Kamis, 09 Juli 2015

1465-1553 Ahmed Muhiddin Piri

Piri Reis (Tokoh Geografi Ottoman) 1465-1553

Biografi Piri Reis

Ahmed Muhiddin Piri born between 1465 and 1470. He died in 1553- Hajji Ahmed Muhiddin Piri, Ahmed ibn-i el-Hac Mehmed El Karamani; Reis was a Turkish military rank akin to that of captain) was an Ottoman admiral, geographer and cartographer .^[1]

He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in his Kitab-ı Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation, as well as very accurate charts (for its time) describing the important ports and cities of the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapı Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still in existence anywhere (the oldest known map of America that is still in existence is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500). Piri Reis' map is centered on the Sahara at the latitude of the Tropic of Cancer.^[2]

In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map, of which a small fragment (showing Greenland and North America from Labrador and Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica and parts of Central America in the south) still survives. According to his imprinting text, he had drawn his maps using about twenty foreign charts and mappae mundi (Arab, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek) including one of Christopher Columbus.^[3]

Biography Piri Reis (Figures Geography Ottoman) - Piri Reis (full name Muhiddin Piri Ibn Hadji Hadji Mehmed, Reis / Rais is Turkey's captain) is a geographer Ottoman Kaptan-i Derya, and cartographer born between 1465 and 1470 and died in 1554 or 1555. He is primarily known today for his maps and charts collected in the Book, I Bahriye (Book of Navigation), a book that contains detailed information on navigation as well as highly accurate for the time charts illustrate important port cities and the Mediterranean Sea. He gained fame as a cartographer when a small part of his first world map (prepared in 1513) was discovered in 1929 at the Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. His world map is the oldest known Turkish atlas showing the New World, and one of the oldest maps of America still exist in the world. (Map America's oldest extant is the map drawn by Juan de la Cosa in 1500, which is stored in the Naval Museum (Museo Naval) of Madrid, Spain.) Map of Piri Reis' centered in the Sahara at the Tropic of Cancer latitude.

In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map,

where a small fragment showing Greenland and North America from Labradordan Newfoundland in the north to Florida, Cuba and parts of Central America in the south. According to the text printing, he has drawn a map that uses about twenty foreign charts and mappa mundi (Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek) includes one of Christopher Columbus.

Little is known about the identity of Piri Reis. Even the name roughly translated means "sea captain" His origin is debatable, with sources refer to him as a Christian, perhaps Greece., Greek, Jewish, or ethnic Turks. Piri Muhiddin Hadji Ahmed was born either in Gallipoli European part of the Ottoman Empire or in Karaman, central Anatolia, but the exact date of his birth is unknown. He is the son of Hadji Mehmed Piri, brother Admiral Kemal Reis and started to engage in piracy when he was young, in 1481, following his uncle Kemal Reis, a pirate and famous sailors time later became famous admiral of the Ottoman fleet. During the Ottoman period were at war, together with his uncle, he took part in many sea fights against Spain, Genoa and Venice, including the First Battle of Lepanto (Battle Zonchio) in 1499 and the Second Battle of Lepanto (Battle MODON) in 1500. When his uncle Kemal Reis sank in 1511 when his ship was damaged by the storm, Piri returned to Gallipoli where he began work learn about navigation.

At 1516 he was again at sea as a ship's captain in the Ottoman fleet. He took part in the 1516-17 campaign against Egypt. In 1522 he participated in the siege of Rhodes to the Knights of St John which ended with the surrender of the island to the Ottomans on December 25, 1522 and the permanent departure of the Knights of Rhodes on 1 January 1523. In 1524 he became captain of the ship that took a tragic Wazir Pargal? Ibrahim Pasha to Egypt.

In 1547, had risen to the rank of Piri Reis (admiral) as commander of the Ottoman fleet in the Indian Ocean and admiral of the fleet in Egypt, headquartered at Suez. On February 26, 1548 he recaptured Aden from the Portuguese, followed in 1552 by the capture of Muscat, which Portugal had occupied since 1507, and the important island of Kish. Turning further east, Piri Reis captured the island of Hormuz in the Strait of Hormuz, at the entrance to the Persian Gulf. When the Portuguese turned their attention to the Persian Gulf, Piri Reis occupied the Qatar peninsula and the island of Bahrain to deprive the Portuguese of suitable bases on the Arabian coast.

He then returned to Egypt, an old man approaching the age of 90. When he refused to support the Ottoman governor of Basra, Kubad Pasha, in another campaign against the Portuguese in the northern Persian Gulf, Piri Reis was publicly beheaded in 1554 or 1555. Several warships and Turkish Navy submarine has named Piri Reis.

Piri Reis is the author Bahriye Kitab-i one of the most famous books of modern pre navigation including map of the world. Although he was not an explorer and never sailed into the Atlantic, with a harness, according to printing, from about twenty maps Arabic, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Indian and Greek older, he managed to give a comprehensive overview of the known world of his time, including the beach recently explored from both the Atlantic Africa and the Americas (printed "land and islands is taken from the map of Columbus"). In the text it also provides a source of "map drawn in the time of Alexander the Great", but most likely he has one puzzled ancient Greek geographer Ptolemy 2nd century AD with the same name Gen. Alexander (from six centuries before) because it is the same map with the map of de reproduction Johannes famous Stobnicza Ptolemy, printed in 1512 the ancient books. has been translated in Turkish after the personal orders of Mehmed II a few decades earlier. Columbus origin from the Atlantic maps contained confirmed by mistake (such as Columbus belief 'that Cuba is a continental peninsula) because at the time the script is generated, the Spaniards had for two years in Mexico. In addition to maps, the book also contains detailed information on the major ports, bays, bays, headlands, peninsula, islands, straits and ideal shelters of the Mediterranean Sea, as well as techniques of navigation and navigation-related information astronomy, together with information about the local people of each country and the city and curious aspects of their culture. There are thirty legend around the map of the world, 29 in Turkey and one in Arabic, the latter is giving the date as Muharrem month of 919 AH (according to the spring 1513 AD) but most studies identify the date as 1521. It is more likely that this revised in 1524-5 with additional information and better graphics created in order to be presented as a gift to Suleiman I. The revised edition has a total of 434 pages containing 290 questions.

Kitab-i Bahriye has two main sections, the first section dedicated to information about the type of storm, a technique using a compass, portolan charts with detailed information about the port and beaches, methods of finding direction using the stars, the main characteristics of the oceans and the land around them , Special emphasis is given to the discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus and those of Vasco da Gama and other Portuguese sailors on their way to India and the rest of Asia.

The second section is entirely composed of portolan charts and cruise guides. Each topic contains a map of an island or beach. In the first book (1521), this section has a total of 132 portolan charts, while the second book (1525) has a total of 210 portolan charts. The second section begins with a description of the Dardanelles Strait and continues with the islands and coastline of the Aegean Sea, Ionian Sea, Adriatic Sea, the Tyrrhenian Sea, the Ligurian Sea, the French Riviera, the Balearic Islands, the coast of Spain, the Strait of Gibraltar, the Canary Islands, the coast of North Africa, Egypt and Nile, the Levant and the coastline of Anatolia. This section also contains descriptions and images of famous monuments and buildings in each city, as well as biographical information about the Piri Reis who also explains the reason why he preferred to collect the chart in the book, not a single map image, which will not be able to contain so much information and detail.

A century after the death of Piri and in the second half of the 17th century produced a third version of his book which left the second version of the text is affected while the cartographical enrich the text. It includes additional maps new massively mostly copies Italy (from Battista Agnese and Jacopo Gastaldi) and the Netherlands (Abraham Ortelius) works of the previous century. This map is much more accurate and describe the Black Sea that is not comprised in the original.

A copy of the Kitab-i Bahriye found in many libraries and museums around the world. Copies of the first edition (1521) are found in the Topkapi Palace, Nuruosmaniye Library and Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul, Bologna University Library, the National Library of Vienna, Dresden State Library, the National Library of France in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Copies of the second edition (1525) was found in the Topkapi Palace, which Köprülüzade Fazil Ahmed Pasa Library, Süleymaniye Library and the National Library of France.

