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

226 Pages·2013·2.83 MB·English

by  Stephen P. Blake

TimeinEarlyModernIslam
The prophet Muhammad and the early Islamic community radically
redefinedtheconceptoftimethattheyhadinheritedfromearlierreligions’
beliefsandpractices.Thisnewtemporalsystem,basedonalunarcalendar
andera,wascomplexandrequiredsophisticationandaccuracy.Fromthe
ninth to the sixteenth centuries, it was the Muslim astronomers of the
Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires, andnot thoseof Europe, who
wereresponsibleforthemajoradvancesinmathematics,astronomy,and
astrology. Stephen P. Blake’s fascinating study compares the Islamic
concept oftime,and itshistoricaland culturalsignificance, acrossthese
threegreatempires.Eachempire,whilemindfulofearliermodels,created
anewtemporalsystem,fashioninganewsolarcalendaranderaandanew
roundofritualsandceremoniesfromtheculturalresourcesathand.The
hysteriathataccompaniedtheendofthefirstIslamicmillenniumin1591
alsocreatedauniquecollectionofapocalypticprophetsandmovementsin
eachempire.Thisbookcontributesnotonlytoourunderstandingofthe
Muslimtemporalsystem,butalsotoourappreciationoftheinfluenceof
IslamicscienceontheWesternworld.
Dr.StephenP.BlakeisProfessorEmeritusatSt.OlafCollege,Northfield,
Minnesota, and Senior Research Fellow, Center for Early Modern
History, University of Minnesota. His books include Shahjahanabad:
TheSovereignCityinMughalIndia,1639–1739(CambridgeUniversity
Press 2002), and Half the World: The Social Architecture of Safavid
Isfahan,1590–1722(1999).
ToMeg,withloveasalways
Tomychildren–Andrew,Edward,John,Paul,andRachel
Time in Early Modern Islam
Calendar, Ceremony, and Chronology in the
Safavid, Mughal, and Ottoman Empires
STEPHEN P. BLAKE
CenterforEarlyModernHistory,UniversityofMinnesota
cambridge university press
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CambridgeUniversityPress
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©StephenP.Blake2013
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Firstpublished2013
PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica
AcatalogrecordforthispublicationisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloginginPublicationData
Blake,StephenP.
TimeinearlymodernIslam:calendar,ceremony,andchronologyinthe
Safavid,Mughal,andOttomanempires/byStephenP.Blake.
p. cm.
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
isbn978-1-107-03023-7(hardback)
1. Islamiccalendar. 2. Astronomy–Religiousaspects–Islam. 3. Time–Religious
aspects–Islam. 4. Islamandscience–History. 5. Iran–History–Safaviddynasty,
1501–1736. 6. MogulEmpire. 7. Turkey–History–OttomanEmpire,
1288–1918. I. Title.
ce59.b63 2013
5290.327–dc23 2012023174
isbn978-1-107-03023-7Hardback
CambridgeUniversityPresshasnoresponsibilityforthepersistenceoraccuracyofurlsfor
externalorthird-partyInternetWebsitesreferredtointhispublicationanddoesnot
guaranteethatanycontentonsuchWebsitesis,orwillremain,accurateorappropriate.
Contents
Preface pagevii
Acknowledgments xi
NoteonTransliteration xiii
Introduction 1
1 Safavid,Mughal,andOttomanEmpires 21
2 Calendar 48
3 Ceremony 76
4 Chronology:Era 107
5 Chronology:Millenarian 141
6 Conclusion 174
SelectBibliography 187
Index 193
v

