Muwaqqit
The office was first recorded in the late 13th century in the Mosque of Amr ibn al-As in the Mamluk Sultanate of Cairo and then spread to various parts of the Muslim world.
Even then, many major mosques only relied on muezzins to determine prayer times using traditional methods, such as observing shadow lengths and twilight phenomena.
There is uncertainty among historians of science whether the muwaqqit was a specialised office whose holder dealt exclusively with astronomical matters, or if it was part of a broader role of a teacher (mudarris) who also worked and taught in other fields.
[3][5] 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.
[4] 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.
[5][7][8] 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).
[10] Brentjes' assessment is based on secondary biographies of the muwaqqits during the Mamluk era, including the works of al-Sakhawi, a prominent 15th-century author and hadith scholar.
The Mosque of the Emir of Qanim paid a muwaqqit 200 dirhams (silver coin) per month, compared to 900 for an imam, 500 for a khatib, 200 for a muezzin and 300 for a servant mentioned in the same document.
[5][16] Unlike the office of the muwaqqit which required special knowledge in astronomy, the muezzin were typically chosen for their piety and beautiful voice.
[19] Some celebrated muwaqqits, including Shams al-Din al-Khalili and ibn al-Shatir, were known to have once been muezzins, and many individuals held both offices simultaneously.
In 1306, he made a copy of an astronomical work by Nasir al-Din ibn Sim'un (died 1337), a member of the same family as the early muwaqqits in Fustat.
The qadi (judge) of Damascus Taj al-Din al-Subki denounced the muwaqqits, whose ranks according to him were filled with astrologers (munajjimun) and magicians (kuhhan).
[29] By the end of the fourteenth century, the activity of the muwaqqits had been recorded in Egypt, Syria, Palestine, the Hejaz (including Mecca and Medina), Tunis, and Yemen.
[21] According to King, there is no evidence of muwaqqit activity in more easterly parts of the Islamic world, including Iraq, Iran, India and Central Asia.
[21] According to Brentjes, it is possible that the discipline of miqat spread eastwards as part of an exchange prompted by trade, pilgrimage, and travel for knowledge even though no written evidence has been found.
[31] In the fifteenth century, the center of muwaqqit activities shifted to Egypt, especially the al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, but their scientific outputs were reduced.
Other muwaqqits recorded in various mosques in fifteenth century Cairo include al-Kawm al-Rishi, 'Izz al-Din al-Wafa'i, al-Karadisi, and Abd al-Qadir al-Ajmawi.
[32] ʿIlm al-miqat and the activity of the muwaqqits (Turkish: muvakkitler, singular muvakkit) continued into the time of the Ottoman Empire (which conquered the Mamluks in 1517), although now they produced less scientific works compared to the zenith in the 14th and 15th centuries.
[34] The Turkish historian of science Aydın Sayılı noted that many mosques in Istanbul have buildings or rooms called muvakkithanes [tr] ("lodge of the muwaqqit").
[36] Ottoman astronomers produced prayer timetables in locations previously without them,[37] and in the eighteenth century, the architect Salih Efendi wrote timekeeping tables which were popular among the muwaqqits of the imperial capital.
