ʿALĪ B. ʿABDALLĀH B. MOḤAMMAD B. BĀMŠĀD QĀʾENĪ, ABU-ʾL ḤASAN, mathematician. Nothing is known of his life; since Bīrūnī (Chords in Rasāʾel al-Bīrūnī, Hyderabad, 1948, pt. 1, pp. 37-38, 40-41) cites two of his theorems concerning chords, he must have lived before 390/1000—probably some time in the 4th/10th century. Two works of his are preserved and have been published: Maqāla fī esteḵrāǰ taʾrīḵ al-Yahūd (“Treatise on the Jewish calendar”), in al-Rasāʾel al-mutafarreqa fi’l-hayʾa (Hyderabad, 1948), part 3; and Maqāla fī esteḵrāǰ sāʿāt mā bayna ṭolūʿ al-faǰr wa ṭolūʿ al-šams koll yawm men ayyām al-sana be madīnat Qāʾen (“Treatise on determining the hours between the rising of dawn and the rising of the sun on every day of the year at Qāʾen”), also in Rasāʾel, as part 4, tr. by M. L. Davidian and E. S. Kennedy (“Al-Qāyinī on the Duration of Dawn and Twilight,” JNES 20, 1961, pp. 45-53).
Bibliography:
See also Sezgin, GAS V, p. 337.
(D. Pingree)
Originally Published: December 15, 1985
Last Updated: August 1, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 8, pp. 870-871
D. Pingree, “ʿALĪ QĀʾENĪ,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/8, pp. 870-871, available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/ali-qaeni (accessed on 30 December 2012).