Acknowledgments Abbreviations 1. Introduction Alfarabi ’s Life and His Influence Alfarabi’s Manner of Writing Overview 2. The Impossibility of the City in the Republic Kallipolis as Ideal State or Totalitarian Nightmare? The Three Waves and the Problem of Possibility The First Wave The Second Wave The Digression on War The Third Wave 3. The A Fortiori Argument Alfarabi on the Republic in the Attainment of Happiness: Educating Philosopher-kings to Rule the Inhabited World, the Challenge Tension in the “Unity of the Virtues”: Hard vs. Soft The Uneasy Peace between Prudence and Wisdom 4. Alfarabi on Jihad From iman vs. kufr to islam vs. harb Alfarabi’s Aphorisms on Jihad Aphorisms 67 and 79 Aphorisms 11–16 Aphorisms 68–76 Alfarabi’s Attainment of Happiness on Jihad Challenges to Compelling Good Character 5. The Multiplicity Argument The Increasing Tendency toward Conquest and Domination The Task of Deliberation: Shaping a Multiplicity of Characters The Task of Theoretical Virtue: Shaping a Multiplicity of Opinions Religion as an Imitation of Philosophy 6. The Limits of Knowledge and the Problem of Realization Knowledge and Exploitation Attainment of Happiness The Philosophy of Aristotle: The Limits of Our Knowledge of Final Causes Certainty and the Knowledge of Universals and Particulars The Limits of Knowledge and the Inherent Multiplicity of Religion Notes Bibliography Index