PERSON

Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī

Name (arabic)

أبو العبّاس أحمد بن محمد بن كثير الفرغاني

Name (translit)

Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī

Alias

احمد بن محمّد ابن كثير
Alfragano
Aḥmad al-Farghānī
Muḥammad ibn Kathīr
Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn Kathīr
Alfraganus
Farghānī

Flourished

Died

246H/860J

Born in

Lived in

Died in

Notes

An astronomer/engineer affiliated with the 9th-c. Baghdad Abbasid court. He is associated with the construction of the Great [or New] Nilometer at Old Cairo (completed 861). His descriptive compendium on the science of the stars became a popular and influential work in medieval Europe.

Number in MAMS

67

Biography URL

ismi_id

100957

Authored Works

9 works:

Astronomical Instruments

al-Kāmil fī ṣanʿat al-asṭurlāb , الكامل في صنعة الأسطرلاب
Kitāb ʿamal al-rukhāmāt , كتاب عمل الرخامات

Astronomical Tables/zījes

Jadwal al-Farghānī , جدول الفرغاني
Jadwal al-Farghānī ʿalá quṭr al-jadī , جدول الفرغاني على قطر الجدي
Taʿlīl li-al-zīj al-Khwārizmī , تعليل للزيج الخوارزمي

Astronomy: General

Bāb fī maʿrifat al-awqāt allatī yakūn al-qamar fīhā fawq al-arḍ aw taḥtahā , باب في معرفة الأوقات التي يكون القمر فيها فوق الأرض أو تحتها
Ḥisāb al-aqālim al-sabʿah , حساب الأقاليم السبعة
Jawāmiʿ ʿilm al-nujūm , جوامع علم النجوم

Geography: Practical

Asmāʾ al-mudun wa-al-buldān al-maʿrūfah , أسماء المدن والبلدان المعروفة

References

Ragep, Sally. 2016. Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ: An Islamic Introduction to Ptolemaic Astronomy. New York: Springer-Verlag.
DeYoung, Gregg. 2007. “Farghānī: Abū Al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad Ibn Muḥammad Ibn Kathīr Al-Farghānī”. In The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, ed. Thomas Hockey, 1:357. New York: Springer-Verlag.
Rozenfeld, Boris, and Ekmeleddin İhsanoğlu. 2003. Mathematicians, Astronomers and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and Their Works (7th-19th c.). Istanbul: Research Centre for Islamic History, Art, and Culture.

P. 32 (no. 67).

Sezgin, Fuat. 2000. Geschichte Der Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 10, Mathematische Geographie Und Kartographie Im Islam Und Ihr Fortleben Im Abendland. Historische Darstellung,1. Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften.
Abdukhalimov, Bahrom. 1999. “Aḥmad Al-Farghānī and His Compendium of Astronomy”. Journal of Islamic Studies 10 (2): 142-58.
Bouzid, Ahmed. 1997. “Al-Farghānī”. In Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures, ed. Helaine Selin, 331. Dordrecht, the Netherlands: Springer-Verlag.
Brockelmann, Carl. 1996. Geschichte Der Arabischen Litteratur (GAL). 5 vol. Leiden; New York: E. J. Brill.

Suppl. 1, pp. 392-93.

King, David. 1986. A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library. Winona Lake, IN: Eisenbrauns; The American Research Center in Egypt.

P. 34.

Suter, Heinrich. 1986. Beiträge Zur Geschichte Der Mathematik Und Astronomie Im Islam: Nachdruck Seiner Schriften Aus Den Jahren 1892-1922. Ed. Fuat Sezgin. 2 vol. Frankfurt am Main: Institut für Geschichte der Arabisch-Islamischen Wissenschaften an der Johann Wolfgang Goethe-Universität.

Vol. 1, pp. 1-314.

Rozenfeld, Boris. 1985. “Vydayushchiysya Sredneaziatskiy Uchenyy Fergani”. Obshchestvennyye Nauki Uzbekistane 6: 29-37.
King, David. 1983. Al-Khwārizmī and New Trends in Mathematical Astronomy in the Ninth Century.. Occasional Papers on the Near East. New York: New York University, Hagop Kevorkian Center for Near Eastern Studies.
Matvievskaya, Galina, and Boris Rozenfeld. 1983. Matematiki I Astronomy Musulmanskogo Srednevekovya I Ikh Trudi, VIII-XVII Vv [Mathematicians and Astronomers of the Muslim Middle Ages and Their Works, VIII-XVII Centuries]. 3 vol. Moscow: Nauka.

Vol. 2, pp. 55-58 (no. 39).

Sezgin, Fuat. 1978. Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 6, Astronomie Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Pp. 149-51.

