Shirwānī: Fatḥallāh ibn Abū Yazīd
ibn ʿAbd al‐ʿAzīz ibn
Ibrāhīm al‐Shābarānī
al‐Shirwānī al‐Shamāhī
İhsan Fazlıoğlu
Born Shirwān,
Shamāh, (Azerbaijan), 1417
Died Shirwān,
Shamāh, (Azerbaijan), February 1486
The
astronomer, mathematician, and teacher Fatḥallāh al‐Shirwānī was part of the Samarqand
school of mathematics and astronomy, which was composed of scholars who
pursued the mathematical sciences including astronomy. Through his works
many students were educated in the sciences, thus disseminating them in
the Ottoman lands, especially in Anatolia.
Shirwānī
received his primary education from his father and subsequently continued
his education in Serakhs and Ṭūs. In Ṭūs, Shirwānī studied
al‐Sayyid al‐Sharīf al‐Jurjānī's Sharḥ al‐Tadhkira fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa, a commentary on Naṣīr al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī's seminal work on astronomy,
under the Shīʿī scholar al‐Sayyid Abū Ṭālib. In mid‐1435 he
left for Samarqand and studied mathematics, astronomy, Islamic theology
(kalām), and the linguistic sciences under Qāḍīzāde at the madrasa
(school) of Samarqand. Among the works he studied was Niẓām al‐Dīn al‐Nīsābūrī's Sharḥ al‐Tadhkira fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa, yet another commentary on Ṭūsī's work. Clearly the Tadhkira
occupied an important place in the school of Samarqand as well as in Shirwānī's
education. Shirwānī received his diploma on 13 September 1440.
During his education in the madrasa, he no doubt participated in
astronomical activities, primarily the astronomical observations at the
Samarqand Observatory. During his stay in Samarqand, he also wrote a commentary
on a work of Islamic law, which he presented to Ulugh
Beg.
In 1440, after his 5‐year long education in Samarqand, Shirwānī
returned to Shirwān where he lectured for some time at the madrasas
there. On the advice of his former teacher Qāḍīzāde,
he left for Anatolia (toward the end of the reign of Sultan Murād II
[reigned: 1421–1451]) and was warmly received by Çandaroğlu Ismail
Bey in Kastamonu. Subsequently, he started teaching in the madrasas
there. Shirwānī lectured on mathematical and astronomical works,
especially those of his teacher Qāḍīzāde, and on al‐Tadhkira.
Muḥyī al‐Dīn Muḥammad
ibn Ibrāhīm al‐Nīksārī (died: 1495) and Kamāl
al‐Dīn Masʿūd
al‐Shirwānī (died: 1500) were among his prominent students.
In
1453, Shirwānī dedicated a commentary (tafṣīr)
on the Qurʾān to the Ottoman Grand Vizier Çandarlı Khalīl
Pasha in Bursa. That same year, he presented a work on music (a subdivision
of the mathematical sciences) to Sultan Mehmed II. However, later in the
year after the conquest of Istanbul, Khalīl Pasha was executed; having
lost his patron, Shirwānī returned to Kastamonu. After these events,
Shirwānī wrote a work on theoretical astronomy, which was a supercommentary
on Qāḍīzāde's Sharḥ
al‐Mulakhkhaṣ.
This he presented to Sultan Mehmed II in the hopes of establishing closer
ties with the Ottoman court, but he was unsuccessful.
In
1465, Shirwānī set off on a pilgrimage for Mecca; en route
he continued pursuing scientific activities, first stopping in Iraq and
teaching at the madrasas in the region. He remained in Mecca for
a time, continuing to give lectures. Shirwānī returned to Istanbul,
via Cairo. Not receiving the attention he thought his due, he returned
to his hometown of Shirwān in 1478.
Shirwānī
wrote works on literature and linguistics, kalām, music, Islamic
law, Qurʾānic exegesis, optics, and logic as well as the rational
sciences. In the field of geometry, he wrote a gloss (ḥāshiya) to Qāḍīzāde's
commentary (sharḥ) on Shams al‐Dīn
al‐Samarqandī's
Ashkāl al‐taʾsīs. Unfortunately this work is
not extant.
