Author
the astronomer
Publication Date
20 Friday II 620 (AH)
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Physical Dimensions
320 x 230 mm
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Or 6669
Record ID
vdc_100029495503.0x000001
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
20 Friday II 620 (AH)
Notes
Astronomical handbook with tables composed at Merv (Marw) by the astronomer, mathematician and physicist Abū Manṣūr (also known as Abū al-Fatḥ) ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Khāzinī (Abu Mansour/Abu al-Fath Abdul Rahman al-Khazinī) around 1120 and dedicated to the Seljuk sultan Sanjar ibn Malikshāh (Sanjar ibn Malkshah, reg. 1118-57).
The manuscript is defective at the beginning and the folios are out of order. David Pingree suggests the following as the correct folio sequence: ff. 57-62, 7-8, 2, 1, 3-6, 9-56, 63-69, 71-75, 77, 79, 70, 76, 78, 81, 97, 82-96, 98, 104-107, 102, 99, 103, 108-109. 100, 138-139, 110-123, 127, 126, 124-125, 128-134, 156, 155, 140-148, 135, 149-154; end, Maqālah Ten is missing and the Separate Maqālah is defective at the beginning (see table of
maqālāt
below).
A table of contents is found on ff. 2v, 1 and 3r (in that order), and the text is divided into eleven treatises (Maqalat), each subdivided into sections (Aqsam), chapters (Abuwab) and parts (Fasul).
Treatise titles according to the table of contents:
Maqālah One: Epochs (first article in al-Tawarikh, ff. 3v-13r);
Maqālah Two: Introductions (Maqālah Two in the Introductions, ff. 13r-16v);
Maqālah Three: Ascendants (The Third Maqālah in al-Tawalā, ff. 16v-26r);
Maqālah Four: Mean Motion of Planets (Fourth Maqālah in the Middle of the Constellations, ff. 26v-34r);
Maqālah Five: Stations, Latitudes and Motion (Al-Maqālah al-Qāmsa fi al-Qāwaīm wa al-Arwz wa al-Māsīr, ff. 34r-38r);
Maqālah Six: Parallax (Al-Maqālah Six in the Contradictions of the Parallax , ff. 38r-42v);
Maqālah Seven: Conjunctions (Seventh Maqālah in Communications, ff. 42v-45r);
Maqālah Eight: Eclipses (Second Maqālah in al-Ksufat, ff. 45r-52v);
Maqālah Nine: Sighting and Rising (Al-Tasa'a in al-Rawya wa al-Tashriq, ff. 52v-62v, defective at end);
Maqālah Ten: Conversions of Years (Maqālah Ten: Conversions of Years, missing);
Seperate Maqālah: Unusual Works (The Prohibited Maqālah for Strange Works, ff. 63r-68r, defective at beginning).
The eleven treatises of the text (pp. 1r-68r) are followed by tables (ff. 68v-157v). An overview of the contents of these tables is found in Kennedy, 'A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables' (1956), on pp. 159-6
The copy was completed in 20 Jumādá II 620/21 July 1223 by Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad ibn Salim al-Maqdisī or al-Muqaddasī (Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Salim al-Maqdisī, see f. 157, foot of table).
Begins (f. 57r, lines 1-2, defective at beginning):
Saud Kubak in the square and the height and depth of the celestial bodies and the second is known as the train of the heavenly bodies some to some and the third
It is known as a number of cycles of the cycle from the pole of the Nir cycle.
Colophon
Section at the end of a manuscript text.
(f. 157r, foot of table):
Last Zij Mutabar Al-Sanjari
From the book of Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Salim al-Muqaddasi on the twentieth day of Jamadi al-Akhrah in the twentieth year of the Hijra
Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds and peace be upon our Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Text on back page (f. 157v, lines 1-3 [top of page mutilated, perhaps 1 line missing]):
[الجـ]ـداول المضافة إليه وجدت (؟)
The original movable from the classification of the manufacturer of the wife
Compiled by Shaykh al-Khazni (may Allaah have mercy on him).
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. 39
Edinme Kaynağı
Purchased from Murad Baroody, 4 November 1905
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Studies:
Kennedy, E.S., 'A Survey of Islamic Astronomical Tables',
Transactions of the American Philosophical Society
46.2 (1956), pp. 123-177, on pp. 129 and 159-61
Pingree, David, 'A Preliminary Assessment of the Problems of Editing the Zīj al-Sanjarī of al-Khazini', in
Editing Islamic Manuscripts on Science
, ed. by Yūsuf Ibish (London: Al-Furqān Islamic Heritage Foundation, 1420/1999), pp. 105-13
Abattouy, Mohammed, 'Khāzinī: Abū al-Fatḥ ‘Abd al-Raḥmān al-Khāzinī (Abū Manṣūr ‘Abd al‐Raḥmān, ʿAbd al‐Raḥmān Manṣūr)' in
The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers
, ed. by Thomas Hockey et al. (New York: Springer, 2007) pp. 629-30
