At a glance
- Roles
- Philosopher · Astronomer · mathematician
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Mongol and Post-Mongol Era
- Region
- Persia & Central Asia
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
Philosophy and logicAstronomy and timekeeping
Place in the story
- PhilosopherTradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
Overview
Al-Mufaddal ibn Umar ibn al-Mufaddal al-Samarqandi al-Abhari, one of the best-known scholars in Islamic thought in logic, astronomy and mathematics. His nisba "al-Abhari" refers to the town of Abhar, and the place of his birth is disputed. 1
Death
He died in 663 AH (1265 CE). 1
Encyclopaedia of Islam account
The Encyclopaedia of Islam (2nd ed.) entry, signed by C. Brockelmann, gives Athir al-Din al-Abhari (d. 663/1264; Barhebraeus gives 1262) as a philosophical writer about whose life little is known. He wrote two works of scholastic philosophy that were widely studied: the Hidayat al-Hikma, in three parts on logic, physics and theology, and al-Isaghuji, an adaptation of Porphyry's Isagoge. The best-known commentary on the Hidayat is by Mir Husayn al-Maybudi. 2
People and things also explored
The planets' reign and the world's cycles· Najm al-Din al-Katibi al-Qazwini· Umar Khayyam· Sharaf al-Dawla's observatory at Baghdad· Qibla-finding by stars, winds, mountains and rivers· Sizes of the heavenly bodies· Distances of the heavenly bodies from the Earth· The seven climates
Sources
- Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin — Dar al-Jil / ALECSO , p.187-201
- Encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edition (Leiden: Brill, 1954–2008), 13 volumes , vol. 1 p. 117
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “Al-Abhari, Athir al-Din al-Mufaddal ibn Umar”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-abhari-athir-al-din/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-25.