The Islamic Cosmology Vs Standard Model based Modern Cosmology
Are Muslims going back to Science again ?
The Islamic Cosmology Vs Standard Model based Modern Cosmology
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ
ٱلرَّحِيمِِ ◯
The Cherisher and Sustainer of the Worlds ;
(Source: Sūra 1: Fātiha, Ayat: 1, https://quranyusufali.com/1).
The word universe derives from the Old French word univers, which in turn derives from the Latin word universus, meaning 'combined into one'.[The Compact Edition of the Oxford English Dictionary, volume II, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1971, p. 3518. ISBN 978-0198611172.] The Latin word 'universum' was used by Cicero and later Latin authors in many of the same senses as the modern English word is used.[Lewis, C.T. and Short, S (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-864201-6, pp. 1933, 1977–1978.]
The universe is all of space and time[ Source:
According to modern physics, particularly
the theory of relativity, space and time are
intrinsically linked as spacetime.] and their contents,.] including planets, stars, galaxies, and all other forms of matter and energy. The Big Bang theory is the prevailing cosmological description of the development of the
universe. According to this theory, space and time emerged together 13.787±0.020 billion years ago,[ [Sources i) Zeilik, Michael; Gregory, Stephen A.
(1998). Introductory Astronomy & Astrophysics (4th ed.).
Saunders College Publishing. ISBN 978-0-03-006228-5. The totality of all space and time; all that is, has been, and
will be ii) Planck Collaboration; Aghanim, N.;
Akrami, Y.; Ashdown, M.; Aumont, J.; Baccigalupi, C.; Ballardini, M.; Banday,
A. J.; Barreiro, R. B.; Bartolo, N.; Basak, S. (September 2020). "Planck
2018 results: VI. Cosmological parameters". Astronomy
& Astrophysics. 641: A6. arXiv:1807.06209. Bibcode:] and the universe has been expanding ever
since the Big Bang. While the spatial size of the entire universe is unknown,[ Greene, Brian (2011). The
Hidden Reality. Alfred A. Knopf].it
is possible to measure the size of the observable universe,
which is approximately 93 billion light-years in
diameter at the present day.
Some of the earliest cosmological models of the universe were developed by ancient
Greek and Indian philosophers and were geocentric, placing Earth at the center. Over the centuries, more precise astronomical
observations led Nicolaus
Copernicus to
develop the heliocentric
model with
the Sun at the center of the Solar System. In developing the law of universal gravitation, Isaac Newton built upon Copernicus's work as
well as Johannes
Kepler's laws of planetary motion and observations by Tycho Brahe.
Further observational improvements led to the realization
that the Sun is one of a few hundred billion stars in the Milky Way, which is one of a few hundred billion
galaxies in the observable universe. Many of the stars in a galaxy have planets. At the largest scale,
galaxies are distributed uniformly and the same in all directions, meaning that
the universe has neither an edge nor a center. At smaller scales, galaxies are
distributed in clusters and superclusters which form immense filaments and voids in space, creating a vast foam-like
structure. Discoveries in the early 20th century have suggested that the
universe had a beginning and has been expanding since
then.[Sources: i) Carroll, Bradley W.; Ostlie, Dale A. (2013). An Introduction
to Modern Astrophysics (International ed.). Pearson.
pp. 1173–1174. ISBN 978-1-292-02293-2. Archived from the original on December 28,
2019. Retrieved May 16, 2018. ii) Hawking, Stephen (1988). A Brief History
of Time.
Bantam Books. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-553-05340-1.
لَا يَعْزُبُ عَنْهُ مِثْقَالُ ذَرَّةٍ فِي السَّمَاوَاتِ وَلَا فِي الْأَرْضِ وَلَا أَصْغَرُ مِن ذَٰلِكَ وَلَا أَكْبَرُ إِلَّا فِي كِتَابٍ مُّبِينٍ ◯
By Him Who knows the unseen,— From Whom is not hidden The least little atom In the Heavens or on earth : Nor is there anything less Than that, or greater, but Is in the Record Perspicuous : ( Source: (Sūra 34: Sabā, or the City of Sabā, Ayat: 3, Verses 54 — Makki; Revealed at Makka — Sections 6, https://quranyusufali.com/34/)
"Regarding the creation of the world, the followers of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat are supporters of atomism" (Source: Aqeedah of Ahle Sunnat wal Jamaat: Fateh Ali Muhammad Ayatollah Siddiqui Al Quraishi, Neday Islam, Year: 73, Number-6, Muharram-Safar 1435 AH December-2013, Page-40) .
