Al-Ashraf ʿumar’s Tabṣira. Chapter XXXVI: Rainfalls, Winds, and Agricultural Activities

This article presents a detailed study of Chapter xxxvi of Kitāb al-Tabṣira fī ʿilm al-nujūm (‘Enlightenment in the Science of the Stars’) by al-Ashraf ʿUmar, the future Rasūlid sultan of 13th-century Yemen. The chapter simultaneously addresses three interrelated topics: rains, agricultural activities, and winds. Beyond the apparent connections between weather patterns and agriculture, this study explores the deeper reasoning behind the integration of these topics. We analyse similarities and differences with other chapters of the Tabṣira and other sources from the Islamicate period to contextualise al-Ashraf ʿUmar’s approach. Notably, the similarities with the winds’ knowledge found in the Ikhwān al-Ṣafāʾ’s Epistles are discussed, although al-Ashraf ʿUmar refuses to fully adopt their philosophical and meteorological frameworks. By considering chapter xxxvi within a cluster of interconnected knowledge, this study aims to deepen our understanding of how pre-modern societies perceived the complex relationships between natural phenomena, cosmological frameworks, and seasonal knowledge. This approach seeks to provide a clearer view of how celestial predictability was linked to terrestrial events, calling for a broader examination of the scientific traditions of the Islamicate world. It highlights the importance of recognising the intertwining of natural, astral, and religious perspectives in shaping the environmental understanding of the past societies. Moreover, the authors provide a new edition and English translation of the chapter to complement this analysis.