Farghānī’s is known for his widely circulated compendium of Ptolemy’s Almagest, and his writings on observational instruments. His name has also been associated with the Nilometer at al-Fusṭāṭ (near modern Cairo), as well as with the construction of an irrigation canal to supply the new city of al-Ja`fariyya in Iraq built by the caliph al-Mutawakkil (r. 847–61). His name indicates that he was born in the vicinity of Farghāna in Transoxiana, probably early 9th c.; his career is associated with the `Abbāsid court in Baghdad. Farghānī’s popular compendium (jawāmi`) of the Almagest (in Arabic) was composed after the death of Ma’mūn (in 833 but before 857). It was also the subject of 2 commentaries by Jūzjānī and Qabīṣī. Bīrūnī wrote an extensive discussion of this work entitled Tahdhīb fuṣūl al-Farghānī, no longer extant. Farghānī’s compendium was influential in its Latin translations: John of Seville (ca 1135).  Printed Latin versions based upon this translation were published in Ferara (1493), Nürnburg (1537), and Paris (1546).  The translation of Gerard of Cremona (made before 1175) was not printed until the 20th c, but circulated in manuscript form throughout Europe.  A Hebrew translation (before 1385?) of the Arabic text was prepared by Jacob Anatoli. This Hebrew version, together with the Latin of John of Seville, was used by Jacob Christmann to prepare a new Latin translation, published in Frankfurt (1590).  The Arabic text, together with a new Latin translation and notes (which cover only the first 9 chapters), was published posthumously by Jacob Golius (Amsterdam, 1669). Farghānī’s treatise on the astrolabe survives in Arabic. (It appears not to have been translated into Latin.)  A “supplement” (Tatmīm `amal al-asṭurlāb) was composed by Aḥmad b. Muḥammad al-Azharī al-Khāniqī (fl. 1350). An anonymous summary (Tajrīd) is also extant. Farghānī is also credited with a discussion of the construction of hour lines on horizontal sundials (`Amal al-rukhāmāt), but it seems not to be extant. [BEA, DeYoung] Also see Sabra, A. I. “Al-Farghānī.” in DSB, vol. 4, pp. 541–545.