In 1528 Piri Reis drew a second world map,

A copy of the Kitab-i Bahriye found in many libraries and museums around the world. Copies of the first edition (1521) are found in the Topkapi Palace, Nuruosmaniye Library and Süleymaniye Library in Istanbul, Bologna University Library, the National Library of Vienna, Dresden State Library, the National Library of France in Paris, the British Museum in London, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and Walters Art Museum in Baltimore. Copies of the second edition (1525) are found in the Topkapi Palace, which Köprülüzade Fazil Ahmed Pasa Library, Süleymaniye Library and the National Library of France.

Piri Reis maps

In 1513 Piri Reis presented his famous map of the New World to the Sultan, giving the Ottomans, well before many European rulers, an accurate description of the American discoveries as well as details about the circumnavigation of Africa.

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Sabtu, 04 Juli 2015

1846-1916 Alexander Russel Webb

Alexander Russel Webb (1846-1916)

Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb (November 9, 1846 in Hudson, New York – October 1, 1916 in Rutherford, New Jersey) was an American writer, publisher, and the United States Consul to the Philippines.^[1] He converted to Islam in 1888, and is considered by historians to be the earliest prominent Anglo-American Muslim convert. In 1893 he was the only person representing Islam at the first Parliament for the World's Religions.^[2]

Mohammed Alexander Russell Webb (1846-1916) was among the first prominent Euro-American converts to Islam. He accepted Islam in 1888 while U.S. Consul to the Philippines.

Upon returning to America, he established an Islamic mission in Manhattan with a mosque, circles of brotherhood, and reading rooms. Webb was the father of the North American Islamic press and published several booklets and journals, the most famous of them being a monthly called The Moslem World. Webb was the official spokesperson of Islam at the World Parliament of Religions in 1893. In 1901, he was appointed honorary Turkish consul to the United States, decorated by the Ottoman state for his service to Islam, and given the deferential title of Bey. Webb considered himself every bit an American whose Islamic convictions were in complete harmony with the best in his national heritage. Today, we are honored to help carry his legacy forward.

Early life

His father, Alexander Nelson Webb, was a leading journalist of his day and perhaps influenced his son’s later journalistic exploits.

Webb received his early education at the Home School in Glendale, Massachusetts and later attended Claverack College, an advanced high school near Hudson, New York. He became editor of the Unionville Republican, Unionville, Missouri. His prowess as a journalist was soon apparent, and he was offered the city editorship of the St. Joseph Gazette in St. Joseph, Missouri. Next he became associate editor of the Missouri Morning Journal. Later he became the Assistant City Editor of the Missouri Republican in St. Louis. This newspaper was the second oldest and largest daily newspaper at that time.

Consul to the Philippines[edit]

While working for the Missouri Republican, he was appointed (in September, 1887) by President Cleveland to be Consular Representative to the Philippines at the U.S. office atManila. According to the editor of his book The Three Lectures, he had given up any concept of religion at least fifteen years before that point.

In 1887 Webb was introduced to Islam by the works of Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, India, the founder of the Ahmadiyya movement. Webb wrote two letters to Ghulam Ahmad. Webb's first clear step toward Islam was expressed in these correspondences. These letters were published then in Ghulam Ahmad's book "Shahne-e-Haqq" page 372 and 439. [1]

At that time he had yet to meet a Muslim but was put in contact with several Muslims in India by a local Parsi businessman. A newspaper publisher, Budruddin Abdulla Kur ofBombay, published several of Webb's letters in his paper. A local businessman, Hajee Abdulla Arab, a follower of Ghulam Ahmad, saw these letters and went to Manila to see Webb. In 1888, he formally declared himself to be a Muslim.

