DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCES DURING THE SCIENCES DURING THE

UMMAYAD AND UMMAYAD AND ABBASID PERIODSABBASID PERIODS

DEVELOPMENT OF THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SCIENCES DURING THE SCIENCES DURING THE

UMMAYAD AND UMMAYAD AND ABBASID PERIODSABBASID PERIODS

TABLE OF CONTENTSIntroductionFactors that caused the development of

sciencesList of sciences that developed during

the Ummayad and Abbasid ageMuslim scholarsScientific achievementsConclusion

Introduction The Islamic Ideology and world-view during the first few

centuries of Hijra provided a most powerful source of inspiration, for the Muslim’s quest for knowledge.

• The Islamic spirit produced a radical transformation in the Arabian Peninsula.

• The rich contributions which Islam made in the various branches of Science served as the basis for the development of modern science.

• Although many earlier western historians tended to ignore this fact, recent investigations have led to a wider recognition of the importance of the Muslim contributions, especially to the development of scientific thought and the scientific method.

Continued…• The injunctions of the Qur'an and the

teachings of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) laid great stress on the acquisition of knowledge and developing the spirit of inquiry. The Muslims strictly followed these precepts and spared no pains to acquire, preserve and spread knowledge. As a result of their vigorous and dedicated efforts, a truly scientific outlook was developed. This in itself is a most valuable service of the Muslims to human civilization.

Factors that caused the development of

sciences Once Muslims established the new Islamic

order during the Umayyad period, they turned their attention to establish centers of learning.

They therefore set about with a concerted effort of translating 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 pro-Islamic Persia, and even from Sanskrit.

Continued ….. 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, maths and medicine such as the Almagest of Ptolemy, The Elements of Euclid, and the works of Hippocrates and Galen, were all translated into Arabic.

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

Continued…. Much of this learning and

development can be linked to geographical expansion.

There was no systematic learning in the rational sciences.

Muslim scientists made great contributions in different sciences.

Continued……Great centers of religious learning were

also centers of knowledge and scientific development.

Such formal centers began during the Abbasid period (750-1258 A.D.) when thousands of mosque schools were established.

The four schools of thought-Madhhabs were founded.

List of sciences that developed during the

Ummayad and Abbasid age

• Ilm al Aqliyyah-Rational sciences• Mathematics• Astronomy• Geometry• Trigonometry• Medicine• History• Geography

Continued …• Chemistry• Pharmacology• Geography• Botany• Optics/ Ophthalmology• Gynecology• Literature

Continued…..Ilm al Naqliyyah- Religious sciences• Ilm al Qira’ah• Usool at Tafseer• Usool al Hadith• Usool al fiqh• Ilm at Tareekh• Ilm al Kalam

Muslim ScholarsSome noteworthy scholars in the religious sciences• Imam Shafi• Imam Abu Hanifa• Imam Malik Ibn Anas• Imam Bukhari• Imam Muslim• Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal• Abu Jafar Muhammad At Tabari• Abul ala Hasan Al Asha’ari

Yaqub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi-800-873 A.D

• Al-Kindi was a philosopher, mathematician, physicist, astronomer, physician, geographer and even an expert in music.

• In mathematics, he wrote four books on the number system and laid the foundation of a large part of modern arithmetic.

• In medicine, his chief contribution comprises the fact that he was the first to systematically determine the doses to be administered of all the drugs known at his time

• His books that were translated into Latin during the Middle Ages comprise Risalah dar Tanjim, Ikhtiyarat al-Ayyam, Ilahyat-e-Aristu, al-Mosiqa, Mad-o-Jazr, and Adviyah Murakkaba

Jabir Ibn Haiyan803 A.D

• Jabir Ibn Haiyan, the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages, is generally known as the father of chemistry he also contributed to other sciences such as medicine and astronomy.

• His books on chemistry, including his Kitab-al-Kimya, and Kitab al-Sab'een were translated into Latin and various European languages.

• These translations were popular in Europe for several centuries and have influenced the evolution of modern chemistry. Several technical terms devised by Jabir, such as alkali, are today found in various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary.

• Only a few of his books have been edited and published

Thabit Ibn Qurra-836A.D

• Thabit's major contribution lies in mathematics and astronomy.

• He was instrumental in extending the concept of traditional geometry to geometrical algebra and proposed several theories that led to the development of non-Euclidean geometry, spherical trigonometry, integral calculus and real numbers.

• He criticised a number of theorems of Euclid's elements and proposed important improvements.

• He applied arithmetical terminology to geometrical quantities, and studied several aspects of conic sections, notably those of parabola and ellipse

Abu Jafar Muhammad at-Tabari 838-923A.D

• The earliest tafsir (commentary, or exegesis) that covered the whole of the Quran was supposed to have been compiled by Abdullah b. Abbas, who died in 688 A.D

• In the eighth and ninth centuries commentaries were expanded, to provide information on questions that might arise about any of the 114 Suras, and finally indeed about any single word in the Quran. The making of commentaries culminated in the immense tafsir compiled by Abu Jafar Muhammad al-Tabari (838-923).

