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The Influence of Ibn al-Haytham on Kamal al-Din al-Farisi
Dr Saira Malik* This presentation focused on the influence of Ibn al-Haytham's Kitab al-Manazir (The Book of Optics) on the work of Kamal al-Din al-Farisi (d. ca 1319 CE). Kamal al-Din used The Optics as a starting point to compose his own work Tanqih al-Manazir (Recension of the Optics), a work in which he presents a summary, revision and elaboration of Ibn al-Haytham's treatise. It is clear on analysis of Kamal al-Din's work that the principal influence that Ibn al-Haytham had on Kamal al-Din was in terms of methodology: the imperative to use both physical and mathematical analysis. Unlike in the Latin tradition of the history of ideas, where Ibn al-Haytham's work was widely circulated, Kamal al-Din's work is the only known sustained study of Ibn al-Haytham's The Optics in the Arabic tradition. See also Dr Saira Malik Kamal al-Din Abu al-Hasan (or al-Hasan) al-Farisi.  | Large image | Figure 1: Diagram from Kamal al-Din al-Farisi's great work Kitab Tanqih al-Manazir li-dhawi al-absar wa-‘l-basa'ir in which he edited the famous drawing of the nervous system from Kitab al-Manazir of Ibn al-Haytham. Source: Tanqîh al-Manazir, Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ahmed III, MS 3340, folio 16a. |
In this short bio-bibliography of Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, Dr Saira Malik presents succinctly the life and work of one of the most original scientists of the Islamic tradition. The author of Tanqih al-Manazir was indeed a prominent physicist, mathematician, and scientist of the early 14th century, and an original reader and commentator of Ibn al-Haytham's optics.  | Large image | Figure 2: Diagram of the eye in Kamal al-Din al-Farisi's Kitab Tanqih al-Manazir. Source: Tanqîh al-Manazir, Istanbul, Topkapi Palace Museum Library, Ahmed III, MS 3340, folio 25b. |
Resources 1. Articles on Al-Farisi, Ibn al-Haytham and optics on www.MuslimHeritage.com 2. Further readings - Malik, Saira. Technical Terminology in Medieval Arabic Science: The Case of Kamal al-Din al-Farisi. Cambridge, UK: University of Cambridge. Unpublished PhD thesis, 2008.
- Sameen Ahmed Khan, "Arab Origins of the Discovery of the Refraction of Light", in Optics and Photonics News, October 2007, pp. 22–23.
- Nader El-Bizri, 'Ibn al-Haytham et le problème de la couleur', Oriens-Occidens: Cahiers du centre d'histoire des sciences et des philosophies arabes et médiévales, C.N.R.S. Vol. 7 (2009), pp. 201-226.
- Nader El-Bizri, "Ibn al-Haytham", in Medieval Science, Technology, and Medicine: An Encyclopedia, eds. Thomas F. Glick, Steven J. Livesey, and Faith Wallis. New York/London: Routledge, 2005, pp. 237-240.
- Nader El-Bizri, "Optics", in Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia, ed. Josef W. Meri. New York/London: Routledge, 2005, Vol. II, pp. 578-580.
- Nader El-Bizri, "Al-Farisi, Kamal al-Din," in The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Islamic Philosophy, ed. Oliver Leaman. London/New York: Thoemmes Continuum, 2006, Vol. I, pp. 131-135.
- J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, "Kamal al-Din Abu'l Hasan Muhammad Al-Farisi", November 1999.
- A G Agargün and C R Fletcher, "Al-Farisi and the fundamental theorem of arithmetic", Historia Mathematica, 21 (2) (1994), pp. 162-173.
- R. Rashed, "Le modèle de la sphère transparente et l'explication de l'arc-en-ciel : Ibn al-Haytham - al-Farisi", Revue d'histoire des sciences 22 (1970), pp. 109-140.
* Cardiff University.
by: Dr Saira Malik, Fri 17 June, 2011
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