It's time for the Arab Muslim world to reclaim its lost tradition of astronomical learning, one prominent researcher says.

Building a new generation of observatories would spark interest in fundamental research across the region, which in recent years has taken a much more utilitarian approach to science, said Nidhal Guessoum, a professor of physics and astronomy at the American University of Sharjah in the United Arab Emirates.

"Astronomy has a natural place high in the landscape of Arab Islamic culture," Guessoum wrote in a commentary published in the June 13 issue of the journal Nature. "It must be brought back." [History & Structure of the Universe (Infographic)]

A lost tradition

Astronomy has traditionally been important in the practice of Islam, Guessoum wrote, helping believers calculate prayer times and locations, determine the direction to the holy city of Mecca and map out the dates of festivals and pilgrimages.

As a result, astronomy flourished in the Muslim world from the ninth through 16th centuries A.D., with great observatories being built in what is now Iraq, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Uzbekistan.

"Thus hundreds of stars and constellations have Arabic names, such as Altair, Deneb, Vega and Rigel," Guessoum wrote. "Today, more than 20 lunar craters bear the names of Muslim astronomers, including Alfraganus (al-Farghani), Albategnius (al-Battani) and Azophi (al-Sufi)."

This golden age came to an end in the late 1500s after conservative clerics and rulers gained sway, placing ever more value on religious knowledge over scientific pursuits.

European colonization of the region in the 19th century sparked a brief resurgence, with new observatories going up in places such as Algeria, Lebanon and Egypt, Guessoum said.

But the interest mostly went home with the colonizers. When Arab nations gained their independence, Guessoum wrote, they tended to prioritize applied sciences such as petrochemical engineering and pharmaceuticals.

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Time Is Right for Arab Astronomy Renaissance, Scientist Says