Its development and its contributions.
In the Western world there exists a certain assumption that a theocracy and scientific innovation cannot co-exist. There is a certain truth to this axiom, but in every rule there are exceptions. A rich tradition of scientific discovery exists within Islamic history. In fact, this tradition reached its peak during the early years of the massive Islamic Caliphate, or Empire.
Many world-changing innovations and scientific breakthroughs were made during this time.
Mathematics, Medicine, Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry were all influenced during the Golden Age of Islamic science. Most of the names of these scientists are lost to Western history. They played a critical role, however, in bridging the scientific gap between the ancient Greeks and the Scientific Revolution that occurred in Europe later. They absorbed the knowledge of many others to create their Golden Age of science. Then they disbursed their own knowledge to all arts of their Empire and the world.
In this paper the various historical stages of Islamic science will be explored. In the process several scientists and discoveries of note will be described. Every culture learns form its contemporaries and ancestors. To that point Islamic science will be put into context with the ancient scientific revolutions of Europe more familiar to the Western world. Finally the impact of religion on scientific progress will be discussed in relation to the Golden Age of Islamic science. It will be shown that religion was both a driving force behind, and a constricting force upon, the progress of science.
The Beginnings
In scholarship the term Islamic science typically refers to a period of time between about 700 - 1200 AD. This period is often referred to as the Golden Age of Islamic science. Impressive advances were made in a number of fields including mathematics, medicine and philosophy.
Scholars disagree as to whether the period should be referred to as a scientific revolution, but agree that the period was important to science none the less. The Golden Age was over by the thirteenth century. There were a number of political, religious and cultural reasons for this decline. In latter years the Golden Age was less about innovation and more about the transposition of knowledge to areas inside and outside the Empire. Knowledge gained within the Golden Age would help fuel the Renaissance in Europe and, eventually, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions in Europe.
The beginning of the Golden Age corresponds with the beginning of the Islamic Empire in the late 7th century. The seeds for this knowledge revolution had been planted much earlier. In 331 BC the Greek General Alexander the Great conquered Persia. The area would remain Persian in nature, but governed by Greece. As a result Hellenistic concepts on the pursuit of scientific knowledge seeped into Persian society.
By the time the Prophet Mohammed died in 632, the Greek government had been thrown off and Persia had united with the surrounding Arabic states to form the Islamic Empire. In Hellenistic fashion, the Empire eagerly acquired the knowledge of the lands it subjugated. In the early centuries of the Islamic Empire the Hellenic and Asian influences planted centuries before came to full fruition.
Persian and Arab scientists had already learned the Greek scientific knowledge through second hand sources. Now, as an empire, they moved the original Greek data to Baghdad where
it was translated, re-learned and re-evaluated. From there Islamic scientists could continue the lines of study the Greeks had begun, branch into new areas along the same philosophical lines, or apply Greek data to their own unique areas of study.
A new society ravenous for knowledge emerged. Instead of being resistant to the pursuit of knowledge Islam was the driving force behind it. The results are described by Bowker in the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1997)
The Muslim delight in creation led it to a passionate commitment to knowledge which in turn led Muslims to spectacular achievements in philosophy and the natural sciences. (Bowker, 1997)
Damascus and Baghdad became the centers of learning in the Empire. Scientists and scholars from all nations were invited there. These scholars helped to maintain a sense of intellectual freedom, despite some Islamic factions working to prevent it.
The first institutions of higher education were formed in Baghdad during the early Golden Age. The knowledge gained there was then diffused throughout the Empire. The first libraries and catalogs were also established in the Islamic Empire. Its position between the major knowledge centers of Europe and Asia gave the new empire the opportunity to capitalize on both. Philosophy and scientific methods were inherited from Europe. Mathematics and practical skills such as paper making were inherited from Asian conquests.
The Golden Age of Islamic science was under way by the 700s. Islamic mathematicians made impressive contributions during this time when world progress was conspicuously slow.
The same was true of Astronomy. Ibrahim al-Fazari was the first astronomer to construct astrolabes. His writings on astronomy established him as a world authority.
Yaqub Ibn Tariq followed in the footsteps of al-Fazari. He worked in the scientific center of Baghdad for about a decade starting in 767. His contributions included writings on the sphere and the construction of astronomical tables.
Mashallah was also one of the earliest known Islamic astronomers. His study peaked in the early 9th century. It is possible that he was not only Egyptian, but Jewish as well. This is consistent with the openness of the early Islamic Empire to knowledge, whatever the source.
