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Abū Manṣūr Muwaffaq Harawī (4th/10th and 5th/11th centuries), a Persian physician, pharmacologist and author of the earliest available work in Persian on pharmacology under the title al-Abniya ʿan ḥaqāʾiq al-adwiya. All our information about Abū Manṣūr's life is derived from this book. A number of scholars have suggested that Abū Manṣūr's reference to al-amīr al-musaddad al-muʾayyad al-Manṣūr (…

Banū al-Munajjim, or Āl al-Munajjim, the name given to the family descended from Ibn Abī Manṣūr, a Persian court astrologer ( …

Bayt al-Ḥikma (‘House of Wisdom’), or Khizānat al-Ḥikma (‘Store-house of Wisdom’), was a library in Baghdad that functioned during the ʿAbbāsid era from the end of Hārūn al-Rashīd’s rule (r. 170–194/786–809) through al-Maʾmūn’s reign (r. 198–218/813–833) and up to the time of al-Muʿtaṣim (r. 218–227/833–842) (Pinto, 223). Only a small number of the books held in it survived, albeit dispersed from the 4th/10th century onwards.The picture provided by the early sources with respect to the Bayt al-Ḥikma and the way it functioned is markedly different to the picture currently painted by most modern scholars. Nearly everything written by recent authors is based upon conjecture rather than on authentic sources, either comparing the Bayt al-Ḥikma to the academies of the classical Greco-Roman world or modelling it on a modern conception of academic centres. The Bayt al-Ḥikma is described as a highly organised and extensive state institution during the first period of ʿAbbāsid rule.…

Abū al-Fatḥ al-Iṣfahānī, Maḥmūd b. Qāsim b. al-Faḍl (d. after 513/1119) was an Iranian mathematician. Some sources refer to him by the name Muḥammad b. al-Qāsim (Suter, 98; Steinschneider, 184; cf. Qurbānī, 92). It is known that some time around 513/1119 he was in Yazd staying at the court of ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla Abū Kālījār Garshāsp b. ʿAlāʾ al-Dawla Amīr ʿAlī, one of the kings of the Kākūyid dynasty, during which time Abū al-Fatḥ wrote for him (Abū al-Fatḥ, fol. 3a, and last fol.). Abū al-Fatḥ's name rarely appears in the writings of Muslim mathematicians. Moreover, he remained un…

Abū Barza, al-Faḍl b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbd al-Ḥamīd b. Wāsiʿ b. Turk al-Khuttalī was a Muslim mathematician of the late 3rd/9th to early 4th/10th century and a contemporary of Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ b. Aslam (q.v.). He was from Khuttal, a region around the sources of the Oxus River, to the south of Farghāna and west of Chinese Turkistan; certain sources refer to him as the grandson of Turk al-Jīlī instead of Turk al-Khu…

Abū Sahl al-Masīḥī, ʿĪsā b. Yaḥyā al-Masīḥī al-Jurjānī (d. after 400/1010), was a Persian polymath who wrote on physics, philosophy, astronomy and mathematics. There is little information on his life, with the only major source being Niẓāmī ʿArūḍī (pp. 118–121). Despite the fact that ʿArūḍī's account was repeated by later historians (Mīrkhwānd, 7/465–466; Khwāndamīr, 2/444; Ghaffārī, 114–115) and has been relied on by many modern scholars, it is not entirely consonant with other historical events of his age. In addition to ʿArūḍī's account, there are brief report…

Abū Isḥāq al-Kūbunānī, Abū Isḥāq b. ʿAbd Allāh Kūbunānī Yazdī (d. after 886/1481), was a Persian mathematician, astronomer and man of letters. In a manuscript of one of his works, he is referred to as ‘Abū Isḥāq Shaykhzādah b. al-Khādim al-Burhānī al-Kūbunānī’ ( Ḥall masʾala…

Banū al-Munajjim, or Āl al-Munajjim, the name given to the family descended from Ibn Abī Manṣūr, a Persian court astrologer ( munajjim) and mathematician who embraced Islam during the reign of the seventh ʿAbbāsid caliph al-Maʾmūn (r. 198–218/813–833). Over five generations the Banū al-Munajjim made their mark at the ʿAbbāsid court, initially in the field of astrology and the mathematical sciences, but later in music as well as literature and Arabic poetry.The original ancestor of the family, Abān Ḥasīs or Fīrūzān (known as Abū Manṣūr), who claimed descent from the…

