F. Jamil Ragep and Alī al-Qūshjī-Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy An Aspect of Islamic Influence on Science.pdf

Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic Influence on Science Author(s): F. Jamil Ragep and Alī al-Qūshjī Source: Osiris, 2nd Series, Vol. 16, Science in Theistic Contexts: Cognitive Dimensions (2001), pp. 49-64+66-71 Published by: The University of Chicago Press on behalf of The History of Science Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/301979 . Accessed: 30/10/2014 11:18 Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at . http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

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fromPhilosophy FreeingAstronomy on Science An AspectofIslamicInfluence By F JamilRagep*

I. INTRODUCTION

IF

research, onemaynote inhistorical ONE IS ALLOWED to speakofprogress between withwhichtherelationship thegrowing sophistication withsatisfaction model,the scienceandreligionhas beenexaminedin recentyears.The "warfare" idealhavebeensubjectedto critical andthe"partnership" paradigm, "separation" evidence.As JohnHedleyBrookehas and theglaringlightof historical scrutiny of sciencehas revealedso in thehistory noted,"Seriousscholarship so astutely betweenscienceandreligioninthe richandcomplexa relationship extraordinarily thismorenuanced to sustain."1 Unfortunately, pastthatgeneralthesesaredifficult approachhasnotbeenas evidentin studiesofIslamandscience.Thoughtherehas on therelationbetweenscienceand religionin Isbeensomeseriousscholarship thegeneralaccountsorthegeneral lam,2suchworkhasmadebarelya dentineither tobe characterized continue byreducTheselatter ofthatrelationship. perceptions andbarelymaskedagendas.3 apologetics, tionism, essentialism, *Department ofOklahoma,601 Elm St.,Room622,Norman ofScience,University oftheHistory OK 73019 inthe on ScienceandTechnology atthe"Symposium Earlierversionsofthisessaywerepresented of oftheHistory June1994) andattheOctober1994meeting andIslamicWorld"(Istanbul, Turkish andsuggestions comments ScienceSocietyinNew Orleans.My sincerethankstothosewhooffered all of whomhelpedin myown "deliverance reviewers, on bothoccasionsand to twoanonymous fromerror." I JohnHedleyBrooke,Scienceand Religion:Some HistoricalPerspectives (Cambridge:CambridgeUniv.Press,1991),p. 5. and Subsequent 2 Two worksthatdeserveespecialmention areA. I. Sabra,"The Appropriation Hist. Sci. 25 Statement," of Greek Science in Medieval Islam: A Preliminary Naturalization andLogic:StudiesinArabicScienceandPhiin idem,Optics,Astronomy (1987):223-43 (reprinted Transformation, Transmission, 1994],no. 1, and in Tradition, U.K.: Variorum, losophy[Aldershot, ed. E JamilRagep and Sally P. Ragep [Leiden:Brill,1996],pp. 3-27); andA. I. Sabra,"Science derArabisch-Islamischen Geschichte inMedievalIslamicTheology," andPhilosophy Zeitschriftfiur 9 (1994):1-42.DavidKingandGeorgeSalibahavealso madevaluablecontributions Wissenschaften (in workscitedlaterinthenotes). I Threefairly viewvastlydifferent theyrepresent Although thepointnicely. recentbooksillustrate points,PervezHoodbhoy(Islamand Science[London:Zed, 1991]),TobyHuff(TheRise ofEarly Univ.Press,1993]),andS. H. Nasr(Scienceand CivilizaCambridge ModernScience[Cambridge: tocenmovefromcentury IslamicTextsSociety,1987])blithely tioninIslam,2nded. [Cambridge: eventor historical visionto whatever turyandfromregionto region,applyingtheirownparticular religiousfanatiwhois confronting a contemporary physicist personagecomestheirway.Hoodbhoy, to be thedominantaspectof scienceand religionin cism in Pakistan,findsreligiousfanaticism thatsciencecouldhavearisenonlyin theWest, Islam.Huff,a sociologistintenton demonstrating 0369-7827/01/1601-0001$2.00 reserved. ? 2001 byThe HistoryofScienceSociety.All rights Osiris,2001, 16:00-00

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F. JAMIL RAGEP

remain ofsources,manyofwhichunfortunately examination Butevena cursory various ofopinioninIslamregarding diversity revealsa remarkable in manuscript, to whichmakesattempts betweenscienceandreligion, aspectsoftherelationship Andtheinflutowardscienceespeciallyfoolhardy. an "Islamic"attitude generalize number ofIslamuponscience,andviceversa,tooka surprising enceofthereligion froma modemviewpoint.4 "progressive" unexpectedly sometimes offorms, centuandninth founda homeinIslamintheeighth astronomy WhenHellenistic waysto fitintothisnewdomicile.Thereare riesA.D., itwas adaptedin numerous onhowIslam-underbuthereI concentrate manyreasonsforthistransformation, thecourseofastronomy. andinfluenced andritual-affected stoodas bothdoctrine case inwhich andthenexaminea specific oftheseinfluences I first giveanoverview natural oftheAristotelian onthecompatibility discourse onecanseehowa religious pushing astronomy, theoretical madeitselffeltwithin worldandGod'somnipotence andmetaphysics. natural philosophy from independence itinvariousdegreestoward views divergent butrather I suggestthattherewas no single"Islamic"viewpoint, Thoughitis factors. andindividual ofhistorical, intellectual, arisingfroma variety betweenviewsofIspointto similarities notthefocusoftheessay,I occasionally cothatmaynotbe completely lamicscholarsandtheirEuropeanpeers,similarities incidental. II. OVERVIEW OF THE RELATION BETWEEN HELLENISTIC ASTRONOMY AND ISLAM

twodistinct waysin whichreligiousinfluence one can identify Broadlyspeaking, togive itselfinmedievalIslamicastronomy. First,therewastheattempt manifested intheservice whatDavidKinghascalled"astronomy valuetoastronomy, religious the"handmaiden another context, alsocallthis,toappropriate ofIslam."(Onemight showsup is in the The secondgeneralwayin whichreligiousinfluence rationale.") as possible,inordertoensure neutral as metaphysically tomakeastronomy attempt As we shallsee, sometookthis challengeIslamicdoctrine. thatit didnotdirectly butalso stripped hadnotonlytobe reconceived astronomy tomeanthatHellenistic baggage. ofitsphilosophical in the "astronomy at thefirst typeof influence, Let us beginbylookingbriefly couldanddidprovidethefaithful (at leastthosewho serviceofIslam."Astronomy fordetermining times, tablesandtechniques prayer withextensive wereinterested) oftherationalist toshowthat"therewasan absence[inIslamiccivilization] unconvincingly attempts thatoccurredinearlymodem thebreakthroughs prevented viewofmanandnature"thateffectively Europe(p. 88). Nasr,whowishesto pointthewayto a new "Islamicscience"thatwouldavoidthe he looksin thepast science,findswherever mistakesofWestern anddespiritualizing dehumanizing so muchso thateventhough"all thatis astroandantisecular, an Islamicsciencethatwas spiritual intheschoolofal-Tus!''Islamicastronomers can be foundessentially newinCopernicus nomically "becausethatwould Ptolemaiccosmology, enoughnotto breakwiththetraditional wereprescient philosophical butalso an upheavalin thereligious, in astronomy, havemeantnotonlya revolution producedintheEast endemicinIslamicstudieswhether andsocialdomains"(p. 174).Essentialism, contextseemsan especially theseworks.Huff,forwhomhistorical orWest,is pervasivethroughout Khomeinitomedievaljuristsandbackagain tomovefromAyatollah alienconcept,does nothesitate Falwellto analyzeThomasAquinas. (p. 203), akintousingJerry by B. F Musallamin his Sex and Societyin Islam (Cambridge:Cam4An exampleis provided Islamicjurists theuse ofancientsourcesbynumerous bridgeUniv.Press,1983),wherehedocuments and abortion;see especiallypp. 39-59. of variousstripesto bolstertheirsanctionof contraception