Al-Khwarizmi 840A.D• Mohammed ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi wrote

Al-Jabr wa'l Muqabalah, from which we derive the word "Algebra", which gave algorithms for finding the positive solutions to all equations of the first and second degree (linear and quadratic).

• He was one of the first to compute astronomical and trigonometrical tables.

• He also explained the use of zero.

Continued…• He is also reported to have collaborated in the degree

measurements aimed at measuring of volume and circumference of the earth.

• His other contributions include original work related to clocks, sun-dials and astrolabes.

• The contribution of Khawarizmi to geography is also outstanding, in that not only did he revise Ptolemy's views on geography, but also corrected them in detail as well as his map of the world. Kitab Surat-al-Ard, together with its maps, was also translated.

• Several of his books were translated into Latin in the early l2th century. In fact, his book on arithmetic, Kitab al-Jam 'a wal- Ta freeq bil Hisab al-Hindi, was lost in Arabic but survived in a Latin translation

• In addition, he wrote a book on the Jewish calendar Istihhraj Tarikh al-Yahud, and two books on the astrolabe.

Mohammad Ibn Zakariya Al-Razi - 864-930A.D

• He has more than 200 outstanding scientific contributions to his credit, out of which about half deal with medicine and 21 of them with alchemy.

• He was also an expert surgeon and was the first to use opium for anaesthesia.

• He also wrote on physics, mathematics, astronomy and optics, but these writings could not be preserved.

Continued …• He made an accurate classification of chemical

substances into minerals, vegetables and animals

• He also sub-classified minerals into metals, spirits, salts, and stones.

• He also gave formulae for making metallic antimony, soap and many other substances.

• Most of the works of Al-Razi have been printed many times, in Venice in 1509, Paris in 1528 and 1548. His treatise on small pox was reprinted in 1745. Medical universities have relied primarily on his works for their courses.

Continued…..• A number of his books, including Jami-fi-al-Tib,

Mansoori, al-Hawi, Kitab al-Jadari wa al-Hasabah, al-Malooki, Maqalah fi al- Hasat fi Kuli wa al-Mathana, Kitab al-Qalb, Kitab al-Mafasil, Kitab-al- 'Ilaj al-Ghoraba, Bar al-Sa'ah, and al-Taqseem wa al-Takhsir, have been published in various European languages.

• About 40 of his manuscripts are still extant in the museums and libraries of Iran, Paris, Britain, Rampur, and Bankipur.

Abu Abdullah Al-Battani 858-929 A.D

• Battani was a famous astronomer, mathematician and astrologer.

• He is responsible for a number of important discoveries in astronomy, which was the result of a long career of 42 years of research beginning at Raqqa.

• His well-known discovery is the remarkably accurate determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds, which is very close to the latest estimates. He found that the longitude of the sun's apogee had increased by 16° , 47' since Ptolemy. This implied the important discovery of the motion of the solar apsides and of a slow variation in the equation of time. He did not believe in the trepidation of the equinoxes, unlike Copernicus.

Al-Farghani /Alfraganus 860A.D

• Astronomer and Geographer Al Farghani, was the first Muslim to write a comprehensive treatise on astronomy, that was very popular until the fifteenth century. It influenced not only the Muslim, but also through Latin and Hebrew translations, Christian and Jewish astronomers.

• The Jawami ilm al nujum, or 'The Elements' as we shall call it, was Al-Farghani's best-known and most influential work.

Al-Farabi – Alfarabius• Kitab tahsil as-Saadah (attainment of

Happiness) • 'Ara' ahl al-Madina-al-Fadilah (Opinions of

people of the Perfect state) • Kitab 'Ihsa' al-Uloom (Categories of Science) • Kitab as-Siysah al-Madinyah (Public

Administration) • Kitab al-Huruf (Book of letters) • Al-tahsil and kitab al musiqa • The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.

Al-Biruni 973-1048 AD • He discovered seven different ways of finding

the direction of the north and south, and discovered mathematical techniques to determine exactly the beginnings of the season.

• He also wrote about the sun and its movements and the eclipse.

• In addition, he invented a few astronomical instruments. Many centuries before the rest of the world he discussed that the earth rotated on its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude and longitude.

Ibn Sina – Avicenna980 -1037A.D

• Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb ("The Canon of Medicine") is still one of the most important medical books ever written, and served as the medical authority throughout Europe for 600 years.

• Kitab al-Shifa ("Book of Healing") brought Aristotelian and Platonian philosophy together with Islamic theology in dividing the field of knowledge into theoretical knowledge (physics, mathematics, and metaphysics) and practical knowledge (ethics, economics, and politics).

Continued ……• In physics, his contribution comprised the

study of different forms of energy, heat, light and mechanical, and such concepts as force, vacuum and infinity.

• He made the important observation that if the. perception of light is due to the emission of some sort of particles by the luminous source, the speed of light must be finite.

• He propounded an interconnection between time and motion, and also made investigations on specific gravity and used an air thermometer.

