Intellectual Awakening

Zenith Reached under Harun al-Rashid and al-Mamun

Hellenistic SourcesIno-PersianSyrianPersianSanskritSyriacGreek

Translation into Syriac and Later ArabicHunayn Ibn Ishaq (809-873)Practical PhysicianGreek to SyriacTranslated Galen, Hippocrates, Plato’s Republic, Aristotle’s Categories and Physics, Seven Books of Galen’s Anatomy500 Gold Pieces a Month plus the weight of each bookSons Translated in Arabic

Mathematicsal-Mamun Created the House of WisdomLength of Solar YearProcession of the EquinoxesMeasured the Length of a DegreeRoundness of the Earth—Size and Circumference

Al-KharizmiAstronomical Tables on Indian WorksGreek and Indian System of AstronomyAdded His Own ObservationsWork Revised in Spain and Translated into Latin by Abelard of Bath (c. 1126) in ToledoNumbers from IndiaTextbook on Algebra (al-Jabr)

IndiaFables to instruct Princes by means of Animal TalesChess

MedicineIbn BakhtishuNestorian Syrian ChristianCured Stomach Problem of Al-MansurA Family Affair for Six GenerationsHospitals Were Modeled on Persian HospitalsSchools of Medicine AttachedEye DiseasesEarliest Book by Hunayn Ibn Isaq

Al-RaziEstablished HospitalPut Out MeatDistinction Between Measles and SmallpoxWrote an Encyclopedia on MedicineTranslated into Latin in 1279Used as a Textbook

Al-MajusiPersian andZorastrianWrote Book on MedicineMaterial on Capillary SystemDelivery of a Child

Ibn Sina (980-1070)AvicennaPhysician, Philologist, Scientist, PoetAl-QanunCodification of the Entire Greco-Arabic Medical ThoughtContagious Nature of TuberculosisSpreading of Disease by Soil and WaterTranslated in Latin by Gerard of Cremona in 12th

Gradually Displaced the Works of Galen, Al Razi and Al MajusiDuring 1400’s Passed Through 15 Latin EditionsIn the East until th 19th Century

Ibn al-KhatibGranadaTheory of Infection

Al Zahrawi CordovaCaherized Wounds, Crushed Stones Inside the Bladder

Latin Translation Used for Centuries as Manuals for Surgery in Slaerno and MontpelierOxford as late as 1778

Al-Tabari (838-923)15 Volumes of History

Al Masudi (d. 956)Traveled Everywhere Wrote Topica History30 VolumesDry Land had been SeasWrote Geographical WorksChinese Used Fingerprints as Signatures

Al-KindiCombine the Views of Plato and AristotlePhysical Optics, Physics, and MusicInfluenced Roger Bacon

Ibn Rushd (Avorroes) 1126-1198 CEGreatest Aristotelian Philosopher of IslamUsing the Works of Aristotle in Baghdad Arabic Translation—Made Work Palatable to His Reading AudienceCommentaries Were Rendered From Hebrew into LatinCordoba and SevilleAstronomer and PhysicianWrote on Principles of Immunity in Cases of SmallpoxExplained the Function of the Retina

Ibn Rushd was a RationalistSubject Knowledge Except Revealed Dogma of Faith to the Judgment of ReasonNot a Free Thinker Nor a NonbelieverNot Hampered by a Centralized Ecclesiastical Authority

Arab Thinkers from Al-Kindi Down Through Ibn Rushd were More Free Than Their Christian Counterparts to Work Toward Harmonizing And Reconciling Traditional Religious Beliefs With The Results of Scientific Research and Rationalistic Thinking.

Maimonides (1135-1165)Jewish Contemporary of Ibn RushdCordobaInvited to Cairo by SaladinCourt PhysicianBuried in TiberiasInfluenced Europeans—Albertus Magnus, Spinoza, and Kant

Islamic LawTook Shape During Early Abbasid PeriodEventually Developed This of Law called the Shari’ahShari’ah Considered to Be God’s Eternal Set of Rules and Governs All Aspects of a Pious Muslim’s LifeShari’ah Covers Everything from Criminal Law to Rules of WorshipIdeal True Law

Adat—Local Custom

Sources of the LawQuaran; Only a few Legal RulesSunnah; Tradition Based On The HadithsQivas; Conclusions by Analogical ReasoningIjma; Whatever the Ulama Agree Emerge InformallyRa’y: Personal Judgment was important to Early Islamic Judges Came to be Rejected by Sunni Scholars

Abbasids Posture as a Truly Islamic Religious State Required the Appointment of Specialist in Religious Law as Judges Which Enabled a Theoretical Body of Law to take on the Characteristic of a Law Code for the First Time.

The Hanafite School of LawIman Abu Hanifa; Born in Iran about 699Opposed the Umayyads; Later Opposed the AbbasidsDied in Prison in 767 CEHalf of the Sunnis Emphasized Analogy and he Principle of Equity which is based on Natural lawMost tolerant of the Legal Schools of IslamOttoman Turks, India, Afghanistan, and Central Asia

The Malikite School of LawMalik Ibn Asnas of Medina (715-795 CE)Codified Some 1700 Legal TraditionsIntroduced the Formula of Consensus for the First TimeMore Conservative Than The Hanafite School All of North Africa except for Egypt

The Shafi’ite School of LawBetween the Conservatives and the LiberalsMuhammad Ibn Idris Al-Shafi’i (767-820 CE)QurayshLived in Baghdad and CairoInfluenced all SchoolsCritical Examination of the HadithIndonesia, Egypt, East Africa, and Lebanon

The Hanbalite School of LawAhmad Ibn Hanbal (780-855 CE)Islamic FundamentalismRejected Consensus, Analogy, Private JudgmentEverything outside the Quran and Some HadithToo Conservative to be PopularRejected the Validity IjmaOpposed to Theological Speculation

Ja’Fari School of LawImami School of Shi’ia; Most ImportantRejects Consensus, Analogy, Private JudgmentHidden Imam is the True Head of StateRules Through His Spokesmen the MujtahidsMujtahids Are The Interpreters of the Will of the ImamThere are Usually Three or Four of these Mujtahids at a TimeConsensus of the Community to Be Learned, Pious, and Qualified to Issue a FatwaFatwa are Binding on the FaithfulShi’ite Twelvers follow This School

The Ismaili School of LawSon of the Sixth ImamOnly One SpokesmanConservative or as Liberal as the LeaderAga Khan (1877-1957)Karim KhanIndia, Iran, East Africa

Zadi School of IslamSon of the Fourth ImamDo Not Believe in the Hidden ImamClose to Sunni BeliefYaman

Until the 10th Religious Scholars Claimed the Right to Exercise Ijtihad—Striving for Truth Which Meant Continuous Rethinking the RulesLearned Muslim Scholars Could Reinterpret a Hadith or a Passage in the Quran or to Apply Analogy in Different Ways