Vertical Sundial from the Madrasa of al-Ashraf Inal (No. 158) on Cairo Northern Necropolis

Author: Maciej G. Witkowski | Pages: 459–475

Abstract

The primary goal of this paper is a detailed publication of the little known mizwala munharifa (vertical sundial), still preserved on the madrasa belonging to the funerary complex of the Sultan Al-Ashraf Inal (no. 158), on the so-called Cairo North Cemetery. This sundial, dating back to Rabi I, year 871 [AH] – i.e. 11.10.-09.11.1466 AD – is a work of the otherwise unknown ‘poor Hassan al-Tayybi’, pupil of the famous mathematician and astronomer (and a longtime muwaqqit of the Al-Azhar) Muhammad ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn al-Ġazal, widely known as Badr or Sibt al-Din al-Mar[i]dini (AD 1423–1506). Further on, comparing the mizwala in question with two other sundials preserved in the city center, author attempts to approach the function and role this instrument might have played within the social context of the local population inhabiting the north-east Cairo suburbs (Cairo ‘fuori le mura’, the ‘North Cemetery’ included) – dominated, by the end of the mamluk period, by numerous sufi communities.

References

Amin M.M., Catalogue des documents d’archives du Caire de 239/853 à 922/1516, Textes arabes et études islamiques 16, Le Caire 1981

Behrens-Abouseif D., Cairo of the Mamluks. A History of the Architecture and Its Culture, London-Cairo 2007
Behrens-Abouseif D., Islamic architecture in Cairo. An Introduction, Leiden 1989-Cairo 1990
Berchem M. van, Matériaux pour un Corpus Inscriptionum Arabicarum, Première partie: Égypte/Le Caire, Mémoires publiés par les membres de la Mission archéologique française au Caire XIX/3–4, Le Caire 190
Berggren J.L., Sundials in Medieval Islamic Science and Civilisation, The Compendium 8/2, 2001
Blair S., Islamic inscriptions, Edinburgh 1998

Denoix S., Depaule J.-Ch., Tuchscherer M., Le Khan al-Khalili, Un centre commercial et artisanal au Caire du XIIIe au XXe siecle I–II, Étud urb 4/1–2
Dobrowolski J., The funerary complex of Amir Kabir Qurqumas in Cairo, [in:] Vermeulen U., De Smet D. (Eds), Egypt and Syria in the Fatimid, Ayyubid and Mamluk Eras II, Proceedings of the 4th and 5th International Colloqium organized at the Katholieke Universi teit Leuven in May 1995 and 1996, Orientalia Lovaniensia Analecta 83, Leuven 1998

Faroqhi S., Artisans of Empire: Crafts and Craftspeople Under the Ottomans, London 2011
Ferrari G., The Ottoman Sundials in Aiello del Friuli, The Compendium 17/3, 2010
Freemantle-Grenville G.S.P., The Islamic and Christian Calendars AD 622–2222 (AH 1–1650), Reading 1977

Gibbs S.L., Greek and Roman Sundials, New Haven, Conn. 1976

Hamza H., The Northern Cemetery of Cairo, Cairo 2001
Hughes T.P., Dictionary of Islam, being a Cyclopaedia of the Doctrines, Rites, Ceremonies and Customs, together with the Technical and Theological Terms of the Muhammadan Religion, London 1885

Kania J., Cairo. Funerary Complex of Amir Kabir Qurqumas. Restoration Project Progress Repport 1999, Polish Archaeology in the Mediterranean XI (Reports 1999), 2000
Kennedy E.S., The Exhaustive Treatise on Shadows I (Transl.)–II (Comm.), Aleppo [1976]
King D.A., A Survey of the Scientific Manuscripts in the Egyptian National Library, American Research Center in Egypt, Catalog 5, Winona Lake, Ind. 1986
King D.A., Astronomy in the service of Islam, [London] 1993
King D.A., Astronomy and Islamic Society, Qibla, gnomonics and timekeeping, [in:] Rashed R. (Ed.), Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science I. Astronomy – Theoretical and Applied, London-New York 1996
King D.A., In Synchrony with the Heavens, Studies in Astronomical Timekeeping and Instrumentation in Medieval, Vol. I: The Call of the Muezzin (Studies I–IX), Vol. II: Instruments of Mass Calculation (Studies X–XVIII), Boston-Leiden 1996–2002
King D.A., Islamic Astronomy and Geography, Variorum Collected Studies, [London] 2012
King D.A., s.v. Miqat, [in:] Encyclopédie de l’Islam 2 VII
King D.A., s.v. Mizwala, [in:] Encyclopédie de l’Islam 2 VII

