| Astronomy in the Service of Islam Contributor(s): King, David A. (Author) |
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ISBN: 086078357X ISBN-13: 9780860783572 Publisher: Routledge OUR PRICE: $168.30 Product Type: Hardcover Published: November 1993 |
| Additional Information |
| BISAC Categories: - Science | Astronomy - History |
| Dewey: 520.917 |
| LCCN: 93025664 |
| Series: Variorum Collected Studies |
| Physical Information: 1.06" H x 9.09" W x 6.18" (1.33 lbs) 352 pages |
| Descriptions, Reviews, Etc. |
| Publisher Description: Based on a wide variety of previously unstudied sources, these articles explain how science was applied to three aspects of Islamic ritual in the Middle Ages: the regulation of the lunar calendar; the organisation of the times of the five daily prayers; and the determination of the sacred direction (qibla) towards the Kaaba in Mecca. Simple procedures of folk astronomy were used by the scholars of religious law who determined popular practice; more complicated mathematical methods were provided by the scientists - and this proved a powerful incentive for the development of scientific analysis and research. Some of these procedures were to have far-reaching consequences. For example, the astronomical alignment of the Kaaba - known to various medieval writers, but long forgotten - led to the adoption of similar alignments for the qibla, and the final articles show how these were calculated, whether from astronomical observation or geographical computation, and their impact on the orientation of religious and secular architecture across the Islamic world. C'est partir d'une grande diversit de sources inexplor es que ces articles expliquent comment la science avait t appliqu e a trois aspects du rituel islamique au Moyen Age: la r gulation du calendrier lunaire; l'organisation des heures assign es aux cinq pri res quotidiennes; et l' tablissement de la direction sacr e (qibla) vers la Kaaba de la Mecque. Des proc d s simples d'astronomie populaire taient utilis s par les rudits en droit religieux qui d cidaient de la pratique populaire; des m thodes math matiques plus complexes taient offertes par les hommes de science - ce qui, en effet, s'av ra atre une motivation puissante dans le d veloppement de l'analyse et de la recherche scientifique. Certains de ces proc d s eurent des consequences d'une grande port e par la suite. L'alignement astronomique de la Kaaba - pour ne reprendre qu'un exemple connu |