ALFARABI, ABÛ NASR MUḤAMMAD IBN MUḤAMMAD. — Medieval Arab philosopher, born near Farab in Turkestan, died in Damascus in 950–51. Although of Turkish origin, he wrote his numerous works in Arabic. He studied under Christian teachers and followed Aristotelian philosophy, earning the title “the second master.” He spent most of his life in Baghdad, Aleppo, and Damascus. He was well known to Latin scholastics under the name Alfarabi or Alpharabius. He harmonized his Aristotelianism with the philosophy of Plato and sought to reconcile it with Islamic doctrines.
AL-FARADAY, MICHAEL. — Born at Newington-Burts near London on 23 Sept. 1791, died at Hampton Court on 25 Aug. 1867. He was one of the greatest scientists of all time, founder, with Volta (1745–1827) and Ampère (1775–1836), of electrology and a precursor of Maxwell (1831–79). He made numerous fundamental discoveries in magnetism, induced currents, electrochemistry, and the liquefaction of gases, and coined many of the related terms.
A deeply religious man, as “elder” (after 1840) of the very small Scottish sect of the “Sandemanians,” he successfully preached to his coreligionists: the sect believed in the divinity of Christ and regarded this faith as a gift of God, the fruit and proof of which was obedience to His law. When Cardinal Wiseman (1802–65) asked him whether the Sandemanian Church was the true Church, he replied: “I do not claim this, but I am sure that Christ is with us.”