Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat

Who is Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat?

Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat, often called by the Latin title Albohali in western sources, was an Arab astrologer and a student of Mashallah.

Al-Khayyat's Kitāb al-Mawālid, "Book of Birth", was translated into Latin by Plato of Tivoli in 1136, and again by Johannes Hispalensis in 1153, and this last translation was printed in Nuremberg in 1546 under the title Albohali Arabis astrologi antiquissimi ac clarissimi de iudiciis nativitatum liber unus antehac non editus. Cum privilegio D. Iohanni Shonero concesso.

Elements of his Kitāb Sirr al-'Amal, "Book of the secret action", are also reproduced in the 12th century Book of Nine Judges, compiled by Hugo of Santalla. The material has been described as being largely taken from the work of Mashalla but in several places borrowing from the work of Omar Tiberiades.