al-FARABI, Abu Nasr

Known within Islam as the 'Second Teacher' after Aristotle, he argued for the complementarity of philosophy and religion. From his early background in Turkey, he moved to Baghdad in Iraq and then Damascus in Syria. Drawing on both pre-Muslim and Muslim scholars he reasoned that God is known from serious thinking and analysis as well as from special revelation. Political rulers needed to combine the authority of both philosopher and prophet. Behind the surface of cultural and religious pluralism may lie a deeper commonality. Music and mathematics are to be celebrated.

Life

Famous Scientists website entry on al-Farabi

Entry on al-Farabi from the Routledge Encyclopaedia of Philosophy

Writings

An analysis of his works from the Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy