Shams al-Din Muhammad b. Ahmad al-Khafri al-Kashi (died 1550), known as Khafri, was an
Iranian
Iranian may refer to:
* Iran, a sovereign state
* Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran
* Iranian lan ...
religious scholar and
astronomer
An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses their studies on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. They observe astronomical objects such as stars, planets, moons, comets and galaxies – in either ...
at the beginning of the
Safavid
Safavid Iran or Safavid Persia (), also referred to as the Safavid Empire, '. was one of the greatest Iranian empires after the 7th-century Muslim conquest of Persia, which was ruled from 1501 to 1736 by the Safavid dynasty. It is often conside ...
dynasty.
Before the arrival of
Sheikh Baha'i in Iran, he was appointed as the major Shia jurist in the Safavid court. He was born in the city of Ḵafr, south east of Firuzābād in the region of Fārs. His exact date of birth is unknown but historical accounts estimate the date of his birth to be around the 1480s. He wrote on philosophy, religion, and astronomy, with the latter including a commentary on
al-Tusi Al-Tusi or Tusi is the title of several Iranian scholars who were born in the town of Tous in Khorasan. Some of the scholars with the al-Tusi title include:
*Abu Nasr as-Sarraj al-Tūsī (d. 988), Sufi sheikh and historian.
*Aḥmad al Ṭūsī (d ...
and critiques of
al-Shirazi. Al-Khafri wrote works on theology and astronomy, indicating that Islamic scholars in his time and place saw no contradictions between Islam and science.
Astronomy
Khafri was a theoretical astronomer who developed new planetary theories in a period beyond the supposed period of decline of Islamicate science, and is one of many examples that help dispel the theory that Islamicate scientists did not contribute much after the 12th century.
*''al-Takmila fi sharh al-tadhkira'' ''(The complement to the explanation of the memento)'' This commentary by al-Khafri is a technical commentary on a work written by al-Sharif al-Jurjani on the astronomical critique by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's of ptolemaic astronomy, ''al-Tadhkira fi 'ilm al-Hay'a (Memento in astronomy''). In his commentary, Khafri contributes some original solutions to the problematic
equant
Equant (or punctum aequans) is a mathematical concept developed by Claudius Ptolemy in the 2nd century AD to account for the observed motion of the planets. The equant is used to explain the observed speed change in different stages of the plan ...
proposed by Ptolemy, which asserts that the axis around which a planetary sphere uniformly rotates around is not in the center of a planetary sphere. Al-Tusi solved this problem with the use of his famous Tusi couple; however, he was unable to extend this solution to the model of Mercury. This prompted al-Khafri to propose four solutions: three for Mercury and one for the Moon. Khafri explicitly mentions at the beginning of his commentary that he does use the wording of al-Jurjani on certain topics, although he also introduces original work of his own. His solution for the Moon, like Ptolemy's original model, still contains the discrepancy for the Moon's distance that was fixed earlier by
al-Shatir, of whose work he was apparently not aware of at the time.
*''Muntaha al-idrak fi al-hay'a (The ultimate comprehension of astronomy)'' this was written as a commentary on ''Nihayat al-idrak fi dirayat al-aflak (the ultimate understanding of the knowledge of the orbs).''
*''Hall ma la yanhall (The resolution of that which cannot be resolved)''
Disciples
*
Shah Tahir[Reza Pourjavady, "']
Philosophy in Early Safavid Iran: Najm al-Din Mahmud Al-Nayrizi and His Writings
''", p. 39, BRILL, (2011).
See also
*
Persian science
Iran has made considerable advances in science and technology through education and training, despite international sanctions in almost all aspects of research during the past 30 years. Iran's university population swelled from 100,000 in 1979 ...
*
al-Tusi Al-Tusi or Tusi is the title of several Iranian scholars who were born in the town of Tous in Khorasan. Some of the scholars with the al-Tusi title include:
*Abu Nasr as-Sarraj al-Tūsī (d. 988), Sufi sheikh and historian.
*Aḥmad al Ṭūsī (d ...
*
al-Shirazi
*
Islamic Golden Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic, and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 14th century. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign ...
*
Islamic science
Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Umayyads of Córdoba, the Abbadids of Seville, the Samanids, the Ziyarids, the Buyids in Persia, the Abbasid Caliphate an ...
*
Islamic scholars
In Islam, the ''ulama'' (; ar, علماء ', singular ', "scholar", literally "the learned ones", also spelled ''ulema''; feminine: ''alimah'' ingularand ''aalimath'' lural are the guardians, transmitters, and interpreters of religious ...
*
List of Muslim scholars
This article is an incomplete list of noted modern-era (20th to 21st century) Islamic scholars. This refers to religious authorities whose publications or statements are accepted as pronouncements on religion by their respective communities and ...
*
List of Shi'a Muslims
The following is a list of notable Shia Muslims.
Scientists, mathematicians and academics
*Ibn Sina or Avicenna- was a Persian polymathwho is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of t ...
*
List of Iranian scientists
The following is a non-comprehensive list of Iranian scientists, engineers, and scholars who lived from antiquity up until the beginning of the modern age. For the modern era, see List of contemporary Iranian scientists, scholars, and engineer ...
References
External links
* George Saliba (1994)
A Sixteenth-Century Arabic Critique of Ptolemaic Astronomy: The Work of Shams al-Din al-Khafri Journal for the History of Astronomy, XXV, p. 15.
1550 deaths
16th-century Iranian astronomers
Iranian Shia scholars of Islam
16th-century Iranian philosophers
Year of birth unknown
16th-century Muslim scholars of Islam
16th-century writers of Safavid Iran
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