90–101).
Alfarabi’s definition of the Umma includes what we might call tribes as well as high civilizations. Indeed, the modern term “civilization” expresses the meaning of Alfarabi’s Umma rather well. To avoid confusion, it should be emphasized that Alfarabi does not develop any concept of “civilization” per se, which might be opposed to nomadic life or barbarism. However, most of the particular Ummas of which he speaks would be classified as individual “civilizations” today. We would never, in contemporary English, call ancient Egypt or India “nations,” so that the common translation of Umma as “nation” appears misleading in a crucial respect.
The Book of Letters recounts the coming into being of the world’s most splendid civilizations in considerable detail. The establishment of a separate language is only the first stage in this process. Alfarabi explains how an Umma eventually perfects its language and excels in rhetoric, poetry, oral storytelling, linguistic science, and writing (BL 148.15–20, #138). A major impetus for the development of these arts comes from the occurrence of memorable events that need to be recorded in speech (142.8–9, #129). “The wise men of the Umma,” who emerge even before the advent of writing, seek to preserve recollection of these events, engaging in “the recitation of speeches and the recitation of poems, and the memorization of the reports22 narrated by them” (143.3–5, #130). When the volume of oral material becomes too large, writing is invented, and these bards are to some extent superseded by scribes (144.12–19, #130). Finally, the formal codification of the grammar of the language by means of linguistic science completes the development of the Umma (145–48, #133–37).
For reasons that will become clearer when we turn to the study of the origins of Islam, Alfarabi does not reveal explicitly what kinds of events are recorded in the Umma’s stories. But since he mentions a number of particular Ummas, such as Greece and India, by name, he invites his readers to fill in these blanks. On the basis of his account, we could say that the crowning accomplishment of these Ummas are epic poems such as the Iliad and the Ramayana, which would shape their respective civilizations as long as they endured, and the treatises of their grammarians, which would confer a fixed form upon their language. Yet at first glance the scope of Alfarabi’s account appears unnecessarily limited, since the arts of civilization consist of more than just the spoken and written word. Does not this narrow focus on language and literature, to the detriment of the visual and auditory arts, risk oversimplifying the multifaceted character of the Umma and its civilization? It can certainly be shown that Alfarabi did not overlook so obvious a criticism. To respond to it fully would require a far more careful consideration of Alfarabi’s writings on poetry, rhetoric, art, and music than is possible here, but I can offer some preliminary thoughts.
We cannot ignore the broader context of the Book of Letters, which is primarily a work about language, and not only in the second chapter. The first chapter consists mainly of a definition of philosophic terms (BL 61–130), while the third chapter consists mainly of an explanation of various logical methods and questions (162–226). It is hardly surprising that in a work thus constituted Alfarabi should emphasize the language and literature of the Umma above all else. The absence of music and poetry, as well as the extremely brief mention of the mechanical arts (138.15–17, #131, 150.2–3, #140), represents a conscious abstraction, since Alfarabi displays ample interest in these arts elsewhere. On the basis of these works, we may piece together some of his ideas about the relationship of poetry to the other arts.
Alfarabi devotes a voluminous treatise to music, in which he argues that it, too, is perfected gradually over time. The relatively few details included in these brief passages suggest some intriguing parallels with the development of language. Most notably, both emerge spontaneously from natural human qualities, crystallizing into conventional arts only through the collective efforts of many generations (BM 71, 74–75).23 Music and poetry also strengthen one another: music becomes more moving when accompanied by words (72–73), while poetic speech becomes more vivid when accompanied by music (67). However, while Alfarabi’s account of the development of poetry ignores the parallel development of music, his account of the development of music pays homage to the power of poetry. It seems that music is more dependent on poetry than poetry is on music. This impression is confirmed by a passage in the Selected Aphorisms where Alfarabi concludes a longer discussion of the kinds of poetry by presenting the kinds of music as derivative from them: “The sorts of melodies and songs following from these sorts of poems and divisions are equivalent to their divisions” (SA 37, #56, Ar. 65.7–8).
Alfarabi speaks less frequently about painting and sculpture: rather than devote entire treatises to the visual arts, he intersperses brief remarks about them in works ostensibly devoted to other topics. There are evident historical grounds for his reticence: unlike poetry and music, painting and sculpture were frowned upon by many Muslims, because of their association with idolatry.24 Nonetheless, Alfarabi manages to draw strong parallels between the visual and auditory arts. While acknowledging that the visual arts have historically been linked to idolatrous worship, as took place among the ancient Greeks and still endures in distant India, Alfarabi suggests that they are in fact quite similar to music and poetry, at least with regard to their capacity to evoke passions and implant images in minds (BM 62–63). In the Epistle on the Canons of Poetry, Alfarabi explains that painting resembles poetry in every respect except its matter, for it imitates in color the same kinds of activities, forms, and aims that poetry imitates in words (EP 278, Ar. 272, cf. SP 183). A similar statement might apply to music, whose matter is not words, but tones (BM 85–86). Even if the matter and technique of each of the imitative arts vary, their form and purpose do not: all move human minds by providing imitations of sensible things.
With these observations in mind, we may understand why the perfection of pre-philosophic language and the stories told by it constitute the foundation of the civilization of the Umma. Since the other arts imitate the same subjects as poetry and even pursue the same goals, they adopt the material that they encounter in the Umma’s poetic stories. A brief survey of the world’s major civilizations should confirm this point. How could we conceive of Greek or Indian sculpture without the inspiration of Greek or Indian mythology? How could we imagine art and music in the Christian world, into the Renaissance and even beyond, without the gospel stories? Painters and musicians render in color and melody the same gods, saints, and heroes whom poets render in verse.
One might object that Alfarabi fails to grapple with the obvious differences between the various art forms and their effects. For example, music and poetry excel at stirring up passions, while painting and sculpture tend to be more meditative and serene.25 I am not sure if Alfarabi attempts to answer such objections.26 His purpose seems to lie more in encouraging all the imitative arts than in distinguishing between them, as I will make clear in Chapter 5.
Alfarabi’s description of the Umma helps account for a phenomenon that should be familiar to visitors to any major world art museum. As we pass from one section to another, we seem to be entering an entirely different world. In the set of rooms devoted to Greece, the sculpted women are beautiful but chaste, while the male figures are muscular and handsome, with noble expressions suggestive of martial valor. The elegant, rectangular temples are mounted on evenly spaced columns. In an adjoining set of rooms devoted to India, the female figures are buxom and erotic, while their male counterparts are graceful, supple, and meditative. The sinuous temples are topped by spires that reach toward the heavens. The splendor of both exhibits resonates across space and time, yet remains entirely characteristic of its respective civilization. No half-trained eye could mistake the art or architecture of one major classical civilization for that of another. Even the very greatest art is decisively shaped by the Umma to which it belongs; this observation reveals, on the highest level, the authority of the Umma as described by Alfarabi.
Debates About the Ummas in Alfarabi’s Era
Alfarabi’s treatment of the Umma offers only a few scattered hints about its historical context, but this context
