The Secret of the Crescent Moon

Author: Faisal Al-Ansari

The novel "The Secret of the Crescent Moon" by Qatari writer Faisal Al-Ansari (Arab Scientific Publishers, 2026) testifies to the beginnings of the conflict between religious and secular sciences in the 9th century AD. For this purpose, it delves into the biography of the astronomer Al-Battani (born 854 AD), who was Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan, one of the scientific prodigies of the Abbasid era and one of the first Muslim scholars in astronomy and mathematics. The novel recounts the slander he faced from pseudo-scientists who threatened to burn his book (Al-Zij Al-Sabi'), which was considered the most important Arab Islamic astronomical book. In it, its author documented the movements of celestial bodies and methods of predicting eclipses and lunar eclipses in a way unsurpassed by any of his contemporaries.
In the same vein, the novel bears witness to prominent stages in the history of the Persian state during the Qajar dynasty's rule and its conflict with the Ottoman Empire, and the accompanying political, economic, and social transformations that reflected on the inhabitants of the Arabian Gulf coasts. Through these landmarks, "The Secret of the Crescent Moon" reveals its owner, the poor orphan boy who sought knowledge on the shores of the Gulf and later became the Qadi of Al Khor and northern Qatar, and became its jurist, notable, and renowned astronomer. He is (the Guardian of the Crescent Moon) Sheikh Abdullah bin Ibrahim Al-Ansari, who was instrumental in establishing the Religious Institute in 1954 in Qatar, in addition to issuing the first Qatari calendar in 1951, which includes prayer times and the commencements of Hijri months, and contains hadiths, wisdom, and benefits that strengthen the servant's connection with his Lord and increase good in this world and the hereafter.
The crescent moon understands that the divine laws that shape its phases are the same ones that will one day awaken its nation. It hopes to glimpse the dawn of the first ray of light from the edge of its profound darkness. The crescent moon watches... and continues to watch.
From the atmosphere of the novel, we read: "The sky tonight is extremely strange, pitch black; even the stars have abandoned their positions. I turn my eyes in vain, walking barefoot, my feet striving to change my location, hoping to see something that restores my inner peace. Cold breezes stir the edges of my clothes, other souls breathe in that place... souls, but I have not yet seen them... A glow has just begun to form... an old man in light-colored clothes and a white turban tightened over a radiant face with comforting features, maintaining a distance between us. He looked at me for a few seconds then pointed towards the east; a slender, beautifully curved, bright white crescent moon making its way upwards from the eastern horizon... It soon appears in full detail and takes its place in the sky in all its splendor. I look back at the dignified sheikh, who addresses me in a resonant voice: - Come, Ibrahim... your turn is about to begin... prepare to be (the Guardian of the Crescent Moon)."