PERSON

Ibn al-Shāṭir: ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm

Name (arabic)

ابن الشاطر: علاء الدين أبو الحسن علي بن إبراهيم

Name (translit)

Ibn al-Shāṭir: ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm

Alias

ʿAlāʾ al‐Dīn ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm
ابو الحسن على بن ابراهيم المعروف بابن الشاطر
ʿAlāʾ al-Dīn Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Ibrāhīm ibn Muḥammad al-Muṭʿim al-Anṣārī al-Falakī al-Dimashqī
Ibn al-Shatir

Born

699H/1300J

Died

761H/1360J

Born in

Lived in

Teacher of

Notes

Ibn al-Shāṭir, the long-time chief muezzin (raʾīs al-muʾadhdhinīn) and timekeeper (muwaqqit) at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, was one of the most important astronomers of pre-modern Islam, writing on a variety of topics and producing one of the most innovative astronomical systems prior to the advances of early modern Europe.

Number in MAMS

750

Biography URL

ismi_id

10017

Authored Works

36 works:

Astronomical Instruments

al-Ashiʿah al-lāmiʿah fī al-ʿamal bi-al-ālah al-jāmiʿah , الأشعة اللامعة في العمل بالآلة الجامعة
al-Barq al-lāmiʿ fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-jāmiʿ , البرق اللامع في العمل بالربع الجامع
al-Ishārāt , الإشارات
al-Ishārāt al-ʿimādiyyah fī al-mawāqīt al-sharʿiyyah , الإشارات العماديّة في المواقيت الشرعيّة
al-Nafʿ al-āmm fī ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-tāmm li-mawāqīt al-Islām , النفع الآمّ في عمل بالربع التامّ لمواقيت الإسلام
al-Rawḍāt ẓāhirāt fī al-ʿamal bi-rubʿ al-muqanṭarāt , الروضات ظاهرات في العمل بربع المقنطرات
Kashf al-mughayyab fī al-ḥisāb bi-al-rubʿ al-mujayyab , كشف المغيّب في الحساب بالربع المجيّب
Mukhtaṣar fī al-ʿamal bi-al-asṭurlāb wa-rubʿ al-muqanṭarāt wa-al-rubʿ al-mujayyab , مختصر في العمل بالأسطرلاب وربع المقنطرات والربع المجيّب
Nuzhat al-sāmiʿ fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-jāmiʿ , نزهة السامع في العمل بالربع الجامع
Risālat al-asṭurlāb (Ibn al-Shāṭir) , رسالة الأسطرلاب
Risālat al-rubʿ al-kāmil , رسالة الربع الكامل
Risālah fī al-rubʿ al-ʿAlāʾī , رسالة في الربع العلائي
Risālah fī al-ʿamal bi-al-murabbaʿah , رسالة في العمل بالمربّعة
Risālah fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-hilālī , رسالة في العمل بالربع الهلالي
Risālah fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-tāmm , رسالة في العمل بالربع التامّ
Risālah fī al-ʿamal bi-rubʿ al-shikkāziyyah , رسالة في العمل بربع الشكّازيّة
Risālah fī asmāʾ al-rusūm ʿalá al-ālah al-musammāt bi-al-asṭurlāb al-shamālī dhāt al-ṣafāʾiḥ , رسالة في أسماء الرسوم على الآلة المسمّات بالأسطرلاب الشمالي ذات الصفائح
Risālah fī uṣūl ʿilm al-asṭurlāb (Ibn al-Shāṭir) , رسالة في أصول علم الأسطرلاب
Risālah īḍāḥ al-mughayyab fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-mujayyab , رسالة إيضاح المغيّب في العمل بالربع المجيّب
Risālah mukhtaṣarah fī al-ʿamal bi-al-rubʿ al-tāmm , رسالة مختصرة في العمل بالربع التامّ
Takhbīr al-aḥbāb fī al-ḍarūrī min ʿilm al-asṭurlāb , تخبير الأحباب في الضروري من علم الأسطرلاب

Astronomical Tables/zījes

al-Zīj al-jadīd , الزيج الجديد

Astronomy: General

al-Mukhtaṣarah fī al-jayb , المختصرة في الجيب
al-Zand al-mūrī fī al-ʿamal bi-al-jayb bi-ghayr murī , الزند الموري في العمل بالجيب بغير مري
Jadwāl li-ʿarḍ 34˚ shimāl fī maʿrifat al-ghāyah wa-niṣf al-qaws al-ḥaḍīḍ , جدول لعرض ٣٤ شمال في معرفة الغاية ونصف القوس الحضيض
Risālah fī al-hayʾah al-jadīdah , رسالة في الهيئة الجديدة
Risālah fī al-ʿamal bi-daqāʾiq ikhtilāf al-āfāq al-marʾiyyah , رسالة في العمل بدقائق إختلاف الآفاق المرئيّة
Risālah fī istikhrāj al-taʾrīkh , رسالة في إستخراج التأريخ
Risālah jayb , رسالة جيب
Tuḥfat al-sāmiʿ fī mā yataʿallaqu bi-al-burūj wa-al-ṭawāliʿ , تحفة السامع في ما يتعلّق بالبروج والطوالع

