Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir (Arabic:كِتٰبَ ٱلمُوْسِيقَىٰ ٱلكَبِيرُ,transl. the Great Book of Music) is a treatise onmusic inArabic by theIslamic Golden Era Persian philosopheral-Farabi (872–950/951).

The work prescribes different aspects of music such asmaqamat, and is believed to be influenced by thePythagorean theory ofharmonic ratios.

The book was translated intoHebrew byJoseph ben Judah ibn Aknin.

Al-Farabi divided Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir into twotreatises.

The first treatise is composed of two parts; following theAristotelian tradition, al-Farabi split his study of music into atheoretical and practical aspect:^[1]

• The first part, which consists of twodiscourses, is an introduction which establishes the theoretical principles of music and investigation into howsound is generated.
• The second part applies the theoretical principles established in the first part to themusical instruments that were in use during al-Farabi’s time, while also discussingmusical intervals and different kinds ofmelodies.

The second treatise was intended to be acommentary to the thought of previoustheorists of music, but it is not extant.^[2][3]

• World Music: Arab Classical atNational Geographic

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