Abstract
The Farabi scholar Akzhan al-Mashani, who proclaimed in Kazakhstan and Central Asia the name al-Farabi for the first time, the wise thinker of the East, occupies a unique place not only in science, but also in the world. Since the 50s of the XX century, he has been looking for documents and literature revealing the identity of al-Farabi and his creative heritage. As a result, Akzhan al-Mashani found «Kitab al-masalik wa al-Mamalik» Ibn Haukal, «Divani lukati at-Turk» M. Kashkari, «Waafiyatul a’iyanwa-anba’abna ‘al-zaman» Ibn Khallikan («Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch») and others. Main of Akzhan al-Mashani’s works «al-Farabi and musiс», «al-Farabi and Abai» tells about the medieval biographer Ibn Khallikan and his legacy. Two volumes of the unique heritage of Ibn Khallikan «Waafiyatul a’iyanwa-anba’abna ‘al-zaman» («Deaths of Eminent Men and History of the Sons of the Epoch»), noted by the first Farabi scholar Akzhan al-Mashani, are kept in the funds of the National Center of Manuscripts and rare books of Nur-Sultan.The article considers a comparative analysis of the personality of al-Farabi in the writings of Ibn Khallikan and Akzhan al-Mashani.