Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir

Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir (Arabic: كِتٰبَ ٱلمُوْسِيقَىٰ ٱلكَبِيرُ, transl.

The work prescribes different aspects of music such as maqamat, and is believed to be influenced by the Pythagorean theory of harmonic ratios.

The book was translated into Hebrew by Joseph ben Judah ibn Aknin.

Al-Farabi divided Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir into two treatises.

The first treatise is composed of two parts; following the Aristotelian tradition, al-Farabi split his study of music into a theoretical and practical aspect:[1] The second treatise was intended to be a commentary to the thought of previous theorists of music, but it is not extant.

Illustration from Al-Fārābī (about 870-950): Kitāb al-mūsīqī al kabīr Drawing of a musical instrument, called Shahrud