Written in the stars: Islam's storied history with astronomy

The recently released images from NASA, taken by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), have left Earth mesmerised.

The drama of the cosmos has been captured in vivid technicolour and it is unlike anything we’ve ever seen before. It’s surreal to think that we’re looking at ancient galleries – some over 13 billion years old.

The image of Stephan’s Quintet allows us to glimpse at how galaxies interact and merge with each other. It almost appears as though the glittering galaxies are locked in a sensual dance.

Most viewers were left mesmerised by the picture of a Southern Ring Nebula where star death was captured in all its blazing glory. But we hate to break it to you – the fiery image came from a not-so-sensual source; gas and dust released by the dying stars created the fantastic hues and patterns.

"How do you measure the radius of the Earth when instruments are lacking? You climb a hill! That’s what astronomer Al Biruni did back in the day"

These ethereal snapshots have been delivered to us thanks to the technological marvel, JWST, which has been in the making for 30 years and has produced some of the sharpest images from space to date.

But long before these close-ups were trending, the night sky still captured our collective imagination. It was always a place of beauty and mystery, hope and darkness, that inspired artists and scientists alike.

It is little wonder that the field of astronomy dates back to the 1st millennium BCE – the ancient science traversed borders. Each culture, with its peculiar knowledge base and religious practices, added to the understanding of our Universe.

While the Greeks were among the first to formally record their findings, they were closely followed by Islamic astronomers. If you’re trying to gauge the extent of the latter’s contributions to astronomy, it’s written in the stars. Quite literally.

About two-thirds of the stars – that are referred to by their names as opposed to numerals – have Arabic names, as noted by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson.

For instance, Aldebaran comes from ‘al dabaran’, which translates to follower, since this star is close on the heels of the star cluster Pleiades.

We plunged through history, right back to the Islamic Golden Age, where the story began to find out more about the stars and the astronomers behind the names:

Astronomy and the Abbasids:

The Islamic Golden Age was spread between the 8th-14th centuries CE.

It was a time when science, technology, arts and cultures flourished, due to the impetus given to scholarly pursuits by the Abbasid Caliphate.

"From time immemorial Muslims had informally studied the stars. One needed to understand the night sky in order to navigate one’s way through deserts; one also had to look to the sky to know the direction of Mecca and the exact time of prayer"

Astronomy was not new to the Empire. From time immemorial Muslims had informally studied the stars. One needed to understand the night sky in order to navigate one’s way through deserts; one also had to look to the sky to know the direction of Mecca and the exact time of prayer. Under the patronage of the Abbasids, scientific enquiry was encouraged, and the field expanded by leaps and bounds.

This period coincided with the Dark Ages in Europe and Muslim scholars came to the forefront. Many of their names remain etched in the sky with celestial bodies named after them.

Here are a few prominent names:

Al Battani: An ancient lunar impact crater, Albategnius, is named after the anglicised version of his name. Al Battani was a Mesopotamian-Arab mathematician and astronomer (858 –929 CE) who belonged to the ancient Sabian sect, a religious sect of star worshippers from Harran.

Some researchers assert that while his ancestors were Sabian, he himself was Muslim, given his name: AbūʿAbd Allāh Muḥammad ibn Jābir ibn Sinān al-Raqqī al-Ḥarrānī aṣ-Ṣābiʾal-Battānī.

His heritage meant that he naturally took to the stars. His father was a maker of scientific instruments which further stoked his interest in astronomy.

Much like other astronomers of his day, he was influenced by Ptolemy. But his inquiring mind meant that he improved upon Ptolemy’s astronomical calculations by replacing geometric methods with trigonometry.

"Muhammed Al Fazari is credited with building the first astrolabe in the Islamic World, dating back to the 8th century"

His most famous work is Kitab al Zij which earned the recognition of many medieval scholars, including Copernicus.

‘Kitab’, when translated from Arabic means book; ‘Zij’ in Persian refers to an astronomical book that contains tables and calculations of the positions and movements of the sun, stars, and planets.

Al Battani’s greatest contributions as recorded in his Zij are: he catalogued a staggering 489 stars in a time when instruments to view the sky were scarce and rudimentary; his determination of the solar year at 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 2 seconds, is very close to the calculation as accepted today; he showed the World that the farthest distance of the sun from the Earth is variable and therefore annular solar eclipses are possible, as are total eclipses.

