¿ABD-AL-RAH®MAÚN B. ¿OMAR SáUÚFÈ, ABU÷L-H®OSAYN, astronomer, especially well versed in knowledge of the fixed stars, b. 291/903 in Ray, d. 376/986. He seems to have spent his life in close relationship to the rulers of the Buyid dynasty in Iran and

¿ABD-AL-RAH®MAÚN B. ¿OMAR SáUÚFÈ, ABU÷L-H®OSAYN, astronomer, especially well versed in knowledge of the fixed stars, b. 291/903 in Ray, d. 376/986. He seems to have spent his life in close relationship to the rulers of the Buyid dynasty in Iran and Mesopotamia, especially ¿Azµod-al-dawla (d. 372/983). By his own statement, he visited D^navar in 335/946-47, and Isfahan in 337/948-49 with the master (osta@dò) and chief (ra÷^s) Abu÷l-Fazµl Moháammad b. H®osayn, who obviously is identical with Ebn al-¿Am^d (d. 359/970), the vizier of ¿Azµod-al-dawla's father, Rokn-al-dawla.

Sáu@f^ left a number of works, the most important of which is Keta@b sáowar al-kawa@keb al-t¯a@beta (“Book on the constellations of the fixed stars”). In this he gives a full description of the classical system of constellations, both according to the “scientific” Greek classification and to Arabic popular tradition. To this he adds his own observations and criticism of the traditions. Drawings of all the constellations, and tables of the individual stars of each constellation with coordinates (for the epoch 1 October 964) are included. This work is significant, not only for the complete description of the stellar sky, but even more for the valuable record of Sáu@f^'s own observations. For knowledge of fixed stars, his book became a “classic” for many centuries throughout the Islamic world; and his name even became known to the Latin west, through translations, as “Azophi” (i.e. al-Sáu@f^). One of the lunar craters in modern astronomy is named Azophi in his honor. Other great astronomers drew from his book, quoting him by name—e.g., B^ru@n^ in his Keta@b al-tafh^m le-awa@÷el sáena@¿at al-tanè^m (1029) and al-Qa@nu@n al-mas¿u@d^ (1030), and Ulug@ Beg in his star catalog of 1437. Baha@÷-al-d^n K¨araq^ added to his Montaha@ al-edra@k f^ taqa@s^m al-afla@k a catalog of eighty-one stars, based on Sáu@f^'s book (for the epoch 1 October 1112, adding 2°15' to Sáu@f^'s longitudes; cf. Berlin ms., Ahlwardt 5669, fols. 30r-31r). Even the Arab seafarers of the Indian Ocean knew his name and quoted from his book (Ahámad b. Ma@èed, in his Keta@b al-fawa@÷ed f^ osáu@l ¿elm al-bahár wa÷l-qawa@¿ed, ca. 1500). The descriptions of the forty-eight constellations in the much quoted Cosmography (¿Aèa@÷eb al-makòlu@qa@t) of Zakar^ya@÷ b. Moháammad Qazv^n^ (d. 682/1283) are taken literally from Sáu@f^'s book without acknowledgment.

In the West, a Latin version of Ptolemy's star catalog, from his Almagest, exists in several manuscripts, using Sáu@f^'s value of precession and containing drawings of the constellations after Sáu@f^'s models (see Kunitzsch, “Sufi Latinus”). Alfonso X of Castile (reigned 1252-84) had an Old Castilian version of Sáu@f^'s book made which was incorporated in his Libros del saber de astronomia. In 1665, T. Hyde, in the commentary to his edition of Ulug@ Beg's star catalog, introduced many quotations from Sáu@f^'s book. From that source the Italian astronomer Giuseppe Piazzi picked up a great number of the Arabic star names which he gave to certain stars in his catalog Praecipuarum stellarum inerrantium positiones, Palermo, 1814, thus introducing these names into modern international astronomy. For medieval Arabic criticism of Sáu@f^ by B^ru@n^ and Ebn al-Sáala@há, see Kunitzsch, Ibn asá-Sáala@há, pp. 21, 38-74 (according to name index), 109-11. Other works by Sáu@f^ are: Keta@b al-¿amal bi÷l-astÂorla@b (“Book on the use of the astrolabe”), Keta@b al-¿amal bi÷l-korat al-falak^ya (“Book on the use of the celestial globe”), and Keta@b al-madkòal f^ [¿elm] al-aháka@m (“Introduction to the science of astrology”), the last two of which are still unpublished. A geometrical treatise by Sáu@f^ is listed by A. Sezgin, GAS V, pp. 309f. According to Ebn al-QeftÂ^ (d. 1248), a celestial globe made by Sáu@f^ for ¿Azµod-al-dawla was extant in Egypt in 435/1043-44. It is reported to have been of silver, weighing 3,000 dirhams, and purchased at a price of 3,000 dinars.

