| From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 177-179 |
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Dārandawī: Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar ibn ʿUthmān al‐Dārandawī al‐Ḥanafī
İhsan Fazlıoğlu
Born Dārende
near Malatya, (Turkey), 1739
Died Istanbul, (Turkey)
Dārandawī,
philosopher, logician, mufassir (scholar of Qurʾānic exegesis),
and astronomer, became known for preparing a perpetual calendar as well as
for his studies on the relation between astronomy and religion. After receiving
his elementary education in his home region, he took courses in the town of
Marʿash from Sāchaqlı‐zāde
Muḥammad al‐Marʿashī
(died: 1733), one of the most important Ottoman teachers (mudarris)
of the time. Dārandawī came to Istanbul during Sultan Aḥmad
III's reign and worked as mudarris in various schools (madrasa).
Furthermore, he administered Aḥmad
III's private treasury. Dārandawī died during the reign of Maḥmud I.
Dārandawī,
as a versatile Ottoman mudarris who lived during the Tulip Period (1718–1739),
participated in various scientific and cultural activities. Out of the committees
founded by the Grand Vizier Newshehirli Dāmād Ibrāhīm
Pasha for the translation of scientific and literature books into Turkish,
he worked in the one responsible for the translation of Badr al‐Dīn
al‐ʿAynī's
(died: 1451) ʿIqd al‐jumān
fī tarīkh ahl al‐zamān, an encyclopedia dealing with a number of sciences
such as cosmology, astronomy, geography, zoology, and history. It consisted
of 24 volumes, each volume being approximately 200 pages. Furthermore, in
the madrasas where Dārandawī worked, he trained many important
students of the future such as Ālashahīrlī ʿUthmān ibn Ḥusayn. Dārandawī was a preeminent
scholar in the cultural circles of the time, especially in fields such as
Qurʾānic exegesis (tafsīr), the science of disputation
(ʿilm
al‐munāẓara), the philosophy of logic
and language, astronomical instruments, the knowledge of timekeeping ( ʿilm al‐mīqāt), and religious astronomy. His works
of logic included al‐Tafriqa bayn madhhab al‐mutaʾakhkhirīn
wa‐bayn al‐qudamāʾ (al‐mutaqaddimīn) fī
al‐qaḍiyya waʾl‐taṣdīq
(Süleymaniye Library, Yazma Bağıșlar
MS 60), Risāla fī Ḥall mushkilāt mabāḥith
al‐taʿrīf (Süleymaniye Library,
Hafid Efendi MS 160), Risāla fī ajzāʾ al‐qaḍiyya (Süleymaniye Library,
Bağdadlı Vehbi MS 895), Risāla fī imkān al‐ʿāmm (Süleymaniye Library
MS 449), Risāla fī Mabāḥith al‐wasīṭa (Ali Emiri, Arabi MS 352),
and Risāla fī Ashkāl arbaʿ fī al‐manṭiq (Köprülü Library, Ahmet
Pasha MS 352). In them, he focused on definition, proposition, judgment, and
the relation between propositional possibility (imkān) and the
physical world. Dārandawī criticized the opinions of the theologians
(mutakallims), tending more toward Ibn
Sīnā's methods in these subjects.
Dārandawī
was interested in the relation of religion and science and put a special emphasis
on the relation between religion and astronomy. Working within the paradigm
of his time and with a consideration of the religious dimensions, he wrote
a book, at the request of his students, entitled Risāla fī Ḥall
mushkilāt masāʾil thalāth (in Arabic) (Kandilli
Observatory MS 107), in which he attempted to answer three astronomical questions
that Kātib Čelebī (died: 1657) had previously asked Shaykh
al‐Islām Bahāʾī Efendi al‐ʿĀmilī, who had tried to answer
them at the beginning of the 17th century in his work entitled al‐Ilhām
al‐muqaddas min al‐fayḍ
al‐aqdas (in Turkish) (Süleymaniye Library, Reisülküttab MS 1182/4).
The first question is related to the length of daylight and night at the North
Pole; the second concerns the possibility of sunrise in the west, and whether
it can be explained through astronomy or not; and the third one is about the
sacred direction to Mecca (qibla). This book's importance lies in the
way it deals with science and religion and its use of Western European ideas.
This book of Dārandawī exerted a considerable influence in Ottoman
scientific circles. Following him, ʿAbd al‐ʿAzīz
al‐Raḥbī
(died: after 1770) examined the second question in detail in his book entitled
Kashf al‐ʿayn
ʿan intibāq al‐mintaqatayn (in Arabic) (Iraq Museum MS 12648). Aḥmad
ibn Ḥusayn ibn Aḥmad
al‐Gīridī (alive: 1768), translated Dārandawī's
book into Turkish under the name Ḥall‐i mushkilāt‐i
arbaʿa, with revisions and some additions,
and presented it to Sultan Muṣṭafa III. Gīridī
criticized the noted astronomer Taqī
al‐Dīn with respect to the second question (Süleymaniye
Library, Așr Efendi
MS 418/4).
