List of pre-modern Arab scientists and scholars

Arab scholars at an Abbasid library in Baghdad. Maqamat of al-Hariri Illustration, 1237.

This is a list of Arab scientists and scholars from the Muslim World and Spain (Al-Andalus) who lived from antiquity up until the beginning of the modern age, consisting primarily of scholars during the Middle Ages. For a list of contemporary Arab scientists and engineers see List of modern Arab scientists and engineers

Both the Arabic and Latin names are given. The following Muslim naming articles are not used for indexing:

• Al - the
• ibn, bin, banu - son of
• abu - father of, the one with

A

• Ali (601– 661), Arabic grammarian, rhetoric, theologian, exegesis and mystic
• Aisha (613 – 678 CE), Islamic scholar, hadith narrator, her intellect and knowledge in various subjects, including poetry and medicine.
• Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (1355/1356, Nile Delta, Egypt–1418), writer and mathematician
• Abdullah ibn Umar (c.610–693 CE), Islamic scholar and hadith narrator
• 'Abd al-'Aziz al-Wafa'i (1408–1471), astronomer
• Abd al-Rahman al-Awza'i (707–774), jurist and theologian
• Abd al-Salam ibn Mashish al-Alami (1140–1227), religious scholar of Sufism
• Al Achsasi al Mouakket 17th century astronomer
• Ibn 'Adlan (1187–1268) cryptographer and poet
• Ibn al-Adim (1192–1262) biographer and historian
• Avempace (1085–1138) philosopher, astronomer,physician
• Ahmad ibn Fadlan (10th century, Baghdad, Iraq), writer, traveler, member of an embassy of the Caliph of Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars
• Ahmad ibn Hanbal theologian, ascetic, and hadith traditionist
• Ahmad ibn Mājid (1432, Ras al-Khaimah, Oman–1500), navigator and poet
• Ahmad ibn Yusuf (835, Baghdad–912, Egypt), mathematician
• Alam al-Din al-Hanafi (1178–1251), mathematician, astronomer and engineer
• Ali ibn al-Athir (835 – 912, Egypt) (1233–1160), historian and biographer
• Ali Ben Isa (9th century), astronomer and geographer
• Ali ibn Isa al-Kahhal (fl. 1010), physician and ophthalmologist
• Ali ibn al-Madini (778 – 849 CE), Islamic scholar and traditionalist
• Ali ibn Ridwan (c. 988, Giza, Egypt–1061, Egypt), astronomer and geometer with Khalid Ben Abdulmelik
• Al-Ashraf Umar II (1242–1296 in Yemen), astronomer and ruler of Yemen
• Abu 'Amr ibn al-'Ala' linguists and grammarian
• Al-Asma'i (739, Basra, Iraq–831, Basra, Iraq), pioneer of zoology, botany and animal husbandry
• Abu al-Aswad al-Du'ali grammarian
• Ibn 'Asakir (1106–1175), historian
• Ibn al-A'lam (Baghdad, d 985) astronomer and astrologer
• Ammar Al-Mawsili ophthalmologist and physician
• Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ ibn Aslam (c. 850–c. 930), mathematician
• Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936), philosopher, Shafi'i scholar and theologian
• Abu Bakr ibn al-Arabi (1076–1148), Islamic scholar and judge of Maliki law
• Sa'id ibn Aws al-Ansari linguist
• Khwaja al-Ansari (1006–1088), Islamic scholar
• Ibn al-'Awwam agriculturist and botanist
• Al-Azraqi 9th-century historian
• Averroes (1126–1198), philosopher and thinker who wrote about many subjects including philosophy, theology, medicine, astronomy, physics, Islamic jurisprudence and law, and linguistics.
• Rufaida Al-Aslamia (b. 620), physician
• Abu Bakr al-Aydarus (1447–1508), religious scholar of Sufism
• Abd-Allah ibn Ibadh (?–708), hadith narrator and theologian
• Ibn Abi al-Shukr (d. 1283), astronomer, astrologer, and mathematician
• Ibn Abi Asim (821–900), scholar, famous or his work in the hadith science

• Abd al-Hamid al-Katib (?–756), founder of Arabic prose
• Ali al-Ridha (c. 765 – 818), Islamic scholar and theologian
• Abd Allah ibn Abbas (c. 619 – c. 687), jurist and theologian
• Abd as-Salam al-Alami (1834-1895), astronomer and mathematician

