Alfarabi
(d. 954.) An adept of remarkable gifts and an extensive knowledge of all the sciences; born at Othrar ( or, as it was then called, Faral), in Asia Minor. His name was Abou-Nasr-Mohammed-Ibn-Tarkaw, but he received, from the town of his birth, his better-known appellation of Farabi, or Alfarabi. Though he was of Turkish extraction, a desire to perfect himself in Arabic, led him to Bagdad, where he assiduously studied the Greek philosophers under Abou Bachar Maltey. He next stayed for a time in Hanan, where he learned logic from a Christian physician. Having far surpassed his fellow-scholars, he left Hanan and drifted at last to Egypt. During his wanderings he came in contact with all the most learned philosophers of his time, and himself wrote books on philosophy, mathematics, astromony, and other sciences, besides acquiring proficiency in seventy languages. His treatise on music, proving the connection of sound with atmospheric vibrations, and mocking the Pythagorean theory of the music of the spheres, attained some celebrity. Alis de Telieux He gained the good-will and patronage of the Sultan of Syria in a somewhat curious fashion. While passing through Syria he visited the court of the Sultan, who was at that moment surrounded by grave doctors and astrologers, who were discussing abstruse scientific points with the potentate. Alfarabi entered the presence of the Sultan in his stained and dusty travelling attire (he had been on a pilgrimage to Mecca), and when the prince bade him be seated, he, either unaware of, or indifferent to the etiquette of court life, sat down boldly on a corner of the royal sofa. The monarch, unused to such an informal proceeding, spoke in a little-known tongue to a courtier, and bade him remove the presumptuous philosopher. The latter, however, astonished him by replying in the same language: "
Sire, he who acts hastily, in haste repents." The Sultan, becoming interested in his unconventional guest, questioned him curiously, and learned of the seventy languages and other accomplishments of Alfarabi. The sages who were present were also astounded at his wide learning. When the prince called at length for some music, Alfarabi accompanied the musicians on a lute with such marvellous skill and grace that the entire company was charmed. When he struck up a lively measure, the gravest sages could not but dance to it. When he changed the melody to a softer lilt, tears sparkled in every eye, and at last, with a gentle lullaby, he put the court to sleep. The Sultan wished to keep such a valuable philosopher about his court, and some say that Alfarabi accepted his patronage and died peacefully in Syria. Others, again, maintain that he informed the Sultan that he would never rest till he had discovered the secret of the Philosophers' stone, which he believed himself on the point of finding. These say that he set out, but was attacked and killed by robbers in the woods of Syria.