A Short History of Islamic Science, from Genesis to Decline

- Islamic science: natural science produced during the Islamic civilization, by various
contributors, most of whom were Muslims, but quite a few were not.
- Other use the phrase “Arabic science” as most of the works of science produced during
that period were written in Arabic
- When using Islamic science one must always recall that not all scientists were Muslim,
and not all (in fact not even a majority) were Arabs, and not all works were written in
Arabic.
- Science began to flourish in the Islamic civilization when important Greek works were
translated to Arabic through the financial support provided by “enlightened” or at least
“interested” caliphs
- For one thing, the “translation movement” started during the Umayyad caliphate, before
the Abbasid period, although in the latter era it took on much greater dimensions and
proceeded more systematically.
- Islamic science (Muslim scientists) from the
Abbasid period (750-1258(fall of Baghdad)):
● Ibn Hayyan (Jabir)
⮚ Also, known as Geber in the West

⮚ He is the most famous alchemist of the Abbasid period, although the many books
ascribed to him have made some scholars claim that he represented a group of people
rather than one specific scholar
● Al-Kindi (Abu Yusuf Ya’qub)
⮚ Known as “the philosopher of the Arabs,”
⮚ Being probably the first and only great philosopher of Arab ethnic origin
⮚ He is widely considered as one of the greatest minds of the Islamic civilization as he
also possessed an extraordinary knowledge of Greek science and philosophy.
⮚ He also supervised and revised translations of many works from the Greek into Arabic
● Al-Khwarizmi (Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Musa)
⮚ Muslim mathematician, astronomer, and geographer, one of the greatest scientists of
the whole Islamic civilization and certainly of his time, having integrated both Greek
and Hindu knowledge.
⮚ His book on arithmetic (unfortunately lost in Arabic but which survived in its
twelfth-century Latin translation) introduced the Hindu system of numeration into
Arab and later European science.
⮚ His seminal book on algebra, Hisab al-jabr wal-muqabala, is even more important,
showing both how to set up and solve algebraic equations.
⮚ This book was needed because Al-Khwarizmi wished to help his contemporaries in
their commercial dealing, land surveying, and inheritance problems
⮚ He developed, not created, geometry.
● Al-Jahiz (Abu Uthman `Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani)
 A Short History of Islamic Science, from Genesis to Decline

⮚ Arab writer known more for his style and, he is one of the most important zoologists of
pre-modern times.

⮚ One of his most famous books, Kitab al-Hayawan (The Book of Animals) contains
descriptions that amount to a rather clear understanding of animal evolution, natural
selection, environmental determinism, and possibly the inheritance of acquired
characteristics

● Al-Razi (Abu Bakr Mohammed ibn Zakaria)

⮚ Physician, physicist, and alchemist

⮚ Considered to be “the greatest clinician of Islam and middle ages”

⮚ He smartly applied his chemical knowledge to medicine.

● Al-Battani (Abu Abdallah Mohammed ibn Jabir ibn Sinan)
⮚ A Muslim, He is indisputably the greatest astronomer of his time and one of the
greatest of Islam
● Ibn Sina (Abu Ali al-Hassan)
⮚ Encyclopedist, philosopher, physician, mathematician, and astronomer, probably the
most famous scientist of Islam and one of the most famous in all of history, often
presented as the climax of mediaeval philosophy.
⮚ Historians say that his accomplishments and his conclusiveness were so complete that
his work discouraged original investigations and sterilized intellectual life after him.

⮚ As a physician, as he is often reduced to, his most important work is his Al-Qanun
fi-l-tibb (The Canon in Medicine), an extraordinary encyclopedia of about a million
words, a classification of the entire medical knowledge up to then.
● Omar Al-Khayyam, or Abu-l-Fath (Umar ibn Ibrahím al-Khayyami)
⮚ An astronomer and one of the greatest mathematicians of the Islamic civilization, he is
much more famous as a poet, with his Ruba`iyyat (quatrains), full of wisdom and
beauty, translated into many languages
- Scientists in Al-Andalus:
● Al-Majritiya (Fatima)
⮚ She was highlighted in the 2009 calendar ‘Women Astronomers Who Made
History’
● Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi, (Khalaf ibn Abbas)
⮚ He was the greatest Muslim surgeon
⮚ He is most famous for the surgical tools he used and described in his great work,
al-Tasrif (Vade Mecum), a medical encyclopedia in 30 sections containing surgical
 A Short History of Islamic Science, from Genesis to Decline

descriptions, and interesting methods of preparing drugs by sublimation and

distillation
● Ibn Rushd (Abul-Walid Muhammad bin Ahmad)
⮚ One of the greatest Muslim philosophers and polymaths of all time (12th century)

⮚ He was the first writer in any language to complain about discrimination against
women, which he felt was one of the most serious problems in Muslim society
⮚ He is also related to Al-Gazzali and the argument between Ulema and
philosophers.
⮚ He wrote a book in relpy to Al-Gazzali called Tahafut al-tahafut (The Incoherence
of the Incoherence)
- Contributions of non-Muslim scientists to Islamic science:
● One of the important aspects of the Islamic civilization is its integration of non-Muslim
scholars and people of talent into both its culture and state affairs, largely unprecedented
in world history.
● Hunayn ibn Ishaq (Abu Zaid)
⮚ He was a Christian

⮚ A famous Nestorian physician and one of the greatest scholars of his time.

