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 analyses the principle and use…
Al-Battani used the widest variety of instruments: astrolabes, tubes, a gnomon divided into twelve parts, a celestial globe with five armillaries, parallax rules, a mural quadrant, sundials, vertical as well as horizontal.
Algebra, algorithm, quadratic equation, sine function... just some of the terms which would not be known to us but for Al-Khawarizmi. An astronomer, geographer and founder of several branches and basic concepts of mathematics.
The present study is based on the 13th-century treatise of Radwan al-Sa'ati, which describes in details the clock of the Jayrûn Gate. Far from being historical or critical, this technical and analytical study allows, by…
Shihab al-Din Abu al-'Abbas Ahmad Ibn al-Majdi (1359–1447 CE) was an Egyptian mathematician and astronomer. We publish this short article to celebrate the memory of his passing away in Cairo on 27/28 January 1447.
The purpose of this paper is to outline the conditions in which Eastern Islamic science reached al-Andalus and was later transmitted to medieval Europe, mainly through translation. Until the end of the 10th century al-Andalus…
Abu al-Hasan Thabit ibn Qurra al-Harrani al-Sabi (born in Harran, now in southern Turkey, in 836 and died in Baghdad on 18 February 901) was a prolific scientist of the ninth century.
The Revival of Classical Antiquity in Cordoba in the 10th century:
Various medieval Arabic manuscripts preserved in libraries around the world – Leipzig, Cairo, Princeton, and not least Jerusalem
This keynote lecture reviews the rise and development of automatic machines within Muslim civilisation. It looks at how inventors from the Muslim civilisation progressively transformed achievements of previous cultures (e.g. ancient Mesopotamia, Egypt, Greece, Persia,…
In this article, Professor David A. King explores the authenticity of the statement that tenth-century Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yūnus was the first person to use a pendulum to measure time. After examining evidence originating from…
Historical records on the clocks of Makkah (Mecca) are scarce. This paper brings together various scattered information from descriptions found in primary sources and from sketches found in old pilgrimage certificates, guides, and prayer books…
Jim Al-Khalili is a British theoretical nuclear physicist, professor at the University of Surrey, academic author and broadcaster. He is also long-time trustee and supporter of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC). He…
Generally, it is possible to study the development of astronomy in the Ottomans in three periods; The astronomy from the establishment of Ottomans to Ali Qushji’s arrival in the Ottomans (1299-1472); The astronomy from Ali…
The water clock that Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (d. 809 CE), gifted to Charlemagne, the Holy Roman Emperor (d. 814 CE) is investigated. Origins and transfer of the clock technology is reviewed. The water clock…
In this article, Professor Yavuz Unat, a known historian of science from Ankara University, draws a general survey on al-Jazari and his treatise. He describes some of his machines and points out the numerous technological…
For well over twelve hundred years Al-Qarawiyyin has been one of the leading spiritual and educational centres of the Muslim World, a typical institution, of many, underlining how learning constituted the heart of the religion…
Dan Gibson, a Canadian amateur archaeologist, is the latest of a number of revisionist historians of early Islam who are desperate to show that Islam did not start in Mecca, and hence that early Islamic…
The magazine Saudi Aramco World published in May-June 2007 an interesting folder on Arabic and Islamic science. The folder of 20 pages consists of several articles illustrated with a rich iconography and accompanied with illuminating…
Being in form a bio-bibliographical essay on the life and works of Taqī al-Dīn Ibn Ma'rūf, a well known scholar of 16th-century Istanbul, this article presents the contents of his books and compares his scientific…
Discover the golden
age of Muslim civilisation.
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