Biography:Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi

Short description: Moroccan mathematician and astronomer

Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī
Born	29 or 30 December 1256 Marrakech, Almohad Caliphate
Died	31 July 1321 Marrakech, Marinid Sultanate
Academic background
Influences	Al-Zarqali, Ibn Ishaq al-Tunisi
Academic work
Era	Islamic Golden Age
Main interests	Mathematics, astronomy

Ibn al‐Bannāʾ al‐Marrākushī (Arabic: ابن البناء المراكشي), full name: Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi al-Marrakushi (Arabic: أبو العباس أحمد بن محمد بن عثمان الأزدي) (29 December 1256 – 31 July 1321), was a Maghrebi Muslim polymath who was active as a mathematician, astronomer, Islamic scholar, Sufi and astrologer.

Biography

Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman was born in the Qa'at Ibn Nahid Quarter of Marrakesh on 29 or 30 December 1256. His nisba al-Marrakushi is in relation to his birth and death in his hometown Marrakesh and al azdi means he was from the big arab tribe Azd. His father was a mason thus the kunya Ibn al-Banna' (lit. the son of the mason).

Ibn al-Banna' studied a variety of subjects under at least 17 masters: Quran under the Qari's Muhammad ibn al-bashir and shaykh al-Ahdab. ʻilm al-ḥadīth under qadi al-Jama'a (chief judge) of Fez َAbu al-Hajjaj Yusuf ibn Ahmad ibn Hakam al-Tujibi, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Jazuli and Abu abd allah ibn. Fiqh and Usul al-Fiqh under Abu Imran Musa ibn Abi Ali az-Zanati al-Marrakushi and Abu al-Hasan Muhammad ibn Abd al-Rahman al-Maghili who taugh him al-Juwayni's Kitab al-Irsahd. He also studied Arabic grammar under Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Abd as-Salam as-Sanhaji and Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yahya as-sharif al-marrakushi who also taugh him Euclid’s Elements. ʿArūḍ and ʿilm al-farāʾiḍ under Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Idris ibn Malik al-Quda'i al-Qallusi. Arithmetic under Muhammad ibn Ali, known as Ibn Ḥajala. Ibn al-Banna' also studied astronomy under Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Makhluf as-Sijilmassi. He also studied medecine under al-Mirrīkh.

He is known to have attached himself to the founder of the Hazmiriyya zawiya and sufi saint of Aghmat, Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman al-Hazmiri, who guided his arithmetic skills toward divinational predictions.

Ibn al-Banna' taught classes in Marrakesh and some of his students were: Abd al-Aziz ibn Ali al-Hawari al-Misrati (d.1344), Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Laja'i (d. 1369) and Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Ibrahim al-Abli (d. 1356).

He died at Marrakesh on 31 July 1321.

Works

Ibn al-Banna' wrote over 100 works encompassing such varied topics as Astronomy, Astrology, the division of inheritances, Linguistics, Logic, Mathematics, Meteorology, Rhetoric, Tafsir, Usūl al-Dīn and Usul al-Fiqh. One of his works, called Talkhīṣ ʿamal al-ḥisāb (Arabic: تلخيص أعمال الحساب) (Summary of arithmetical operations), includes topics such as fractions and sums of squares and cubes. Another, called Tanbīh al-Albāb, covers topics related to:

• calculations regarding the drop in irrigation canal levels,
• arithmetical explanation of the Muslim laws of inheritance
• determination of the hour of the Asr prayer,
• explanation of frauds linked to instruments of measurement,
• enumeration of delayed prayers which have to be said in a precise order, and
• calculation of legal tax in the case of a delayed payment

He also wrote an introduction to Euclid's Elements.

He also wrote Rafʿ al-Ḥijāb 'an Wujuh A'mal al-Hisab (Lifting the Veil from Faces of the Workings of Calculations) which covered topics such as computing square roots of a number and the theory of continued fractions.

See also

• Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi

Sources

• Calvo, Emilia (2008). "Ibn al-Banna'". in Selin, Helaine (in en). Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures (2nd ed.). Springer Science & Business Media. ISBN 978-1-4020-4559-2. https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC. 
• Cherkaoui, Ahmed Iqbal (1992). "Ibn al-Banna', Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman". in Toufiq, Ahmed; Hajji, Mohamed (in ar). Ma'lamat al-Maghrib. 5. al-Jamī‘a al-Maghribiyya li-l-Ta’līf wa-l-Tarjama wa-l-Nashr. 
• Oaks, Jeffrey (2017). "Ibn al- Bannāʾ al- Marrākushī". in Fleet, Kate; Krämer, Gudrun; Matringe, Denis et al.. Encyclopaedia of Islam (3rd ed.). E. J. Brill. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-3/ibn-al-banna-al-marrakushi-COM_30731. 
• Samsó, Julio (2007). "Ibn al‐Bannāʾ: Abū al‐ʿAbbās Aḥmad ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUthmān al‐Azdī al‐Marrākushī". in Thomas Hockey. The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers. New York: Springer. pp. 551-552. ISBN 978-0-387-31022-0. https://islamsci.mcgill.ca/RASI/BEA/Ibn_al-Banna%27_BEA.htm. 
• Sarton, George (1931) (in en). Introduction to the History of Science. II. From Rabbi Ben Ezra to Roger Bacon. Carnegie Institution of Washington. 
• Stearns, Justin (2012). Akyeampong, Emmanuel Kwaku. ed (in en). Dictionary of African Biography. 4. OUP USA. ISBN 978-0-19-538207-5. https://books.google.com/books?id=39JMAgAAQBAJ. 
• Suter, H.; Bencheneb, M. (1986). "Ibn al- Bannāʾ al- Marrākus̲h̲ī". in Lewis, B.; Ménage, V. L.; Pellat, C. et al.. Encyclopaedia of Islam. III (2nd ed.). Leiden, Netherlands: E. J. BRILL. ISBN 9004081186. https://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/ibn-al-banna-al-marrakushi-SIM_3104.