علم الزمن والوقت
Our research cannot include the names of all authors who wrote books pertaining to time or about time; because such attempt gives an impression that we historicize the whole science in the history of humanity; because time is present in all sciences in a way or another; therefore, we decided to prepare an Encyclopedia of scholars who made an impact on this science, from the Islamic heritage on the one hand and for those who made a direct impact on the Islamic thought on the other.
We have crossed the specialized knowledge boundaries, racial and linguistic “Ghettos”; after an effort devoted for research and documenting, we reached about 11000 scholars’ biography; who made a direct contribution in one of the sciences pertaining to “time”, and can be modeled as follow:
Abdullah Ibn Amajur: (early 3rd century A.H./ 9th century A.D.), known in the field of geometry and astronomy, he was the founder of several astronomical observatories with his son Al-Hassan; he wrote many books such as: “Zij As-Sindhind”, “Jawami’a ‘Ahkam Al-kusufat Wu Qiran Al-kawakib” and “zij Al-Miriykh Ala Al-Tarikh Al-Farissi” and others.
Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi: (died in 376 A.H/ 983 A.D) he made great contributions and several publications in “Astrolabe” and to him was referred the discovery of “the science of fixed stars”, in addition to “the use of Astrolabe” in about 400 chapters, his book “The Images of the Fixed Stars” was translated into several languages.
Shams Al-Din Al-Rudani (1094 A.H/ 1683A.D), who was born in Taroudant, Morocco, then moved to Draa in Algiers to study there. He invented an easy-to-handle timing machine because it was perceptible, and suitable for all countries of all widths and lengths.
Hassan Hasanzadeh Amoli: (born in 1346 A.H/ 1927 A.D), the author of the book of “Courses on determining time and Qibla direction”, “Sharh Zij Al-Bahaderi” “Risala fi Al-Subh wu Al-Shafaq”, “Istikhraj Jadawil Al-Taqwim” and many others.
These examples are for illustration and not exclusive because the research is still ongoing; however, contemporary scholars are the obstacle I’m facing, what is the criteria that gives them legitimacy to belong to other scholars among “time science scholars?”; because translating a book, writing a research or caring about a specific topic in time does not necessarily enable them to reach that level, unless they leave a clear mark and make an added value.
There are many publications that hold big tiles, but with empty content, or can be just considered as “copy and paste” content from other western books, often known to those who read them, especially what can be considered as mixture of information, like “time management” “as well as time management rules” and “time proverbs and quotes”.
Written by: Dr. Mohamed Babaami
Translated by: Toufik Achour
Date: 2412/2022
The Article title in Arabic: (اضغط للوصول إلى المقال) تراجم علماء الزمن والوقت
