Islamic Science History

• Exam study guide focusing on science in Islamic civilization.

Renewed Interest in the History of Arabic-Islamic Science

• Ibn al-Haytham is a physicist worthy of ranking alongside Newton.
• Isaac Newton stood on the shoulders of Ibn al-Haytham, who lived 700 years earlier.
• Ibn al-Haytham is considered the father of the modern scientific method.
• The scientific method involves establishing facts through testing and experimentation.
• Ibn al-Haytham combined experimental investigations of light with geometrical proofs and psychology of visual perception.
• He systematically tied these elements together to form an alternative to the Euclidean and Ptolemaic theories of visual rays.
• Ibn al-Haytham believed scientists should question everything and conduct experiments to test what is written.
• Rick Beyer's "Greatest Science Stories Never Told" included only 2 Arabs/Muslims among the 6 scientists who lived before 1600.

Science/Knowledge in the Islamic Culture

• Quran encourages reflection and observation of the universe
• Quranic verses emphasize considering the heavens and the earth.
• Quranic verses emphasize traveling the land and observing the origins of creation
• Quranic verses state that everything was created and ordered in exact measure.
• Hadith refers to the sayings and actions of the Prophet Muhammad.
• The acceptance of a Hadith depends on the chain of transmission/narration tracing back to the Prophet.
• Islamic tradition values the ink of the scholar as more sacred than the blood of the martyr.
• Seeking knowledge is considered an obligation upon every Muslim.
• Contemplation of nature is valued as highly as adoration of God.
• Islamic belief holds that God created a cure for every disease.
• Islam's needs, such as prayer times, direction of Mecca (qibla), and lunar calendars, spurred developments in science/astronomy.
• Zakat, inheritance laws, medicine, and architecture also drove scientific inquiry.

Great Scientists

• Al-Kindi believed in seeking truth from any source.
• Avicenna/Ibn Sina emphasized the importance of requiring proof; believing without proof is not human.
• Al-Biruni adopted induction as a valid research approach
• Induction involves deriving conclusions from experimentations and observations
• Deduction involves deriving conclusions from logic and reasoning.

Post-Abbasid Period

• The fall of Baghdad in 1258 was the final blow to an already ailing civilization, however recent discoveries challenge this view.
• Cordoba and Seville fell in al-Andalus in 1236 and 1248 respectively, with only Granada remaining for another two and a half centuries
• Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi was a Moroccan mathematician and astronomer.
• Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi was immortalized with a moon crater named after him.
• Ibn al-Nafis, born in Damascus and moved to Cairo, is credited with discovering the pulmonary blood cycle.
• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, born in Khorasan, directed the Maragha observatory.
• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi contributed to observations and theory, including the "Tusi couple" geometric construction.
• Ibn al-Shatir was an astronomer, mathematician, engineer, and inventor from Damascus.
• Kamal al-Din Al-Farisi produced the first mathematically correct explanation of the rainbow.

Institutions of Science

• Madrasas primarily focused on religious law with little emphasis on science.
• Madrasas teaching religious law required competence in mathematics and astronomy for tasks such as calculating inheritance and determining the qibla.
• Universities like Nizamiyya, Mustansiriyya, and Al-Azhar were associated with great mosques.
• Houses of Wisdom, especially in Baghdad, were centers of knowledge.
• Observatories were scientific institutions often motivated by astrology, involving construction, staff, libraries, and instruments.
• The Baghdad Observatory was the first, established shortly after the translation of Almagest.
• Astronomers often became wandering scholars in search of patrons.

Curators of the Museum of Greek Science

• Islamic scientific accomplishments include the creation of algebra and advancements by Al-Khwarizmi.
• Revolutionized Optics through discovery of Ibn al-Haytham
• Progress in astronomy included sophisticated instruments and precise observations.
• Trigonometry was developed by synthesizing the Greek chord with the Indian sine.
• Other mathematical progress included number theory and solving higher-order equations.
• Medicine saw huge progress with surgery, pharmacology, and the invention of new tools.
• New techniques and discoveries were made in science
• Contributors came from diverse ethnicities and religious backgrounds, including Jews, Christians, and Sabeans
• "The Tusi Couple" was written in Arabic by a Persian-speaking man, reforming classical Greek astronomy.
• The theorem was translated into Byzantine Greek and used by Copernicus and others in Renaissance Europe.

Islamic Science

• Islamic texts were labeled as "Arabic Science".

The Decline of Islamic Science

• The peak of scientific achievements occurred in the 10th-11th centuries.
• Activity decreased significantly by the 16th century.
• The decline began around the late 13th-early 14th century, with little progress by the 15th century.
• Astronomy was an exception that continued until the late 16th century.
• The decline was not uniform across all fields and regions.

