Muslims’ interest in the sea and navigation

The history of maritime navigation testifies to the great interest Muslims had in the sea and maritime navigation. They built numerous ships, filling the seas with vessels, and gave them names according to their different shapes, sizes, and purposes. Among these were naval vessels such as the “Harraqa,” designed to fire upon enemies; the “Hamala,” used to transport supplies and provisions for the Egyptian fleet during the Fatimid era; the “Shini,” used to carry soldiers and equipped with towers and fortresses for defense and attack; the “Ashari,” used to transport soldiers and equipment; and the “Ghurab,” a black warship, its color due to its black tar coating, equipped with a wooden bridge used by warriors to board enemy ships. Other merchant vessels included the “Jalaba,” the “Jahazi,” and the “Zakhraf.”

However numerous and varied the types and sizes of ships may be, their buoyant parts in the water resemble the swimming of a whale. Ibn Khaldun states: “They are geometric objects built in the image of a whale, taking into account its swimming motion in the water using its prow and keel, so that this shape aids them in navigating the water. Instead of the animalistic movement of fish, they are propelled by the wind, and sometimes aided by the movement of projectiles, as in fleets.”

Ships are usually equipped with navigational aids such as compasses, astrolabes, maps, photographs, nautical guidebooks, and weapons necessary for defense or attack. Naturally, the development of maritime navigation is linked to the development of other sciences such as astronomy, meteorology, geography, geology, and others.

It is also linked to the development of knowledge and marine sciences, including the study of the nature of coastlines and seabeds, the properties of water, the life forms that thrive there, and the phenomena active in and on the surface of the sea that cause waves, currents, and other oceanic phenomena. We can observe many manifestations of this development… Muslim scholars documented this in books on wonders, geography, and maritime travel literature. For example, al-Muqaddasi, in the 4th century AH (10th century CE), states in his book “Ahsan al-Taqasim fi Ma’rifat al-Aqalim” (The Best Divisions for Knowledge of the Regions), while discussing the Indian Ocean: “As for me, I traveled about two thousand leagues and circumnavigated the entire peninsula from Qulzum (present-day Suez) to Abadan, except for the islands and seas to which our ships strayed. I accompanied scholars there who were born and raised as captains, navigators, and merchants. I found them to be among the most knowledgeable people about the ocean, its harbors, winds, and islands. I inquired about it, its causes, and its boundaries, and I saw that they possessed books on the subject, which they studied, relied upon, and acted upon.”

The books mentioned by al-Muqaddasi in this text are none other than navigational guidebooks containing astronomical tables and port latitudes, in addition to… This includes everything the captain (the ship’s commander and the person responsible for its operation) needs to know about winds, coasts, reefs, islands, stars, and other things that help in navigation and in bringing ships closer to their moorings.