Mashallah
Encyclopedia
Persian Jews
Persian Jews , are Jews historically associated with Iran, traditionally known as Persia in Western sources.Judaism is one of the oldest religions practiced in Iran. The Book of Esther contains some references to the experiences of Jews in Persia...
astrologer
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
and astronomer
Astronomy
Astronomy is a natural science that deals with the study of celestial objects and phenomena that originate outside the atmosphere of Earth...
from the city of Basra
Basra
Basra is the capital of Basra Governorate, in southern Iraq near Kuwait and Iran. It had an estimated population of two million as of 2009...
(now located in modern day Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
) who became the leading astrologer of the late 8th century. The Arabic phrase ma sha`a allah
Masha'Allah
' is an Arabic phrase that expresses appreciation, joy, praise or thankfulness for an event or person that was just mentioned. Towards this, it is used as an expression of respect, while at the same time serving as a reminder that all accomplishments are so achieved by the will of God...
indicates acceptance of what God has ordained in terms of good or ill fortune that may befall a believer. His real name was probably Manasseh or Jethro, and Latin translators named him Messahala (with many variants, as Messahalla, Messala, Macellama, Macelarma, Messahalah). The crater Messala
Messala (crater)
Messala is a lunar crater of sufficient dimension to belong to the category of impact features known as walled plains. It is located in the northeastern part of the Moon, close enough to the rim to appear significantly foreshortened. Nearly attached to the northern rim is the crater Schumacher...
on the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
is named after him. Science historian Donald Hill writes that Mashallah was originally from Khorasan
Greater Khorasan
Greater Khorasan or Ancient Khorasan is a historical region of Greater Iran mentioned in sources from Sassanid and Islamic eras which "frequently" had a denotation wider than current three provinces of Khorasan in Iran...
.
Life and works
As a young man he participated in the founding of BaghdadBaghdad
Baghdad is the capital of Iraq, as well as the coterminous Baghdad Governorate. The population of Baghdad in 2011 is approximately 7,216,040...
in 762 by working with a group of astrologers led by Naubakht the Persian
Naubakht
Nobakht Ahvazi also transliterated 'Naubakht') and his sons were astrologers from Ahvaz .Nobakht was particularly famous for having led a group of astrologers who picked an auspicious electional chart for the founding of Baghdad. His family also helped design the city...
to pick an electional
Electional astrology
Electional astrology, also known as event astrology, is a branch found in most traditions of astrology in which a practitioner decides the most appropriate time for an event based on the astrological auspiciousness of that time...
horoscope
Horoscope
In astrology, a horoscope is a chart or diagram representing the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, the astrological aspects, and sensitive angles at the time of an event, such as the moment of a person's birth. The word horoscope is derived from Greek words meaning "a look at the hours" In...
for the founding of the city. He wrote over twenty works on astrology, which became authoritative in later centuries at first in the Middle East, and then in the West when horoscopic astrology
Horoscopic astrology
Horoscopic astrology is a form of astrology that uses a horoscope, a visual representation of the heavens, for a specific moment in time in order to interpret the inherent meaning underlying the alignment of the planets at that moment...
was transmitted back to Europe beginning in the 12th century.
Mashallah wrote works on Astral sympathies, otherwise known as astrology. Of his over 20 works, few remain. Only one of his writings is still extant in its original Arabic, but there are many medieval Latin, Byzantine Greek and Hebrew translations. One of his most popular books in the Middle Ages was the De scientia motus orbis, translated by Gherardo Cremonese (Gerard of Cremona
Cremona
Cremona is a city and comune in northern Italy, situated in Lombardy, on the left bank of the Po River in the middle of the Pianura Padana . It is the capital of the province of Cremona and the seat of the local City and Province governments...
). Mashallah's treatise De mercibus (On Prices) is the oldest extant scientific work in Arabic.
He also wrote treatises on Astrolabe
Astrolabe
An astrolabe is an elaborate inclinometer, historically used by astronomers, navigators, and astrologers. Its many uses include locating and predicting the positions of the Sun, Moon, planets, and stars, determining local time given local latitude and longitude, surveying, triangulation, and to...
s (p 10). The De scientia motus orbis is probably the treatise called in Arabic "the twenty-seventh," printed in Nuremberg in 1501, 1549. The second edition, De elementis et orbibus coelestibus, contains 27 chapters. The De compositione et utilitate astrolabii was included in Gregor Reisch
Gregor Reisch
Gregor Reisch was a German Carthusian humanist writer. He is best known for his compilation Margarita philosophica.-Life:...
: Margarita phylosophica (ed. pr., Freiburg, 1503; Suter says the text is included in the Basel edition of 1583). Other astronomical and astrological writings are quoted by Suter and Steinsehneider. An Irish astronomical tract also exists based in part on a medieval Latin version. Edited with preface, translation, and glossary, by Afaula Power (Irish Texts Society, vol. 14, 194 p., 1914). The notable 12th century scholar and astrologer Abraham ibn Ezra
Abraham ibn Ezra
Rabbi Abraham ben Meir Ibn Ezra was born at Tudela, Navarre in 1089, and died c. 1167, apparently in Calahorra....
translated two of Mashallah's astrological treatises into Hebrew: She'elot and Ḳadrut (Steinschneider, "Hebr. Uebers." pp. 600–603). Many of Mashallah's astrologigal treatises were translated out of Latin into English in 2008 and are available in The Works of Sahl and Masha'allah by Benjamin N. Dykes. On Reception, is also available in an English translation by Robert Hand
Robert Hand
Robert Sterling Hand is an American astrologer, author, translator, and lecturer, who received the Regulus Award for his life's work at the "United Astrology Conference" in Denver in 2008.-Early life:...
from the Latin edition by Joachim Heller of Nuremberg
Nuremberg
Nuremberg[p] is a city in the German state of Bavaria, in the administrative region of Middle Franconia. Situated on the Pegnitz river and the Rhine–Main–Danube Canal, it is located about north of Munich and is Franconia's largest city. The population is 505,664...
in 1549.
See also
- List of Iranian scientists
- Jewish views of astrologyJewish views of astrologyIn Hebrew, astrology was called hokmat ha-nissayon, "the wisdom of prognostication", in distinction to hokmat ha-hizzayon...
- Arab and Persian astrologyArab and Persian astrologyThe medieval Arabs took a keen interest in the study of heavens; partly because they considered the celestial bodies to be divine, partly because the dwellers of desert-regions often travelled at night, and relied upon knowledge of the constellations for guidance in their journeys...