Science in the medieval Islamic world

This article treats the science developed under the Islamic civilisation between the 7th and 16th centuries. For information on the practice of science in the context of Islam, see The relation between Islam and science.

In the history of science, Islamic science refers to the science developed under the Islamic civilisation between the 7th and 16th centuries. It is also sometimes known as Arabic science due to most texts during this period being written in Arabic, the lingua franca of the Islamic civilization. Despite these names, not all scientists during this period where Muslim or Arab, as there were a number of notable non-Arab scientists, as well as some non-Muslim scientists, contributing to science in the Islamic civilization.

A number of modern scholars, notably Robert Briffault, Will Durant, Fielding H. Garrison, Alexander von Humboldt, and Muhammad Iqbal, are of the opinion that modern science began in the Islamic civilization, mostly due to the beginning of the modern scientific method among Muslim scientists.

Fields

In the Middle Ages, especially during the Islamic Golden Age, Muslim scholars made significant advances in science, mathematics, medicine, astronomy, engineering, and many other fields. During this time, Islamic philosophy developed and was often pivotal in scientific debates — key figures were usually scientists and philosophers.

Scientific method

File:Ibn haithem portrait.jpg

Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) is regarded as the "father of optics" and the pioneer of the modern scientific method. He was also the first Muslim astronomer to support a heliocentric model of the solar system.

Muslim scientists placed far greater emphasis on experiment than had the Greeks. This led to the modern scientific method being developed in the Muslim world, where significant progress in methodology was made, beginning with the experiments of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) on optics from circa 1000. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experiments to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation, which began among Muslim scientists.

Rosanna Gorini writes:

"According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable."

Ibn al-Haitham, who is now known as the "father of optics", used the scientific method to obtain the results in his book Optics. In particular, he performed experiments and used the scientific method to prove that the intromission theory of vision, inspired by some of Aristotle's early ideas, was scientifically correct, and that the emission theory of vision supported by Empedocles, Plato, Euclid and Ptolemy was wrong. It is known that Roger Bacon (who is sometimes erroneously given credit for the scientific method) was familiar with Ibn al-Haitham's work.

The development of the scientific method is considered to be so fundamental to modern science that some — especially philosophers of science and practicing scientists — consider earlier inquiries into nature to be pre-scientific. Robert Briffault wrote in The Making of Humanity:

"Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. Not until long after Moorish culture had sunk back into darkness did the giant to which it had given birth, rise in his might. It was not science only which brought Europe back to life. Other and manifold influences from the civilization of Islam communicated its first glow to European life."

"The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence....The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigations, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation and experimental inquiry were altogether alien to the Greek temperament."

Muhammad Iqbal wrote in The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam:

"Thus the experimental method, reason and observation introduced by the Arabs were responsible for the rapid advancement of science during the medieval times."

An Arabic manuscript from the 13th century depicting Socrates (Soqrāt) in discussion with his pupils.

Astrology

Main article: Islamic astrology

Islamic astrology, in Arabic ilm al-nujumis the study of the heavens by early Muslims. In early Arabic sources, ilm al-nujum was used to refer to both astronomy and astrology. In medieval sources, however, a clear distinction was made between ilm al-nujum (science of the stars) or ilm al-falak (science of the celestial orbs), referring to astrology, and ilm al-haya (science of the figure of the heavens), referring to astronomy. Both fields were rooted in Greek, Persian, and Indian traditions. Despite consistent critiques of astrology by scientists and religious scholars, astrological prognostications required a fair amount of exact scientific knowledge and thus gave partial incentive for the study and development of astronomy.

Astronomy

Main article: Islamic astronomy

Islamic astronomy closely parallels the genesis of other Islamic sciences in its assimilation of foreign material and the amalgamation of the disparate elements of that material to create a science that was essentially Islamic. These include Indian and Sassanid works in particular. Some Hellenistic texts were also translated and built upon as well.

Islamic interest in astronomy ran parallel to the interest in mathematics. Noteworthy in this regard was the Almagest of Greek-speaking Egyptian scholar Ptolemy (c. 100-178). The Almagest was a landmark work in its field, assembling, as Euclid's Elements had previously done with geometrical works, all extant knowledge in the field of astromony that was known to the author. This work was originally known as The Mathematical Composition, but after it had come to be used as a text in astronomy, it was called The Great Astronomer. The Islamic world called it The Greatest prefixing the Greek work megiste (greatest) with the article al- and it has since been known to the world as Al-megiste or, after popular use in Western translation, Almagest. Ptolemy also produced other works, such as Optics, Harmonica, and some suggest he also wrote Tetrabiblon.

File:Al-Tusi Nasir.jpeg

Nasir al-Din Tusi, 13th century, resolved significant problems in the Ptolemaic system with the Tusi-couple, which played an important role in Copernican heliocentrism.

The Almagest was a particularly unifying work for its exhaustive lists of sidereal phenomena. He drew up a list of chronological tables of Assyrian, Persian, Greek, and Roman kings for use in reckoning the lapse of time between known astronomical events and fixed dates. In addition to its relevance to calculating accurate calendars, it linked far and foreign cultures together by a common interest in the stars and astrology.

The work of Ptolemy was replicated and refined over the years under Arab, Persian and other Muslim astronomers and astrologers. The astronomical tables of Al-Khwarizmi and of Abu al-Qasim Maslama b. Ahmad (al-Majriti) served as important sources of information for Latinized European thinkers rediscovering the works of astronomy, where extensive interest in astrology was discouraged.

From the 10th century, Muslim astronomers began questioning the Ptolemaic system. Many of them made changes and corrections to his model within a geocentric framework. In particular, the corrections of Al-Battani, Averroes, Mo'ayyeduddin Urdi (Urdi lemma), Nasir al-Din al-Tusi (Tusi-couple) and Ibn al-Shatir were later adapted into the Copernican heliocentric model. Several Muslim astronomers also discussed the possibility of a heliocentric model with elliptical orbits, such as Ibn al-Haytham, Abu-Rayhan Biruni, Abu Said Sinjari, 'Umar al-Katibi al-Qazwini, and Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi.

Chemistry

Further information: Alchemy (Islam)

An early scientific method for chemistry began emerging among early Muslim chemists. One of the most influential among them was the 9th century chemist Geber, who some consider to be the "father of chemistry". Other influential Muslim chemists included Al-Razi, Abu-Rayhan Biruni and Al-Kindi. Alexander von Humboldt regarded the Muslim chemists as the founders of chemistry.

Geber, the "father of chemistry".

Will Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization IV: The Age of Faith:

"Chemistry as a science was almost created by the Moslems; for in this field, where the Greeks (so far as we know) were confined to industrial experience and vague hypothesis, the Saracens introduced precise observation, controlled experiment, and careful records. They invented and named the alembic (al-anbiq), chemically analyzed innumerable substances, composed lapidaries, distinguished alkalis and acids, investigated their affinities, studied and manufactured hundreds of drugs. Alchemy, which the Moslems inherited from Egypt, contributed to chemistry by a thousand incidental discoveries, and by its method, which was the most scientific of all medieval operations."

Geber's writings became more widely known in Europe through the Latin writings of a pseudo-Geber, an anonymous alchemist born in 14th century Spain, who translated Geber's books into Latin and wrote some of his own books under the pen name of "Geber".

Geology

Fielding H. Garrison wrote in the History of Medicine:

"The Saracens themselves were the originators not only of algebra, chemistry, and geology, but of many of the so-called improvements or refinements of civilization, such as street lamps, window-panes, firework, stringed instruments, cultivated fruits, perfumes, spices, etc..."

Mathematics

Al-Khwarizmi, the "father of algebra" and "father of algorithm".

Main article: Islamic mathematics

In the history of mathematics, "Islamic mathematics" refers to the mathematics developed by mathematicians of the Islamic culture, from the beginning of Islam until the 17th century — mostly including Arab and Persian mathematicians, as well as other Muslims and non-Muslims that were a part of the Islamic culture. Islamic mathematics is also known as Arabic mathematics due to most of the texts on Islamic mathematics being written in Arabic. Islamic mathematics is the main aspect of the greater history of Islamic science, and also an important part of the history of mathematics.

Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic Caliphate (also known as the Arab Empire or Islamic Empire) established across the Middle East, Central Asia, North Africa, Sicily, the Iberian Peninsula, and in parts of France and Pakistan (known as India at the time) in the 8th century. Although most Islamic texts on mathematics were written in Arabic, they were not all written by Arabs, since — much like the status of Greek in the Hellenistic world — Arabic was used as the written language of non-Arab scholars throughout the Islamic world at the time. Many of the most important Islamic mathematicians were Persians.

