Zij-i Yamini

In Islamic science, a zij is an astronomical handbook made up of tables and text. Between the 2nd/8th and 13th/19th centuries, over 200 such works were written, many of them lost. Famous zij are al-Zij al-Sabi? by al-Battani (ca 300/900), al-Qanun al-Mas?udi by al-Biruni (421/1030), and Nasir al-Din al-Tusi's (d. 672/1274) Zij-i Ilkhani. The Zij-i Yamini published in facsimile here was compiled in Ghazna in 511/1156 by a certain Muhammad al-Haqa?iqi and dedicated to the Ghaznavid ruler Bahramshah b. Mas?ud b. Mahmud (reg. 511-552/1117-1157). It is the third oldest zij in Persian, after the Zij-i mufrad of Muhammad b. Ayyub Tabari (485/1092) and the Persian translation of Kushyar b. Labban Gilani's (fl. ca. 390/1000) Arabic al-Zij al-jami? by Muhammad b. ?Umar Munajjim-i Tabrizi in 483/1090. Al-Haqa?iqi based himself on the works of others, notably al-Battani's al-Zij al-Sabi?, whose data he then recalculated for the city of Ghazna where necessary. Good example of early scientific Persian.