B

• Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (980, Baghdad, Iraq–1037), mathematician
• Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi (1162–1231), physician, historian, Egyptologist and traveler
• Al-Baqillani (?, Basra, Iraq–1013, Basra, Iraq), theologian, scholar, and Maliki lawyer
• Al-Battani (850, Harran, Turkey–929, Qasr al-Jiss, Iraq), astronomer and mathematician
• Al-Baladhuri (d. 892), historian
• Ibn al-Baitar (1197–1248), pharmacist, botanist, physician
• Ahmad al-Buni (d. 1225), writer and mathematician
• Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī (d. 1621), philosopher, architect, mathematician, astronomer
• Al-Bakri (c. 1014–1094), geographer and historian
• Ibn Bassal (1085), botanist and agronomist
• Ibn Butlan (1038, 1075), Arab Christian physician

D

• Dawud al-Antaki (1599) physician and pharmacist
• Dawud al-Zahiri (815–883/4) philosopher And the founder of the Zahiri school of thought
• Al-Damiri (1344–1405) zoologist
• Ibn Duraid (837, Basra, Iraq–934, Baghdad, Iraq), geographer, genealogist, poet, and philologist
• Ibn al-Durayhim (1312–1359/62), cryptologist
• Al-Dakhwar (1170–1230), physician
• Al-Dimashqi (1256–1327), geographer
• Al-Dimashqi (economist) 12th-century writer and economist
• Al-Daraqutni (918–995) Islamic scholar and hadith compiler

F

• Abu al-Faraj al-Isfahani (897–967), historian and linguist
• Fatima al-Fihri (d 880), science patron and founder of the University of Al Quaraouiyine
• Ibn al-Furat (1334–1405) historian

G

• Muhammad ibn Aslam Al-Ghafiqi, (d. 1165) 12th-century oculist
• Genethlius 3rd century sophist and rhetorician from Petra

H

• Haly Abenragel (Abû l-Hasan 'Alî ibn Abî l-Rijâl) (?–1037, Kairouan, Tunisia), astrologer, best known for his Kitāb al-bāri' fi ahkām an-nujūm
• Ibn Abi'l-Hadid Islamic scholar
• Ibn Hajar al-'Asqalani Hadith scholar and theologian
• Ibn 'Abd al-Hakam(803–871) Egyptian historian
• Harbi al-Himyari 8th century alchemist
• Ibn Hawqal (943, Baghdad, Iraq–969?), writer, geographer, and chronicler
• Hasan al-Rammah (died 1295), chemist and engineer
• Hamdallah Mustawfi (1281–1349), geographer
• Al-Ḥajjāj ibn Yūsuf ibn Maṭar (786–833), mathematician
• Abu Muhammad al-Hasan al-Hamdani (893, Yemen–945, Sanaa, Yemen), geographer, historian and astronomer
• Ibn Hubal (1122, Baghdad, Iraq–1213), physician, scientist and author of a medical compendium
• Ali ibn Abu Bakr al-Haythami Islamic scholar
• Abu'l-Hasan Bayhaqi astronomer and historian
• Abu al-Majd ibn Abi al-Hakam (d. 1174), physician, musician and astrologer
• Al-Harith ibn Kalada (d. 13 AH/634–35), physician
• Nafi ibn al-Harith (d. 13 AH/634–35), physician
• Abu'l Abbas al-Hijazi (12th century), traveler, merchant and sailor
• Al-Hilli Twelver Shia theologian
• Hisham ibn al-Kalbi (d. 819) historian
• Ibn Hisham (d. 835) historian and biographer
• Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873), Arab Christian scholar, physician, and scientist
• Heliodorus 3rd century sophist of Arab origin
• Hasan al-Basri (642–728) ascetic, theologian, exegete, scholar, judge, and mystic
• Ibn Hajar al-Haytami (1503–1566), jurist and theologian
• Harith al-Muhasibi (781–857), philosopher, theologian and Sufi scholar

I

• Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī (d. 777), mathematician and astronomer
• Ikhwan al-Safa اخوان الصفا وخلان الوفا (The Brethren of Purity) (Basra, Iraq), a group of neo-Platonic Arabic philosophers of the 10th century
• Al-Idrisi (1099, Ceuta, Maghreb–1166, Sicily), geographer and cartographer
• Ibn Abi Ishaq (d. 735), earliest known grammarian of the Arabic language
• Ibn al-Akfani (1286–1348) Arab encyclopedist and physician
• Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), physicist and mathematician
• Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili (fl. c. 1213), astronomer and mathematician
• Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Islamic scholar and philosopher
• Ismail al-Jazari (136–1206), inventor, engineer, artisan, mathematician
• Ishaq ibn Hunayn (c. 830–c. 910/1), physician and translator
• Izz al-Din ibn 'Abd al-Salam theologian
• Ibn Ishaq historian and hagiographer
• Iamblichus (c. AD 245 – c. 325), Neoplatonist philosopher, mystic and philosopher
• Iamblichus (c. 165–180 AD), Novelist and Rhetorician
• Ishaq al-Israili (c. 832 – c. 932), physician and philosopher