Philosophers also made contributions to the scientific body of knowledge but also struggled against opposing forces. Shihab ad-Din Suhralvardi (1153-1191) broke new ground in this field. His The Science of Illumination blended Platonic and Islamic thought with traditional Zoroastrianism. Unfortunately, he was executed in 1191 at the insistence of fundamentalists (Schwartz, 2008).
Another important figure in Islamic science was Abu Musa Jabir bin Haiyan al-Azdi. His alchemical work reached a peak in the mid 700s. He authored a number of books including the Book of Concentration and the Book of Eastern Mercury. His work had many practical applications such as cloth dyeing, metal refining and glass making. He also proposed legitimate theories on chemical formation and the formation of metals in nature.
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni made theoretical propositions about the composition of the Milky Way. His methods resembled the modern scientific method. Birunis work is partially responsible for separating astronomy from the more speculative field of astrology.
In physics, the law of refraction was discovered by Islamic scientists. Accurate descriptions of light as a cluster of particles moving through space were originated in the Islamic Empire. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni observed that light moves faster than sound.
Biologists developed early theories on evolution. In the early 9th century Al-Jahiz wrote theories about the characteristics needed for survival and how they develop over time. He also described food chains wrote about the reasons humans have different skin colors. Islamic concepts on evolution very likely had an influence on the later development of Darwinism and natural selection.
In effect, the development of the Islamic faith was occurring simultaneously with the Golden Age of science. As new religious philosophies came in and out of vogue, the progress of science was affected in various ways. There were competing factions within the Islamic faith. The degree to which any one branch had popular and royal support determined, in large part, whether the pursuit of science would be supported.
Islamic science achieved its greatest contributions in the fields of Astronomy and Mathematics. Mathematic achievements would pave the way for many European breakthroughs made centuries later. Islamic mathematicians changed the very structure of the way the science was studied. From The Oxford History of Islam (1999)
New fields of research developed including indeterminate analysis, integer, Diophantine analysis and the study of asymptomatic behavior and infinitesimal objects. (Esposito, 1999)
The way we study math today is greatly influenced by the contributions of Islamic science. For example, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote the first independent treatise on trigonometry.
Prior to that time trigonometry was only studied in an ancillary way in relation to astronomy and other sciences. Al-Tusis work would later be adapted into the Copernican Heliocentric Model.
Al-Khwarizimi (780-850) from what is now Iran pioneered new methods in algebra. The term algorithm is derived from his name. Al-Khwarizimi used a modified and refined Indian numeric system to introduce what are now known as Arabic numerals. In about 1000 AD Al-Karaji presented the first inductive mathematical proofs.
Islamic mathematicians discovered nearly all the functions of trigonometry. They pioneered an early form of analytic geometry and made the first proposals in non-Euclidean geometry. Other fields where advances were made include calculus, cryptography and number theory. Many of these advances were made under the auspices either of wealthy patrons or universities.
Many of the scientists were specialists in several areas. Men like Birumi and al-Tusi made significant contributions in several areas both theoretical and immediately practical. Another of these scientists, Razi, invented kerosene, soap and distilled petroleum also proposing ground breaking theories on such subjects as the theory of classical elements.
In their pursuit of science the Islamic Empire revolutionized education. In addition to the development of Universities the Empire also made provisions to educate the masses. From Encyclopedia of World Religions (1999) Evidence exists of small schools already established in the first century of Islam that were devoted to reading, writing and instruction in the Quran (Doniger, 1999).
The schools were used to reinforce Islamic doctrine. During the Golden Age this did not necessarily mean the exclusion of science. In fact, the Empire saw the value of cultivating young minds for future scientific study. Islam provided some boundaries for science but did not discourage its study altogether.
Islamic scientists kept careful records of their work and were more reliant on experimentation than their ancient Greek counterparts. Ibn al-Haythams Book of Optics (1021) is a prime example of these methods. For that reason it is considered to mark the beginning of the modern scientific method.
During the 12th to 16th centuries much of the work of Islamic scientists during the Golden Age was translated into Latin and other languages. The information within influenced such scientists as Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke, seeing the ground for an eventual scientific revolution in Europe.
Islam and Science
From the beginning of the Islamic Empire there was a conflicted relationship between the mosque and the promoters of scientific learning. Not all of the religious leaders approved of the Hellenistic approach to science. For them the Quran provided the answer to any question. For the most part the pursuit of empirical science remained within the elite class. Meanwhile, fundamentalist Imams held a great deal of influence over the masses and, in time, the ruling class. This slowed the progress of science in some tangible ways.
