Astronomy in the Service of Islam

Based on a wide variety of previously unstudied sources, these articles explain how science was applied to three aspects of Islamic ritual in the Middle Ages: the regulation of the lunar calendar; the organisation of the times of the five daily prayers; and the determination of the sacred direction (qibla) towards the Kaaba in Mecca. Simple procedures of folk astronomy were used by the scholars of religious law who determined popular practice; more complicated mathematical methods were provided by the scientists - and this proved a powerful incentive for the development of scientific analysis and research. Some of these procedures were to have far-reaching consequences. For example, the astronomical alignment of the Kaaba - known to various medieval writers, but long forgotten - led to the adoption of similar alignments for the qibla, and the final articles show how these were calculated, whether from astronomical observation or geographical computation, and their impact on the orientation of religious and secular architecture across the Islamic world. Cest partir dune grande diversit de sources inexplores que ces articles expliquent comment la science avait t applique a trois aspects du rituel islamique au Moyen Age: la rgulation du calendrier lunaire; lorganisation des heures assignes aux cinq prires quotidiennes; et ltablissement de la direction sacre (qibla) vers la Kaaba de la Mecque. Des procds simples dastronomie populaire taient utiliss par les rudits en droit religieux qui dcidaient de la pratique populaire; des mthodes mathmatiques plus complexes taient offertes par les hommes de science - ce qui, en effet, savra tre une motivation puissante dans le dveloppement de lanalyse et de la recherche scientifique. Certains de ces procds eurent des consequences dune grande porte par la suite. Lalignement astronomique de la Kaaba - pour ne reprendre quun exemple connu