Montaha al-Edrak fi Taqasim al-Aflak

• Persian/Arabic Title: منتهی الادراک فی تقاسیم الافلاک
• Transliterated Title: Muntahā al-Idrāk fī Taqāsīm al-Aflāk
• English Title: The Ultimate Comprehension of the Divisions of the Celestial Spheres
• Author: Abū Muḥammad ʿAbd al-Jabbār Kharraqī (477–553 A.H.)
• Editor: Ḥanīf Qalandarī
• Language: Persian–Arabic
• ISBN: 978-600-203-190-7
• Publication Year: 2020
• Pages: 895
• Format: PDF
• Category: Sciences and Techniques
• Miras Maktoob Collection Code: 336

【Summary】

In the historiography of Islamic science, a group of astronomical works is classified under hayʾa—treatises aimed at presenting a comprehensive picture of the cosmos, encompassing both the heavens and the Earth. Although the ultimate foundation of this genre lies in Planetary Hypotheses by Ptolemy, the structure and content of hayʾa works were gradually systematized during the Islamic period.

Muntahā al-Idrāk fī Taqāsīm al-Aflāk, composed by ʿAbd al-Jabbār Kharraqī around 526–527 A.H., represents the earliest known comprehensive work of this genre. Organized into three treatises, the book establishes a systematic division of cosmological topics whose influence is clearly traceable in later, more famous hayʾa works, many of which explicitly cite Kharraqī.

In his introduction, the author acknowledges earlier authorities on whom he relied while emphasizing his intention to expand the scope of existing models. The present critical edition is based on five extant manuscripts, accompanied by a scholarly introduction on the author’s life and the work’s pivotal position in the history of Ptolemaic astronomy in the Islamic world.