Factors for the Decline of Islamic Science

• Internal factors included the rise of orthodox theology
• Lack of institutionalization of the culture of science was a factor
• An absence of real universities or higher education was a factor
• A social divide between the elite and the lay culture was a factor
• External factors included the Invasion of the Mongols
• The Christian Reconquista of Spain was an external factor
• Factor included Crusades
• External factors include a shrinking of the Muslim Ottoman, Mughal, and Safavid Empires
• Economic factors included the loss of commercial dominance of the East.
• The opening of the treasure troves of America and India for the West was an Economic factor

The Orthodoxy

• The role of the orthodoxy is a controversial issue with liberal and conservative standpoints
• Orthodoxy criticized the study of logic, ancient science, and philosophy.
• Khwarizmi's algebra was hardly used, it was seen as useless knowledge.
• The orthodoxy reluctantly accepted Greek knowledge in medicine over Prophetic medicine.
• Technological innovations were accepted as "useful knowledge."

Useful vs. Useless Knowledge

• Ibn Khaldun, castigated philosophy and declared science to be abhorrent.
• Ibn Khaldun considered philosophers to have been led astray by God and physics to be unimportant.
• Ghazzali made religious knowledge the highest in rank to be prioritized over other forms of knowledhe
• Institutions with scientific functions (hospitals) received religious funding.
• Other institutions (observatories) were prohibited from receiving religious funding.
• Individual scientists were prohibited from receiving funding from these sources.

Social Chasm Between the Elite and The General Public

• Social chasm was cause by reluctance to allow ordinary Muslims access to knowledge
• Ibn Rushd (Averroes) believed allegorical interpretations of the Quran should not be expressed to the masses.
• Ibn Rushd and Maimonides the study of philosophy should be for the chosen few
• Intellectuals treated the masses with contempt, considering them unfit for higher thought
• The ulama were always dependent on the masses.

Absence of Real Universities or Institutions of Higher Education

• Scientists and their sponsors did not create networks of scholars and scholarship.
• Scientists were not part of enduring institutions so they became jobless with change of individual patrons

Islamic Higher Educational System

• The system consisted mainly of madrasas with no standardized content and little natural sciences
• Madrasas: Religious institutions of Islamic (religious) scholars

Islamic Science in the Abbasid Period

• Ibn Hayyan, Jabir also known as Geber in the West
• Ibn Hayyan Jabir flourished in Kufa ca. 776
• He was probably from Tus, Tartus, or Harran, and therefore possibly a Sabian.
• He was the most famous alchemist of the Abbasid period.
• Some scholars claim that Ibn Hayyan represented a group of people rather than one scholar.
• He exhibited methods of chemical research and interesting theories of scientific nature.
• A theory on the geological formation of metals, the effects of the magnetic force, and methods for preparing substances was his EX
• Al-Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya'qub was born in Basra
• He flourished in Baghdad and was persecuted during the orthodox times.
• Abu Yusuf Ya'qub was known as "the philosopher of the Arabs.”
• He is one of the Islamic civilization who possessed knowledge of Greek science and philosophy
• Al-Kindi Topics in mathematics, astrology, physics, music, medicine, pharmacy, and geography
• Al-Kindi considered alchemy a fraud and supervised translations from Greek into Arabic
• Al-Khwarizmi, Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Musa was a muslim mathematician, astronomer, and geographer
• His book on arithmetic He wrote the seminal algebra book, Hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala, integrated Greek and Hindu knowledge.
• Khwarizmi's astronomical and trigonometric tables were translated into Latin
• His Surat al-Ard improved Ptolemy's geography
• Al-Jahiz, Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani was better known as an Arab writer and Mutazili theology
• He wrote Kitab al-Hayawan (The Book of Animals)
• Book contained descriptions that amount to an understanding of animal evolution and selection
• Book contained food chains
• Mohammed ibn Zakaria al-Razi, Abu Bakr was a physician, physicist, and alchemist
• He was born and flourished in Baghdad and Tehran
• Abu Bakr was considered to be “the greatest clinician of Islam and middle ages."
• He adopted Hellenic approach(Galenic in theory)
• Al-Battani, Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Jabir ibn Sinan came from Harran
• Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Jabir ibn Sinan thrived near Samarra(Iraq)
• He is was greatest astronomer of his time and one of the greatest of Islam
• He made range and accurate astronomical observations
• Main work of Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Jabir ibn Sinan is an astronomical treatise with tables

