From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 820-821 |
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Nasawī: Abū
al‐Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad al‐Nasawī
Hamid‐Reza Giahi Yazdi
Born Rayy, (Iran),
1002/1003
Nasawī
was an astronomer and mathematician whose name indicates that his family was
originally from Nasā, a town in ancient Khurāsān that is in
present‐day Turkmenistan. He spent most of his life in his birthplace.
In the introduction to his book, Bāz‐nāma (On caring
for falcons), Nasawī states that he served in the army, had been in the
service of the kings, and trained birds of prey for 60 years, since age eight.
Bayhaqī remarks that Nasawī lived until the age of 100. However,
the date of his death is unclear.
Nasawī's
disciple Shahmardān Rāzī, as well as Naṣīr al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī, refer to Nasawī
as al‐ustādh al‐mukhtaṣṣ
(distinguished teacher), probably due to his expertise in mathematics and
astronomy. The famous Iranian poet Nāṣir‐i Khusraw (10031088)
writes in his Safar‐nāma that he met Nasawī in Simnān
(Iran) in 1046, where the latter was teaching Euclid's Elements, medicine,
and arithmetic. Nasawī also quoted from discussions he had had with Ibn
Sīnā, which led Nāṣir‐i
Khusraw to conclude that Nasawī had been a disciple of Ibn Sīnā.
It has been claimed that Nasawī was also a disciple of Kūshyār
ibn Labbān, but Nasawī would have been too young when Kūshyār
died.
Nasawī
wrote several astronomical works, only one of which is extant. Kitāb
al‐lāmiʿ fī
amthilat al‐Zīj al‐jāmiʿ (Illustrative examples of [the 85 chapters] of [Kūshyār's]
Zīj‐i jāmiʿ) is also called Risāla
fī maʿrifat
al‐taqwīm wa‐ʾl‐asṭurlāb (A treatise on
the almanac and the astrolabe).
Only a few of the tables from al‐Zīj al‐Fākhir
(The glorious astronomical tables) have survived following the Leiden manuscript
of Kūshyār's Zīj‐i jāmiʿ. These tables indicate
that the values used for the planetary mean motions are extracted from Battānī's
zīj, confirming remarks in al‐Zīj al‐mumtaḥan
al‐ʿarabī, a recension of Muḥammad
ibn Abī Bakr al‐Farisī's Zīj preserved in Cambridge.
Ikhtiṣār
ṣuwar al‐kawākib (Summary of the constellations) is dedicated to al‐Murtaḍā,
the Shiʿite
leader from Rayy. This nonextant work was a summary of ʿAbd
al‐Raḥmān
al‐Ṣūfī's book on the constellations.
Nasawī
was also a noted mathematician and wrote works on arithmetic, geometry, and
spherics. Among his works are his al‐Muqniʿ fī al‐ḥisāb al‐Hindī, a treatise on Indian arithmetic whose purpose was,
among other things, to be useful for both businessmen and astronomers. Chapter
4 of al‐Muqniʿ deals specifically with
sexagesimal reckoning used in Islamic astronomy. Al‐Tajrīd fī
uṣūl al‐ḥandasa (An abstract of Euclid's
Elements) was composed for those who wanted to learn geometry in order
to be able to understand Ptolemy's
Almagest.
Nasawī
also wrote works on philosophy, pharmacology, and medicine.
Al‐Bayhaqī,
Ẓahīr al‐Dīn (1350 AH). Tatimmat siwān al‐ḥikma,
edited by M. Shāfiʿ.
Lahore, pp. 109110.
Al‐Nasawī,
ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad.
Al‐Muqniʿ fi al‐ḥisāb
al‐hindī. Facsimile ed. in Ghorbani, Nasawī‐nāma,
Tehran, 1351 H. Sh.
Kennedy, E. S. (1956).
A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables. Transactions of the American
Philosophical Society, n.s., 46, pt. 2: 121177. (Reprint, Philadelphia:
American Philosophical Society, 1989.)
Nāίir‐i Khusraw. Safar‐nāme, edited
by M. Dabīr Siyāqī. Tehran, 1354 H. Sh. (repr. 1363 H. Sh.).
Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu (2003). Mathematicians,
Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th19th
c.). Istanbul: IRCICA, pp. 140141.
Sadiqi, Gh. H. Hakīm Nasawī. Majalle‐ye
Danishkade‐ye Adabiyyat‐i Tehran (Journal of the Faculty of
Letters) 6, no. 1 (1337 H. Sh./1958): 1726.
Saidan, A. S. (1974). Al‐Nasawī. In Dictionary
of Scientific Biography, edited by Charles Coulston Gillispie. Vol. 9,
pp. 614615. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons.
Sezgin, Fuat. (1974 and 1978). Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums. Vol. 5, Mathematik: 345348; Vol. 6, Astronomie: 245246. Leiden: E. J. Brill.