J

• Jabir ibn Aflah (1100–1150), astronomer and mathematician who invented torquetum
• Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī (989, Cordoba, Spain–1079, Jaen, Spain), mathematician and author
• Jabir ibn Hayyan (821–915), polymath who is considered the father of chemistry, emphasized systematic experimentation and did much to free alchemy from superstition and turn it into a science
• Ja'far al-Sadiq theologian and Alchemist
• Ibn al-Jazzar (10th century, Qairwan, Tunis), influential 10th-century physician and author
• Al-Jahiz (776, Basra, Iraq–869, Basra, Iraq), historian, biologist and author
• Ibn al-Jawzi heresiographer, historian, hagiographer and philologist
• Abu Mansur Mauhub al-Jawaliqi grammarian and philologist
• Al-Jawbari alchemist and writer
• Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyya theologian, and spiritual writer
• Mohammed ibn Abdun al-Jabali, physician and mathematician from Al-Andalus
• Ibn Jubayr (1145, Valencia, Spain–1217, Egypt), geographer, traveller and poet, known for his detailed travel journals
• Al-Jubba'i (d. c. 915), Mu'tazili theologian and philosopher
• Ibn Juljul (c. 944–c. 994), physician and pharmacologist
• Ibn Jazla (11th century), physician and author of influential treatise on regimen
• Ismail al-Jazari (12th century), polymath, mathematician, inventor
• Jābir ibn Zayd, theologian and jurist

K

• Ibn Kathir (c. 1300–died 1373), influential Sunni scholar and historian
• Al-Khalili (1320, Damascus, Syria–1380, Damascus, Syria), astronomer who compiled extensive tables for astronomical use
• Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi (c. 718, Oman–c. 791), writer and philologist, compiled the first dictionary of the Arabic language, the Kitab al-Ayn
• Ibn al-Kammad (died 1195), astronomer
• Ibn al-Kattani (951–1029), scholar, philosopher, physician, astrologer, man of letters, and poet
• Khalifah ibn Khayyat (777–854), Arab historian
• Ibn al-Khatib (1313–1374), polymath, poet, writer, historian, philosopher, physician
• Khalil al-Muradi historian
• Al-Khatib al-Baghdadi islamic scholar and historian
• Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat (c. 770–c. 835), astrologer and a student of Mashallah
• Al-Kindi (c. 801, Kufa, Iraq–873, Baghdad, Iraq), Arab philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, physician and geographer
• Ibn Khaldun (1332, Tunis–1406, Cairo, Egypt), historian, sociologist, and philosopher
• Khalid bin Yazid (d. 704), Umayyad prince and alchemist
• Al-Kaŝkarī (fl. 930), physician
• Kallinikos 3rd century historian, orator, rhetorician and sophist

M

• Malik ibn Anas theologian, and hadith traditionist
• Ibn Malik grammarian
• Mansur al-Kamili (c. 1236), medieval Muslim metallurgist, chemist and sociologist
• Mariam al-Asturlabi, 10th-century female astronomer and maker of astrolabes
• Ibn Maḍāʾ mathematician and grammarian
• Maslama al-Majriti(950–1007) astronomer, chemist, mathematician, economist
• Ibn al-Banna' al-Marrakushi (1256–c. 1321), mathematician, astronomer, Islamic scholar, Sufi, and astrologer
• Ibn al-Majdi (1359–1447), mathematician and astronomer
• Al-Masudi (896–956), historian, geographer and philosopher, traveled to Spain, Russia, India, Sri Lanka and China, spent his last years in Syria and Egypt
• Abu Saeed Mubarak Makhzoomi theologian
• Al-Maʿarri (973–1057, Ma'arra (المعرة) in Syria), blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer
• Al-Maqrizi (1364–1442), historian
• Al-Mawardi, known in Latin as Alboacen (972, Basra, Iraq–1058, Iraq), judge, diplomat, and author of influential works on governance and ethics
• Ibn Manzur lexicographer and linguist
• Abdelwahid al-Marrakushi (born 7 July 1185), Moroccan historian
• Muʾayyad al-Dīn al-ʿUrḍī (d. 1266), astronomer
• Al-Mubarrad grammarian and linguist
• Abu Mansur al-Maturidi Islamic scholar
• Abu Mikhnaf (died 774), historian
• Abu Madyan (1126–1198), influential Andalusian mystic and a Sufi master
• Muhammad Al-Muqaddasi (946, Jerusalem–?), medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim (The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions)
• Muhyi al-Dīn al-Maghribī (c. 1220–c. 1283), Muslim astronomer and mathematician who worked in Damascus
• Sibt al-Maridini (1423–1506), astronomer and mathematician
• Muḥammad ibn Ibrāhīm al-Fazārī (died 796 or 806) Muslim philosopher, mathematician and astronomer
• Muhammad al-Baghdadi (d. 1037) mathematician
• Al-Mubashshir ibn Fatik 11th century mathematician
• Al-Musabbihi (977–1030), Fatimid historian
• Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud (11th century), mathematician
• Al-Muradi (11th century) mechanical engineer and inventor
• Sulaiman Al Mahri (1480–1550), geographer
• Mujir al-Din (1456–1522), qadi and historian
• Mujahid ibn Jabr (645–722), Islamic scholar and jurist
• Muslim ibn al-Hajjaj (815–875), Islamic scholar, theologian and famous hadith compiler