"According to the Holy Qur'an, the Universe was in the beginning a single subtle molecule atomized sphere.-called Dukhan. This is a layered gas-like substance and in which particles of matter—fine molecules—exist sometimes as a solid or sometimes as a liquid due to high or low pressure."
At different stages of the universe, that big structure has been fragmented into a nebula or galaxy and those galaxies are moving in space as a separate world with billions of stars like the sun.
The giant fragments of the original gaseous body fragmented and re-united over time to form a single star like the Sun.
..... Scientists say, at the beginning of the creation of the world there was a 'nebula' which is basically similar to a gaseous comet. The Holy Qur'an also says that the initial stage of the creation of the world was seen as a unit, the statement of the Holy Qur'an about the creation of the world is completely consistent with the facts discovered by modern science."
{Source: Computer and Al-Quran, Pages 59 & 60 : Dr. Khandaker Abdul Mannan, MBBS (Dhaka), Quran-Hadith Research Center (Furfura Durbar Research Institute), Ishaate Islam Qutubkhana, Darus Salam, Mirpur , Dhaka-1216}
"There was nothing before the Universe."
(Fawaye Siddiquin, Vol. 1, Page: 74, Quran Hadith Research Center (Furfura Darbar Research Institute), Published by: Ishaate Islam, Qutbkhana, Markaze Ishaate Islam, 2/2, Darus Salam, Mirpur, Dhaka-1216), Date of Publication: Saban-1420 Hijri, November 1999).
"Allah Ta'ala's kun fa ya kun tajalli is present in all creation" (previous page 38).
"The Skies and the Earth, the A'rsh, the Kurshi, the pen, the trees, the vines, in one word everything that is visible and invisible has been created by Allah Almighty" (previous page 33). "Allah Ta'ala created all things without prior material" (previous p. 162).
(Allah Ta'ala) "Due to a special mushlehat, he first created materials without elements, and introduced the system of creating various objects through those elements"
(source: Fatawaye Siddiquin, vol. 1-4, page 163).
In Bayanul Qur'an, Hazrat Maulana Ashraf Ali Thanvi (RA) said: I think that the materials of the world were created first. In this situation, celestial instruments are built in the form of Dhumrakunj. Then the earth was expanded into its present form and mountains, trees etc. were created in it. Then the material of the celestial liquid Dhumrakunja is transformed into Sapta Akasha. (Holy Qur'anul Kareem: Tafseer Ma'areful Qur'an, page: 119).
Islamic Scientific Golden Age
The Islamic Scientific Golden Age was an era from the 7th to 14th century marked by the expansion of Holy Islam and Arabic culture throughout North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia and Southern Europe, during which there was a great flourishing in the Culture, Commerce, Science and Technology.
Great Umayyad
Mosque of Damascus
Great Prophet of Allah Muhammadur Rasoolullah ﷺ, who is Allah's
last messenger, was also an inspirational and very effective leader. He united
Arabia under his rule by 632. His successors, called caliphs,
continued his project of spreading the religion and conquering more lands, and
by 750, the Islamic Empire under the Umayyad Caliphate extended from Spain and
Morocco to Central Asia.
The caliphs of this period in most cases had the view that an Islamic society should be one in which knowledge and technology progresses and science, philosophy and culture flourish along with and as part of Islam. Aided by generally liberal interpretations of the Holy Quran's verses on People of the Book (non-Muslim monotheists), they welcomed the vibrant participation of Jews, Christians, freethinkers and others as well as Muslims in the society of great cities such as Baghdad and Cairo and produced a civilization that was the most advanced in the world for several hundred years, during a time now called the Dark Ages in Christian Europe.
During Umayyad Caliphate
The Rāshidun Caliphate from AD 632
to 661 came to dominate today's Middle East, and the Umayyad Caliphate conquered
the whole of North Africa, most of Iberia and
parts of the Caucasus and Central Asia,
becoming one of the world's largest empires.
During Abbasid Caliphate
The succeeding Abbasid Caliphate conquered
what is today Sicily and Malta, and ruled much of this
territory from 750 to 1258, becoming a patron of the arts and scholarship, with
increasing inclusion of Christians, Jews and
other non-Muslims.
