Islamic Candle Clocks

Timeline

1. 850–870Baghdad · BaghdadThe Banu Musa brothers described various candle clocks in Baghdad: graduated candles indicating the hours, with some designs incorporating floats, gears, and counterweights to achieve automatic time announcement—an important documentary witness to timekeeping technology and mechanical automation in the Islamic world.
2. 800–900Umayyad Mosque, Damascus · SyriaNinth-century Islamic cities relied on candle clocks, water clocks, and sundials to determine the five daily prayer times; candle clocks, unaffected by winter freezing and convenient for nighttime use, were widely adopted in mosques and scholars' studies.