Abstract
In their assessment of Islamic astronomy, historians have usually been concerned only with that part of the Muslim scientific heritage that was transmitted to the West in the Middle Ages. Yet most Islamic works on astronomy were not transmitted to the West, and they are known today mainly due to the work of orientalists in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This is the case of Muslim writings on three aspects of mathematical science that were closely linked with religious observance. This is an overview of those “Islamic aspects of Islamic astronomy”.
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References
American Council of Learned Societies (1970–80) Dictionary of scientific biography, 14 vols and 2 suppl vols. Scribner, New York. [Contains the most reliable accounts of the works of the most important Muslim scientists. See especially the articles “al-Bîrûnî”, “al-Khalîlî”, “al-Khwârizmî”, “Ibn Yûnus”]
(1960-2002) The encyclopaedia of Islam, 2nd edn. Brill, Leiden, especially articles “Ru’yat al-hilal” (= visibility of the lunar crescent); “Mîkât” (= astronomical time-keeping and the regulation of the times of prayer); “Kibla” (= sacred direction); “Makka: As Centre of the World” (= sacred geography). [Survey articles]
Kennedy ES (1973) A commentary upon Bîrûnî’s Kitâb Tahdîd al-Amâkin – An 11th century treatise on mathematical geography, AUB, Beirut. [Translation of and commentary on the most important medieval treatise on mathematical geography]
Kennedy ES, Colleagues and Former Students (1983) Studies in the Islamic exact sciences, AUB, Beirut. [Reprints of 70 articles written or inspired by the leading scholar in the field]
King DA, Saliba G (eds) (1986) Kennedy Festschrift: from deferent to equant – studies in the history of science in the ancient and medieval near east in honor of E. S. Kennedy. Ann NY Acad Sci 500. [Some 35 articles by the world’s leading experts]
King DA (1986/93, 1987/95, 1993, 2012) Islamic mathematical astronomy, Islamic astronomical instruments, astronomy in the service of Islam, Islamic astronomy and geography. Variorum, Aldershot. [Reprints of about 70 articles. The first volume includes surveys of astronomical timekeeping in medieval Cairo, Damascus and Istanbul and an analysis of al-Khalîlî’s universal qibla table. The third volume includes analyses of the earliest mathematical methods for finding the qibla, and of the first tables for determining lunar crescent visibility. The fourth volume includes a general survey of Islamic astronomy and an overview of sacred geography]
King DA (1996) Islamic astronomy. In: Walker CBF (ed) Astronomy before the telescope. BL Press, London, repr 1999, pp 143–174, repr in idem, Islamic astronomy and geography (see above), essay I. [A general overview in the light of other historical traditions]
King DA (2004/05) In: Synchrony with the heavens – studies in astronomical timekeeping and instrumentation in medieval islamic civilization, 2 vols. Brill, Leiden/Boston. [vol 1 deals with timekeeping by the sun and stars and the regulation of the times of prayer, and vol 2 with all manner of instruments]
King DA (1999) World-maps for finding the direction and distance to Mecca – innovation and tradition in Islamic science. Brill/Al-Furqan Foundation, Leiden/London. [Includes a survey of Muslim determinations of the qibla]
Schmidl P (2007) Volkstümliche Astronomie im islamischen Mittelalter: Zur Bestimmung der Gebetszeiten und der Qibla bei al-Asbahî, Ibn Rahîq, and al-Fârisî, 2 vols. Brill, Leiden/Boston. [Contains much information on practical applications of Islamic folk astronomy in the service of Islamic ritual]
Varisco DM (1993) Medieval agriculture and Islamic science: The Almanac of a Yemeni Sultan. University of Washington Press, Seattle. [This and the next volume are the best sources on the application of folk astronomy to agriculture]
Varisco DM (1997) Medieval folk astronomy and agriculture in Arabia and the Yemen. Ashgate/Variorum, Aldershot/Brookfield
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Glossary
- Al-Andalus
-
That part of the Iberian peninsula under Muslim domination at any given time. (Not to be confused with the modern Spanish province and region of Andalucia).
- Hadîth
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The sayings and deeds of the Prophet Muhammad, recorded in six canonical collections.
- Kaaba
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For Arabic Ka’ba, literally “cube”, the sacred shrine at the heart of Mecca and of the entire Islamic world.
- Law/legal
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Refers here to the sacred law of Islam, based on the Qur’ân and hadîth.
- Madrasa
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A religious school sometimes achieving university status.
- Mamlûks
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The ruling dynasty in Egypt and Syria from the mid thirteenth to the early sixteenth century.
- Medieval
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Refers here to the period when traditional pre-telescopic astronomy was practiced.
- Mihrâb
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The niche in the wall of the mosque that faces the qibla. The faithful pray toward the wall, not the mihrâb.
- Mosque
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The place where Muslims worship as a community. The entire building is usually oriented toward Mecca, that is, in the qibla. The mihrâb indicates the wall that faces the qibla. The faithful pray in rows that are parallel to this wall.
- Muezzin
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From Arabic mu’adhdhin, the person who calls the faithful to prayer from the minaret of the mosque.
- Muwaqqit
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Literally, timekeeper; the Arabic word for the astronomer associated with a mosque who used to establish the times of prayer. Derived from waqt, “time”.
- Orientation
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Mosques are oriented in the qibla, which in medieval times might be determined by one of several different procedures.
- Ottomans
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The ruling Turkish dynasty in the Muslim world (except for Iran and regions further east) from the early sixteenth to the early twentieth century.
- Qibla
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The sacred direction in Islam, toward the Kaaba in Mecca.
- Qur’ân
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The sacred book of Muslims, considered by them as the ultimate revelation of God to mankind.
- The Maghrib
-
N. W. Africa. The Arabic word means “place where the sun sets” or “West”.
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King, D.A. (2015). Astronomy in the Service of Islam. In: Ruggles, C. (eds) Handbook of Archaeoastronomy and Ethnoastronomy. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-6141-8_13
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