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History, Culture and Science in Morocco: 11th-14th Centuries
FSTC Research Team* 1 | 2 | Next Table of contents 1. Introduction
2. The Moroccan Berber Dynasties
2.1. The Almoravids
2.2. The Almohads
3. Morocco as a Centre of Mathematical Studies
3.1. Al-Murrakushi
3.2. Ibn al-Banna
4. Geographers and Travellers
4.1. Al-Idrisi
4.2. Ibn Battuta
4.3. Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi
5. Marrakesh City of Power and Knowledge
6. Fes the Spiritual Capital of Morocco
7. Fes Clocks
8. Conclusion
9. Bibliography
Notes Note of the editor This article was published on www.MuslimHeritage.com in October 2004. It is republished with revisions and new illustrations. Copyright: © FSTC Limited, 2004-2010. * * * 1. Introduction | Large image | Figure 1: Historical map of the Islamic west until 1100. Adapted from Atlas of Western Art History (New York, 1994, p. 87). (Source). | |
An illustration to highlight the role of Morocco as a transit zone is the example of paper manufacturing. This first started in the furthest eastern parts of the Islamic lands. Paper, originally, was brought by the Muslims from China. From a Chinese art, the Muslims developed it into a major industry [1]. The first paper mill was built in Baghdad in the late 8th century and the early 9th century. Then, paper production, like much else, passed onto Syria on the way West. From Syria, it progressed further west to Palestine, then reached Egypt around 850. From Egypt it continued further to reach Morocco by the early 10th century, and then crossed into Spain in 950 [2]. From Spain and Sicily, paper making spread to Italy and the rest of Europe [3]. This is just one aspect of Morocco's role. Another is the close relationship between the Moroccan territories and the Andalus. Maghribi students, for instance, down to the 13th century, considered a stay in Cordova, Murcia, or Valencia necessary to finish their course [4]. In fact, the period that extends from the end of the 8th to the end of the 11th century is characterised by the development, in both the Maghreb and Muslim Spain of two, more-or-less linked, scientific traditions encouraged by scholars who, "beyond the social contradictions and the differences of statute or of religion, were relatively united both by the way of life of the Islamic city and by the cultural and scientific environment that had been established favouring different human contributions and multiple contacts with the scientific foyers of the Muslim East [5]." Glick also explains how the economic links between Morocco and Muslim Spain were very close. The closest sphere of Andalusi commercial activities was North Africa, Morocco acting as both a source of raw materials (wood, alum, antimony) and finished cloth. In Morocco, Andalusi merchants sold their own finished cloth (Valencian brocade, according to Al-Shaqundî), and copper was a staple export [6]. In particular, under the rule of the Almoravids and Almohads, who united Islamic Spain with the Maghrib, the great Moroccan cities, Marrakech and Fes especially, became extensions of the Andalusi urban economy. Merchants moved back and forth freely, carrying Spanish goods [7]. Many businesses were family operations, and therefore members of the same family would be stationed in different countries to ease commercial arrangements. Glick mentions in particular Jewish families (who were very much involved in Muslim trade) who owned houses on either side of the Gibraltar strait [8]. Morocco's main contribution to the history and geopolitics of the whole Islamic western region, however, was to provide two of its most powerful Muslim forces, which shaped history decisively: the Almoravids and Almohad dynasties. 2. The Moroccan Berber Dynasties  | Large image | Figure 2: Map showing the extent of the Almoravid Empire around 1100 CE. (Source). | |
