13/11/2005 - NUM 1:ARAB CONTRIBUTIONS TO ALL SCIENCES/L'AGE D'OR DU MONDE ARABE
cette page est en anglais,c'est un cadeau à mes amis aux états unis d'amérique,en angleterre,
en australie et dans tous les pays anglophones,c'est un excellent voyage à la découverte de l'age d'or du monde arabo-musulman.
à vos commentaires,merci.
Arabs [Muslims]
Illusion and reality
By Paul J. Balles*
Much of the perception of Arabs in the West is based on illusion. The Western media has largely created the false, illusory images of Arabs. Numerous leading media organizations, film producers, journalists and TV hosts have been openly hostile to Arabs.
Organizations like Fox News and the Washington Post make little pretence about their anti-Arab orientation. Columnists like Ann Coulter, Seymour Hirsh, Charles Krauthammer, George Will and William Safire have expressed rabid opposition to almost anything Arab.
Jack Shaheen wrote two books (The TV Arab and Reel Bad Arabs) exposing the vilification of Arabs on TV and in films. After thoroughly researching over 900 films involving Arabs, Professor Shaheen concluded that all but a few painted Arabs with a pernicious stereotype.
As Professor Shaheen notes, "The seemingly indelible Arab-as-villain image wrongly conveys the message that the vast majority of 265 million peace-loving Arabs are 'bad guys'." What the films fail to portray is either the life of ordinary Arabs or anything of the vast array of contributions of Arab civilization to our own.
Recently a British columnist asked, in an article, what Arabs contribute that's useful or valuable. It was a nasty rhetorical question, and he hadn't done his homework. Had he done just a bit of research, he would have discovered that Arabs have contributed a great deal more than they're credited with to civilization.
Between the 7th and 13th centuries Arab civilization made incredibly large contributions to the future of humankind - no less than any other great civilizations before or after. While the West suffered the Dark Ages, Arab culture and learning flourished in a way previously unprecedented.
Neither Greek civilization with its great philosophers nor Roman civilization with its spectacular conquests and temples exceeded the achievements of the Arabs. Had it not been for the Arab libraries, the centuries of Greek, Roman and Byzantine cultures and learning would have been lost to the Dark Ages.
One of the Arabs' most valuable contributions was the preservation of Greek learning through the Middle Ages, and it is through their translations that much of what we know today about the Greeks became available.
When the Muslims entered southern Spain - which they called al-Andalus - barbarians from the north had overrun much of Europe and the classical civilization of Greece and Rome had gone into eclipse. Islamic Spain then became a bridge by which the scientific, technological and philosophical legacy of the Abbasid period, along with the achievements of al-Andalus itself, passed into Europe.
Thousands of Arab contributions to the arts and sciences improved the life and condition of man; and these have become an integral part of human civilization as we know it today. Think about the importance of the Arab arch to architecture, and consider the role of Arabesque style in furniture and clothing design. Contemplate the consummate artistry in Arabic calligraphy.
Where would art be without the creativity of the imaginative glassware, ceramic designs and textile weaves of the Arabs? Their detailed mosaics, tiles and carvings can be found throughout the world. Potters learned their glazing techniques from the Arabs. Arab-style gold tooling and colour panels can be found in Venice and Florence today.
Had it not been for Arab mathematicians, we wouldn't have the zero (sifr), the Arabic numerals we use daily, the decimal system essential to science, algebra or the highly refined trigonometry that followed, or the reformation of the calendar leaving a margin of error of one day in five thousand years.
The Arabs brought algebra from ancient Babylon, Egypt and India to Europe via Italy. They took over and improved the Hindu number symbols and the idea of positional notation. These numerals (the Hindu-Arabic system of numeration) and the algorithms for operating with them were transmitted to Europe around 1200 and are in use throughout the world today.
It was the Arabs who, through their invention of the astrolabe, made it possible for the establishment of latitude and longitude, and to investigate the relative speeds of sound and light. How would pilots or ship captains, even today, identify their positions without latitude and longitude, the basic tools of map making? Navigation and geography have a sizeable debt to Arab inventiveness.
The possibility of the earth's rotation on its own axis, which Galileo later proved, originated with an Arab scientist. Arab astronomers significantly advanced the work of the Greeks in the development of the magnetic compass, something for which every pilot or sailor should be grateful.
The Arabs prepared chemical compounds like sulphuric acid and alcohol; improved metal refining and cloth dying; and gained new knowledge about the relationship between light and vision.
In the 9th century, a medical encyclopaedist was the first to diagnose smallpox and measles and to relate these to contamination and other contagious diseases. He introduced medical remedies that saved many lives as well as sutures made of animal gut to sew up wounds.
Avicenna, the greatest Arab medical writer of the Middle Ages, was required study throughout Europe until the 17th century. The fundamentals of pulmonary circulation and recognition of the role of contagion in the spread of the plague were discovered by Arabs.
The Arabs used anaesthetics; performed difficult surgery, particularly progressing in eye operations; and compiled medical textbooks. Centuries ago, Arab pharmacies stocked herbs and herbal remedies used in medicine today. Freud's later study of psychoanalysis had its roots in Avicenna's work. Where would the medical profession be today without this early medical progress?
Arabs were pioneers in botany. In the 12th century an outstanding reference work described more than five hundred different plants and methods of grafting, soil conditioning, and curing of diseased vines and trees.
The Arabs improved farming methods by rotating crops and using fertilizer. They transplanted fruits such as apricots, peaches and loquat trees in southern Europe. They grew olive trees and coffee plants. Rice, sesame, pepper, ginger, cloves, melons, shallots, dates, figs, oranges, lemons and other fruits grown by Arabs were introduced into European cuisine via the Crusaders.
