Sumbangan Teknologi
1- Al-Jazari’s life and environment
Al-Jazari’s full name is given at the start of his book[1] He
was al-Shaykh Ra’is al-A’mal Badi’ al-Zaman Abu al-‘Izz ibn Isma’il ibn
al-Razzaz al-Jazari The first three titles indicate that he was a chief
engineer (Ra’is al-A’mal), and was unique and unrivalled, (Badi’
al-Zaman). Theal-shaykh was a title of honour indicating
that he was a learned and a dignified person.
The word ‘Al-Jazari’ indicates that his family came from Jazirat
ibn ‘Umar in Diyar Bakr. We do not know the date of his birth and our
information about his life is obtained from his book.
Al-Jazari was in the service of three Artuqid rulers: Nur al-Din
Muhammad ibn Arslan (570-581/ 1174-1185), Qutb al-Din Sukman ibn Muhammad
(681-697/ 1185-1200) and Nasir al-Din Mahmud ibn Muhammad (597-619/
1200-1222.).
It was in response to the request of Nasir al-Din Mahmud that
al-Jazari wrote his book. He says in his introduction that he started his
service at the Artuqid court in the year 570/1174, and that when he started
writing the book he had already spent twenty five years in the service of Nur
al-Din Muhammad, the father, and Qutb al-Din Sukman, the brother. From
this information we conclude that probably al-Jazari started writing his book
in the year 595/1198, two years before Nasir al-Din became king. From the
Oxford manuscript we learn that al-Jazari finished writing his book on 4 Jumada
the Second, 602/ 16 January 1206. The oldest extant copy (Topkapi Sarayi
Libray, Ahmet III, 3472) was completed by Muhammad ibn Yusuf ibn ‘Uthman
al-Haskafi at the end of Sha’ban 602/ 10 April 1206. From al-Haskafi’s colophon
we learn that al-Jazarī was not living at this date. We conclude besides, that
he died in the year 602/1206, just few months after he had completed his work.
Āmid, that is called now Diyar Bakr [2], was on
the left bank of the Tigris. Travellers who visited the city during the 11th century
admired its buildings, its walls and its affluence. In 438/1046, Nasir-i
Khusraw visited the city and wrote: ‘ I have seen many cities and
fortresses at the extremities of the world in the lands of the Arabs, Persians,
Indians and Turks, and yet I have never seen anything comparable to Āmid
anywhere in the world; nor have I heard anyone claim that he had seen any place
matching this glorious city’ [3]
During this period Āmid was prosperous, and it enjoyed a
period of peace and stability. Thus al-Jazari lived in the court of the Artuqid
kings under conditions favourable for the invention and construction of his
machines and for writing.
2- Al-Jazari’s book:
The title of the oldest manuscript of al-Jazari’s book is: al-Jamiʿ bayn al-ʿilm wa ʿamal, al-nafiʿ fi sinaʿat al-hiyal الجامع بين العلم و العمل
النافع في صناعة الحيل (A
Compendium on the Theory and Practice of the Mechanical Arts). The Arabic
edition (of al-Hassan) carries this title. The English translation of Hill
carries the title Book of Knowledge of Mechanical Devices.[4] This
translation was based mainly on MS Graves 27 of the Bodleian Library,Oxford,
where the Arabic title is Kitab fi maʿrifat al-hiyal
al-handasiyya.كتاب في معرفة الحيل الهندسية Between 1915 and 1921, Wiedemann and
Hauser published in German a series of seven articles in which they covered the
six categories using the Bodleian copy. [5]
The book describes in detail fifty devices (ashkal), which
are grouped into six categories (anwaʿ, singular nawʿ ). These are: 1) ten water and candle clocks; 2), ten vessels and
figures suited for drinking sessions; 3), ten pitchers and basins for
phlebotomy (faṣd ) and
washing before prayers; 4), ten fountains that change their shape alternately,
and machines for the perpetual flute; 5), five water raising machines; 6), five
miscellaneous devices.
Each device or shakl is described in simple
Arabic that is easy to understand, and each is accompanied by a general
drawing. There are fifty of these and are numbered by the letters of the Arabic
alphabet from one to fifty. For the complicated devices al-Jazari gave detailed
drawings for the components of a device or for subassemblies so that the
operation can be understood. There are a total of 174 drawings. An alphabet
letter marks each part in a device. The text explains the construction of the
device with the aid of the letters so that the reader can understand the device
by reading the text and referring to the illustrations.
