al-Farabi أبو نصر محمد بن محمد الفارابي

Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi rahimahullah (c. 257-339 AH / c. 872-950 CE) was a philosopher, logician, and musician from the region of Farab in Central Asia, widely regarded as the greatest Islamic Aristotelian philosopher and a seminal figure in Islamic political philosophy and the philosophy of language. He pursued his education in Baghdad, where he studied logic, philosophy, and the sciences under leading scholars of his era. He later spent time at the court of Sayf al-Dawla al-Hamdani in Aleppo and died in Damascus. His major works include Kitab al-Huruf (Book of Letters), a philosophical treatise on the origins of language and metaphysics; al-Madina al-Fadila (The Virtuous City), his most celebrated work in political philosophy; and numerous commentaries on Aristotle's logical and political writings. He also wrote on music, producing the Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir. His mastery of philosophy earned him the epithet 'al-Mu'allim al-Thani' (the Second Teacher), second only to Aristotle.