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Yaʿaqov b. Nissim Ibn Shāhīn

بيانات التعريف

Gender
Male
Social role
  • Jewish community member

Description / Bio

Seriously famous. No person page, but I can't resist writing an entry anyway. Philosopher, mathematician, late 10th century; he's the guy who wrote the query that produced the Iggeret Sherira Gaʾon on the redaction of the Mishnah. Author of an Arabic commentary on the Sefer Yeṣirah. Hilariously harsh on the young Saʿadya: claims that when the latter was still in Egypt, he used to address very insignificant questions to Yiṣḥaq b. Shelomo of Qayrawān and comment on medical texts (Galen?) in such a way as to reveal that actually he didn't understand them. So he decided to write his own commentary on Galen, which is still extant. Also wrote a book on Indian mathematics called Ḥisāb al-Ghubār. Father of Rabbenu Nissim, author of a Talmud commentary and head of the yeshiva at Qayrawān. MR

Marina Rustow, "Yaʿaqov b. Nissim Ibn Shāhīn," available online through the Princeton Geniza Project at https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/yaaqov-b-nissim-ibn-shahin/, accessed June 30, 2026.
https://geniza.princeton.edu/people/yaaqov-b-nissim-ibn-shahin/