BANŪ MŪSĀ, the name applied to three brothers, ʿAbbasid astronomers whose father was Mūsā b. Šāker, said to have been…

BANŪ MONAJJEM , a family of intellectuals, closely connected to the caliphs of the 3rd-4th/9th-10th centuries and claiming descent from…

BANŪ AMĀJŪR (or MĀJŪR), ABU’L-QĀSEM ʿABD-ALLĀH (ʿAlī according to Ebn Yūnes) b. (A)Mājūr Torkī and his son Abu’l-Ḥasan ʿAlī, astronomers….

BAHĀʾ-AL-DĪN ABŪ BAKR MOḤAMMAD B. AḤMAD B. ABĪ BEŠR ḴARAQĪ (MARVAZĪ) was born in a village named Ḵaraq near the…

AL-ĀṮĀR AL-BĀQĪA ʿAN AL-QORŪN AL-ḴĀLĪA (The Chronology of Ancient Nations), a historical work by Bīrūnī, composed at the age of…

ʿAṬĀʾ B. AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD B. ḴᵛĀJA ḠĀZĪ SAMARQANDĪ, ABU MOḤAMMAD, author of a set of astronomical tables for an…

ASṬORLĀB (or OSṬORLĀB), astrolabe, an instrument used in astronomy for a variety of purposes, e.g., demonstration and solution of problems…

ASFEZĀRĪ, ABŪ ḤĀTEM MOẒAFFAR B. ESMĀʿĪL, 5th/12th-century astronomer, of whose life almost nothing is known. His nesba indicates that he…

ʿALĪŠĀH B. MOḤAMMAD B. AL-QĀSEM AL-ḴᵛĀRAZMĪ AL-BOḴĀRĪ, known also as ʿALĀʾ or ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN AL-MONAJJEM, 7th/13th century astronomer. From autobiographical references…

ʿALĪ B. ʿABDALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD B. BĀMŠĀD QĀʾENĪ, ABU-ʾL ḤASAN, mathematician. Nothing is known of his life; since Bīrūnī (Chords…

ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ, ABU’L-QĀSEM NŪR-AL-DĪN, post-3rd/9th century astronomer. Like his more famous fellow townsman, he was known as Abū…

AHVĀZĪ, a 4th/10th century mathematician. He was a contemporary of Abū Jaʿfar Ḵāzen (fl. ca. 950-970), whom he mentions. There…

AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD ṢĀḠĀNĪ, ABŪ ḤĀMED, one of the many astronomers who worked for the Buyids in Baghdad in the…

AḤMAD B. MOḤAMMAD NEHĀVANDĪ, 2nd/8th century ʿAbbasid astronomer. The fame of this author is due almost entirely to Ebn Yūnos’s…

AḤMAD B. ABĪ SAʿD (or SAʿĪD) HERAVĪ, ABU’L-FAŻL, one of the many eminent astronomers employed by the Buyids in the…

ABU’L-WAFĀʾ MOḤAMMAD B. MOḤAMMAD BŪZJĀNĪ, mathematician and astronomer, b. Wednesday, on the new moon of Ramażān, 328/10 June 940, at…

ABU’L-WAFĀʾ B. SAʿĪD, author of a Persian Moḵtaṣar-e moštamel bar mesāḥat-e abʿād va soṭūḥ va moǰassamāt va bar kayfīyat-e aʿmāl-e…

ABŪ SAHL VĪJAN B. ROSTAM KŪHĪ (also QŪHĪ), mathematician and astronomer. He was born ca. 330/940 at Kūh, which, according…

ABŪ SAHL B. NAWBAḴT, 2nd/8th century astrologer and author. The family of Nawbaḵt is said to have claimed descent from…

ABU’L-QĀSEM KERMĀNĪ, author of a Ketāb fī oṣūl al-aḥkām (“Book concerning the foundations of astrological judgments”). He may be identical…

ABŪ NAṢR MANṢŪR B. ʿALĪ B. ʿERĀQ, mathematician and astronomer, born probably in Gīlān about 349/960. Abū Naṣr presumably belonged…

