Astrolabes as Eclipse Computers: Four Early Arabic Texts on Construction and Use of the Ṣafīḥa Kusūfiyya

2017 ◽  
Vol 23 (1-5) ◽  
pp. 8-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Thomann
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Main Topic ◽  
Lunar Eclipse ◽  
Graphical Solution ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Lunar Phases ◽  
The Third ◽  
English Translations

Abstract The main topic of this article comprises four unpublished Arabic texts on astrolabe-like instruments for showing the conditions of eclipses. They are the earliest technical descriptions of eclipse computers in any language. The first text is a treatise by ʿAlī ibn ʿĪsā (ninth century) on a special astrolabe for lunar phases and eclipses. The second text is an anonymous redaction of the first text with some omissions and additions. The third text describes a similar instrument with a different design, which was invented by Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Nasṭūlus al-Asṭurlābī in the year 893/894 ce. The fourth anonymous text describes a plate for a graphical solution of the size of a lunar eclipse. In the concluding part, later Arabic descriptions of eclipse computers are summarized, some traces of these texts on real astrolabes are mentioned, and finally some comparable medieval Latin texts are referred to. Four Appendices contain an edition of the Arabic texts and English translations.

The Meaning of ‘carruca’ in the ‘Leges Barbarorum’

Traditio ◽  
1984 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 297-300
Author(s):  
Theodore John Rivers
Keyword(s):  
Middle Ages ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Transitional Period ◽  
Medieval Period ◽  
Medieval Latin ◽  
Original Meaning ◽  
Literary Sources ◽  
The Middle Ages

The term carruca (or carruga), like many other terms in medieval Latin, acquired a new and different meaning in the Middle Ages in place of its original classical meaning. There is no confusion over the meaning of carruca in Roman historical and literary sources: it clearly means a four-wheeled wagon or carriage. However, its original meaning was modified during the medieval period so that by the early ninth century carruca denoted a wheeled plow. Although the medieval plow is often called a carruca (whereas the Roman plow is called an aratrum), one should not infer that all references to carruca in medieval sources signify a plow, particularly if these sources are datable to that transitional period during which the classical meaning of the word was beginning to be transformed into its medieval one. Characteristic of the sources which fall within this period are the Germanic tribal laws (leges barbarorum), and of these, three individual laws in particular are of interest: the Pactus legis Salicae 38.1, Lex Ribuaria 47.2, and Lex Alamannorum 93.2.

scholarly journals Nandhi Kalambagam’s Agam Songs and its Rhetoric

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 247-254
Author(s):  
Suja S
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Number System ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Literary Style ◽  
College Curriculum ◽  
The Third ◽  
Literary Composition ◽  
System Operating

As a result of the proliferation of Short literary composition genres (Prabandas), various catalog texts (Paattiyal) arose as a continuation of the tradition of finding literature and giving grammar explanations therefor. Panniru Paatiyal, Venpaa Paatiyal, Chidambara Paatiyal, Navaneetha Paatiyal, Prabandha Deepika, Ilakkana vilakkam, Thonnuul vilakkam etc. and even some grammar books that deal with five grammar forms (Ainthilakkanam) are involved in this grammatical endeavor and have given grammar to different numbers of Short Literary Compositions. These numerical differences record the development of the literature as a result of the passage of time. This number extends from 54 to 360. This genre of 96 Short Literary Works can be attributed to the fact that the number system operating in the set tradition is also applied to Short Literary Works and to be a permanent one. The name of the literary genre, Kalambakam, is given in various ways by dividing its name. There are various reasons for the mix of 18 types of elements (15-21), the proliferation of many types of compositions, and the mixing of Agappaadalkal (Agam songs). This can be explained by the fact that the name is derived from a variety of hybrids rather than one character. Nandikkalambakam, the first and foremost of the Kalambaka literatures, was sung with the third Nandi Varman of the Pallava dynasty as the Leader of the song. 25 years Nandi ruled from (847-872) with Kanchi as his capital, the Pallava dynasty and the wars fought to expand the territory of many Nandikalambaka songs.  Although there are some differences in the view of Nandivarman's reign, it is accepted by scholars that he belonged to the ninth century and that Nandi Kalambakam, who led him to the song, and the ninth century. Even though this literature is in our school and college curriculum, its literary style beauty and glossary competency are unknown to the so called scholars too. So this article tries to explain the above said features of the Nandhi Kalambakam.

The armies of the Ṣaffārids

1968 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 534-554 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. E. Bosworth
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
The South ◽  
The West ◽  
Islamic World ◽  
North West ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Core ◽  
The North ◽  
Frontier Region ◽  
Short Time

It is not too much to describe the Ṣaffārids of S‚stān as an archetypal military dynasty. In the later years of the third/ninth century, their empire covered the greater part of the non-Arab eastern Islamic world. In the west, Ya'qūb. al-Laith's army was only halted at Dair al-'Āqūl, 50 miles from Baghdad; in the north, Ya'qūb and his brother 'Arm campaigned in the Caspian coastlands against the local 'Alids, and 'Amr made serious attempts to extend his power into Khwārazm and Transoxania; in the east, the two brothers pushed forward the frontiers of the Dār al-Islām into the pagan borderlands of what are now eastern Afghanistan and the North-West Frontier region of West Pakistan; and in the south, Ṣaffārid authority was acknowledged even across the persion Gulf in ‘Umān. This impressive achievement was the work of two soldiers of genius, Ya'qūub and 'Amr, and lasted for little more than a quarter of a century. It began to crumble when in 287/900 the Sāmānid Amīr Ismā'īl b. Aḥmad defeated arid captured ‘Amr b. al-Laith, and 11 years later, the core of the empire, Sīstān itself, was in Sāmānid hands. Yet such was the effect in Sīstān of the Ṣaffārid brothers’ achievement, and the stimulus to local pride and feeling which resulted from it, that the Ṣaffārids returned to power there in a very short time. For several more centuries they endured and survived successive waves of invaders of Sīstān—the Ghaznavids, the Seljūqs, the Mongols—and persisted down to the establishment of the Ṣafavid state in Persia.

