al-kamm al-munfasil The discrete quantity as represented by integral numbers (1...

al-kamm al-munfasil The discrete quantity as represented by integral numbers (1, 2, 3, 4, etc.); opposed to al-kamm al-muttasil (q.v.). al-kawakib al-thabitah The fixed stars, i.e. the stars fixed in the first or the outermost sphere (al-falak al-awwal, q.v.) in the Aristotelian-Ptolemaic cosmology. In Ptolemy's Almagest (al-Majisti, q.v.) the number of stars mentioned is 1025; this number was generally accepted by Muslim philosophers and astronomers.

‘Abd al-Rahman ibn ‘Umar al-Sufi (291-376/903-986), one of the greatest Muslim astronomers, in his work Kitab al-Kawakib al-Thabitah al-Musawwar (Illustrated Book of the Fixed Stars), however, adds that there are many more stars than 1025, but they are so faint that it is not possible to count them. al-kawakib al-sufliyah The lower planets, i.e. the planets below the sphere of the Sun in the Ptolemaic astronomy, current with the Muslim philosophers and scientists. They are three, viz.

Venus (Zuhrah), Mercury (‘Utarid) and the Moon (Qamar). See also below al-kawakib al-sayyarah. al-kawakib al-sayyarah The planets as opposed to stars (al-kawakib al-thabitah), q.v. ; according to the Ptolemaic cosmogony current with the Muslim philosophers there are only seven planets which according to their remoteness from earth were mentioned in the following order : Saturn (Zuhal), Jupiter (Mushtari); Mars (Marikh), the Sun (Shams), Venus (Zuhrah), Mercury (‘Utarid) and the Moon (Qamar).

It may be noted that according to modern astronomy with its heliocentric view, the order of planets, nine in all, according to their increasing distance from the Sun is: Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune and Pluto.; the Moon is not a separate planet but merely a satellite of the earth. It is also to be noted that with the Muslim as with the Greek philosophers of antiquity every planet is studded in a crystalline, i.e.

transparent, celestial sphere like a gem in a ring so that the movement of a planet is really the rotation of its whole sphere. al-kawakib al-‘ulwiyah "The high planets", i.e. the planets beyond the sphere of the Sun. These are three, viz. Saturn (Zuhal), Jupiter (Mushtari); Mars (Marikh). See al-kawakib al-sayyarah and also al-kawakib al-sufliyah. kaif Lit. "How?"; also termed as kaifiyah.