ABŪ MAʿŠAR JAʿFAR B. MOḤAMMAD BALḴĪ, astronomer and astrologer, born in Balḵ on 20 Ṣafar 171/10 August 787. Abū Maʿšar…

ABŪ MANṢŪR ṬŪSĪ, mathematician. Apparently sometime during the 9th/15th century Abū Manṣūr wrote two works preserved in a manuscript at…

ABŪ JAʿFAR MOḤAMMAD B. AL-ḤASAN AL-ḴĀZEN AL-ḴORĀSĀNĪ, astronomer (ca. 287/900-probably 360/970). According to Ebn al-Nadīm (Fehrest, pp. 138, 250) and…

ʿABDALLĀH B. EBRĀHĪM AL-KABRĪ ABŪ ḤAKĪM, mathematician, d. 476/1083-84. He was the pupil of Ḥosayn b. Moḥammad al-Vannī (killed in…

ABHARĪ, AMĪN-AL-DĪN, mathematician, said to have died in 733/1332-33. He is the author of an extant text, Foṣūl kāfīa fī…

ABU’L-ʿANBAS AL-ṢAYMARĪ, MOḤAMMAD B. ESḤĀQ B. ABI’L-ʿANBAS B. AL-MAḠĪRA B. MĀHĀN, astrologer and author, born at Kūfa, 213/828; died 275/889….

ABU’L-FATḤ B. MAḤMŪD (or MOḤAMMAD) B. AL-QĀSEM B. AL-FAŻL AL-EṢFAHĀNĪ, an early 6th/12th century astronomer. His best known work is…

ABŪ JAʿFAR B. AḤMAD B. ʿABDALLĀH B. ḤABAŠ, mid- to late 3rd/9th century astronomer, son of a famous astronomer from…

ABU’L-ḤASAN AHWĀZĪ, astronomer, fl. after ca. 215/830. He is known through citations by Bīrūnī. He used the revolutions of the…

ABU’L-ḤASAN ŠAMSĪ HERAVĪ, medieval mathematician; Seǰzī (late 4th/10th century) quotes some of his propositions regarding the trisection of an angle;…

ʿABDALLĀH B. ŠĀKER B. ABU’L-MOṬAHHAR AL-MAʿADĀNĪ, ŠAMS-AL-DĪN, an expert in geometry and the science of the stars, d. at Isfahan…

ʿABD-AL-VĀḤED B. MOḤAMMAD JŪZJĀNĪ, ABŪ ʿOBAYD, pupil of Ebn Sīnā (980-1037), whose Resāla dar handasa (“Epistle on geometry”) he published…

ʿABD-AL-VĀḤED B. MOḤAMMAD, 8th/14th century author. There is no positive proof that this individual was a Persian, though his association…

ʿABD-AL-RAḤĪM B. ʿABD-AL-KARĪM AL-QAZVĪNĪ AL-ʿAJAMĪ, astronomer, d. 1026/1617. Nothing further seems to be known of his life. Two of his…

ʿABD-AL-QĀDER ḤASAN RŪYĀNĪ, 10th/16th century astronomer. Apparently from Ṭabarestān, he seems to have served the rulers of Gīlān; he dedicated…

ʿABD-AL-MONʿEM ʿĀMELĪ, 10th/16th century astronomer. He apparently was commissioned to build an observatory at Isfahan by the Safavid Shah Ṭahmāsp…

ʿABD-AL-MALEK B. MOḤAMMAD ŠĪRĀZĪ, ABU’L-ḤOSAYN, astronomer, fl. ca. 600/1203-04; there is a manuscript dated in that year of his revision…

ʿABD-AL-ḤAMĪD B. VĀSEʿ B. TORK, ABU’L-FAŻL MOḤAMMAD, mathematician, often referred to as Ebn Tork. A native of Ḵottal (north of…

ʿABD-AL-ʿALĪ B. MOḤAMMAD B. ḤOSAYN BĪRJANDĪ (or BARJANDĪ), NEẒĀM-AL-DĪN, productive Islamic astronomer, said to have died in 934/1527-28 (although the…

ʿALĪ QŪŠJĪ (QŪŠJŪ), ʿALĀʾ-AL-DĪN ʿALĪ MOḤAMMAD, theologian and scientist (d. 879/1474). His father was falconer (qūščī) for the Timurid prince…

ASTROLOGY AND ASTRONOMY IN IRAN i. History of astronomy in Iran. ii. Astronomy and astrology in the Sasanian period. iii….