The Almohads come out even worse than the Almoravids. Even authors usually displaying balanced judgements, describe the Almohads as being fanatical, orthodox, who harmed Muslim civilisation. "Fanatic barbarians, of the eleventh and twelfth centuries," Lea tells us. "The savage instincts of the Berbers were indulged by tortures and all the arts of the most exquisite cruelty. Whenever these barbarians encountered a monastery not one of the holy fathers was left alive. There was now visited upon the Christians a severe retaliation for the unspeakable horrors which they had been in the habit of inflicting upon their infidel adversaries in the name of the Gospel of Peace" [10]. 2.1.The Almoravids  | Large image | Figure 3: The Almohad territory (green) at its greatest extent around 1200 and its neighbouring states. (Source). | |
The Muslim populations also became painfully aware of the relative helplessness of their own princes, and acceding to pressures from below, the Taifa leaders were forced to appeal to the Almoravids in an attempt to stop the disintegration [15]. In 1086, the Almoravids, tribesmen from the Moroccan south, crossed into Spain, and manoeuvring in masses to the sound of drums, they inflicted on their adversaries a shattering defeat at Zallaqa near Bajadoz [16]. The Christian forces were awed and intimidated by the continuous drumming, which accompanied the swiftly executed manoeuvres of the Almoravid army [17]. Ibn Tashfin slaughtered the Christian army and Alfonso barely escaped with some five hundred horsemen. Thousands of the best knights of Spain "lay stiff and nerveless on that fatal field [18]." Before the battle, Alfonso, as he looked upon his own splendid army exclaimed: "With men like these I would fight devils, angels, and ghosts! [19]" The Almoravids were asked twice to intervene before being summoned to depart, their puritan faith hardly to the taste of the rather morally loose Andalusians. Some of the Taifa rulers even plotted to have Yusuf Ibn Tashfin, the Almoravid ruler, poisoned so as to rid themselves of an unwelcome guest [20]. The third time he was invited, in 1090, Ibn Tashfin crossed the straigts of Gilbraltar from Morocco, removed the Taifa rulers and installed Almoravid rule over all the country. The Andalusian historian Al-Bakri, surrounded by the intellectual and material comforts of his country and his milieu, considered these puritans of Islam as enemies [21]. He was not alone. The Castillans, concerned at this new conquering thrust, were "disconcerted by these veiled adversaries who charged on camel back to the sound of drums." As a result, the historical reputation of the Almoravids suffered from great prejudices [22]. The Almoravid conquest, Wiet notes, was as Al-Bakri described it "a bloody holy war waged by fanatical disciples of a strange religion." They had conquered the whole of Morocco patiently, with the least effort. Their installation at Marrakech, their rapid expansion in southern Morocco, as revealed by excavations, emphasize the considerable degree of their cultural evolution, their faculty of assimilation and inventiveness, that of a people, whom Ibn Hawqal in the 10th century, just as Al-Bakri in the 11th century, wrongly regarded as little better than savages [23]. The Almoravids also drew upon the African goldmines for minting coinage and secured great prosperity for the region. They were the first to achieve the unity of Spain and North West Africa, which had the greatest possible repercussions on economic affairs and also on cultural activities, even though the Almoravid Empire did not last very long [24]. More importantly, the Almoravid intervention kept Spain in Muslim hands for another half century at least (that is until the end of their rule in 1147). They also halted the Castillan advance which, as it was going to do in the following centuries, was to progress further south into North Africa. So, in addition to saving the Muslim realm for this period of time, the Almoravids also allowed Muslim civilisation to prosper for an additional and lengthy period. Coming after them, the Almohads extended both Muslim political survival in the Andalus and the prosperity of Muslim civilisation until nearly the middle of the 13th century. Thus, the crucial role of these two Moroccan powers can be seen if one thinks of all the eminent names who lived under Almoravid and Almohad rule, such as the herbalists Al-Ghafiqi (d. 1165), author of Kitab al-adwiyata 'l-mufrada (The Book of Simple Drugs) and Ibn al-Baytar (1197-1248) of Malaga, the author of the largest pharmacological encyclopaedia that has survived to our time, the traveller Ibn Jubayr, the philosopher Ibn Rushd (1126-1198) and the astronomer Jabir Ibn Aflah (fl. middle of the 12th century). 