Shirazi, Qutb al-Din. al-Tuhfa al-Shahiyya fi l-Haya', Arabic manuscript on paper, Copied by Yahya ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad al-Tusi (al-Kashi) , The Imperial City of Saltaniyya, Il-Khanid, Persia, Dated Thursday 25th Jumada al-Awwal A.H. 712/28th September A.D. 1312

This is a fine and rare manuscript of one of the seminal works of the thirteenth-century astronomer and 'scholar of the Persians,' Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, copied only 18 months after the death of its celebrated author.

biography

Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi had a glittering career as a leading member of the literati of the Muslim east.  His interests spanned religion, philosophy, science and medicine and he was regarded as one of the most accomplished intellectuals of his age; referred to by contemporaries such as Abu 'l Fida as al-mutafannin "experienced in many fields", and Ibn Shuhba and al-Subki as "the scholar of the Persians" (EI, vol.ix, p.547). 

Born into a family of physicians in Shiraz in A.H.634/A.D.1236, Qutb al-Din received his medical training from his father and uncles in the hospital of Shiraz.  Later, at Nasir al-Din Tusi's personal encouragement, he studied astronomy, and went on to surpass all Tusi's other students to become his most distinguished graduate.  Following this pattern of seeking out the company of scholars, al-Shirazi travelled throughout the eastern and central Islamic lands furthering his education.

Towards the latter part of his life al-Shirazi began to study religion in earnest, annotating the Qur'an, writing commentaries on the hadith as well as various sufi works; and he is said by Hajji Khalifa to have "distinguished himself in theology" (EI, vol.ix, p.547).

In addition to his achievements in the realms of religion, science and medicine, al-Shirazi also dabbled in politics.  At some point in his illustrious career the physician and astronomer became acquainted with the Il-Khanid ruler of Persia, who dispatched him on a diplomatic mission with a peace overture to the Mamluk Sultan Sayf al-Din Qalawun (A.H. 678-689/A.D. 1279-1290). 

milieu

Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi's works were naturally influenced by Tusi's studies, and they are both considered key figures in the Maragha School of Astronomy that worked to different principles from the traditionally dominant Ptolemaic approach to the subject.  The Maragha School is acclaimed as the "most remarkable... of Arabic astronomy," and went on to influence the great European astronomer Copernicus, who used the Islamic models and their points of reference to develop his own models and theorems. 

Although so few of the astronomical works from this period have been studied, or are extant, the title is misleading in that the school was not confined to the region of Maragha in north-western Iran, but rather spanned the entire Arab world and lasted from the eleventh to the sixteenth century.  Its greatest proponents however were Nasir al-Din Tusi and his student, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi.

The Maragha astronomers were greatly concerned with accurate mathematical explanations for their theorems.  In response to Ptolemy's noticeable lack of mathematical methodologies to support his hypotheses, the Maragha astronomers not only questioned his observational accuracy, but were diligent in producing a mathematical language as justification for their theorems.

Recent studies of the Maragha school have been pivotal in the re-evaluation of medieval Arab astronomy for the following reasons: it is thanks to the leading figures of the Maragha school and their criticisms of Ptolemy that Arabic astronomy is considered valuable to the development of astronomy and its principles; that Arab astronomy is no longer considered to be simply a vessel for the transmission of Greek astronomy; that it is no longer considered secondary to western Medieval and Renaissance astronomy; that the so called 'period of decline' in Arab astronomy was in fact a period of progress, with a number of original works produced.

his works

al-Shirazi's works on astronomy include two comprehensive treatises, Nihayat al-idrak fi dirayat al-aflak, The Highest Intelligence in the Knowledge of the Spheres, and the present work, al-tuhfa al-shahiyya fi l-haya, that are very similar to one another.  The Encyclopaedia of Islam remarks that whilst these two works follow closely the al-tadhkira al-nasiriyya of Tusi, they are "very much fuller and deal with many questions which Nasir al-Din did not touch; they are therefore much more than commentaries" (EI, p.547).

Other works on astronomy include the Sharh al-tadhkira al-nasriyya, fi Harakat al dahradja wa 'l-nisba bayn al-mustawi wa'lmunhani, and al-Tabsira fi'l haya', and Kitab fa'altu fa la talum fi 'l-haya'.

None of al-Shirazi's works have so far been published, largely due to the complexity of translating them.  At over two-hundred folios each with extremely challenging text, they have been described by Kennedy as "exasperating" (Saliba 1994, p.281).  As an example of their obscurity to the unsuspecting translator, the author remarks in his third work, the Fa'altu fala Talum, that he has created "nine models to solve the problem of Mercury's equant, only the ninth is the correct one."  Moreover he leaves intellectual traps for his readers commenting that he "exposed the faults of six of them in the Tuhfa and intentionally left the faults of the seventh and the eighth in order to test whether those with intelligence will ever discover them" (Saliba 1994, p.281) 

For further references see:

Saliba, G., A History of Arabic Astronomy Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, New York, 1994
Dallal, A. S., An Islamic Response to Greek Astronomy, New York, 1995
EI, vol.ix, pp.547-548