Travels in the Muslim world[edit]

After the visit, Webb began plans to tour India and then return to the U.S. to propagate Islam. Webb's wife, Ella G. Webb, and their three children had also accepted Islam by this time. Hajee Abdulla returned to India and raised funds for Webb's tour. Webb visited Poona, Bombay, Calcutta, Hyderabad, and Madras and gave speeches in each town. In 1892 he travelled to Egypt and Turkey where he could continue studying Islam. While in Istanbul in 1893, he resigned his post with the State Department and returned to America.^[3]

Later life[edit]

Gravestone of Alexander Russel Webb in Hillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst NJ

Settling in New York, he established the Oriental Publishing Company at 1122 Upper Broadway. This company published his writings (including his magnum opus- Islam in America), such as:

Islam in America - contained 70 pages divided into eight chapters:

I) Why I Became a Muslim

II) An Outline of Islamic Faith

III) The Five Pillars of Practice

IV) Islam in Its Philosophic Aspect

V) Polygamy and the Purdah

VI) Popular Errors Refuted

VII) The Muslim Defensive Wars

VIII) The American Islamic Propaganda

Along with this venture he started the organ of the American Muslim Propagation Movement called Moslem World. The first issue appeared May 12, 1893, and was dedicated toThe Interests of the American Islamic Propaganda and "[t]o spread the light of Islam in America". It lasted for seven monthly issues (May to November 1893).

In December 1893, John A. Lant and Emin L. Nabakoff broke from Webb's movement and formed the First Society for the Study of Islam and set up shop in Union Square.

Webb was the main representative for Islam at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago. On September 20 and 21, 1893, he gave two speeches. His speeches were entitled: The Influence of Social Condition and The Spirit of Islam and were published in the large two volume proceedings of the Parliament called The First World's Parliament of Religions (1894).

For the rest of his life he was the main spokesman for Islam in America. Many of America’s most prominent thinkers heard him speak on the Islamic Faith, including Mark Twain.

On Broadway, in Manhattan, he founded a short-lived masjid (Mosque). The reasons for the termination of this Masjid are unknown, but it could be due to a lack of financial support from India. Throughout the rest of America he started study circles, i.e. in Chicago, Washington, D.C., Newark, Manhattan, Kansas City, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, andCleveland. They were named Mecca Study Circle No. I (NYC), Koran Study Circle, Capital Study Circle No. 4, etc. Each using an Islamic city or reference in its title. It is likely they studied Webb's works and those he suggested. The last meeting was in 1943 in Manhattan and was attended by his daughter Aliyyah.

He is also known for his writing of two booklets about the Armenian Genocide from a Muslim point of view: The Armenian Troubles and Where the Responsibility Lies and A Few Facts About Turkey Under the Rule of Abdul Hamid II. He was appointed the Honorary Turkish Consul in New York by Sultan Abdul Hamid II. The Sultan had been shown plans by Webb for a Muslim cemetery and Masjid and complimented Webb on them. These plans never materialized.

From 1898 to the time of his death on October 1, 1916, aged 69, he lived in Rutherford, New Jersey. There he owned and edited the “Rutherford Times”. He was buried inHillside Cemetery, Lyndhurst, on the outskirts of Rutherford.

In late 19th century America, journalism was beginning to take off as an effective and influential medium for influencing the public. One of the men who helped spur this journalistic wave was Alexander Russell Webb. Unconvinced about his Christian religion, and being a well-read journalist, he began to read extensively about other religions, and was particularly interested in Islam. When he was appointed by the U.S. State Department to work in the American embassy in the Philippines in 1887, he took the opportunity to begin a correspondence with Muslims in India about Islam.

Although he was originally introduced to Islam through members of the unorthodox (and frankly, un-Islamic) Ahmadiyya Movement, he eventually found a path to mainstream Islam. He proceeded to travel throughout the Muslim world, studying Islam and meeting with scholars. In 1893, he resigned his post at the State Department and returned to America. Back in the United States, he published numerous books on Islam and started an Islamic newspaper explaining the religion to the American public. In the early decades of the 20th century, he continued to be a prominent voice for Islam in the United States, even being appointed an honorary Ottoman consul by Sultan Abdulhamid II. He died in 1916 and was buried outside Rutherford, New Jersey.