The published Arabic text enumerates fifteen manuscripts of
al-Jazari’s book in world libraries with one only probably in private hands.
One is a Persian translation.[6] The
best five manuscripts were used in arriving at the final printed text. The main
one, however, was MS Ahmet III 3472 in the Topkapi Sarayi Librarary, Istanbul.
This is the closest copy to the time when al-Jazari completed his writing in 602/1206.
3- The history of water clocks and ingenious devices before and
after al-Jazari
The first water clocks in their simplest form were used by the
ancient civilizations of Babylonia and Egypt.[7]
About the developments that followed we have two historical
reports. The known one in the histories of science is that of Vitruvious who
said that Ctesibius, an Egyptian engineer and craftsman who worked in
Alexandria about 250 BC, improved the design of the water clock.[8]
The second report came from Ridwan ibn al-Sa’ati in his
book and is not known to historians of science. Ridwan mentioned in his book
that a man called Hormuz invented the mechanisms of the water clock that were
used by his father in the construction of the Damascus clock. He
says further that “the design [of Hormuz] continued in the land of
Fars for a long time, and was transmitted from there to the land of the Greeks,
and its construction spread out in the land until it was transmitted to
Damascus, where it was constructed up to the days of the Byzantines and after that
in the days of Banu Umayya, according to what is mentioned in the histories.
This clock attributed to Hormuz continued to be reproduced by one man after
another on this pattern, and it was in the shape that we described above” [9]
The report of Ridwan seems credible, since he links the
development of the water clock with both Iran and the Hellenistic world. His
story is of great historical importance and it deserves the attention of
research workers. We should remark here that the practice of water clocks was
limited to the cities of Syria and Mesopotamia in the early centuries of Islam
which gives support to Ridwan’s account.
The only public water clock known before Islam was erected in a
public square in Gaza in the fifth century AD.[10]
Automata in general were known before Islam. The first musical
automaton is attributed to Ctesibius of Egypt. In Asia Minor, Philon of
Byzantium who was a contemporary of Ctesibius, wrote the first major treatise
on ingenious devices. Philon’s work was continued and extended by Heron of
Alexandria, who flourished in the middle of the first century AD.
The tradition of water clocks and ingenious devices of pre-Islamic
lands was further developed under Islam. Monumental water clocks in Islamic
cities continued to be installed. The Abbasid Caliphs were interested in clocks
and ingenious devices. The story of the clock that was presented by Harun
al-Rashid (170-193/786-809) to Charlemagne in 807
AD is well known.[11] It
is reported also that the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mutawakkil (d. 247/861) was so
obsessed with moving machines (Ālāt mutaḥarrika), that he favoured the Banu Musa[12] who
wrote their famous book al-Hiyal during this period.
In Kiitab al-hayawan, al-Jahiẓ (160-253/776-867 AD) when
discussing the measurement of time, says: “Our kings and scientists use the
astrolabe by day and the binkamat (water
clocks) by night” [13]
Al-Khazini (flourished 515/1121) reported that Ibn al-Haytham
(354/965 - 450/1038) who was a noted engineer as well as a great scientist,
described a water clock.[14] In
the same period historians reported that Nasir al Dawla of Diyar Bakr (d.
453/1061 AD) constructed a publicbinkam (water clock) for the city
of Mayyafariqin in the year 414/1012.[15] This
is 200 years before al-Jazari.
The technology of clock- making was transferred to Muslim Spain and to
Al-Maghrib. About the year 442/1050 AD, al-Zarqali constructed a large water
clock on the banks of the Tagus River at Toledo in Spain. The clock was still
in operation when the Christians occupied the city in 1085 AD. A treatise
describing Andalusian monumental clocks was written in the eleventh century by
Ibn Khalaf al-Mururadi. Water clocks were constructed for public places in
al-Maghrib. The remains of two public water clocks in Fās from the fourteenth
century AD can still be seen.[16]
An Arabic treatise of unknown date and authorship describes a monumental
water-clock. It is attributed to a Pseudo-Archimedes but it is not listed among
Archimedes works in any history of science. Hill thinks that part of it may be
of Greek origin, but most of it being written by Arabic writers.[17]
Both Ridwan and al-Jazari mentioned it.
In Damascus, Muhammad al-Khurasani al-Sa’ati (the clock-maker) built a
monumental clock around 556/1160. Ridwan ibn al-Sa’ati re-built the clock of
his father and gave a detailed description of its construction in 600/1203.
Al-Jazari was writing his book in Āmid at the same time.
