Ali Qushji

Ali Qushji studied at Ulugh Beg Madrasa. Training under Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī, Ulugh Beg and Jamshīd al-Kāshī is recorded. The recorded working language is Persian, Arabic and Turkish. Places of work recorded in the authority are Ulugh Beg Observatory. Employment is recorded with Ulugh Beg Observatory, Sahn-ı Seman Medrese and Hagia Sophia. Works named in the authority record are Zij-i Sultani.

• Era — Ottoman era • Name — Ala al-Dīn Ali ibn Muhammed • Born — 1403 CE • Birthplace — Samarkand, Timurid Empire (now Uzbekistan) • Died — 1474 CE • Place of death — Constantinople, Ottoman Empire (now Turkey) • Religion — Islam • Denomination — Sunni • Jurisprudence — Hanafi • Creed — Ash'ari • Main Interests — Kalam (Islamic theology), Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), Falkiat, Mathematics • Notable Works — Concerning the Supposed Dependence of Astronomy upon Philosophy • Influences — Al-Ghazali, Adud al-Din al-Iji, Al-Jurjani • Influenced — Mirim Çelebi, Muhammad al-Qunawi

Ali Kuşçu was born in 1403 in the city of Samarkand, in present-day Uzbekistan. His full name at birth was Ala al-Dīn Ali ibn Muhammed al-Qushji. The last name Qushji derived from the Turkish term kuşçu—"falconer" —due to the fact that Ali's father Muhammad was the royal falconer of Ulugh Beg. Sources consider him Turkic or Persian. • Illustration — Ulugh Beg Observatory – Landmark of Ali Qushji's career He attended the courses of Qazi zadeh Rumi, Ghiyāth al-Dīn Jamshīd Kāshānī and Muin al-Dīn Kashi. He moved to Kerman, Iran (Persia), where he conducted some research on storms in the Oman sea. He completed Hall-e Eshkal-i Ghammar (Explanations of the Periods of the Moon) and Sharh-e Tajrid in Kirman. He moved to Herat and taught Molla Cami about astronomy (1423). After professing in Herat for a while, he returned to Samarkand. There he presented his work on the Moon to Ulugh Beg, who found it so fascinating that he read the entire work while standing up. Ulugh Beg assigned him to Ulugh Beg Observatory, which was called Samarkand Observatory at that time. Qushji worked there until Ulugh Beg was assassinated. After Ulugh Beg's death, Ali Kuşçu went to Herat, Tashkent, and finally Tabriz where, around 1470, the Ak Koyunlu ruler Uzun Hasan sent him as a delegate to the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II. At that time Husayn Bayqarah had come to reign in Herat but Qushji preferred Constantinople over Herat because of Sultan Mehmed's attitude toward scientists and intellectuals.

When he came to Constantinople (present-day Istanbul), his grandson Ghutb al-Dīn Muhammed had a son Mirim Çelebi who would be a great mathematician and astronomer in the future. Ali Kuşçu composed "risalah dar hay’at" in Persian for Mehmed II at Constantinople in 1470. Also he wrote "Sharh e resalye Fathiyeh", "resalye Mohammadiye" in Constantinople, which are in Arabic on the topic of mathematics. He then finished "Sharh e tejrid" on Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's "Tejrid al-kalam". That work is called "Sharh e Jadid" in scientific community.

• Illustration — Papers from Ali Qushji's scientific works. Qushji improved on Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's planetary model and presented an alternative planetary model for Mercury. He was also one of the astronomers that were part of Ulugh Beg's team of researchers working at the Samarqand observatory and contributed towards the Zij-i-Sultani compiled there. In addition to his contributions to Zij, Ali Kuşçu wrote nine works in astronomy, two of them in Persian and seven in Arabic. A Latin translation of two of Qushji's works, the Tract on Arithmetic and Tract on Astronomy, was published by John Greaves in 1650.

• Sharḥ e Zîj e Ulugh Beg (In Persian) • Risāla fī Halle Eshkale Moadeleye Ghamar lil-Masir (Arabic) • Risāla fī aṣl al-Hâric yumkin fī al-sufliyyeyn (Arabic) • Sharḥ ʿalā al-tuḥfat al-shāhiyya fī al-hayāt (Arabic) • Risāla dar elm-i ḥeyāt (In Persian) • Al-Fatḥīya fī ʿilm al-hayʾa (in Arabic) • Risāla fi Hall-e Eshkal-i Ghammar (in Persian) • Concerning the Supposed Dependence of Astronomy upon Philosophy (Arabic)

• Risāla al-muḥhammadiyya fi-ḥisāb (In Arabic) • Risāla dār ʿilm al-ḥisāb: Suleymaniye (Arabic)

• Sharh Tajrid al-I'tiqad • Hashiye ale't-Telvîh • Unkud-üz-Zevahir fi Nazm-al-Javaher

• Tazkare fi Âlâti'r-Ruhâniyye

• Sharh Risâleti'l-Vadiyye • El-Ifsâh • El-Unkûdu'z-Zevâhir fî Nazmi'l-Javâher • Sharh e'Sh-Shâfiye • Resale fî Beyâni Vadi'l-Mufredât • Fâ'ide li-Tahkîki Lâmi't-Ta'rîf • Resale mâ Ene Kultu • Resale fî'l-Hamd • Resale fî Ilmi'l-Me'ânî • Resale fî Bahsi'l-Mufred • Resale fî'l-Fenni's-Sânî min Ilmihal-Beyân • Tafsir e-Bakara ve Âli Imrân • Risâle fî'l-İstişâre • Mahbub-al-Hamail fi kashf-al-mesail • Tajrid-al-Kalam