Who is Al-Farabi, and is it true that he was an infidel?

Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi, a Turkish philosopher, was described by Al-Dhahabi as the "Shaykh of Philosophy and the Sage," who also stated that his books, "whoever seeks guidance from them will go astray and be bewildered." He learned Arabic from Matta ibn Yunus and Yuhanna ibn Jilan. He was known to speak seventy languages and was famous for his musical prowess, with the invention of the qanun attributed to him. He was an ascetic, living on four dirhams a day provided by Ibn Hamdan. He passed away in Damascus in 339 AH, at the age of eighty.

Scholars accused Al-Farabi of disbelief due to his philosophical deviations that contradicted religious tenets. He claimed that prophecy is "the excellence of imagining spiritual realities" and that a philosopher is more perfect than a prophet. He also asserted spiritual rather than physical resurrection, and held that Allah does not know particulars. Scholars, including Ibn Taymiyyah and Ibn Kathir, unanimously declared Al-Farabi a disbeliever for his departure from the fundamental principles of Islam and his alignment with the tenets of philosophers on matters that conflict with Islam.