Badr-ad-Din Muhammad ibn Abu Bakr ibn Muhammad ibn 'Ali al-Tamimi al-Farisi (d.1279 AD), Al-Zij al-Mumtahan al-Muzaffari, also known as al-Zij al-Khaza'ini or al-Zij al-Farisi, (Treatise on Mathematical Astronomy), Probably Yemen, circa 1250-1350 AD

Arabic manuscript on paper, 71 leaves plus 2 flyleaves, 17 lines to the page, written in Naskh script in black ink, missing opening folio and at least one at the end, headings and keywords picked out in red, catchwords, various glosses within the outer margins, second half of manuscript with title page with lobed geometric geometric motif, numerous charts and tables in black and red, red morocco binding with tooled decoration, with flap

In fair overall condition, extensive paper repairs throughout at edges, rebound in later binding, as viewed.
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Al-Farisi was an astronomer and an astrologer. He was born in Aden, his father came from Fars, and he worked in the service of the Rasulid Sultan al-Malik al-Muzaffar Shams-ad-Din Yusuf I (1249-1295 AD). His works include treatises on astronomy, medicine, music and magic. The present work, the Zij al-Mumtahan al-Muzaffari, was dedicated to his patron al-Muzaffar Yusuf, and written for the Sultan's treasury (al-khaza'in). Farisi's Zij is the "...Most elegant work that has been prepared on astronomy according to the longitude of Yemen", according to the anonymous author of al-Zij al-mumtahan al-'arabi (cited in P.G. Schidl, 'Farisi: Muhammad ibn Abi Bakr al-Farisi', in T. Hockey et al (eds.), The Biographical Encyclopaedia of Astronomers, New York, 2007, pp.357-9).

The work is composed in the tradition of al-Fahhad (c.1150), due to the superiority of his observations (according to al-Farisi), and the forty chapters of the work include information on planetary and spherical astronomy, calendars, timekeeping, trigonometric procedures, and the longitude and latitude of cities. The tables within the manuscript were used throughout Yemen for a number of centuries following, and the author's remarks on the many earlier Zijes are the only source of our knowledge for many of them. The style of both the paper and script of the present copy suggest a date of production circa 1250-1350, making this a very early copy, possibly even written during the author's lifetime.

B.A. Rosenfeld & E. Ihsanoglu, Mathematicians, Astronomers & Other Scholars of Islamic Civilisation and their Works (7th-19th century), Istanbul, 2003, pp.219-20, no.608. See also Brockelmann, I, 625; Suppl.I, 866-67, and D.A. King and J.Samsó, 'Astronomical Handbooks and Tables from the Islamic World (750-1900): an Interim Report', Suhayl, Vol.II, 2001, pp.51-53, no.3.3.12.