2017/01/01 by Godefroid De Callataÿ, Sébastien Moureau · 3 citations
Physics and Astronomy · Arts and Humanities · #Historical Astronomy and Related Studies #Medieval and Classical Philosophy #Historical, Religious, and Philosophical Studies
paper · doi:10.1163/2212943x-00501004
openalex publication_date 2017/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/02
Virtually unknown two decades ago, Maslama b. Qāsim al-Qurṭubī (d. 353/964) is today acknowledged as the genuine author of both the Rutbat al-ḥakīm and the Ghāyat al-ḥakīm / Picatrix and, in all likelihood, as the man by whom the encyclopaedic corpus of the Rasāʾil Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ was introduced into al-Andalus. In the early 30s of the tenth century, Maslama al-Qurṭubī travelled extensively through the Middle East and pursued there his education under a great number of reputed masters. Through a thorough investigation of the sources at hand, the present paper seeks to reconstrue the various steps of this riḥla by establishing a comprehensive list of the scholars Maslama met with in the Orient. Among the main novelties of this investigation, one points out Maslama’s meeting with Qāsim b. Muṭarrif al-Qaṭṭān, who is commonly regarded by the historians of Arabic science as the author of the first treatise of astronomy ever compiled in al-Andalus.