This study investigates the factors that led al-Fārābī toward the development of a religious philosophy within the Muslim world. Our findings, based on analysis and evaluation of the data in his textual works and the evidence from the philosophical context of his time, are as follows: The prevailing philosophical discourse during al-Fārābī’s era was one of the primary factors influencing his inclination toward religious philosophy, since discussions concerning the relationship between religion and philosophy accompanied him from his early years of studies in Merv through his advanced education and teaching in Baghdad. Merv was regarded as a site of Hellenistic Judaism, which favored harmonization between religion and philosophy. Furthermore, two of his teachers in Baghdad - Yūḥannā ibn Haylān and Mattā ibn Yūnus - also played a role: the former was a follower of Alexandrian philosophy, and the latter was a translator of some of the philosophical commentaries from Alexandrian school. The translated philosophical heritage available in his time, including some Alexandrian and Neoplatonic works and commentaries, significantly contributed to the formation of the idea of religious philosophy in al-Fārābī’s mind. Additionally, his distinctive reading of metaphysics, influenced by his epistemic interest in the teachings of the revealed book of Islam, together with his understanding of the unity of reality, are some other reasons that drew him toward constructing a religious philosophy in the Muslim world.