Al-Farabi (/ˌælfəˈrɑːbi/; Persian: ابونصر محمد بن محمد فارابی‎‎ Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Fārābī; for other recorded variants of his name see below) , known in the West as Alpharabius (c. 872 in Fārāb – between 14 December, 950 and 12 January, 951 in Damascus), was a renowned philosopher and jurist who wrote in areas of political philosophy, metaphysics, ethics and logic.