Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī

Who is Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī?

Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Habib ibn Sulaiman ibn Samura ibn Jundab al-Fazari was an 8th-century mathematician and astronomer of Persian background.

He was the mathematician and astronomer at the Abbasid court of the Caliph Harun al-Rashid. He is not to be confused with his son Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī, also an Astronomer. He composed various astronomical writings.

The Caliph ordered him and his son to translate the Indian Astronomical text, The Sindhind along with Yaʿqūb ibn Ṭāriq, which was completed in Baghdad about 750 CE, and entitled Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab. This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the Hindu numerals were transmitted from India to Iran.