Time in Early Modern Islam: Calendar, Ceremony, and Chronology in the Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman Empires - Hardcover

Blake, Stephen P.

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1107030234 ISBN 13: 9781107030237

Publisher: Cambridge University Press, 2013

Synopsis

The prophet Muhammad and the early Islamic community radically redefined the concept of time that they had inherited from earlier religions' beliefs and practices. This new temporal system, based on a lunar calendar and era, was complex and required sophistication and accuracy. From the ninth to the sixteenth century, it was the Muslim astronomers of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, and not those of Europe, who were responsible for the major advances in mathematics, astronomy, and astrology. Stephen Blake's fascinating study compares the Islamic concept of time, and its historical and cultural significance, across these three great empires. Each empire, while mindful of earlier models, created a new temporal system, fashioning a new solar calendar and era and a new round of rituals and ceremonies from the cultural resources at hand. The hysteria that accompanied the end of the first Islamic millennium in 1591 also created a unique collection of apocalyptic prophets and movements in each empire. This book contributes not only to our understanding of the Muslim temporal system, but also to our appreciation of the influence of Islamic science on the Western world.

About this title

Book Description:

Stephen Blake compares the Islamic concept of time across the empires of the Safavids, Ottomans, and Mughals. Each empire, while mindful of earlier models, created a new temporal system, fashioning a new solar calendar and era and a new round of rituals and ceremonies from the cultural resources at hand. The book not only contributes to our understanding of the origins and transformation of the Muslim temporal system but also explains the impact of Islamic science on the West.

About the Author:

Dr Stephen P. Blake is Professor Emeritus at the University of Minnesota and St Olaf College, Minnesota. His books include Shahjahanabad: The Sovereign City in Mughal India, 1639-1739 (Cambridge, 2002) and Half the World: The Social Architecture of Safavid Isfahan, 1590-1722 (1999).

About this edition

• Publisher: Cambridge University Press
• Publication date: 2013
• ISBN 10: 1107030234
• ISBN 13: 9781107030237
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 224