Preface
As the last of the great world religions, Islam entered a crowded spiritual
arena.AlthoughMecca,thehomeoftheprophetMuhammad,containedthe
central shrine of the pagan Bedouins, it also housed sizable Jewish and
Christian communities. As a result, an early aim of the new community
wastodistinguishitselffromthebeliefsandpracticesofitsneighbors.And
one of its most radical departures wasa thoroughgoing redefinition of the
conceptoftime.IntheQuranAllahhadordainedanewcalendar.Theyear
wastobestrictlylunar,354days,dividedintotwelvemonthsoftwenty-nine
andahalfdayseach.Althoughmanyearlystateshadadoptedlunarcalen-
dars(theBabylonians,Egyptians,Jews,andGreeks,forexample),theireras
werelunisolar.Thatis,inordertokeepthecalendar(anditsceremoniesand
rituals) in rough synchronization with the seasons, these states added an
extramontheverythreeyearsorso.However,becauseAllahhadexpressly
prohibitedathirteenthmonth,thestrictlylunareraoftheMuslimscontained
no lengthened years. Rather, the 354-day year of the lunar era regressed
againstthe365-dayyearofthesolareraattherateof11dayspercycle.In
thuscuttingthecalendarloosefromtheseasons,thenewreligiongavebirth
toanintensepreoccupationwithtime–definingit,measuringit,celebrating
itspeakmoments.IntheyearsafterMuhammad’sdeaththeintroductionof
newritualsacceleratedtheprocessofredefinition.Amonthoffastinganda
pilgrimage month required a precise determination of the phases of the
moon, and the five daily prayers demanded an accurate timetable of the
sun’smovementacrossthedaytimesky.
Becauseinthepremodernworldtimewasmeasuredbythemovementsof
theheavenlybodies(theearth,sun,moon,thefivevisibleplanets,andthe
vii
viii Preface
visible stars) and not by mechanical devices (clocks or watches), the new
temporal system created a new dedication to astronomy. In premodern
Eurasia,astronomywasthequeenofthesciences,reaching(accordingtoa
modernhistorian)“amuchhigherlevelofaccuracyandsophisticationthan
any other science.”1 And from the middle of the ninth century until the
middleofthesixteenthitwastheIslamicastronomersintheobservatoriesof
Isfahan, Maragha,and Samarqand,notthose inParis,London, orRome,
whoachievedthemajoradvancesinthescience.NotuntilTychoBrahein
thelatesixteenthcenturydidtheEuropeansmatchtheequipment,precision,
andmathematicalsophisticationoftheIslamicastronomers.
In the premodern Islamic world, the astronomer/astrologer (Persian,
munajjim; Turkish, muneccim) was the time expert. Not only was he
responsibleforestablishingtheobservationalandmathematicalparameters
ofthenewtemporalsystem,buthewasalsogiventhetaskofworkingoutits
astrologicalcomponents.Althoughastrologyalsodefinedatemporalorder
dependentontheheavenlybodies,itwasacompletelyunscientificconstruct.
The time of the astrologer was symbolic, eschatological, and millennial.
Having constructed a horoscope or chart of the heavens, the astrologer
foretold the future for individuals, communities, and nations. He deter-
mined the appropriate time for undertaking or avoiding activities. He
revealedthehiddenpatternsofthecosmos–theeclipsesandconjunctions,
thecometsandshootingstars–thatpredictedthetriumphsanddisastersof
theterrestrialworld.
By the early modern period, three great empires had come to rule the
Islamicworld–theMughal(1526–1739)inIndia;theSafavid(1501–1722)
inIran;andtheOttoman(ca.1289–1923)inAnatolia,theBalkans,Syria,
Egypt, the Arabian Peninsula, and North Africa. Although all three had
inherited the basic Islamic concept, their different cultural environments
(IndicfortheMughals,ZoroastrianfortheSafavids,andChristianforthe
Ottomans) meant that in each state different temporal systems emerged.
Thesesystemsvariedinthreeways–calendrically,ceremonially,andchro-
nologically.Thecalendricaldifferencerevolvedaroundtheadditionofone
ormoresolarcalendarstotheliturgicallunar,thenecessityinanagrarian
stateforacalendarthattrackedtheseasons.Theceremonialdifference,by
contrast,centered on the adoption of new public rituals,celebrations that
reflectedboththedynasty’sheritageanditsneedforlegitimacy.Finally,the
chronological issue was twofold: First, in an agrarian state with multiple
1 StevenWeinberg,“TheMissionsofAstronomy,”NewYorkReviewofBooks56(22Oct.
2009):19.