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 ...
or
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
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 ...
. 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).
Further reading
*
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