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The Baghdad-born historian Ibn al-Nadīm (c. 932–c. 995) wrote a Catalogue (Kitāb al-Fihrist), an invaluable source for many names that would otherwise have fallen into oblivion. It includes a list of astrolabe makers, beginning with Ptolemy and continuing with a succession of Muslim makers from various periods. The paragraph ends with Nasūlus and his disciples, the last two mentioned being: "al-‘Iljī al-Asurlābī, a pupil of Nasūlus; al-‘Iljīyah, his daughter, a pupil of Nasūlus, who was in the service of Sayf al-Dawlah." To be more precise, Sayf al-Dawlah founded the Shiite Emirate of Aleppo and ruled it as emir from 945 to 967. Al-‘Iljīyah, the daughter of al-‘Iljī, was therefore an astrolabe maker in the emir’s service. Making astrolabes is an extremely technical occupation requiring extensive knowledge of mathematics and astronomy; what is more, making them for the emir attests to an exceptionally high level of skill.
It is worth noting that al-‘Iljīyah is sometimes called Mariam al-Asurlābī, although the name Mariam is not attested anywhere at the time (it is a later epithet that appears unreliable). As for al-Asurlābī, it is simply an epithet already borne by her father at the time ("astrolabe maker").
