ʿUṭārid: ʿUṭārid ibn Muḥammad al‐Ḥāsib
Giuseppe Bezza
Flourished 9th century
ʿUṭārid
ibn Muḥammad is sometimes
also referred to as al‐Kātib (the scribe), but the usual appellation,
al‐Ḥāsib
(the arithmetician), is more appropriate. Little is known of his life. Ibn
al‐Nadīm tells us that he was an arithmetician and an astrologer
(al‐munajjim) as well as a man of excellence and learning.
From Ibn al‐Nadīm we also know the titles of five books by ʿUṭārid:
(1) |
Kitāb al‐Jafr al‐hindī (Book on Indian divination),
which may have dealt with divination based upon letters of the alphabet
or perhaps meteorological predictions; |
(2) |
Kitāb al‐ʿAmal bi‐ʾl‐asṭurlāb (Book on using the
astrolabe); |
(3) |
Kitāb al‐ʿAmal bi‐dhāt
al‐ḥalaq (Book on using the
armillary sphere); |
(4) |
Kitāb Tarkīb al‐aflāk (Book on the arrangement of the
heavens); and |
(5) |
Kitāb al‐Marāyā
al‐muḥriqa (Book on burning mirrors).
|
There is also a report that ʿAbd
al‐Raḥman al‐Sūfī saw a book of ʿUṭārid (in latter's own handwriting) about the 48 constellations.
In addition, both Bīrūnī
and Sijzī attribute to ʿUṭārid a Kitāb al‐Miḥna
al‐munajjim (Book on examining astrologers), a work specifically
for testing the skills of astrologers. A text with a similar subject is
by Qabīṣī. None of the
above mentioned works attributed to ʿUṭārid
are extant.
Of ʿUṭārid's works, only two have reached us. One is an astrological
work entitled Sirr al‐asrār (Secret of secrets) or al‐Asrār
al‐samāwiyya (The secrets of the heavens), and also known
as Fuṣūl li‐ʿUṭārid al‐Ḥāsib fī al‐asrār
al‐samāwiyya. One can find excerpts
in Majrīṭī's Ghāyat al‐ḥakīm that deal with the astrological
topic of elections (ihktiyārāt). The other is Kitāb
al‐Jawāhir wa‐ʾl‐aḥjār (Book on the properties
of stones), perhaps the earliest work of its kind in Arabic, which follows
the so called Lapidary of Aristotle.
Selected References
Ibn
al‐Nadīm (1970). The Fihrist of al‐Nadīm: A Tenth‐Century
Survey of Muslim Culture, edited and translated by Bayard Dodge. 2 Vols.
New York: Columbia University Press, p. 658.
Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu (2003). Mathematicians,
Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th–19th
c.). Istanbul: IRCICA, p. 92.
Saidan,
Ahmad (1977). “Kitāb tasṭīḥ al‐ṣuwar wa‐tabṭīḥ
al‐kuwar li‐Abī al‐Rayḥān al‐Bīrūnī.”
Dirāsāt majalla ʿilmiyya (University
of Jordan) 4: 7–22.
Sezgin, Fuat (1974). Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums.
Vol. 5, Mathematik: 254; Vol. 6, Astronomie (1978): 161; Vol.
7, Astrologie – Meteorologie und Verwandtes (1979): 137. Leiden: E.
J. Brill.
Schjellerup,
H. C. F. C (trans.) (1874). Description des étoiles fixes. Saint
Petersburg.
Steinschneider,
M. (1871). “Intorno ad alcuni passi d'opere del
medio evo relativi alla calamita.” Bullettino di bibliografia e di storia
delle scienze matematiche e fisiche 4: 257–298.