Where would the modern woman be without the early Arabs' love of fragrant flowers and herbs such as jasmine, pine, lavender and laurel from which they extracted perfumes? Hair dyes (henna), perfumes, eye liner (kohl), oils, body lotions and nail polish all owe their development to the Arabs.
Much of our contemporary jewellery is a result of inspiration from adornments of the ancient and medieval Arabs, and the highly prized squash blossom design was once on the uniform bottle worn by Spanish Conquistadors.
Concerning Arab contributions to engineering, one can look to the water wheel, cisterns, irrigation, water wells at fixed levels and the water clock. The Arab Book on Artifices described a hundred technical constructions.
Arab exploration of optical illusions, the rainbow and the camera obscura led to the beginning of photographic instruments, laying the foundation for the later development of the microscope and the telescope.
Do the Arab origins of cotton muslin, Damask linen and Shiraz wool mean anything to clothes buyers today? What about leather tanning and the use of vegetable dyes? Add to that the development of the art of crucible steel forging. Steel, hardened, polished and decorated with etchings by Arabs, produced tempered Damascene swords.
Intricately cut brass chandeliers, ewers, salvers, jewel cases inlaid with gold and silver and, of course, the beautifully decorated astrolabe were all products of Arab craftsmen. Glassware, ceramics and textile weaves attest to their imagination and special skills. Many of today's intricately detailed mosaics, tiles, carvings, and paintings all harken back to Arabs.
The richness of the Arabic language in poetry, literature and drama has left its mark on both East and West. Among the earliest publications of the Arabs were the translations into Arabic of the Greek and Roman. The original Romeo and Juliet (Layla and Majnun), "A Thousand and One Nights" and the first real novel came from Arabia. What would Western civilization do without the Arab contribution of the phonetic alphabet?
Arabs were the first historiographers, designing methods of documentation of sources for scholars and historians. Arnold Toynbee wrote: "Ibn Khaldun has conceived and formulated a philosophy of history which is undoubtedly the greatest work of its kind that has ever yet been created by any mind in any time."
The harp, lyre, zither, drum, tambourine, flute, oboe and reed instruments are today the same as those of earliest Arab civilization or variations of the Arabs' early musical instruments. The guitar and mandolin derived from the oud. Arab poetry was put to music and the subtle delicacy of minor key sequences and rhythm continues to influence our ballads and folk songs today.
Almost anywhere you go and in any area you can identify - in religion, philosophy, science, language, engineering and the arts and crafts - we can thank Arab civilization for an incredible array of contributions to modern civilization. It's time for a Western awakening to the gratitude Arabs deserve for their valuable and useful endowments to the world.
? Paul J. Balles
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Referances:
Seyyed Hossein Nasr, Science and Civilization in Islam (Kazi Publications, 1996)
Ali Abdullah al-Daffa, The Muslim Contribution to Mathematics (Prometheus Books, 1977)
Rom Landau, The Arab Heritage of Western Civilization (University Press of the Pacific, 2003)
John Hayes,ed., The Genius of Arab Civilization: Source of Renaissance (MIT Press, 1983),
Philip K. Hitti, The Arabs: A Short History (Regnery Publishing, 1996),
Sir Thomas Arnold and Alfred Guillaume,eds, The Legacy of Islam (Oxford University Press, 1968).
http://www.ais.org/~bsb/Herald/Previous/95/science.html
http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam19.html
http://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_02.html
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Medicine is a science from which one learns the states of the human body with respect to what is healthy and what is not, in order to preserve good health when it exists and restore it when it is lacking.
Ibn Sina, the opening to the Qanun fi al-tibb
The physician, with his medical art and his drugs,
Cannot avert a summons that has come,
What ails the physician that he dies of the disease
That he would have cured in time gone by?
There died alike he who administered the drug and he who took it,
And he who imported and sold the drug, and he who bought it.
Verses upon the death in Baghdad of the physician Yuhanna ibn Masawayh in 857 (243 H).
Ink drawings of a triple alembic, with 3 distilling heads, only the top one having a delivery tube. The lower drawing shows a cold still or `Moor's head still' in which the distillate when it rises is cooled by water placed in a trough at the top of the alembic. From an alchemical commentary on a poem composed in Spain by Ibn Arfa` Ra`s (d. 1197/593 H). Copy made in 1712 (1123 H). NLM MS A65, fol. 81b (old 82b)
A chart used to determine the `balance' of a substance's attributes. From the alchemical treatise by `Izz al-Din Aydamir al-Jildaki (d. 1342/743 H). Undated copy made in Morocco in the late 19th century. NLM MS A7, part 1, fol. 155b
An illuminated opening from the alchemical treatise The Proof Regarding Secrets of the Science of the Balance (Kitab al-Burhan fi asrar `ilm al-mizan) by `Izz al-Din Aydamir al-Jildaki (d. 1342/743 H). Undated copy made in Morocco in the late 19th century. NLM MS A7, part 1, fols. 1b-2a
A unique copy of an Arabic treatise on antidotes for poisons written in 1270 (669 H) in Syria by `Ali ibn `Abd al-`Azim al-Ansari. The opening shows part of the 33rd chapter in which the author lists treatises that he consulted. Undated copy; probably 16th century. NLM MS A64, fols. 303b-304a. No other copy recorded.
Illuminated opening of The Storehouse of Medicaments Concerning the Explanation of Materia Medica (Makhzan al-adwiyah dar-i bayan-i adwiyah) by the 18th-century physician Muhammad Husayn ibn Muhammad Hadi al-`Aqili al-`Alavi, a practitioner in India. Copy finished 3 May 1732 (4 Dhu al-Hijjah 1144 H) by the scribe Hasan ibn `Abd al-[?] Musavi. NLM MS P12
The frontispage of a printing in 1875 at the famous Bulaq press in Cairo of The Comprehensive Book on Materia Medica and Foodstuffs (Kitab al-Jami` li-mufradat al-adwiyah wa-al-aghdhiyah) by Ibn al-Baytar (d. 1248/646 H).
