The light of the day · Thursday 8 October
He measured the year and was off by two minutes
Al-Battani observed from Raqqa, on the Euphrates, from about 877 until 918, with instruments he had built and checked himself. He put the length of the solar year at 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds, which is about two minutes and twenty seconds short of the modern value. He also found that the point at which the sun is furthest from the earth had shifted since Ptolemy recorded its position, which meant the Greek tables were not simply to be copied forward. His own tables were translated into Latin in the twelfth century, he was known in Europe as Albategnius, and Copernicus cites him repeatedly in the book of 1543. There is a crater on the moon carrying his Latin name.
Al-Battani · Raqqa, died 929 CE
Thursday 8 October 2026 · 25 Rabi ath-Thani 1448 AH
The word · The Qur'an
المُناسَبَة
Munasabah
The study of how verses and surahs connect, and why they sit in the order they do.
It asks why one verse follows another, and how a surah opens and closes on the same note. Al-Biqa'i's Nazm ad-Durar is the largest classical work built entirely on this idea. Some early scholars were cautious about it, since the arrangement is a matter of revelation rather than an author ordering his chapters.
The Path · chapter 68 of 71
الحوض المورود
Al-Hawd: The Basin of Kawthar
Whiter than milk, sweeter than honey, vessels like the stars, one drink, and no thirst ever again.
Every wudu is a future ID check, the sink is connected to the Basin
The library
The whole library, free
No ads, no account, no tracking. Every room on the phone, under the thumb.