ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz ibn Abī al-Ṣalt al-Dānī, a prolific author.
He was born in 460 AH.
He travelled widely, took up residence in Alexandria, and was later sent back to the Maghrib, where ʿAlī ibn Bādīs received him with honour. He was a leading authority in astronomy, time-keeping, and music, astonishing at chess, and a master of logic and of the fanciful speculations of the early philosophers. The ruler of Egypt imprisoned him for a time (1) because a ship of his—fully laden with copper goods—sank through ʿAbd al-ʿAzīz’s fault. He assured the ruler, “I shall raise it,” then lowered ropes from another vessel. Sailors dived, tied the ropes to the sunken ship, and it was drawn up with pulleys until it surfaced; but the ropes snapped and the vessel plunged back down, whereupon the emir grew furious with him.
He died in al-Mahdiyya at the end of 528 AH (2).
376 – al-Islāmī, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn ʿAlī *
The eminent scholar, head of the Ḥanafīs in Balkh, Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Aḥmad ibn
(1) For a detailed account, see Ibn Abi Usaybiʿa, Tabaqat al-atibba, 2/52. Al-Maqrizi reports that the ruler of Egypt confined him in the royal library, where he mastered numerous sciences; his strongest fields were philosophy, medicine, and musical theory, and he composed treatises in each that testify to his learning.
(2) He also composed the following verses, requesting that they be engraved on his tomb; they were the last words he uttered:
I dwelt in you, O house of decay, convinced
That soon I shall depart to the house of eternity.
The gravest part of the affair is that I am going
To a Judge who is just and never wrongs.
Alas, how shall I meet Him then,
My provisions so meagre, while my sins are many!
If I am repaid for my sin, I surely deserve
The punishment meted out to guilty men;
But if from Him there come pardon and mercy,
Then everlasting bliss and joy await.
(*) Additional sources: Al-Sakhawi, Al-Tahbir, 1/561; Al-Dhahabi, Tarikh al-Islam, 4:279/1; Ibn al-Qadi, Al-Jawahir al-mudiʿa, 2/537; Al-Kattani, Al-Tabaqat al-sunniyya, no. 1442.