Rozenfeld, Boris, and N. Sergeeva. 1977. “Ob Astronomicheskikh Traktatakh Al-Khorezmi [Al-Khwarizimi’s Astronomical Treatises]”. Istoriko-Astronomicheskie Issledovaniia 13: 201-18.
Sezgin, Fuat. 1974. Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums (GAS), Vol. 5, Mathematik Bis Ca. 430 H. Leiden: E. J. Brill.

Pp. 259-60.

Sergeeva, N. 1973. Astronomicheskiye Trudy Al-Khorezmi I Al-Fergani. Avtoreferat Dissertatsii Na Soiskanie Uchenoy Stepeni Kandidata Arkhitektury, Istoricheskikh, Meditsinskikh, Pedagogicheskiikh, Filologicheskikh, Fiziko-Matematicheskikh, Filosofskikh Nauk.
Sergeeva, N. 1973. “Astronomicheskiye Tablitsy Al-Khorezmi”. In Trudy Nauchnoy Konferentsii Aspirantov I Mladshikh Nauchnykh Sotrudnikov Instituta Istorii Yestestvoznaniya I Tekhniki AN SSSR (sektsiya Istorii Matematiki I Mekhaniki. Sektsiya Istorii Fiziki), 16:35-42.
Kennedy, Edward. 1973. A Commentary Upon Bīrūnī’s "Kitāb Taḥdīd al‐Amākin": An 11th Century Treatise on Mathematical Geography. Beirut: American University of Beirut.
Gillispie, Charles, and Abdelhamid Sabra. 1971. “Al‐Farghānī”. In Dictionary of Scientific Biography, 4:541-45. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons.

Overview of what is known of Farghānī's life and work, and an introduction to the secondary literature. Includes a survey of the chapter titles of Farghānī's compendium. This follows the more extensive summary in J. B. J. Delambre, "Histoire de l'astronomie du moyen âge," Paris, 1819, pp. 63-73.

Rozenfeld, Boris, and N. Sergeeva. 1971. “Ob Astronomicheskikh Traktatakh Al-Fargani”. Trans. I. Dobrovol’skiy. Istoriko-Astronomicheskiye Issledovaniya 2: 191-210.
Sergeeva, N. 1970. “Traktat Al-Fergani Ob Astrolyabii”. In Trudy Nauchnoy Konferentsii Aspirantov I Mladshikh Nauchnykh Sotrudnikov Instituta Istorii Yestestvoznaniya I Tekhniki AN SSSR (sektsiya Istorii Matematiki I Mekhaniki. Sektsiya Istorii Fiziki), 12:44-47.
Al-Bīrūnī, Abū. 1967. The Determination of the Coordinates of Positions for the Correction of Distances Between Cities; A Translation from the Arabic of Kitāb taḥdīd nihāyāt Al-amākin Li-taṣḥīḥ masāfāt Al-masākin. Trans. Jamil Ali. Beirut: The American University of Beirut.

Pp. 179-82.

Gines, Juan, and Heinrich Suter. 1965. “Al-Farghānī”. In Encyclopaedia of Islam, New Edition, 2:793. Leiden: E.J. Brill.
Hasanov, Hamidulla. 1963. “Voprosy Geograficheskogo Rayonirovaniya Zemli V Trudakh Abu Rayhana Biruni”. Izv. Uzb. Filiala Geograf. Obshchestva SSSR 7: 107-11.
Krachkovsky, Ignaty. 1957. “Arabskaya Geograficheskaya Literatura”. In Izbrannye Sochineniya. Vol. 4. Moscow-Leningrad.

Pp. 86-88.

Carmody, Francis. 1956. Arabic Astronomical and Astrological Sciences in Latin Translation: A Critical Bibliography. Berkeley: University of California Press.

It discusses the Latin translation of Farghānī's treatise and show something of the extent of its influence through the number of surviving manuscripts and studies, p. 113-16.

Suter, Heinrich. 1956. “Ferganî”. In İslâm Ansiklopedisi, 4:565. Ankara: Milli Eğitim Gençlik ve Spor Bakanlığı Yayınları.
Mieli, Aldo. 1943. “Abu Al-Farag Yuhanna Ibn Al-ʿIbrī Al-Malaṭī (Barhebraeus)”. Archeion 25 (1): 56-63.
Carmody, Francis. 1943. Alfragani Differentie in Quibusdam Collectis Scientie Astrorum. Berkeley.

An edition of the Latin translation of John of Seville.

Kapp, A. 1935. “Arabische Übersetzer Und Kommentatoren Euklids, Sowie Deren Math.-Naturwiss. Werke Auf Grund Des Ta’rīkh Al-Ḥukamā’ Des Ibn Al-Qifṭī: III”. Isis 24 (1): 37-79.

Vol. 3, p. 38-39.