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ISLAM AND SCIENCE
A WORKSHOP ORGANIZED BY THE
ISLAMIC CENTER OF LITTLE ROCK
Presenters:
Sheikh Sayyed
Kamran Iqbal
Saeed Khan
Ahsan Shahid
MUSLIMS’ CONTRIBUTION
TO SCIENCE, ASTRONOMY
AND MEDICINE
Kamran Iqbal
Professor of Systems Engineering
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
[email protected]
The Glorious Islamic Civilization
There was once a civilization that was the greatest in the world…Within
its dominion lived hundreds of millions of people, of different creeds
and ethnic origins…And this civilization was driven more than anything,
by invention. Its architects designed buildings that defied gravity. Its
mathematicians created the algebra and algorithms that would enable
the building of computers, and the creation of encryption. Its doctors
examined the human body, and found new cures for disease. Its
astronomers looked into the heavens, named the stars, and paved the
way for space travel and exploration…When other nations were afraid
of ideas, this civilization thrived on them, and kept them alive…The
civilization I am talking about was the Islamic world from the year 800
to 1600, which included the Ottoman Empire and the courts of
Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo, and enlightened rulers like Sulayman
the Magnificent.
- Carleton Fiorina, CEO Hewlett-Packard, 2001
Lost History:
The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists Thinkers, and Artists
By Michael Morgan
A history of scholars like Ibn Al-Haytham, Ibn Sina,
Al-Tusi, Al-Khwarizmi, and Omar Khayyam, towering
figures who revolutionized the mathematics,
astronomy, and medicine of their time and paved
the way for Newton, Copernicus, and many others.
Islamic Expansion in the Seventh Century
• After the death of Muhammad pbuh in 632 CE, Islamic empire
rapidly expanded from conquests:
• Byzantine Syria, Armenia and Palestine (634-639)
• Sassanid Iraq and Persia (633-642)
• Egypt and North Africa (639-665)
• Transoxiana and Khorasan (662-709)
• Sindh and Indus valley (664-712)
• Visigothic Iberia (711-720)
• Caucasus and Asia Minor (711-750)
• Second Siege of Constantinople (717-718)
Islamic Centers of Learning
• Medina under the Prophet pbuh and Caliphs (622-685) and later
• Damascus under Umayyad Caliphate (685-750) and later
• Baghdad under Abbasid Caliphate (751-1258)
• Cordoba in Muslim Spain (756-1010)
• Cairo under Fatmid rule (969-1171)
• Ghazni under Ghaznavid dynasty (975-1187)
• Isfahan and Nishapur under Seljuk dynasty (1037-1157) and later
under Khwarizemid empire (1157-1220)
• Fez under Almoravids and Almohads (1061-1250)
• Samarkand under Timurid dynasty (1370-1509)
• Timbuktu under Mali Empire (1324-1468)
Bayt al-Hikmah in Baghdad
• Caliph Al-Mansur (d. 775) who built Baghdad also founded a
palace library, modeled after the Sassanid Imperial Library
• Later, Abbasid caliphs, Al-Harun (d. 809) and Al-Mamun (d. 833),
established the Bayt Al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom) in Baghdad,
which included an observatory, a hospital, and a library
• Early Muslim scientists at Bayt Al-Hikmah included mathematician
Mohamed b. Musa Al-Khwarizmi, engineers-inventors Banu Musa
brothers, Nestorian physician Hunayn b. Ishaq, and astronomerphilosopher Yaqub b. Ishaq al-Kindi
Islamic Intellectual Tradition
• It was the intellectual explosion created at the time of Harun and
Mamun that propelled science into the forefront of knowledge and
made Islamic civilization the beacon of learning for five hundred
years. The work done by the translation schools of Baghdad made
possible the later works of the physician al Razi (d. 925), historian al
Masudi (d. 956), the physician Abu Ali Sina (d. 1037), the physicist al
Hazen (d.1039), the historian al Baruni (d. 1051), the mathematician
Omar Khayyam (d.1132) and the philosopher Ibn Rushd (d.1198).
