Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī (1)
Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad, known as Abū Naṣr al-Fārābī, the Turkish philosopher.
He was among the most knowledgeable of people in music: through his craft he could sway those present—at will he might evoke tears, provoke laughter, or lull an audience to sleep. He was likewise masterful in philosophy; Ibn Sīnā acquired his understanding of the subject from al-Fārābī’s works. He held that the resurrection is purely spiritual, not bodily, and that it is reserved for learned souls while excluding the ignorant. In this and related doctrines he differed from the Muslims and from the earlier philosophers alike; upon him, if he died holding such views, is the curse of the Lord of the worlds. According to Ibn al-Athīr in his al-Kāmil (2), al-Fārābī died in Damascus. I have not found that Ḥāfiẓ Ibn ʿAsākir mentioned him in his Tārīkh; Allah knows best.

Then came the year 340 AH.

In that year the ruler of ʿUmān set out for Basra, intending to capture it with a large fleet. Abū Yaʿqūb al-Hajarī came to support him, but the vizier Abū Muḥammad al-Muhallabī barred their advance, repelled them, captured a number of their men, and seized many of their ships. He sailed the vessels up the Tigris and entered Baghdad with them in splendid procession—praise be to Allah.

During the same year a case was brought before the vizier Abū Muḥammad al-Muhallabī concerning a man from the followers of Abū Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Abī al-ʿAzaaqir—who had been executed for heresy just as al-Ḥallāj was (3). The man claimed the very things Ibn Abī al-ʿAzaaqir had claimed, and a group of Baghdad ignoramuses believed him when he asserted divinity and alleged that the spirits of the prophets and the most truthful had passed into them. Books attesting to this were found in his house. When it was confirmed that he was ruined, he professed to be a Shīʿī so as to curry favour with Muʿizz al-Dawlah ibn Būyah, who loved the Rāfiḍah—may Allah abase him. When that [about him] (4) became public, the vizier could not act against him out of fear for his own safety [from Muʿizz al-Dawlah] and lest the Shīʿah (5) rise up against him—verily we belong to Allah and to Him we return—though he did confiscate some of their wealth, referring to it as “the property of the heretics.”

Ibn al-Jawzī said: In the month of Ramadan a great turmoil broke out on account of sectarian allegiance.