Dar al-Muwaqqit

[4][6] The term ʻilm al-mīqāt refers to the study of determining prayer times based on the position of the Sun and the stars in the sky and has been recorded since the early days of Islam.

[5] The main duty of the muwaqqit was timekeeping and the regulation of daily prayer times in mosques, madrasas, or other institutions using astronomy and other exact sciences.

In addition to regulating prayer times, they wrote treatises on astronomy, especially on timekeeping and the use of related instruments such as quadrants and sundials.

[6][8][9] They were also responsible for other religious matters related to their astronomical expertise, such as the keeping of the Islamic calendar and the determination of the qibla (the direction to Mecca used for prayers).

The first was commissioned by the Marinid Sultan Abu Yusuf Ya'qub in the 13th century and designed by Muhammad ibn al-Habbak, a faqih and muwaqqit.

[17][18] The Dar al-Magana is a house on Tala'a Kebira street in Fes which stands opposite the Bou Inania Madrasa and Mosque.

The structure is believed to have also been built by Abu Inan alongside his madrasa complex, with one chronicler (al-Djazna'i) reporting that it was completed on May 6, 1357 (14 Djumada al-awwal, 758 AH).

[23]: 271 The Turkish historian of science Aydın Sayılı noted that many mosques in Istanbul have buildings or rooms called a muvakkithane ("lodge of the muwaqqit").

[26] Ottoman astronomers produced prayer timetables in locations previously without them,[27] and in the eighteenth century, the architect Salih Efendi wrote timekeeping tables which were popular among the muwaqqits of the imperial capital.