Many clerics felt that the touching of dead bodies was an unforgivable sin. As a result, many Islamic physicians were averse to conduct autopsies or dissections, a primary means of learning for physicians. In Europe, dissections were also leading to key inventions like the microscope.
After leading the world in medicine for hundreds of years the Islamic Empire fell behind
Europe. If this is evidence that Islam stunted the growth of science, some revisionist scholars believe the opposite is true.
A decline in Islamic science began in about the 12th century. During this period the fundamentalist theological school Ashari rose to influence. This school believed that Hellenistic concepts of scientific exploration conflicted with the theology of orthodox Islam. Other conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the Crusades and Mongol invasions also slowed the progress of science.
Mongol invasions devastated Baghdad in 1258. The center of Islamic knowledge was lost and the Golden Age of science was all but over. As devastating as the Crusades and the Mongol invasions had been to science, the regimes reaction to these events may have been even worse. Prominent and influential Clerics claimed that the invasions were actually punishment from Allah for the regimes pursuit of scientific knowledge. Islamic science was being forced out of the forefront religion, war and a cultural shift.
Far from being an anti-learning entity, the early Islamic Empire sought to expand the base of scientific knowledge in a number of areas. In many ways they were successful. The Empire was, if anything, formed with this purpose in mind. According to Ead
As soon as Islamic state had been established, the Arabs began to encourage
learning of all kinds. Schools, colleges, libraries, observatories and hospitals
were built throughout the whole Islamic state.
(2008)
The composite parts of what became Islamic science were already in place prior to the
Golden Age. When Mohammed united the disparate parts of the kingdom there was a feeling that anything was possible. What the Empire did right in the early years was not to dismiss the knowledge of other cultures. Their position between two major centers of learning gave them the unique opportunity to benefit from both. In many cases these lands were brutally conquered but their knowledge was preserved and expanded upon.
Religion influenced both the beginnings of Islamic science and its decline. Today there is no longer a Caliphate and some areas within the former empire are becoming centers of learning once again. Regardless of its current state, Islamic science has unquestionably made important contributions not only to the overall body of knowledge, but also to benefit peoples lives. The Golden Age of Islamic science is said to have ended in 1258. Its influence did not. As their knowledge was translated into other tongues it would influence world scientific progress for centuries.
Many world-changing innovations and scientific breakthroughs were made during this time.
Mathematics, Medicine, Astronomy, Physics and Chemistry were all influenced during the Golden Age of Islamic science. Most of the names of these scientists are lost to Western history. They played a critical role, however, in bridging the scientific gap between the ancient Greeks and the Scientific Revolution that occurred in Europe later. They absorbed the knowledge of many others to create their Golden Age of science. Then they disbursed their own knowledge to all arts of their Empire and the world.
In this paper the various historical stages of Islamic science will be explored. In the process several scientists and discoveries of note will be described. Every culture learns form its contemporaries and ancestors. To that point Islamic science will be put into context with the ancient scientific revolutions of Europe more familiar to the Western world. Finally the impact of religion on scientific progress will be discussed in relation to the Golden Age of Islamic science. It will be shown that religion was both a driving force behind, and a constricting force upon, the progress of science.
The Beginnings
In scholarship the term Islamic science typically refers to a period of time between about 700 - 1200 AD. This period is often referred to as the Golden Age of Islamic science. Impressive advances were made in a number of fields including mathematics, medicine and philosophy.
Scholars disagree as to whether the period should be referred to as a scientific revolution, but agree that the period was important to science none the less. The Golden Age was over by the thirteenth century. There were a number of political, religious and cultural reasons for this decline. In latter years the Golden Age was less about innovation and more about the transposition of knowledge to areas inside and outside the Empire. Knowledge gained within the Golden Age would help fuel the Renaissance in Europe and, eventually, the Scientific and Industrial Revolutions in Europe.
The beginning of the Golden Age corresponds with the beginning of the Islamic Empire in the late 7th century. The seeds for this knowledge revolution had been planted much earlier. In 331 BC the Greek General Alexander the Great conquered Persia. The area would remain Persian in nature, but governed by Greece. As a result Hellenistic concepts on the pursuit of scientific knowledge seeped into Persian society.
By the time the Prophet Mohammed died in 632, the Greek government had been thrown off and Persia had united with the surrounding Arabic states to form the Islamic Empire. In Hellenistic fashion, the Empire eagerly acquired the knowledge of the lands it subjugated. In the early centuries of the Islamic Empire the Hellenic and Asian influences planted centuries before came to full fruition.
