Al-Farabi and Political Theory

In Al-Farabi's Book of Religion, the practical abilities of the ideal ruler are realized above all in the handing down of laws. The act of intellect which provides knowledge to individual human knowers is also the conduit through which God gives a revelation to the prophet. It will be this revelation that distinguishes the best possible ruler from a mere philosopher. He makes God a rather remote first principle, who affects humans through a chain of intermediary celestial intellects.