2.2. The Almohads  | Large image | Figure 4: Introductory summary overview map from Al-Idrisi's 1154 world atlas, with the south at the top of the map. (Source). | |
Soon Spain fell back into the usual chaos, the usual infighting between the various factions: Almoravid and Andalusian, Arab and Berber [26]. Muslim Spain disintegrated into another multitude of warring city states just like those of decades before [27]. These divisions were hardly lost on the combined Castillan forces, who resumed their assaults under the conduct of King Alfonso I of Aragon, named El-Batallador (The Fighter) because of his deep thrusts into Muslim territory [28], taking their towns and cities one after the other. At the taking of Lisbon, this time by an alliance of European armies, and following the tragic fate of the Muslim population once the city was retaken (1147), an English priest could not hold being moved by the fate of the Muslims: "We are inclined to feel pity for our enemies in their evil fortunes, and to feel sorry that the lashes of divine justice are not yet at an end [29]." The Almohads, another Berber dynasty from deep into Morocco, crossed into Spain, and again saved Muslim Spain, beating off Castillan armies further north. Then, on 18th July 1196, the Almohad ruler Abu Yusuf Ya'qub inflicted a crushing defeat on Alfonso VIII of Castile at Alarcos [30]. So generous in victory was Abu Yusuf, he freed twenty thousand Christian prisoners without ransom [31]. All Spain was at the mercy of Abu Yusuf, but he was obliged to cut short his operations to return to Africa, where a rebellion, sponsored and encouraged by Salah Eddin's successors, threatened him from the rear [32]. Abu Yusuf quelled the rebellion, but by the time he returned to Spanish matters, his forces had been drained. Still, Spain, and North Africa were safe in Muslim hands. Abu Ya'qub [33], other than bringing peace and security in both Spain and North-West Africa, improved the irrigation systems and embellished the cities with fine buildings [34]. In 1170-1171, he had made Seville his capital, and rebuilt the portion of the wall adjacent to the river, after a calamitous flood. The Alcazar, or citadel, originally built by Abd al- Rahman II, was restored, and there was also built the main mosque (1172-1176), of which only the minaret, now called the Giralda, still remains [35]. The three hundred feet high Giralda in Seville was both a minaret and an observatory [36]. When Seville was lost to Ferdinand III of Castile (1248), it boasted seventy-two mosques [37]. In Morocco, Almohad rule coincided with a great period of prosperity and brilliance of learning. The Almohads built the Marrakech Kutubiya Mosque, which accommodated no less than 25,000 people, but was also famed for its books, manuscripts, libraries and book shops, which gave it its name [38]. Abu Ya'qub, Deverdun says, "had a great soul and love for collecting books [39]." He founded a great library, which was eventually carried to the Casbah, and turned into a public library, under the management of the most erudite. Their service, says Ibn Farhun, was one of the privileged state positions, for which were selected only the best scholars [40]. Some books in the library constituted part of the Almohad treasury, in fact, and were as prized as precious metals [41]. There are, for instance, two copies of the Qur'an written in Mansub character that Salah Eddin had offered Abu Ya'qub [42]. During the crusades, the Almohads had dispatched 180 vessels to help the Muslims fight the crusaders during the third crusade (which involved Salah Eddin against Richard the Lion Heart) in the east [43]. Under