We study to what extent the Milky Way was used as an orientation tool at the beginning of the Islamic period covering the 8th to the 15th century, with a focus on the first half of that era. We compare the texts of three authors from three different periods and give detailed comments on their astronomical and traditional content. The text of al-Marzūqī summarises the information on the Milky Way put forward by the astronomer and geographer ʾAbū Ḥanīfa al-Dīnawarī. The text makes it clear that in some areas the Milky Way could be used as a geographical guide to determine the approximate direction toward a region on Earth or the direction of prayer. In the 15th century, the famous navigator Aḥmad b. Māǧid describes the Milky Way in his nautical instructions. He frequently demonstrates that the Milky Way serves as a guidance aid to find constellations and stars that are useful for precise navigation on land and at sea. On the other hand, Ibn Qutayba quotes in his description of the Milky Way a saying from the famous Bedouin poet Ḏū al-Rumma, which is also mentioned by al-Marzūqī. In this saying the Milky Way is used to indicate the hot summer times in which travelling the desert was particularly difficult. Hence, the Milky Way was useful for orientation in space and time and was used for agricultural and navigational purposes.

中文翻译：

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在伊斯兰早期和 15 世纪使用银河作为空间和时间定位的工具

我们研究了从 8 世纪到 15 世纪的伊斯兰时期初期，银河系在多大程度上被用作定位工具，重点关注那个时代的前半期。我们比较了三个不同时期的三位作者的文本，并对他们的天文和传统内容给出了详细的评论。al-Marzūqī 的文本总结了天文学家和地理学家 ʾAbū Ḥanīfa al-Dīnawarī 提出的有关银河系的信息。文本清楚地表明，在某些地区，银河系可以用作地理指南，以确定朝向地球某个区域的大致方向或祈祷的方向。在 15 世纪，著名的航海家 Aḥmad b. Māǧid 在他的航海指南中描述了银河系。他经常证明，银河系可作为导航辅助工具，以寻找有助于在陆地和海上精确导航的星座和恒星。另一方面，Ibn Qutayba 在他对银河系的描述中引用了著名的贝都因诗人 Ḏū al-Rumma 的一句话，al-Marzūqī 也提到了这句话。在这句话中，银河系被用来表示炎热的夏季，在沙漠中旅行特别困难。因此，银河系可用于空间和时间的定位，并用于农业和航海目的。在这句话中，银河系被用来表示炎热的夏季，在沙漠中旅行特别困难。因此，银河系可用于空间和时间的定位，并用于农业和航海目的。在这句话中，银河系被用来表示炎热的夏季，在沙漠中旅行特别困难。因此，银河系可用于空间和时间的定位，并用于农业和航海目的。