⮚ He first worked for the Banu Musa, collecting Greek manuscripts and translating them
into Arabic, then became the leading translator of medical works.
- Islamic science after the Abbasid era:
● There seems to be a general agreement that Islamic science peaked around the eleventh
century.
● The disagreement among historians and specialists is when the “decline” of science, and
knowledge more generally, began in the Islamic civilization.
● It is certain that science did continue to be practiced in post-Abbasid times, though the
density and level of its contributions was often much lower than during the peak period.
There were both punctual contributions of Muslim scientists here and there as well as
special projects sponsored by the post-Abbasid Mughal and Ottoman empires.
● Al-Tusi (Muhammad ibn Muhammad, better known as Nasir al-Din)
⮚ Greatest of the later Persian scholars

⮚ A polymath and prolific writer, with contributions, some of them quite revolutionary,
in astronomy, mathematics, physics, chemistry and philosophy
● Ibn al-Shatir (Ala Al-Din Abul-Hasan Ali Ibn Ibrahim)
⮚ Damascene astronomer, mathematician, engineer, and inventor

⮚ His criticism of Ptolemy’s model was empirical rather than the philosophical criticisms
most other Muslim scientists had made
- Islamic science in the Mughal Empire:
 A Short History of Islamic Science, from Genesis to Decline

● The Islamic presence in India began in 711 when parts of Sind were conquered, and later
parts of the Punjab.
● Muslim rule in India, however, did not start until 1192; it continued until 1857 when the
British colonial power exiled the last Mughal emperor and executed his sons and
descendants.
● The Mughals represented the greatest period of Islamic rule in India, establishing their
authority from 1526 until the middle of the nineteenth century.
● Before the Mughals, Muslim Indian rulers pledged allegiance to the central Islamic caliph
or sultan for fear of inciting strife by declaring themselves caliphs in their own rights.
● The Mughal Empire is not known to have conducted great science or made any
contributions worth relating.
- Islamic science in the Ottoman Empire:
● The Ottoman Empire was founded by Osman/Uthman in 1281; it was gradually broken
up under the fragmenting strikes of the colonial powers (Britain and France, in
particular), finally collapsing in 1922, mainly due to having sided with Germany during
World War I.
● Longest empire in history
- Decline of Islamic science:
● There were many reasons that caused a decline in the Islamic world as the decline was not
only on one level it was a decline on all aspects.
● There were religious issues, social issues, political issues and many more
● A combination of all of these issues caused the decline both externally and internally
● The decline is said to be between the 10th and 11th century to the 16th
● External reasons:
o 3 invasions including the Mongols invasion, 1 crusader group was aiming at Jerusalem
and the other group was aiming at Spain; these were successful due to the internal
reasons
● Internal reasons:
o The century marks the end of philosophy in the eastern side of Islamic empire
o Philosophers and ulama were in a disagreement about a specific aspect of philosophy
that the Muslim scholars found problematic and that was metaphysics which is a part of
philosophy that deals with what is beyond the physical world
o Metaphysics has two roots, first is a religious one that is based on faith (backed up by
religious scholars) and a philosophical one that is based on reason (backed up by
philosophers).
o They were in disagreement because the scientists or philosophers were closest to the
caliphs and with that comes power. They used to get money to support their research.
o This problem goes on from the 9th till the 12th century (4 centuries)
o A decline starts when the religious scholars win and all places of research including
universities for the philosophers were shut down, philosophers liberaries were shut
down and their books were burned.
o During the same time, we start to see the appearance of the madrasa which are religious
schools that teach Quran, very basic math and astronomy.
o Al-Gazzali is a respected person among many levels but when it comes to philosophy
he is considered to be a cause to the end of philosophy because of his book “the
incoherence of philosophers” or “Tahafut Al-Falasifa”
o His book consisted of 20 points on wrong things about philosophy to which 3 are
unnegotiable and if you were to believe in any of these 3 then you are not a Muslim and
should be executed
 A Short History of Islamic Science, from Genesis to Decline

o He decided he would study philosophy to understand it better and he studied it for

around 3 years. The outcome of that is a book that he wrote called “the objectives of the
philosophers”
o That book is a pure philosophy book and people who would read it would think
Al-Gazzali was a philosopher
o He established a model of philosophy for his readers and then shows the defects of it
and destroys it to pieces
o Al- Gazzali mentioned 3 critical points from his book that are non-negotiable:
1. Eternity of the world
2. The idea of god being all-knowing
3. Resurrection
o If you cross those three points than he would’ve named you an infidel
o 11th century marks the end of philosophical activities in the Islamic world in the
Abbasids side
o There is a continuation of philosophy in Al-Andalus but the effects of the Abbasids are
reaching there slowly (around 100 of years) and the 12th century marks the end of
philosophy in Al-Andalus
o Ibn rushed tried to explain his point of view in a book replying to al- Gazzali called
“Tahafut Al Tahafut” but his book wasn't as strong as al-Gazzali so ultimately, he lost as
his library was confiscated and burned and he was sent to exile
- Astronomy continues until the 16th century