Author
Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī
Publication Date
1107 (AH, Hijri)
Subject
1
Type
Book
Language
Arabic
Digital
Yes
Manuscript
Yes
Pages Count
1
Library
Qatar Digital Library
Library Asset ID
Add MS 23394, ff 2r-60v
Record ID
vdc_100043804685.0x000002
Library Location
British Library: Oriental Manuscripts
Date
1107 (AH, Hijri)
Notes
A treatise on astronomy which summarises, rationalises and improves upon the system presented in the
Almagest
of Ptolemy (Claudius Ptolemaeus; c 90-c 168). The text was composed after 1256 by Naṣīr al-Dīn Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad al-Ṭūsī (Nasir al-Din Muhammad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi; d. 1274).
The text is divided into four chapters (sections), each subdivided into sections (chapters):
Chapter One (Part One, ff.2v-4v);
Chapter Two (Part Two, ff. 4v-38r);
Chapter Three (Part Three, ff. 38r-53r);
Chapter Four (Chapter Four, ff. 53r-60v).
The manuscript contains twenty-seven diagrams (ff. 12r, 12v, 14r, 14v, 15v, 19r, 22r, 24v, 27r, 27v, 29r, 30r 32v, 33v, 35r, 36v, 44v, 45v, 46r, 50r, 50v, 55r, and 56r). The fifteenth diagram (f. 27) depicts the so-called 'Tusi couple', which demonstrates how linear motion can result from circular motion.
Begins (f. 2v, lines 2-3):
Praise be to God, who bestows goodness and inspires what is right, and may His blessings be upon Muhammad, who was sent with the final message, and upon his family, the best of his family
And his companions are the best companions. We want to cite some of the knowledge of the organization as a reminder to some of our loved ones...
Ends (f. 60v, lines 12-16):
...As for from the surface of the earth to what is closer
The moon's sphere is forty-one thousand four hundred and thirty-six parsangs and the second
The farthest distance from the center of the earth was the number of constants, so it was twenty-five thousand and four hundred
And twelve thousand eight hundred and ninety-nine farsakhs, and let us conclude the book here, praise be to God alone and to His prayers.
Upon our Master Muhammad, the illiterate Prophet, and his family
Erişim Koşulları
Unrestricted
Bulma Yardımcıları
Cureton, William and Charles Rieu,
Catalogus codicum manuscriptorum orientalium qui in Museo Britannico asservantur. Pars secunda, codices arabicos amplectens
(London: The British Museum, 1846-71), Item 1339, p. 620
Seçilmiş kaynakça
Edition and translation:
Ragep, F. Jamil,
Naṣīr al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī's Memoir on Astronomy (al-Tadhkira fī ʿilm al-hayʾa)
, 2 Vols., (New York: Springer-Verlag, 1993)