- from www.islamstory.com
Abu Musa Jabir b. Al-Haiyan
(Geber)
• Jabir b. Haiyan (721-815) was a chemist, physicist,
and
mathematician and astronomer in the court of Harun Al-Rashid
• Jabir is considered to be the father of alchemy and chemistry; he
popularized the empirical method, invented over twenty laboratory
equipments; discovered nitric and hydrochloric acids
• Jabir wrote over 200 books; his Kitab al-Kimya (Book of Alchemy),
translated in 1144 CE, became standard text for European alchemists
Scientists delight not in abundance of material; they rejoice in the
excellence of their experimental work
Al-Haiyan
Muhammad b. Musa Al-Khwarizmi
(Algoritmi)
• Al-Khwarizmi (780-850) was a Persian mathematician and
astronomer who worked at the court of Al-Mamun
• Al Khwarizmi is best known for the recurring method of solving
mathematical problems, used even today and called algorithms
• His book On the Calculation with Hindu Numerals (825 CE)
introduced the decimal number system to the Western world
• His book The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and
Balancing (830 CE) initiated the new field of algebra; his books were
used as texts in Europe and Muslim world till 16th century
Yaqub b. Ishaq Al-Kindi
(Alkindus)
• Al-Kindi (801-873 CE) was an Arab philosopher,
mathematician, and scientist who worked in Baghdad
• Al-Kindi wrote some 260 books on geometry, medicine, philosophy,
logic, mathematics, pharmacology, and physics
• He was a pioneer in cryptography and crypto-analysis, music theory
and music therapy, fragrant oils and perfumes, environmentalism and
pollution; and discussed space-time and relativity
• Al-Kindi was considered by the Italian Renaissance scholar Gerolamo
Cardano to be one of the twelve greatest minds of the Middle Ages
Muhammad b. Zakariya Al-Razi
(Rhazes)
• Al-Razi (865-925) was a Persian physician and chemist from Ray, who
wrote over 200 books and articles in various fields of science
• Al-Razi was the first physician to distinguish smallpox and measles;
he was also a pioneer of neurosurgery and ophthalmology
• He discovered alcohol, was first to produce acids such as sulfuric
acid, made leading contributions in inorganic and organic chemistry
• According to George Sarton, Al-Razi was the greatest physician of
Islam and the Medieval Ages.
• His works remained up to the 17th century the indisputable authority
of medicine. Andreas Vesalius wrote his doctoral thesis on Al-Razi
Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi
(Abulcasis)
• Al-Zhahravi (938-1015) practiced, and taught medicine
and surgery in Cordoba, in Muslim Spain where he was a
court physician to the Andalusian Caliph Al-Hakim II
• Al-Zhahrawi is known as father of modern surgery; he devised over
200 new surgical instruments such as forceps, scalpels, curettes,
retractors, spoons, sounds, hooks, rods and specula
• He wrote Methods of Medicine, an encyclopedia in 30 volumes that
includes sections on surgery, medicine, orthopedics, ophthalmology,
pharmacology, nutrition etc.; after the fall of Cordoba in 1010 the
book remained hidden for 100 year until discovered and translated
into Latin in the 12th century; for the next five centuries Methods of
Medicine was the primary source for European medical knowledge
Muhammad b. Jabir Al-Batani
(Albategnius)
• Al-Batani (858-929) came was from Harran, Turkey
and worked in ar-Raqqah and Damascus, Syria
• As an astronomer, he cataloged 489 stars, produced astronomical
tables, discovered precession of equinoxes, and improved estimates
of inclination of Earth’s axis; he calculated the length of the year to
be 365 days 5 hours 48 min 24 sec
• His astronomical tables (zij) were thrice translated into Latin, and
may have influenced great European astronomers like Tycho Brahe
and Johannes Kepler; Copernicus has quoted Al-Batani 23 times in his
book, and a lunar crater is named after him
Abu Ali Ibn Al-Haytham
(Alhazen)
• Ibn Al-Haytham (969-1039), originally from Basra, Iraq, but
spent the better part of his life in Cairo, Egypt
• Alhazen is regarded as the "father of modern optics“; he described
light as a series of particles traveling in straight line at finite speed
• Alhazen’s achievements include pioneering advances in physics and
mathematics; he developed the concept of momentum, enunciated
Fermat’s principle of least time, described the attraction between
masses, and was aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to
gravity; he was the first to state Wilson's theorem in number theory,
and formulated the Lambert quadrilateral
Abu Rayhan Muhammad b.
