cooking ingredients, metals, measures and shapes of animals and plants,
the humors, the stars, crafted objects, shadows, and celestial spheres.^35 This
serves to introduce the subsequent epistle, which explains how pragmatic
interests, such as in the arts described, have corollaries in spiritual interests.
They model this through the metaphor of two kinds of gatherings–one
devoted to“corporal pleasures,”while the other is for“science, wisdom,
and spiritual hearing.”^36 Thus, as every material endeavor has its spiritual
Figure 24Anonymous,“Demonstration of how tofind the Qibla with a sextant in
relation to the stars,”from“On Interlocking Similar or Congruent Figures.”
Bibliothèque Nationale de France, MS Persan 169, p. 42
(^35) El-Bizri and de Gallatay, 2018 :57–69. (^36) El-Bizri and de Gallatay, 2018 : 100.
Isometric Geometry in Islamic Perceptual Culture 279