Alfarabi
Abū Naṣr Muḥammad Ibn Ṭarkhān Ibn Awzalagh al-Fārābī, otherwise known as simply "Alfarabi," was an important Islamic philosopher who lived from 872-950 AD. Widely considered to be one of the most important thinkers in Islamic cultural tradition, Alfarabi is essentially a Middle-Eastern Aristotle; he draws heavily upon both The Philosopher and Plato, and he undertakes categorical descriptions and contemplations of all parts of life, including the sciences, in the manner of Aristotle. In these works, Alfarabi takes the philosophies of the greatest Western thinkers, Plato and Aristotle, and summarizes, rephrases, and builds upon them in ways applicable to his time period and culture.
Plato
Plato, an ancient Greek philosopher who studied under Socrates, is commonly cited as one of the greatest influencers of the development of Western thought. He founded two important traditions, one philosophical and one physical: the Platonic school of thought, and the Academy (the first modern higher-education institution). Alfarabi draws heavily on Plato's philosophy, himself being labeled a Neoplatonist on certain occasions, and Plato figures heavily in most of his works. Multiple of Alfarabi's works actually directly use and characterize Plato, including "The Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle" and "Summary of Plato's Laws."
Aristotle
Aristotle is the other primary philosopher in the history of Western thought. He was Plato's pupil, but the two of them disagreed on several counts, leading to a schism between them and the founding of their separate schools of thought: Platonism and Aristotelianism. Alfarabi draws heavily upon Aristotelian philosophy as well, and he argues that Plato and Aristotle actually agreed on all the fundamental issues (a bold claim, but one for which he has good support) in his work "The Harmonization of the Two Opinions of the Two Sages: Plato the Divine and Aristotle." He also indirectly references Aristotle in "Selected Aphorisms," where he makes mention of the "Ancients" and then uses very specific pieces of wisdom from Aristotle's Nicomachean Ethics.