Ahmad Al-Biruni
• Al-Biruni (973-1048) from Uzbekistan was the scientific advisor to
Sultan Mahmud of the Ghaznavid dynasty
• He was a master mathematician, astronomer, cartographer, geologist,
and anthropologist; he compiled 146 known scientific works; his
mineral density measurement served as standard for 700 years
• Biruni pioneered experimental methods in astronomy; he calculated
eccentricity of sun’s orbit; he estimated earth radius to be 6339.6 km,
only 16.8 km less than the modern value of 6,356.7 km
• George Sarton described Biruni as "one of the very greatest scientists
of Islam, and, all considered, one of the greatest of all times"
Abu Ali Al-Hussain Ibn Sina
(Avicenna)
• Ibn Sina (980-1037) from Bukhara, Uzbekistan was a child
prodigy, who memorized Quran at 10, started study of
medicine at 13, and was a practicing physician at 16
• He listed causes of disease, wrote rules of clinical trials, cataloged the
uses of 700 drugs, and was a pioneer in clinical pharmacology
• Ibn Sina wrote over 450 recorded works; the most famous being The
Book of Healing, and Canon of Medicine, that served as standard
medical text in European universities from 12th till 18th century
• George Sarton, author of The History of Science, has described Ibn
Sina as "one of the greatest thinkers and medical scholars in history
Omar Khayyam
• Omar Khayyam (1048-1130) from Nishapur, Iran was a
mathematician, philosopher, astronomer, physician, and poet
• As mathematician, Khayyam explained binomial series and worked
out the geometric method for solving cubic equations by intersecting
a hyperbola with a circle
• As astronomer, he demonstrated the rotation of earth on its axis and
measured the length of the solar year as 365.24219858156 days,
which is correct to fifth decimal place
• His famous work as poet is his philosophical thoughts Rubaiyat,
partly translated into English by Edward FitzGerald
Abu Al-Iz b. Ismail Al-Jazari
• Al-Jazari (1136-1206) was a prominent inventor, mechanical
engineer, craftsman, and artist from Diyarbakir in Kurdistan,
who designed hydropower driven water supply system to supply
water to mosques and hospitals in 13th century Damascus
• Al-Jazari’s outstanding book on engineering, The Book of Knowledge
of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, described fifty mechanical devices
in six categories, illustrated by miniature paintings; his engineering
inventions include cam shaft, crank shaft, segmental gear, suction
pumps, automatic machines, water clocks, and a musical robot band
• According to Encyclopedia Britannica, Renaissance inventor Leonardo
da Vinci may have been influenced by the classical automata of AlJazari
Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi
• Al-Tusi (1201-1274) from Khorasan was Persian
mathematician, astronomer, scientist, and writer
• Al-Tusi made very accurate tables of planetary movements; his
model for the planetary system was the most advanced of his time
• After the fall of Baghdad in 1258, Al-Tusi convinced Hulegu to build
Maragheh observatory in Hulegu’s capital in Samarkand, Azerbaijan
• He invented a geometrical technique called a Tusi-couple, which
generated linear motion from the sum of two circular motions, and
was later used by Cupernicus in his planetary model
Ala Al-Din Ibn al-Shatir
• Ibn al-Shatir (1304 – 1375) was an Arab mathematician,
astronomer, and engineer who worked as time keeper
at the Umayyad mosque in Damascus, Syria
• He was first to introduce empirical methods in astronomy
• In his astronomical treatise, The Final Quest Concerning the
Rectification of Principles, he drastically reformed the Ptolemaic
models of the Sun, Moon, and planets;
• Ibn al-Shatir’s theory of solar, lunar, and planetary motion was very
similar, except for a shift from geocentric to heliocentric model, to
that attributed some 150 years later to Copernicus
Abu Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Nafis
• Ibn Al-Nafis (1213-1288) grew up in Damascus, Syria;
he moved to Cairo in 1236 where he later became the
head of Al-Mansuri hospital
• When only 29 years old, he published his most famous
work, the Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon,
which contained pioneering anatomical discoveries, most
importantly the pulmonary and coronary circulations
• He later compiled The Comprehensive Book on Medicine, which
included notes for 300 volumes, 80 of which were published in his
lifetime; his books were translated in Italy in 1547, and may have
helped William Harvey (who studied at University of Padua) to
explain his theories of blood circulation
1001 Inventions
http://www.1001inventions.com/1001inventions
• 1001 Inventions is a global educational initiative that promotes
awareness of a thousand years of scientific and cultural
achievements from Muslim civilization from the 7th century
onwards, and how those contributions helped build the
foundations of our modern world.
• 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZDe9DCx7Wk
Resources
• Credit for visuals: Wikipedia (www.wikipedia.org)
• Other references:
• http://en.islamstory.com/muslim-scholars/
• http://www.famousmuslims.com/scientists.htm
• http://www.grouporigin.com/clients/qatarfoundation/
• http://www.wilbourhall.org/
• http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198203/science.the.islamic.l
egacy-science.in.al-andalus.htm
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inventions_in_medieval_Islam