The Canon of Medicine (Kitab al-Qanun fi al-tibb) by Ibn Sina (d. 1037/428 H). A rare complete copy made in Iran probably at the beginning of the 15th century. NLM MS A53, fol. 368b, the illuminated opening of the 4th book
Ibn al-Nafis's 13th-century treatise The Concise Book (Kitab Mujiz) which epitomized the Canon of Ibn Sina. The undated copy, written in a fine professional hand with an illuminated heading and opening text in cloud bands, was probably produced in Iran or India in the 17th to 18th century. NLM MS A44.1, fol. 1b
The biographical dictionary (Ta'rikh al-Hukama') of 414 physicians and scholars written by `Ali ibn Yusuf al-Qifti (d. 1248/646 H). Copy completed 25 January 1636 (16 Sha`ban 1045 H) by scribe Muhammad ibn Shaykh ..?..ibn Shaykh `Umar al-Akhrawi. NLM MS A72, fol. 58b. Life of Dioscorides begins near bottom of folio.
On the Management of Diseases for the Most Part Through Common Foodstuffs and Medicine Specified for the Use of Monks of the Cloister and Whoever is Far From the City, an Arabic manual by Ibn Butlan (d. 1066/460 H). Undated incomplete copy; possibly 18th century. NLM MS A37, fol. 1b, open to start of manual
"He has taught you that which [heretofore] you knew not." (Quran, Surah [2: 239])
The Attitude of the Quran and the Prophet toward Knowledge
Islam is a religion based upon knowledge for it is ultimately knowledge of the Oneness of God combined with faith and total commitment to Him that saves man. The text of the Quran is replete with verses inviting man to use his intellect, to ponder, to think and to know, for the goal of human life is to discover the Truth which is none other than worshipping God in His Oneness. The Hadith literature is also full of references to the importance of knowledge. Such sayings of the Prophet as "Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave", (Hadith)
and
"Verily the men of knowledge are the inheritors of the prophets", (Hadith)
have echoed throughout the history of Islam and incited Muslims to seek knowledge wherever it might be found. During most of its history, Islamic civilization has been witness to a veritable celebration of knowledge. That is why every traditional Islamic city possessed public and private libraries and some cities like Cordoba and Baghdad boasted of libraries with over 400,000 books. Such cities also had bookstores, some of which sold a large number of titles. That is also why the scholar has always been held in the highest esteem in Islamic society.
Integration of the Pre-Islamic Sciences
As Islam spread northward into Syria, Egypt, and the Persian empire, it came face to face with the sciences of antiquity whose heritage had been preserved in centers which now became a part of the Islamic world. Alexandria had been a major center of sciences and learning for centuries. The Greek learning cultivated in Alexandria was opposed by the Byzantines who had burned its library long before the advent of Islam. The tradition of Alexandrian learning did not die, however. It was transferred to Antioch and from there farther east to such cities as Edessa by eastern Christians who stood in sharp opposition to Byzantium and wished to have their own independent centers of learning. Moreover, the Persian king, Shapur I, had established Jundishapur in Persia as a second great center of learning matching Antioch. He even invited Indian physicians and mathematicians to teach in this major seat of learning, in addition to the Christian scholars who taught in Syriac as well as the Persians whose medium of instruction was Pahlavi. Once Muslims established the new Islamic order during the Umayyad period, they turned their attention to these centers of learning which had been preserved and sought to acquaint themselves with the knowledge taught and cultivated in them. They therefore set about with a concerted effort to translate the philosophical and scientific works which were available to them from not only Greek and Syriac (which was the language of eastern Christian scholars) but also from Pahlavi, the scholarly language of pre-Islamic Persia, and even from Sanskrit. Many of the accomplished translators were Christian Arabs such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, who was also an outstanding physician, and others Persians such as Ibn Muqaffa', who played a major role in the creation of the new Arabic prose style conducive to the expression of philosophical and scientific writings. The great movement of translation lasted from the beginning of the 8th to the end of the 9th century, reaching its peak with the establishment of the House of Wisdom (Bayt alhikmah) by the caliph al-Ma'mun at the beginning of the 9th century. The result of this extensive effort of the Islamic community to confront the challenge of the presence of the various philosophies and sciences of antiquity and to understand and digest them in its own terms and according to its own world view was the translation of a vast corpus of writings into Arabic. Most of the important philosophical and scientific works of Aristotle and his school, much of Plato and the Pythagorean school, and the major works of Greek astronomy, mathematics and medicine such as the Almagest of Ptolemy, the Elements of Euclid, and the works of Hippocrates and Galen, were all rendered into Arabic. Furthermore, important works of astronomy, mathematics and medicine were translated from Pahlavi and Sanskrit. As a result, Arabic became the most important scientific language of the world for many centuries and the depository of much of the wisdom and the sciences of antiquity. The Muslims did not translate the scientific and philosophical works of other civilizations out of fear of political or economic domination but because the structure of Islam itself is based upon the primacy of knowledge. Nor did they consider these forms of knowing as "un-lslamic" as long as they confirmed the doctrine of God's Oneness which Islam considers to have been at the heart of every authentic revelation from God. Once these sciences and philosophies confirmed the principle of Oneness, the Muslims considered them as their own. They made them part of their world view and began to cultivate the Islamic sciences based on what they had translated, analyzed, criticized, and assimilated, rejecting what was not in conformity with the Islamic perspective.
Mathematical Sciences and Physics
The Muslim mind has always been attracted to the mathematical sciences in accordance with the "abstract" character of the doctrine of Oneness which lies at the heart of Islam. The mathematical sciences have traditionally included astronomy, mathematics itself and much of what is called physics today.
