Al-Fārābī’s Cosmopolitical Imaginaries

Abstract The power of the imagination ( al - khayāl ) is decisive to the constitution of Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī’s virtuous city. The imagination enables the citizens of the virtuous city to effectively distinguish between certain images as a necessary means to attaining happiness. The imagination is cultivated through a regimen of civic education which prepares citizens to engage in political deliberation. The realization of the virtuous city is determined by the exercise of the imagination beginning with the philosopher-ruler-imām who receives and translates intelligibles ( ma‘qūlāt ) from the Active Intellect into images ( muḥākāt ) communicated to the political community. In what follows, we shall seek to demonstrate how the power of the imagination contributes to al-Fārābī’s cosmopolitical imaginary and the inception of his cosmopolitanism.