al-Jazarī, Badīʿ al-Zamān - Encyclopaedia of Islam, THREE
[Article]
Jaritz, Gerhard
Leiden
Brill
(1,235 words)
Badīʿ al-Zamān Abū l-ʿIzz Ismāʿīl b. al-Razzāz al-Jazarī (b. c.530/1136, d. 602/1206) was an outstanding scholar, engineer, and inventor. The only information about his life is found in the introduction to his richly illustrated manuscript containing a collection of fifty mechanical devices and inventions, with their detailed construction plans. His family originated in al-Jazīra (Upper Mesopotamia, between the Tigris and the Euphrates). Badīʿ al-Zamān (prodigy of the age) was an honorary title used also for various important men, as was the