IBRAHIM AL-HAQILANI

Latinized form Abraham Ecchellensis born Feb. 18, 1605, Haqil, Syria died July 15, 1664, Rome, Papal States Maronite Catholic scholar noted for his Arabic translation of books of the Bible. Ordained a deacon, Ibrahim taught Arabic and Syriac first at Pisa, then in Rome, and in 1628 he published a Syriac grammar. In 1640 he began collaborating on the Le Jay Polyglot Bible, publishing the Book of Ruth in Arabic, Syriac, and Latin and 3 Maccabees in Latin and Arabic. In 1646 he became professor at the Collge de France, Paris, but in 1652 he returned to Rome to work on preparation of the Arabic version of the Bible, published in 1671. Among his Latin translations were a history of the patriarchs of Alexandria (1653) and three books of the Conics by the geometrician Apollonius of Perga (1661).