Al-Kindi's Prophetic Imaginations In Aristotelian Philosophy

In addition to this, al-Kindi adopted a naturalistic view of the prophetic visions. He argued that through the power of "imagination" as it was conceived in Aristotelian philosophy, certain "pure" and well prepared souls were able to receive information about future events. Significantly, he does not attribute such visions or dreams to the revelation of God, but instead explains that imagination enables human beings capture the "form" of something without perceiving the physical entity to which it refers. Therefore, this would seem to imply that anyone who has purified himself would be able to receive such visions. It is precisely this idea, among other naturalistic explanations of prophetic miracles, which Algazel attacks in The Incoherence of the Philosophers.

During his lifetime , al-Kindi was fortunate enough to enjoy the patronage of the pro-mustalíes caliphs, al-Ma'mun and al-Mu'tasim, which enabled him to carry out his philosophical speculations with relative ease. This change dramatically towards the end of his life when al-Mutawakkil supported the traditionalists and began a chase of several schools of unorthodox thought, including the philosophers. In his own time, al-Kindi would be criticized for extolling the "intelligence" as the most immanent creation next to God, a position that was commonly attributed only to angels. It is also embroiled in discussions with mutazalíes, whom he attacked for their belief in atoms. But the real contribution of al-Kindi in the conflict between philosophers and theologians would prepare the ground for the debate. Deborah Black says that his work contains all the seeds of future controversy that would be reflected in the book of al - Ghazali, Incoherence of