The skills in
constructing clocks and ingenious devices were also established in the eastern
lands of Islam. We should remember that Muúammad al-Sa’ati who
constructed the monumental clock in Damascus came from Khurasan in 549/1154 and
started constructing the clock shortly after his arrival. He was considered
unrivalled in his skills in clock making[18]. It is
reported that the noted astronomer ʿAlī Qūshjī (d. 1474) who was in Maragha, wrote a treatise (tadhkira) on
spiritual (or ingenious) machines[19].
4-
Evaluation of al-Jazari’s work
Al-Jazari’s book deals with a whole range of devices and machines,
with a multiplicity of purposes. What they have in common is the considerable
degree of engineering skill required for their manufacture, and the use of
delicate mechanisms and sensitive control systems. Many of the ideas employed
in the construction of ingenious devices were useful in the later development
of mechanical technology.
About al-Jazari’s book Sarton says that “this treatise is the most
elaborate of its kind and may be considered the climax of this line of Moslem
achievement.” [22] Hill
concludes also that “until modern times there is no other document, from any
cultural area, that provides a comparable wealth of instructions for the
design, manufacture and assembly of machines”.[23]
Al-Jazari inherited the knowledge of his predecessors, but he
improved on their designs and added devices of his own invention. The merit of
his book is that it was the only book to discuss such a large variety of
devices and to present them with text and illustrations and dimensions so that
a skilled craftsman is able to construct any device on the basis of al-Jazari’s
description. In the World of Islam Festival in 1976 it was possible to
construct three of al-Jazari’s machines under Hill’s supervision. [24]. They
worked perfectly well. One was a monumental water clock which is exhibited now
in the Natuuurmuseum Asten in the
Netherlands.[25]
[The toy machine shown below, incorporates several principles: the use of
water power and a water raising saqiya at the same time. An
actual machine like this from the thirteenth century, was supplying water from Nahr
Yazid in Damascus to Ibn al-‘Arabi’s mosque until recently, and can be
seen until now.
Al-Jazari
occupies an important place in the history of automata, automatic control,
robotics and automated musical theaters. His pioneering work is duly
acknowledged in most histories.
The inventions of al-Jazari are a source of inspiration to modern
designers such as the use of rolling balls to sound the hours on cymbals and
operate automata. This concept is currently used in toys and other devices and
their makers had registered patents in their names.[28]
Al-Jazari described a combination lock.[29] There
are now in world museums three combination locks that were made in the same
period of al-Jazari [30].
Although they are simpler than the lock of al-Jazari yet they follow the
same principle. Two were made around 597/1200 AD by Muhammad b. Hamid
al-Asturlabi al-Isfahani and are located in Copenhagen and Boston. The
third is in Maastricht. The first combination lock in Europe was described
by Buttersworth in 1846 and the wheels of this lock are strikingly similar to
the discs of al-Jazari.[31]
All
illustrations in al-Jazari’s book are in colour, and among the fifty main
drawings are miniatures that are of great artistic merit. This resulted in the
disappearance of some of these paintings from the manuscripts and they found
their way to the international museums of art or to private collections.
ULASAN
Nama penuh al-Jazari adalah Muhammad
bin Muhammad bin Muhammad bin ‘Ali bin Yusuf al-Jzari al-Dimasyqi. Beliau digelar
Abu al-Khair. Menurut penulis perkataan al-Jazari menunujukkan keluarganya dating
dari Jazirat ibn Umar di Diya Bakr. Dalam artikel ini menyatakan beliau
menghasilkan banyak buku. Ia merupakan antara sumbangannya terhadap dunia
Islam.
Antara buku yang dihasilkan beliau
adalah buku al-Jami’ bayn al-‘ilm wa ‘amal, al-Nafi ‘Wayar Sina. Buku ini
merupakan ringkasan teori dan amalan berguna seni mekanikal. Manuskrip ini
menjadi bukti catatan terawal penggunaan engkol, pistol dan injap yang
digunakan untuk menghasilkan produk yang menjadi kegunaan harian masyarakat
pada waktu itu seperti mesin dan pengepam air.
Dalam artikel ini juga menyebut
tentang sejarah jam air dan peralatan yang dihasilkan oleh al-Jazari. Beliau mencipta
gear yang terpenting dalam sistem air ia dikenali sebagai pam penyedut
hidraulik. Selain itu artikel ini menyatakan tentang penilaian karya al-Jazari
dengan mengatakan buku al-Jazari merupakan satu
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