Astronomy
In astronomy the Muslims integrated the astronomical traditions of the Indians, Persians, the ancient Near East and especially the Greeks into a synthesis which began to chart a new chapter in the history of astronomy from the 8th century onward. The Almagest of Ptolemy, whose very name in English reveals the Arabic origin of its Latin translation, was thoroughly studied and its planetary theory criticized by several astronomers of both the eastern and western lands of Islam leading to the major critique of the theory by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and his students, especially Qutb alDin al-Shirazi, in the 13th century. The Muslims also observed the heavens carefully and discovered many new stars. The book on stars of 'Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi was in fact translated into Spanish by Alfonso X el Sabio and had a deep influence upon stellar toponymy in European languages. Many star names in English such as Aldabaran still recall their Arabic origin. The Muslims carried out many fresh observations which were contained in astronomical tables called zij. One of the acutest of these observers was al-Battani whose work was followed by numerous others. The zij of al-Ma'mun observed in Baghdad, the Hakimite zij of Cairo, the Toledan Tables of alZarqali and his associates, the ll-Khanid zij of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi observed in Maraghah, and the zij of Ulugh-Beg from Samarqand are among the most famous Islamic astronomical tables. They wielded a great deal of influence upon Western astronomy up to the time of Tycho Brahe. The Muslims were in fact the first to create an astronomical observatory as a scientific institution, this being the observatory of Maraghah in Persia established by al-Tusi. This was indirectly the model for the later European observatories. Many astronomical instruments were developed by Muslims to carry out observation, the most famous being the astrolabe. There existed even mechanical astrolabes perfected by Ibn Samh which must be considered as the ancestor of the mechanical clock. Astronomical observations also had practical applications including not only finding the direction of Makkah for prayers, but also devising almanacs (the word itself being of Arabic origin). The Muslims also applied their astronomical knowledge to questions of time-keeping and the calendar. The most exact solar calendar existing to this day is the Jalali calendar devised under the direction of 'Umar Khayyam in the 12th century and still in use in Persia and Afghanistan.
Mathematics, Algebra
As for mathematics proper, like astronomy, it received its direct impetus from the Quran not only because of the mathematical structure related to the text of the Sacred Book, but also because the laws of inheritance delineated in the Quran require rather complicated mathematical solutions. Here again Muslims began by integrating Greek and Indian mathematics. The first great Muslim mathematician, al-Khwarazmi, who lived in the 9th century, wrote a treatise on arithmetic whose Latin translation brought what is known as Arabic numerals to the West. To this day guarismo, derived from his name, means figure or digit in Spanish while algorithm is still used in English. Al-Khwarazmi is also the author of the first book on algebra. This science was developed by Muslims on the basis of earlier Greek and Indian works of a rudimentary nature. The very name algebra comes from the first part of the name of the book of al-Khwarazmi, entitled Kirah al-jahr wa'l-muqabalah. Abu Kamil al-Shuja' discussed algebraic equations with five unknowns. The science was further developed by such figures as al-Karaji until it reached its peak with Khayyam who classified by kind and class algebraic equations up to the third degree.
Geometry
The Muslims also excelled in geometry as reflected in their art. The brothers Banu Musa who lived in the 9th century may be said to be the first outstanding Muslim geometers while their contemporary Thabit ibn Qurrah used the method of exhaustion, giving a glimpse of what was to become integral calculus. Many Muslim mathematicians such as Khayyam and al-Tusi also dealt with the fifth postulate of Euclid and the problems which follow if one tries to prove this postulate within the confines of Eucledian geometry.
Trigonometry
Another branch of mathematics developed by Muslims is trigonometry which was established as a distinct branch of mathematics by al-Biruni. The Muslim mathematicians, especially al-Battani, Abu'l-Wafa', Ibn Yunus and Ibn al-Haytham, also developed spherical astronomy and applied it to the solution of astronomical problems.
Number Theory
The love for the study of magic squares and amicable numbers led Muslims to develop the theory of numbers. Al-Khujandi discovered a particular case of Fermat's theorem that "the sum of two cubes cannot be another cube", while alKaraji analyzed arithmetic and geometric progressions such as: 1^3+2^3+3^3+...+n^3=( 1+2+3+...+n)^2. Al-Biruni also dealt with progressions while Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid al-Kashani brought the study of number theory among Muslims to its peak.
Physics, Balance, Projectile Motion, Optics
In the field of physics the Muslims made contributions in especially three domains. The first was the measurement of specific weights of objects and the study of the balance following upon the work of Archimedes. In this domain the writings of al-Biruni and al-Khazini stand out. Secondly they criticized the Aristotelian theory of projectile motion and tried to quantify this type of motion. The critique of Ibn Sina, Abu'l-Barakat al-Baghdadi, Ibn Bajjah and others led to the development of the idea of impetus and momentum and played an important role in the criticism of Aristotelian physics in the West up to the early writings of Galileo. Thirdly there is the field of optics in which the Islamic sciences produced in Ibn al-Haytham (the Latin Alhazen) who lived in the 11th century, the greatest student of optics between Ptolemy and Witelo. Ibn al-Haytham's main work on optics, the Kitah al-manazir, was also well known in the West as Thesaurus opticus. Ibn al-Haytham solved many optical problems, one of which is named after him, studied the property of lenses, discovered the camera obscura, explained correctly the process of vision, studied the structure of the eye, and explained for the first time why the sun and the moon appear larger on the horizon. His interest in optics was carried out two centuries later by Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi and Kamal al-Din al-Farisi. It was Qutb al-Din who gave the first correct explanation of the formation of the rainbow.
Experimental Method
It is important to recall that in physics as in many other fields of science the Muslims observed, measured and carried out experiments. They must be credited with having developed what came to be known later as the experimental method.