Islamic kingdoms and the Christian realms of Medieval Europe had
both peaceful trade and cultural exchange and conflicts. Europeans have used
various terms for Islamic peoples, including Saracens for
Muslims from the Arabian Peninsula and Moors for Muslim
Africans, including Berbers and black sub-Saharan Africans.
The Golden Age was disrupted by the Mongol Empire, the
reactions of some Islamic scholars such as Muhammad Al-Ghazali (c. 1058-1111)
against freethinking and reliance on math and science instead of divine will to
explain natural phenomena and the rise of the Almohad Dynasty in Al-Andalus and
the Maghreb.
During
The Ottoman
Empire
The Ottoman Empire, founded right around the turn of the 14th century, conquered most of the Middle East, North Africa and large areas of Southern and Eastern Europe by 1566, and proclaimed itself to be an Islamic caliphate in its own right. The Ottoman Empire collapsed at the end of World War I, and the concept of an Islamic caliphate went dormant until it was revived in the 21st century by an organization called Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant whose concept of Islamic rule is very different from the tolerance that had been commonplace during the Golden Age.
Sharia is the
Islamic legal tradition, which has a legacy from the time before Islam, still
practiced to some degree in Islamic countries. Fiqh is the
theory of Islamic law. Its main sources are the Quran and the Hadiths (records
attributed to or allegedly approved by Muhammad). Already the Abbasid Caliphate
hired professional judges, Qadi.
Balkans and Asia Minor
·
Larnaca,
or rather the bank of the local salt lake west of the town in Cyprus, is the
site of Hala Sultan Tekke, an Ottoman-built shrine at the cemetery of Umm
Haram, Muhammad's wet nurse, who died here during a siege in the 7th century.
Some denominations consider this to be one of the holiest Islamic sites.
· Tetovo, North Macedonia, is the site of the "Painted Mosque" (Šarena Džamija), a rather small Ottoman-era mosque that is atypically decorated with extremely bright and colorful paintings.
North Africa
·
Cairo. A
crucial destination in this context, contains many dozens of religious and
secular buildings from this period, most notably the Al-Azhar University, an
institution of Islamic learning founded in the 970s and one of the world's
oldest universities, standing proudly next to the Khan el-Kalili bazaar,
another must-see.
·
Fez. is
home to the University of al-Qarawiyyin, founded in 859 as a mosque and
functioning until 1963 as a madrasa - an institution of Islamic learning - with
a distinguished history and reputation.
Central Asia
Al-Andalus
Córdoba. Former
capital of Al-Andalus, contains several important relics of that time,
especially La Mezquita de Córdoba, a beautiful, large mosque built on the site
of a Visigothic church and subsequently converted into a church after the
reconquista of Spain.
Granada. the
site of the splendid Alhambra fortress/palace complex and other relics of its Moorish
past, and it also has a mosque in Moorish style that was built in 2003 to serve
a new Muslim community.
Toledo. a
former Roman fortress city, perched atop a dramatic bend of the Tagus River,
was a Visigothic royal seat as well, and features Spain's most important
cathedral, in Gothic style.
Sevilla. The site where the Catedral de Sevilla now stands was once the site of the city's main mosque under Muslim rule. While the mosque was demolished in the 14th century to build the cathedral, its minaret still survives. Many of the palaces in the city also show strong influences from Arab architecture.
Source: https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Agehttps://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age
The Islamic Golden Age was a period of
scientific, economic and cultural flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from
the 8th century to the 13th century.[
Sources:
i) Saliba, George (1994). A History of Arabic
Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam. New
York University Press. pp. 245, 250, 256–257. ISBN 0-8147-8023-7.
ii)King, David A. (1983). "The Astronomy of the
Mamluks". Isis. 74 (4): 531–55. doi:10.1086/353360. S2CID 144315162.
iii)Hassan, Ahmad Y
(1996). "Factors Behind the Decline of
Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century". In Sharifah Shifa Al-Attas
(ed.). Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, Proceedings of the Inaugural
Symposium on Islam and the Challenge of Modernity: Historical and Contemporary
Contexts, Kuala Lumpur, 1–5 August 1994. International Institute of Islamic
Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). pp. 351–99. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
This period is traditionally understood to have begun
during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786
to 809) with the inauguration of the Baitul Hikmah (House of Wisdom),
which saw scholars from all over the Muslim world flock
to Baghdad, the
world's largest city by then, to translate the known world's classical
knowledge into Arabic and Persian.[Source:
Gutas,
Dimitri (1998). Greek Thought, Arabic
Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbāsid
Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries). London: Routledge)
The period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse
of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and
the Siege of Baghdad in
1258.[Source:Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural
Politics. Taylor & Francis. 1 March 2011. p. 9. ISBN 978-1-136-95960-8. Retrieved 26
August 2012).
