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(<br />
62<br />
'<br />
,<br />
,<br />
(ot)<br />
ON ASTRONOMERS<br />
THIRD DISCOURSE.<br />
(? /// Z,0f 0/ /** Stars and the excellence of the ^Astronomer in<br />
(<br />
Abu Rayhan<br />
that Science.<br />
of his<br />
(Kitdbut- Tafhim<br />
1<br />
al-Biruni says, in the first chapter<br />
"<br />
Explanation of the "<br />
Scjence of Astronomy<br />
ft sind'ati't-TanjimY: "A man doth not merit the title of<br />
Astronomer until he hath attained proficiency in four sciences ;<br />
first, Geometry ; secondly, Arithmetic ; thirdly, Cosmography ;<br />
and fourthly, Judicial Astrology."<br />
Now Geometry is that science whereby are known the dispositions<br />
of lines and the shapes of plane surfaces and solid<br />
bodies, the general relations existing between determinates and<br />
determinants, and the relation between them and what has<br />
are included in the book of<br />
position and v form. Its principles<br />
Euclid the Geometrician 3 in the recension of Thabit ibn Qurra 4 .<br />
Arithmetic is that science whereby are known the nature of all<br />
sorts of numbers, especially each species thereof in itself; the<<br />
nature of their relation to one another ; their generation from<br />
each other ;<br />
and the applications thereof, such as halving, doubling,<br />
multiplication, division, addition, subtraction, and Algebra. The<br />
principles thereof are contained in the book of the 'Aptd^ijTiKij,<br />
and the applications in the "Supplement" (Takmila) of Abu<br />
5<br />
Mansur of Baghdad and the ,<br />
" Hundred Chapters" (Sad Bdb)<br />
of as-Sajzi 6 .<br />
Cosmography is that science whereby<br />
are known the nature of<br />
the Celestial and Terrestrial Bodies, their shapes and positions,<br />
their relations to one* another, and the measurements and distances<br />
which are between them, together with the nature of the<br />
movements of the stars and heavens, and the co-ordination of<br />
the spheres and segments whereby these movements are fulfilled.<br />
c<br />
o<br />
1 The best account of this great scholar is that given by Dr Edward Sachau in the<br />
. ^German Introduction to his edition of al- Athdru' I- Bdqiya (Leipzig, 1876), and, in a<br />
shorter form, in his English translation of the same (London,* 1879). The substance of<br />
this is given by Mirza Muhammad on pp. \1V-. ^Y of the Persian notes. See Note<br />
XXIII at the end.<br />
2 This book was composed simultaneously in Arabic and Persian In A.H. 420<br />
(A.D. 1029). There is ? fine old MS. of the Persian version dated A.H. 68j (A.D. 1286),<br />
and bearing the class-mark Add. 7697, in the British Museum. See RiSeu's Persian<br />
Catalogue, pp. 451-452. ,,<br />
3 Najjdr, literally, "the Carpenter."<br />
4 I take this to be the sense of 'C^~l *>j* IK*-''* *>* O^ *Z*J& *s .<br />
Concerning Thabit ibn Qurra, see Wiistenfeld's Gesch. d. Arabischen Aerzle, pp'. 34-36 ;<br />
Brockelmann's Gesch. d. Arab. Litteratur, vol. i, pp. 217-218, etc. He was born in<br />
A.H. 221 (A.D. 836) and died in A.H. 288 ,<br />
(A.D. 901).<br />
5<br />
Abu" Mansur 'Abdu'l-Qahir ibn Tahir al-Baghdadi, d. A.H. 429 (A.D. 1037^ See<br />
Hani Khalifa, No. 3253.<br />
***<br />
* Abii Sa'id Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn 'Abdu'l-Jalil as-Sajzi {oroSijazi, i.e. of<br />
Sajistan or Sistan). See Brockeimann, op. cit., vol. i, p. 219, and Note XXlfl at<br />
the end.