Abu Al-Fa?l Hasday
ABU AL-FA?L HASDAY
ABU AL-FA?L HASDAY (late tenth century), Spanish scholar. According to the 13th-century Arab biographer Ibn Ab? U?aybi?a, Abu al-Fa?l, who lived in Saragossa, was a member of a distinguished Andalusian Jewish family of priestly descent. He was competent in medicine, philosophy, arithmetic, and music. He had a good knowledge of both Arabic and Hebrew. Moses ibn Ezra refers to Abu al-Fa?l as one who "acquired knowledge in all branches of science, was accomplished in philosophy, and well versed in Hebrew and Arabic poetry and prose."
bibliography:
H.G. Farmer, History of Arabian Music to the 13th Century (1929), 221; M. Ibn Ezra, Shirat Yisrael, ed. by B. Halper (1924), 69; Ibn Ab? U?aybi?a, ?Uy?n al-Anb?? fi ?abaq?t al-A?ibb??, ed. by A. Mueller, 2 (Ar., 1884), 50.
[Amnon Shiloah]