Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī

Muhammad ibn Ibrahim ibn Habib ibn Sulayman ibn Samra ibn Jundab^[1] 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.^[2][3][4]

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

Biography

Al-Fazārī translated many scientific books into Arabic and Persian. He is credited to have built the first astrolabe in the Islamic world.^[5] He died in 796 or 806, possibly in Baghdad.^[6]

At the end of the 8th century, whilst at the court of the Abbasid Caliphate, al-Fazārī mentioned Ghana, "the land of gold."^[7]

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,^[8] or the Sindhind. This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the mathematical methods of Indian astronomers were transmitted to Islam.^[9]

The caliph^[which?] 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