These variants in the basic facts about Fārābī’s origins and pedigree indicate that they were not recorded during his lifetime or soon thereafter by anyone with concrete information, but were rather based on hearsay or probable guesses. When in the 7th/13th century Fārābī’s ethnic origin was made into an issue by the biographers, dogmatic statements without acknowledgment of source begin to appear… Ultimately pointless as the quest for Fārābī’s ethnic origins might be, the fact remains that we do not have sufficient evidence to decide the matter»
