The Great Hakimi Zij in the History of Islamic Astronomy and Its Role in the Transmission of Observational Data to Modern Astronomy

Document Type : Research/Original/Reqular Article

Author

Assistant Professor, Institute for the History of Science, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran

10.22059/jhic.2026.408990.654628

Abstract

The Great Hakimi Zij, composed by the Egyptian astronomer Ibn Yunus (d.399/ 1009), is among the most significant astronomical works compiled in the Islamic civilization and constitutes a fundamental source for the history of observational practice. This article examines the place of the Hakimi Zij within the history of Islamic astronomy by focusing on its observational content and historical function, and by assessing its role in the transmission of astronomical data to modern astronomical traditions. A close analysis of the text demonstrates that Ibn Yunus, through the systematic and precise recording of his own observations and the careful compilation of dispersed materials from earlier astronomers, preserved a corpus of data some of which represent the only known sources for reconstructing otherwise lost observational traditions. The Great Hakimi Zij constitutes the sole extant source for Iranian observations of the solar apogee from the Sasanian period, as well as for data attributed to figures such as Aḥmad al-Nahāwandī, al-Māhānī, and the Banū ʾAmājūr, and thus plays a foundational role in reassessing the history of Islamic observational astronomy, particularly the observational program of the Mumtaḥan astronomers. The article further traces the wide circulation of the Hakimi Zij across various Islamic regions, including Egypt, Syria, Iran, and Yemen, and examines its profound influence on later astronomical tables, most notably the Ilkhanid Zij. It then explores the routes through which the observational data of this work were transmitted to Europe and the ways in which Western astronomers made use of them from the seventeenth century onward-data that played a significant role in the formation of modern astronomical research, including studies of the secular acceleration of the Moon and long-term variations in the Earth’s rotational velocity. In this way, the Great Hakimi Zij stands not only as a landmark work in the history of Islamic astronomy, but also as a civilizational document attesting to the link between Islamic observational practice and the formation of modern astronomical knowledge

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References

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Iranian Journal for the History of Islamic Civilization
Volume 58, Issue 2
(Autumn & Winter 2025 / 2026)
March 2026
Pages 296-321

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  • Receive Date: 28 December 2025
  • Revise Date: 05 February 2026
  • Accept Date: 17 February 2026

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