Al-Masudi

• Al-Masudi was born in Baghdad and died in Cairo
• One of the greatest Arab historians and geographers
• Al-Masudi wrote Muruj adh-dhahab wa ma`adin al-jawhar (The Meadows of Gold and Mines of Gems)
• Book was the first to combine history and "scientific geography"
• Al-Biruni, Abu-r-Raihan Mohammed ibn Ahmed: Born in Khwarizm, spent time in India, and died at Ghazna
• One of the great polymaths of Islam and humanity
• Abu-r-Raihan Mohammed ibn Ahmed was a historian, sociologist, geographer, geologist, astronomer, physicist, mathematician, and philosopher
• He displayed tolerance and respect toward other cultures
• Al-Biruni, Abu-r-Raihan Mohammed ibn Ahmed wrote Kitab al-athar albaqiya ani-l-qurun al-khaliya, a celebrated account of India and astronomy
• His knowledge covered Hindu numerals, geometric series, projection, gravity, density, the speed of light

Ibn Sina

• Ibn Sina was the famous for encyclopedia (Kitab al-shifa/ The Canon in Medicine)
• An extraordinary encyclopedia, a classification of medical knowledge
• Al-Qanun fi-l-tibb’s Qanun’s flawlessness superseded Razi's Al-Hawi
• Ibn Sina’s interests in mathematics were more philosophical and astronomical.
• Accomplishments completes original investigations
• Al-Khayyam was astronomer and mathematician that Was born in Nishapur, studied in Samarkand
• Al-Khayyam was known for poetry and Algebra
• Al-Khayyam’s “Jalali” calendar was accurate more so that the Gregorian calendar
• Ibn al-Haytham, Abu Ali al-Hasan ,who was born in Basra, flourished in Egypt and died in Cairo
• The greatest Muslim physicist known for Kitab al-Manazir (the Book of Optics, or De Aspectibus/Optics), experimental methodology, and catoptrics
• Ibn al-Haytham provided explanation of vision and the operation of the eye
• Al-Nafis, Ala-al-din abu Al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm was born in Damascus and moved to Cairo
• He was one of the greatest physicians in the Islamic civilization
• Ala-al-din abu Al-Hassan Ali ibn Abi-Hazm was learned in jurisprudence, literature, and theology.

Islamic Science in Al-Andalus

• Al-Majriti, Maslamah Abu-l-Qasim ibn Ahmed who from Madrid and flourished in Cordoba
• He edited, adapted, improved tables of al-Khwarizmi, treatise commentaries
• Fatima Al-Majritiya daughter of al-Majriti, edited astronomical tables of al-Khwarizmi, and worked edited tables
• Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi from Zahra and surgeon
• He wrote the surgical tools of al-Tasrif
• Al-Zarqali, Abu Ishaq Ibrahim ibn Yahya al-Naqqash the great astronomer who produced an improved astrolabe, solar apogee and Toledan Tables
• The Ibn Rushd, Abul-Walid Muhammad bin Ahmad was a Muslim philosopher known as the Commentator known for writing advanced astronomy
• The Ibn al-Baytar, Diya' al-Din Abu Muhammad Abdallah ibn Ahmad al-Malaqi was an Andalusian botanist, pharmacist, physician
• He wrote Al-Kitab Al-Jami` li-Mufradat al-Adwiya wa al-Aghdhiya.
• Also wrote Al-Kitab al-Mughni fi al-Adwiya al-Mufradaa

Contributions of Non-Muslims to Islamic Science

• Hunayn ibn Ishaq, Abu Zaid was a Nestorian, one of the greatest of his time.
• Hunun ibn Ishaq made excellent contributions in ophthalmology
• Hasdai ibn Shaprut, Abu Yusuf ben Yitzhak ben Ezra flourished at Cordoba
• Hasdai ibn Shaprut encouraged and supported Jewish science

Islamic Science after the Abbasid Era

• Al-Tusi, Muhammad ibn Muhammad (Nasir al-Din) was astronomer, mathematicians, physics, chemistry in Maragha's observatory
• Al-Tusi convinced Hulagu ,made contributions in observations, and came up with geometric constructio
• Al-Shirazi, Qutb al-Din, a Persian polymath and poet, was a student of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and known for medicine, physics, mathematics
• Al-Shirazi wrote Nehayat al-Idrak fi Dirayat al-Aflak (The Limit of Accomplishment Concerning Knowledge of the Heavens) and and Al-Tuhfah al-Shahiya (The Royal Present)
• Ibn al-Shatir the Damascene astronomer and mathematician who worked the Ptolemaic’s models