John J. O'Connor and Edmund F. Robertson wrote in the MacTutor History of Mathematics archive:

"Recent research paints a new picture of the debt that we owe to Islamic mathematics. Certainly many of the ideas which were previously thought to have been brilliant new conceptions due to European mathematicians of the sixteenth, seventeenth and eighteenth centuries are now known to have been developed by Arabic/Islamic mathematicians around four centuries earlier."

The mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, from whose name the word algorithm derives, contributed significantly to algebra (which is named after his book, kitab al-jabr). What is now known as Arabic numerals originally came from India, but Muslim mathematicians did make several refinements to the number system, such as the introduction of decimal point notation.

Medicine

Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis), the "father of modern surgery".

Main article: Islamic medicine

Further information: Ophthalmology in medieval Islam

Islamic Medicine (al-tibb) was a genre of medical writing intended as an alternative to the Greek-based medical system (See: Galen). It encouraged traditional medical practices of Muhammad's time (those mentioned in the Qur'an), but did not prevent advances in medicine.

Muslim physicians contributed significantly to the field of medicine, including the subjects of anatomy and physiology. Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), regarded as the "father of modern surgery", contributed greatly to the discipline of medical surgery with his Kitab al-Tasrif ("Book of Concessions"), a medical encyclopedia which was later translated to Latin and used in European and Muslim medical schools for centuries. In the 15th century, the Persian work by Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn al-Faqih Ilyas entitled Tashrih al-badan ("Anatomy of the body") contained comprehensive diagrams of the body's structural, nervous and circulatory systems. The Arab physician Ibn al-Nafis, proposed the theory of pulmonary circulation. Other medical advancements came in the fields of pharmacology and pharmacy.

Medical inventions in the Muslim world included oral anesthesia, inhalant anesthesia, distilled alcohol, medical drugs, chemotherapeutical drugs, injection syringe, and a number of antiseptics and other medical treatments. (See Islamic medicine for details.)

Physics

Ibn al-Haitham (Alhazen) developed an early camera obscura for his experiments on light and optics.

Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) (965-1040), the "father of optics" and the pioneer of the scientific method, developed a broad theory of light and optics that explained vision, using geometry and anatomy, which stated that each point on an illuminated area or object radiates light rays in every direction, but that only one ray from each point, which strikes the eye perpendicularly, can be seen. The other rays strike at different angles and are not seen. He used the example of the camera obscura and pinhole camera, which produces an inverted image, to support his argument. This contradicted Ptolemy's theory of vision that objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes. Alhazen held light rays to be streams of minute particles that travelled at a finite speed. He improved Ptolemy's theory of the refraction of light, and went on to discover the laws of refraction.

He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colours. His major work Kitab al-Manazir was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as well as his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena like shadows, eclipses, and the rainbow. He also attempted to explain binocular vision and the moon illusion. Through these extensive researches on optics, he is considered the father of modern optics.

Al-Haytham also correctly argued that we see objects because the sun's rays of light, which he believed to be streams of tiny particles traveling in straight lines, are reflected from objects into our eyes. He understood that light must travel at a large but finite velocity, and that refraction is caused by the velocity being different in different substances. He also studied spherical and parabolic mirrors, and understood how refraction by a lens will allow images to be focused and magnification to take place. He understood mathematically why a spherical mirror produces aberration.

Technology

Main article: Muslim inventions

Al-Jazari's programmable humanoid robots.

A significant number of inventions and technological advances were made in the Muslim world, as well as adopting and improving technologies centuries before they were used in the west. For example, papermaking was adopted from China many centuries before it was known in the West. Iron was a vital industry in Muslim lands and was given importance in the Qur'an. The knowledge of gunpowder was also transmitted from China to Islamic countries, through which it was later passed to Europe. Knowledge of chemical processes (alchemy and chemistry) and distillation (alcohol) also spread to Europe from the Muslim world. Numerous contributions were made in laboratory practices such as "refined techniques of distillation, the preparation of medicines, and the production of salts." Advances were made in irrigation and farming, using technology such as the windmill. Crops such as almonds and citrus fruit were brought to Europe through al-Andalus, and sugar cultivation was gradually adopted by the Europeans.