GIĀṮ-AL-DIN JAMŠID MASʿUD KĀŠĀNI (or Kāši), astronomer and mathematician (b. in Kāšān in ca. 770- 80/1368-78; d. in Samarqand 19 Ramażān 832/22 June 1429)….

BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN vi. History and Chronology Bīrūnī’s main essay on political history, Ketāb al-mosāmara fī aḵbār Ḵᵛārazm (Book of…

BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN ii. Bibliography Bīrūnī catalogued both his own works and those of Rāzī. In 427/1035-36 or a little…

BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN iv. Geography Bīrūnī’s conceptions of the spherical shape of the earth and of the distribution of geographical…

FAŻL NAYRĪZĪ, ABU’L ʿABBĀS b. Ḥātem, mathematician and astronomer (fl. 900 C.E.). His family originated from Nayrīz/Nīrīz, a small town…

FARḠĀNĪ, AḤMAD, b. Moḥammad b. Kaṯīr, Muslim astronomer. Farḡānī flourished at Sāmarrā during the period that it served as the…

FAHHĀD, FARĪD-AL-DĪN ABU’L-ḤASAN ʿALĪ, b. ʿAbd-al-Karīm Šarvānī (fl. 6th/12th cent.; he is sometimes called by his father’s name ʿAbd-al-Karīm), the…

EṢFAHĀNĪ,ʿABD-AL-ḤASAN (?) b. Aḥmad b. ʿAlī b. Ḥasan, author of the Ketāb al-bolhān on astrology, magic, divination, and demonology, which…

EḴTĪĀRĀT (choices, elections), a term used in Islamic divination and astrology in at least four principle meanings: 1. It refers…

HOROSCOPE (Pahl. zāyc, modem Pers. zāyca, Ar. zāʾeja/zāʾrja), the horoscopic diagram or theme which depicts the positions of the planets in the…

BORJ (plur. Pers. borjhā, borūj; Ar. borūj, abrāj, abreja), Arabic and Persian word derived from an Aramaic adaptation of Latin…

ʿISĀ B. YAḤYĀ MASIḤI JORJĀNI, Abu Sahl, physician, philosopher, mathematician, and astronomer (d. after 925). Little is securely known about…

ḤASANB. ʿALI AL-QOMMI, ABU NAṢR, astrologer of the late 4th/10th century. Very little is known about this person. He was…

HĀRUN B. ʿALI B. HĀRUN B. YAḤYĀ B. ABI MANṢUR AL-MONAJJEM, astronomer, astrologer, and Hadith expert, born ca. 915 C.E.,…

ḤĀMED BAL-ḴEŻR AL-ḴOJANDI, ABU MAḤMUD, mathematician and astronomer of the late 4th/10th century who, according to Heinrich Suter (p. 74,…

GUŠYĀR (Arabicized Kušyār) GILĀNI, ABU’L-ḤASAN B. LABBĀN b. BĀŠAHRI, an astronomer and mathematician from Gilān, whence his nesba Jili/Gilāni (fl….

SIRĀFI, ABU SAʿID ḤASAN b. ʿAbd-Allāh b. Marzobān (b. Sirāf on the coast of Fārs in 280/893-94; d. Baghdad 2…

NAWBAḴTI, ḤASAN b. Musā Abu Moḥammad, 4th/10th century theologian and philosopher in Baghdad, d. between 300/912-3 and 310/922-3. The son…

NISĀBURI,ḤASAN b. Moḥammad al-Aʿraj, Neẓām-al-Din Qommi, Astronomer; d. after 1311. Nisāburi composed commentaries on several works on astronomy by Naṣir-al-Din…