In the field of astronomy, al‐Farāʾiḍ wa‐ʾl‐fawāʾid
fī tawḍīḥ
sharḥ al‐Mulakhkhaṣ
was Shirwānī's first important work on theoretical astronomy (hayʾa),
which was a gloss (ḥāshiya) on Qāḍīzāde's
commentary (sharḥ) to Maḥmūd al‐Jaghmīnī's
al‐Mulakhkhaṣ
fī ʿilm
al‐hayʾa al‐basīṭa. In order to explain
the difficult parts, Shirwānī made use of other commentaries and
class notes he took during Qāḍīzāde's lectures at
the Samarqand madrasa; he completed the work after many rough drafts.
Shirwānī's
most noteworthy work on theoretical astronomy is undoubtedly his commentary
(Sharḥ) to Naṣīr
al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī's
al‐Tadhkira fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa, which he completed on 11 January 1475. He emphasized
that he wrote his commentary for advanced‐level students to whom he
lectured in the field of astronomy. His sources were other commentaries,
the lecture notes of his teacher Qāḍīzāde, and his own insights.
The Sharḥ contains a great deal of
information that often has little to do with Ṭūsī's
Tadhkira. For example, Shirwānī provides comprehensive
information about the Turkish calendar as well as other calendar systems.
He also discusses Euclid's Elements based upon discussions he had
with Qāḍīzāde, Ulugh Beg, and students
at the Samarqand madrasa. Shirwānī also includes a registered
copy of his license to teach (ijāza) that he obtained from Qāḍīzāde. He has a lengthy discussion
on optics (ʿilm
al‐manāẓir), which was considered
an ancillary branch of astronomy. He cites numerous works and authors throughout,
pointing out his own views when appropriate. Although a thorough analysis
of Shirwānī's text has not been yet been made, his style indicates
that he was aware of the attempts by Ibn
al‐Haytham and his follower Kamāl al‐Dīn Fārisī
to combine physical and geometrical approaches within optics, and that this
was the subject of ongoing debates in the Samarqand school.
In his Sharḥ,
Shirwānī discusses Ṭūsī's innovative cosmology
in detail. He agrees with Ibn al‐Haytham in combining mathematical
and natural philosophical approaches; he disagrees with his Samarqand contemporary
ʿAlī
Qūshjī, who attempted to purge
the science of astronomy of Aristotelian principles of physics and metaphysics.
Further research into Shirwānī's work promises to provide important
information on the history of late medieval Islamic astronomy.
Selected References
Akpınar, Cemil (1995). “Fethullah es‐Sirvani.” In
Türkiye Diyanet Vakfı İslâm Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 12, pp. 463–466.
Istanbul: Tūrkiye Diyanet Vakfi Yayinlare.
Bağdadlı, İsmail Pasa (1951). Hadiyyat al‐ʿārifīn.
Vol. 1, p. 815. Istanbul: Milli Egition Bahanligh Yayinlare.
Brockelmann, Carl. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur.
2nd ed. Vol. 2 (1949): 269, 279; Suppl. 2 (1938): 290. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Bursalı, Mehmed Tahir (1923). Osmanlı Müellifleri.
Vol. 3, p. 392. Istanbul: Mat‐baa‐i Amire.
Fazlıoğlu, İhsan (2003). “Osmanlı felsefe‐biliminin
arkaplanı: Semerkand matematik‐astronomi okulu.” Dîvân İlmî
Arastırmalar 1: 1–66.
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin et al. (1997). Osmanlı
Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (OALT) (History of astronomy literature
during the Ottoman period). Vol. 1, pp. 42–45 (no. 16). Istanbul: IRCICA.
Kātib Čelebī. Kashf al‐ẓunūn
ʿan asāmī al‐kutub wa‐ʾl‐funūn.
Vol. 1 (1941), cols. 36, 67, 443; Vol. 2 (1943), cols. 1819, 1893. Istanbul.
Neubauer, Eckhard (1984). “Neuerscheinungen zur arabischen Musik.”
Zeitschrift für Geschichte der Arabisch–Islamischen Wissenschaften
1: 288–311, esp. 290–296.
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, Vol. 1, pp. 62–63.
Sakḥāwī,
Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd
al‐Raḥmān. al‐Dawʾ al‐lāmiʿ
fī ahl al‐qarn al‐tāsiʿ. Vol. 4, p. 340; Vol.
6, pp. 166–167. Cairo: 1353–1355 [1935–1937].
Ṭashköprüzāde
(1985). Al‐Shaqāʾiq al‐nuʿmāniyya fī
ʿulamāʾ al‐dawlat al‐ʿuthmāniyya,
edited by Ahmed Subhi Furat. Istanbul: pp. 15–16, 107–108, 273. Istanbul ūniversitesi,
Edebiyat‐ Falutteyi Yayinlare.