Medical Sciences
The hadiths of the Prophet contain many instructions concerning health including dietary habits; these sayings became the foundation of what came to be known later as "Prophetic medicine" (al-tibb al-nabawi). Because of the great attention paid in Islam to the need to take care of the body and to hygiene, early in Islamic history Muslims began to cultivate the field of medicine turning once again to all the knowledge that was available to them from Greek, Persian and Indian sources. At first the great physicians among Muslims were mostly Christian but by the 9th century Islamic medicine, properly speaking, was born with the appearance of the major compendium, @Rhazes Anatomy Smallpox Antiseptic Psychosomatic Medicine The Paradise of Wisdom (Firdaws al-hikmah ) by 'Ali ibn Rabban al-Tabari, who synthesized the Hippocratic and Galenic traditions of medicine with those of India and Persia. His student, Muhammad ibn Zakariyya' al-Razi (the Latin Rhazes), was one of the greatest of physicians who emphasized clinical medicine and observation. He was a master of prognosis and psychosomatic medicine and also of anatomy. He was the first to identify and treat smallpox, to use alcohol as an antiseptic and make medical use of mercury as a purgative. His Kitab al-hawi (Continens) is the longest work ever written in Islamic medicine and he was recognized as a medical authority in the West up to the 18th century.
The Canon of Medicine and Meningitis
The greatest of all Muslim physicians, however, was Ibn Sina who was called "the prince of physicians" in the West. He synthesized Islamic medicine in his major masterpiece, al-Qanun fi'l tibb (The Canon of Medicine), which is the most famous of all medical books in history. It was the final authority in medical matters in Europe for nearly six centuries and is still taught wherever Islamic medicine has survived to this day in such lands as Pakistan and India. Ibn Sina discovered many drugs and identified and treated several ailments such as meningitis but his greatest contribution was in the philosophy of medicine. He created a system of medicine within which medical practice could be carried out and in which physical and psychological factors, drugs and diet are combined.
Pulmonary Circulation
After Ibn Sina, Islamic medicine divided into several branches. In the Arab world Egypt remained a major center for the study of medicine, especially ophthalmology which reached its peak at the court of al-Hakim. Cairo possessed excellent hospitals which also drew physicians from other lands including Ibn Butlan, author of the famous Calendar of Health, and Ibn Nafis who discovered the lesser or pulmonary circulation of the blood long before Michael Servetus, who is usually credited with the discovery.
Gynecology
As for the western lands of Islam including Spain, this area was likewise witness to the appearance of outstanding physicians such as Sa'd al-Katib of Cordoba who composed a treatise on gynecology, and the greatest Muslim figure in surgery, the 12th century Abu'l-Qasim al-Zahrawi (the Latin Albucasis) whose medical masterpiece Kitab al-tasrif was well known in the West as Concessio. One must also mention the Ibn Zuhr family which produced several outstanding physicians and Abu Marwan 'Abd al-Malik who was the Maghrib's most outstanding clinical physician. The well known Spanish philosophers, Ibn Tufayl and Ibn Rushd, were also outstanding physicians. Islamic medicine continued in Persia and the other eastern lands of the Islamic world under the influence of Ibn Sina with the appearance of major Persian medical compendia such as the Treasury of Sharaf al-Din al-Jurjani and the commentaries upon the Canon by Fakhr al-Din al-Razi and Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi. Even after the Mongol invasion, medical studies continued as can be seen in the work of Rashid al-Din Fadlallah, and for the first time there appeared translations of Chinese medicine and interest in acupuncture among Muslims. The Islamic medical tradition was revived in the Safavid period when several diseases such as whooping cough were diagnosed and treated for the first time and much attention was paid to pharmacology. Many Persian doctors such as 'Ayn al-Mulk of Shiraz also travelled to India at this time to usher in the golden age of Islamic medicine in the subcontinent and to plant the seed of the Islamic medical tradition which continues to flourish to this day in the soil of that land.
Major Hospitals
The Ottoman world was also an arena of great medical activity derived from the heritage of Ibn Sina. The Ottoman Turks were especially known for the creation of major hospitals and medical centers. These included not only units for the care of the physically ill, but also wards for patients with psychological ailments. The Ottomans were also the first to receive the influence of modem European medicine in both medicine and pharmacology. In mentioning Islamic hospitals it is necessary to mention that all major Islamic cities had hospitals; some like those of Baghdad were teaching hospitals while some like the Nasiri hospital of Cairo had thousands of beds for patients with almost any type of illness. Hygiene in these hospitals was greatly emphasized and al-Razi had even written a treatise on hygiene in hospitals. Some hospitals also specialized in particular diseases including psychological ones. Cairo even had a hospital which specialilzed in patients having insomnia.
Pharmacology
Islamic medical authorities were also always concerned with the significance of pharmacology and many important works such as the Canon have whole books devoted to the subject. The Muslims became heir not only to the pharmacological knowledge of the Greeks as contained in the works of Dioscorides, but also the vast herbal pharmacopias of the Persians and Indians. They also studied the medical effects of many drugs, especially herbs, themselves. The greatest contributions in this field came from Maghribi scientists such as Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Salt and the most original of Muslim pharmacologists, the 12th century scientist, al-Ghafiqi, whose Book of Simple Drugs provides the best descriptions of the medical properties of plants known to Muslims. Islamic medicine combined the use of drugs for medical purposes with dietary considerations and a whole lifestyle derived from the teachings of Islam to create a synthesis which has not died out to this day despite the introduction of modern medicine into most of the Islamic world.
