Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi
- Died
- 721 AH
- Born in
- -
Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi (654–721 AH / 1256–1321 CE) was a Moroccan mathematician, astronomer, and scholar from Marrakesh, best known for his widely circulated mathematical treatise Talkhis A'mal al-Hisab (Summary of Arithmetical Operations).
Name and Early Life
His full name was Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Uthman al-Azdi al-Adadi al-Marrakushi. He was known as Ibn al-Banna because his father was a builder (banna'). He was born in Marrakesh at Qa'at Ibn Nahid on 9 Dhu al-Hijjah 654 AH (December 1256 CE), though alternative reports place his birth in 649, 656, 659, or 639 AH, and one modern account mentions Granada as his birthplace.
Education and Teaching
Ibn al-Banna pursued his early education in Marrakesh and Fez, studying the religious sciences, Arabic language and rhetoric, logic, mathematics, and astronomy. Among his teachers were the chief judge Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Ali ibn Yahya al-Marrakushi, Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Abi al-Barakat al-Musharraf, Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Abi 'Ata', and Abu al-Husayn ibn Abi Abd al-Rahman al-Ma'qili. He also frequented the Sufi scholar Abu Zayd Abd al-Rahman al-Hazmiri for guidance on complex mathematical and geometric problems.
Ibn al-Banna conducted daily teaching sessions from after the dawn prayer until near midday, attracting numerous students. Among his prominent disciples were Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Abbili al-Tilimsani and Abd al-Rahman ibn Sulayman al-Laja'i.
Illness and Seclusion
Ibn al-Banna practiced rigorous asceticism and abstained from animal products. In 699 AH (1299–1300 CE), while heading to Friday prayer during a severe dust storm, he suffered a physical and nervous affliction described by biographers as dryness of the brain. The condition resulted in altered mental states, visionary experiences regarding the inner meanings of the Quran, and spontaneous intuitive disclosures (kashf) about visitors. On the advice of his shaykh, Abu Zayd al-Aghmati, his family secluded him at home for one year, after which he recovered fully and resumed teaching in public.
Standing and Reception
Ibn al-Banna held high esteem among scholars and contemporary rulers in the western Islamic world. The traveler and scholar Ibn Rushayd al-Fihri remarked that he recognized only two supreme scholars across the Maghrib: Ibn al-Banna in Marrakesh and Ibn al-Shat in Ceuta. In the field of Quranic sciences, he composed Unwan al-Dalil min Marsum Khatt al-Tanzil, a treatise addressing variations in Uthmanic orthography through symbolic and interpretive reasoning.
His mathematical manual Talkhis A'mal al-Hisab became a standard educational text throughout the Maghrib, and Ibn Khaldun praised it as a concise guide to mathematical rules, while lauding Ibn al-Banna's own commentary on it, Raf' al-Hijab (Lifting the Veil), as a profound work revered by senior scholars. Conversely, Abu Ishaq al-Shatibi preserved a critical report transmitted from Abu Bakr al-Qallusi claiming that Ibn al-Banna's treatise on algebra was transcribed directly from an earlier work by al-Qurashi.
Death
Ibn al-Banna died in Marrakesh on the evening of Saturday, 6 Rajab 721 AH (31 July 1321 CE), and was buried outside the gate of Bab Aghmat. Other reports date his death to 723 AH or 724 AH, though biographers note that the 724 AH date may stem from confusion with the contemporary judge Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Malaqi.
Answer updated
List of Works
Unwan al-Dalil min Marsum Khatt al-Tanzil (The Guidepost to the Inscribed Script of the Revelation) is a treatise on Quranic orthography (rasm al-mushaf). It focuses on rationalizing and explaining instances where the Uthmanic script diverges from conventional orthographical rules, proposing that variations in the written forms of Quranic words reflect subtle shifts in their underlying meanings and states to convey specific rhetorical, linguistic, and grammatical benefits.