Athīr al-Dīn al-Mufaḍḍal ibn ʿUmar ibn al-Mufaḍḍal al-Samarqandī al-Abharī (

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

): اثیرالدین مُفَضَّل بن عمر بن مَفَضَّل سمرقندی ابهری; d. 1262 or 1265 also known as Athīr al-Dīn al-Munajjim (اثیرالدین منجم) was an Iranian Muslim

polymath A polymath or polyhistor is an individual whose knowledge spans many different subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. Polymaths often prefer a specific context in which to explain their knowledge, ...

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

astronomer An astronomer is a scientist in the field of astronomy who focuses on a specific question or field outside the scope of Earth. Astronomers observe astronomical objects, such as stars, planets, natural satellite, moons, comets and galaxy, galax ...

astrologer Astrology is a range of Divination, divinatory practices, recognized as pseudoscientific since the 18th century, that propose that information about human affairs and terrestrial events may be discerned by studying the apparent positions ...

and

mathematician A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems. Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, mathematical structure, structure, space, Mathematica ...

. Other than his influential writings, he had many disciples.

Life

His birthplace is contested among sources. According to the ''

Encyclopaedia of Islam The ''Encyclopaedia of Islam'' (''EI'') is a reference work that facilitates the Islamic studies, academic study of Islam. It is published by Brill Publishers, Brill and provides information on various aspects of Islam and the Muslim world, Isl ...

'' and the ''

Encyclopaedia Islamica The ''Encyclopaedia Islamica'' is an encyclopedia on Islamic Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated ...

'', he was born in

Abhar Abhar () is a city in the Central District of Abhar County, Zanjan province, Iran, serving as capital of both the county and the district. Abhar has historically served as a place of importance due to lying right between the cities of Qazvin ...

, a small town between

Qazvin Qazvin (; ; ) is a city in the Central District (Qazvin County), Central District of Qazvin County, Qazvin province, Qazvin province, Iran, serving as capital of the province, the county, and the district. It is the largest city in the provi ...

and Zanjan in the North-West of Iran. The claim of G.C. Anawati making him a native of Mosul in Iraq, taken from the fact that al-Abharī was educated by a scientist from Mosul, Kamāl al-Dīn ibn Yūnus al-Mawṣilī, must also been dismissed. None of his oldest biographers mentioned Mosul as his birthplace, and al-Abharī himself indicated that he had gone to Mosul for this purpose. Beside the city of Abhar, the epithet al-Abharī could suggest that he or his ancestors originally stem from the Abhar tribe. In his youth al-Abharī was a student of the theologian Fakhr al-Dīn al-Rāzī, probably in the city of

Ghazni Ghazni (, ), historically known as Ghaznayn () or Ghazna (), also transliterated as Ghuznee, and anciently known as Alexandria in Opiana (), is a city in southeastern Afghanistan with a population of around 190,000 people. The city is strategica ...

Herat Herāt (; Dari/Pashto: هرات) is an oasis city and the third-largest city in Afghanistan. In 2020, it had an estimated population of 574,276, and serves as the capital of Herat Province, situated south of the Paropamisus Mountains (''Se ...

. Beside philosophy and logic, from al-Rāzī it is likely that al-Abharī received an orthodox Sunni instruction in theology (kalām), jurisprudence (fiqh), and Qur’anic exegesis (tafsīr). When Mongol took

Khwarezmian Empire The Khwarazmian Empire (), or simply Khwarazm, was a culturally Persianate, Sunni Muslim empire of Turkic '' mamluk'' origin. Khwarazmians ruled large parts of present-day Central Asia, Afghanistan, and Iran from 1077 to 1231; first as vass ...

, al-Abharī, in 1228 he flew to

Erbil Erbil (, ; , ), also called Hawler (, ), is the capital and most populated city in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq. The city is the capital of the Erbil Governorate. Human settlement at Erbil may be dated back to the 5th millennium BC. At the h ...

, then to

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

, where he studied to Muḥyī al-Dīn Muḥammad b. Sa‘īd b. Nadī. Then he went to Mosul, where he studied mathematics, especially astronomy, under the direction of Kamāl al-Dīn al-Mawṣilī. Among his students were Najm al-Din al-Qazwini al-Katibi, Abū Zakariya al-Qazwini, and Ibn Khallikān. According to most accounts, al-Abharī died in Mosul between 660/1261–62 and 663/1264–65, during the reign of Khān Hülegü.

Works

; Astronomy * Risāla fī al-hayʾa (رساله الهیئة; lit. Treatise on astronomy). * Mukhtaṣar fī al-hayʾa (مختصر فی علم الهیئة; lit. Epitome on astronomy). * Kashf al-ḥaqāʾiq fī taḥrīr al-daqāʾiq (كشف الحقائق فی تحریر الدقائق), where he accepts the view that the

celestial bodies An astronomical object, celestial object, stellar object or heavenly body is a naturally occurring physical entity, association, or structure that exists within the observable universe. In astronomy, the terms ''object'' and ''body'' are of ...

do not change and maintains that stars have volition and it is the source of their motion. ; Mathematics * Several works on Iṣlāḥ (اصلاح; lit. Correction) of

Euclid Euclid (; ; BC) was an ancient Greek mathematician active as a geometer and logician. Considered the "father of geometry", he is chiefly known for the '' Elements'' treatise, which established the foundations of geometry that largely domina ...

, one of which is an attempt to prove the

parallel postulate In geometry, the parallel postulate is the fifth postulate in Euclid's ''Elements'' and a distinctive axiom in Euclidean geometry. It states that, in two-dimensional geometry: If a line segment intersects two straight lines forming two interior ...

, which was commented upon and criticized by Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī. ; Philosophy * (هدایةالحکمه; lit. Guide on Philosophy): a book dealing with the complete cycle of Hikmat, i.e.,

logic Logic is the study of correct reasoning. It includes both formal and informal logic. Formal logic is the study of deductively valid inferences or logical truths. It examines how conclusions follow from premises based on the structure o ...

natural philosophy Natural philosophy or philosophy of nature (from Latin ''philosophia naturalis'') is the philosophical study of physics, that is, nature and the physical universe, while ignoring any supernatural influence. It was dominant before the develop ...

, and

metaphysics Metaphysics is the branch of philosophy that examines the basic structure of reality. It is traditionally seen as the study of mind-independent features of the world, but some theorists view it as an inquiry into the conceptual framework of ...

. * ' (ایساغوجی فی المنطق; Commentary on Porphyry's ''Isagoge''), a treatise on

. Latin Translation by Thomas Obicini; ''Īsāghūkhī, Isagoge. Id est, breve Introductorium Arabicum in Scientiam Logices: cum versione latina: ac theses Sanctae Fidei. R. P. F. Thomae Novariensis'' (1625).

Notes

References

*
PDF version
* Masjid Darus Salam.
al- Abharī, At̲h̲īr al-Dīn Mufaḍḍal b. ʿUmar
" A Brief Biographical Sketch of Imām Athīr al-Dīn al-Abharī By Mohammad Mustafa Ali (4th Year Alim Student, DarusSalam Seminary).

External links

Isagoge of al-Ahbārī with Latin translation and a theological treatise by Thomas Obicini
(Gallica, Bibliothèque nationale de France). {{DEFAULTSORT:Abhari Year of birth unknown 1260s deaths 13th-century Iranian mathematicians 13th-century Iranian astronomers People from Abhar 13th-century Iranian philosophers

Life

Works

Notes

References

Further reading

External links