Thabit
Ibn Qurra Ibn Marwan al-Sabi al-Harrani
------------------------------------------------
Born in the year 836 A.D. at Harran (present Turkey).
As the name indicates he was basically a member of the Sabian
sect, but the great Muslim mathematician Muhammad Ibn Musa
Ibn Shakir, impressed by his knowledge of languages, and realising
his potential for a scientific career, selected him to join
the scientific group at Baghdad that was being patronised
by the Abbasid Caliphs. There, he studied under the famous
Banu Musa brothers. It was in this setting that Thabit contributed
to several branches of science, notably mathematics, astronomy
and mechanics, in addition to translating a large number of
works from Greek to Arabic. Later, he was patronised by the
Abbasid Caliph al-M'utadid. After a long career of scholarship,
Thabit died at Baghdad in 901 A.D.
Thabit's
major contribution lies in mathematics and astronomy. He was
instrumental in extending the concept of traditional geometry
to geometrical algebra and proposed several theories that
led to the development of non-Euclidean geometry, spherical
trigonometry, integral calculus and real numbers. He criticised
a number of theorems of Euclid 's elements and proposed important
improvements. He applied arithmetical terminology to geometrical
quantities, and studied several aspects of conic sections,
notably those of parabola and ellipse. A number of his computations
aimed at determining the surfaces and volumes of different
types of bodies and constitute, in fact, the processes of
integral calculus, as developed later.
In
astronomy he was one of the early reformers of Ptolemic views.
He analysed several problems related to the movements of sun
and moon and wrote treatises on sun-dials. In the fields of
mechanics and physics he may be recognised as the founder
of statics. He examined conditions of equilibrium of bodies,
beams and levers.
In
addition to translating a large number of books himself, he
founded a school of translation and supervised the translation
of a further large number of books from Greek to Arabic. Among
Thabit's writings a large number have survived, while several
are not extant. Most of the books are on mathematics, followed
by astronomy and medicine. The books have been written in
Arabic but some are in Syriac. In the Middle Ages, some of
his books were translated into Latin by Gherard of Cremona.
In recent centuries, a number of his books have been translated
into European languages and published.
He
carried further the work of the Banu Musa brothers and later
his son and grandson continued in this tradition, together
with the other members of the group. His original books as
well as his translations accomplished in the 9th century exerted
a positive influence on the development of subsequent scientific
research. |
| It
was early in the morning at four,
When death knocked upon a bedroom door,
Who is there? The sleeping one cried.
I'm Malkul Mawt, let me inside.
At
once, the man began to shiver,
As one sweating in deadly fever,
He shouted to his sleeping wife,
Don't let him take away my life.
Please
go away, O Angel of Death!
Leave me alone; I'm not ready yet.
My family on me depends,
Give me a chance, O please prepense!
The
angel knocked again and again,
Friend! I'll take your life without a pain,
Tis your soul Allah requires,
I come not with my own desire.
Bewildered,
the man began to cry,
O Angel I'm so afraid to die,
I'll give you gold and be your slave,
Don't send me to the unlit grave.
Let
me in, O Friend! The Angel said,
Ready to defy the Angel's stand.
I'll point my gun, towards your head,
You dare come in; I'll shoot you dead.
By
now the Angel was in the room,
Why are you afraid! Tell me O man,
To die according to Allah's plan?
Come smile at me, do not be grim,
Be Happy to return to Him.
We
Angels do what Allah demands,
We cannot go against His commands.
Death is ordained for everyone,
Father, mother, daughter or son.
I'm afraid this moment is your last,
Now be reminded, of your past,
I
do understand your fears,
But it is now too late for tears.
You lived in this world, two score and more,
I'll take your soul for which I am sent.
The ending however, is very sad,
Eventually the man became mad,
With a cry, he jumped out of bed,
And suddenly, he fell down dead.
O
Reader! Take moral from here,
You never know, your end may be near,
Change your living and make amends,
For heaven, on your deeds depends.
If
this poem inspires you,
It can help someone too.
|