Astrology

Islamic Astrology

Albumasur

Albumasur or Abu Ma'shar (805 - 885) was probably the greatest Islamic astrologer ever. His treatise 'Introductoriam in Astronomium' spoke about how 'only by observing the great diversity of planetary motions can we comprehend the unnumbered varieties of change in this world'. The 'Introductoriam' was one of the first books to find its way in translation through Spain and into Europe in the Middle Ages, and was highly influential in the revival of astrology and astronomy there.

Medieval Islamic Astrology

Introduction

Medieval Islamic astrology continued the Hellenistic and Roman era traditions based on Ptolemy's Almagest. Learning centres for medicine and astronomy/astrology were made in Baghdad and Damascus. The Caliph Al-Mansur established an observatory and library in the city. During this time knowledge of astrology was greatly increased, Many modern star names are derived from their Arabic names.

Muslim astrologers crafted a new form of astrology called electional astrology. Electional astrology, also known as event astrology, is a type of astrology where a practitioner decides the most appropriate time for an event based on the astrological information he gets from planets stars and the sky at that time. It is different from horary astrology because horary astrologers try to find the answer to a question based on the time when the question is asked, electional astrologers try to find a period of time which will result in the most wanted outcome for the event.
Historically electional astrology was a type of astrology used to plan battles, electional astrology has been used by its followers to plan a number of events, including weddings and trips.

Muslims also combined the teachings of medicine and astrology by linking the properties of herbs with specific zodiac signs and planets. Mars was considered hot and dry so ruled plants with a hot or pungent taste like tobacco or mustard. These studies were adopted by European herbalists like Culpeper right up until the development of modern medicine.

Another system of astrology the Muslims developed was called Arabic parts. In astrology, the Arabian/Arabic parts are constructed points based on mathematical calculations of three horoscopic entities such as planets or angles. The distance between two of the points is added to the position of the third (very often the ascendant) to find the location of the part.

The Islamic calendar or Muslim calendar or Hijri calendar is a lunar calendar made up of 12 lunar months in a year of 355 days. It is used to date events in many Muslim countries and used by Muslims everywhere to determine the proper day on which to celebrate Islamic holy days and festivals. The first year was the year during the prophet Muhammad's journey from Mecca to Medina called the Hijra. Each numbered year is designated either H for Hijra or AH for After Hijra. Before Hijra (BH) dates are used to determine the time of events related to Islam, such as the birth of Muhammad in 53 BH. Being a purely lunar calendar, it is not synchronized with the seasons.