Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi

Alī Ibn Khalaf al-Murādī (11th century) Al-Andalus, was a mechanical engineer and author of the unique technological manuscript entitled Kitāb al-asrār fī natā'ij al-afkār (The Book of Secrets in the Results of Ideas).

Al-Muradí portrait.

Quotes

• When I looked at the science of engineering and saw that it had disappeared after its ancient heritage, that its masters have perished, and that their memories are now forgotten, I worked my wits and thoughts in secrecy about philosophical shapes and figures, which could move the mind, with effort, from nothingness to being and from idleness to motion. And I arranged these shapes one by one in drawings and explained them.
  • Al-Muradi, The Book of Secrets in the Results of Ideas, 11th century; Translated and cited at leonardo3.net/bookofsecrets/index, 2015

Quotes about Al-Muradi

• Among Islamic books studied or translated in Toledo, there were several which discussed mechanical devices, including astronomical instruments and several types of water clock. One author who wrote on this subject was al-Muradi, and he illustrated elaborate gear trains, some with epicyclic and segmental gears.
  • Arnold Pacey (1991), Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-year History, p. 43

• The manuscript (of 'The Book of Secrets in the Results of Ideas) was copied in 1266 from the original text written by Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi in the eleventh century. The only copy is in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence, Italy. A unique source of medieval Arabic technology, it presents designs for more than 30 devices, including water clocks, calendars, and war machines.
  • The Book of Secrets in the Results of Ideas, at library.rijksmuseum.nl, 2015.

External links

• The Book of Secrets - Kitab al Asrar of al-Muradi - part 1 of 2 at youtube.com