the Almohads, the sovereigns did not just encourage the construction of schools and libraries, and sponsored scholars of every sort, but they even attended their scholars' funerals [44]. Illustrious physicians also lived and worked in the Almohad court, especially under the third Caliph Abu Ya'qub and constituted a sort of corporation presided over by one amongst them [45]. Ibn Rushd, Ibn Tufayl, Ibn Zuhr and many more philosophers and scholars found sanctuary and served the Almohad rulers [46]. Contrary to the statements of accusers who talked of their enmity to learning, libraries thrived under their rule, including private libraries. Three main collections (all dating from the mid 13th century) can be cited: that of Ibn Tarawa, who was a great supporter of chroniclers, besides being a manuscript writer, and the collections of Al-Qaysi and of Ibn as-Suqr, the main librarian of the imperial library, whose private collection required five full camel loads to carry it [47]. The Almohads checked Castillan advances in Andalus for a while, but soon afterwards, their rule was to suffer the same fate as their predecessors. On his death, the illustrious victor at Alarcos, Abu Yusuf Al-Mansur was succeeded by his son Al-Nasir (1199-1214), who was from a very different mould. Al-Nasir cared neither for science nor for religion, neglected government, and specialised in pleasure [48]. At the very decisive battle of Navas de Tolosa, in 1212, Al-Nasir's much superior army was too disunited to face effectively a smaller but united Spanish army. Al-Nasir' army was crushed [49]. This was the beginning of the end of Muslim Spain. One after the other, Muslim towns and cities fell: Cordova in 1236; Valencia in 1238; Seville in 1248. Only Granada was left in Muslim hands, to be taken in 1492. And there was no strong army from North Africa to hold back the Spanish advance. The local wars between the Spanish monarchies were some relief for the Muslims. By the time the Spaniards and Portuguese resumed their thrust into North Africa in the 15th century, the Ottomans were powerful enough and willing to come and lend a hand, and help keep the area under Islamic rule. 3. Morocco as a Centre of Mathematical Studies  | Large image | Figure 5: Manuscript page of one of Al-Idrisi's books describing Finland (image in the public domain). | |
3.1. Al-Murrakushi Abd al-Wahid Al-Murrakushi was born in Marrakech in 1185; he studied there, in Fes, and after 1208 in Spain. In 1217, he went to Egypt where he seems to have spent the rest of his life. In 1224, he completed a history of the Almohad dynasty, preceded by a summary of Spanish history from the Muslim conquest to 1087 (Kitab al-mu'jib fi talkhis akhbar ahl al-Maghrib) [51]. The text has been edited by R. P. A. Dozy [52]. There is a French translation by Fagnan [53]. Extracts can be found in Wustenfeld, Brockelman and Lévi Provençal [54]. Hassan-al-Murrakushi's main scientific work is Jami' al-Mabadi' wa-'l-ghayat fi 'ilm al-miqat (The compendium of principles and results in the science of timekeeping), probably completed in 1229-1230. This is a very good compilation of practical knowledge on astronomical instruments, trigonometry and gnomonics [55]. Part of this work has been translated by Sédillot [56]. Sarton holds that the book was the most elaborate trigonometrical treatise of the Western caliphate, the best medieval treatise on practical astronomy, on gnomonics and the best explanation of graphical methods [57]. The part dealing with gnomonics contained studies of dials traced on horizontal, cylindrical, conical and other surfaces for every latitude [58]. Al-Murrakushi gave a table of sines for each half degree as well as tables of versed sines and arc sines (this last one he called the table of Al-Khwarizmi). To facilitate the use of gnomons, he added a table of arc cotangents [59]. The second part of the book was devoted to the explanation of graphical methods of solving astronomical problems. In Al-Murrakushi's Jami' al-mabadi' the construction of planispheres, astrolabes, quadrants and the need of gnomonics are