Lyster W., The Citadel of Cairo. A History and Guide, Cairo 1998
Mausoleum of Qurqumas in Cairo. Results of the investigations and conservation works, 2 and 3 (being a continuation of the precedent works), Warsaw 1985–1991

Mehren A.F., Cahirah Og Kerafat, Historiske Studier under et Ophold I–II. Aegypten 1867–68, (n.p., n.d., reprinted Beyrouth[?] 2011)
Misiorowski A., Mausoleum of Qurqumas in Cairo. An example of the architecture and building art of the Mamluk Period, Warsaw 1979

Nagib M., Kitab al-Waqf and monuments of Qurqumas, unpublished PhD thesis, in Arabic, Cairo University c. 1978
Necipoglu G., The Age of Sinan. Architectural Culture in the Ottoman Empire, London 2005
Nieduziak I., Polish-Egyptian restoration work at the burial complex of Amir Qurqumas, [in:] Meinecke M. (Ed.), Islamic Cairo: Architectural Conservation and Urban Development of the Historic Centre: Proceedings of a Seminar Organised by the Goethe Institute (October 1–5, 1978), Art and Archaeology Research Papers 6, June 1980
Nieduziak I., La fondation “waqf” de l’émir Qurqumas au Caire, Études et travaux XIV, 1990

Plessner M., Samsó J., s.v. Mardini, [in:] Encyclopédie de l’Islam 2 VI
Principles of Architectural Design and Urban Planning During Different Islamic Eras. Analytical Study of Cairo City, Jeddah-Cairo 1992

Raymond A., Artisans et commerçants du Caire au XVIIIe siècle, Damas 1974
Reinfandt L., Mamlukische Sultansstiftungen des 9./15. Jahrhunderts: Nach den Urkunden der Stifter al-Ashraf Inal und al-Mu’ayyad Ahmad Ibn Inal, IU 257, Berlin 2003
Renaud H.J.P., Additions et corrections à Suter, ‘Die Mathematiker u. Astronomen der Araber u. Ihre Welt’, Isis18, 1932
Russaud R., Topographie historique de la Syrie antique et médiévale, Paris 1927

Schoy K., Gnomonik der Araber, [in:] E. v. Bbassernabb-Jordan (Ed.), Die Geschichte der Zeitmessung und der Uhren 1F, Berlin-Leipzig 1923
Schoy K., Sonnenuhren der Spätarabischen Astronomen, Isis VI, 1924
Schoy K., Beiträge zur arabisch-islamischen Mathematik und Astronomie, Frankfurt 1988
Sehabeddin M.C., s.v. Al-Ashraf Inal, Encyclopédie de l’Islam 2 III
Sourdel-Thomine J., Alparslan A., s.v. Khatt, [in:] Encyclopédie de l’Islam 2 IV
Suter H., Die Mathematiker u. Astronomen der Araber u. Ihre Welt, Abh. z.Gesch. d Mathematischen Wiss. 10, Leipzig 1900
Suter H., Nachträge und Berischtigungen zu ‘Die Mathematiker u. Astronomen der Araber u. Ihre Welt’, Abh. z.Gesch. d.Mathematischen Wiss. 14, Leipzig 1902

Warner N., The Monuments of Historical Cairo. A Map and Descriptive Catalogue, Cairo-New York 2005
Wiet G., Textes et traductions d’auteurs orientaux 6, Le Caire 1945
Williams C., Islamic monuments in Cairo. A Practical Guide, Cairo 1985
Williams C., Islamic monuments in Cairo. The Practical Guide, Cairo 2002