The polemic about the karāmāt al-awliyā’ and the development of Ṣūfism in al-Andalus (fourth/tenth–fifth/eleventh centuries)

1992 ◽  
Vol 55 (2) ◽  
pp. 236-249 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maribel Fierro
Keyword(s):  
Twelfth Century ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
The Third ◽  
Mystical Tradition

The flourishing of Ṣūfism in al-Andalus during the first half of the sixth/twelfth century with mystics like Ibn al-‘Arīf, Ibn Barrajān (who both died in 536/1141) and Ibn Qasī(d. 546/1151) has been interpreted in different ways. For M. Asín Palacios it reflects the influence of the mystical tradition initiated by Ibn Masarra in the second half of the third/ninth century, although he himself does not fail to mention the impossibility of providing evidence for such influence. For other scholars, it was mainly due to the influence of al-Ghazālī's works and thought. D. Urvoy, for his part, has shown how in the ‘image’ of Andalusian Islam during the fifth/eleventh-seventh/thirteenth centuries presented by scholars like Ibn Bashkuwāl and Ibn al-Abbār, Ṣūfism appears to be almost non existent. The question of what religious, intellectual and sociopolitical background allowed figures like Ibn al-‘Arīf, Ibn Barrajān and Ibn QasīT to appear, is still to be answered.

The Shīʿī Reception of Muʿtazilism (I)

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hassan Ansari
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
Literary Genre ◽  
Northern Iran ◽  
Profound Impact ◽  
Literary Traditions ◽  
The Third

This chapter focuses on two trends among the Zaydīs during the end of the third/ninth century: those who were close to theḥadīthfolk and thus opposed to Muʿtazilism, and those who had adopted Muʿtazilite doctrines. It considers Zaydism in Rayy, northern Iran and Khurāsān, where several Zaydī families played an important role in studying and expounding Bahshamite theology among the Zaydīs of Iran during the fifth/eleventh and early sixth/twelfth centuries. It also examines the roles played by Abū Zayd al-ʿAlawī, the author of theKitāb al-Ishhādwhich is a refutation of the Twelver Shīʿīs’ notion of the imamate, addressing specifically their belief in the occultation (ghayba) of the ‘hidden Imam’, and had a profound impact on the literary genre of Zaydī refutations of Twelver Shīʿism. The chapter concludes by discussing different literary traditions among the Zaydīs in Iran.

Al-Jāḥiẓ (d. 255/869) on Ḥadīth Criticism

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 196-219
Author(s):  
Ignacio Sánchez
Keyword(s):  
Ninth Century ◽  
The Third

The notable and distinguishedadīband theologian of the third/ninth century, al-Jāḥiẓ, is usually not associated with the study ofḥadīth. On the contrary, he has frequently been considered a vitriolic critic of the experts on traditions and some of his works have even been interpreted as a demolition of the science ofḥadīth. However, a careful reading of his writings reveals a quite different picture. In this article, al-Jāḥiẓ’s treatises on the imamate — and especially the most extended one, theKitāb al-ʿUthmāniyya— will be scrutinised and discussed in the light of the author’s acquaintance with the tradition of legal hermeneutics as described in al-Shāfiʿī’sRisāla.

Even If It's Not True It's True: Using Unreliable Hadīths in Sunni Islam

2011 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Brown
Keyword(s):  
Early Modern ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Social Morality ◽  
The Third ◽  
The Core ◽  
Islamic Thought ◽  
History Of ◽  
Core Areas ◽  
Sunni Islam

AbstractSunni Islam is at heart a cult of authenticity, with the science of Hadīth criticism functioning as a centerpiece designed to distinguish authentic attributions to the Prophet from forgeries. It is thus surprising that even after Hadīth scholars had sifted sound Hadīths from weak, mainstream Sunni Islam allowed the use of unreliable Hadīths as evidence in subjects considered outside of the core areas of law. This majority stance, however, did not displace minority schools of thought that saw the use of unreliable Hadīths as both a danger to social morality and contrary to the stated values of Islamic thought. This more stringent position has burgeoned in the early modern and modern periods, when eliminating the use of weak Hadīths has become a common call of both Salafi revivalists and Islamic modernists. This article explores and traces the history of the various Sunni schools of thought on the use of weak and forged Hadīths from the third/ninth century to the present day.

The Turkish Officers of Samarra: Revenue and the Exercise of Authority

1999 ◽  
Vol 42 (4) ◽  
pp. 466-493 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew Gordon
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Near East ◽  
Ninth Century ◽  
Considerable Influence ◽  
The Third

AbstractThe present article concerns the access to revenue on the part of the Turkish officers of Abbāsid Samarra. It is argued that the revenue in question explains their considerable influence. It is also argued that among the arrangements made for the Turkish officers were specific forms of land tenure which represented a decisive step toward the system of the new style iqtā so widely used after the third/ninth century in the Islamic Near East.

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