1364-1436 Salah al-Din Musa Pasha Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī

Salah al-Din Musa Pasha Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī

Qāḍī Zāda al-Rūmī, whose actual name was Salah al-Din Musa Pasha, was a Turkish astronomer and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Samarkand. He computed sin 1° to an accuracy of 10−12. Wikipedia
Born: 1364, Bursa, Turkey
Died: 1436, Samarkand, Uzbekistan
Parents: Mehmet Çelebi

(1364 in Bursa, Ottoman Empire – 1436 in Samarqand, Timurid Empire), whose actual name was Salah al-Din Musa Pasha (qāḍī zāda means "son of the judge", al-rūmī "the Roman" indicating he came from Asia Minor, which was once Roman), was a Turkish astronomer and mathematician who worked at the observatory in Samarkand. He computed sin 1° to an accuracy of 10⁻¹².

Together with Ulugh Beg, al-Kāshī and a few other astronomers Qāḍī Zāda produced the Zij-i-Sultani, the first comprehensive stellar catalogue since the Maragheh observatory's Zij-i Ilkhani two centuries earlier. The Zij-i Sultani contained the positions of 992 stars.

His works[edit]

· Sharh al-Mulakhkhas (Commentary on Jaghmini's compendium on the science of Astronomy

· Sharh Ashkal al-Ta'sis (Commentary on Samarkandi's Arithmetics)

Qadi Zada Al-Rumi, Saintis Jenius Dari Dinasti Timurid

Sep 30, 2009

SEJARAH ISLAM

Qadi Zada Al-Rumi, Saintis Jenius Dari Dinasti Timurid

Matematika dan astronomi. Dua ilmu penting itulah yang dikembangkan Qadi Zada al-Rumi, saintis Muslim terkemuka di era kejayaan Dinasti Timurid - yang berkuasa di kawasan Asia Tengah dan Persia pada abad ke-14 M. Ia bersama Sultan Timurid, Ulugh Beg mendirikan observatorium di Samarkand, Uzbekistan - sebuah pusat studi astronomi termegah sepanjang sejarah Islam.

Qadi Zada, sejatinya, hanyalah nama julukan. Astronom dan matematikus yang terlahir pada 1364 di Bursa , Turki itu bernama Salah al-Din Musa Pasha. Ia dipanggil Qadi Zada yang berarti "anak dari seorang hakim", karena ayahnya memang seorang hakim terkemuka pada masa itu.

Ia tumbuh besar di tanah kelahirannya, kota Bursa, Turki. Qadi Zada menyelesaikan pendidikannya di Basra, salah satu kota pusat kebudayaan dan pendidikan Islam terkemuka. Di kota itu, Qadi Zada mempelajari ilmu geometri dan astronomi.

Guna mengasah dan mengembangkan ilmu pengetahuannya, dia kemudia berguru kepada al-Fanari. Sang guru menyadari potensi dan kecerdasan Qadi Zada. Al-Fanari paham betul bahwa muridnya itu adalah seorang pemuda dengan kemampuan yang sangat luar biasa di bidang matematika dan astronomi.

Al-Fanari menasihati Qadi Zada untuk hijrah ke pusat kebudayaan Kerajaan Khurasan atau Transoxania. Di Khurasan, Qadi Zada akhirnya bisa bertemu dan belajar dari para ahli matematika dan astronomi hebat. Khurasan memang dikenal sebagai kota pendidikan yang banyak disinggahi para ilmuwan yang singgah maupun tmenetap di kota itu.

Tak sekedar mendorong, al-Fanari juga mendukung Qadi Zada dengan sehelai surat rekomedasi. Ia juga dibekali gurunya sebuah kitab berjudul Emmuzeg al-Ulum (Tipe-tipe Ilmu Pengetahuan), sebagai tanda bahwa dia adalah seorang pelajar. Mengikuti nasihat gurunya, Qadi akhirnya belajar matematika dan astronomi di Transoxiana sebagai pusat kebudayaan.

Pada 1383, reputasi Qadi Zada langsung meroket. Ia begitu populer sebagai ahli matematika, lewat bukunya berjudul Risala fi'l Hisab ( Risalah Aritmatika). Buku tersebut berisi pengetahuan kompleks mengenai aritmatika, aljabar, dan pengukuran.

Saat Qadi masih muda, penguasa dan pendiri Dinasti Timurid, Timur Lenk mulai menguasai kawasan Iran, Irak, dan bagian timur Turki. Setelah kematian Timur pada 1405, Dinasti Timurid diperebutkan anak-anaknya. Shah Rukh yang merupakan anak keempat Timur Lenk akhirnya memenangkan perebutan kekuasaan peninggalan Timur Lenk tersebut.

