This work on elementary knowledge of practical astronomy begins by emphasizing the religious significance of knowing how to keep the time and how to determine the proper direction of prayer (<i>qibla</i>). It describes the conventional correspondence between ordinal numbers and the letters of the Arabic alphabet. It then enumerates, and goes through, the names of the months in the lunar Arabic calendar and in the solar Coptic calendar. It highlights certain important dates, such as the beginning of the New Year, and introduces the 12 zodiacal signs. The front page gives the time of the Christian Lent and discusses the probable time for the Night of Destiny (<i>laylat al-qadr</i>) in the Islamic calendar. The manuscript was completed in 1683 (1094 A.H.).
<br>Arabic manuscripts; Naskh script; Prayer; Timekeeping
Shihāb al-Dīn Aḥmad al-Qiqīzīmī (?) al-Shāfi‘ī (Died 1069 AH / 1659 AD)
1683<div style="display: none;">date QS:P571,+1683-00-00T00:00:00Z/9</div>
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