ISLAMIC ASTROLOGY
What is Islamic Astrology?
Islamic astrology is a fate-reading practice that builds on the same calculations of celestial positions used in Western astrology, applying an interpretive system developed independently in the medieval Islamic world to read life tendencies and the timing of events. In the medieval period it developed hand in hand with astronomy, and it is considered one of the sources of present-day Western astrology.
Overview
- System
- Fate Reading (reads celestial positions through a medieval Islamic interpretive system)
- Origin
- Middle East
- What You Need
- Birth date, birth time, and birthplace
- Best For
- Life direction, work, and timing
- Time Frame
- Life as a whole / near term
Origins & History
Islamic astrology is a system that developed independently in the medieval Islamic world, inheriting the astronomical-astrological traditions of ancient Babylonia, the Hellenistic world, and India. Amid the flourishing of scholarship centered on Baghdad, astronomy based on celestial observation and astrology were pursued as a single unified field, and many scholars refined its theory.
Scholars of the day, beginning with al-Biruni, who was active in the 10th and 11th centuries, systematically recorded the techniques of astrology. Even at the time, there was religious and scholarly debate over the validity of astrology itself, and it is notable that the practice was not monolithic. The techniques cultivated in the medieval Islamic world are thought to have influenced later Western astrology as well.
How It Works
- 01Prepare the birth date, birth time, and birthplace.
- 02From this information, calculate the positions of the celestial bodies at the moment of birth (the horoscope).
- 03Apply the arrangement of the celestial bodies to the interpretive framework developed in the medieval Islamic world.
- 04Combine the meanings of each celestial body and house to read life tendencies and favorable timing for undertakings.
What It Reveals
Islamic astrology is well suited to reading innate character, the course of one’s life, and favorable timing for moving things forward. At the same time, the finer points of interpretation differ between schools and manuscripts, and aspects of how the system was codified in the medieval period remain academically unsettled, so it is more accurate to regard it as a practice for reading broad tendencies than one that yields definitive conclusions.
Related Methods
References
- Wikipedia: Astrology in the medieval Islamic world (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Astrology_in_the_medieval_Islamic_world)