This short article is a highlight of an online lecture recently given on 19 February 2023 by Professor Salim Al-Hassani, organised by FARDA (Future Awareness through Rational and Actions), Uppsala University, Sweden).
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…
Little known book, Kitab al-Asrar, by the Andalusian engineer Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi. In this treatise, Al-Muradi describes how to construct a wide variety of ingenious mechanical devices. Using written instructions and diagrams, al-Muradi’s work describes…
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…
Radwan al Sa’ati, poet, doctor and gifted clockmaker of the 6th century AH, devoted his treatise « ‘Ilm al-Sa’at wa al-‘Amal biha » to the detailed description of the hydraulic clock found at the Jayûn…
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…
The Peacock Clock is the sixth machine described by al-Jazari in his famous treatise of mechanics Al-Jami‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa 'l-‘amal al-nafi‘ fi sina‘at al-hiyal (A Compendium on the Theory and Useful Practice of the…
The Revival of Classical Antiquity in Cordoba in the 10th century:
Video regarding a brief biography of Al-Jazari and the explanation of his Castle Clock...
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,…
On 22-23 October 2015, the “3rd International conference on History of Medicine and Cures (Colloque international de l’histoire de medecine)” was opened at Fez university of Sidi Mohammed ben Abdullah (Faculté de Médecine et de…
The genesis of this article lies in a recent visit to the Romanesque cathedral of Lund. While in the cathedral, I walked over to the medieval astronomical clock to await the moving figures and music…
TIME TELLING MACHINES: Revealing marvellous mechanical and water-powered clocks from early Muslim Civilisation. These sophisticated devices that defied the Middle Ages.
The UNESCO International Year of Light and Light-Based Technologies is a multi-faceted celebration of light in its scientific, technological and cultural context. Central to this has been the recognition of Ibn al-Haytham as the founder…
The Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC) announces their new achievement in the history of Islamic clocks. For the first time, the work of Ibn al-Haytham on the water clock (Maqala fi ‘amal al-binkam)…
Al Jazari's Elephant Clock (c. 600 AH / 1200AD) at Sharjah Museum for Islamic Civilisation, Sharjah, UAE...
Al-Jazari's 800 Year Old Automatic Elephant Clock Would you like to support our channel?...
From Frankfurt and Cairo to Damascus: Recent Models of the Umayyad Mosque Clock, The Umayyad Mosque Clock, Abdel Aziz al-Jaraki, Eilhard Wiedemann, Fritz Hauser, Fuat Sezgin, Donald Hill, Ridhwan al-Sa'ati, Banu Musa, Al-Jazari, Al-Khazini, history…
Fakhr al-Dīn Ridhwān ibn Rustam al-Sā'ātī (d. between 618-626 H/1220-1229 CE) was a scholar and mechanical engineer, author of the book ‘Ilm al-sā'āt wa 'l-'amal bihā in which he described the famous public clock set…
In his book The Brightest Stars for the Construction of Mechanical Clocks (Al-Kawakib al-durriyya fi wadh' al-bankamat al-dawriyya), Taqi al-Din Ibn Ma'ruf analyses the four main types of time keeping devices known in the 16th…
Five pumps or water-raising machines are described by al-Jazari in his monumental treatise of mechanics Al-Jami' bayn al-‘ilm wa 'l-‘amal al-nafi' fi sina'at al-hiyal (A Compendium on the Theory and Useful Practice of the Mechanical…
The first machine described by al-Jazari in his famous treatise of mechanics Al-Jami‘ bayn al-‘ilm wa 'l-‘amal al-nafi‘ fi sina‘at al-hiyal (A Compendium on the Theory and Useful Practice of the Mechanical Arts) is a…
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…
al-Jazari's 800 year old automatic Scribe clock using water technology. An example of the Muslim orgins of modern automation and robotics.
The following article by Abdel Aziz al-Jaraki, a scholar from Damascus, describes the context of the investigation carried on since several decades on a famous clock built by Fakhr al-Din Ridhwan al-Sa'ati at the beginning…
In the Islamic world, great importance was placed upon the study of natural sciences and technology. This article brings out some of the important works of Turkish Muslim scholars in the fields of automatic machines,…
During the period of Islamic-Arabic extraordinary activity in Science and Technology (9th-13th century), there are some recorded contributions to the area of Automatic Control mainly in the development of water clocks using float valve regulators,…
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