Alfarabi: The Political Writings, “Selected Aphorisms” and Other Texts

Review by Amineh Najam-ud-din

The short:

Charles Butterworth provides an in-depth and authoritative translation and annotation of Abu Nasr Alfarabi’s most prominent political work. Alfarabi (ca. 870–950) wrote about Islamic political philosophy and was the first to explore the tensions between classical Greek and Islamic philosophy.

The long:

Alfarabi is widely considered as having founded political philosophy within the Islamic cultural tradition. Having grown up in both Turkestan and Baghdad during the Islamic Golden Age, Alfarabi was surrounded by scientific and cultural advancement and began publishing works on mathematics, history, and music at an early age. He is most recognized for his interest in Islamic political philosophy and how it relates to the writings of the early Greeks, particularly those of Plato and Aristotle. His works focus on the coexistence of religion and classical approaches to politics, and the difficulties within their overlap.

Butterworth’s translations are split into four sections; a collection of selected aphorisms, followed by 3 of Alfarabi’s books. The first, Enumeration of the Sciences, explores Plato and Aristotle’s accounts of political science and claims that their philosophy is inadequate for a society that has faced radical change by revealed religion. Alfarabi’s Book of Religion follows this claim by demonstrating a political philosophy that combines both theoretical and political sciences along with reason to offer an Islamic political philosophy, suggesting that religion be put into a new perspective. Butterworth closes on Alafarbi’s famous political writing titled Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages, Plato the Divine and Aristotle, which argues that Plato and Aristotle’s teachings are in agreement with one another, despite popular arguments claiming otherwise.

Alfarabi: The Political Writings, “Selected Aphorisms” and Other Texts offer an excellent introduction to Islamic political science and early Islamic philosophy. The book also provides the first English translations of the Book of Religion and Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages, Plato the Divine, and Aristotle.

The read or not to read:

Read. While such writings on philosophy can be convoluted and hard to follow, Butterworth’s annotations make Alfarabi’s work accessible to a wider audience and provides context and background for each of Alfarabi’s arguments. Butterworth also includes English-Arabic and Arabic-English glossaries for the reader to better understand Alfarabi’s work, making for an incredibly interesting and educational read.