Pada 1407, Shah Rukh mendapatkan kekuasaan secara menyeluruh di sebagian besar kerajaan, termasuk Iran dan Turkistan. Dia juga menguasai Samarkand. Wilayah yang dikuasai Shah Rukh merupakan pusat-pusat kebudayaan di mana Qadi Zada mengembangkan ilmunya. Wilayah tersebut meliputi Herat di Khorasan, Bukhara dan Samarkand di Transoxania.

Pada 1407, Qadi bertualang mengunjungi kota-kota tersebut, termasuk Samarkand. Tidak ada yang mengetahui alasan sang saintis mengunjungi Samarkand. Pada masa mudanya, ia belum sempat mengunjungi kota-kota tersebut. Mungkin, dia masih sibuk dengan astronominya. Saat mengunjungi kota-kota tersebut, Qadi sudah memiliki reputasi yang bagus sebagai seorang ahli matematika.

Dia juga sudah menghasilkan karya berupa sebuah risalah aritmatika yang ditulisnya ketika tinggal di Bursa pada 1383. Buku risalah aritmatika tersebut berisi aritmetika, aljabar dan pengukuran.

Setelah mengunjungi sejumlah kota-kota pusat kebudayaan lainnya, Qadi baru mencapai kota Samarkand sekitar 1410. Setahun sebelumnya, Shah Rukh, telah menguasai kekaisaran Timur ayahnya dan memutuskan untuk menjadikan Herat di Khurasan sebagai ibu kota baru. Shah Rukhmenempatkan putranya Ulugh Beg sebagai penguasa di Samarkand.

Ulugh Beg, saat itu, baru berusia 17 tahun, ketika bertemu dengan Qadi di Samarkand. Saat bertemu dengan Qadi, Ulugh Beg sangat mengagumi kecerdasan dan kehebatan sang saintis dalam bidang matematika dan astronomi. Sehingga, dia meminta agar Qadi mengajariny.

Berkat bimbingan Qadi, akhirnya Ulugh Beg juga menjadi seorang ahli astronomi yang terkemuka. Qadi merupakan seorang ilmuwan yang jauh lebih tertarik kepada ilmu pengetahuan dan kebudayaan dari pada politik atau penaklukan militer. Tetapi bagaimanapun juga, dia menjadi seorang wakil penguasa di seluruh kerajaan, terutama wilayah Mawaraunnahr.

Sehingga meskipun sedikit, dia mau tidak mau terkena arus politik. Tetapi hal itu tidak berlangsung lama. Pertemuannya dengan Ulugh Beg merupakan titik balik bagi kehidupan Qadi Zada. Sehingga dia memutuskan untuk menghabiskan sisa hidupnya dengan bekerja di Samarkand. Dia juga menikah dengan seorang wanita di kota tersebut dan memiliki putra yang bernama Syams al-Din Muhammad.

Qadi menulis sejumlah karya matematika dan astronomi pada tahun pertama menetap di Samarkand. Karya-karyanya ini banyak yang dipersembahkan untuk Ulugh Beg. Hal itu juga menunjukkan reputasi Qadi sebagai seorang guru muda yang brilian dan sangat ahli dalam bidang matematika.

Secara khusus, Qadi menulis komentar tentang Kompendium ahli astronomi al-Jaghmini pada 1412 hingga 1413. Dia juga menulis komentar terhadap karya al-Samarqandi. Komentar yang ditulisnya berupa karya pendek yang hanya terdiri dari 20 halaman. Dalam komentarnya, ia membahas tiga puluh lima dari proposisi Euclid.

Pada 1417, Ulugh Beg membangun madrasah atas dorongan Qadi. Madrasah tersebut digunakan Qadi sebagai pusat pembelajaran yang terletak di depan alun-alun Rigestan di Samarkand. Dengan berdirinya madrasah tersebut, Ulugh Beg mulai mengumpulkan para ilmuwan terkemuka untuk mengajar di madrasahnya, termasuk al-Kashi. Baik Qadi, Ulugh Beg, dan al-Kashi merupakan para astronom terkemuka pada masa itu.

