Role of astronomy in Islamic society

Astronomy is without doubt mankind’s oldest science. The equinoxes, dates of the year with equal lengths of day and night, were determined by Babylonian astronomers as far back as the 3500-3200 BC coinciding with the birth of agriculture and civilization in Iraq’s Fertile Crescent region. March the 21st and September the 23rd, the spring and autumnal equinoxes respectively, are the official dates to the start of the rain planting and autumnal harvest seasons in the northern hemisphere. While agriculture required a solar calendar, aquaculture has relied on a lunar calendar to know the tidal currents which are directly influenced by the moon’s changing shape.

The rites of the Islamic faith require astronomical observation to such an extent that astronomy has been described as being “in the service of Islam” (David King, Astronomy in the service of Islam). Astronomy is paramount in determining the spatial orientation to the qibla; the direction to Mecca that Muslims face to pray, bury the dead and make sacrificial offerings. Even the Ka’aba, Islam’s most sacred edifice, has an astronomical alignment to the star Canopus (see David King), the brightest star in the northern hemisphere.  

A sad incident in the Prophet’s life, the death of his son Ibrahim from his Coptic wife Maryam on the 29th of Shawwal 10 AH was shortly followed by an eclipse of the sun. This seemed to portend that even the Heavens were in mourning over the Prophet’s loss. At this the Prophet said: “The Sun and the Moon are signs of Allah. They do not eclipse because of the death or life of anyone. When you see an eclipse, pray and invoke Allah” (Narrated by Al-Mughira bin Shu’ba in Sahih Buhari). The cosmological importance of the Hadith is often overlooked, for from that point onward the heavens were freed from the superstitious and astrological mythology of the pagan Arabs, Greeks and Babylonians. The sun and the moon became signs of God and not gods themselves. The Islamic cosmos was born.

The golden age of Islam was among other Muslim accomplishments arguably greatest catalysis of astronomical knowledge in human history. An astonishing amount of translation, assimilation and abstraction of the ancient knowledge of the Greek, Indian, and Babylonian astronomers by scientists such as Al Khwaritmi, Al Biruni Ibn Haytham, Al Battani et al gave birth to a new Islamic astronomy, a scared science of timing concretised in the traditional beauty of the minaret, an architectural axis between heaven and earth which is also an office to the muwaqqit, or more commonly called the muezzin, who is not as in the contemporary situation restricted to calling the faithful to prayer but should also be an expert in taqwim, the science of scared timing.

Modern scientific knowledge has confirmed the reason behind the moon’s changing shape. However it is indeed ironic that modernity has separated man from nature and is wholly responsible for the controversy behind witnessing the start and end of the Muslims’ holy month of Ramadan.

However since the formation of the Islamic Crescent’s Observation Project (ICOP) in 1998 under the brilliant and dedicated leadership of Engineer Mohammed Odeh, Islamic astronomy is undergoing a revival. The dedication of enthusiastic amateur astronomers in the Arab and Asian parts of the Islamic world has spawned several astronomical societies. Of all Islamic nations, Malaysia’s advancement in this regard is most notable, for it already has a dedicated space programme, numerous observatories and a full Bachelor of Science course in Islamic astronomy on offer at the University of Malaya.

Is a universal Islamic calendar possible? Will Muslims the world over start and end Ramadan and fast on the day of Arafat in unity? Will the Ummah know with accuracy what is the time is in relation to its sacred rites?  The conference attempts to look for answers as indicated below in the summary of the proceedings:

DAY ONE: OPENING SESSION

The first day of the conference focused on the Islamic calendar. Apt for an opening session, the first paper was entitled “What future for the Islamic calendar?”, delivered by Jamal Eddine Abderrazik from Morocco. A speech by Mohammed Odeh, in response to the paper, made a comic remark lightening the mood caused by the dour nature of the paper’s title.  He also summarised the different positions of scholars on the obligatory sighting of the moon and on the act of crescent sighting transfer. Prof Nidhal Guessom of the University of Sharjah, UAE, reminded the participants in his paper “The bi-zonal calendar and the definition of the Islamic months” that only two options remained for a viable Islamic calendar, the global Islamic calendar endorsed by Khalid Shaukat and the bi-zonal by Guessoum, Odeh, and Qudah. Nigeria’s Mohammed Yasin Qamaruddin presented a paper “Effectiveness of telecommunication in the data collection and dissemination of crescent data” where he discussed the use of the ubiquitous GSM to inform the faithful on the start and end of Islamic months.  Increases in technological advancement (CCD cameras and image stacking software) will have the effect of reducing the time of the lunar month. As highlighted by Guessom, Jim Stan and Martin Elsaesser, a befitting theme to the first day of the conference could be “The effect of technology on the tradition of moon sighting”.

DAY TWO

Day two’s paper focused mainly on the timing of the five daily prayers, especially Fajr and Isha. “Prayer times at high latitudes” was presented by Jalal Uddin Khanji. The problem of the increasing lengths of day as the Islamic months shift into summer in latitudes above 48.5 Degree Celsius is daunting for Muslims living in Europe, Canada and the United States. A breakthrough concept, an “artificial horizon”, with respect to the local horizon was proposed by Guessom. An observational report “The timing of true dawn” (Al-Fajr As Sadek) was presented by Abdulkader M Abed. The report was based on observations made in several Jordanian locations.

DAY THREE

As stated earlier, Malaysia is the most advanced Muslim nation in astronomical science. “Astronomy studies in higher learning institutions in Malaysia” by Dr Saadan Man and “Astronomy Education in Malaysian schools” by Mr Kassim Bahali informed the participants on the activities of the Al-Khawarizmi astronomical complex which has a planetarium, a robotics laboratory and a training centre. The courses on offer at the University of Malaya on Shariah astronomy were discussed in the second paper. Ms Sanna Mustapha of Jordan presented her paper “A survey to measure the degree of awareness about the moon, the new months and the crescent”. Taken amongst members of Jordanian society, the survey measured and highlighted the low level of astronomical knowledge in the Arab world today. Ms Basma Dhihab in “The role of satellite channels and the fusing of an astronomical culture” showed how the proliferation of satellite stations (themselves examples of astronomical achievements) in the Middle East could help boast that interest. Dr Azhari Bin Mohammed also from Malaysia calculated 9:18 am and 9:27 am universal time (UT) on 28 May and 16 July respectively to be the exact times the sun would be directly over the Ka’aba at midday transit. In “The computation for sun transit times in the year 2010”, he showed how this bi-annual occurrence is a “sacred window” to check the qiblas of mosques in half the Muslim world. A befitting theme for the day would be “Astronomy education and society.”

CONCLUSION

Islam has made significant contributions toward our understanding of the universe. However the knowledge of astronomy has stagnated in the Muslim world since its decline in the 13th century. The controversy surrounding the start of Ramadan and the exact day of Arafat are a direct result of this fallback in both maintaining a tradition (Sunnah) of the blessed Prophet which encouraged active communal effort in Hilal sighting and  an under appreciation of the advances in scientific knowledge which can accurately predict when such sightings will not be possible. A revival is taking place with ICOP, the Jordanian Astronomical Society and other Arab and Asian amateur societies leading the way. In Nigeria much enlightenment on astronomy is needed. There is at present only one university, the University of Nigerian Nsukka, ironically in the Christian south, offering courses on astronomy. The formation of a moon sighting committee under the auspices of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, headed by Retired Group Captain Usman Jibril, is a positive change which God willing will herald a turn in attitude towards the use of technologies, such as telescopes, computer software and webcams, and usher in a more scientific bearing on the practice of Islam, the only faith whose rites and primary scripture demand natural philosophy, research and reflection.

Isa contributed this piece from NETCO, Lagos: [email protected]

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