developed. This constituted the great interest of Sédillot who wrote one of the best accounts on Muslim astronomical instruments [60]. In his treatise, Al-Murrakushi shows his good acquaintance with the mathematical and astronomical works of Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Farghani, Al-Battani, Abu 'l Wafa, Al-Biruni, Ibn Sina, Al-Zarqali and Jabir Ibn Aflah. For example, he shared Al-Zarqali's belief that the obliquity of the ecliptic oscillates between 23°,33' and 23°,53', a belief which tallied with the notion of the trepidation of the equinoxes [61]. It is interesting to note how much study Al-Murrakushi has devoted to trigonometry and associated subjects, and yet we read in some works of history of science, including that by a renowned figure such as Alistair Crombie, that: "The development of modern trigonometry dates from mathematical work done in Oxford and France in the fourteenth century in connection with astronomy [62]." Had Crombie even briefly consulted Al-Murrakushi, he would have realised just how far from the truth he was. 3.2. Ibn al-Banna Ibn al-Banna, whose full name was Abu 'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi, was born in 1256 in Marrakech [63]. There is a claim that Ibn al-Banna was born in Grenada in Spain and moved to North Africa for his education. What is certain is that he spent most of his life in Morocco [64]. This confusion on the place of his birth may be due to the fact that even after Almohad power had faded, the Moroccans – the Merinids in this instance – kept trying to save Muslim Spain. The Merinids had formerly lived in eastern Morocco before taking control of the whole country in 1269. They tried to help Granada to halt the Castillan advance through their country, and the strong link built between Granada and Morocco may account for the confusion as to which country Ibn al-Banna was a native of [65]. Ibn al-Banna lived and taught for some time in Fes which became, after the fall of the Almohads, the capital of the Merinids, and which tried to rival, on an intellectual level, Marrakech, the only city which had had the privilege of having been, for almost two centuries (1062-1248), the capital of the entire Maghreb, including vast sub-Saharan zones [66]. Ibn al-Banna studied geometry, fractional numbers and learnt much of the impressive contributions that the Muslims had made to mathematics over the preceding centuries [67]. At the university in Fes, Ibn al-Banna taught all branches of mathematics, which at this time included arithmetic, algebra, geometry and astronomy. Many students studied under him in this thriving academic community [68]. Ibn al-Banna wrote a large number of works, 82 are listed by Renaud, but not all are on mathematics [69]. Other sources in fact state that he distinguished himself from his Maghribi predecessors by the richness and diversity of his output. Based on the inventory , made at the time by Ibn Haydur, Ibn al-Banna seems to be in fact the author of more than 100 titles, of which only 32 concern mathematics and astronomy, the others being dedicated to disciplines very distant from each other like linguistics, rhetoric, astrology, grammar and logic [70]. The encyclopaedic character of the production of Ibn al-Banna may have contributed to his social status. Honoured by the Merinids, he left Marrakech in order to install himself for a time in Fes at the invitation of the sultan of the epoch [71]. This eminent position, from which he benefited in the Merinid capital, reinforced the authority that he had already acquired through his scientific works. This double status, both scientific and social, may have helped him solve the problems that preoccupied his contemporaries, and which led him to publish an original book whose contents might be related, because of some of its aspects, to what Djebbar calls "ethnomathematics" [72]. This work is Tanbih al-albab, the first part of which contains the precise mathematical answers to problems in everyday life, such as the composition of medicaments, the calculation of the drop of irrigation canals and