Measuring Time: An Islamic Contribution to Time Measurement Techniques

Abstract

How does one calculate the nychthemeron? It is no secret that Muslims have gone to great lengths to find the answer to this question, even setting up institutions to study other civilisations’ methods in order to introduce a first-of-its-kind understanding of the universe. This article explores the various Quranic motivations that inspired human creativity to find the hidden truths of the universe using math and science formula. The scientists took these indicators as guideposts to understand many untold or invisible realities of the universe, including time measurement. The Quran, for example, stresses the importance of time in many ways, including declaring Time as a sacred thing (103:1-3), mentioning the phases of day and night (4:103) and putting time into the obligation of daily prayers (17:78). Due to these motivations, Muslim scientists employed instruments such as the shadow measurement, astrolabe and water clock to determine time. Additionally, this article highlights Archimedes’ pressure principle, the Persian method of releasing water and the Indian concept of division of time into days and nights to track how Muslim scientists eventually evolved these tools into the earliest model of the modern 24-hour clock. The primary sources for this study are Kitāb al-Jabr wa-l-Muqābala (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing) by Muḥammad Ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, Kitāb al-Fihrist (The Catalogue) by Ibn al-Nadīm and Kitāb Mīzān al-Hikma (Book of the Balance of Wisdom) by Abū-l-Fatḥ ꜥAbd al-Raḥman al-Khāzinī.