Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari
Died	796 or 806 possibly Baghdad
Occupation(s)	Philosopher, mathematician, astronomer
Era	Islamic Golden Age

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib ibn Sulayman ibn Samra ibn Jundab al-Fazari (Arabic: محمد بن إبراهيم بن حبيب بن سليمان بن سمرة بن جندب الفزاري) (died 796 or 806) was an Arab philosopher, mathematician and astronomer.

Biography

Al-Fazārī translated many scientific books into Arabic and Persian. He is credited to have built the first astrolabe in the Islamic world. He died in 796 or 806, possibly in Baghdad.

At the end of the 8th century, whilst at the court of the Abbasid Caliphate, al-Fazārī mentioned Ghana, "the land of gold."

Works

Along with Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq, al-Fazārī helped translate the 7th century Indian astronomical text by Brahmagupta, the Brāhmasphuṭasiddhānta, into Arabic as 'Zij as-SindhindAz-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab, or the Sindhind. This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the mathematical methods of Indian astronomers were transmitted to Islam.

The caliph ordered al-Fazārī to translate the Indian astronomical text, The Sindhind, along with Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq, which was completed in Baghdad about 750, and entitled Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab. This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the Hindu numeral system (the modern number notation) was transmitted from India to Iran.

Al-Fazari composed various astronomical writings ("On the astrolabe", "On the armillary spheres", "on the calendar").

See also

• Hindu and Buddhist contribution to science in medieval Islam

Sources

• van Bladel, Kevin (2015). "Eighth-Century Indian Astronomy in the Two Cities of Peace". In Sadeghi, Behnam; Ahmed, Asad Q.; Silverstein, Adam J.; Hoyland, Robert G. (eds.). Islamic Cultures, Islamic Contexts Essays In Honor Of Professor Patricia Crone. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 978-90042-5-201-1.
• Frye, Richard N. (2000). The Golden Age of Persia. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 1842120115.
• Kennedy, Edward Stewart (1956). "A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables". Transactions of the American Philosophical Society. New Series. 46 (2). Philadelphia: American Philosophical Society: 123–177. doi:10.2307/1005726. hdl:2027/mdp.39076006359272. ISSN 0065-9746. JSTOR 1005726.
• Levtzion, Nehemia (1973). Ancient Ghana and Mali. New York: Methuen & Co Ltd. ISBN 0841904316.
• Montgomery, Scott L. (2000). Science in Translation: Movements of Knowledge through Cultures and Time. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-02265-3-481-7.
• Samsó, Julio (2016). "al-Fazārī". Encyclopedia of Islam (3rd ed.). pp. 91–93 – via Academia.
• Sarton, George (1962). Introduction to the History of Science. Vol. 1. Baltimore, Maryland: Published for the Carnegie Institution of Washington, by the Williams & Wilkins Co. OCLC 1157182492.
• Suter, Heinrich (1900). Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber und ihre Werke (in German). Leipzig: Teubner. OCLC 230703086.

Further reading

• Cantor, Moritz (1880). Vorlesungen über Geschichte der Mathematik. Vol. 1. Leipzig: B.G. Teubner. pp. 597–598. OCLC 1348147344.
• Plofker, Kim (2007). "Fazārī: Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī". In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 362–363. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. (PDF version)
• Pingree, David (1970). "The Fragments of the Works of Al-Fazari". Journal of Near Eastern Studies. 29 (2). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press: 103–123. doi:10.1086/372055. JSTOR 543820. S2CID 68991124.
• Pingree, David; Gillispie, Charles Coulston (1981). "Al-Fazārī, Muḥammad Ibn Ibrāhīm". In Holmes, Frederick Lawrence (ed.). Complete Dictionary of Scientific Biography. Vol. 4. New York: Scribner's. OCLC 755137603.