Farabi

In his autobiographical texts—preserved by Ibn Abi Useybia—Farabi states that he studied logic in Baghdad alongside the Christian scholar Yuhanna bin Haylan. Farabi specifies that the books included in the curriculum were Porphyry’s *Isagoge* and the books *Categories*, *On Interpretation*, *First Analytic*, and *Second Analytic* from Aristotle’s *Organon*, a six-volume work on logic. Al-Farabi likely studied Aristotelian logic alongside his teacher John in Baghdad. According to the Arab historian Al-Mas’ud, John died in Baghdad during the caliphate of Al-Muktadir (908–932). In addition, it is said that he received instruction in logic from Abu Bishr Metta (d. 940), one of the translators of Aristotle’s works into Arabic. During this period, the Baghdad School was the principal heir to the Alexandrian tradition of medicine and philosophy in the Arab world, and al-Farabi’s association with these Christian scholars constitutes one of the earliest connections between the Islamic world and Greek philosophy. Some sources state that al-Farabi arrived in Baghdad at the age of 40 and learned Arabic there within a few months. There is actually no contradiction in al-Farabi taking grammar (nahw) lessons from Ibn Sarraj and, in return, teaching him logic. In his later works, al-Farabi compiled comprehensive lists of prepositions in Arabic and sought to expand the Arabic language so that all logical arguments could be expressed within it.