N

• Ibn al-Nafis (1213, Damascus, Syria–1288, Cairo, Egypt), physician and author, the first to describe pulmonary circulation, compiled a medical encyclopedia and wrote numerous works on other subjects
• Abu Jaʿfar an-Nahhas, grammarian
• Al-Nawawi, hadith scholar
• Niftawayh, grammarian
• Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) (?, Morocco–1204, Seville, Spain), astronomer and philosopher; the Alpetragius crater on the Moon is named after him
• Al-Nuwayri (1279–1333), historian and encyclopedist
• Nadr ibn al-Harith (d. 624 CE), physician and practitioner

Q

• Al-Qabisi (died 967), astrologer and mathematician
• Al-Qadi al-Nu'man (died 974), official historian of the Fatimid caliphs
• Qadi Ayyad (1083–1149), biographer and historian
• Abū al-Ḥasan al-Qalaṣādī (1412–1486), mathematician from Al-Andalus specializing in Islamic inheritance jurisprudence
• Al-Quda'i historian
• Qasim ibn Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr Islamic scholar
• Ibn Qudamah theologian
• Al-Qifti (1172–1248)historian
• Ibn al-Qalanisi (c. 1071–1160)chronicler and historian
• Thābit ibn Qurra (826, Harran, Turkey–902), mathematician, physician, astronomer, and translator
• Al-Qurtubi (1233–1286), muhaddith and faqih
• Ibn al-Qūṭiyya (died 8 November 977), Andalusian historian
• Ibn al-Quff (1233–1286), physician
• Al-Qushayri (986–1074), theologian and philosopher
• Al-Qastallani (1448–1517), jurist and theologian
• Qatāda ibn Di'āma (d.735/736), traditionalist, hadith, tafsir, Arabic poetry and genealogy

R

• Rabia of Basra (714–801), philosopher and Sufi mystic
• Ibn Rassam alchemist and tile maker
• Ibn al‐Raqqam (1250–1315), astronomer, mathematician and physician.
• Ibn Rajab Islamic scholar
• Al-Ruhawi (9th century), physician
• Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149–1209), theologian and philosopher

S

• Saints Cosmas and Damian (died 287), two Arab physicians
• Ibn al-Saffar (died 1035), astronomer
• Ibn Sa'id al-Maghribi (1213–1286), geographer
• Said al-Andalusi (1029–1070), astronomer, historian and philosopher
• Said ibn al-Musayyib (642–715 CE), jurist and theologian
• Ibn Sab'in (died 1271), last philosopher of the Andalus
• Al-Ṣaidanānī 10th century astronomer
• Ibn al-Samh (979–1035), mathematician and astronomer
• Shihab al-Umari (1300–1349), historian
• Abu al-Salt (c. 1068–1134), astronomer, physician and alchemist
• Al-Shafi‘i (767–820 CE) Islamic scholar
• Al-Sakhawi (1428–1497), hadith scholar and historian
• Sayf ibn Umar (1428–1497) (796-180), historian
• Ibn al-Shatir (1304, Damascus–1375, Syria, Damascus), astronomer, mathematician, engineer and inventor, worked at the Umayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, developed an original astronomical model
• Ibn Sa'd (784–845), scholar and Arabian biographer
• Ibn Shihab al-Zuhri (670–741), historian
• Al-Shaykh Al-Mufid (c. 948–1022 CE), Twelver Shia theologian
• Ibn Sirin mystic, psychologist and interpreter of dreams
• Muhammad al-Shaybani (749/50–805), father of Muslim international law
• Abu Amr Ishaq ibn Mirar al-Shaybani lexicographer and collector of Arabic poetry
• Ibn Sidah (c.1007–1066), grammarian and lexicographer
• As-Suwaydi (1204–1292), physician
• Rashidun al-Suri (1177–1241), physician and botanist
• Sufyan al-Thawri (716–778), Islamic scholar and jurist
• Sa'id ibn Jubayr (665–714), theologian and jurist
• Al-Shifa' bint Abdullah (7th century), healer, wise woman and practiced folk-medicine

