Al Farabi Political Philosphy: Who was this person?

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Al Farabi Political Philosphy
Al Farabi’s full name was Abu Nasr ibn Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Tarkhan ibn Uzlag Al-Farabi and this name is shortened to Alfarabi by majority of the 20th century thinkers. Al Farabi was born somewhere between 257-339 C.E. in Farab and lived up to eighty years of age. Alfarabi is often regarded as the father of philosophy in the Muslim world and his views are therefore widely regarded in the Muslim world. Although his main area of focus was music, Alfarabi left his hometown to pursue philosophy in Baghdad which was the then hub of Greek philosophy. Although Farabi is known for numerous things, his main area of focus was his views on politics and government.
Farabi’s views on politics were that human beings are unable to get the excellence that they are supposed to get outside the structure of political association. The major reason according to Farabi is that human beings are unable to exist on their own but they require regular help from those around them in order to be able to attain their perfection. This political premise as envisioned by Farabi is geared towards acquiring true happiness or towards opposite ideals such as pleasure and the attainment of wealth. For this reason, Al Farabi comes up with his virtuous city against non-virtuous city.
Al Farabi compared a perfect city to a perfect body only differing in its natural duties. The heart according to Farabi is the first rank and the other organs in the body all work towards perfecting the first rank. This function of the body is similar to the city which is served by people in lower ranks while those in the lower ranks are served by others in lower ranks all of which is meant to perfect the entire government system. According to Farabi, this function is necessary in the course of establishing an ideal society.
Of the many questions that Al Farabi tried to answer, one of the most important was what qualities the ruler should possess. According to Al Farabi, an ideal ruler should be full of rational by gaining all the knowledge that they can. According to Al Farabi, God is the ultimate leader and He is therefore capable of ruling the world. This proposition by Al Farabi means that God can rule the world and bring happiness to all flesh. God is all knowing and He is everything. If then the ruler can have the attributes of God, such a leader can make the people that he governs happy since he has a high intellect and he can understand the challenges of the people that he governs.
According to Al-Farabi, a good leader should have been born a leader and he should also have the right attitude for a leader. Such a leader according to Al Farabi should be devoid of any kind of blemish and should be good and understanding. What this means is that the leader should have the same qualities in place that he wants to see among those he is leading as this is the only way throu...