Natural History and Geography
The vast expanse of the Islamic world enabled the Muslims to develop natural history based not only on the Mediterranean world, as was the case of the Greek natural historians, but also on most of the Eurasian and even African land masses. Knowledge of minerals, plants and animals was assembled from areas as far away as the Malay world and synthesized for the first time by Ibn Sina in his Kitab al-Shifa' (The Book of Healing). Such major natural historians as al-Mas'udi intertwined natural and human history. Al-Biruni likewise in his study of India turned to the natural history and even geology of the region, describing correctly the sedimentary nature of the Ganges basin. He also wrote the most outstanding Muslim work on mineralogy.
Botany, Zoology
As for botany, the most important treatises were composed in the 12th century in Spain with the appearance of the work of al-Ghafiqi. This is also the period when the best known Arabic work on agriculture, the Kitab al-falahah, was written. The Muslims also showed much interest in zoology especially in horses as witnessed by the classical text of al-Jawaliqi, and in falcons and other hunting birds. The works of al-Jahiz and al-Damiri are especially famous in the field of zoology and deal with the literary, moral and even theological dimensions of the study of animals as well as the purely zoological aspects of the subject. This is also true of a whole class of writings on the "wonders of creation" of which the book of Abu Yahya al-Qazwini, the 'Aja'ih al-makhluqat (The Wonders of Creation) is perhaps the most famous.
Geography
Likewise in geography, Muslims were able to extend their horizons far beyond the world of Ptolemy. As a result of travel over land and by sea and the facile exchange of ideas made possible by the unified structure of the Islamic world and the hajj which enables pilgrims from all over the Islamic world to gather and exchange ideas in addition to visiting the House of God, a vast amount of knowledge of areas from the Pacific to the Atlantic was assembled. The Muslim geographers starting with al-Khwarazmi, who laid the foundation of this science among Muslims in the 9th century, began to study the geography of practically the whole globe minus the Americas, dividing the earth into the traditional seven climes each of which they studied carefully from both a geographical and climactic point of view. They also began to draw maps some of which reveal with remarkable accuracy many features such as the origin of the Nile, not discovered in the West until much later. The foremost among Muslim geographers was Abu 'Abdallah al-Idrisi, who worked at the court of Roger II in Sicily and who dedicated his famous book, Kitab al-rujari (The Book of Roger) to him. His maps are among the great achievements of Islamic science. It was in fact with the help of Muslim geographers and navigators that Magellan crossed the Cape of Good Hope into the Indian Ocean. Even Columbus made use of their knowledge in his discovery of America.
Chemistry
The very name alchemy as well as its derivative chemistry come from the Arabic al-kimiya'. The Muslims mastered Alexandrian and even certain elements of Chinese alchemy and very early in their history, produced their greatest alchemist, Jabir ibn Hayyan (the Latin Geber) who lived in the 8th century. Putting the cosmological and symbolic aspects of alchemy aside, one can assert that this art led to much experimentation with various materials and in the hands of Muhammad ibn Zakariyya' al-Razi was converted into the science of chemistry. To this day certain chemical instruments such as the alembic (al-'anbiq) still bear their original Arabic names and the mercury-sulphur theory of Islamic alchemy remains as the foundation of the acid-base theory of chemistry. Al-Razi's division of materials into animal, vegetable and mineral is still prevalent and a vast body of knowledge of materials accumulated by Islamic alchemists and chemists has survived over the centuries in both East and West. For example the use of dyes in objects of Islamic art ranging from carpets to miniatures or the making of glass have much to do with this branch of learning which the West learned completely from Islamic sources since alchemy was not studied and practiced in the West before the translation of Arabic texts into Latin in the 11th century .
Technology
Islam inherited the millenial experience in various forms of technology from the peoples who entered the fold of Islam and the nations which became part of Dar al-Islam. A wide range of technological knowledge, from the building of water wheels by the Romans to the underground water system by the Persians, became part and parcel of the technology of the newly founded order. Muslims also imported certain kinds of technology from the Far East such as paper which they brought from China and whose technology they later transmitted to the West. They also developed many forms of technology on the basis of earlier existing knowledge such as the metallurgical art of making the famous Damascene swords, an art which goes back to the making of steel several thousand years before on the Iranian plateau. Likewise Muslims developed new architectural techniques of vaulting, methods of ventilation, preparations of dyes, techniques of weaving, technologies related to irrigation and numerous other forms of technology, some of which survive to this day.
Man and Nature
In general Islamic civilization emphasized the harmony between man and nature as seen in the traditional design of Islamic cities. Maximum use was made of natural elements and forces, and men built in harmony with, not in opposition to nature. Some of the Muslim technological feats such as dams which have survived for over a millenium, domes which can withstand earthquakes, and steel which reveals incredible metallurgical know-how, attest to the exceptional attainment of Muslims in many fields of technology. In fact it was a vastly superior technology that first impressed the Crusaders in their unsuccessful attempt to capture the Holy Land and much of this technology was brought back by the Crusaders to the rest of Europe.
Architecture
One of the major achievements of Islamic civilization is architecture which combines technology Treatises on natural and art. The great masterpieces of Islamic architecture from the Cordoba Mosque and the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem to the Taj Mahal in India, scientists were often display this perfect wedding between the artistic illustrated with detailed principles of Islam and remarkable technological know-how. Much of the outstanding medieval facilitate teaching of the architecture of the West is in fact indebted to the techniques of Islamic architecture. When one views the Notre Dame in Paris or some other Gothic cathedral, one is reminded of the building techniques which travelled from Muslim Cordoba northward. Gothic arches as well as interior courtyards of so many medieval and Renaissance European structures remind the viewer of the Islamic architectural examples from which they originally drew. In fact the great medieval European architectural tradition is one of the elements of Western civilization most directly linked with the Islamic world, while the presence of Islamic architecture can also be directly experienced in the Moorish style found not only in Spain and Latin America, but in the southwestern United States as well.
