A decent overview of the major aspects of Al-Sufi’s Book of the Fixed Stars.
English translation of Sections of Al-Şūfı’s ‘Book of the Fixed Stars’ (964 CE) in a Phd. thesis on Al-Sufi and his work from James Cook University (Queensland, Australia) in 2010. Sections from the thesis include ‘”Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi’s 3-Step Magnitude System,” “The Investigation of Stars, Star Clusters and Nebulae in ‘Abd al-Rahman-Sufi’s Book of the Fixed Stars” both in New Insights From Recent Studies in Historical Astronomy.
A more mystical approach to Islam found among Sunnis and Shias. Beliefs are most often associated with whirling dervishes a Sunni branch of Sufism found in Turkey.
Information on al-Sufi’s time appears under the” Key Events” link on this page.
History of the book in Persia
Al Sufi produced the drawings at either Shīrāz or Isfahan (then part of the Abbasid Empire). Includes an overlay of modern day Iran.
View Al-Sufi in a larger map