Al-Samawal al-Maghribi


Al-Samawʾal ibn Yaḥyā al-Maghribī, commonly known as Samau'al al-Maghribi, was a mathematician, astronomer and physician. Born to a Jewish family, he concealed his conversion to Islam for many years in fear of offending his father, then openly embraced Islam in 1163 after he had a dream telling him to do so. His father was a Rabbi from Morocco.

Mathematics

Al-Samaw'al wrote the mathematical treatise al-Bahir fi'l-jabr, meaning "The brilliant in algebra", at the age of nineteen.
He also used the two basic concepts of mathematical induction, though without stating them explicitly. He used this to extend results for the binomial theorem up to n=12 and Pascal's triangle previously given by al-Karaji.

Polemics

He also wrote a famous polemic book in Arabic debating Judaism known as Ifḥām al-Yahūd or in Spanish Epistola Samuelis Maroccani and later known in English as The blessed Jew of Morocco.