It is thus not surprising that Al Battani is often referred to as the ‘Ptolemy of the Arabs’.

If you think you’ve heard his name, it may be because the astronomer made it to pop culture: a ship in Star Trek: Voyager is named USS Al Battani.

Mariam Al Astrolabbiya: There are several overlooked women in astronomy. These pioneering women made significant contributions to the understanding of our Universe, and yet sadly their names were erased from the pages of history.

One such fascinating and inspiring figure is Mariam Al ljliyy, more popularly known as Mariam al Astrolabbiya, who lived during 10th century Aleppo. So little is known about her, that even her first name is debated.

According to Ibn Al-Nadim, a biographer and historian from the 10th Century, Mariam was born to an astronomer. Her father Kusayar Al Jili (also recorded as Al ljliyy) was an expert geographer, mathematician and astronomer. Their last name is often replaced by their profession.

The father-daughter duo mastered the art of manufacturing astrolabes. If you’re wondering what an astrolabe is, think of it as one of the earliest GPS systems – a sophisticated technology that’s wrapped in sheer, simple beauty. 

These intricately hand-crafted and hand-held devices quite literally put the model of the Universe in your hand. Hold it in a particular direction, turn the dials, and it could reveal everything from the time of day to the location of celestial bodies, to the direction of Mecca. It was this latter use that greatly popularised the astrolabe in the region.

The instrument had been around for a while, having been invented in the Hellenistic period. But it was the medieval Islamic world that further enhanced the technology behind the instrument, and made it accessible to a larger number of people.

Muhammad Al Fazari, an 8th-century mathematician and astronomer, is credited with building the first astrolabe in the Islamic world.

Mariam Al Astrolabbiya was one of few women of her time who learned the art and science behind this complex instrument. She initially learned the trade from her father and later also trained under Nastulus, who is credited as the maker of one of the oldest surviving astrolabe.

Mariam’s expert skill soon saw her employed by the first Emir of Aleppo, Sayf al-Dawla. While forgotten for many years, Mariam’s legacy has recently been honoured. Her contribution to the field was recognised in 1990, by naming the main-belt asteroid, 7060 Al ljliyy after her.

Al Biruni: The Asteroid, 9936 Al Biruni, as well as a lunar crater, are named after this mathematical genius. Al Biruni was born in Uzbekistan in the 10th century. Very little is known of his heritage. But there are loads of records of his work; the scholar wrote some 146-odd titles in his lifetime, half of which was dedicated to astronomy and mathematics. How do we know this? He indexed most of his work himself!

His greatest contribution has been to measure the radius of the Earth, which was almost on the mark. Measuring the Earth wasn’t an easy task. So, he started by measuring the height of a hill that today falls in the Punjab province of Pakistan.

He chose this hill due to its unique topography and location. He then climbed the hill to measure the horizon. Using trigonometry and algebra, he reached a value of 3928.77 miles, which is just slightly off the currently accepted value of 3847.80 miles.

Caliph Al Mamun: Although not an astronomer, the Caliph has a crater ‘Almanon’ named in his honour. Because it was under his patronage that astronomy as a field grew in his Empire.

In the 9th century, Caliph Al Mamun gave a boost to the House of Wisdom, an academy where the greatest minds in the sciences and the arts could gather, debate and push the boundaries of knowledge.

Mere translations weren’t enough. Scholars wanted to test the hypothesis for themselves. Along the way, many Muslim astronomers corrected and improvised upon the work of Ptolemy.

Al Mamun also has the credit of building the first observatory in the Muslim world which was set up in Baghdad. He didn’t stop there, as he went on to set up yet another observatory in Damascus.

There are many other respected astronomers, scholars and patrons, that are far too innumerable to list. Some names have been lost to time.

Today, man has gone from gazing at the stars to reaching for them. There have been several Arabs and Muslim astronauts, starting with Sultan bin Salman Al Saud, a Saudi Prince, who is also the first Arab and very first Muslim in space. The most recent Arab in space is Emirati Hazza Al Mansouri. And the list goes on…

The author is writing under a pseudonym for privacy reasons