Biography:Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili

Short description: Medieval Muslim astronomer, mathematician and author

Abu Muhammad Abd al-Haqq al‐Ghafiqi al‐Ishbili (Arabic: ابن الهائم), known as Ibn al‐Hāʾim (fl. c. 1213) was a medieval Muslim astronomer and mathematician from Seville in Al-Andalus. He began his studies as a mathematician and studied the works of Al-Jayyani and Jabir ibn Aflah. He was the author of the al‐Zīj al‐kāmil fī al‐talim (The perfect handbook on mathematical astronomy; which had seven chapters).

He gives historical data on the life and works of Al-Zarqali and the creation of the Tables of Toledo by astronomers in Toledo patronized by Said Al-Andalusi. He further extends Al-Zarqali's theories on the oscillation of the obliquity of the ecliptic, also presents the spherical trigonometrical formulae, gives a longitude of the solar apogee of 85° 49′ and further confirmed the works of Al-Zarqali. His work seems exceptional in Western Islam, as very complete and accurate, and had a great influence on the development of astronomy in the Maghreb.

References

• Puig, Roser (2007). "Ibn al‐Hāʾim: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al‐Ḥaqq al‐Ghāfiqī al‐Ishbīlī". in Thomas Hockey. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 555–6. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. http://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_al-Ha%27im_BEA.htm.  (PDF version)
• Samsó, Julio (1997). "Ibn al‐Hāʾim". in Helaine Selin. Encyclopaedia of the history of science, technology, and medicine in non-western cultures. Kluwer Academic Publishers. p. 405. ISBN 9780792340669. https://books.google.com/books?id=raKRY3KQspsC&pg=PA405.