Persian and Arab scientists had already learned the Greek scientific knowledge through second hand sources. Now, as an empire, they moved the original Greek data to Baghdad where
it was translated, re-learned and re-evaluated. From there Islamic scientists could continue the lines of study the Greeks had begun, branch into new areas along the same philosophical lines, or apply Greek data to their own unique areas of study.
A new society ravenous for knowledge emerged. Instead of being resistant to the pursuit of knowledge Islam was the driving force behind it. The results are described by Bowker in the Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (1997)
The Muslim delight in creation led it to a passionate commitment to knowledge which in turn led Muslims to spectacular achievements in philosophy and the natural sciences. (Bowker, 1997)
Damascus and Baghdad became the centers of learning in the Empire. Scientists and scholars from all nations were invited there. These scholars helped to maintain a sense of intellectual freedom, despite some Islamic factions working to prevent it.
The first institutions of higher education were formed in Baghdad during the early Golden Age. The knowledge gained there was then diffused throughout the Empire. The first libraries and catalogs were also established in the Islamic Empire. Its position between the major knowledge centers of Europe and Asia gave the new empire the opportunity to capitalize on both. Philosophy and scientific methods were inherited from Europe. Mathematics and practical skills such as paper making were inherited from Asian conquests.
The Golden Age of Islamic science was under way by the 700s. Islamic mathematicians made impressive contributions during this time when world progress was conspicuously slow.
The same was true of Astronomy. Ibrahim al-Fazari was the first astronomer to construct astrolabes. His writings on astronomy established him as a world authority.
Yaqub Ibn Tariq followed in the footsteps of al-Fazari. He worked in the scientific center of Baghdad for about a decade starting in 767. His contributions included writings on the sphere and the construction of astronomical tables.
Mashallah was also one of the earliest known Islamic astronomers. His study peaked in the early 9th century. It is possible that he was not only Egyptian, but Jewish as well. This is consistent with the openness of the early Islamic Empire to knowledge, whatever the source.
Philosophers also made contributions to the scientific body of knowledge but also struggled against opposing forces. Shihab ad-Din Suhralvardi (1153-1191) broke new ground in this field. His The Science of Illumination blended Platonic and Islamic thought with traditional Zoroastrianism. Unfortunately, he was executed in 1191 at the insistence of fundamentalists (Schwartz, 2008).
Another important figure in Islamic science was Abu Musa Jabir bin Haiyan al-Azdi. His alchemical work reached a peak in the mid 700s. He authored a number of books including the Book of Concentration and the Book of Eastern Mercury. His work had many practical applications such as cloth dyeing, metal refining and glass making. He also proposed legitimate theories on chemical formation and the formation of metals in nature.
Abu al-Rayhan al-Biruni made theoretical propositions about the composition of the Milky Way. His methods resembled the modern scientific method. Birunis work is partially responsible for separating astronomy from the more speculative field of astrology.
In physics, the law of refraction was discovered by Islamic scientists. Accurate descriptions of light as a cluster of particles moving through space were originated in the Islamic Empire. Abu Rayhan al-Biruni observed that light moves faster than sound.
Biologists developed early theories on evolution. In the early 9th century Al-Jahiz wrote theories about the characteristics needed for survival and how they develop over time. He also described food chains wrote about the reasons humans have different skin colors. Islamic concepts on evolution very likely had an influence on the later development of Darwinism and natural selection.
In effect, the development of the Islamic faith was occurring simultaneously with the Golden Age of science. As new religious philosophies came in and out of vogue, the progress of science was affected in various ways. There were competing factions within the Islamic faith. The degree to which any one branch had popular and royal support determined, in large part, whether the pursuit of science would be supported.
Islamic science achieved its greatest contributions in the fields of Astronomy and Mathematics. Mathematic achievements would pave the way for many European breakthroughs made centuries later. Islamic mathematicians changed the very structure of the way the science was studied. From The Oxford History of Islam (1999)
New fields of research developed including indeterminate analysis, integer, Diophantine analysis and the study of asymptomatic behavior and infinitesimal objects. (Esposito, 1999)
The way we study math today is greatly influenced by the contributions of Islamic science. For example, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote the first independent treatise on trigonometry.
Prior to that time trigonometry was only studied in an ancillary way in relation to astronomy and other sciences. Al-Tusis work would later be adapted into the Copernican Heliocentric Model.