There
are a few alternative timelines. Some scholars extend the end date of the
golden age to around 1350, including the Timurid Renaissance within it,[Sources:i) "Science and technology in Medieval
Islam" (PDF). History of Science Museum. Retrieved 31
October 2019.
ii) Ruggiero, Guido (15 April 2008). A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance, Guido Ruggiero. ISBN 978-0-470-75161-9. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016. while others place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries.
Regarding the end of the Golden Era, Mohamad Abdalla
argues the dominant approach by scholars is the "decline theory.":
The golden age is considered to have come into existence through a gigantic endeavor to acquire and translate the ancient sciences of the Greeks between the eighth and ninth centuries. The translations era was followed by two centuries of splendid original thinking and contributions, and is known as the "golden age" of Islamic science. The said "golden age" is supposed to have lasted from the end of the ninth to the end of the eleventh century. The era after this period is conventionally known as the "age of decline". A survey of literature from the nineteenth century onwards demonstrates that the decline theory has become the preferred paradigm in general academia.[Mohamad Abdalla, "Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after the 11th Century", Islam & Science 5.1 (2007). online
Religious influence
The various Quranic injunctions and Hadith (or actions of Muhammad ﷺ), which place values on education and emphasize the importance of acquiring knowledge, played a vital role in influencing the Muslims of this age in their search for knowledge and the development of the body of science.[
Salam, Abdus (1994). Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries. p. 9. ISBN 978-9971-5-0946-0]
Government sponsorship
The Islamic Empire heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to about twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom's Medical Research Council. The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today.["In Our Time – Al-Kindi, James Montgomery". BBC. 28 June 2012. Archived from the original on 14 January 2014. Retrieved 18 May 2013.] The House of Wisdom was a library established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq by Caliph al-Mansur in 825 modeled after the academy of Jundishapur.
During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost were translated from Greek, Syriac, Middle Persian, and Sanskrit into Syriac and Arabic, some of which were later in turn translated into other languages like Hebrew and Latin.]
New technology
With a new and easier writing system, and the introduction of paper, information was democratized to the extent that, for probably the first time in history, it became possible to make a living from only writing and selling books. The use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the eighth century through mass production in Samarkand and Khorasan, arriving in Al-Andalus on the Iberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture than parchment, less likely to crack than papyrus, and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase and ideal for keeping records. Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries. It was from these countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen.[Sources:
Kevin M. Dunn, Caveman chemistry : 28 projects, from the creation of fire to the production of plastics. Universal-Publishers. 2003. p. 166. ISBN 978-1-58112-566-5. Retrieved 11 April 2014.]
Education
The
centrality of scripture and its study in the Islamic tradition helped to make
education a central pillar of the religion in virtually all times and places in
the history of Islam. The importance of learning in the Islamic tradition
is reflected in a number of hadiths attributed to Muhammad, including one that
states "Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim".] This injunction was seen to
apply particularly to scholars, but also to some extent to the wider Muslim
public, as exemplified by the dictum of al-Zarnuji,
"learning is prescribed for us all".[Source: Jonathan Berkey (2004). "Education". In
Richard C. Martin (ed.). Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. MacMillan
Reference USA.] While it is impossible to
calculate literacy rates in pre-modern Islamic societies, it is almost certain
that they were relatively high, at least in comparison to their European
counterparts.
