Abà « aá¹£-á¹¢alt Umayya ibn ÿAbd al-ÿAzëz ibn Abë aá¹£-á¹¢alt ad-DÃÂnë al-Andalusë () (October 23, 1134), known in Latin as Albuzale, was an Andalusian-Arab polymath who wrote about pharmacology, geometry, Aristotelian physics, and astronomy. His works on astronomical instruments were read both in the Islamic world and Europe. He also occasionally traveled to Palermo and worked in the court of Roger I of Sicily as a visiting physician. He became well known in Europe through translations of his works made in the Iberian Peninsula and in southern France. He is also credited with introducing Andalusi music to Tunis, which later led to the development of the Tunisian ma'luf.
Abu as-Salt was born in Dénia, al-Andalus. After the death of his father while he was a child, he became a student of al-Waqqashi (10171095) of Toledo (a colleague of Abà « IshÃÂq IbrÃÂhëm az-ZarqÃÂlë). Upon completing his mathematical education in Seville, and because of the continuing conflicts during the reconquista, he set out with his family to Alexandria and then Cairo in 1096.
In Cairo, he entered the service of the Fatimid ruler Abà « Tamëm Ma'add al-Mustaná¹£ir bi-llÃÂh and the Vizier Al-Afdal Shahanshah. His service continued until 1108, when, according to Ibn Abë Uá¹£aybiÿa, his attempt to retrieve a very large Felucca laden with copper, that had capsized in the Nile, ended in failure. Abu as-Salt had built a mechanical tool to retrieve the Felucca, and was close to success when the machine's silk ropes fractured. The Vizier Al-Afdal ordered Abu as-Salt's arrest, and he was imprisoned for more than three years, only to be released in 1112.
Abu al-Salt then left Egypt for Mahdia in Tunisia, the capital of the Zirids in Ifriqiya where he entered the service of king Yaḥyàibn Tamëm as-á¹¢anhÃÂjë and where his son, ÿAbd al-ÿAzëz was born. He also occasionally traveled to Palermo and worked in the court of Roger I of Sicily as a visiting physician. He also sent poems to the Palermitan poet Abà « á¸Â-á¸Âawþ. He died, probably of dropsy, in Béjaïa, Algeria. He is buried in the Ribat of Monastir, Tunisia.
Abu as-Salt wrote an encyclopedic work of many treatises on the scientific disciplines known as quadrivium. This work was probably known in Arabic as KitÃÂb al-kÃÂfë fë al-ÿulà «m. His poetry is preserved in the anthology of Imad al-Din al-Isfahani. His interests also included alchemy as well as the study of medicinal plants. He was keen to discover an elixir able to transmute copper into gold and tin into silver.