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CHAPTER SIX  A Science of Configuration Arabic Eclipse Reckoning It was clear to the sight that the world was lit up, the stars had disappeared, the sun was about to rise, and the moon was about to set behind the mountains which screened it. A small portion of the eclipse (still) remained in its body and I was unable to observe it (i.e., the time of clearance) exactly. —al-Bı̄rūnı̄ in Kitāb Tah .dı̄d Nihāyāt al-Amākin li-Tas .h .ı̄h . Masāfāt al-Masākin, as translated by Said and Stephenson (1997) 47. To find the truth is tough . . . But God has not protected scientists from error . . . The seeker after the truth is, therefore, not he who studies the writings of the ancients and, following his natural disposition, puts his trust in them, but rather the one who suspects his faith in them and questions what he gathers from them, the one who submits to argument and demonstration and not to the arguments of a human being whose nature is fraught with all kinds of imperfection and deficiency. —Ibn al-Haytham Optics, as translated by A. I. Sabra (1998). 6.1 Overview When Caliph Abū Ja‘far al-Mans .ūr founded Baghdad in 762 CE, he did so with the intention of establishing the heart of the Islamic nation; the nascent dynasty of ‘Abbāsid rulers had far-reaching ambitions for this state. Indeed, not only did Baghdad become the established and enduring center for the nation of Islam, but it formed the cultural, political, and intellectual locus for what was at its peak to be a vast empire stretching as far as India, Spain, and Central Asia. Although intellectual activity languished in some parts of the world during this period, in these quarters it flourished. Initially, scholarly activity was energized by the solicitation of material from sources distant in time and place. The ensuing transmission of foreign scholarship invigorated the intellectual 285 CHASING SHADOWS environment of this incipient empire, and the industry with which this foreign scholarship was incorporated and processed makes it a significant period in the history of science. Not only is the activity of Islamic scholars critical to the history of the classical tradition, but also the resulting Islamic intellectual legacy had a significant impact on the European Renaissance in the thirteenth century and beyond. There were many factors during this period, roughly the eighth to the fifteenth century, which encouraged astronomical activity. Islamic religious practice was a significant motivation for research in astronomy.1 Astronomical details such as the visibility of the new crescent, the layout of the months (lunar), and daily time-keeping (solar), as well as related requirements, such as the determination of the sacred direction (the Qibla) of prayer, were all fundamental to the Islamic religious tradition. In addition, despite the fact that they found no precedent in the dominant religious tradition, astrology and related arts were fundamental to the political and social needs of those living in the Islamic empire. Even more essential to the enterprise of science were the generalconditionsunderwhichscholarshipthrived . TheIslamicnationatthistime has been characterized as multicultural,2 and for the most part open-minded, persistently curious, deeply inquisitive, and conservative and revisionist as well as progressive and innovative. Furthermore, the focus on the overriding supremacy of one religious tradition , namely Islam, over many meant that its primary language, Arabic, united this multicultural empire. This was critical for science; the Arabic language connected scientific practitioners by means of a shared medium of communication . In the diversity of influences from other cultures and the constant flow of information from strikingly different intellectual traditions, Arabic provided a common forum. This was an ingredient essential to the flourishing of science; the careful scrutiny of foreign ideas as a result of translation into the Arabic language and the philological exactitude required therein encouraged scholars to be deeply mindful about the content they worked on and motivated them to develop and improve it. Accordingly, a single language for science fostered collaboration and facilitated the smooth flow of ideas among Islamic scholars, and its passing on to later generations. The practice of astronomy was generally captured by the Arabic term ‘ilm al-hay’a,3 which literally translates as “knowledge of the structure on configuration (of the universe).” Also commonly used were ‘ilm al-falak, the “knowledge of the celestial sphere” and ‘ilm al-nujūm, the “knowledge...

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