This article focuses on exploring a fundamental issue in al-Fārābī’s thought, specifically his understanding of the potency of poetry and its political and social role in the context of the classical Arab world. The reading of this philosopher involves an innovative reinterpretation of Aristotle’s Poetics and Rhetoric, highlighting the productive character of the imagination in terms of evoking images and creating resemblances. It also explores the influence of al-Fārābī’s philosophy on other Arab and Islamic philosophers, such as Avicenna and Averroes, who became the main referents in the vindication of philosophy in this cultural context.