Luminary of the Golden Age
Muhammad Abu al-Wafa al-Buzjani and his student Abd ar-Rahman ibn Yunus al-Misri were among the most talented scholars of the Islamic Golden Renaissance.
Abu al-Wafa was born on 10 June 940 in Buzjan, a city in the Khorasan Sultanate (now Iran) and died on 15 July 998 in Baghdad, Iraq. He is one of the most renowned mathematicians and astronomers of the Islamic Golden Age, ranking alongside such scholars as al-Biruni, al-Khwarizmi, and Omar Khayyam.
Abu al-Wafa was the founder of the description of geometric constructions performed using a ruler and a fixed compass, which was later called “compass rust” because its radius does not change. He systematically conducted astronomical observations and produced highly accurate trigonometric tables.
This great mathematician developed methods for constructing regular polygons and calculating the areas of circles and other figures. He was the first to exploit the tangent, discovered the cosecant and secant and created tables of tangents and sines with an interval of 15 arc minutes. He made these discoveries while studying the orbit of the Moon and described them in his book “Theories of the Moon”.
This scientist wrote mathematical works on calculating volumes and areas, constructing regular polygons and calculating the motion of celestial bodies. He described in great detail how to use the astrolabe, a device for measuring the altitude of celestial objects. Muhammad Abu al-Wafa also proved himself a highly skilled engineer, developing essential mechanical devices, astronomical instruments and a water clock.
Between 961 and 976, he wrote “The Book of What is Common to All Sciences”. At the beginning of his work, Abu al-Wafa writes that this manuscript includes everything “that an experienced or novice, a subordinate or superior, should know in the field of arithmetic, the art of civil servants, the use of land taxes and all activities necessary in management, proportions, multiplication, division, measurement, land taxes, distribution and exchange, as well as all other methods used by various categories of people for business and useful to them in everyday life.”
Abu al-Wafa later wrote “The Book of Geometric Constructions Necessary for the Craftsman”. This book has 13 chapters. It discusses the design and testing of drawing instruments, the construction of right angles and so on. It is in this treatise that the Islamic scholar solves many problems using a ruler and a fixed compass, as this method allowed for the most accurate results.
The book “Kitab al-Kamil” is also very interesting because the observational results it presents were used by astronomers for several centuries to come.