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forfinding thesacreddirection ofMecca,forcalculating thebeginning ofRamadan offasting), (themonth andso on.SinceMuslimritualcouldhavesurvived perfectly well without theastronomers (does God reallydemandthatone prayto withina minuteor less of arc?),it does nottaketoo greata leap of imagination to realize thatthis"serviceto religion"was reallyreligion's serviceto theastronomers, both Muslimandnon-Muslim,5 ontheonehanda degreeofsociallegitimation providing andon theothera setofinteresting mathematical problems to solve.6 Onemayalso findinstances ofa different typeof"service"thatastronomy could provide,namelyto revealthegloryof God'screation, a pointmadeby no less a thefourteenth-century personagethanIbn al-Shatir, of theUmayyad timekeeper Mosque in Damascus.7This typeof servicewas notnew withIslam,of course; Ptolemy, Plato,andAristotle, amongothers,saw astronomy as a waytowardthe divine(thoughin practice, thismeantsomething different foreach of admittedly, ButifI weretohazardherea particular "Islamic"influence anddifference, I them).8 on"God'screation" wouldsaythatitis intheemphasis rather thanonsomePlatonic, Islamicastronomers werethusless disposedtowardthetwootherworldly reality. tieredreality thatone seesinNeoplatonists suchas Proclus(d. A.D.485) orevenin IfI amright aboutthisdifference, itwouldgo a longwaytoward himself.9 Ptolemy one findsin Ptolemyabouttherealityof his thesurprising explaining ambiguity modelsand themuchmorerealistapproachtakengenerally planetary by Islamic I An exampleof a non-Muslim, whoworked"in theserviceof Islam" indeedpagan,astronomer see R6gis on crescentvisibility; is ThabitibnQurra(d. A.D. 901), who wroteat leasttwotreatises (Paris:BellesLettres,1987),pp. XCIII-XCVI. Morelon,ThdbitibnQurra:(Euvresd'astronomie ofresearchdealingwithbothaspects.For sociallegitima6 David Kinghas beenin theforefront in tion,see his essay"On theRole of theMuezzinandtheMuwaqqitin MedievalIslamicSociety," (cit. n. 2), pp. 285-346, whereKing Transformation Transmission, Ragep and Ragep,Tradition, (muwaqqit)bothin and therole of theMosque timekeeper of timekeeping discussesthehistory For moredetailed,technicalstudies,see his of astronomy. Islamiccivilizationand in thehistory 1993). U.K.: Variorum, intheServiceofIslam(Aldershot, Astronomy in whichhe astronomy forhis treatiseon theoretical 7Ibn al-Shatiris todaybestremembered The passage identicalto onesusedbyCopernicus. modelsthatarevirtually astronomical presented to hisal-Zfjal-jadid,a bookon practicalastronomy; occursin theintroduction referred to,though, contexts see Sabra,"Scienceand Philosophy"(cit.n. 2), pp. 39-40. In additionto thescientific dedicatedto the occurs,thereis a religiouscosmologicalliterature wheresuchpraiseforastronomy alA StudyofAs-Suyu-itf's ofGod'screation;see AntonM. Heinen,IslamicCosmology: glorification (Beirut:Steiner,1982),especiallypp. 37-52. as-sunnrya Hay'a as-saniyafi-l-hay'a trueRealityin Republic528E-530C, forfinding of astronomy 8 Platodiscussestheimportance extolsthestudyof theDivineinLaws 820E-822C; Ptolemy especially530A,andforunderstanding themandreforming loversof thisdivinebeauty,accustoming formaking"itsfollowers astronomy s Almagest,trans.and annot.G. J. theirnatures,as it were,to a similarspiritualstate"(Ptolemy he is not is a bitmoremundane, 1984],1.1, p. 37). ThoughAristotle Toomer[NewYork:Springer, hisstudyofthecelestialaetherwiththedivine(De Caelo,1.3,especially270b6aversetoassociating ofdivinebeings thenumber resultsforascertaining theuse ofastronomers' 12) nortorecommending XII.8, 1073b1-17). (Metaphysics, 9 Thismanifests betweenhumanbeings,whocan onlyapproxiitselfwithProclusin hiscontrast therealityof regarding andthegods,whoalonecan knowit,andin hisambivalence matethetruth, by andepicycles.Thispositionwas called"instrumentalist" modelssuchas eccentrics astronomical butdeeplyflawedSavingthePhenomena("YOZEIN TA OAINOPierreDuhemin his influential 4th MENA: Essai surla notionde th6oriephysiquede Platona Galil6e,"Ann.Philo. Chrnienne, ser.,6 (1908):113-39,277-302,352-77,482-514, 561-92; issuedin book form[Paris:Hermann, Paris:Vrin,1982]; Englishedas To Save thePhenomena:An Essay on theIdea of 1908; reprinted fromPlato to Galileo,trans.EdmundDoland and ChaninahMaschler[Chicago: PhysicalTheory analyzedbyG. E. R. Lloydin Univ.of ChicagoPress,1969]).Duhem'sviewshavebeencarefully with Cl. Quart.,n. s.,28 (1978):202-22,especiallypp.204-11(reprinted "SavingtheAppearances;" CambridgeUniv. in idem,Methodsand Problemsin GreekScience[Cambridge: newintroduction

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ofthemtoattempt I shouldadd,thatleda largenumber astronomers-an approach, acceptablemodels.10 morephysically toreform Ptolemy byproposing in theserviceof Islam.Let us nowmoveon to those So muchforastronomy neutral" astronomy. Thefirst religious influences thatledtoa more"metaphysically objectionable partofHelleexampleneednotdetainus. Clearlythemostreligiously whichseemedto givepowersto thestarsthat nisticastralsciencewas astrology, in Islamarenotdifficult to find, shouldbe reserved forGod.Attackson astrology from butalso,moresurprisingly, fromreligious quarters andtheycame,predictably, suchas Ibn Sina (= Avicenna[d. A.D. 1037]).It is someHellenizedphilosophers notnotedforconventional religious piety, didnothesitate instructive thatAvicenna, fromtheProphet to bolsterhis case against to use Qur'anicversesanda tradition theargument thateventhosescientists committed thistendstostrengthen astrology; outlookweresensitive to religiousobjectionsandwillingto forgo to a Hellenistic "I A moresubtleinfluence canbe detected intheseparapartsoftheirGreekheritage. In earlyIslamicastronomical textsandin works fromastronomy. tionofastrology Hellenistic andastrology, standard following thesciences,astronomy categorizing undera rubricsuchas "scienceofthestars" practice, wereusuallylistedtogether with Greekterm).Starting (i.e.,thetransliterated ('ilmal-nujim) orevenastronomia as a partofnatural cametobe categorized philosophy astrology Avicenna, however, (whichbecameknownas 'ilmal-hay'a)was cate(orphysics),whereasastronomy As we shallsee,thiswasjustone of mathematical discipline.2 gorizedas a strictly mathematiseveralmoveswhosepurposeseemstohavebeentofreea reconstituted obtrue,fromthereligiously cal astronomy, which,itwasclaimed,wasobjectively jectionablepartsofGreekphysicsandmetaphysics. therewerereligious toastrology, In addition tothesepredictable objecobjections to Duhemand arguesthatProclus, Press,1991],pp. 248-77). Lloydprovidesa usefulcorrective even astronomy phenomenal regarding had realistattitudes fora Platonist, somewhatsurprisingly should"say goodbyeto the senses"(p. 207; reprint, whileclaimingthatthe "truephilosopher" nota Platonist andcertainly astronomer unlikeProclus,Ptolemywas a working p. 259). Although, to comparehuman[con(at leastnotin anysimplesense),he does warnthat"itis notappropriate in theTimaeusthatanyaccount withdivine"and,withfaintechoesofPlato'sinsistence structions] as faras possible,tofit admitsthat"one shouldtry, worldis onlya "likelystory," ofthephenomenal to theheavenlymotions,butif thisdoes notsucceed,[one shouldapply thesimplerhypotheses instrumentalist whichdo fit"(Almagest[cit.n. 8], XIII.2, p. 600). Buttheseseemingly hypotheses] "that to theAlmagest, in theintroduction shouldbe balancedagainsthis bold confidence, remarks knowledgeto itsdevocan providesureand unshakeable astronomy] [including onlymathematics alongitsway"(p. 36), as wellas againsthis tees"andthat"thisis thebestscienceto helptheology Clearlythisaspectof Greekasto providea cosmologyin his PlanetaryHypotheses. laterattempt andcosmologydeservesa muchmoreelaborateandseriousstudythanis possiblehere. tronomy ofreforming withtheIslamictradition 0 To connect certainaspectsofIslamicreligiousdoctrine exhibited interest byIslamicastronmoresubstantial itselfpartofa seemingly Ptolemaicastronomy, would a truephenomenal cosmology, indiscovering withtheirGreekpredecessors) omers(compared hereare stages.My remarks studythatis at bestin itspreliminary historical requirea significant hypothesis. meantsimplyas a working by bothreligiousand philosophical discussionof theobjectionsto astrology For a competent PlanetaryTheoriesduringtheGolden writers, see GeorgeSaliba,A HistoryofArabicAstronomy: "The AgeofIslam(NewYork:NewYorkUniv.Press,1994),pp.53-61, 66-72. Cf.IgnazGoldziher, Islamtowardthe'AncientSciences,"'inStudieson Islam,ed. andtrans.MerofOrthodox Attitude lin L. Swartz(New York:OxfordUniv.Press,1981),pp. 185-215,especiallypp. 195-6 (German Abhandlungen zu denantiken Wissenschaften," Orthodoxie original:"Stellungderaltenislamischen 8 (Berlin,1916). Akademieder Wissenschaften derKiniglichPreussischen ofthispoint,see E J.Ragep,Nasfral-Dinal-Taiss MemoironAstronelaboration I' Fora further 1993),vol. 1,pp. 34-5. 2 vols.(New York:Springer. onmv,

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as a whole.It is to theseand theireffectsuponIslamic tionsto Hellenisticastronomy astronomythatwe now turn. III. ON SAVING ASTRONOMY

FROM THE TAINT OF PHILOSOPHY

Because it was one of the "ancient sciences" (i.e., pre-Islamic),astronomywas sometimestarredwiththesame brushthatbesmirchedanyknowledgethatfelloutside thedomainof thereligioussciences.This tainttook severalforms.Therewere certainlythosewho condemnedall the"ancient"or "foreign"sciences.13On theone hand,some singledout astronomybecause of itspresumablyclose associationwith astrologyand even magic.14 Otherssaw itas advancingstrangeand dangerousideas, such as thenotionof regionswitha midnightsun,whichwas a consequence of the astronomers'circularmotionsand sphericalbodies. If true,thiswouldmakeitvirtuclimes ally impossibleundersome circumstancesforMuslims in extremenorthern Al-GhazalI (d. A.D. 111 1), certainly to maintainthedaylightfastduringRamadan.'-5 accepts thatthereare partsof astronomy(for a moresubtleand profoundthinker, example,thetheoryof solarand lunareclipses) thatare based on apodeicticdemonstrationand are thus"impossibleto deny"; such thingsare, in and of themselves, unconnectedwithreligiousmatters.However,these "neutral"and trueaspects of also exists mathematicsmayseduce theunwarystudentintobelievingthatcertainty in thephysicaland metaphysicaltheoriesof thephilosophers,some of whichstand in contradiction to Islamic religiousdogma. Thus the studyof thesesciences must be limitedand constrained,for"few thereare who devotethemselvesto thisstudy withoutbeingstrippedof religionand havingthebridleof godlyfearremovedfrom theirheads."16 of But besides thesemoregeneralwarningsagainstastronomyas a representative morespecificobjection.Ghazahltellsus that the"ancientsciences,"therewas another, thatnature is therecognition philosophy] [t]hebasisofall theseobjections[tonatural in to God mosthigh,notactingof itselfbutservingas an instrument is in subjection to His are in subjection thehandsof itsCreator.Sun and moon,starsand elements, is producedbyor proceedsfromits Thereis noneof themwhoseactivity command. '7 ownessence. This is partof Ghazall's criticismof whatwe mighttermAristoteliannaturalcausation. Islam"(cit.n. 11),providesseveralexamples. ofOrthodox "TheAttitude Goldziher, madebyQadi (Judge)Taj al-Dinal-Subki(14thc.); see DavidKing,"On Thisis theinsinuation theRoleoftheMuezzin"(cit.n.6), pp.306-7 (p. 329 fortheArabictext).ForSubki'shostileattitude reasonfor oflogic),whichcouldwellbe theunderlying (withtheexception towardall ofphilosophy Islam"(cit.n. 11),p. 207. ofOrthodox "TheAttitude see Goldziher, hisdisdainofastronomy, Islam"(cit.n. 11),p. 197. ofOrthodox "TheAttitude 5 Cf.Goldziher, al-Marraq(Tunis:al-Dar al-Munqidhminal-dalal,ed. 'Abd al-Karlim 6 Abi Hamidal-Ghazali, Watt, used hereis fromW Montgomery 1984),pp. 49-52. The translation li-'l-Nashr, al-Ttinisiyya TheFaithand Practiceof al-GhazdlT(London:GeorgeAllen & Unwin,1953),pp. 33-5. Cf. the and Fulfillment Freedom (Boston:Twayne, byRichardJ.McCarthy, morerecentEnglishtranslation discussion morereliable.Foran informed lesselegantbutrather 1980),pp.73-4, whichis somewhat forthecourseofIslamicscience,see Sabra,"Apanditspossibleimplications ofGhazali'sattitude (cit.n. 2), pp. 239-41. Naturalization" andSubsequent propriation (bothcit.n. byWatt,TheFaithand Practiceofal-Ghaza-lf p. 54; translation 1' Ghazall,Munqidh, (cit.n. 16),p. 76. Thispointis closelyrelatedtothe andFulfillment Freedom 16),p. 37; cf.McCarthy, (theologians). mutakallims positionoftheAsh'arite andtotheoccasionalist issueofcauseandeffect 3

'4

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F.JAMILRAGEP believedtobe a causeandwhatis habitually between whatis habitually Theconnection is dueto tous.... Theirconnection according is notnecessary, believedtobe an effect in thepriordecreeof God,whocreatesthemsideby side.notto itsbeingnecessary it is within[divine]powerto create On thecontrary, itself,incapableof separation. decapilifeafter tocontinue decapitation, eating, tocreatedeathwithout satiety without of deniedthepossibility tation,and so on to all connectedthings.The philosophers [this]andclaimedittobe impossible.'8

This is the well-knownpositionof theAsh'aritetheologians's sometimesreferred Exactlyhow thismightworkforestablishing,say, to as Islamic "occasionalism."21" interestedin) is una science of astronomy(somethingGhazall is notparticularly hints.For example,in Ghazall's al-Munqidhmin clear.But thereare some intriguing al-dalal (Deliverancefromerror),writtenas an intellectualbiographyin the latter who triesto partof his life,he warnsagainsttheman,"loyal to Islam butignorant," defendthefaithby "thedenial of themathematicalsciences."Such a person"even rejectstheirtheoryof the eclipse of sun and moon, consideringwhat theysay is contraryto the sacred Law." Ghazali perceptivelynotes thatsomeone who underof themathematical proofsinvolvedmightconclude"thatIslam standsthecertainty is based on ignoranceand the denial of apodeicticproof" and thatsuch a person "growsin love forphilosophyand hatredforIslam."AfterquotingtheProphet,Ghazali judges that"thereis nothinghereobligingus to denythescience of arithmetic whichinformsus in a specificmannerof the pathsof sun and moon, and of their conjunctionand opposition."?' WhatGhazali seems to be proposingis an acceptanceof themathematicalaspect of astronomybut not thephysicalpartof thatdiscipline,whichmightcompel one to accepta "natural"motionin theheavensthatwas somehowindependentof God's inasmuchas it would tendto rewill. This view has been called "instrumentalist" move astronomersfromtheoreticalconsiderationsregardingthecauses of celestial motionand confinethem,presumably,to mattersof calculation,more likelythan anotherway, "instrumennot in the service of religion.2 Of course, interpreted to pursuealternative hypothesesregardingcelestalism"could also freeastronomers of the heavens,a pointto which we shall return tial motionand the configuration laterin thisessay.23 ed. and trans.MichaelE. Marmura(Provo, of thePhilosophers, ,xAl-Ghazali,TheIncoherence Utah:BrighamYoungUniv.Press,1997),p. 170. (kalam)group theological becamethedominant orso, theAsh'arites century 19 Fromtheeleventh traditheatomist continue Theydid,though, amongtheSunniMuslims,succeedingtheMu'tazilites. approachtophysicalandtheologias wellas, forthemostpart,a rationalist tionoftheirpredecessors cal matters. ofthispositionin thecontextof Islamickalam,see Sabra,"Scienceand 20 For a luciddiscussion (cit.n. 2); he also comparesitwiththepositionofDescartes(pp. 29-32). Philosophy" TheFaithand PracWatt'stranslation, modified 2' Ghazdlh, Munqidh,pp. 51-2. I havesomewhat and Fulfillment (cit.n. 16),p. 74. Freedom (cit.n. 16),pp. 34-5; cf.McCarthy, ticeofal-GhazdlT of andSubsequentNaturalization has beenlaid outbySabra,"TheAppropriation 22 Thisposition GreekScience"(cit.n. 2), pp. 238-42. to theview(heldbyboth proposespossiblealternatives 23 It is worth notingthatGhazalihimself suchas Ptolemy)thattheentireheavenis an animalwitha soul that and astronomers philosophers causes itsmotion.On thislatterview,see Ragep,NasTral-Din (cit.n. 12), vol. 2, pp. 408-10. For pace Sabra,that (cit.n. 18),pp. 149-51. The possibility, see TheIncoherence Ghazl-l'salternatives, needsa much possibilities as well as instrumentalist Ghazdl-'spositioncould open up theoretical viewsregarding studythanis possiblehere.(Cf.P. Duhem'scontroversial morecarefulandsustained ofAristotle.) ofthemedievalEuropeancondemnations effects theliberating

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Ghazali's warningsabout being overlyzealous in condemningall of ancientscience, even the apodeictic parts,indicates that he was tryingto establish some "middleposition."But whatwas theextremetheologicalposition,and how mightit work for understandingcelestial phenomena?We learn fromal-QUshj! (d. A.D. 1474), a CentralAsian scientistassociated firstwiththe Samarqand observatory and laterwiththescientificcommunityof Constantinople(afterits conquestby the Ottomans),what these may have been. In his major theological(kala-m)work,a on Nasir al-Din al-Tus!'s Tajrrdal-'aqd'id, he presentswhathe sees as commentary some of theabsurdimplicationsof thestandardAsh'aritedenialofnaturalcausation: itis Omnipotent, {thubtt}ofthevolitional {taqdfr}ofthevalidity On theassumption couldbyHis will{irada} darkentheface Omnipotent conceivablethatthevolitional oftheEarthandlikewise theinterposition oftheMoonduringa lunareclipsewithout of theinterposition duringa solareclipsethefaceof theSun [woulddarken]without tothe thefaceoftheMoonaccording he coulddarkenandlighten theMoon;likewise, shapes.24 observedfullandcrescent It is not clear whetherhe was settingup a strawman or whetherQishjT was rethat spondingto an actualargumenthe had encountered.Whichever,itis interesting Ghazall had, as we have seen,raisedjust thissortof examplein his warningagainst takingthecondemnationof the ancientsciences too far.But in one of the most,if of thelateAsh'aritetextbooks,theMawdqifff'ilmal-kalam notthemost,influential by thePersian'Adud al-Din al-Iji (ca. A.D. 1281-1355), we do notfindthisextreme a full and quite viewpointregardingthe explanationof eclipses but, surprisingly, of Ptolemaic astronomy.25 exposition well-informed of GreekphilosBy thistime,theAsh'ariteshad adoptedmuchof theterminology he adopted the that this did not however, mean, was no exception; and ophy, IjI he maintained,contraAristotle,that In particular, doctrinesof Greekphilosophy.26 and contingent, dependingon God's will to theuniversewas atomisticin structure exist frominstantto instant.When it came to astronomy,Iji, who was well acheld thatthe orbs were quainted with the basic pictureof Ptolemaic astronomy, "imaginarythings"(umuirmawhfima)and moretenuousthana spider'sweb (bayt al-'ankabut).27But Ij! did not drawthe conclusionthatastronomers'constructions wereto be censuredorcondemned,as impliedin thepassage fromQUshjI'sSharhaldoes notextajrfd.Ratherhe insisted,echoingGhazl-l, that"[religious]prohibition ornegation."28 tendtothem,beingneitheran objectofbeliefnorsubjecttoaffirmation Viewed fromthe perspectiveof thepossible rangeof religiouspositionson this matter,one would have thoughtthatthe astronomerswould have been gratefulfor thisseeminglygeneroussolutionto theirproblems;theycould use whatevermathematicaltools theyneeded fortheircraftas long as theydid notdeclarethemreal. In 24 All b. Muhammad 1890(?)],p. 186(line28) through SharhTajrzdal-'aqd'id[Tehran, al-QUshj!, andArabictextofthelargerpassageofwhichthisis a partis contained p. 187 (line2). A translation Curlybrackandexplanations. additions ([ 1) areusedforeditorial intheAppendix.Squarebrackets ets(I }) areusedfororiginalArabicwordsoran Englishtranslation. ofthissectionofIjl's text,see Sabra,"ScienceandPhilosexposition 25 Fora brief butinformative ophy"(cit.n. 2), pp. 34-8. the butnotnecessarily of theterminology 26 The adoption by a numberof Muslimtheologians forwhichsee ibid.,pp. 11-23. story, is a fascinating ofGreekphilosophy doctrines 27 Ibid.,p. 37. 28 Ibid.

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as option.Buttheastronomers, essence,theywerebeinggivenan "instrumentalist" problem, tothescience-religion withthissolution thrilled we shallsee,werehardly and we willneedto explorewhytheywerenot.Butbeforethat,we needto ask to offerthema solution question:WhydidIj! feelthenecessity ourselvesanother andin themainhe himself, in thefirst place?Afterall, he was notan astronomer claimsaboutthenatureoftheuniverse. rejectedmanyoftheirmostfundamental of thecontextand something To answerthisquestion,we needto understand Forthemostpart,theparticiperiodin whichthisdebatewas occurring. historical of the pantswereeitherPersiansor CentralAsians;theperiodwas theaftermath reshapedthepolitiwhichconsiderably century, ofthethirteenth Mongolinvasions politicalbutalso landscapeofthearea.Notonlythetraditional cal andintellectual weakened. orconsiderably intheEastwaseitherdestroyed thereligiousleadership withsomerelatively to filltheircourtsandbureaucracies The Mongolspreferred easytograsp.)Themostsignificant (Thereasonsforthisarefairly figures. heterodox was Nasiral-Dinal-Tisl (A.D. 1201-1274). standpoint ofthesefroman intellectual Tiis! was a crucialfigurefora numberof reasons,butespeciallybecausehe left but thatbecamethemainvehiclenotonlyforstudying behinda corpusofwritings at leastin easternIslam,until Greekscienceand philosophy, also fordefending andintheseworkshe continued times.He also wroteon religiousmatters, modern termsand ideas intothetheological Greekphilosophical theprocessof bringing Shiciteandhaddabbledfora timewith Thoughhe wasborna mainstream context. doctrine, bythetimeTUsTbeganworking ShT'ite a muchmoreheterodox Ismad'lism, withtheHellenistic allegiancewas firmly fortheMongolsin 1256,hisintellectual thesciencesbut of Islam,whichforhimwas notonlya wayof unifying tradition hehearkens As such anddisputes. differences religious alsoa meansoftranscending the to the Kindis, Farabls, history, backto an earlierperiodof Islamicintellectual becamea kindoftranscenforwhomGreekphilosophy andespeciallytoAvicenna, in reviledby thereligiousestablishment dentreligion.For thisTiis! was bitterly Curithe which had escaped Mongolonslaught. MamelukeEgyptandSyria, mostly suchas Iji,seemtohavebeenmostly respectthePersiantheologians, ously,though, I haveno doubtthatIjI, whowas born fultowardhim-but notsimplyrespectful. andperhapsevenhis less thantenyearsafterTtisi'sdeath,learnedhis astronomy, was in that he fromTUsl'swritings; sweptup inTUsT'sdiscase, Greekphilosophy, course even while disagreeingwithit. It should thereforenot surpriseus thatIjT would tryto reassuretheAsh'aritefaithfulthattheyhad nothingto fearfromthe surgingtide of Hellenisticscience and philosophyin Iran while at the same time thema respectableway to accommodatingTusi and his manyfollowersby offering be bothgood astronomersand good Muslims.29 to theastronomers, whywould some of themfeeluneasywithIj!'s, and Returning forthatmatterGhazali's, compromise?That theywould rejectthisaccommodation durof theirtradition and thestrength tellsus somethingabouttheirself-confidence But this was not simplya case of disciplinarypride. Some ing these centuries.30 29Fora moredetailedanddocumented see Ragep, discussionofthepointsmadeinthisparagraph,

NasTral-DMn (cit. n. 12), vol. 1, pp. 3-20.

of sciencein Islam afterA.D. 1200 has onlyrecently of thetradition strength 30 The continuing in thefield.The reasonsforthislongneglecthavea greatdeal todo byresearchers beenrecognized conof science,whichhas tendedto assume,whether natureof mosthistory withtheEurocentric fromArabicintoLatinwas commovement translation sciouslyornot,thatoncethetwelfth-century

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of an astronomythat wereled to thisrejectionby whattheysaw as therequirements could providea correctpicture(hay'a) of theuniverseas well as insightintoGod's creation(as we have seen). This can be clearlyobservedin theresponseof al-Sharif al-Jurjani(A.D. 1339-1413) to IjT's dismissiveremarksregardingthe "imaginary" and "tenuous"natureof the astronomers'orbs. In additionto his manyotherhats, who wrote was an astronomer whichincludedbeinga renownedtheologian,JurjdanT to ThsT'sastronomicalmasterpiece,the a widelyread and appreciatedcommentary Tadhkira.Withhis astronomer'sturbanfirmlyin place, he respondedto Ij! as folthough lows, by tryingto explainthatthemathematicalobjects of theastronomers, with reality: "imagined,"do have a correspondence imagthatarecorrectly yettheyarethings reality, Eveniftheydo nothavean external bysound to what[exists]in actuality inedandcorrespond {ffnafsal-amr}as attested suchas ghouls'fangs,ruby {al-fitra al-salfma};theyarenotfalseimaginings instinct thecondinotions, men.By meansofthese[astronomical] mountains andtwo-headed as perin regardto speedanddirection, areregulated tionsof [celestial]movements [Bymeansofthesenotions orobservedwith[theaid of] instruments. ceived[directly] {ahkam}of thecelestialorbsand the is madeof thecharacteristics also] discovery that creation-things earth,andof whattheyrevealof subtlewisdomand wondrous themwithawe,andfacinghimwiththegloryoftheir overcomewhoeverapprehends himto say:"OurLord,thouhas notcreatedthisin vain'"Thisthenis Creator, prompt andthatoughtto a valuablelessonthatlieshiddeninthosewords[oftheastronomers] whoeveris driventodisdainthembymereprejudice.31 be cherished, whileignoring quicklybecame an integral It is importantto note here thatJurjani'scommentary (It was stillbeing partof Iji's textbookand was studiedwithitin theschool tradition. studiedin Islamic theologicalschools, such as Cairo's al-Azhar,intothe twentieth view of astronomicalmodels century!)Thus Ij1's conventionalist/instrumentalist would have been read withJurjani'sforcefulrejoinder.32 Jurjani,though,while defendingastronomy'sintegrityand its religious value againstIjT's dismissiveremarks,does not here deal withthe issue of astronomy's alleged dependenceupon suspectreligiousdoctrines,such as naturalcausationand feltthatat least of theworld.Most, thoughnotall, Islamic astronomers theeternity some of these doctrineswere indispensable.As TUsi says in the Tadhkira,"Every science has ... principles,which are eitherself-evidentor else obscure,in which case theyare provedin anotherscience and are takenforgrantedin this science ... [T]hose of its principlesthatneed proofare demonstratedin threesciences: Thus in additionto mathematics and naturalphilosophy."33 metaphysics,geometry, certain that is physicaland metaphysicalprinciples and observation,TUs! claiming was nottakenlightly;indeed, This importation need to be importedfromphilosophy. a astronomers Islamic finds greatreluctanceto use physical in generalone among theirconclusionson whatthey for substitute as a basing from philosophy principles forEurope,must missionofpreservation theirhistorical havingfulfilled pleted,Islamicintellectuals, endeavors. havegivenup theirscientific ed. Muhammad of al-Jurjani), al-kalam(withthecommentary 3' al-Iji,Kitabal-Mawdqiffl'ilm Badral-Dinal-Na'san1(Cairo,A.H. 1325/A.D. 1907),pt.vii,p. 108.Thisis mostlySabra'stranslation (cit.n. 2), p. 39. (withminorchanges)fromhis "ScienceandPhilosophy" Islamicreligious 32 One hopesthat suchexamplesmightgivepausetothosewhoinsiston treating viewsas monolithic. 33 Ragep,Nasiral-D~n(cit.n. 12),vol. 1,pp. 90-1.

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whichincludedobservation.In thistheyseem to have followed saw as mathematics, In a passage preservedby Simtrendsthathad alreadybeen establishedin antiquity. plicius (6th c. A.D.) in his commentaryon Aristotle'sPhysics,he quoted Geminus (ca. 1st c. A.D.), who was, we are told,"inspiredby the views of Aristotle,"to the effectthata clear demarcationcan be made betweentherole of the physicistand "The physicistwill in manycases reach the cause by the role of the astronomer.34 when he provesfactsfromexternal looking to creativeforce;but the astronomer, conditions,is notqualifiedtojudge of thecause, as when,forinstance,he declares the earthor the starsto be spherical."This is elucidatedin an earlierpartof the passage: willproposeto provethesame Now in manycases theastronomer andthephysicist buttheywillnot point,e.g.,thatthesunis ofgreatsize or thattheEarthis spherical, ofeswillproveeachfactbyconsiderations proceedbythesameroad.The physicist senceor substance, offorce,ofitsbeingbetter thatthingsshouldbe as theyare,orof of willprovethemby theproperties comingintobeingand change;theastronomer or magnitudes, andthetimethatis appropriate orbytheamountofmovement figures to it.35

declaresthattheastronomer Geminus,no doubt"inspiredbytheviews ofAristotle," "mustgo to thephysicistforhis firstprinciples,namely,thatthemovementsof the starsare simple,uniformand ordered."But thiswas a view thatwas notuniversally held in antiquity. Ptolemy,forexample,refersto physicsand metaphysicsas "guesswork" and proclaimsthat"only mathematicscan provide sure and unshakeable One would assumethathe wouldtherefore tryto avoid knowledgeto itsdevotees."36 and, indeed,in theintroducphysicaland metaphysicalprinciplesin his astronomy, torycosmological sectionsof theAlmagest,he generallyestablishessuch thingsas the sphericityof the heavens and the Earth,the Earth'scentralityand its lack of motion,accordingto observationaland mathematicalprinciples,in contrastto the morephysicalmeans used byAristotlein, say,De Caelo.37 Ptolemy'sstatedpositionhad some major supportamong Islamic astronomers. The PersianscholarQutb al-Din al-Shirazi(A.D. 1236-1311), onetimestudentand associate of Nasir al-Din al-Thsl,paraphrasesPtolemy:"Astronomyis thenoblest of thesciences.... [I]ts proofsare secure-being of numberand geometry-about whichtherecan be no doubt,unliketheproofsin physicsand theology."38 But severalIslamic astronomers note,oftenwithdismay,thatPtolemyhad broken theeminentCentral his own rule and had used "physical"principles.In particular, Asian scientistAbfiRayhanal-Birtini(A.D. 973-1048) chides him forusing arguof theheavensin theAlmagest(1.3) mentsbased on physicsto provethesphericity and insiststhat"each disciplinehas a methodologyand rulesand thatwhichis exter(cit. Physics11.2;cf.Lloyd,"SavingtheAppearances" toAristotle, inreference 34 Thisis probably n. 9), pp. 212-13. ofSamos (Oxford:Clarendon,1913),p. 276; rebyT. L. Heathin hisAristarchus 35 Translation Mass.: A SourceBookin GreekScience(Cambridge, in MorrisR. Cohenand I. E. Drabkin, printed HarvardUniv.Press,1948),pp. 90-1. Cf.Lloyd,"SavingtheAppearances"(cit.n. 9), pp. 212-14. 36 Ptolemy s Almagest(cit.n. 8), 1.1,p. 36. see Ragep,Nasfr al-D~n(cit.n. of how thisis viewedin theIslamiccontext, 37 For a discussion 12),vol. 1,pp. 38-41; vol.2, pp. 382-8. AhmetIII MS 3333 (2), al-aflak," prefaceto "Nihayatal-idrakfidirdyat 38 Qutbal-Dinal-Shirazi, fol.34b,TopkapiSaray,Istanbul.

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} uponthem;therefore, nal to itcannotbe imposed{yastahkimu what[Ptolemy]has set forththatis externalto thisdisciplineis persuasiveratherthannecessary."39 Looking at BIrUn! 's insistenceupon a clear separationof astronomyfromphysics (or naturalphilosophy)and TUsT'sintroductory remarksregardingthe need of astronomyforprinciplesfromnaturalphilosophyand metaphysics, one mightwell be temptedto conclude thatwhat we have is a continuationof the ancient debate betweenthe mathematicians(such as Ptolemy,who insistedupon an autonomous astronomy)and the philosophers(represented,as we have seen, by Aristotleand Geminus,who placed the astronomersin a dependentrole).40But this would be misleading.Even the more philosophicallyinclined of the Islamic astronomers seem,forthemostpart,to be intentnotonlyon demarcatingastronomyfromnatural philosophybutalso on makingit as independentas possible.We have alreadyseen how Avicennaseparatedastronomy(as a mathematicaldiscipline)fromastrology (consideredto be partof naturalphilosophy).Furthermore Tiisyhimselfmade clear in the Tadhkirathatan astronomershould provemostcosmological mattersusing "proofsof the fact" (thatsimplyestablishtheirexistenceusing observationsand mathematics)ratherthan"proofsof thereasonedfact"(that"conveythe necessity of thatexistence"usingphysicaland/ormetaphysicalprinciples);thelatterkindof proofs,he tellsus, are givenbyAristotlein De Caelo.41 In otherwords,theastronomershouldavoid dealingwithultimatecauses and insteadestablishthefoundations This attitudeis of his disciplineby employingtheapodeictictools of mathematics. as well in thephysicalprinciplesthatThs'uses to explainregularmotion. reinforced He analyzes it in such a way thatthesourceof thatmotion,whetheran Aristotelian "nature"(as in thecase of thefourelements)or a soul (as in thecase of thecelestial forastronomy;in bothcases, he maintains(departinghere orbs) becomes irrelevant fromAristotle)thatregularmotionis alwaysdue to an innateprinciple(mabda' = opX) called a "nature"(tab'), thus sidesteppingthe problemof ultimatecausation.42MuhammadAUhal-TahanawT(1 8thc. A.D.) nicelysummarizesthesituation: "In thisscience [i.e., astronomy],motionis investigated[in termsof] its quantity and direction.The inquiryinto the origin(asi) of this motionand its attribution {ithbdtijto theorbs is partof NaturalPhilosophy(al-tab'iyydt[sic])."43 3' AbU Rayhanal-Biruni,Al-Qanuin al-Mas'adi, 3 vols. (Hyderabad:Da'irat al-ma'arifalphysical atPtolemy's use of"certain is directed 1954-1956),vol. 1 p. 27. Thecriticism 'Uthmdniyya, motionoftheheavens(Ptoleandcircular theaethertoprovethesphericity regarding considerations" strongly m's Almagest[cit.n. 8], 1.3.p. 40). Elsewherein theQdnan(vol. 2, pp. 634-5), Birfini in his Planetary and ideas fromoutsideof astronomy criticizesPtolemyforusingassumptions and discussionof see Ragep.Nasfr al-Dfn(cit. n. 12), vol. 1, p. 40, fora translation Hypotheses; thispassage. resorting without we can makesucha distinction totherecentworkofLloydandothers, 4( Thanks versus"realists";cf.n. 9. of"instrumentalists" rhetoric to Duhem'sreductionist of thispassage and 41 Ragep,Nashr al-Dizn (cit. n. 12), vol. 1. pp. 106-7. For an examination see vol. 1, PosteriorAnalytics, madein Aristotle's quid distinction itsrelationto thequia-propter pp. 38-41, andvol.2, pp. 382, 386-8. to accountforthefactthattheensouledcelestialorbs,eventhoughthey 42 TUs1 seemstobe trying realm.Thiswas withsoulsinthesublunar unlikeentities "choose"tomoveuniformly, havevolition, fromancientto earlymoderntimes;see Ragep,Nashralobviouslya problemwitha longhistory "TheProblemoftheSoulsofthe Wolfson, Dfn (cit.n. 12). vol. 1,pp.44-6; vol.2, p. 380. Cf.Harry theArabsandSt.ThomastoKepler," onAristotle through Commentaries SpheresfromtheByzantine oftheHeavens OaksPapers16(1962):67-93,andRichardC. Dales,"TheDe-Animation Dumbarton intheMiddleAges'"J.Hist.Ideas,41 (1980):531-50. 43 Muhammad A Dictionaryof the Technical al-funm-n: Kashshdfi'istildhat A'1db. 'All al-Tahanawi, TernmsUsed in the Sciences (f' the Musalmans, edited by Mawlawies Mohammad Wajih, Abd

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Letus takestock.Islamicscientists inherited an astronomy fromtheancients that alreadyhadbeendifferentiated toa lesserorgreater degreefromnatural philosophy. Islamicastronomers, though, carriedthisprocessmuchfarther along,and it does notseemunreasonable to see this,at leastin part,as a responsetoreligiousobjectionsdirected at Hellenistic physicsandmetaphysics, on theone hand,andtoreligiousneutrality toward mathematics, ontheother. Anattentive reader, though, might stillhavequestionsaboutthesetentative conclusions. Why,forexample,didsomeonelikeTUs!stillinsistthatastronomy neededphysicalandmetaphysical principles evenwhilehe contributed towardmakingit moreindependent? Did anyIslamic everdefendan astronomy astronomer completely independent ofphilosophy? And finally, can we makea stronger, moreexplicitand less circumstantial case fora connection between ofastronomy religionandthisfreeing fromphilosophy? In the remaining partoftheessay,I explorethesequestions. As we haveseen,Blriiniimpliesthatthephysicsone needsforastronomy could withintheastronomical be generated contextusingmathematics andobservation; henceone wouldnotneedto import"philosophical physics." But was thisreally feasible?Couldoneclaimthatuniform circular motionintheheavens, thestraightlinemotionsof thesublunar of all, theEarth'sstateof realm,and,mostimportant As mentioned restwerenotbaseduponAristotelian physics? earlier, TUs!certainly instance didnotbelieveonecouldgo thatfar.In part,thiswasduetooneparticular In a famousand thatbecamea cause celebreoflatemedievalIslamicastronomy.44 controversial passage,Tus! explicitly saysthattheEarth'sstateof restcannotbe claimthatitcanbe.45In andexplicitly deniesPtolemy's determined observationally need andobservation failus,andwetherefore mathematics atleastthisoneinstance, thattheelementearth's thephysicalprinciple to importfromnaturalphilosophy Ina more theEarthcannotrotate natural motion is rectilinear andtherefore naturally. and at somelengthbyThsi's generalform,thispositionwas reiterated forcefully commentator sixteenth-century al-BlrjandL.46 This,then,was a bottomline that and whyTius! couldnotabideIji's compromise showsus whysomeastronomers needfornatural on astronomy's andothersinsisted philosophy. Butnoteveryastronomer agreedwithThsT.In facthisownstudent Qutbal-Din andW. NassauLees, 2 vols. ofA. Sprenger al-Haqq,andGholamKadirunderthesuperintendence (Calcutta:W.N. Lees' Press,1862),vol. 1,p. 47. 44This question,namelywhether by observational theEarth'sstateof restcouldbe determined toappearinScience The Earth'sMotioninContext," tests,is dealtwithinmy"TtisiandCopernicus: inRagep,Nasiral-Din(cit.n. 12),vol.2, pp. 383-5. Itis also discussed,moresummarily, inContext. 45 The passage,whichis from (Ragep,Nasrral-Din [cit.n. 12],vol. 1,pp. 106-7),is theTadhkira motionto theEarth.This is not,however, theprimary as follows:"It is notpossibleto attribute up in theair namelythatthiswouldcause an objectthrown becauseof whathas beenmaintained, fallto thewestof it,or thatthis notto fallto itsoriginalpositionbutinsteadit wouldnecessarily leavesthe[Earth],suchas an arrowor a bird,in thedirection wouldcause themotionof whatever Forthepartof oppositeto itto be faster. ofthe[Earth's]motiontobe slower,whilein thedirection theair adjacentto the[Earth]couldconceivablyconform (yushavi'u)to theEarth'smotionalong to is joinedto it,justas theaether[(here)= upperlevelofair]conforms (yushayi'u) withwhatever theorb as evidencedby thecomets,whichmovewithits motion.Rather,it is on accountof the witha frommovingnaturally thatitis precluded inclination ofrectilinear [Earth]havinga principle 1543),6a, lines16De Revolutionibus (Nuremburg, toCopernicus, The similarity circularmotion:" footnote. listedinthepreceding 34, is discussedin thereferences ColMS Arabic4285,fol.39b,Harvard Houghton 46 'Abdal-'Allal-Blrjandli, "Sharhal-Tadhkira," philostheuse ofnatural defending Mass.; forhismoregeneralstatements Cambridge, legeLibrary, see fols.7a-7b and38a. ophyin astronomy,

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al-Shirazitookissue withhis sometimemasterand claimedthatone could establish the Earth'sstate of restby an observationaltest,thus obviatingthe need for imThis position,of course,goes well portinga physicalprinciplefromphilosophy.47 withwhatwe have seen of Shirazi's insistence,followingPtolemy,thatthemathematicalproofsof astronomywere moresecurethanthoseof physicsand theology; by claimingthatobservationaltestscould establishthe Earth'sstate of rest,one fromthe encroachmentof naturalphilosophy could protectastronomy'sintegrity and metaphysics. But because thisdebate was mainlybeing carriedout withinthe confinesof the scientificliterature, thereligiousdimensionsare notveryexplicit.We mayfeeljustifiedin claimingthatBirUniand Shiraziwerebeinginfluencedby religiousconsiderationsin tryingto separateastronomyfromphilosophy,butthisis merelya conjecture.In contrast,therecan be no doubtas to thereligiouscontextof thisdebate in on TUsi'stheologicalwork,theTajrTdal-'aqd'id thealreadymentionedcommentary (Epitomeof belief),writtenby 'All al-QUshj!. QUshj1was theson of PrinceUlugh Beg's falconerand grewup in or close to the century. Samarqandat thetime,withits Timuridcourtin Samarqandin thefifteenth large scientificstaff,brilliantindividuals,and scientificallyaccomobservatory, plishedpatronUlugh Beg, was withouta doubtthe major centerof science in the predecessorthathad been esworldand certainlycould rivalits thirteenth-century Aftertheassassinationof tablishedby TUsi in Maragha underMongol patronage.48 his patronUlugh Beg, Qutshj1traveledthroughIran and Anatolia and eventually at thecollege (madrasa) ofAyaSofia and mathematics assumeda chairin astronomy It shouldbe emphasizedthattheteachingof in thenewlyIslamic cityof Istanbul.49 science in the religious schools, and laterthe establishmentof an observatoryin bythereligiousestablishment.50QUshj!, Istanbul,wereopposed,sometimesbitterly, writinghis commentaryon Tus-'s "Epitome of Belief" afterthe assassinationbut beforeassuminghis chair,was no doubt mindfulof thisreligiousoppositionand soughtto answertheobjectionto astronomythatI havepreviouslyquotedfromhim. Let us summarizesome of thekey pointshe makes. (The entireArabictext,with my translation,is in the Appendix.) Qhshji is clearly sensitiveto the Ash'arite 47 Shirdzi's discussioncan be foundin maqalaII, bMb1,fasl4 (fols.46a-47b) ofhis "Nihayatalal-aflak"(cit.n. 38), whichwas completedin A.D. 1281.A similarpassageis in his idrakftdirayat fi al-hay'a,"whichappearedin A.D. 1284 (bMbII, fasi4 [Jdmi'al-BashaMS "al-Tuhfaal-shahiyya Film346),fols.15a-18a,andMS Add. ghayrmufahras 287,Mosul(= ArabLeaguefalakmusannaf into 7477, BritishMuseum,London,fols.9b-l la]). This sectionof the"Nihaya"was translated in "Ueberdie Gestalt,Lage undBewegungderErde,sowiephiloGermanbyEilhardWiedemann der die Geschichte vonQutbal-Dinal-Schirazzi," Betrachtungen sophisch-astronomische Archivfiur

Naturwissenschaftenund der Technik3 (1912):395-422 (reprintedin E. Wiedemann, Gesammelte am Main: Institutfur 3 vols. [Frankfurt Schriftenzur arabisch-islamischenWissenschaftsgeschichte,

1984],vol.2, pp. 637-64). Wissenschaften, derArabisch-Islamischen Geschichte in Islam (Ankara:Turkish see AydinSayilh,The Observatory On theSamarqandobservatory, HistoricalSociety,1960),pp. 259-89. See also E. S. Kennedy,"The Heritageof UlughBeg," in idem, Astronomyand Astrologyin the Medieval Islamic World (Brookfield,Vt.: Ashgate, 1998),

no. XI. 49 See A. AdnanAdivar, ofIslam,2nded. (Leiden: Encyclopedia al-Kuishdj!," '"All b. Muhammad 1939), (Paris:Maisonneuve, Brill,1960),vol. 1,p. 393,andidem,La Sciencechezles Turcsottomans pp. 33-5. PPAdivardiscussesthisin his La Sciencechez les Turcsottomans(cit. n. 49). For theIstanbul see Sayili,TheObservatory forcedtobe demolished, whichthereligiousestablishment observatory, (cit.n. 48), pp. 289-305.

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observationthatpart of their positionon causality,and he makes the interesting has to do withthe astrologicalconobjectionto it, at least as regardsastronomy, events(espetentionof a causal linkbetweenthepositionsof theorbsand terrestrial cially "unusualcircumstances").To get aroundsuch objections,QUshjiinsiststhat astronomydoes notneed philosophy,since one could build theentireedificeof orbs reasonablesupposinecessaryfortheastronomicalenterpriseusingonlygeometry, These premisesallow ashypotheses. and provisional judgments, appropriate tions, tronomers theone by whichthe fromamongthepossibleapproaches to conceive{takhayyalu-} maybe putin orderin irregularities of theplanetswiththeirmanifold circumstances ofthese andconjunctions ofthepositions theirdetermination sucha wayas tofacilitate withperception planetsforanytimetheymightwishandso as toconform {Jiss} and sight{'iyan}. thatbest explain "or save" the What thiswill allow us to do is make presumptions phenomena.Of course God might,by His will, cause the phenomenadirectly; QUshji gives the example of God darkeningthe Moon withouttheEarth'sshadow and causing an eclipse. But just as we go about our everydaylives using whathe calls ordinary('adiyya) and practical(tajribivya)knowledge,thusshould we proceed in science. Here he allows himselfa bitof sarcasm,arguingthatwe could (for example) claim thatafterwe had leftourhouse one day,God turnedall thepots and the sciences of theologyand pans into humanscholarswho took to investigating geometry;insofaras we feel confidentin assumingthatthishas not happened,so also should we have confidencethattheheavensnormallyfollowa regularpattern thatwe have thecapacityto explain.We do not,however,need to make thefurther claim thatour explanationrepresentstheonlypossible one; in thisway,QUshjibelieves he has made astronomyindependentof philosophy. are some oftherepercussions WhatmakesQutshj!'spositionespeciallyfascinating it had forhis astronomicalwork.Since he claims to be no longertied to the principles of Aristotelianphysics,he feels freeto exploreotherpossibilities,including ofthedebatethatwe outlinedearlier, theEarth'srotation.Clearlywithinthetradition he agreeswithTuisi,thuscounteringPtolemyand Shirazi,and arguesthatthequestionof theEarth'smotioncannotbe determinedby observation.But unlikeTiisi,he refusesto settlethematterby appealingto Aristoteliannaturalphilosophy.Instead he statesthat"it is notestablishedthatwhathas a principleof rectilinearinclination concluis preventedfrom[having]circularmotion."5'He thenends witha startling Earth].""5 sion: "Thus nothingfalse(fidsid)follows[fromtheassumptionofa rotating Qtshji also showedthathe was trueto his principlesin his elementaryastronomy work,Risa-lahdar 'ilm-ihay'a; in it,he took thehighlyunusualstep of dispensing withthe sectionon naturalphilosophywithwhichalmostall othersimilartreatises began.5 51QUshji,Sharh Tajrid (cit.n. 24), p. 195.The samepointis madebyCopernicus in De Revolutionibus(cit.n. 45), 1.8.

