Workshop materials on the abjad number system

Using this workshop material, you can learn the abjad number system by yourself. It is not necessary to know the Arabic language or the Arabic alphabet.
If you can read abjad numbers, you can read the numbers in mathematical and astronomical tables in medieval Arabic manuscripts and on Islamic astrolabes.
The workshop introduces the reader to the Eastern Arabic abjad system. There is also a Western Arabic abjad system, which differs from the Eastern system only in the symbols for the numbers 60. 90, 300, 800, 900, 1000. You only need to know the Western symbols for 60=sad, 90=dad, 300=sin. The methodology is the same.

Material for an online abjad workshop

Note in advance: the workshop does not assume familiarity with the Arabic alphabet.
If you want to take the workshop, print out the handout and photos in advance. Then go through the online presentation. The presentation includes some exercises; make sure that you write the answer to esch exercise on the handout before you continue with the presentation.
Handout
Photos
Online presentation of the workshop.

You are welcome to use or adapt the material for teaching the workshop. For questions and assistance I am at your disposal. I can send you the LaTeX-files.

Supplementary material:


Publication and recomputation of al-Khalili's qibla table in David A. King, "Al-Khalili's Qibla Table" Journal of Near Eastern Studies 34 (1975), pp. 81-122, available online on JSTOR.
Arabic manuscripts:
Link to the Arabic manuscript in Berlin, Germany, Staatsbibliothek, Wetzstein II 1138, which contains the qibla table of al-Khalili.
Only the section on the qibla tables in the Berlin manuscript with al-Khalili's introduction.
Link to the Arabic manuscript (Paris, Bibliothèque Nationale, Fonds Arabe, 2558) which also contains al-Khalili's qibla table and much else. The ms. can also be downloaded, but the photos are in black and white, so the difference between black and red writing in the manuscript is not visible.
Only the section on the qibla tables in the Paris manuscript with al-Khalili's introduction.

Literature:

Explanation (paragraphs 116-118) by Abu Rayhan al-Biruni (973-ca 1050 AD) on the abjad number system [Arabic and English translation]


This explanation was taken from Al-Biruni's Introduction to Astrology, published in R. Ramsay Wright: The Book of Instruction in the Elements of the Art of Astrology by al-Biruni. London 1934, Download the whole work (archive.org).
On the history of the abjad system see J. Thomann, Scientific and Archaic Arabic Numerals: Origins, Usages and Scribal Traditions of the Two Abjad Systems, SCIAMVS 19 (2018), pp. 67-100, Download. 2023