Muhammad al-Rudani () (c. 1627 – 1683) was a Moroccan

polymath A polymath ( el, πολυμαθής, , "having learned much"; la, homo universalis, "universal human") is an individual whose knowledge spans a substantial number of subjects, known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific pro ...

who was active as an astronomer, grammarian, jurist, logician, mathematician and poet.

Biography

Al-Rudani was born in in

Taroudant Taroudant (; ar, تارودانت, Latn, ar, tārūdānt, ) is a city in the Sous Valley in south western Morocco. It is situated east of Agadir on the road to Ouarzazate and the Sahara desert and south of Marrakesh. The town is known as the "Gr ...

. He was of Shilha origin. After studying in his hometown at the Great Mosque of Taroudant and its ''

Madrasa Madrasa (, also , ; Arabic: مدرسة , pl. , ) is the Arabic word for any type of educational institution, secular or religious (of any religion), whether for elementary instruction or higher learning. The word is variously transliterated '' ...

'', he continued his studies in the Zaouia

Nasiriyya The Nasiriyya is a Sufi order founded by Sidi Mohammed ibn Nasir al-Drawi (1603–1674) whose centre was Tamegroute. See also * Darqawa (Sufism) References Bibliography * Ph.D. Thesis"Between God and men : the Nasiriyya and economic life in ...

under Mohammed ibn Nasir for four years, the

Zaouia of Dila The Zawiya Dila'iya (, ) or Zawiya of Dila was a Sufi brotherhood, centred in the Middle Atlas range of Morocco. Origin There were originally two zawiyas referred to as Dila'. The first zawiya was founded by Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad al-Majjati a ...

, in Marrakesh and in

Fez Fez most often refers to: * Fez (hat), a type of felt hat commonly worn in the Ottoman Empire * Fez, Morocco (or Fes), the second largest city of Morocco Fez or FEZ may also refer to: Media * ''Fez'' (Frank Stella), a 1964 painting by the moder ...

. His teachers in Morocco were: the theologian Isa al-Sugtani (d.1651), the chronologist Muhammad ibn Said al-Marghiti (d. 1679), and the grammarian Muhammad al-Murabit al-Dilai' (d. 1678). Afterwards, he left to study in the Islamic east. Thus, in the early 1650s, he stayed in Algiers, where he studied under the logician Said ibn Ibrahim Qaddura. In Egypt and the Levant, he studied under Ali al-Ajhuri,

Shihab al-Din al-Khafaji Shihab al-Din Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Umar Khafaja, al-Khafaji ( ar, شهاب الدين أحمد بن محمد بن عمر الخفاجي) an Egyptians, Egyptian Hanafi-Maturidi scholar and poet who spent some time in Istanbul and while there was ...

, Shihab al-Din al-Qaliyubi, Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Shubri, al-Shaikh Sultan,

Khayr al-Din al-Ramli Khayr al-Din ibn Ahmad ibn Nur al-Din Ali ibn Zayn al-Din ibn Abd al-Wahab al-Ayubi al-Farooqui (1585–1671), better known as Khayr al-Din al-Ramli ( ar, خير الدين الرملي), was a 17th-century Islamic jurist, teacher and writer in t ...

, Muhammad al-Naqib ibn Hamza al-Hasani and Ibn Balban. He got an ''

ijazah An ''ijazah'' ( ar, الإِجازَة, "permission", "authorization", "license"; plural: ''ijazahs'' or ''ijazat'') is a license authorizing its holder to transmit a certain text or subject, which is issued by someone already possessing such au ...

'' from all of these scholars. He spent most of his life in Ottoman territories. He is especially well known for the invention of a spherical device into which another sphere (painted blue) with a different axis was placed. This second sphere was divided into two parts in which the zodiacal signs with their sections and regions were drawn. He died in Damascus on October 31, 1683.

Works

Some of his works are: * ''Silat al-khalaf bi-mawsūl al-salaf'', an extensive record of the various chains of certifications he had received * ''Bahjat al-tullāb fı̄ l-'amal bil-asturlāb'', a treatise on the astrolabe * ''Maqāsid al-'awālı̄ bi-qalā'id al-la'ālı̄,'' a didactic poem on '' ilm al-mı̄qāt'' (chronology) with a prose commentary * ''al-Nāfi'a 'alā l-āla al-jāmi'a'' completed in 1661, a treatise describing the spherical astrolabe that he had constructed. * ''Jam' al-fawā'id min Jāmi' al-usūl wa Majma' al-zawā'id'', a compilation of hadith

References

Sources

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rudani, Mohammed 1627 births 1683 deaths 17th-century Berber people 17th-century Moroccan people Berber writers Moroccan writers Moroccan astronomers People from Taroudannt Scientists who worked on qibla determination Shilha people