Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi

"Ibn al-Banna" redirects here. For the 11th-century author and diarist, see Abu Ali ibn al-Banna.

Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī (Arabic: ابن البناء المراكشي), full name: Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi al-Marrakushi (Arabic: أبو العباس أحمد بن محمد بن عثمان الأزدي) (29 December 1256 – 31 July 1321), was an Arab Muslim polymath who was active as a mathematician, astronomer, Islamic scholar, Sufi and astrologer.^[3][4]

Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī
Born	29 or 30 December 1256 Marrakech, Almohad Caliphate[1][2]
Died	31 July 1321 Marrakech, Marinid Sultanate
Academic background
Influences	Al-Zarqali, Ibn Ishaq al-Tunisi
Academic work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Main interests	Mathematics, astronomy

Biography

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman was born in the Qa'at Ibn Nahid Quarter of Marrakesh on 29 or 30 December 1256.^[2][3] His nisba al-Marrakushi is in relation to his birth and death in his hometown Marrakesh and al azdi means he was from the big arab tribe Azd. His father was a mason thus the kunya Ibn al-Banna' (lit. the son of the mason).^[5]

Ibn al-Banna' studied a variety of subjects under at least 17 masters: Quran under the Qari's Muhammad ibn al-bashir and shaykh al-Ahdab. ʻilm al-ḥadīth under qadi al-Jama'a (chief judge) of Fez َAbu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Ahmad ibn Hakam al-Tujibi, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Jazuli and Abu abd allah ibn. Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh under Abu Imran Musa ibn Abi Ali az-Zanati al-Marrakushi and Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Maghili who taugh him al-Juwayni's Kitab al-Irsahd. He also studied Arabic grammar under Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Abd as-Salam as-Sanhaji and Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yahya as-sharif al-marrakushi who also taugh him Euclid’s Elements. ʿArūḍ and ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ under Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Idris ibn Malik al-Quda'i al-Qallusi. Arithmetic under Muhammad ibn Ali, known as Ibn Ḥajala. Ibn al-Banna' also studied astronomy under Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Makhluf as-Sijilmassi. He also studied medecine under al-Mirrīkh.^[6][7]

He is known to have attached himself to the founder of the Hazmiriyya zawiya and sufi saint of Aghmat, Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman al-Hazmiri, who guided his arithmetic skills toward divinational predictions.^[4]

Ibn al-Banna' taught classes in Marrakesh and some of his students were: Abd al-Aziz ibn Ali al-Hawari al-Misrati (d.1344), Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Laja'i (d. 1369) and Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Abli (d. 1356).^[8]

He died at Marrakesh on 31 July 1321.^[4]

Works

Ibn al-Banna' wrote over 100 works encompassing such varied topics as Astronomy, Astrology, the division of inheritances, Linguistics, Logic, Mathematics, Meteorology, Rhetoric, Tafsir, Usūl al-Dīn and Usul al-Fiqh.^[8] One of his works, called Talkhīṣ ʿamal al-ḥisāb (Arabic: تلخيص أعمال الحساب) (Summary of arithmetical operations), includes topics such as fractions and sums of squares and cubes. Another, called Tanbīh al-Albāb,^[9] covers topics related to:

• calculations regarding the drop in irrigation canal levels,
• arithmetical explanation of the Muslim laws of inheritance
• determination of the hour of the Asr prayer,
• explanation of frauds linked to instruments of measurement,
• enumeration of delayed prayers which have to be said in a precise order, and
• calculation of legal tax in the case of a delayed payment

He also wrote an introduction to Euclid's Elements.^[10]

He also wrote Rafʿ al-Ḥijāb 'an Wujuh A'mal al-Hisab (Lifting the Veil from Faces of the Workings of Calculations) which covered topics such as computing square roots of a number and the theory of continued fractions.^[10]

See also

• Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi

References

1. Calvo 2008, p. 1088.
2. Samsó 2007, p. 551.
3. Oaks 2017.
4. Suter & Bencheneb 1986, p. 731.
5. Cherkaoui 1992, p. 1470.
6. Cherkaoui 1992, p. 1470-1471.
7. Stearns 2012, pp. 116–117.
8. Stearns 2012, p. 117.
9. A Djebbar: Mathematics in medieval Maghreb; AMUCHMA-Newsletter 15; Universidade Pedagógico (UP), Maputo (Mozambique), 15.9.1995.
10. Sarton 1931, p. 998.

Sources

• Calvo, Emilia (2008). "Ibn al-Banna'". In Selin, Helaine (ed.). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2.
• Cherkaoui, Ahmed Iqbal (1992). "Ibn al-Banna', Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman". In Toufiq, Ahmed; Hajji, Mohamed (eds.). Ma'lamat al-Maghrib (in Arabic). Vol. 5. al-Jamī‘a al-Maghribiyya li-l-Ta’līf wa-l-Tarjama wa-l-Nashr.
• Oaks, Jeffrey (2017). "Ibn al- Bannāʾ al- Marrākushī". In Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis; Nawas, John; Rowson, Everett (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). E. J. Brill.
• Samsó, Julio (2007). "Ibn al-Bannāʾ: Abū al-ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al-Azdī al-Marrākushī". In Thomas Hockey; et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 551–552. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0.
• Sarton, George (1931). Introduction to the History of Science. Vol. II. From Rabbi Ben Ezra to Roger Bacon. Carnegie Institution of Washington.
• Stearns, Justin (2012). Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku; Gates Jr., Henry Louis (eds.). Dictionary of African Biography. Vol. 4. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5.
• Suter, H.; Bencheneb, M. (1986) [1971]. "Ibn al- Bannāʾ al- Marrākus̲h̲ī". In Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, C.; Schacht, J. (eds.). Encyclopaedia of Islam. Vol. III (2nd ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. BRILL. ISBN 9004081186.