| From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 945-946 |
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Qunawī: Muḥammad ibn al‐Kātib Sīnān al‐Qunawī
İhsan Fazlıoğlu
Born Probably Istanbul,
(Turkey)
Died Istanbul, (Turkey),
circa 1524
Muḥammad
al‐Qunawī, astronomer and muwaqqit (timekeeper), lived in
Istanbul and pioneered the Turcification movement of the Greco–Hellenic and
classical Islamic astronomical literature. Very little is known about his
life. However, Qunawī's name indicates that he came from Qunya (Konya,
Turkey). Sinān, his father, served in the Ottoman State Chambers as a
scribe, and so he became known as Ibn Kātib Sīnān, the son
of Sinān the Scribe.
In his work entitled Kitāb al‐aṣl al‐muʿaddil,
Qunawī states that “he had met all the important astronomers of the time”
(Istanbul Archeology Museum, MS 1255/4, 156b). These would have been from
among his Ottoman intellectual circle of friends and students who had studied
both the astronomical works of ʿAlī al‐Qūshjī, thus connecting them with the mathematical–astronomical
tradition of Samarqand, and the achievements of ʿilm al‐mīqāt (astronomical timekeeping) of classical
Islam, which had reached its apex with the works of Khalīlī
and Ibn al‐Shāṭir
in 14th‐century Damascus.
After
completing his education, Qunawī worked for some time as the official
muwaqqit in several religious institutions including the New (Yeni)
Mosque in Edirne. In this capacity, he offered several works in the service
of various Sultans: his Hadiyyat al‐mulūk to Sultan Bāyazīd
II, his Faḍl al‐dā'ir
to Sultan Selīm I, and his Mīzān al‐Kawākib
to Sultan Süleymān I (the Magnificent).
Qunawī
wrote 11 books on astronomy: seven in Arabic and four in Turkish. Thus his
works were not confined to the Turkish‐speaking areas of Istanbul, the
Balkans, and Anatolia, but could be used in Arabic‐speaking areas, such
as Cairo, Egypt, as well. Qunawī's works in Turkish provide us with insight
into the growing needs of the Ottoman state bureaucracy. In fact, the word
al‐Ihkwān (usually meaning “brothers”), mentioned in the
title of his Turkish book Hadiyyat al‐ihkwān, actually refers
to the muwaqqits, who were part of this bureaucracy. Qunawī's
Turkish writings helped inculcate an attitude among Ottoman astronomers that
contributed to the translation of the Hellenic and Islamic astronomical heritage
from Arabic and Persian into Turkish from the beginning of the 16th century
onward and paved the way for the Turcification of the language of astronomy.
Most of Qunawī's works were devoted to timekeeping and astronomical
instruments. He was thus following one particular tradition of Islamic astronomy
whereby it was “in service” to religious, administrative, and social needs
of Islamic civilization that placed a high value on precise calculations (dependent
upon the mathematical sciences, especially astronomy) and instruments for
attaining them. These were used for regulating the prayer times, determining
the qibla or local direction to Mecca, and ascertaining the beginning
and the end of important national and religious days and months (e. g.,
the month of Ramadan). Each locality needed its own set of tables and calculations,
and Qunawī's were for the capital city of Istanbul. Among his achievements,
he simplified the standard usage of astronomical instruments, especially quadrants
(al‐rubʿ al‐mujayyab, rubʿ al‐muqanṭarāt, and rubʿ al‐dāʾira), and he invented a new
method for astronomical calculations in his al‐Aṣl al‐muʿaddil.
Qunawī also translated the introductory part of Khalīlī's mīqāt
tables (which provided solutions to all the standard problems of spherical
astronomy for all latitudes) under the title Tarjamah‐i jadāwil‐i
āfāqī or Tarjamah‐i risāla fī al‐awqāt
al‐khamsa wa‐jadāwil al‐raṣad.
To the group of tables that Khalīlī prepared for each degree of
latitude, he added a special table for an unknown location at latitude 40°
30′' N.
In
the preface to his Tarjamah‐i jadāwil‐i āfāqī,
Qunawī says “some of our sons wanted, from this poor man, to learn about
sine tables; and so we translated this work into Turkish ...” (Süleymaniye
Library, Ayasofya MS 2594, 1b). This is an indication that he was teaching
astronomy courses in the muwaqqithānes (timekeeping institutions
attached to mosques) and that the language for learning and education was
Turkish.
Qunawī's
Arabic work entitled Mīzān al‐kawākib contains
time calculation tables by means of stars; the tables have over 500 pages,
and include nearly 250 million registers. The main tables show the time from
sunset (evening) to sunrise, dawn, and midday for a degree of solar longitude
and full vertical rise. One can simply observe a star reaching the last point
instantly and also read its rise from a different table prepared by the author;
one can enter solar longitude through the rise on the main table and determine
the nighttime. According to D. King (1986, p. 248), these tables represent
an original Ottoman contribution in determining the astronomical time via
tables.
After his death, Qunawī's works were developed further by Muṣṭfā
ibn ʿAlī
al‐Muwaqqit, the chief astronomer to Sultan Süleymān the Magnificent.
Selected References
Bağdadlı,
İsmail Paşa (1955). Hadiyyat al‐ʿārifīn.
Vol. 2, p. 225. Istanbul: Milli Eg‐itim Bakanlíge Yayinlari.
Brockelmann, Carl. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur.
2nd ed. Vol. 2 (1949): 302–303; Suppl. 2 (1938): 327; Suppl. 3 (1942): 1275.
Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Bursalı, Mehmed Tahir (1342 H [1923]). Osmanlı
Müellifleri. Vol. 3, p. 301. Istanbul: Matbaa‐i Amire.
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin et al. (1997). Osmanlı
Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (OALT) (History of astronomy literature
during the Ottoman period). Vol. 1, pp. 84–90 (no. 46). Istanbul: IRCICA.
Kātib Čelebī. Kashf al‐ẓunūn
ʿan asāmī al‐kutub wa‐ʾl‐funūn.
Vol. 1 (1941), col. 317; Vol. 2 (1943), cols. 1904, 2042. Istanbul.
King, David A. (1986).
“Astronomical Timekeeping in Ottoman Turkey.” In Islamic Mathematical Astronomy,
XII. London: Variorum Reprints, pp. 247–248.
——— (1993). Astronomy
in the Service of Islam. Aldershot: Variorum.
——— (1996). “On the
Role of the Muezzin and the Muwaqqit in Medieval Islamic Society.”
In Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences
on Pre‐modern Science Held at the University of Oklahoma, edited
by F. Jamil Ragep and Sally P. Ragep, with Steven Livesey, pp. 285–346. Leiden:
E. J. Brill.
Suter, H. (1981). Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber
und ihre Werke. Amsterdam: APA‐Oriental Press, p. 187 (no. 455).
Uzunçarsılı, İsmail Hakkı (1982). Osmanlı
Tarihi. Vol. 2, pp. 631, 633. Ankara: Tūrh Tarih Kurumu.