The Sultan and the Stars. al-Ashraf ˁUmar and his Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ˁilm al-nujūm

• Applicant: Dr. Petra G. Schmidl
• Subject Area: Medieval History ; Islamic Studies, Arabian Studies, Semitic Studies ; History of Science
• Term: since 2019
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 423760106

The project “The Sultan and the Stars. al-Ashraf ˁUmar and his Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ˁilm al-nujūm” supported by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) since mid-November 2019 focuses on a complete analysis of this “Enlightenment in the science of the stars” written in the 1270ies by al Ashraf ˁUmar, who later in his life became the Rasūlid sultan and ruler over the Yemen. Nearly half of this text addresses basic astrological knowledge and prognostic practices, a fifth diurnal and annual timekeeping. Single paragraphs include topics related to magic, medicine, geography, instruments, and mathematics. In the broadest sense, the Tabṣira deals with celestial phenomena, that allow to learn more about the future and that help to organize everyday life. For this project, a renewal proposal is submitted here. “The Sultan and the Stars” approaches its objective in two steps. The first part makes the text accessible for further research by editing the entire Arabic text, translating it into English, commenting, and analysing it. Each chapter is dealt separately and pre-published on the project’s page (tabsira.hypotheses.org/). An elaborate study forms the second part of the project and introduces the author, the manuscript, and the text as whole. Above all, it exhaustively discusses those topics that make a complete analysis and interpretation of the Tabṣira most valuable beyond narrow and specialized discourses, language and cultural boundaries. These include the prominent social position of its author, the didactical claim formulated in the preface of the Tabṣira and specific features of its contents. With the aid of these two parts, the project ‘The Sultan and the Stars’ provides an analysis of this pivotal text, that is settled among medieval studies bridging language areas, pre-modern history of science and historical Islamic studies.

• DFG Programme: Research Grants