the explanation of frauds linked to instruments of measurement [73]. The second part belongs to the already ancient tradition of judicial and cultural mathematics and joins a collection of little arithmetical problems presented in the form of poetical riddles [74]. In mathematics, Ibn al-Banna is credited with two major discoveries. He seems to have been the first to consider a fraction as a ratio between two numbers and he is the first to use the expression almanac (in Arabic al-manakh, meaning weather) in a work containing astronomical and meteorological data [75]. His two books Talkhis a'mal al-hisab (Summary of arithmetical operations) and Raf' al-Hijab (Lifting of the veil), which is Ibn al-Banna's own commentary on the Talkhis, are his best writings in mathematics. It is in the latter text that Ibn al-Banna introduces some mathematical notation which has led certain authors to believe that algebraic symbolism was first developed in Islam by Ibn al-Banna and Al-Qalasadi [76]. This matter is not agreed upon by all historians however. Many interesting mathematical ideas and results which appear in the Raf' al-Hijab, including continued fractions used to compute approximate square roots [77]. Notes [1] For more accounts on the growth of the industry see: J. Pedersen, The Arabic Book, translated by Geoffrey French, Princeton University Press, Princeton, 1984, and M. M. Sibai: Mosque Libraries: An Historical Study, Mansell Publishing Limited: London and New York, 1987. [2] D. Hunter: Papermaking, The History and Technique of an Ancient Craft, Pleiades Books, London, 1943, p. 470. [3] T. K. Derry and T. I. Williams, A Short History of Technology, Oxford Clarendon Press, 1960, p. 232; W. M. Watt, "L'influence de l'islam sur l'Europe médiévale", Revue d'Etudes Islamiques, vol. 40, p. 36. [4] E. Lévi Provençal, "Al-Maghrib", Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edition, vol. 5, 1986, pp. 1208-9. [5] J. G. Vernet and J. Samso, "Panorama de la ciencia andalusi en el siglo XI" [Overview of Andalusian science in the 11th century]. Actas de la Jornadas de cultura arabe e islamica, Insituto Hispano-Arabe de cultura, Madrid, 1981; quoted in Ahmed Djebbar, Mathematics in the Medieval Maghrib: General Survey on Mathematical Activities in North Africa; section 2. Birth and first developments of mathematical activities in the Maghrib (9th-11th centuries). [6] Al-Shaqundi in T. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain in the Early Middle Ages, Princeton N.J. Princeton University Press 1979, pp.130-1. [7] T. Glick, Islamic and Christian Spain, op. cit., p. 131. [8] Ibid. [9] S. Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain, Fisher Unwin, London, 1888, p. 192. [10] H. C. Lea, The Moriscos of Spain, Burt Franklin, New York, 1968 reprint, p. 1. See also S. P. Scott, History of the Moorish Empire, The Lippincoat Company, Philadelphia, 1904, vol. 1, p. 584. The so called "Almohad persecution" was particularly stressed by W. Durant, The Age of Faith, Simon and Shuster, New York, 6th printing, 1950, p. 395. [11] C. Cahen, Orient et Occident au temps des Croisades, Aubier Montaigne, Paris, 1983, p. 21. [12] S. Lane-Poole, The Moors, op. cit., pp. 176-7. [13] See D. M. Dunlop, "A Christian Mission to Muslim Spain in the Eleventh Century", Al-Andalus, XVII (1952), pp. 259-310; Alan Cutler, "Who was the Monk of France and When Did he Write?", Al-Andalus, XXVIII (1963), pp. 249-269. [14] S. Lane-Poole, The Moors, op. cit., p. 178. [15] J. T. Monroe, "The Hispanic-Arabic World", in Americo Castro and the Meaning of Spanish Civilisation, edited by Jose Rubia Barcia, University of California Press, Berkeley, 1976 pp. 69-90; p. 83. [16] G. Wiet et al., History of Mankind, vol. 3: The Great Medieval Civilisations, translated from the French, George Allen & Unwin/UNESCO, 1975, p. 269. [17] A. Thomson and M. A. Rahim, Islam in Andalus, Taha Publishers, revised edit., 1996, p. 90. [18] S. Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain, op. cit., p. 179. [19] Ibid. [20] A. Thomson and M. A. Rahim, Islam in Andalus, op. cit., p. 92. [21] G. Wiet et al., History of Mankind, vol. III, op. cit.; p. 857. [22] Ibid. [23] Ibid, pp. 857-8. [24] Ibid, p. 857. [25] S. Lane-Poole, The Moors in Spain, op. cit., p. 183. [26] A. Thomson and M.A. Rahim, Islam, op. cit., p. 97. [27] S and N. Ronart, Concise Encyclopaedia of Arabic Civilization, vol. 2: The Arab West, Djambatan, Amsterdam, 1966, p. 89. [28] Jean Read, The Moors in Spain and Portugal, Faber and Faber, London, 1974, p. 150. [29] Ibid, p. 161. [3] John Glubb, A Short History of the Arab Peoples, Hodder and Stoughton, 1969, p. 190. See also J. Read, The Moors in Spain and Portugal, op. cit., p. 165 and Al-Murrakushi, Kitab al-Mu'jib, French translation: Histoire des Almohades, Algiers, 1893. [31] Ibid. [32] Ibid. [33] It is highly crucial here to make the difference between father and son with very close names: Abu Yaqub Yusuf ruled between 1163 and 1184, whilst his son, the victor at Alarcos, is Abu Yusuf Ya'qub al-Mansur; he ruled from 1184 to 1199. For easier identification, the father will be called Abu Ya'qub and his son Abu Yusuf. [34] S.M. Imamudin, A Political History of Spain, Najmah and Sons Publishers, Dacca, 1961, p. 167. [35] T. Glick, "Seville", in Dictionary of the Middle Ages, New York, Scribners, 1980 onwards, vol. 13, p. 213. [36] S. M. Imamudin, A Political History, op. cit., p. 167. [37] T.Glick, "Seville", op. cit., p. 213. [38] R. Landau, Morocco, Elek Books, London, 1967, p. 80. [39] G.Deverdun, Marrakech, Editions Techniques Nord Africaines, Rabat, 1959, p. 265. [40] Ibid. [41] Ibid. [42] Ibid. [43] S.M. Imamudin, A Political History of Spain, op. cit., p. 168. [44] G. Deverdun, Marrakech, op. cit., p. 261. [45] Ibid. [46] R. Landau, Morocco, op. cit., p. 431. [47] G. Deverdun, Marrakech, op. cit., p. 265. [48] W. Durant, The Age of Faith, op. cit., p. 314. [49] T. B. Irving, "Dates, Names and Places: The End of Islamic Spain", Revue d'Histoire Maghrébine, No 61-62, 1991, pp. 77-93; at p. 81. [50] E. Lévi Provençal, "Al-Maghrib", Encyclopaedia of Islam, New edition, vol. 5, 1986, pp. 1208-9. [51] G. Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science, The Carnegie Institute of Washington, 1927-48, 3 vols., vol. 2, p. 681. [52] R.P. A. Dozy, The History of the Almohads, Leiden, Brill, 1847, reedited 1881. [53] French translation by Edmond Fagnan in Revue Africaine, vols. 36-37, separate edition Algiers, 1893. [54] F. Wustenfeld, Geschichtschreiber der Araber, 1881; C. Brockelmann, Geschichte der Arabische Litterartur, 1898, vol. 1, p. 332; E. Lévi Provençal, Documents inédits d'histoire almohade, Paris, 1928. [55] G. Sarton, Introduction, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 621. [56] E. Lévi Provençal, "Al-Maghrib", op. cit. [57] G. Sarton, Introduction, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 508. [58] Ibid, p. 621. [59] Ibid, pp. 508, 621. [60] L. Sédillot, "Mémoire sur les instruments astronomique des arabes", Mémoires de l'Académie Royale des Inscriptions et des Belles Lettres de l'Institut de France, 1: 1-229; reprinted in Frankfurt, 1985. [61] G. Sarton, Introduction, op. cit., vol. 2, p. 621. [62] A.C. Crombie, Science, Optics and Music in Medieval and Early Modern Thought, The Hambledon Press, London, 1990, p. 86. [63] J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, Arabic Mathematics, A Forgotten Brilliance?. [64] Ibid. [65] Ibid. [66] A. Laroui, L'histoire du Maghreb, un essai de synthèse, Paris, Maspéro, 1970, pp. 147-85; quoted in A Djebbar, "Mathematics in Medieval Maghreb", AMUCHMA-Newsletter, N° 15, 1995; reedited in A. Djebbar Mathematics in the Medieval Maghrib: General Survey on Mathematical Activities in North Africa. [67] J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, op. cit. [68] Ibid. [69] Ibid. [70] A. Djebbar Mathematics in the Medieval Maghrib: General Survey on Mathematical Activities in North Africa. [71] Ibid. [72] Ibid. [73] Ibid. [74] Ibid. [75] J. J. O'Connor and E. F. Robertson, op. cit. [76] Ibid. [77] Ibid. 1 | 2 | Next
by: FSTC Research Team, Tue 26 January, 2010
 
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