Sahl ibn Bishr

Sahl ibn Bishr al-Israili, more commonly; Rabban al-Tabari often known as Zahel or Zael (c. 786–845 ?) was a Syriac Christian (sometimes reported as Jewish)^[1] astrologer,^[2] astronomer and mathematician from Tabaristan. He was the father of Ali ibn Sahl the famous scientist and physician, who became a convert to Islam.^[3]

His works

Sahl is believed to be the first who translated the Almagest of Ptolemy into Arabic.

Sahl ibn Bishr wrote in the Greek astrological tradition. Sahl's first five books were preserved in the translation of John of Seville (Johannes Hispanus) (c. 1090 – c. 1150). See the English translation by Holden. The sixth book deals with three thematic topics regarding the influences on the world and its inhabitants was translated by Herman of Carinthia. The work contains divinations based on the movements of the planets and comets.

• The Introduction to the Science of the Judgments of the Stars. Translated by James Herschel Holden (Tempe, Az.: A.F.A., Inc., 2008)ix, 213 pp.

There are some books by Sahl ibn Bishr in Arabic such as:

• Ahkam fi al-Nujum ("Laws of the Astrology")
• Kitab al-ikhtiyarat 'ala al-buyut al-ithnai 'ashar ("Book of elections according to the twelve houses").
• al-Masa'il al-Nujumiyah ("The astrological problems")

Notes

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