Abstract
At the same time as the so-called European Dark Ages, which, in terms of science, were not as dark as had once been supposed, 1 science and learning were occupying an important place in the society of the neighbouring Islamic Near East. Astronomy, of course, was a major aspect of this science. According to King (1996: 146), “it was not Islam that encouraged the development of astronomy but the richness of Islamic society, a multiracial, highly-literate, tolerant society with one predominant language, Arabic.” Islamic astronomy was founded on a mixture of traditional “folk” astronomy and Indian, Persian, and Greek mathematical astronomy, but by the turn of the second millennium it had evolved into a science characteristically its own.2
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References
See, for example, McCluskey (1998) and Chapter 5 below.
King (1996: 144).
King (1996: 143) estimates that there are over 10,000 in libraries throughout the world.
lncluding more than one hundred solar and lunar eclipses. See Said, Stephenson, & Rada (1989) and Stephenson & Said (1997).
King (1996).
Sayili (1960: 50–87).
King (1996).
For details of the use and operation of these calendar systems, see Said & Stephenson (1996).
For example, the late fourteenth century Damascene astronomer Ibn al-Shātir is known to have written a book entitled Ta `liq al-Arsād which contained details of how he derived an alternative planetary model to that of Ptolemy from his observations. It seems that a number of eclipse observations were contained in this work. However, all manuscript copies of it have been lost. See Saliba (1987).
Neugebauer (1975: 667).
See, for example, al-Birūnī, Kitāb Tahdid Nihāāyāt al-Amākin li-Tas hīh Masāfāt al-Masākin, 166–168; trans. Ali (1967: 129–130).
A1-Hassan & Hill (1986: 55–59).
Saliba (1986).
For a detailed explanation of the construction and use of an astrolabe, see North (1974). Of the many treatises on the astrolabe by Islamic astronomers the most detailed is by al-Sūfi. See Kennedy & Destombes (1966) for a commentary on this text. For a preliminary survey of known astrolabes and their makers, see Mayer (1956). He concludes that most astrolabes were built by the astronomer who intended to use it.
Goldstein (1963); King (1973).
Kitāb Tahdid Nihāyāt al-Amākin li-Tashīh Masāfāt al-Masākin, 168; trans. Ali (1967: 130–131).
Kennedy (1956: 127).
For further biographical details, see Tekeli (1972).
For further biographical details, see Dold-Samplonius (1974).
For further biographical details, see Hartner (1970).
Ta’rikh al-Hukamā’; trans. Hartner (1970: 507–508).
Kennedy (1956: 132–133).
Sayili (1960: 101–103).
Kennedy (1956). 25 Said & Stephenson (1997).
It has often been claimed that al-Hākim built an observatory for Ibn Ytinus in Cairo, but Sayili (1960: 130–156) has shown this to be untrue. Instead he argues that Ibn Yūnus may have built his own private observatory in his house.
King (1973).
King (1976). 29 Kennedy (1956: 126).
For further biographical details, see King (1976).
For a list of al-Birūni’s works, including details of those that are extant, and those that have been published, see Kennedy (1970).
This work is described by Kennedy (1956: 157–159).
This work has been translated into English by Ali (1967).
For further biographical details, see Kennedy (1970). 35 A1-Birūni also reports an observation of an annular solar eclipse by al-Irānshahrī on 28 July 873 AD. Although no timings of this eclipse are reported, it is of considerable historical interest as according to Ptolemy’s eclipse theory (Almagest, V, 14), annular eclipse are not possible. See Goldstein (1979).
Said & Stephenson (1997).
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© 2000 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht
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Steele, J.M. (2000). The Islamic Near East. In: Observations and Predictions of Eclipse Times by Early Astronomers. Archimedes, vol 4. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9528-5_4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-015-9528-5_4
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