Abstract

Taking into account the fact that one of the most voluminous works of Abu Nasr al-Farabi is the treatise “Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir – The Great Book of Music” (The Grand Book of Music), the article rises a question “why Abu Nasr al-Farabi, who is the founder of Oriental music, is not known to the world as a qualified musician?” and why was he called “al-Muallim as-Sani – المعلم الثاني” (The Second Teacher).

It is also proved by examples that this sobriquet “al-Muallim as-sani – المعلم الثاني” (The second teacher) in the Kazakh language is given as “Ekinshi ustaz”. Therefore, analyzing the etymology of the words “mugalim” and “ustaz” in Arabic and Kazakh, it explains why in Arabic he was called “al-Muallim as-Sani – the Second Teacher”.

The article analyzes two different points of view regarding the designation of Abu Nasr al-Farabi “al-Muallim al-Sani – المعلم الثاني” (The Second Teacher). Each of them is followed by the use of collecting written sources, differentiation, historical comparison methods.

Keywords: Al-Farabi, al-Muallim as-sani, translation, written sources, manuscript, treatise