Sibt al-Mardini
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Sibt al-Mardini, Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ghazal (1423 – 1506 A.D.). He was born in Egypt. His father came from Damascus. The word "Sibt al-Mardini" means "the son of Al-Mardini's daughter". His maternal grandfather, Abdullah al-Mardini, was a reputed astronomer of the eighth century AH. He was a disciple of the astronomer Ibn al-Majdi (d. 850/1506).
Sibt al-Mardini was a Muslim astronomer and scholar who taught mathematics and astronomy in the Great Mosque of al-Azhar, Cairo. He was also a timekeeper (muwaqqit) of the mosque. He wrote no less than fifty treatises in astronomy (sine quadrants, sundials, astronomical tables and prayer times and wrote at least twenty-three mathematics textbooks.
Al-Sakhawy counted two hundred books that were written by Sibt al-Mardini, on Islamic law, astronomy, and mathematics. Libraries that specialize in ancient manuscripts, all over the world, have transcripts of his works.
Sibt al-Mardini’s declared that “the opinion of the muezzins [those who call people to prayer] is less correct than that of the legal scholars and it is the latter that should be used as the basis for the determination of prayer time”
[edit] His works
- Sharh al-Rahbiyah a commentary on the work of al-Rahbi (d. 579 A.H./1183 A.D.) on Fara'id (shares of inheritance)
- Sharh al-Muqni' fi 'ilm al-Jabr wa al-Muqabalah (Commentary on al-Muqni' about the science of Calculation by Completion and Balancing). al-Muqni' is a work of Shihabuddin ibn Ahmad ibn al-Hayim.
- Daqa'iq al-Haqa'iq
