Editing Astrolabe (section)

== Applications ==
[[File:Lot-stoffler-johannes-1452-1531-elucidatio-fabricae-usuque-astrolabii-6069643.jpg|thumb|upright=1.4|16th&nbsp;century woodcut of measurement of a building's height with an astrolabe]]

The 10th&nbsp;century [[astronomer]] [[ʿAbd al-Raḥmān al-Ṣūfī]] wrote a massive text of 386&nbsp;chapters on the astrolabe, which reportedly described more than 1,000&nbsp;applications for the astrolabe's various functions.<ref>
{{cite encyclopedia
 |last=Bean |first=Adam L.
 |year=2009
 |title=astrolabes
 |editor-last=Birx |editor-first=H. James |editor-link=H. James Birx
 |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Time: Science, philosophy, theology, & culture
 |volume=1  |pages=59–60
 |publisher=SAGE
 |isbn=978-1-4129-4164-8
 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b3ddWSxmi9cC&pg=PA59
 |via=Google
}}
</ref>
These ranged from the astrological, the astronomical and the religious, to navigation, seasonal and daily time-keeping, and tide tables. At the time of their use, astrology was widely considered as much of a serious science as astronomy, and study of the two went hand-in-hand. The astronomical interest varied between folk astronomy (of the pre-Islamic tradition in Arabia) which was concerned with celestial and seasonal observations, and mathematical astronomy, which would inform intellectual practices and precise calculations based on astronomical observations. In regard to the astrolabe's religious function, the demands of Islamic prayer times were to be astronomically determined to ensure precise daily timings, and the [[qibla]], the direction of [[Mecca]] towards which Muslims must pray, could also be determined by this device. In addition to this, the [[lunar calendar]] that was informed by the calculations of the astrolabe was of great significance to the religion of Islam, given that it determines the dates of important religious observances such as [[Ramadan]].{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}