Critiques of Ptolemaic Astronomy in Islamic Spain

Abstract

This article announces the discovery of a hitherto unknown text called al-lstidrāk by an anonymous eleventh-century Andalusian astronomer who was personally acquainted with Azarquiel and who has attempted to raise doubts concerning the Greek astronomical tradition. On the basis of this new evidence, the article argues against the oft-repeated characterization of the critical tradition in Islamic astronomy as being philosophical in al-Andalus and more mathematical in al-Mashriq. Other evidence from both sides of the Mediterranean is brought to bear on the issue which also demonstrates the continuity between the two shores. The article stipulates that the fallacy in characterization has stemmed from the false comparison between the works of philosophers in the west with those of astronomers in the east. When the works of astronomers from both sides were compared they revealed very clearly that the same problems motivated astronomical work all over the Islamic world. What also became clear is that eastern astronomers, like Ibn al-Shāṭir of Damascus, were also deeply aware of the philosophical issues that preoccupied the Andalusian philosophers and managed to respond to them directly with some ingenious philosophical insights of their own.