In another
work on timekeeping entitled Risāla fī al‐Rubʿ al‐mashhūr
bi‐ʾl‐muqanṭarāt (in Arabic), Dārandawī
examined an astronomical instrument called al‐rubʿ al‐muqanṭarāt (Yusuf Ağa MS 7225/14).
The book, prepared for practical use, explains how to use the instrument:
to calculate prayer times, the adjustment of which was considered necessary
in Islamic civilization to attain perfection in religious, administrative,
and social life; to determine the geometrical–trigonometric aspects of the
Kaaba in Mecca; and to find the beginnings and ends of days and months, especially
the holy month of Ramadan, which has particular importance for religious practices.
There are about 30 extant copies, and their distribution indicates that it
was widely used in two important Ottoman cities, Istanbul and Cairo.
Dārandawī's
most important astronomical work, for both Ottoman–Islamic and Western astronomical
history, is his Taqwīm‐i dāʾimī (in Turkish),
known also as Rūznāme (Kandilli Observatory MS 440). This
calendar, designed for perpetual use, was prepared for Istanbul, the capital
city of the Ottoman State. The work can be regarded as the continuation of
a tradition of such Rūznāmes (calendars) first prepared by
Muṣliḥ
al‐Din Muṣṭafa
ibn Aḥmad al‐Ṣadrī
al‐Qunawī (died: 1491), known as Shaykh Wafāʾ, who lived
during the reigns of Sultan Muḥammad
II, the Conqueror, and Sultan Bāyazīd II. Dārandawī's
tables were arranged for each degree of the solar longitude. In the book,
all the time periods of a day, such as dawn, sunrise, morning, kușluk (time between morning and noon), noon, first and
second afternoon, evening, and night, as well as the time that the Sun is
on the azimuth of Mecca, are stated in units of hour and minute for longitude
41°. On the other hand, the parameters used to determine dusk are based on
the works of the two important figures of the Islamic tradition of timekeeping:
Khalīlī and Ibn
al‐Shāṭir.
Albert
Toderini, who visited Istanbul in 1781–1782, states that the Taqwīm
was also known in Western Europe. Toderini, noting that the Taqwīm
was translated by a Russian and sent to Saint Petersburg, says that he read
that copy. According to him, the precision of the work extended its usefulness
and surpassed previous books written on the same subject. David King notes
that most extant copies of Shaykh Wafāʾs Rūznāme
do not contain prayer tables; King, for example, says that G. H. Velschii's
book on Turkish and Persian almanacs, published in Latin in 1676, similarly
left out these prayer tables in the final part of the book where he presented
Shaykh Wafāʾs Rūznāme. According to King, the reason
for this is that Dārandawī's Taqwīm was more meticulous
and precise. Thanks to its reputation, the Taqwīm was republished
in 1787 by M. D'Ohsson in his Tableau Général de l'Empire Ottoman.
Dārandawī
has another astronomical book entitled Sharḥ‐i Rūznāme
(in Turkish), which awaits study. This is most probably the commentary of
the Taqwīm (Atatürk University, SÖ, MS 18824).
Selected References
Aydüz, Salim (1997/1). “Lāle Devri'nde yapılan ilmî
faaliyetler.” Dīvān İlmî Araștırmalar.
3: 143–170.
Bağdadlı,
İsmail PaȘa (1955). Hadiyyat al‐ʿārifīn. Vol.
2, p. 324. Istanbul: Milli Eg‐itim Bakanlig‐i Yayinlare.
——— (1945–1947). Īḍāḥ al‐maknūn.
Vol. 1, p. 406. Istanbul: Milli Eg‐itim Bakanlig‐i Yayinlare.
Brockelmann, Carl (1938). Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur.
2nd ed., suppl. 2, p. 482. Leiden: Matabaa‐i Amire, E. J. Brill
Bursalı,
Mehmed Tahir (1914–1923). Osmanlı Müellifleri. Vol. 2, p. 28.
Istanbul, 1333–1342 H.
D'Ohsson,
M. (1787) Tableau général de l'empire othoman. Vol. 1, p. 192. Paris.
İhsanoğlu,
Ekmeleddin et al. (1997). Osmanlı Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (OALT). (History of astronomy literature
during the Ottoman period). Vol. 1, pp. 295–296, 406–410; Vol. 2, pp. 463–465.
Istanbul: IRCICA.
King, David A. (1986).
“Astronomical Timekeeping in Ottoman Turkey.” In Islamic Mathematical Astronomy,
XII. London: Variorum Reprints, pp. 247, 249–250.
Toderini, Giambatista (1789). De la littérature des Turcs,
translated into French from the Italian by l'abbé de Cournand. 3 Vols., Vol.
1, p. 406. Paris. (Originally published as Letteratura turchesca. Venice,
1787.)
Velschii, Georgii Hieronymi (1676). Commentarius in Ruzname
Naurus sive Tabulae aequinoctiales novi Persarum & Turcarum anni.
Augustae Vindelicorum.