List of Arab scientists and scholars

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. In some cases, their exact ancestry is unclear.

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

To maintain consistency and keep the list easy to navigate, please follow the Entries Format for the List of Arab scientists and scholars on the Talk page when adding names.

A

• Ahmad al-Qalqashandi (1355 or 1356, Nile Delta, Egypt–1418), writer and mathematician
• Abd el-Latif el-Baghdadi (1162, Baghdad–Iraq–1231), physician, historian and Egyptologist
• Avempace (1085–1138), polymath
• Ahmad ibn Fadlan (10th century, Baghdad, Iraq), writer and traveler; member of an embassy of the Caliph of Baghdad to the Volga Bulgars
• Ahmad ibn Mājid (1432, Ras al-Khaimah, Oman – 1500, ?), navigator and poet
• Ahmad ibn Yusuf (835, Baghdad – 912, Egypt), mathematician
• Ali Ben Isa (9th century)
• Ali ibn Ridwan (c. 988, Giza, Egypt–1061, Egypt), astronomer and geometer with Khalid Ben Abdulmelik
• Al-Asma'i (739, Basra, Iraq–831, Basra, Iraq), pioneer of zoology, botany and animal husbandry
• Ahmed Zewail (1946-2016)
• Nayef Al-Rodhan (b. 1959)
• Abū Kāmil Shujāʿ ibn Aslam (c. 850 – c. 930), mathematician
• Abu al-Hasan al-Ash'ari (874–936 CE), Shafi'i scholar and theologian
• Rufaida Al-Aslamia (b. 620), physician

B

• Abu Mansur al-Baghdadi (980, Baghdad, Iraq – 1037), arithmetic
• 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
• Al-Bakri (c. 1014–1094), geographer and historian
• Bahāʾ al-dīn al-ʿĀmilī (1547, Baalbek, Lebanon – 1621, Isfahan, Iran)

D

• Ibn Duraid (837, Basra, Iraq–934, Baghdad, Iraq), geographer, genealogist, poet, and philologist
• Ibn al-Durayhim (1312–1359/62 CE), cryptologist
• Al-Dakhwar (1170-1230), physician
• [[Al-Dimashqi (geographer)|Al-Dimashqi] (1256-1327), geographer
• Domiyat (11th century), explorer

G

• Gamal Hamdan (1928–1993), geographer

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 Hawqal (943, Baghdad, Iraq – 969, ?), writer, geographer, and chronicler
• Hassan Hanafi (b. 1935, Cairo, Egypt), professor and chair of philosophy at Cairo University
• 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
• Hayat Sindi (b. 1991, Mecca, Saudi Arabia), medical scientist, known for making major contributions to point-of-care medical testing and biotechnology
• Abu al-Majd ibn Abi al-Hakam (d. 1174 CE), 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

I

• 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 CE, Sicily), geographer and cartographer
• Ibn Abi Ishaq (d. AD 735), earliest known grammarian of the Arabic language
• Ibn al-Haytham (965–1040), physicist
• Ibn al‐Ha'im al‐Ishbili (fl. c. 1213), astronomer and mathematician
• Ibn Arabi (1165–1240), Islamic scholar and philosopher
• Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100 – 1165), geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist

J

• 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
• 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 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 Jumay‘ (d. 1198), physician
• Ibn Jazla (11th century), physician

K

• 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
• Al-Kindi (c. 801, Kufa, Iraq – 873, Bahgdad, Iraq), Arab philosopher, mathematician, astronomer, physician and geographer
• Ibn Khaldun (1332, Tunis – 1406, Cairo, Egypt)
• Abu 'Ali al-Khayyat (c.770 – c.835), astrologer
• Al-Kaŝkarī (fl. 930 CE), physician

M

• Mostafa El-Sayed (b. 1933)
• 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
• Maslama al-Majriti (d. 1008 or 1007 CE), Arab Muslim scholar and astronomer in Spain
• Al-Maʿarri (973 – 1057, Ma'arra (المعرة) in Syria), blind Arab philosopher, poet and writer
• Al-Mawardi, known in Latin as Alboacen (972, Basra, Iraq–1058, Iraq), judge, diplomat, and author of influential works on governance and ethics
• Ma Yize (ca. 910, ? – 1005, China), astronomer and astrologist, worked as the chief official of the astronomical observatory of the Song dynasty
• Muhammad Al-Muqaddasi (946 CE, Jerusalem, Palestine–), medieval Arab geographer, author of Ahsan at-Taqasim fi Ma`rifat il-Aqalim (The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions)
• Sibt al-Maridini (1423 – 1506), astronomer and mathematician
• Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Gazi (1437 – 1513), mathematician
• Yusuf al-Mu'taman ibn Hud (11th century), mathematician
• Sulaiman Al Mahri (1480–1550), geographer

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
• Nur ad-Din al-Bitruji (Alpetragius) (?, Morocco – 1204, Seville, Spain), astronomer and philosopher; the Alpetragius crater on the Moon is named after him

Q

• Thābit ibn Qurra (826, Harran, Turkey – 902), mathematician, physician, astronomer, and translator
• Ibn al-Quff (1233–1286), physician
• Zakariya al-Qazwini (1203–1283), physician, astronomer, geographer

R

• Al-Ruhawi (9th century), physician

S

• Sameera Moussa (1917 – 1952)
• 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
• Rashidun al-Suri (1177–1241), physician and botanist

T

• Ibn Al-Thahabi (?, Suhar, Oman – 1033 CE, Valencia, Spain), physician and author of an encyclopedia of medicine
• 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
• Ibn Abi Ramtha al-Tamimi (7th century), physician

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

W

• Waddah al-Yaman (Yemen, ? – Syria, Damscus, 709), poet, famous for his erotic and romantic poems
• Ibn al-Wardi (1292-1342), historian

Y

• Omar M. Yaghi (b, 1965, Amman, Jordan), chemistry professor at the University of California, Berkeley
• Ibn Yunus (c. 950–1009), mathematician and astronomer
• Yaqut al-Hamawi (1179–1229), biographer and geographer
• Ya'qubi (d. 897-898), geographer

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
• Al-Zarqali (1028, Spain – 1087, ? CE), mathematician, influential astronomer, and instrument maker, contributed to the famous Tables of Toledo
• Ibn Zuhr (1091, Seville, Spain – 1161, Seville, Spain), prominent physician of the Medieval Islamic period
• Al-Zuhri (d. 897/8), geographer

Notes

See also

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