Instruments

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Muslim astronomers and engineers invented a variety of dials for timekeeping and for determining the times of the five daily prayers. In this thorough and technical study, Professor Attila Bir...

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The Suhayl 2014 Vol 13 - International Journal for the History of the Exact and Natural Sciences in Islamic Civilisation

FSTC is pleased to bring to the attention of readers the availability online of the 2015 volume of the....

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The renaissance of astronomy in Baghdad between 9th and 19th centuries

[Note of the editor] This article was originally published as: David A. King, "The renaissance of astronomy...

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Figure 1: Fig. 1: Illustration of Kuttab School in a mosque, from the 7th maqama of al-Hariri's Maqamat. This manuscript, copied and illustrated by al-Wasiti, was executed in Baghdad in 1237. MS. ar. 5847 f. 18v., Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris. Islamic science developed thanks to a good system of knowledge diffusion through education. (Source).

Rediscovering Arabic Science

The magazine Saudi Aramco World published in May-June 2007 an interesting folder on Arabic and Islamic...

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Figure 1: Taqī al-Dīn's observational clock is shown in the right hand side middle of this famous picture of Istanbul observatiry. Source: Istanbul University Library, MS F1404, folio 57a.

The Astronomical Clock of Taqi Al-Din: Virtual Reconstruction

In his book The Brightest Stars for the Construction of Mechanical Clocks (Al-Kawakib al-durriyya fi wadh' al...

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Figure 1: An armillary sphere in Ma'rifatname of Ibrahim Hakki Erzurumi. Adapted from the original manuscript held in the Suleymaniye Library in Istanbul, Haci Mahmud collection, MS 5616, fol. 1b.

The Armillary Sphere: A Concentrate of Knowledge in Islamic Astronomy

The armillary sphere is an ancient astronomical instrument reproducing a model of the celestial sphere. In...

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Figure 1: Islamic Celestial Globe in brass, dated 1630 CE. This globe served both as a map of the heavens, as viewed from outside the starry sphere, and as a precision tool for making astronomical calculations. Engraved on its surface are various coordinate lines, constellation figures, and Arabic inscriptions. The stars are made of embedded bits of silver. The globe is hollow and was cast in one seamless piece. Source: http://www.nasm.si.edu/exploretheuniverse/etu_ne.htm.