At a glance
- Roles
- mathematician · Astronomer
- Counted among
- Sunni
- Era
- The Early Abbasid Caliphate
- Region
- Persia & Central Asia
- Identifiers
- Wikidata
- Review
- Draft Completeness 1/5 · Help complete it
Life in time
In space
Map: Natural Earth, public domain · places and route from the graph
MathematicsAstronomy and timekeepingGeography and cartography
Place in the story
- ScientistTradition
Roles are dated and sourced; the museum describes the act and attributes the judgement.
A great mathematician who invented algebra and used numbers to help people solve arithmetic problems easily.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi was a mathematician and astronomer who lived in Baghdad and worked at the House of Wisdom during al-Ma'mun's reign. He authored the book on algebra that founded it as a distinct science, introduced decimal positional numerals to the world, and gave his name to the computer algorithm.
Storytellers (10–12) read the Explorers text, then cross to the Scholars text.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 164–232 AH / 781–847 CE), an astronomer, mathematician, and geographer at the Abbasid House of Wisdom in Baghdad. Regarded as the founder of algebra through his foundational text 'The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing', he provided practical formulas for inheritance, commerce, and surveying. His treatise on Hindu-Arabic numerals introduced the decimal positional system and zero to the West, and his Latinized name gave rise to the term 'algorithm'.
Overview
Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a scholar of mathematics and astronomy. Al-Mas'udi counts him among those who engaged in the sciences of astronomy after the appearance of Islam, together with al-Kindi, Abu Ma'shar, al-Farghani, Thabit ibn Qurra, al-Battani and others. 1
The museum's data give his birth as about 164 AH (780 CE) and his death as about 235 AH (850 CE). These dates are given as reported, rest on one source (the "Encyclopaedia of Notable Scholars and Men of Letters"), and need an additional source. 2
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Connections
- Lived in
- Baghdad
- Participated in
- The Algebra composed· The meridian measurement at Sinjār· Ṣūrat al-arḍ composed
People and things also explored
Baghdad· Bayt al-Hikma — the House of Wisdom· The Algebra composed· Ṣūrat al-arḍ composed· Sharaf al-Dawla's observatory at Baghdad· The Nizamiyya Madrasa of Baghdad· The 'Adudi Bimaristan· al-Bimaristan al-Muqtadiri
Sources
- Muruj al-Dhahab — al-Masʼudi , p. 519
- Mawsu'at A'lam al-Ulama' wa-l-Adaba' al-Arab wa-l-Muslimin — Dar al-Jil / ALECSO
- Al-Khwārizmī — Encyclopaedia Britannica
Cite this page
islam.museum contributors. “al-Khwarizmi”. islam.museum, https://islam.museum/en/person/al-khwarizmi/. CC BY-SA 4.0. Last updated 2026-10-28.