ʿALĪ B. AḤMAD BALḴĪ, ABU’L-QĀSEM NŪR-AL-DĪN, post-3rd/9th century astronomer. Like his more famous fellow townsman, he was known as Abū Maʿšar. He wrote a Ketāb al-madḵal fī ʿelm al-aḥkām al-falakīya (“Book of the introduction to the science of astrological judgments”) in seventy-three chapters (Krause, 450), and a Ketāb al-madḵal fī ʿelm al-noǰūm (“Book of the introduction to the science of the stars”) in sixty chapters (Krause, 514); there is said to be a Persian translation of the latter. He also composed a Ketāb al-ṯamad fī bayān anna al-samāwāt be ḡayr ʿamad (“Book of the dregs [?] in explanation of the fact that the heavens are without supports”).