Continued…• In the field of chemistry, he did not

believe in the possibility of chemical transmutation because, in his opinion, the metals differed in a fundamental sense.

• His treatise on minerals was one of the "main" sources of geology of the Christian encyclopedists of the thirteenth century.

• Besides Shifa his well-known treatises in philosophy are al-Najat and Isharat.

Ali Ibn Rabbani Al-Tabari 838-870 A.D

• Firdous al-Hikmat is the first ever Medical encyclopaedia which incorporates all the branches of medical science in its folds.

• 1. Part one: Kulliyat-e-Tibb. This part throws light on contemporary ideology of medical science. In that era these principles formed the basis of medical science.2. Part two: Elucidation of the organs of the human body, rules for keeping good health and comprehensive account of certain muscular diseases.3. Part three: Description of diet to be taken in conditions of health and disease..

Continued ….• 4. Part four: All diseases right from head to toe.

This part is of profound significance in the whole book and comprises twelve papers:

• i) General causes relating to eruption of diseases. • ii) Diseases of the head and the brain. • iii) Diseases relating to the eye, nose, ear, mouth

and the teeth. • iv) Muscular diseases (paralysis and spasm).• v) Diseases of the regions of the chest, throat and

the lungs.• vi) Diseases of the abdomen.

Continued ….• vii) Diseases of the liver.• viii) Diseases of gallbladder and spleen.

ix) Intestinal diseases. • x) Different kinds of fever.• xi) Miscellaneous diseases- brief

explanation of organs of the body.• xii) Examination of pulse and urine. This

part is the largest in the book and is almost half the size of the whole book.

Continued… 5. Part five: Description of

flavour, taste and colour.6. Part six: Drugs and poison.7. Part seven: Deals with diverse topics. Discusses climate and astronomy. Also contains a brief mention of Indian medicine.

Abul Hasan Ali Al Masu’di-957A,D

• Al Masu’di travelled to Fars in 915 C.E. and, after staying for one year in Istikhar, he proceeded via Baghdad to India, where he visited Multan and Mansoora before returning to Fars.

• From there he visited Kirman and then returned to India. Mansoora in those days was a city of great renown and was the capital of the Muslim state of Sind. Around it, there were many settlements/townships of new converts to Islam.

• In 918 C.E., Masu'di travelled to Gujrat, where more than 10,000 Arab Muslims had settled in the sea-port of Chamoor.

• He also travelled to Deccan, Ceylon, Indo-China and China, and proceeded via Madagascar, Zanjibar and Oman to Basra.

• At Basra he completed his book Muruj-al-Thahab, in which he has described in a most absorbing manner his experience of various countries, peoples and climates.

Continued ….• By presenting a critical account of historical

events, he initiated a change in the art of historical writing, introducing the elements of analysis, reflection and criticism, which was later on further improved by Ibn Khaldun.

• In particular, in al-Tanbeeh he makes a systematic study of history against a perspective of geography, sociology, anthropology and ecology.

• Masu'di had a deep insight into the causes of rise and fall of nations.

Scientific Achievements

Maktabat (libraries) were developed and foreign books acquired.

The two most famous ones are Bait al-Hikmah in Baghdad (820) and Dar al-Ilm in Cairo (998).

Universities such as Al-Azhar (969 A.D.) were also established long before those in Europe.

University of Al Qarawiyyin in Fez, Morocco is the oldest university in the world with its founding in 859 A.D.

Continued…. University

Continued …. A major innovation was papermaking - originally a

secret tightly guarded by the Chinese. The art of papermaking was obtained from two

prisoners at the Battle of Talas (751), resulting in paper mills being built in Samarkand and Baghdad.

The Arabs improved upon the Chinese techniques using linen rags instead of mulberry bark.

In the period between 913 and 1005, all over the Muslim world, paper replaces rare and costly writing materials, which hence facilitates the making of books and the advance of learning.

Continued …..

Paper making

Astrolabe

Library

Continued…

Continued…..• The first free public hospital was opened in

Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-Rashid. It employed 24 physicians, and included a surgical unit and a department for eye diseases As the system developed, physicians and surgeons were appointed who gave lectures to medical students and issued diplomas to those who were considered qualified to practice.

• The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia.

Conclusion During this period the Muslim world became the

unrivaled intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education.

The Quran urged Muslims to discover the natural laws which governed the universe by reflecting on signs/ayats in the universe, and such reflection led to scientific, political and social advances.

Allah created the entire universe, and the whole of creation shows humanity his signs. For Muslims, Science was the method of investigating what has been created, so there was no conflict between religion and science.

References • www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/

sch618/sciencemath/science2.html retrieved on 21st Aug 2008

• www.muslimheritage.com retrieved on 16th Aug 2008

• www.ummah.net/history/scholars retrieved on 19th Aug 2008

Continued…..• www.amaana.org/ISWEB/contents.html

retrieved on 22nd Aug 2008• The Muslim Mind by Muhammad Abdul

Rauf• www.ediscoverislam.com retrieved on

22nd Aug 2008• www.pre-renaissance.com retrieved on

26th Aug 2008