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Manuscript/Mixed Material al-Munḥarifāt المنحرفات / Binder's title: Fawāʼid sharīfah wa-taḥqīqāt munīfah fimā yataʻallaqa bi-khuṣūṣ al-munḥarifāt

About this Item

Title

  • al-Munḥarifāt

Other Title

  • المنحرفات
  • Binder's title: Fawāʼid sharīfah wa-taḥqīqāt munīfah fimā yataʻallaqa bi-khuṣūṣ al-munḥarifāt

Summary

  • This 19th-century manuscript is a treatise on gnomonics, the mathematical discipline concerning the calculation of the projection of shadows for timekeeping purposes. The relatively recent date of the work attests to the great and lasting importance attributed in the Islamic world to the reckoning of time through the observation of shadow lengths. The use of gnomonics and the construction of sundials were perceived as the most religiously correct way to calculate the right times of prayers, since religious texts already define the midday (zuhr) and afternoon ('asr) prayers in terms of shadow lengths. This treatise is devoted to one particular kind of sundial only, the munharifa (literally "inclined") or vertical sundial, but Islamic tradition records a vast number of treatises that also describe the so-called horizontal sundial (known as ruhāma or basīta). The tradition of treatises about sundials began in the ninth century with the set of tables for the production of sundials created by the famous mathematician and astronomer Muḥammad ibn Musá al-Khuwarizmi (active 813-46). The work presented here begins with a general description of the shape and features of vertical sundials, which is followed by tables for the appropriate construction and positioning of sundials. The tables are outlined in black and red ink and can be seen on some of the early folios. In some cases these tables occupy a complete manuscript page. World Digital Library.

Names

  • ʻAzzārī, Khalīl ibn Ibrāhīm, active 19th century
  • Mansuri Collection (Library of Congress)

Created / Published

  • [18--]

Headings

  • -  Astronomy, Arab
  • -  Manuscripts, Arabic--Washington (D.C.)
  • -  Sundials
  • -  Time measurements

Notes

  • -  Binding: modern cardboard covered with cloth, leather spine.
  • -  Fol. 1a-19a.
  • -  Library of Congress. Mansuri Collection, 5-766.
  • -  Ms.
  • -  Nastaʻliq script; 13-25 lines in written area, 17 x 10 cm.
  • -  Paper: yellowed cream, with torn edges, in moderate condition. Watermark on leaf 20. Black and red ink in text. Title written in later hand in pink ink. Catchwords only on leaves 1 and 7. Starting from the third leaf, each verso begins with the last word in the previous recto.
  • -  Tables: leaf 3 verso, leaf 5 verso, leaf 7 verso, leaf 9 recto through 10 recto, leaf 13 recto.
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress Web site.
  • -  Also available in digital form on the Library of Congress website.
  • -  Purchase ; Mahmud al-Mansuri ; 1945.
  • -  Arabic.
  • -  Incipit: نحمدك اللهم يا من مددت الظل عرضا و طولا و لم تجعل ساكن جعلت الشمس عليه . . .

Medium

  • 19 leaves (24 lines), bound : paper ; 24 x 17 cm.

Call Number/Physical Location

  • QB215 .A99 1800z

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • 2008401692

Online Format

  • pdf
  • image

Additional Metadata Formats

IIIF Presentation Manifest

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Credit Line: [Original Source citation], World Digital Library

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

ʻAzzārī, Khalīl Ibn Ibrāhīm, Active 19Th Century, and Mansuri Collection. al-Munḥarifāt. [18] Manuscript/Mixed Material. https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401692/.

APA citation style:

ʻAzzārī, K. I. I. & Mansuri Collection. al-Munḥarifāt. [18] [Manuscript/Mixed Material] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/2008401692/.

MLA citation style:

ʻAzzārī, Khalīl Ibn Ibrāhīm, Active 19Th Century, and Mansuri Collection. al-Munḥarifāt. [18] Manuscript/Mixed Material. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <www.loc.gov/item/2008401692/>.