[IDEAL STATE OF THE ISLAMIC WORLD: THE FIRST UTOPIA IN ARABIC] Kitâb fî mabâdî ârâ' ahl al-madîna al-fâdila. [i.e. The book of views of the people of the virtuous and excellent city]

ABÛ-NASR MUHAMMAD IBN MUHAMMAD AL-FARABI [ALPHARABIUS], (872-950), Matba'at as-Sa'âda, Egypt, [AH 1334] ) 1906.

Contemporary 1/3 cloth bdg. The boards' covers have ripped. Overall a very good copy. Cr. 8vo. (19 x 13 cm). In Arabic. 128 p.

First printed edition in Arabic, of this first Islamic utopia, also known "Risâlah fî ârâ' ahl al-madînah al-fâdhilah", printed in the early 20th century Egypt. According to some sources, this early Islamic philosophical text written in the Golden Age of the Islamic world is a commentary on Plato's "The Republic".

Al-Farabi argued that the ideal state was the city-state of Medina when it was governed by the prophet Muhammad as its head of state, as he was in direct communion with God whose law was revealed to him. Al-Farabi incorporated the Platonic view, drawing a parallel from within the Islamic context, in that he regarded the ideal state to be ruled by the prophet-imam, instead of the philosopher-king envisaged by Plato, regarding the republican order of the Sunni Rashidun Caliphate as an example within early Muslim history.

As a philosopher, Al-Farabi was a founder of his own school of early Islamic philosophy known as "Farabism" or "Alfarabism", though it was later overshadowed by Avicennism. Al-Farabi's school of philosophy "breaks with the philosophy of Plato and Aristotle [.] moves from metaphysics to methodology, a move that anticipates modernity", and "at the level of philosophy, Al-Farabi unites theory and practice [.] in the sphere of the political he liberates practice from theory". His Neoplatonic theology is also more than just metaphysics as rhetoric. In his attempt to think through the nature of a First Cause, Al-Farabi discovers the limits of human knowledge".

Al-Farabi was a renowned early Islamic philosopher of Turkish origin and jurist who wrote in the fields of political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics, and logic. He was also a scientist, cosmologist, mathematician, and music theorist. In Islamic philosophical tradition, he was often called "the Second Teacher", following Aristotle who was known as "the First Teacher".

OCLC 257485540, 1035590553, 219242727, 715286152.