The Great Book of Music

Alongside his vast knowledge and fame, he was humble, high-minded, and lived as an ascetic in this world, content with only what was necessary to sustain him; he followed the path of the ancient philosophers. It is said that he was once asked: "Are you more knowledgeable, or is Aristotle?" He replied: "Had I lived in his time, I would have been the greatest of his students."

When his writings multiplied and his fame spread, Prince Sayf al-Dawla Abu al-Hasan Ali ibn Abd Allah ibn Hamdan al-Taghlibi The Hamdanid ruler of Aleppo and Damascus, famous for his patronage of scholars and poets. summoned him to Damascus. He met with him, honored him, and brought him into his inner circle, as the Prince held him in high regard. Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah Ibn Abi Usaybi’ah (died 1290 CE) was a physician and historian who wrote the most famous biographical dictionary of doctors and scientists in the medieval era.—who died in the year 688 AH—stated in his book, The Essential Information on the Classes of Physicians: "I copied from the handwriting of certain masters that Abu Nasr al-Farabi traveled to Egypt in the year 338 AH Approximately 949 CE. and returned to Damascus, where he died in the month of Rajab in the year 339 AH Approximately January 951 CE.. He was under the protection of Sayf al-Dawla Ali ibn Hamdan during the caliphate of al-Radi. Sayf al-Dawla himself performed the funeral prayer for him, accompanied by fifteen of his closest courtiers." It is said that al-Farabi would not accept from the wealth Sayf al-Dawla offered him more than four silver Dirhams A silver coin used as currency in the Islamic world per day, which he spent on the absolute necessities of life. He never pursued worldly comforts at all; it is noted that he used to go out at night to the station of the city guards so that he might read by the light of their lamps.

Al-Farabi produced many works on logic and all the theoretical sciences, though the majority were in the field of logic. In these works, he provided commentary on all of the books of "Aristotle," which include:

• The Book of Syllogism, also called: Prior Analytics original: "Analytica al-Ula".
• The Demonstration, also called: Posterior Analytics original: "Analytica al-Thaniya".
• The Dialectic original: "Al-Jadal," referring to Aristotle's Topics..
• The Interpretation original: "Al-Ibarah," referring to Aristotle's De Interpretatione..