37. Ibn Al-Banaa
(654-721H/1256-1321AD)

“He was a scientist from Marrakech well-versed in many fields of knowledge, especially in mathematics, astronomy, astrology, hermetics and also medicine”(223).

His full name was Ahmed Ibn Mohammed Othman al-Azali, known as Abu al-Abbas Ibn al-Banaa al-Murrakchi. His father was a bricklayer. He was born in Marrakech, Morocco in 654 H/1256 AD where he spent the majority of his life, whence his name(224). It is there also where he learned grammar, hadith and jurisprudence, then he went to Fez where he studied medicine, astronomy and mathematics. Among his teachers there was Ibn Makhluf Sigilmasi Falaki and Ibn Hajla Ryadi(225).

He gained the esteem of the Fatimid Sultans in Morocco who continually called on him to come to Fez. He died in Marrakech in 721 H/1321 AD.

Scientific Contributions

In mathematics, he contributed in clarifying the difficult theories and complicated rules. He led ample researches on fractions. He developed rules for the addition of square and cube numbers, and the rule of two errors to solve first degree equations, and other calculus. He also introduced new rectifications on the method known as “the method of one error” and formulated it into a law(226).

It is mentioned in the Encyclopedia of Islam that Ibn al-Banaa outshone all his mathematician predecessors from the Orient, especially in the calculation of fractions. He was also considered to be one of the prominent mathematicians who used the Indian numerals in the way they are used by Moroccans(227).

Major Works

He compiled more than seventy books in mathematics, geometry, algebra, astronomy and astrology. Most of them were lost and only a few of them have reached us. The most famous of them are :

- “Kitab Talkhis amal al Hissab” (A summary of mathematics), Smith and Sarton admit that it is one of the best books on mathematics. It remained a reference in the West until the end of the 16th century AD. Several Arab scientists wrote explanations of it, and many western scientists borrowed from it. He attracted the attention of scientists during the 19th and 20th centuries(228). It was translated into French in 1864 by Marre, and the translation was published in Rome. It was translated once again into French by Dr. Muhammad Suissi. The original text its translation a preface and annotations were published in 1969(229).

-“Maqualat fi al-Hissab”, it’s a treatise about true numbers, fractions, radicals and proportion;

-“Kitab al-Gibr wa al Muquabala” (The Book of Integration and Equation);

-“Kitab al Fussul fi al-Faraid”;

-“Kittab fi al-Missahat” (The Book on Surfaces);

-“Kitab al Usterlab wa Istiamaluhu” (A Book on the Astrolabe and its Uses);

-“Kitab al-Yassara fi Taquim al Kawakib as-Syara”;

-“Minhaj at-Talib fi Taâdil al Kawakib”, the Spanish Orientalist Verne Jines annotated its introduction and some of its sections and translated them into Spanish in 1952.

 -“Kitab Ahkam an-Nujum” (The Book on the Law of Stars);

The two professors Muhammad Ablagh and Ahmed Jabbar published a book under the tile “Life and Works of Ibn-Bamaa” within the framework of the publications of the Faculty of Literature and Human Sciences, University of Mohammed V, Rabat, in 2001.