weiter Angaben (Quelle ISMI/ The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers, Springer
Reference. New York: Springer, 2007, p. 627)
Courtesy of
http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-30400-7_761
Kharaqī: Shams al‐Dīn Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Aḥmad al‐Kharaqī [al‐Khiraqī]
Y. Tzvi Langermann
Flourished Marw (Merv near Mary, Turkmenistan)
Died 1138/1139
Kharaqī is the author of two works on hayʾa, a genre of the Arabic astronomical literature
that placed its main emphasis on explaining the physical structure of the Universe.
The shorter of these, al‐Tabṣira fī ʿilm al‐hayʾa (Conspectus of the science of astronomy),
achieved considerable popularity. Altogether, about a dozen manuscripts survive (including
several copied into Hebrew letters). Two commentaries were written, one by the Yemeni
Jew Aluʾel ben Yeshaʿ, the other anonymous; and a Hebrew translation has been identified.
Only a few manuscript copies of the longer work, Muntahā al‐idrāk fī taqāsīm al‐aflāk
(The utmost attainment in the configuration of the orbs) survive. Neither work has
been published or even been the subject of a close study.
Kharaqī's work constitutes an important stage in the physical investigations of Islamic
astronomers. He acknowledges the work of predecessors such as Ibn al‐Haytham who had
put their minds to this task. Yet, Kharaqī proclaims, people still do not know how
the stars carry out their motions. It is like knowing that a person went from one
city to another, but not knowing whether he went by foot or on horseback. His own
work aims to rectify the matter. Although no specific advances can yet be credited
to al‐Kharaqī, his writings were an influence upon Naṣīr al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī. Selected References
Ragep, F. J. (1993). Naṣīr al‐Dīn al‐Ṭūsī's Memoir on Astronomy (al‐Tadhkira fī ʿilm
al‐hayʾa). 2 Vols. New York: Springer‐Verlag. (See his index for occasional references
and citations from the writings of Kharaqī.)
Wiedemann, E. and K. Kohl (1926/1927). “Einleitung zu Werken von al‐Charaqī.” Sitzungsberichte
der Physikalisch‐Medizinischen Sozietät in Erlangen 58–59: 203–218. (Reprinted in
Wiedemann, Aufsätze zur arabischen Wissenschaftsgeschichte. Vol. 2, pp. 628–643. Hildesheim:
G. Olms, 1970. German translations of introductions to Kharaqī's two books.)
Wiedemann, E. and J. Samsó (1978). “Al‐Kharakī.” In EncyclopWiedemann, E. and J. Samsó
(1978). “Al‐Kharakī.” In Encyclopaedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Vol. 4, p. 1059. Leiden:
E. J. Brill.aedia of Islam. 2nd ed. Vol. 4, p. 1059. Leiden: E. J. Brill.
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