Education
would begin at a young age with study of Arabic and the Quran, either at home or in a
primary school, which was often attached to a mosque. Some students would
then proceed to training in tafsir (Quranic exegesis)
and fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence),
which was seen as particularly important. Education focused on
memorization, but also trained the more advanced students to participate as
readers and writers in the tradition of commentary on the studied
texts. It also involved a process of socialization of aspiring
scholars, who came from virtually all social backgrounds, into the ranks of
the ulema.[Sources: i)
[Source: Jonathan Berkey (2004). "Education". In Richard C. Martin
(ed.). Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. MacMillan Reference USA.ii)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age]
Madrasa Level Islamic Education
For the
first few centuries of Islam, educational settings were entirely informal, but
beginning in the 11th and 12th centuries, the ruling elites began to establish
institutions of higher religious learning known as madrasas in
an effort to secure support and cooperation of the ulema.[49] Madrasas soon multiplied
throughout the Islamic world, which helped to spread Islamic learning beyond
urban centers and to unite diverse Islamic communities in a shared cultural
project.[49] Nonetheless, instruction
remained focused on individual relationships between students and their
teacher.[49] The formal attestation of
educational attainment, ijaza, was
granted by a particular scholar rather than the institution, and it placed its
holder within a genealogy of scholars, which was the only recognized hierarchy
in the educational system.[ [Sources:
i) [Source: Jonathan Berkey (2004). "Education". In Richard C. Martin
(ed.). Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World. MacMillan Reference USA.ii)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age] While
formal studies in madrasas were open only to men, women of prominent urban
families were commonly educated in private settings and many of them received
and later issued ijazas in hadith studies, calligraphy and
poetry recitation.[50][51] Working women learned
religious texts and practical skills primarily from each other, though they
also received some instruction together with men in mosques and private homes.[Sources: i) Lapidus, Ira M. (2014). A History of Islamic
Societies. Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition). p. 210. ISBN
978-0-521-51430-9.ii) Berkey, Jonathan Porter (2003). The Formation of Islam:
Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800. Cambridge University Press. p.
227.]
Madrasas
were devoted principally to study of law, but they also offered other subjects
such as theology, medicine, and mathematics. The madrasa complex usually
consisted of a mosque, boarding house, and a library.[52] It was maintained by a waqf (charitable endowment),
which paid salaries of professors, stipends of students, and defrayed the costs
of construction and maintenance. The madrasa was unlike a
modern college in that it lacked a standardized curriculum or institutionalized
system of certification.[Sources: i) Lapidus, Ira M. (2014). A History
of Islamic Societies. Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition). p. 217. ISBN
978-0-521-51430-9. ii) Hallaq, Wael B. (2009). An Introduction to Islamic Law.
Cambridge University Press. p. 50.)
House of Wisdom (Baitul Hikmah) in Baghdad, iRAQ
Muslims distinguished disciplines inherited from pre-Islamic civilizations, such as philosophy and medicine, which they called "sciences of the ancients" or "rational sciences", from Islamic religious sciences.[49] Sciences of the former type flourished for several centuries, and their transmission formed part of the educational framework in classical and medieval Islam.[49] In some cases, they were supported by institutions such as the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, but more often they were transmitted informally from teacher to student.[49]
The University of Al Karaouine
The University of Al Karaouine, founded in 859 AD, is listed in The Guinness Book Of Records as the world's oldest degree-granting university.[54] The Al-Azhar University was another early madrasa now recognized as a university. The madrasa is one of the relics of the Fatimid caliphate. The Fatimids traced their descent to Muhammad's daughter Fatimah and named the institution using a variant of her honorific title Al-Zahra (the brilliant).[55] Organized instruction in the Al-Azhar Mosque began in 978.[56]
Mathematics
Algebra
Geometric patterns: an archway in the
Sultan's lodge in the Ottoman Green Mosque in Bursa, Turkey (1424),
its girih strapwork
forming 10-point stars and pentagons
Persian mathematician Muḥammad ibn
Mūsā al-Khwārizmī played a
significant role in the development of algebra, arithmetic and Hindu-Arabic numerals. He has been described as the father[69][70] or
founder[71][72] of algebra.
Another Persian mathematician, Omar Khayyam, is
credited with identifying the foundations of Analytic geometry.
Omar Khayyam found the general geometric solution of the cubic equation.
His book Treatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra (1070),
which laid down the principles of algebra, is part of the body of Persian
mathematics that was eventually transmitted to Europe.[73]
Yet another Persian mathematician, Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, found algebraic and numerical solutions to various
cases of cubic equations.[74] He
also developed the concept of a function.[75]
Geometry
Further information: Islamic geometric patterns
Islamic art makes use of geometric
patterns and symmetries in many of
its art forms, notably in girih tilings.
