Ibn Abi al-Dunya's Kitab al-Matar wa-l-ra'd wa-l-barq wa-l-rih

"Kitab al-Matar wa-l-ra'd wa-l-barq wa-l-rih" ("The Book of Rain, Thunder, Lightning and Wind") by Ibn Abi al-Dunya, who lived from 208 to 281 AH according to Brockelmann, is quoted a few times by al-Suyuti in the many chapters of al-Hay'a al-saniyya on rain, clouds, thunder and lightning. ¹

The book is very rare; Heinen used a copy in the Köprülü library (no. 388/3, ff. 49v–74r), apparently copied in 563 AH, which he believed to be the only one extant. ¹

Heinen notes that al-Suyuti passed over the great meteorological authorities of Ibn Abi al-Dunya's day, such as al-Kindi and Ibn Qutayba, choosing Ibn Abi al-Dunya because he was interested in natural phenomena only as far as they had entered the religious tradition of the Muslim community. ² Therein lies its originality for Heinen: it preserves elements of the earliest Muslim generations' knowledge of the weather, and the Prophet ﷺ's attitudes in times of drought, storm and thunder. ²