| From: Thomas Hockey et al. (eds.). The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, pp. 970-971 |
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Riḍwān al‐Falakī: Riḍwān Efendi ibn ʿAbdallāh al‐Razzāz al‐Falakī
Salim Aydüz
Born Cairo, (Egypt)
Died Cairo, (Egypt),
7 August 1711
Riḍwān
Efendi al‐Falakī was an Egyptian–Ottoman astronomer known for his
production of astronomical tables as well as various instruments and globes.
He was also noted for the many students that he trained. There is little information
on his birth, youth, and education. However, we know that Riḍwān al‐Falakī studied in Cairo and received
his astronomical education from distinguished scholars. Indeed, he never left
Cairo except in 1680, when he visited Mecca for the ḥajj (pilgrimage). Besides
writing on astronomy, Riḍwān al‐Falakī wrote a number of books on
mathematics and geometry. According to the sources on Ottoman astronomy, his
works were so abundant that the drafts of his books were considered a camel's
load. At the request of the timekeeper Ḥasan Efendi, in 1700 and 1701 he prepared
spheres and astronomical devices upon which he marked the Arabic names of
stars that he located through observation. Among Riḍwān al‐Falakī's
many students in astronomy, only Yūsuf al‐Jamāli (the servant
of Ḥasan Efendi)
is known.
The titles of 17 of Riḍwān
al‐Falakī's astronomical works are known, most of which are extant.
All were written in Arabic. Several works are adaptations of the work done
at the Samarqand Observatory under Ulugh Beg.
His Zīj al‐mufīd ʿalā
uṣūl al‐raṣad
al‐jadīd al‐Samarqāndī, or al‐Zīj
al‐Riḍwānī, is an astronomical
handbook with tables based on Zīj‐i Ulugh Beg but adapted
for Cairo's latitude. It consists of four parts in addition to an introduction
and various tables. Riḍwān
al‐Falakī's al‐Durr al‐farīd ʿalā al‐raṣad
al‐jadīd is possibly a commentary written
on Ulugh Beg's Zīj; it contains an introduction, 12 sections,
and a conclusion. Asnā al‐mawāhib fī taqwīm al‐kawākib
is another work he adapted from Zīj‐i Ulugh Beg for Cairo's
latitude.
Riḍwān
al‐Falakī is also known for his works on timekeeping. Of these,
probably the most extensive is Dustūr uṣūl
ʿilm
al‐mīqāt wa‐naṭījat al‐naẓr
fī taḥrīr al‐awqāt. Other treatises treat
eclipses, lunar‐crescent visibility, sundials, and Jupiter–Saturn conjunctions.
For a listing of his works, see Ihsanoğlu et al. (1997), and Rosenfeld
and Ihsanoğlu (2003).
Selected References
Al‐Ziriklī, Khayr al‐Dīn (1980). Al‐Aʿlām. Vol. 3, p. 27. Beirut.
Bağdadlı, İsmail Paşa. Īḍāḥ al‐Maknūn. Vol.
1 (1945): 82, 447, 621; Vol. 2 (1947): 81. Istanbul.
——— (1951). Hadiyyat
al‐ʿĀrifīn.
Vol. 1, p. 369. Istanbul.
Brockelmann Carl. Geschichte der arabischen Litteratur.
2nd ed. Vol. 2 (1949): 471; Suppl. 2 (1938): 487. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Çakıroğlu, Ekrem (ed.) (1999). Yaşamları
ve Yapıtlarıyla Osmanlılar Ansiklopedisi. Vol. 2, pp. 459–460.
Istanbul: Yapi Kredi Yayinlari.
İhsanoğlu, Ekmeleddin et al. (1997). Osmanlı
Astronomi Literatürü Tarihi (OALT) (History of astronomy literature
during the Ottoman period). Vol. 1, pp. 377–384. Istanbul: IRCICA.
Jabartī,
ʿAbd
al‐Raḥmān
(1978). ʿAjāʾib
al‐āthār fī al‐tarājim wa‐ʾl‐akhbār. Vol.
1, pp. 130–131. Beirut.
Kaḥḥālah,
ʿUmar
Riḍā (1985). Muʿjam al‐muʾallifīn.
Vol. 4, p. 165. Beirut.
King, David A. (1986).
A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library.
Winona Lake, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, pp. 107–108.
——— (2004). In
Synchrony with the Heavens: Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation
in Medieval Islamic Civilization. Vol. 1, The Call of the Muezzin
(Studies I–IX). Leiden: E. J. Brill.
Rosenfeld, B. A. and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoğlu (2003). Mathematicians, Astronomers, and Other Scholars of Islamic Civilization and Their Works (7th–19th c.). Istanbul: IRCICA, pp. 386–387.