Al-Khwarizimi (780-850) from what is now Iran pioneered new methods in algebra. The term algorithm is derived from his name. Al-Khwarizimi used a modified and refined Indian numeric system to introduce what are now known as Arabic numerals. In about 1000 AD Al-Karaji presented the first inductive mathematical proofs.
Islamic mathematicians discovered nearly all the functions of trigonometry. They pioneered an early form of analytic geometry and made the first proposals in non-Euclidean geometry. Other fields where advances were made include calculus, cryptography and number theory. Many of these advances were made under the auspices either of wealthy patrons or universities.
Many of the scientists were specialists in several areas. Men like Birumi and al-Tusi made significant contributions in several areas both theoretical and immediately practical. Another of these scientists, Razi, invented kerosene, soap and distilled petroleum also proposing ground breaking theories on such subjects as the theory of classical elements.
In their pursuit of science the Islamic Empire revolutionized education. In addition to the development of Universities the Empire also made provisions to educate the masses. From Encyclopedia of World Religions (1999) Evidence exists of small schools already established in the first century of Islam that were devoted to reading, writing and instruction in the Quran (Doniger, 1999).
The schools were used to reinforce Islamic doctrine. During the Golden Age this did not necessarily mean the exclusion of science. In fact, the Empire saw the value of cultivating young minds for future scientific study. Islam provided some boundaries for science but did not discourage its study altogether.
Islamic scientists kept careful records of their work and were more reliant on experimentation than their ancient Greek counterparts. Ibn al-Haythams Book of Optics (1021) is a prime example of these methods. For that reason it is considered to mark the beginning of the modern scientific method.
During the 12th to 16th centuries much of the work of Islamic scientists during the Golden Age was translated into Latin and other languages. The information within influenced such scientists as Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke, seeing the ground for an eventual scientific revolution in Europe.
Islam and Science
From the beginning of the Islamic Empire there was a conflicted relationship between the mosque and the promoters of scientific learning. Not all of the religious leaders approved of the Hellenistic approach to science. For them the Quran provided the answer to any question. For the most part the pursuit of empirical science remained within the elite class. Meanwhile, fundamentalist Imams held a great deal of influence over the masses and, in time, the ruling class. This slowed the progress of science in some tangible ways.
Many clerics felt that the touching of dead bodies was an unforgivable sin. As a result, many Islamic physicians were averse to conduct autopsies or dissections, a primary means of learning for physicians. In Europe, dissections were also leading to key inventions like the microscope.
After leading the world in medicine for hundreds of years the Islamic Empire fell behind
Europe. If this is evidence that Islam stunted the growth of science, some revisionist scholars believe the opposite is true.
A decline in Islamic science began in about the 12th century. During this period the fundamentalist theological school Ashari rose to influence. This school believed that Hellenistic concepts of scientific exploration conflicted with the theology of orthodox Islam. Other conflicts between Sunni and Shia Muslims, the Crusades and Mongol invasions also slowed the progress of science.
Mongol invasions devastated Baghdad in 1258. The center of Islamic knowledge was lost and the Golden Age of science was all but over. As devastating as the Crusades and the Mongol invasions had been to science, the regimes reaction to these events may have been even worse. Prominent and influential Clerics claimed that the invasions were actually punishment from Allah for the regimes pursuit of scientific knowledge. Islamic science was being forced out of the forefront religion, war and a cultural shift.
Far from being an anti-learning entity, the early Islamic Empire sought to expand the base of scientific knowledge in a number of areas. In many ways they were successful. The Empire was, if anything, formed with this purpose in mind. According to Ead
As soon as Islamic state had been established, the Arabs began to encourage
learning of all kinds. Schools, colleges, libraries, observatories and hospitals
were built throughout the whole Islamic state.
(2008)
The composite parts of what became Islamic science were already in place prior to the
Golden Age. When Mohammed united the disparate parts of the kingdom there was a feeling that anything was possible. What the Empire did right in the early years was not to dismiss the knowledge of other cultures. Their position between two major centers of learning gave them the unique opportunity to benefit from both. In many cases these lands were brutally conquered but their knowledge was preserved and expanded upon.
Religion influenced both the beginnings of Islamic science and its decline. Today there is no longer a Caliphate and some areas within the former empire are becoming centers of learning once again. Regardless of its current state, Islamic science has unquestionably made important contributions not only to the overall body of knowledge, but also to benefit peoples lives. The Golden Age of Islamic science is said to have ended in 1258. Its influence did not. As their knowledge was translated into other tongues it would influence world scientific progress for centuries.
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