Thread by @aaolomi

Whenever I teach history of Islam, we spend a day on astrology. Though theologically contentious, it was a major part of the Islamic intellectual tradition.

A thread on the so-called Arabic Parts & the connection between western astrology & Islam

Islamic astrology was a synthesis of Hellenic, Mesopotamian, Persian, & Indian astrology. One example of this is the "Arabic Parts." Likely Hellenic in origin, they were calculated points on a horoscope used for prognostication.

The most famous of these was the Part of Fortune. Islamic astrology expanded the Parts. The famed astrologer Abu Mashar records something like 55 parts in his Kitab al-Mudkhal al-Kabīr while al-Biruni records somewhere around 150.

Abu Mashar’s text makes its way to Europe where in the 13th century Bonatti assumes they are Arabian in origin and labels them the "Arabic Parts."

They become a major feature of European prognostication with astrology; used to predict deaths, marriages, divorces, fortune, health, political upheaval, harvests etc.

One example of an Arabic Part is the Part of Marriage, which would reveal if and how you’d get married. There are differing methods of calculation, but the most popular was taking

Ascendant + Venus – Saturn

Where this landed would help the astrologer predict your marriage prospects.

For example, Aries in the 9th House might mean a passionate love affair with a foreigner or during travel.

While eventually the Arabic parts fell out of favor, for several hundred years they were the method of prediction for astrologers in the medieval world and an example of the intellectual exchange between Muslim thinkers and their European counterparts.

They are also a great metaphor for a broader historical trend; a synthesis of older traditions under Islam, imported to Europe, then later forgotten.