Some manuscripts contain a poem on the constellations in the raèaz meter (Orèu@za f^ sáowar al-kawa@keb al-t¯a@beta) by Abu@ ¿Al^ b. Abu÷l-H®osayn Sáu@f^. This author has sometimes been regarded as the son of ¿Abd-al-Raháma@n Sáu@f^; this seems improbable, because the poem is dedicated to ˆa@hanÞa@h Abu÷l-Ma¿a@l^ Fakòr-al-d^n—apparently the Artuqid ruler of H®esán Kayfa@ (538-39/1143-44).

Bibliography : Original works: Keta@b sáowar al-kawa@keb al-t¯a@beta, ed. from five mss., and accompanied by the Orèu@za of Ebn al-Sáu@f^, Hyderabad, India, 1954 (intro. by H. J. J. Winter). Facsimile ed. of Persian tr. by Nasá^r-al-d^n T®u@s^ (Ayasofya 2595, autograph, from Ulug@ Beg's library), Tehran, 1348 ˆ./1969. Critical ed. of T®u@s^'s tr. by Sayyed Mo¿ezz-al-d^n Mahdav^, Tehran, 1351 ˆ./1972. French tr. with selected portions of the Arabic text, from two mss., H. C. F. Schjellerup, Description des e‚toiles fixes par Abd-al-Rahman al Sûfi, St. Petersburg, 1874. Text and French tr. of Sáu@f^'s introduction by J. J. A. Caussin de Perceval in Notices et extraits des manuscrits XII, Paris, 1831, pp. 236f. Quotations from the Arabic text are in T. Hyde, Tabulae longitudinis et latitudinis stellarum fixarum ex observatione Ulugh Beighi, Oxford, 1665; 2nd ed. by G. Sharpe in Syntagma dissartationum, Oxford, 1767. These quotations were repeated and discussed by L. Ideler, Untersuchungen über den Ursprung und die Bedeutung der Sternnamen, Berlin, 1809. The Old Castilian version in Los libros del saber de astronomia, ed. M. Rico y Sinobas, I, Madrid, 1863. The star nomenclature of the Castilian version, and of an Italian tr. made from Castilian, was critically ed. by O. J. Tallgren, “Los nombres arabes de las estrelas y la transcripcio‚n alfonsina,” in Homenaje a R. Mene‚ndez Pidal II, Madrid, 1925, with “Correcciones y adiciones” in Revista de filologé‚a española 12, 1925, pp. 52f. The Italian tr. was edited by P. Knecht, I libri astronomici di Alfonso X in una versione fiorentina del trecento, Saragossa, 1965. Keta@b al-¿amal bi÷l-astÂorla@b in 386 chapters, ed. from a Paris ms., Hyderabad (Deccan), 1962. An English introduction, by E. S. Kennedy and M. Destombes, was printed separately (Hyderabad, 1967). A sky map, including the Arabic stellar nomenclature according to Sáu@f^ was printed as Supple‚ment to Le Mobacher, Alger, September, 1881.

Secondary literature: Brockelmann, GAL I, pp. 253f.; and S. I, pp. 398, 863, no. 4a (for Ebn al-Sáu@f^). Storey, II/1, pp. 41f. (for some Persian tr.). Sezgin, GAS V, pp. 309f.; VI, pp. 212f. A. Hauber, “Die Verbreitung des Astronomen Sáufi,” Der Islam 8, 1918, pp. 48-54. P. Kunitzsch, Arabische Sternnamen in Europa, Wiesbaden, 1959, p. 230f. Idem, Untersuchungen zur Sternnomenklatur der Araber, Wiesbaden, 1961, pp. 9f., 14f., 31. Idem, “Sáu@f^ Latinus,” ZDMG 115, 1965, pp. 65-74. Idem, Ibn asá-Sáala@há. Zur Kritik der Koordinaten-überlieferung im Sternkatalog des Almagest, Göttingen, 1975, pp. 109-11, etc. Idem, “Al-Sáu@f^,” Dictionary of Scientific Biography XIII, New York, 1976, pp. 149-50. M. Shermatov, “Ash-Shirazi's comments on the star catalogue of as-Sufi” (in Russian), Dushanbinski¥ gosudarstvenny¥ pedagogicheski¥ institut, Uchenye zapiski no. 81, 1971, pp. 73-83. S. M. Stern, “¿Abd al-Raháma@n al-Sáu@f^,” EI ²I, pp. 86-87. J. Upton, “A Manuscript of “The Book of the Fixed Stars” by ¿Abd ar-Raháma@n asá-Sáu@f^,” Metropolitan Museum Studies 4, 1933, pp. 179-97. E. Wellesz, An Islamic Book of Constellations, Oxford, 1965. H. J. J. Winter, “Notes on al-Kitab Suwar Al-Kawakib,” Archives Internationales d'Histoire des Sciences 8, 1955, pp. 126-33.

(P. Kunitzsch)