Qadi Zada dan Observatorium Samarkand

Pada 1424, sejarah tertoreh di Samarkand. Seorang penguasa Dinasti Timurid bernama Ulugh Beg berhasil membangun sebuah observatorium untuk penelitian astronomi. Menurut sejarawan sains, Krisciunas, observatorium yang dibangun Ulugh Beg itu merupakan yang termegah di antara tempat pengamatan benda antariksa lainnya yang dimiliki peradaban Islam.

Pembanguna observatorium Ulugh Beg di Samarkand itu tak lepas dari jasa dan ide brilian Qadi Zada. Betapa tidak. Dia adalah guru astronomi Ulugh Beg. Kehebatan Qadi Zada dan Ulugh Beg dituturkan sejawatnya, al-Kashi. Dalam surat kepada ayahnya yang tinggal di Kashan, al-Kashi memuji kemampuan dan kehebatan Ulugh Beg dan Qadi Zada dalam matematika dan astronomi.

Al-Kashi menganggap kedua ilmuwan tersebut merupakan yang paling unggul dibandingkan para ilmuwan lainnya, di zaman itu. Dalam surat tersebut, al-Kashi juga menceritakan bahwa mereka sering mengadakan pertemuan ilmiah yang dipimpin oleh Ulugh Beg dan dihadiri para ilmuwan terkemuka. Saat membahas masalah-masalah dalam astronomi yang cukup sulit, biasanya al-Kashi dan Qadi Zada mampu menyelesaikan masalah tersebut tanpa kesulitan yang berarti.

Karya asli Qadi adalah perhitungan sin 1° dengan tingkat akurasi yang luar biasa. Dia menerbitkan metode perhitungan sin 1° dalam Risalat al-Jayb (Risalah Sinus). Al-Kashi sebagai teman seangkatannya juga menghasilkan sebuah metode untuk memecahkan masalah ini. Namun metode mereka berdua berbeda dan menunjukkan bahwa dua ilmuwan yang luar biasa tersebut sama-sama bekerja pada masalah yang sama di Samarkand.

Qadi menghitung sin 1° mendekati tingat akurasi 10 pangkat minus 12. Pekerjaan utama yang dilakukan Qadi dan sahabat-sahabatnya, baik al-Kashi maupun Ulugh Beg di Observatorium di Samarkand adalah memproduksi Katalog Bintang-bintang. Katalog yang dihasilkan di observatorium tesebut, merupakan katalog bintang pertama yang komprehensif sejak zaman Ptolemeus.

Katalog Bintang itu, menjadi rujukan para astronom hingga abad ke-17 M. Katalog bintang yang diterbitkan pada 1437 itu menjelaskan 992 posisi bintang. Katalog bintang tersebut merupakan hasil dari kolaborasi para ilmuwan yang bekerja di Observatorium tetapi kontributor utamanya adalah Qadi Zada, Ulugh Beg, dan al-Kashi.

Katalog bintang tersebut, selain berisi posisi bintang juga berisi tabel pengamatan yang dilakukan di Observatorium, serta berisi hasil perhitungan kalender trigonometri. Qadi juga menulis komentar terhadap risalah astronomi karya ilmuwan besar Nashir ad-Din al-Tusi. Selain itu, dia juga menulis sebuah risalah mengenai masalah menghadapi Makkah, di mana masalah penting tersebut banyak didiskusikan oleh para astronom dan ahli matematika Muslim.

Setelah wafatnya al-Kashi, Qadi akhirnya menjadi direktur observatorium di Samarkand. Dia terus melakukan pekerjaan utama di Observatorium tersebut dengan memproduksi katalog bintang-bintang. Bahkan katalog bintang yang disebut Zij-i Sultani itu digunakan selama beberapa abad.

Pada 1436, Qadi akhirnya menghembuskan nafas terakhirnya. Namun kontribusinya kepada ilmu astronomi dan matematika yang begitu besar, membuat namanya selalu diingat dan dikenang. Bahkan karya-karyanya masih digunakan, hingga kini

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