A number of other inventions were also produced by medieval Muslim scientists and engineers. One of the most prolific Muslim inventors was Al-Jazari. Some of the inventions produced by medieval Muslims include the parachute, hang glider, artificial wings, rocket aircraft, water raising machine, cam, brass astrolabe, mechanical astrolabe, camera, pinhole camera, camera obscura, modern chess, coffee, soft drink, fine glass, glasses, glass mirror, cannon, ballistic war machine, counterweight trebuchet, explosive, grenade, gun, firearm, torpedo, iron rocket, rifle, incendiary devices, sulfur bomb, pistol, modern soap, shampoo, kerosene, scribe clock, weight-driven mechanical clock, elephant clock, watch, programmable humanoid robot, segmental gear, mechanical singing bird, kitchen appliances, musical automata, combination lock, hand washing devices, water pump, suction pipe, crankshaft, laminated timber, static balanced wheels, paper models, sand casting, mould box, trick drinking vessels, phlebotomy measures, linkage, hydraulic devices, water level, ewer, movable brass type printing, pendulum, perfumery, trick devices, miswak, Rubik's Cube, homing pigeon, and many other such inventions. (See Muslim inventions for details.)

Modern Islamic philosophy of science

Modern Islamic philosophy has, in response to challenges of secular science and concerns that secular society is unwilling or unable to limit its uses of "dangerous technology", especially nuclear weapon or biotechnology, begun to look at the origins of science to determine what ethics or limits can or should be imposed, and what goals or visions are appropriate for science. Key figures in these debates are:

• Ismail al-Faruqi who proposed an Islamization of knowledge.
• Seyyed Hossein Nasr who focuses on interpretations of "khalifa".
• Ziauddin Sardar who advocates the creation of a modern Islamic science to tackle problems facing Muslims today.
• Syed Muhammad Naquib al-Attas who first coined the phrase "Islamization of knowledge".
• Muhammad Nijatullah Siddiqui who focuses more specifically on Islamic economics.
• F. Rosenthal, Knowledge Triumphant, explored the central importance of knowledge in Muslim civilization and explains how it generated "science". It is more a work of history. Also of some note in these debates have been
  • Nasim Butt, Science and Muslim Societies, an introduction
  • Ahmad Y. al-Hassan and Donald Routledge Hill, Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History

References

• Eglash, Ron (1999). African Fractals: Modern Computing and Indigenous Design. Rutgers University Press. ISBN 0-8135-2614-0.
• Hobson, John M. (2004). The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521547245.
• Hogendijk, Jan P. (2003). The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Huff, Toby E. (2003). The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0521529948.
• Levere, Trevor Harvey (2001). Transforming Matter: A History of Chemistry from Alchemy to the Buckyball. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-6610-3.
• Mintz, Sidney W. (1986). Sweetness and Power: The Place of Sugar in Modern History (Reprint ed.). Penguin (Non-Classics). ISBN 978-0140092332.
• Phillips, William D. (1992). The Worlds of Christopher Columbus. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 052144652X. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 1: Quranwissenschaften, Hadit, Geschichte, Fiqh, Dogmatik, Mystik (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004041532.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 2: Poesie. Bis CA. 430 H (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004031316.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 3: Medizin-Pharmazie Zoologie-Tierheilkunde (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004031316.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 4: Alchimie-Chemie Botanik-Agrikultur (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004020098.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 5: Mathematik (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004041532.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 6: Astronomie (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004058788.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 7: Astrologie-Meteorologie Und Verwandtes (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004061592.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 8: Lexikographie. Bis CA. 430 H (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004068678.
• Sezgin, Fuat (1997). Geschichte Des Arabischen Schrifttums 9: Grammatik. Bis CA. 430 H (in German). Brill. ISBN 9004072616.
• Turner, Howard R. (1997). Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction. University of Texas Press. ISBN 0292781490.

See also

• History of science in the Islamic World
• Timeline of Islamic science and technology
• List of Islamic terms in Arabic
• Islamic Golden Age
• Islamic studies
• Islamic scholars
• List of Iranian scientists
• Islamic banking
• Scholasticism
• Philosophy of science
• Applied ethics
• Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain
• The Bible, The Qur'an and Science by Maurice Bucaille

External links

• An interactive guide to Muslim scientists whose multi-disciplinary contributions sparked the flame of learning and productivity.
• CoislamScience.com: The Internet's First Unique Center of IslamScience and Community in Urdu Language
• Harun Yayha, An Invitation to The Truth
• History of Islamic Science
• Islam, Knowledge, and Science
• Islamic Science: an illustrated study, by Nasr, Seyyed Hossein
• History of Science and Technology in Islam
• A history of Islamic culture
• Islamic Civilization
• AbdurRahman Meda's Comprehensive and Authentic Article and Book Collection about the Science and Quran
• Al Ghazzali Centre for Islamic Sciences and Human Development
• The Islamization of science or the marginalization of Islam
• Muslimheritage
• 1001inventions