Dāwūd al-Anṭākī, Dāwūd b. ʿUmar al-Anṭākī (d. in Mecca 1007 or 1008/1598 or 1599), was a famous physician and man of letters from Antioch (Anṭākiya). Although he was blind from birth, thus being known as ‘al-Ḍarīr’ (the blind), he was also known as ‘al-Baṣīr’…

In Baghdad, al-Būzjānī quickly became prominent at the Būyid court and was appointed head of the salon ( naqīb al-majlis wa murattib al-qawm) at ʿIzz al-Dawla Bakhtiyār’s court (Abū Ḥayyān, Mathālib, 137–139). According to al-Bīrūnī, this Būyid ruler’s patronage enabled al-Būzjānī to make most of his astronomical observations at Bāb al-Tibn in Baghdad, between the years 365–366/976–977 (al-Bīrūnī, Taḥdīd, 100, idem, al-Qānūn 2/654, 658).Al-Qifṭī states that al-Būzjānī remained in Baghdad his entire life (p. 288), but it is not unlikely that, after the captu…

Abū al-Maḥāmid al-Ghaznawī, Ẓahīr al-Ḥaqq or Ẓahīr al-Dīn Abū al-Maḥāmid Muḥammad b. Masʿūd b. Muḥammad al-Zakī al-Adīb al-Ghaznawī (alive in 549/1154), was a renowned Persian astronomer, and author of the well-known Kifāyat al-taʿlīm in Persian, as well as a competent physician and philosopher. He has frequently been confused with Sharaf al-Dīn Muḥammad al…

Al-Bīrūnī as Researcher and ScientistAbū al-Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī frequently characterises himself as a ‘servant of knowledge’ ( khādim al-ʿilm), and expresses his gratitude for his good fortune in being able to pursue scientific enquiries from his youth ( al-Qānūn, 1/3). In his view, one must not distinguish between the various branches of knowledge, but rather recognise knowledge ( ʿilm), whether in an absolute or relative sense, as a high and noble calling that brings continual, even…

Abū al-Fatḥ Gīlānī, Masīḥ al-Dīn, sonof ʿAbd al-Razzāq (954–27 Ramaḍān 997/1547–30 July 1589) was a Persian physician and man of letters who, soon after travelling to India, entered the court of Akbar, the Mughal emperor, and rose through the ranks to reach the position of minister and secretary for several of the provinces of India. Our knowledge of his life before he went to India is limited to an account by ʿAbd al-Bāqī Nahāwandī, a contemporary historian. In addition to the extensive informati…

Dissection and Anatomy (Tashr ī ḥ ), a technical term in Islamic medicine which is used somewhat ambiguously to refer to both dissection and anatomy. In the fifth chapter ( taʿlīm) of the first part ( fann) of the first Book of Ibn Sīnā’s medical encyclopaedia al- Q ā nūn …

In its wider connotation, in addition to providing a clear system of ‘dividing time into successive periods’, taqwīm refers to important events that mark the basis of keeping count of the years, which in English is expressed by the term ‘era’. In early texts up until the 12th/16th century, however, the word …

Baghdad, both a historic province and a city in Iraq, and today the country’s capital. 1. Geography In its heyday, Baghdad was one of the richest centres of Muslim civilisation. The city was ravaged numerous times throughout history due to both internal conflict and invasion. During the last several decades the population of Baghdad has dramatically increased; totalling 350,000 in 1932, it reached 5,785,577 in 2007 (al-Samāwī, 83). In 2010, the total population of Baghdad province was estimated to be 7,716,960 (al-Atraqji, 162–163). A majority of Baghdad’s population are Muslim Arabs, with a large Christian minority. Apart from Arabs, the main ethnic groups represented are Kurds, Armenians and Indian and Afghan migrants. The city also had a large …

(ʿOMAR ḴAYYĀM, 1048-1131), celebrated polymath and poet, author of the Rubaiyat (Robāʿiāt). A version of this article is available in print Volume XVI, Fascicle 5, pp. 450-511 KHAYYAM, OMAR (ABU’L-FATḤ ʿOMAR B. EBRĀHIM ḴAYYĀM NIŠĀPURI, b. ca. 439/1048; d. ca. 517/1123), celebrated polymath and poet, author of the Robāʿiyāt (Quatrains). In the following articles, ro…