Abū al‐ʿAbbās ibn Isḥāq al‐Tamīmī al‐Tūnisī ( ar, ابن اسحاق التونسي), was a 13th century

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n astronomer and the author of an important

zij A zij ( fa, زيج, zīj) is an Islamic astronomical book that tabulates parameters used for astronomical calculations of the positions of the Sun, Moon, stars, and planets. Etymology The name ''zij'' is derived from the Middle Persian term ' ...

which inaugurated a new astronomical tradition in the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

for centuries to come. Almost nothing is known about Ibn Isḥaq's life. Besides his unfinished

, the only information about him comes from the North African scholars

Ibn Khaldūn Ibn Khaldun (; ar, أبو زيد عبد الرحمن بن محمد بن خلدون الحضرمي, ; 27 May 1332 – 17 March 1406, 732-808 AH) was an Arab The Historical Muhammad', Irving M. Zeitlin, (Polity Press, 2007), p. 21; "It is, of ...

and Ibn al-Banna', which shows him being active in

Marrakesh Marrakesh or Marrakech ( or ; ar, مراكش, murrākuš, ; ber, ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ, translit=mṛṛakc}) is the fourth largest city in the Kingdom of Morocco. It is one of the four Imperial cities of Morocco and is the capital of the Marrakes ...

besides his native

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. It could be deduced from his name that he belonged to the

Banu Tamim Banū Tamīm ( ar, بَنُو تَمِيم) is an Arab tribe that originated in Najd in the Arabian Peninsula. It is mainly present in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Iraq, Jordan, Algeria, and has a strong presence in Morocco, Palestine, Tunisia ...

tribe. Ibn Isḥaq's astronomical tables has only survived in a newly discovered manuscript edited by a later author. The anonymous author seems to have completed the work by adding canons for the tables. The work was partly based on an original observations made by Ibn Isḥaq himself and by a contemporary Jewish astronomer from

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, while on the other part it was based on Andalusian sources including the works of al-Zarqali,

al-Jayyani Abū ʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī ( ar, أبو عبد الله محمد بن معاذ الجياني; 989, Cordova, Al-Andalus – 1079, Jaén, Al-Andalus) was an Arab, mathematician, Islamic scholar, and Qadi from Al-Andal ...

and others.

References

{{Authority control 13th-century people of Ifriqiya Astronomers of the medieval Islamic world 13th-century astronomers

See also

References