Ibn al-Haytham summoned to Cairo

ابن الهيثم يستدعى إلى القاهرة

c. 1010 CE · c. 400 AH† – c. 1010 CE · c. 400 AH† †

† Hijri date derived by computation from the Gregorian/Julian date; it may differ from the transmitted date by a day or two.

Cairo

The Fatimid caliph al-Ḥākim summoned Ibn al-Haytham from Basra to Egypt to devise a regulation of the Nile flood; seeing the task impossible he feigned madness until al-Ḥākim's death in 1021 ¹.

Depth

At a glance

Era: The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era
Region: Levant & Iraq · Egypt & Nile
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In time

The Buyid, Fatimid and Seljuk Era

In space

Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph

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Connections

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Had participant: Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
Occurred at: Cairo

People and things also explored

Kitāb al-Manāẓir composed· Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)· Cairo· Al-Azhar Mosque· The Dar al-Hikma of Cairo· Baybars takes the sultanate, 658 AH· Capture of Cairo· death of Asad al-Dīn Shīrkūh — Saladin chosen vizier in his place

Sources

Ibn al-Haytham — Encyclopaedia Britannica

Cite this page

islam.museum contributors. “Ibn al-Haytham summoned to Cairo”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/event/ibn-al-haytham-summoned-to-cairo/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-29.

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Kitāb al-Manāẓir composed

In Cairo Ibn al-Haytham composed the Book of Optics, his greatest work — built on experiment rather than conjecture, and it remade the science of vision into the seventeenth century.