Al-Ashraf Umar II

[1] Data from the Encyclopaedia of Islam (1986)[3] Al-Ashraf wrote the first description of the use of a magnetic compass for determining the qibla.

[4] In a treatise about astrolabes and sundials, al-Ashraf included information on the construction of a compass bowl (ṭāsa).

He then uses the compass to determine the north point, the meridian (khaṭṭ niṣf al-nahār), and the qibla towards Mecca.

This is the first mention of a compass in a medieval Islamic scientific text and its earliest known use as a qibla indicator, although al-Ashraf did not claim to be the first to use it for this purpose.

[1] Al-Ashraf's Milh al‑Malâha is considered by the historian David King to be crucial for constructing the history of agriculture during the Rasulid era.