References

al‐Shāṭir, Ibn. 9999. “Al‐Zīj Al‐Jadīd”. Oxford, Bodleian Library.
Nikfahm-Khubravan, Sajjad, and F. Jamil Ragep. 2019. “Ibn Al-Shāṭir”. In Encyclopaedia Of Islam, Three. Leiden: Brill.
Nikfahm-Khubravan, Sajjad, and F. Jamil Ragep. 2019. “The Mercury Models Of Ibn Al-Šāṭir And Copernicus”. Arabic Sciences And Philosophy 29: 1-59.
King, David. 2007. “Ibn Al‐Shāṭir: ʿAlāʾ Al‐Dīn ʿAlī Ibn Ibrāhīm”. In The Biographical Encyclopedia Of Astronomers, 569-70. New York: Springer.
King, David. 2004. In Synchrony With The Heavens: Studies In Astronomical Timekeeping And Instrumentation In Medieval Islamic Civilization. 2 vol.. Leiden; Boston: E. J. Brill.

Vol. 1 (2004): The Call of the Muezzin (Studies I-IX), II-9.3. Vol 2 (2005): Instruments of Mass Calculation, XIVb-4 and 8.

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.

Pp. 254-56 (no. 750).

King, David, Sophie Cluzan, Eric Delpont, and Jeanne Mouliérac. 1993. “L'astronomie En Syrie À L'époque Islamique”. In Syrie : Mémoire Et Civilisation. Paris: Institut du monde arabe; Flammarion.

Pp. 391-92, 435, 439.

Saliba, George. 1987. “Theory And Observation In Islamic Astronomy: The Work Of Ibn Al-Shāṭir Of Damascus”. Journal For The History Of Astronomy 18 (1): 35-43.

Reprinted in: "A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories during the Golden Age of Islam." New York: New York University Press, 1994, pp. 233-41.

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

Pp. 61-3 (no. C30).

Kennedy, Edward, David King, and Mary Kennedy. 1983. Studies In The Islamic Exact Sciences. Beirut: American University of Beirut.

Contains reprints of all of the early studies of Ibn al‐Shāṭir's planetary theory.

King, David. 1983. “The Astronomy Of The Mamluks”. Isis 74 (4): 531-555.

Reprinted in: "Islamic Mathematical Astronomy," III. London: Variorum Reprints, 1986; 2nd revised edition, Aldershot: Variorum, 1993.

King, David, and Louis Janin. 1977. “Ibn Al-Shāṭir's Ṣandūq Al‐Yawāqīt: An Astronomical 'Compendium'”. Journal For The History Of Arabic Science 1: 187-256 (& 23 plates).

Reprinted in: "Islamic Astronomical Instruments," XII. London: Variorum Reprints, 1987. Reprinted again in: Aldershot: Variorum, 1995.

Kennedy, Edward, and Imad Ghanim. 1976. The Life And Work Of Ibn Al-Shāṭir: An Arab Astronomer Of The Fourteenth Century. Aleppo: Institute for History of Arabic Science; University of Aleppo.
Gillispie, Charles, and David King. 1975. “Ibn Al-Shāṭir”. In Dictionary Of Scientific Biography, 12:357-364. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Janin, Louis. 1972. “Le Cadran Solaire De La Mosquée Umayyade À Damas”. Centaurus 16: 285-298.

Reprinted in: Kennedy, Edward Stewart and Imad Ghanim, eds. The Life and Work of Ibn al-Shāṭir: An Arab Astronomer of the Fourteenth Century. Aleppo: Institute for History of Arabic Science; University of Aleppo, 1976, pp. 107-121.

Hartner, Willy. 1971. “Trepidation And Planetary Theories: Common Features In Late Islamic And Early Renaissance Astronomy”. In Oriente E Occidente Nel Medioevo: Filosofia E Scienze, 609-629. Rome: Accademia nazionale dei Lincei.

Fondazione Alessandro Volta, Atti dei convegni, Vol. 13.

Kennedy, Edward. 1956. “A Survey Of Islamic Astronomical Tables”. Transactions Of The American Philosophical Society 46, pt. 2: 121-177.
Schmalzl, Peter. 1929. Zur Geschichte Des Quadranten Bei Den Arabern. München: Druck der Salesianischen Offizin.

Partly reprinted in: Kennedy, Edward Stewart and Imad Ghanim, eds. The Life and Work of Ibn al-Shāṭir: An Arab Astronomer of the Fourteenth Century. Aleppo: Institute for History of Arabic Science; University of Aleppo, 1976, pp. 27-35.