Influence of Islamic Science and Learning Upon the West
The oldest university in the world which is still functioning is the eleven hundred-year-old Islamic university of Fez, Morocco, known as the Qarawiyyin. This old tradition of Islamic learning influenced the West greatly through Spain. In this land where Muslims, Christians and Jews lived for the most part peacefully for many centuries, translations began to be made in the 11th century mostly in Toledo of Islamic works into Latin often through the intermediary of Jewish scholars most of whom knew Arabic and often wrote in Arabic. As a result of these translations, Islamic thought and through it much of Greek thought became known to the West and Western schools of learning began to flourish. Even the Islamic educational system was emulated in Europe and to this day the term chair in a university reflects the Arabic kursi (literally seat) upon which a teacher would sit to teach his students in the madrasah (school of higher learning). As European civillization grew and reached the high Middle Ages, there was hardly a field of learning or form of art, whether it was literature or architecture, where there was not some influence of Islam present. Islamic learning became in this way part and parcel of Western civilization even if with the advent of the Renaissance, the West not only turned against its own medieval past but also sought to forget the long relation it had had with the Islamic world, one which was based on intellectual respect despite religious opposition.
In early days at least, the Muslims were eager seekers for knowledge, and Baghdad was the intellectual center of the world.
Historians have justly remarked that the school of Baghdad was characterized by a new scientific spirit.
Proceeding from the known to the unknown; taking precise account of phenomena; accepting nothing as true which was not confirmed by experience, or established by experiment, such were fundamental principles taught and acclaimed by the the masters of the sciences.
The Islamic Empire At Its Greatest Extent 750 c
George Sarton in his introduction, marks the time from the 2nd half of eighth century to the 2nd half of the eleventh century into:
The time of Jabir Ibn Haiyan which covers the 2nd half of eighth century
The time of Al-Khwarizmi which covers the 1st half of ninth century
The time of Al-Razi which covers the 2nd half of ninth century
The time of Al-Mas'udi which covers the 1st half of tenth century
The time of Abu-l-Wafa which covers the 2nd half of tenth century
The time of Al-Biruni which covers the 1st half eleventh century
The time of Omar Khyyam which covers the 2nd half of eleventh century
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The Time of Jabir Ibn Haiyan
Second half of Eighth Century
The intellectual relaxation which characterized the second half of the seventh century and the first half of the eighth was followed by a period of renewed activity which was entirely due to Muslim initiatives, that is why this period gave an Arabic name marking the beginning of Muslim science. The name Jabir Ibn Haiyan came from the highly important contributions by him in this period. Jabir's texts, whether in Arabic or Latin, are one of the most urgent and promising tasks of scholarship. He will remain a very impressive personality.
ht[img]tp://www.levity.com/alchemy/images/jabir10.jpg[/img]
Imaginative portrait of Jabir Ibn Haiyan
(Photograph, A. Chelazzi, Florence,...Makers of Chemistry, E. L. Holmyard)
Cultural Background of this Period in the East
Two rulers of the Abbasid caliphs used their authority to promote the intellectual welfare and progress of the peoples, and distinguished themselves greatly in this respect; the second, al-Mansur (founded Baghdad) and the fifth, Harun-al-Rashid (whose fame has been immortalized by many legends). Both caliphs encourage the work of translators who were busily unlocking the treasures of Greek knowledge.
Abu Ja'far 'Abdallah al-Mansur, i.e. the victorious. Died in 775 at Bir Maimun, near Mecca, at the age of 63 - 68 Muslim years (Hegra), i.e. 61-66 Christian years. He was the second 'Abbasid caliph and ruled from 754 to his death.
He was a great statesman and the founder of Baghdad. Memorable because of the many translations from the Syriac, Persian, Greek, and Hindu languages into the Arabic which were accomplished in his reign.
Harun al-Rashid, born in 763 or 766 at al-Ray; died at Tus in 809. Caliph from 786 to his death; the fifth and one of the greatest 'Abbasid monarchs. Magnificent patron of science, art, and literature. Many more Greek works were translated by his order. In 807 he presented a very remarkable water-clock to Charlemange (King of the Franks since 768; crowned Emperor of the West on Christmas 800 by Leo III in Rome)
Islamic Mathematics and Astronomy
All of the mathematical and astronomical work of this period was done by Muslims. It is interesting to recall that the mathematical work of the previous period had been done almost exclusively by Chinese. Some amount of stimulation had come from India. In addition to transmission of some Hindu mathematics.
Ibrahim al-Fazari is said to have been the first Muslim to construct astrolabes.
Ya'qub ibn Tariq and Muhammad, son of Ibrahim al-Fazari, are the first to be mentioned in connection with Hindu mathematics: Ya'qab met at the court of al-Mansur, a Hindu astronomer called Kankah (?), who acquainted him with the Siddhanta, and Muhammad was ordered to translate it. The physician al-Batriq translated Ptolemy's Quadripartitum. Two astrologers, one of them a Jew named Mashallah, the other a Persian called al-Naubakht, worked together to make the measurements necessary for the building of Bagdad. Al-Naubakht's son, al-Fadl, wrote astrological treatises and translations from the Persian into Arabic.
Ibrahim al-Fazari
Abu Ishaq Ibrahlm ibn Habib ibn Sulaiman ibn Samura ibn Jundab. Died c. 777.
