Astronomy in the Service of Islam

ISBN-13: 9780860783572 / Angielski / Twarda / 1993 / 352 str.

David A. King

Opis

These 14 studies in English, with additional notes, explain how science was applied to three aspects of Islamic ritual in the Middle Ages: the regulation of the lunar calendar; the organization of the times of the five daily prayers; and the determination of qibla towards the Kaaba in Mecca.

Spis treści

Contents: Preface: General Survey: Science in the service of religion: the case of Islam; Lunar Crescent Visibility and the Regulation of the Islamic Calendar: Some early Islamic tables for determining lunar crescent visibility; Ibn Yunus on lunar crescent visibility; Lunar crescent visibility predictions in medieval Islamic ephemerides; Astronomical Timekeeping and the Regulation of the Times of Islamic Prayer: Mikat: astronomical timekeeping; Universal solutions in Islamic astronomy; Universal solutions to problems of spherical astronomy from Mamluk Egypt and Syria; Mizwala; The Sacred Direction in Islam: Kibla: sacred direction; Makka: as the centre of the world; Matla’: astronomical rising-points; On the orientation of the Ka’ba; Astronomical alignments in medieval Islamic religious architecture; The earliest Islamic mathematical methods and tables for finding the direction of Mecca; Addenda; Indexes.

O autorze

David A. King is Emeritus Professor of History of Science, Johann Wolfgang Goethe University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany