Maḥmūd Ibn Muḥammad Ibn ʿumar Al-Jaghmīnī's Al-Mulakhkhaṣ Fī Al
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Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Jaghmīnī’s al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa: An Edition, Translation, and Study by Sally P. Ragep Ad Personam Program Institute of Islamic Studies & Department of History McGill University, Montreal August 2014 A thesis submitted to McGill University in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Doctoral of Philosophy © Sally P. Ragep, 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract .......................................................................................................................................... iv Résumé .............................................................................................................................................v Acknowledgements ........................................................................................................................ vi Introduction § 1.0 The Arabic Edition and English Translation of Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ .............1 § 2.0 A Study of the Mulakhkhaṣ ...................................................................................7 PART I Chapter 1 The Dating of Jaghmīnī to the Late-Twelfth/Early-Thirteenth Centuries and Resolving the Question of Multiple Jaghmīnīs ............................................11 § I.1.1 A Man Who Should Need No Introduction ........................................................13 § I.1.2a Review of the Literature .....................................................................................15 § I.1.2b A Tale of Two Jaghmīnīs ....................................................................................19 § I.1.3 Evidence Shedding New Light ...........................................................................26 § I.1.3a Dating the Qanūnča ............................................................................................32 § I.1.3b Dating the Mulakhkhaṣ .......................................................................................33 § I.1.3c Further Evidence for Dating Jaghmīnī ................................................................34 § I.1.4 So What’s in a Date? ...........................................................................................40 Chapter 2 An Overview of Summary Accounts of Astronomy before the Mulakhkhaṣ .....42 § I.2.1 The Meaning of Hayʾa ........................................................................................43 § I.2.2 How Hayʾa became Popularized Within an Islamic context ..............................50 § I.2.3 Ancient Forebears ...............................................................................................53 § I.2.3a Ptolemy’s Predecessors .......................................................................................53 § I.2.3b Ptolemy ...............................................................................................................64 § I.2.3c The Ptolemaic Aftermath: Theoretical Astronomy With—and Without—Him ...........................................70 ii § I.2.4 Islamic Forebears ................................................................................................79 § I.2.4a The “Moderns”....................................................................................................82 § I.2.4b The “Post Modernists” ........................................................................................97 § I.2.5 L’Astronomie pour les Nuls..............................................................................111 Chapter 3 Situating the Composition and Teaching of the Mulakhkhaṣ in a Madrasa Setting ..........................................................................................115 § I.3.1 Shedding Light on Old Evidence ......................................................................119 § I.3.2 Partial Narratives ..............................................................................................138 § I.3.3 Transformations ................................................................................................147 § I.3.3a Conceptual and Textual Transformations of the Discipline of hayʾa ...............148 § I.3.3b Institutional Transformations: A New Clientele ...............................................150 PART II § II.1 Editorial Procedures ..........................................................................................156 § II.1a Establishing the Text.........................................................................................156 § II.1b Establishing the Figures ....................................................................................157 § II.1c Variants and Orthography .................................................................................157 § II.1d Parameters .........................................................................................................158 § II.2 Description of the Manuscripts .........................................................................159 § II.3 Explanation of Signs and Conventions Used in Arabic Critical Edition and Apparatus ...................................................................................................163 § II.4 Arabic Edition of al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa .....................................164 § II.5 Figure Apparatus ...............................................................................................301 PART III § III.1 English translation of al-Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa ..............................307 § III.2 Commentary to the Edition and Translation .....................................................361 Appendix I Jaghmīnī’s Works .............................................................................................406 Appendix II Commentaries and Supercommentaries on, and Translations of, Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ ....................................................................................410 Bibliography ................................................................................................................................420 iii ABSTRACT The Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa, composed by Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al- Jaghmīnī in the early-thirteenth century, was an extremely popular astronomical textbook that would play a critical role in the teaching, dissemination, and institutional instruction of Islamic theoretical astronomy. Its study and use as a propaedeutic for more advanced teaching texts is evidenced by thousands of extant copies of the original and its numerous commentaries, super commentaries, and glosses. This dissertation, first and foremost, provides a critical edition and English translation of, and commentary on, this important and influential treatise. Due to ambiguity within the literature regarding exactly when Jaghmīnī flourished (which even led to speculation that there could have been two Jaghmīnīs), the focus of Chapter One is devoted to establishing Jaghmīnī’s dates and arguing that he was the sole author of both the Mulakhkhaṣ and the equally popular medical treatise al-Qānūnča. Among other things, this highlights that one scholar was composing multiple scientific textbooks in the late-twelfth/early-thirteenth century under the auspices of the Khwārizm Shāhs in Central Asia, a period often considered one of scientific stagnation. Chapter Two situates the Mulakhkhaṣ within the broader context of the genre of astronomical literature termed ʿilm al-hayʾa, a corpus of works that attempted to explain the physical structure of the universe as a whole, and a tradition of which the Mulakhkhaṣ was very much a part. Included in this chapter is a survey of summary accounts of theoretical astronomy of Jaghmīnī’s predecessors, both Ancient and Islamic, as potential sources for the Mulakhkhaṣ. Chapter Three makes the case that the target audience of Jaghmīnī’s Mulakhkhaṣ was, in the first instance, students studying in madrasas, where his work would have been seen as providing a cosmology glorifying God’s creation. The more general issue raised here is whether the standard approach to the pedagogy of Islamic science tends to promote its history as discrete episodes and dependent in the main on courtly patronage or individual initiatives, i.e., outside the core institutional structures of Islamic societies. It is then argued that a serious consequence of this has been the neglect of the vital role religious institutions played in sustaining scientific education in premodern Islam. iv RÉSUMÉ Le Mulakhkhaṣ fī al-hayʾa al-basīṭa, composé par Maḥmūd ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿUmar al-Jaghmīnī au début du XIIIe siècle, était un manuel astronomique extrêmement populaire qui devait jouer un rôle essentiel dans l’enseignement, la diffusion et l’institutionnalisation de l’astronomie théorique islamique. Son étude et son utilisation comme propédeutique pour les textes d’enseignement plus avancés est attestée par des milliers de copies existantes de l’original, ses nombreux commentaires, les commentaires sur les commentaires et des gloses. Cette thèse, d’abord et avant tout, offre une édition critique, une traduction en anglais et un commentaire de ce traité important et influent. En raison de l’ambiguïté existant dans la littérature quant à la période exacte à laquelle Jaghmīnī était en activité (qui a même conduit à la spéculation qu’il pourrait y avoir eu deux Jaghmīnīs), la mise au point du premier chapitre est consacrée à établir les dates de Jaghmīnī et le fait qu’il était le seul auteur à la fois du Mulakhkhaṣ et d’un tout aussi populaire traité médical intitulé al-Qānūnča. Entre autres choses, cela met