History of Islamic Philosophy

History of Islamic Philosophy

"Authenticating the Story of Al-Kindi and the Composition of the Treatise on the Contradictions of the Quran"

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Reza Mokhtari Khouei 1
Fatemeh Baniasadi 2
a.h ghafari 3
1 .Graduate of Western Philosophy, Shahid Beheshti University, and Islamic Philosophy, University of Tehran
2 M.A. Student in Islamic Philosophy and Theology, Imam Sadiq University.
3 Associate Professor, Department of Philosophy, Islamic Research Institute for Culture and Thought.
10.22034/hpi.2025.551048.1176
Abstract
According to a renowned narrative in the history of Islamic philosophy, Yaqub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi, one of the pioneering philosophers of the Islamic world, intended to compose a treatise demonstrating contradictions within the Quran. This historical report adds that Imam Hasan al-Askari (PBUH), through one of al-Kindi's students, dissuaded him from this endeavor by posing a pivotal question. The essence of the question was: "Do you not entertain the possibility that the speaker of these sentences intended a meaning other than what you have presumed?" Upon hearing this, al-Kindi reportedly discarded everything he had written. Among contemporary scholars, two distinct approaches to this encounter are observable: a critical approach involving the denial of the story’s validity by figures such as Morteza Motahhari; and an approach adopted by individuals like Nasrollah Hekmat, who, by presuming the story’s validity and offering a different reading, have derived sweeping conclusions from it. The present article specifically critiques this constructed narrative and the unsound conclusions that Hekmat and certain other contemporaries have built upon it, ultimately demonstrating the baselessness of the event and its resultant deductions. The research methodology involves a library-based examination of evidence and primary sources, utilizing a critical approach to re-evaluate the historical documents related to this event. The primary finding of the research, proving the narrative's baselessness, is presented through an alternative historical explanation: contemporaneous with al-Kindi the philosopher, there existed another figure, a Christian al-Kindi, who indeed authored a treatise on the contradictions of the Quran. It appears that this fact constitutes the origin of this historical conflation.
Keywords
Al-Kindi
Treatise on the Contradictions of the Quran
Imam Hasan al-Askari
Nasrollah Hekmat.
Subjects
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  • Receive Date 04 October 2025
  • Revise Date 29 November 2025
  • Accept Date 30 November 2025