52 Ibid. Qtishjl's is dealt position,and thepossiblerelationof thisIslamicdebateto Copernicus, withmorefullyin my"Tisl andCopernicus"(cit.n. 44). 51 This workwas originally quite in Persianand,giventheevidenceof theextantmanuscripts, by QUshj!himselfintoArabicand dedicatedto Mehmet,theConqueror popular.It was translated "The whenceitwascalledal-Risdla al-Fathivva. Cf.TofighHeidarzadeh, (Fatih)ofConstantinople, M. A. thesis,(IstanbulUniv.*1997),pp.24, 30-32, Worksof'All Qiishj!"(inTurkish), Astronomical

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FREEING ASTRONOMY FROM PHILOSOPHY

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Butin freeing himself fromAristotle, didQtshj!also freehimself fromseeking reality? In otherwords,insteadof beingtheprecursor of Copernicus, is he rather thepredecessor ofOsiander, theLutheran minister whoseanonymous prefacetoDe Revolutionibus proclaimed, certain fromastronomy"? "[Lletnooneexpectanything Mytentative answeris thatI do notthinkQUshji'spositionis instrumentalist in the samesenseas Iji's (or Osiander's)54Andthereason,in a way,is quitesimple.Iji wasa theologian, whereasQuishjl, inhisheartofhearts, wasa scientist, whosework was ultimately a wayto knowand understand God's creation.Qtshji makesthis clearwithhisremarks at theendof his discussionofpremises. The astronomers' modelsmaybe calculating devicesthatcannotbe claimedas unique,butnevertheless theyare,he tellsus,a sourceofwonder, becauseoftheircorrespondence with He continues, theobservedphenomena. "Whoevercontemplates thesituation of shadowson thesurfaces ofsundialswillbearwitnessthatthisis dueto something wondrous andwillpraise[theastronomers] withthemostlaudatory praise."Qtshj! citedearlier, in whichthelatter countered hereseemstoechothewordsofJurjani, that and by insisting through astronomy we can behold God's subtle wisdom Ij inrejecting wondrous creation. QUshji,though, theviewthatsomehowwe canknow is attempting to presenta rather truereality, moresophisticated position:thatthe betweenourhumanconstructions and externalrealityis itselfa correspondence sourceofwonder.55 Ultimately, then,forJurjani, QiIshji,andmanyotherIslamicscientists, Iji's wellmeantinstrumentalist was rejected.As wouldalso occurin Europe, compromise God with God withscience;one couldnotglorify theyheldthatone couldglorify conventions. IV. CONCLUSION

to ortwofollowing In thegeneration Qushji,scienceintheIslamicEastcontinued of workswereproduced Severalmajorastronomical thrive. bytwocontemporaries 'Abd al-cAl!al-Birjandi Copernicus, (d. A.D. 1525or 1526) and Shamsal-Dinalcontinued thedebatereKhafri(fl. A.D. 1525).As we havealreadynoted,B-Irjandli defended theneedtousebothnatural motion andstrongly theEarth's garding philosin astronomy. In fact,he quotesanddirectly ophyandmetaphysics arguesagainst hisposition, In developing Birjandli thepassagethatI havequotedfromQushjL.56 Tarihi,2 vols.(Istanbul:IRCICA, 1997),vol. 1, Literatiiri etal., OsmanliAstronomi 41; E. Ihsanoklu in pp. 27-35; andDavid Pingree,"IndianReceptionof MuslimVersionsof PtolemaicAstronomy," (cit.n. 2), p. 474. Tradition, Transmission, Transformation 54 Fora comparison (cit.n. 2), pp. 38-9. ofIji andOsiander,see Sabra,"ScienceandPhilosophy" ofIjT'spositionintheIslamicschools tocomparethelatermanifestations Itwouldbe quiteinteresting which of Copernicantheory, interpretation" withwhatRobertWestmanhas calledthe"Wittenberg circles Lutheran tobe studiedinsixteenth-century universe ofa Sun-centered allowedthehypothesis toembraceitas trueor real. anyattempt whileitcondemned Ideas and Opinions(New York:Dell, 1973),p. 285: "The veryfactthatthe Einstein, 55 Cf.Albert (operationswithconcepts,and of oursenseexperiencesis suchthatby meansof thinking totality of sense relationsbetweenthem,and thecoordination functional thecreationand use of definite thisfactis onewhichleavesus inawe,butwhich totheseconcepts)itcanbe putinorder, experiences It oftheworldis itscomprehensibility.' One maysay'theeternalmystery we shallneverunderstand. worldwould ofa realexternal ofImmanuelKantthatthepostulation is one ofthegreatrealizations thiscomprehensibility." be senselesswithout QUshj! Birjandidoesnotmention (cit.n.46), fol.7a-7b.Curiously, 56 Birjandi, "Sharhal-Tadhkira" scholars"(ba'd al-afiddil). tohimas "oneoftheeminent bynamebutsimplyrefers

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(which occuriftheEarthwererotating makesan interesting analysisofwhatmight something quiteclose to Galileo'snotionof he himselfrejects)and hypothesizes "circular inertia.?57 (orGalileo)readBirjandi(thoughthis The pointis notto claimthatCopernicus to as it mightonce haveappeared),butrather does notnow seemas far-fetched ofopinionthatcontinintensity ofscholarship anddiversity indicatetheremarkable (andin factevenlater).Thisis uedin Islamiclandswellintothesixteenth century bythesteepdecline,or a timethatuntilrecently was seenas a periodcharacterized this oftextswritten during evenabsenceofscientific work.Sincethevastmajority ofIslamicsciencehaveyettobe studied(muchlesspublateperiodin thehistory Butwhether ornotthis surprises mightwellbe anticipated. lished),manyexciting of discussionofone smallaspectofthesituation provestobe thecase,thepresent sciencein Islamshouldalertus to thefactthatsciencewas stilla majorforcewell intotheearlymodernperiodand can shedlightnotonlyon Islamicintellectual butthehistory ofEuropeanscienceas well.Andonehopesthatpartofthat history inboththe therelation betweenscienceandreligion lightwillhelpus tounderstand Islamicworldandin Christendom. Thatreligionplayeda rolein Islamicscience-perhapsevena crucialroleaudiencein the shouldnotsurprise us. Whatis surprising, especiallyto a Western andobstrucis thatthatrolewas notsimplyone ofopposition twenty-first century, I hopeI willnotbe ofconstructive tionbutrather, atleastsometimes, engagement. observation ifI makethehistorical as beingan apologist forreligion misunderstood Islam andChrisand in both attackson aspectsofscience philosophy thatreligious doctrines toward scientific and tendomled to a morecriticalattitude philosophical outcomes. This in even some and andthatthisoftenresulted productive interesting of and historians has beena pointincreasingly Europeanscience, one acceptedby the on write and those who Islam,to understand thatwouldgreatly helpIslamists, of and in Islamic civiliof secular religiousknowledge complexity theinteraction zation. 57

my"Tosl andCopernicus"(cit.n. 44). Ibid.,fol.37a. See further

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Appendix theSupposedDependenceof Concerning uponPhilosophy Astronomy By 'Alfal-Qiishjf [186] It is statedthatthepositingof theorbs in [that]particularway dependsupon falseprinciplestakenfromphilosophy{falsafa}, forexample,thedenialof thevolitional Omnipotentand the lack of possibilityof tearingand mendingof the orbs, and thattheydo not intensifynor weaken in theirmotions,and thattheydo not reversedirection,turn,stop,norundergoanychangeof statebutratheralwaysmove witha simplemotionin thedirectionin whichtheyare going,as well as otherphysical and theologicalmatters,some of whichgo againstthe Law {sharc} and some of whichare notestablishedinasmuchas theirproofsare defective{madkhala}. For ifit were notbased upon thoseprinciples,we could say thatthevolitionalOmnipotentby His will moves those orbs in the observedorder,or we could say thatthe starsmove in the orb as fishdo in water,speeding up and slowing down, going backward,stoppingand movingforwardwithoutneed for those manyorbs. But by assumingthe validity{thubit} of those principles,whattheyhave statedis an {ithbat} of a cause based upon the existenceof an effect;but thiswill affirmation [noteundertheline: "i.e., notbe valid unless one knowsthecorrelation{musawwat} thecorrelationof theeffectto thecause"]. But thisis notknown,since thereis no {burhan} of the impossibility necessary[connection];noris therea demonstration are forreasonsotherthantheones theyhave stated. thattheobservedirregularities However,thereis nothingto the above, since it stemsfroma lack of studyof theproblemsand proofsof thisdiscipline.Most of [itsprinciples]are suppositions [{muqaddamathadsiyya} = (literally)conjecturalpremises]thatthe mind {caql}, resolvesto positaccordingto an irregularities, upon observingtheabove-mentioned observedorderand a relianceupon geometricalpremisesthatare notopen to even a scintillaof doubt.For example:thesightingof thefulland crescentshapes [ofthe Moon] in the mannerin whichtheyare observedmakes it certainthatthe lightof the Moon is derivedfromthe Sun and thata lunareclipse occurs because of the of theEarthbetweentheSun and Moon, and thata solareclipse occurs interposition of theMoon betweenthe Sun and theeye,thisdespite because of theinterposition theassertionof thevalidityof thevolitionalOmnipotentand thedenial of 'All al-QUshjl'sSharhtajrfdal-caqd'id(cit.n. 24), p. 186 (line Thisappendixis mytranslation (cit. p. 187 (line29); partofthispassageis citedbyBlrjand!in his"Sharhal-Tadhkira" 11) through al-funtin (cit. istildiha-t n. 46), fol.7a-7b,anda goodpartofitis quotedbyTahanawiin hisKashshdf n. 43), vol. 1,pp. 48-9.

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