Zij al-Sabi

Zij al-Sabi (The Sabian astronomical handbook; also known as Zij al-Battani or Kitab al-Zij) is an astronomical work and astronomical tables compiled by the astronomer and mathematician al-Battani (d. 317 AH / 929 CE; another report gives 323 AH) al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

Composition and Context

The handbook was constructed on the basis of astronomical observations that al-Battani conducted between 264 AH / 877 CE and 306 AH / 918 CE in al-Raqqa and Antioch al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1. He cataloged fixed stars for the epoch of 299 AH al-Fihrist. According to Ibn al-Nadim, the author prepared two editions of the book, the second of which was superior to the first al-Fihrist.

Contents and Methodology

The work provides mathematical and observational adjustments to the astronomical models of Ptolemy’s Almagest Kanz al-Durar wa Jami al-…+1. It incorporates corrected determinations for the motions of the Sun and the Moon (the two luminaries) as well as the five planets Kanz al-Durar wa Jami al-…+1. Al-Battani documented observations of solar and lunar eclipses, formulated equations for lunar and solar positions, and discovered the motion of the solar apogee al-Alam lil-Zirikli+1.

The tables were organized around the Roman (Byzantine) calendar and the Hijri calendar; Ali ibn Ahmad al-Nasawi observed that using these two systems alongside the Persian calendar was complicated due to leap years and fractions Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Reception and Influence

Scholars widely regarded Zij al-Sabi as an improvement in observational precision over earlier Hellenistic and Islamic tables:

• Sa'id al-Andalusi remarked that no astronomer in Islamic history matched al-Battani in correcting planetary observations and testing their motions Kanz al-Durar wa Jami al-…+1.
• Ali ibn Ahmad al-Nasawi deemed it the most accurate observational zij for being closest to the truth Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.
• Al-Biruni cited the work in al-Athar al-Baqiya Kashf al-Zunun an Asami a…+1.

Later astronomers adapted and revised its data: the Andalusian scholar Maslama ibn Ahmad al-Majriti wrote an abridgment of its planetary equations, while Abu Muhammad al-Adli al-Ayni reworked it in al-Zij al-Adli Uyun al-Anba fi Tabaqat a…+1.

Transmission and Modern Editions

A Latin translation of the work was published in Nuremberg in 1537 CE under the title Scientia Stellarum al-Alam lil-Zirikli. In 1749 CE, the British astronomer Richard Dunthorne utilized its recorded eclipse observations to calculate secular lunar acceleration al-Alam lil-Zirikli. A manuscript is preserved in the Vatican Library in Rome Iktifa al-Qanu bima huwa …. The orientalist Carlo Alfonso Nallino prepared a critical edition with a Latin translation published in Rome between 1899 and 1907, which was subsequently reprinted in Cairo and Baghdad Mujam Tarikh al-Turath al….