Author
Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī
Publication Date
700-800 (AH, Hijri)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
235 x 135 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 5593
Record ID
vdc_100000000094.0x000094
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
700-800 (AH, Hijri)
Notes
One of only three recorded copies of an influential treatise on the construction and use of astrolabes by Abū al-Rayḥān Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al-Bīrūnī (Abu al-Rayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni, ca 973-1048) containing 122 diagrams, 7 tables and 1 space for a diagram or table left blank and marked correct blank ('correctly' blank'; f. 20v).
Begins (f. 3v, lines 1-7):
In the name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. The Lord makes it easy and does not make it difficult
Pure souls are possessed of contentment and longing to visualize existing beings
Being completely surrounded by it, therefore, it pays attention to what increases its rut (!) and its content
It emerges to what makes it pure and pure, like the pure soul of an old man, may God help him
From the tuberculosis of the clay, it was freed from the repetition of nature, but was united with the totality of souls
I occupied myself with the intelligible (!) rather than the tangible, so that only what is meant by the sciences is what is
Information is the best information
Ends (89v, lines 5-8):
We connected each one of these with a penny so that it would be for many offers and it would be
Better in the picture, but if and then (!)
The plate has diagonals instead of squares, and he did that
He has endured many hardships and has come to the conclusion that the best offers will be at work, God willing, and it will be complete
This machine fulfilled what it promised and fulfilled what it said with God’s help and success
The fore-edge and lower margins of f. 89v contain verses in Persian written by a hand other than that of the main scribe.
The diagram on for 83v shows the internal gears of an
astrolabe
Ancient instrument for astronomical observations.
. This diagram (although not this copy of it) is thought to be the earliest depiction of the internal gears of a hand-held device. See Hill, 'Al-Bīrūnī's Mechanical Calendar', 1985.
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Ellis, A.G. and Edward Edwards,
A Descriptive List of the Arabic Manuscripts Acquired by the Trustees of the British Museum since 1894
(London: British Museum, 1912), p. 38
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Messrs Hannan and Watson, 16 May 1899
Köken
The birthdate of an unidentified character is given as 14 Ramaḍān 1015/13 January 1607 (f. 1r)
Three owners' inscriptions and seals (f. 2r; from top down):
Muẓaffar the astrologer (مظفر المنجم), his inscription and seal dated 1010 AH/AD 1601-2;
Muḥammad ibn Ṭabīb (محمد بن طبيب), his inscription and seal dated 1128 AH/AD 1715-16 (fuller and slightly different name on seal; see same seal on f. 89r);
Ibn Muḥammad Taqī, editor (المحرر [؟] ابن محمد تقي منجم) and astrologer, his inscription and seal (undated)
Numerous owners' inscriptions and seals (f. 3r)
Waqf
('endowment') statement along with semi-legible seal dated 1128 AH/AD 1715-16 (f. 89r; see same seal on f. 2r)
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Study and partial edition and translation:
Donald R. Hill, 'Al-Bīrūnī's Mechanical Clock', Annals of Science, 42 (1985), 139-163 (repr. in
Byzantine and Arabic Mathematical Gearing
, ed. by J.V. Field, D.R. Hill and M.T. Wright [London: The Science Museum, 1985] and Donald R. Hill,
Studies in Medieval Islamic Technology
[Aldershot: Ashgate Variorum, 1998])
