Al-Samawal al-Maghribi

Not to be confused with Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya.

Al-Samawʾal ibn Yaḥyā al-Maghribī (Arabic: السموأل بن يحيى المغربي, c. 1130 – c. 1180), commonly known as Samawʾal al-Maghribi, was a mathematician, astronomer and physician.^[1] Born to a Jewish family of North African origin, he concealed his conversion to Islam for many years for fear of offending his father, then openly embraced Islam in 1163 after he had a dream telling him to do so.^[2] His father was a rabbi from North Africa named Yehuda ibn Abūn.^[3][4]

Samauʼal Al-Maghribī
Born	c. 1130 Baghdad, Abbasid Caliphate
Died	c. 1180 Maragheh, Ahmadili Azerbaijan
Academic background
Influences	Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī
Academic work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Main interests	Mathematics, Medicine

Al-Samaw-al Polynomial. Illustration of the al-Bahir fi'l-Jabr "The Brilliant in Algebra" from the 12th century.

Mathematics

Al-Samaw'al wrote the mathematical treatise al-Bahir fi'l-jabr, meaning "The brilliant in algebra", at the age of nineteen.

He also used the two basic concepts of mathematical induction, though without stating them explicitly. He used this to extend results for the binomial theorem up to n=12 and Pascal's triangle previously given by al-Karaji.^[5]

Polemics

He also wrote a famous polemic book in Arabic debating Judaism known as Ifḥām al-Yahūd (Confutation of the Jews). A Latin tract translated from Arabic and later translated into many Western languages, titled Epistola Samuelis Marrocani ad R. Isaacum contra errores Judaeorum, claims to be authored by a certain R. Samuel of Fez "about the year 1072" and is erroneously connected with him.^[6][7][8]