| From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 584-585 |
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Jaghmīnī: Sharaf
al‐Dīn Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Jaghmīnī
al‐Khwārizmī
Sally P. Ragep
Flourished Khwārizm
(Uzbekistan), first half of the 13th century
Jaghmīnī
is the author of the ubiquitous elementary astronomical text al‐Mulakhkhaṣ fī al‐hayʾa
al‐basīṭa (Epitome of plain theoretical
astronomy). This popular, simplified (i.e., without proofs) introduction
to astronomy, written in Arabic, was the subject of an enormous number of
extant commentaries and supercommentaries. These commentaries (many written
in Persian as well as Arabic) were meant to be studied along with the Mulakhkhaṣ and used as supplements
for more advanced teaching texts.
The
Mulakhkhaṣ is an elementary summary
of the configuration of the celestial and terrestrial worlds, and the orbs
and sublunar levels contained therein. It is composed of an introduction and
two sections. The introduction is an explanation of the divisions of the bodies
in general; Section 1 is divided into five parts and is an explanation of
the celestial orbs and what pertains to them; and Section 2 is divided into
three parts, and is an explanation of the Earth and what pertains to it.
It is noteworthy that al‐Mulakhkhaṣ
lacks any treatment of sizes and distances of the celestial bodies, which
one typically finds in other astronomical textbooks of a similar genre. (See,
for example, works by Ṭūsī, Kharaqī,
and ʿUrḍī.) Presumably, the difficulty
of the subject matter in so elementary a textbook made its placement there
inappropriate. Indeed, Jaghmīnī is purported to have written a separate
treatise on the subject in a unique manuscript (Cairo, Dār al‐kutub
MS Ṭalʿat
majāmīʿ
429/2, f. 4a–4b).
There
has been some confusion regarding Jaghmīnī's dates; he has several
times been misdated as living circa 1344/1345 (Suter 1900, p. 164;
Suter/Vernet EI2, p. 378; Sezgin 5: 115), in part because of confusion
between him and another Jaghmīnī, a physician, who lived at that
time. The date of composition of the Mulakhkhaṣ
is given as circa 618 H./1221–1222 by several sources (C. Storey, D.
King, and E. İhsanoğlu). In any event, we can safely place him as
living in the early 13th century due to an Istanbul manuscript (Lâleli 2141)
that contains a copy dated 644 H./1246–1247.
Furthermore, there has been speculation that Jaghmīnī may
have lived after Naṣīr
al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī
since maximum daylight times in some copies of Jaghmīnī's text clearly
derive from Ṭūsī's
Tadhkira (see Ragep, 2: 470–471). However, this simply represents an
excellent example of how the Mulakhkhaṣ, as a textbook “in progress,” was continuously updated
and changed by commentators and copyists, especially when they felt more reliable
information was available. (In this case Ṭūsī's data were considered more correct than Ptolemy's
and were thus substituted for Jaghmīnī's original data.)
The educational tradition represented by the transmission, transformation,
commentaries, and study of Jaghmīnī's text was thriving in the Ottoman
period well into the 18th century (Ihsanoğlu, History, pp. 586–587).
Indeed, the Mulakhkhaṣ tradition exists in thousands
of extant copies of the original as well as commentaries, supercommentaries,
and glosses. There were at least 15 commentators, including Faḍlallāh
al-ʿUbaydī, Kamāl
al‐Dīn al‐Turkmānī, the theologian
al‐Sayyid al‐Sharīf al‐Jurjānī,
and Qāḍīzāde
al‐Rūmī, who dedicated his commentary, written in
1412, to Ulugh Beg. Qāḍīzāde's
commentary then became the subject of numerous supercommentaries by such authors
as Sinān Pāshā (died: 1486) and ʿAbd
al‐ʿAlī al‐Birjandī.
This continuous chain of astronomical learning represented by the Mulakhkhaṣ and its commentaries and supercommentaries – one that
extended for a period of 500 years – is a significant indication of an active,
ongoing educational tradition within Islam.
Selected References
Fazlıoğlu,
İhsan (2003). “Osmanlı felsefe‐biliminin arkaplanı: Semerkand
matematik‐astronomi okulu.” Dîvân İlmî Arastırmalar
7:1–66.
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin (ed.) (2002). History of
the Ottoman State, Society and Civilisation. 2 Vols. Istanbul: IRCICA.
(Discusses the tradition of the Mulakhkhaṣ
in the Ottoman Empire.)
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin, et al. (1997). Osmanlı
Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (OALT) (History of astronomy literature
during the Ottoman period). 2 Vols. Istanbul: IRCICA. (A listing of manuscripts
of the Ottoman commentators on the Mulakhkhaṣ.)
İzgi, Cevat (1997). Osmanlı Medreselerinde İlim.
2 Vols. Istanbul. Vol. 1, pp. 370–392. (On the teaching of the Mulakhkhaṣ
in the Ottoman madrasas.)
Kātib Čelebī (1943). Kashf al‐ẓunūn
ʿan asāmī al‐kutub wa‐ʾl‐funūn.
Istanbul. Vol. 2, cols. 1819–1820.
King, David A. (1986).
A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library.
Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, p. 150.
Ragep, F. J. (1993).
Naṣīr al‐Dīn
al‐Ṭūsī's Memoir
on Astronomy (al‐Tadhkira fī ʿilm
al‐hayʾa). 2 Vols. New York:
Springer‐Verlag.
——— (2006). “On Dating
Jaghmīnī and His Mulakhkhaṣ.” In Essays in honour of Ekmeleddin
İhsanoğlu, ed. Mustafa Kaçar and Zeynep Durukal, pp. 461-466. Istanbul:
IRCICA.
Rudloff, G. and A. Hochheim (1893). “Die Astronomie des Maḥmûd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿOmar
al‐Ǵaġmînî.” Zeitschrift
der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft 47: 213–275. (German translation
of the Mulakhkhaṣ.)
Sezgin, Fuat (1974). Geschichte des arabischen Schrifttums.
Vol. 5, Mathematik. Leiden: E. J. Brill, p. 115.
Storey, C. A. (1972). Persian Literature: A Bio‐Bibliographical
Survey. Vol. 2, pt. 1, pp. 50–51. London: Luzac and Co.
Suter, Heinrich (1900). “Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der
Araber und ihre Werke.” Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der mathematischen
Wissenschaften 10: 164–165.
Suter, Heinrich and rev. by J. Vernet. (1965). “Al‐Djaghmīnī.”
In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Vol. 2, p. 378. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Ṭāshkubrīzade,
Aḥmad b. Muṣṭafā
(1985). Miftāḥ al‐saʿāda wa‐miṣbāḥ al‐siyāda. 3
Vols. Beirut: Dār al‐kutub al‐ʿilmiyya.
Vol. 1, p. 349.