BIOGRAPHY Abu Nasr Al-Farabi

Al-Farabi is a well-known philosopher, musical theorist, mathematician, and outstanding scholar of the East. He commented on the writings of Aristotle and Plato, for which he received the honorary name "Second Teacher." Creator of the Otrar Library

 

The modern world reveres the teachings of ancient Arabic scholars. Though much of what they said is now perceived as outdated, in their era they were enlighteners, brought progress, and instilled a love of science. Among them, a special place is occupied by Al-Farabi, whose contemporaries are honored as the second teacher, implying that the first one is Aristotle. Al-Farabi was interested in the very personality of a person, his morality, and his intellectual level, all of this was reflected in his books that have survived to this day.

CHILDHOOD

The hometown of Al Farabi - Vesij, Farab area, was located at the intersection of two rivers - the Syrdarya and Arys. Now it's the territory of the Otrar region of Kazakhstan. Some sources claim that he was born in 870, according to others, this event took place in 872. The nobility of origin has also influenced the name of the boy, which in the full version sounds like Abu-Nasyr Muhammad Ibn-Muhammad Ibn-Tarkhan ibn-Uzlag al-Farabi at-Turki. Numerous disputes went around his ethnicity. There is an opinion that not only Turkish, but also Persian blood flows in his veins.

He was rarely called by his full name, Al-Farabi only. In those years, it was not customary to write biographies of famous people, so information about the thinker's childhood and youth was not preserved. He is known that he was very modest, did not like secular receptions, preferring to spend time studying the works of Aristotle and Plato. In those years, the future philosopher changed his place of residence several times - Samarkand, Tashkent, Bukhara. Every year the level of his knowledge has become more and more impressive, he possessed encyclopedic knowledge. Most of all, the young man was interested in logic and natural science, he was fond of studying foreign languages and medicine, and studying music. The name of the person who taught the future thinker all of these pearls of wisdom, history, unfortunately, has not been preserved.

Al Farabi decided to move to Baghdad and independently made all the way to the city of his dreams. Baghdad was considered the most progressive place where science, culture, and art flour, shed in those days. Consequently, Al-Farabi will call this city the most delightful and happy among all the ignorant cities. It was where philosophers, scientists, and poets worked and developed.

The legend said that in Baghdad the future philosopher worked as a judge, but soon left this business and took up teaching. One of his friends left him a library containing scientific papers. The future thinker read all the books and was inspired to do a scientific activity. The philosopher turned out to have an excellent memory, in addition, he had a rare sense of purpose which helped him to enrich himself with new knowledge. Their contemporaries considered Al-Farabi to be very wise and talented, a follower of the ideas of the thinker Aristotle. When he left Baghdad in 932, he was already considered a well-known scientist.

PHILOSOPHY

The works of the philosopher can be classified conditionally into two categories. The first includes works in which he studies the laws of the universe, man himself, and his knowledge of the world. According to Al-Farabi, astronomy, mathematics, and geometry are such sciences that help in the study of the above fields. The scientist was engaged in the study of matter and its properties, he was interested in concepts such as time and space.

The second category of the philosopher's work is the study of living nature and the laws according to what exists. These works are devoted to the fundamentals of biology, chemistry, medicine, physics, and optics. Al-Farabi was keenly interested in sociology and philosophy, teaching and politics, dialectics, ethics, and the structure of state power. His reasoning was ahead of time, so some works do not lose their relevance in our time The philosopher believed that everything in this world is on six steps between which there are causal links

 The first step is the generation, the second is appearance, and the third contains an actively developing On the fourth, according to the thinker, the soul was situated, the fifth contained the form, and the sixth – is directly matter. It was these six steps that kept what surroundings each person.

God is whole and one as the root cause of everything that exists on earth Al-Farabi assigned the second place to planets and celestial bodies, contrary to earthly forms and matter. The thinker's theory spoke of the eternity of matter and of its close connection with form. The form can only exist together with the matter that filled it. A separate place was assigned by the philosopher to the cosmic mind, he believed that it protected the wildlife.

The scholar considered God not from the point of view of religion, but purely in a scientific format. The Supreme and the material world existed in their understanding separately from each other. The thinker has argued that every person has free will. Al-Farabi was a believer, he did not deviate from the religious laws, he simply tried to find a scientific justification for everything.

PERSONAL LIFE

There are a lot of white spots in the biography of the thinker because they started to collect information about him only a few centuries after his death. Therefore, basic information about Al-Farabi is drawn from the legend. the personal life of the philosopher is also shrouded in mystery It is known that he had neither a wife nor children, but the details have not been preserved since there is no reliable data on this issue.

 Al-Farabi worked all of his life, and he took on any job that made it possible to feed himself and continue his studies. It is known that in Damascus he found himself a job as a watchman in the garden, while at the same time engaged in scientific activities at night, by the light of the cheapest candle that could be purchased.

Soon the philosopher found rich patrons - Abu Fras, Sayf ad-Daula Ali Hamdani, Ibn Nubat, thanks to whom his financial situation improved markedly, and it was possible to spend all his time studying the sciences and the personality of a person, not worrying about daily bread.

The sage has studied for a long time the problem of the formation of human morality, his worldview, the development of intellect, and a sense of freedom and happiness. Al-Farabi also became famous as a doctor. In addition, he was really interested in music.

DEATH

Just like the life of a philosopher, his death is also shrouded in a mystery According to historians, there are two versions of this According to the first, the thinker simply died of old age in Damascus (at that time he was 79 years old). The second says that the robbers killed him when the philosopher traveled to Ascalon. There was not a single representative of the church at Al-Farabi's funeral as they were disgusted by his progressive views and provocative statements. The exact date of the death of the thinker is called January 12, 951. He was buried outside the walls of the city, and prayer over his grave had to be read by the state ruler.

The philosopher has always said that death is not scary and there is no need to be afraid of it But it is necessary by all means to prolong life by doing good deaths. After Al-Farabi died, his work was continued by numerous students, studying the works of the philosophers of ancient Greece. The image of the philosopher is still published in textbooks, and in a variety of ways.

Al-Farabi left behind an outstanding heritage, consisting of 130 works in various fields of science and philosophy.