Mashallah ibn Athari


Mā Shā’ Allāh ibn Athari was an eighth-century Persian Jewish astrologer, astronomer, and mathematician. Originally from Khorasan he lived in Basra during the reigns of al-Manṣūr and al-Ma’mūn, and was among those who introduced astrology and astronomy to Baghdād in the late 8th and early 9th century. The bibliographer al-Nadim in his Fihrist, described him "as virtuous and in his time a leader in the science of jurisprudence, i.e. the science of judgments of the stars". He served as a court astrologer for the Abbasid caliphate, and wrote numerous works on astrology in Arabic. Some Latin translations survive.
The Arabic phrase ma sha`a allah indicates a believer's acceptance of God's ordainment of good or ill fortune. The name Sha'a Allah is probably an Arabic rendering of Hebrew Sh'luh, which in is the name of the Messiah referenced in Genesis 49:10. Al-Nadim writes Mashallah's name 'Mīshā', means "yithro", which is probably the Hebrew name Jethro, from yithrā. Latin translators called him many variants such as Messahala, Messahalla, Messala, Macellama, Macelarma, Messahalah, etc.
The crater Messala on the Moon is named after him.

Biography

As a young man he participated in the founding of Baghdad for Caliph al-Manṣūr in 762 by working with a group of astrologers led by Naubakht the Persian to pick an electional horoscope for the founding of the city and building of an observatory. Attributed the author of over twenty titles, predominantly on astrology, his authority was established over the centuries in the Middle East, and later in the West, when horoscopic astrology was transmitted to Europe from the 12th century. His writings include both what would be recognized as traditional horary astrology and an earlier type of astrology which casts consultation charts to divine the client's intention. The strong influence of Hermes Trismegistus and Dorotheus is evident in his work.

Works Listed in Kitab al-Fihrist

Mashallah's treatise De mercibus is the oldest known scientific work extant in Arabic and the only work of his extant in its original Arabic. Multiple translations into medieval Latin, Byzantine Greek and Hebrew were made.
, from the title page of the De scientia motus orbis. As in many medieval illustrations, the drafting compass here is an icon of religion as well as science, in reference to God as the architect of creation.One of his most popular works in the Middle Ages was a cosmological treatise This comprehensive account of the cosmos along Aristotelian lines, covers many topics important to early cosmology. Postulating a ten-orb universe it strays from traditional cosmology. Mashallah aimed at the lay reader and illustrated his main ideas with comprehensible diagrams. Two versions of the manuscript were printed: a short version De scientia motus orbis, and an expanded version De elementis et orbibus. The short version was translated by Gherardo Cremonese. Both were printed in Nuremberg, in 1504 and 1549, respectively. This work is commonly abbreviated to De orbe.

Texts & Translations

Other astronomical and astrological writings are quoted by Suter and Steinschneider.
An Irish astronomical tract appears based in part on a medieval Latin version of Mashallah. Two-thirds of tract are part-paraphrase part-translation.
The 12th-century scholar and astrologer Abraham ibn Ezra translated two of Mashallah's astrological treatises into Hebrew: She'elot and Ḳadrut.
Eleven modern translations of Mashallah's astrological treatises have been translated out of Latin into English.

Philosophy

Mashallah postulated a ten-orb universe rather than the eight-orb model offered by Aristotle and the nine-orb model that was popular in his time. In all Mashallah's planetary model ascribes 26 orbs to the universe, which account for the relative positioning and motion of the seven planets. Of the ten orbs, the first seven contain the planets and the eighth contain the fixed stars. The ninth and tenth orbs were named by Mashallah the "Orb of Signs" and the "Great Orb", respectively. Both of these orbs are starless and move with the diurnal motion, but the tenth orb moves in the plane of the celestial equator while the ninth orb moves around poles that are inclined 24° with respect to the poles of the tenth orb. The ninth is also divided into twelve parts which are named after the zodiacal constellations that can be seen beneath them in the eighth orb. The eight and ninth orbs move around the same poles, but with different motion. The ninth orb moves with daily motion, so that the 12 signs are static with
respect to the equinoxes, the eighth Orb of the Fixed Stars moves 1° in 100 years, so that the 12 zodiacal constellations are mobile with respect to the equinoxes. The eight and ninth orbs moving around the same poles also guarantees that the 12 stationary signs and the 12 mobile zodiacal constellations overlap. By describing the universe in such a manner, Mashallah was attempting to demonstrate the natural reality
of the 12 signs by stressing that the stars are located with respect to the signs and that fundamental natural phenomena, such as the beginning of the seasons, changes of weather, and the passage of the months, take place in the sublunar domain when the sun enters the signs of the ninth orb.
Mashallah was an advocate of the idea that the conjunctions of Saturn and Jupiter dictate the timing of important events on Earth. These conjunctions, which occur about every twenty years, take place in the same triplicity for about two hundred years, and special significance is attached to a shift to another triplicity.