Ibn Arfa' Ra's
Ibn Arfa' Ra's (Arabic: ابن أرفع رأس – full name: Abū al-Ḥasan ʿAlī ibn Mūsa al-Anṣārī al-Andalusī ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs), flourished second half of the twelfth century, was a Maghrebi poet and alchemist. He is the author of an Arabic collection (dīwān) of alchemical poems called the Shudhūr al-dhahab ('Shards of Gold').
| ʿAlī ibn Mūsa ibn Arfaʿ Raʾs | |
|---|---|
| Region | Maghreb |
| Period | Almohad, fl. most likely c. 1150–1200 |
| Known for | Alchemy, Arabic poetry |
| Major writings |
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| Influence | Commentaries on his work were written by al-Irbilī, al-Sīmāwī, al-Jildakī. |
Traditionally he was identified with a certain Ibn al-Naqirāt, a religious scholar living in Fez (Morocco) who died c. 1197. However, this identification is probably spurious. If so, virtually nothing is known about Ibn Arfa' Ra's's life. Probably born in Al-Andalus, perhaps in Granada, it is likely that he spent most of his life in Almohad Morocco. At some point he likely traveled to the Islamic East, where he may also have settled.
Ibn Arfa' Ra's wrote a commentary on his own work Shudhūr al-dhahab under the name Ḥall mushkilāt al-Shudhūr ('Solution to the Problems of the Shudhūr'). He also wrote some alchemical poems in the muwashshaḥ genre (strophic verse) and a number of short prose works on alchemy. Two works on magic have also been attributed to him, but these are probably spurious.