some scholars say that al-Fārābī owes this same merit primarily to him. From Bagdād, he went to Ḥarrān, where Juḥanna ben Ḥailān 4, the Christian philosopher, taught logic; returned from Ḥarrān, al-Fārābī read on philosophical sciences, especially fathoming all the books of Aristotle." "Abū'l-Qāsim Ṣāʿid ben Aḥmad ben ‘abd-al-raḥman ben Ṣā‘id of Cordova says in

1) It can hardly be a question of Muḥammad ben Jazīd Dubaïs, whom Berthelot (La Chimie au moyen âge, T. III, Paris 1893 p. 4) thinks of, or of Muḥammad ben Mūsā ben Šākir (De Sacy Abdollatif, p. 487), who was one of his bitterest enemies, as I believe.

2) I quote this passage in Hammer’s translation, Vol. IV, pp. 288—289.

3) We still possess abū Bišr Mattā’s translation of the Analytica posteriora later analytics and the commentaries that al-Fārābī wrote on them. Cf. Wenrich, de auctorum graecorum versionibus u. s. w., Leipzig 1842, pp. 132, 172.

4) The transcription is uncertain, because the name is written variably in the codices as جبلاد ,جيلان ,خيلان.