T

• Al-Tabarani (873–970), Islamic scholar
• Ibn Al-Thahabi (?, Suhar, Oman–1033, Valencia, Spain), physician and author of the first known alphabetical encyclopedia of medicine
• Al-Tahawi Islamic Scholar
• Ibn Taymiyyah (d. 1328), theologian and logician
• Ibn al-Tiqtaqa (d. 1310), historian
• Al-Tighnari(1073–1118), agronomist, botanist, biologist
• Ibn Tawus(1193–1266), astrologer
• Ibn Tufail (1105, Granada, Spain–1185, Marrakech, Morocco), Andalusian writer, novelist, Islamic philosopher, Islamic theologian, physician, astronomer, vizier, and court official
• Muhammad Tamimi, 10th-century physician from Palestine
• Muhammed ibn Umail al-Tamimi 10th-century alchemist and mystic
• Ibn Abi Ramtha al-Tamimi (7th century), physician
• Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf (1526–1585), physician, mathematician, clockmaker and astronomer
• Abū Hayyān al-Tawhīdī (923–1023), philosopher and thinker
• Taqi al-Din al-Subki (1284 CE–1355 CE), scholar, jurist and judge
• Taj al-Din al-Subki (1327/28–1370), historian and jurist
• Al-Tughrai (c. 1061–1122), physician and alchemist

U

• Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi (920, Damascus, Syria–980, Damascus, Syria), wrote two works on arithmetic, may have anticipated the invention of decimals
• Usama ibn Munqidh (1095–1188, Damascus, Syria), Arab historian, politician, and diplomat
• Ibn Abi Usaibia (1203–1270, Damascus, Syria), physician and historian, wrote Uyun al-Anba fi Tabaqat al-Atibba (Lives of the Physicians)
• Yaʿīsh ibn Ibrāhīm al-Umawī (1400, Spain–1489, Damascus, Syria), mathematician, wrote works on mensuration and arithmetic
• Ibn Uthal (7th century), physician
• Urwah ibn Zubayr (7th century), historian and jurist

W

• Waddah al-Yaman (Yemen, ?–Syria, Damscus, 709), poet, famous for his erotic and romantic poems
• Ibn al-Wafid (997–1074), pharmacologist and physician
• Ibn al-Wardi (1292–1342), historian
• Wasil ibn Ata (700–748), theologian and founder of the Mutazilite school of Islamic thought
• Wang Daiyu (1292–1342), Chinese Muslim scholar and Philosopher of arab descent
• Abu Isa al-Warraq (889–994), scholar and critic of religions

Y

• Ibn Yunus (c. 950–1009), mathematician and astronomer
• Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), biographer and geographer
• Ya'qubi (d. 897–898), geographer
• Abu Yusuf islamic scholar

Z

• Al-Zahrawi (936, Cordoba, Spain–1013, Cordoba, Spain), Islam's greatest medieval surgeon, wrote comprehensive medical texts combining Middle-Eastern, Indian and Greco-Roman classical teachings, shaped European surgical procedures until the Renaissance, considered the "father of surgery", wrote Al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume collection of medical practice
• Ibn Zafar al Siqilli (1104-1172), Arab-Sicilian philosopher and polymath
• Al-Zubayr ibn Bakkar (788–870), historian and genealogist
• Al-Zarqali (1028, Spain–1087, ?), mathematician, influential astronomer, and instrument maker, contributed to the famous Tables of Toledo
• Zayn al-Din al-Amidi islamic scholar and inventor
• Zethos 3rd-century neoplatonist and disciple of Plotinus
• Ibn Zuhr (1091, Seville, Spain–1161, Seville, Spain), prominent physician of the Medieval Islamic period
• Al-Zuhri (d. 897/8), geographer
• Zakariya al-Qazwini (d. 1283), physician, astronomer, geographer, and proto-science fiction writer
• Zakariyya al-Ansari (c. 1420–1520), Islamic scholar and mystic

Notes

See also

• Islamic science
• List of Muslim scientists
• List of modern Arab scientists and engineers
• List of Iranian scientists and scholars
• List of Turkic scholars
• List of famous Arabs