Muslim astronomer. The first to construct astrolabes, he wa the author of a poem (qasida) on astrology and of various astronomical writings (on the astrolabe, on the armillary spheres, on the calendar). H. Suter: Die Mathematiker und Astronomer der Araber (3, 208, 1900)
Ya'qub Ibn Tariq
Probably of Persian origin, flourished in Baghdad, c.767-778 died c. 796. One of the greatest astronomers of his time. He probably met, c. 767, at the court of al-Mansur, the Hindu Kankah (or Mankah?), who had brought there the Siddhanta. He wrote memoirs on the sphere (c. 777), on the division of the kardaja; on the tables derived from the Siddhanta. H. Suter: Die Mathematiker und Astronomer der Araber (p. 4, 1900)
Muhammad Ibn Ibrahim Al-Fazari
Abu 'Abdallah Muhammad ibn Ibrahim al-Fazari. Son of the astronomer Ibrahim dealt with above, for whom he is sometimes mistaken (he may be the author of the astrological poem ascribed to his father). Died c. 796 to 806. Muslim scientist and astronomer. He was ordered by the Caliph al-Mansur in 772/3 to translate the Sanskrit astronomical work Siddhanta. This translation was possibly the vehicle by means of which the Hindu numerals were transmitted from India to Islam.
H. Suter: Die Mathematiker und Astronomen der Araber (p. 4,1900).
Cantor: Geschichte der Mathematik (I, 3rd ed., 698, 1907).
D. E. Smith and L. C. Karpinski: The Hindu-Arabic Numerals (p.92, Boston, 1911)
Mashallah
His real name was probably Manasseh (in Arabic, Misha). Latin translators named him Messahala (with many variants, as Macellama, Macelarma). Mashallah is a contraction of ma'aha Allah meaning "What wonders Allah has willed." (What hath God wrought.) Flourished under al-Mansur, died c. 815 or 820. One of the earliest astronomers and astrologers in Islam, himself an Egyptian (?) Jew. Only one of his writings is extant in Arabic, but there are many mediaeval Latin and Hebrew translations. The Arabic text extant deals with the prices of wares and is the earliest book of its kind in that language. He took part with the Persian astrologer al-Naubakht in the surveying preliminary to the foundation of Baghdad in 762-63. His most popular book in the Middle Ages was the 'De scientia motus orbis', translated by Gherardo Cremonese.
Text and Translation. The De scientia motus orbis is probably the treatise called in Arabic "the twenty-seventh;" printed in Nuremberg 1501, 1549. The second edition is entitled: 'De elementis et orbibus coelestibus', and contains 27 chapters. The De compositione et utilitate astrolabii was included in Gregor Reisch: Margarita phylosophica (ed. pr., Freiburg, 1503; Suter says the text is included in the Basel edition of 1583). Other astronomical and astrological writings are quoted by Suter and Steinsehneider.
An Irish astronomical tract based in part on a mediaeval Latin version of a world by Messahalah. Edited with preface, translation, and glossary, by Afaula Power (Irish Texts Society, vol. 14, 194 p., 1914. A relatively modern translation of the De scientia motus orbis, the preface is uncritical).
Astrolabe
Astronomers Using Astrolabe
Islamic Alchemy
It is noteworthy that the earliest alchemical texts in Arabic and Latin are contemporaneous, that is, if our dating of them is correct. The most famous alchemist of Islam, Jabir Ibn Haiyan, seems to have had a good experimental knowledge of a number chemical facts; he was also an able theoretician.
Jabir ibn Haiyan
Abu Musa Jabir ibn Haiyan al-Azdi (al-Tusi, al-Tartusi; al-Harrani meaning that he was a Sabian?; al-Sufi). Flourished mostly in Kufa, c. 776, he was the most famous Arabic alchemist; the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages. He may be the author of a book on the astrolabe, but his fame rests on his alchemical writings preserved in Arabic: the "Book of the Kingdom," the "Little Book of the Balances," the "Book of Mercy," the "Book of Concentration," the "Book of Eastern Mercury," and others. According to the treatises already translated (by Berthelot), his alchemical doctrines were very anthropomorphic and animistic. But other treatises (not yet available in translation) show him in a better light. We find in them remarkably sound views on methods of chemical research; a theory on the geological formation of metals; the so-called sulphur-mercury theory of metals (the six metals differ essentially because of different proportions of sulphur and mercury in them); preparation of various substances (e.g. basic lead carbonate; arsenic and antimony from their sulphides). Jabir deals also with various applications, e.g. refinement of metals, preparation of steel, dyeing of cloth and leather, varnishes to water-proof cloth and protect iron, use of manganese dioxide in glass making, use of iron pyrites for writing in gold, distillation of vinegar to concentrate acetic acid. He observed the imponderability of magnetic force.
It is possible that some of the facts mentioned in the Latin works, ascribed to Geber and dating from the twelfth century and later, must also be placed to Jabir's credit. It is impossible to reach definite conclusions until all the Arabic writings ascribed to Jabir have been properly edited and discussed. It is only then that we shall be able to measure the full extent of his contributions, but even on the slender basis of our present knowledge, Jabir appears already as a very great personality, one of the greatest in mediaeval science.
Text and Translations:- M. Berthelot: La chimie au moyen age (vol. 3, L'alchimie arabe, Paris,1893. The Arabic text of a few of Jabir's writings is edited by Octave Houdas. French translation, p. 126-224. See E. J. Holmyard's criticism in Isis, XI, 479-499, 1924). Ernst Darmstaedter: Die Alchemie des Geber (212 p., 10 pl.; Berlin, 1922. German translation of the Latin treatises ascribed to Geber; reviewed by J. Ruska in Isis, V, 451-455, concluding that these Latin treatises are apocryphal); Liber misericordiae Geber. Eine lateinisehe ubersetzung des grosseren Kitab al-rahma (Archive fur Geschichte der Medizin, vol. 17, 181-197, 1925; Isis, VIII, 737).
Page of one of Jabir's Chemical Works in Arabic
Figures of some Alchemical Processes in Arabic Manuscript
An illustration from an Arabic Manuscript in the British Museum
Portrait of Gaber Ibn Haiyan by an Egyptian artist
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