Mohammed al Rudani

Mohammed al-Rudani (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Sulayman (Muhammad) al-Fasi ibn Tahir al-Rudani al-Susī al-Maliki al-Maghribi ) (born ca. 1627, died 1683) was an astronomer born in Taroudannt, Morocco.

Al-Rudani spent most of his life in Ottoman territories. He is especially well known for the invention of a spherical device into which another sphere (painted blue) with a different axis was placed. This second sphere was divided into two parts in which the zodiacal signs with their sections and regions were drawn. Al-Rudānī wrote a book describing it, Al Nāfia fī amal al jāmia (Medina, 1662). Rudānī's best known work is Bahja al ullāb fī al amal bi l as urlāb, a book on how to make and use an astrolabe.