Ibn Malka al-Baghdadi

Abu'l-Barakāt Hibat Allah ibn Malkā al-Baghdādī
ابن ملكا البغدادي
TitleAwḥad al-Zamān
(Unique One of his Time)
Personal life
Bornc. 1080 CE
Balad (near Mosul, present-day Iraq)
Died1164 or 1165 CE
Baghdad, present-day Iraq
EraIslamic Golden Age
RegionIslamic civilization
Main interest(s)Islamic philosophy, medicine
Notable idea(s)Physics of motion, concept of time
Religious life
ReligionIslam
CreedAlarsttalih
Muslim leader
Influenced by
  • Ibn Sina
    Abu’l Hasan Sa’id ibn Hibat Allah (teacher)

Abu'l-Barakāt Hibat Allah ibn Malkā al-Baghdādī (Arabic: أبو البركات هبة الله بن ملكا البغدادي; c. 1080 – 1164 or 1165 CE) was an Islamic philosopher, physician and physicist of Jewish descent from Baghdad, Iraq. Abu'l-Barakāt, an older contemporary of Maimonides, was originally known by his Hebrew birth name Baruch ben Malka and was given the name of Nathanel by his pupil Isaac ben Ezra before his conversion from Judaism to Islam later in his life.

His writings include the anti-Aristotelian philosophical work Kitāb al-Muʿtabar ("The Book of What Has Been Established by Personal Reflection"); a philosophical commentary on the Kohelet; and the treatise "On the Reason Why the Stars Are Visible at Night and Hidden in Daytime". Abu'l-Barakāt was an Aristotelian philosopher who in many respects followed Ibn Sina, but also developed his own ideas. He proposed an explanation of the acceleration of falling bodies by the accumulation of successive increments of power with successive increments of velocity.

His thought influenced the Illuminationist school of classical Islamic philosophy, the medieval Jewish philosopher Ibn Kammuna, and the medieval Christian philosophers Jean Buridan and Albert of Saxony.