Ibn Abi al-Shukr

Ibn Abī al‐Shukr (Arabic: ابن ابي الشكر‎‎; died 1283 CE) was an Andalusī astronomer, astrologer and mathematician of the Islamic Golden Age. He belonged to the group of astronomers associated with the Maragheh observatory, most notably Nasir al-Din al-Tusi. In astronomy, Ibn Abi al-Shukr carried out a large‐scale project of systematic planetary observations, which led to the development of several new astronomical parameters.^[1]

He died in Maragheh in modern-day Iran in June 1283 CE.^[1]

Works

Astronomy

Marāgha observatory where Ibn Abi al-Shukr carried out his planetary observations

His known works on astronomy include:^[1]

• Tasṭīḥ al‐asṭurlāb: a description of the construction and use of the astrolabe.
• Maqāla fī istikhrāj taʿdīl al‐nahār wa saʿat al‐mashriq wa‐ʾl‐dāʾir min al‐falak bi‐ṭarīq al‐handasa: a description of the geometrical methods used to determine the meridian line, the rising amplitude, and the revolution of the sphere.
• Risālat al‐Khaṭā wa‐ʾl‐īghūr: a chronological work on the Chinese and Uighur calendars, which was later translated from Arabic and Persian into Chinese.
• Three zijes:
  • Tāj al‐azyāj wa‐ghunyat al‐muḥtāj (The crown of astronomical handbooks), also known as Al‐muṣaḥḥaḥ bi‐adwār al‐anwār maʿa al‐raṣad wa‐ʾl‐iʿtibār.
  • Adwār al‐anwār madā al‐duhūr wa‐ʾl‐akwār: contains results of the astronomical observations he carried out in Marāgha.
  • ʿUmdat al‐ḥāsib wa‐ghunyat al‐ṭālib
• Three commentaries on Ptolemy's Almagest:
  • Talkhīṣ al‐Majisṭī (Compendium of the Almagest): based on his observations carried out between 1264 and 1275 CE.
  • Khulāṣat al‐Majisṭī (Summary of the Almagest)
  • Muqaddimāt tataʿallaq bi‐ḥarakāt al‐kawākib (Prolegomena on the motion of the stars): contains five geometric premises on the planetary motions in the Almagest.

Astrology

Ibn Abī al‐Shukr's astrological works were mainly devoted to horoscopes and planetary conjunctions used to tell the future.^[1]

Mathematics

His works deal with geometry and trigonometry. His writings on trigonometry "contain certain original elements".^[1]

References

Mathematics in medieval Islam
Mathematicians (Works)	9th century 'Abd al-Hamīd ibn Turk Sind ibn Ali Al-Abbās ibn Said al-Jawharī Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar Al-Kindi De Gradibus Al-Mahani Banū Mūsā Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Khwārizmī The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing ibn Qurra Na'im ibn Musa Sahl ibn Bishr Habash al-Hasib al-Marwazi 10th century Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi Book of Fixed Stars al-Būzjānī Abū Ja'far al-Khāzin Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ ibn Aslam Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi Abu-Mahmud Khojandi Ahmad ibn Yusuf Al-Nayrizi Al-Saghani Brethren of Purity Ibn Sahl Ibn Yunus Ibrahim ibn Sinan Muhammad ibn Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī Sinan ibn Thabit Al-Isfahani Nazif ibn Yumn Abū Sahl al-Qūhī 11th century Abū Ishāq Ibrāhīm al-Zarqālī Abu Nasr Mansur Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī Ibn al-Haytham / Alhazen Book of Optics Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī Al-Karaji Al-Sijzi Alī ibn Ahmad al-Nasawī Avicenna The Book of Healing Ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi Kushyar ibn Labban Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud 12th century Al-Khazini Ibn Yahyā al-Maghribī al-Samaw'al Omar Khayyám Jabir ibn Aflah Abu Bakr al-Hassar 13th century Muhyi al-Dīn al-Maghribī Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī Zij-i Ilkhani Shams al-Dīn al-Samarqandī Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili Ibn Abi al-Shukr 14th century Yaʿīsh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Umawī Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi Ibn al-Shatir Kamāl al-Dīn Fārisī Al-Khalili Qotb al-Din Shirazi Ahmad al-Qalqashandi 15th century Abū al-Ḥasan ibn ʿAlī al-Qalaṣādī Ali Qushji Jamshīd al-Kāshī Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī Ulugh Beg Ibn al-Majdi 16th century Al-Birjandi Muhammad Baqir Yazdi Taqi al-Din Ibn Hamza al-Maghribi Ibn Ghazi al-Miknasi
Other treatises	Almanac Encyclopedia of the Brethren of Purity Tables of Toledo Tabula Rogeriana Zij Zij-i-Sultani
Concepts	Alhazen's problem Islamic geometric patterns
Centers	Al-Azhar University Al-Mustansiriya University House of Knowledge House of Wisdom Istanbul observatory of Taqi al-Din Madrasah Maktab Maragheh observatory University of Al-Karaouine
Influences	Babylonian mathematics Greek mathematics Indian mathematics
Influenced	Byzantine mathematics European mathematics Indian mathematics