These are formed using a set of five tile shapes, namely a regular decagon, an
elongated hexagon, a bow tie, a rhombus, and a
regular pentagon. All the sides of these tiles have the same length; and
all their angles are multiples of 36° (π/5 radians), offering
fivefold and tenfold symmetries. The tiles are decorated with strapwork lines
(girih), generally more visible than the tile boundaries. In 2007, the
physicists Peter Lu and Paul Steinhardt argued
that girih from the 15th century resembled quasicrystalline Penrose tilings.[76][77][78][79] Elaborate
geometric zellige tilework is a distinctive element in Moroccan architecture.[80] Muqarnas vaults
are three-dimensional but were designed in two dimensions with drawings of
geometrical cells.[81]
Jamshīd al-Kāshī's estimate of pi would not be surpassed for 180 years.[82]
Trigonometry
Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī is one of the several Islamic mathematicians on
whom the law of sines is attributed; he wrote "The Book of
Unknown Arcs of a Sphere" in the 11th century. This formula relates
the lengths of the sides of any triangle, rather than only right triangles,
to the sines of its angles.[83] According
to the law,
where a, b,
and c are the lengths of the sides
of a triangle, and A, B,
and C are the opposite angles (see
figure).
Calculus
Alhazen discovered
the sum formula for the fourth power, using a method that could be generally
used to determine the sum for any integral power. He used this to find the
volume of a paraboloid. He could find the integral formula for any polynomial
without having developed a general formula.[84]
Natural sciences in the medieval Islamic
world
Scientific method
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
was a significant figure in the history of scientific
method, particularly in his approach to
experimentation,[85][86][87][88] and has
been described as the "world's first true scientist".[89]
Avicenna made rules for testing the effectiveness of
drugs, including that the effect produced by the experimental drug should be
seen constantly or after many repetitions, to be counted.[90][better source needed] The physician Rhazes was an early
proponent of experimental medicine and recommended using control for clinical
research. He said: "If you want to study the effect of bloodletting on a
condition, divide the patients into two groups, perform bloodletting only on
one group, watch both, and compare the results."[91]
Astronomy: in the
medieval Islamic world
Astronomy in Islam was able to grow greatly because of several key factors. One factor was geographically. The Islamic world was close to the ancient lands of the Greeks, which held valuable ancient knowledge of the heavens in Greek manuscripts.[92] During the new Abbasid Dynasty after the movement of the capital in 762 AD to Baghdad, translators were sponsored to translate Greek texts into Arabic.[92] This translation period led to many major scientific works from Galen, Ptolemy, Aristotle, Euclid, Archimedes, and Apollonius being translated into Arabic.[92] From these translations previously lost knowledge of the cosmos was now being used to advance current astrological thinkers. The second key factor of astronomies growth was the religious observances followed by Muslims which expected them to pray at exact times during the day.[92] These observances in timekeeping led to many questions in previous Greek mathematical astronomy, especially their timekeeping.[92]
Astrolabe with
Quranic inscriptions from Iran, dated 1060 AH (1650-51 AD)
The Astrolabe was
a Greek invention which was an important piece of Arabic astronomy. An
Astrolabe is a handheld two-dimensional model of the sky which can solve
problems of spherical astronomy.[92] It
is made up of lines of altitude and azimuth with
an index, horizon, hour circle, zenith, Rete, star
pointer, and equator to accurately show where the stars are at that given
moment.[92] Use
of the astrolabe is best expressed in Al-Farghani's
treatise on the astrolabe due to the mathematical way he applied the instrument
to astrology, astronomy, and timekeeping.[92] The
earliest known Astrolabe in existence today comes from the Islamic period. It
was made by Nastulus in 927-28 AD and is now a treasure of the Kuwait National
Museum.[92]
In about 964 AD, the Persian astronomer Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi, writing in his Book of Fixed Stars, described a "nebulous spot" in the Andromeda
constellation, the first definitive
reference to what is now known to be the Andromeda Galaxy,
the nearest spiral
galaxy to the Milky Way.
Ibn al-Haytham: a
leader of physics
One of the first
to criticize this model was Ibn al-Haytham, a
leader of physics in the 11th century in Cairo. Then in the 13th century Nasir al-Din al-Tusi constructed the Maragha Observatory in what is today Iran.[92] Al-Tusi
found the equant dissatisfying and replaced it by adding a geometrical
technique called a Tusi-couple, which
generates linear motion from the sum of two circular motions. Then, Ibn al-Shatir who
was working in Damascus in 1350 AD employed the Tusi-couple to successfully
eliminate the equant as well as other objectionable circles that Ptolemy had
used.[93] This
new model properly aligned the celestial spheres and was mathematically sound.[92] This
development by Ibn al-Shatir, as well as the Maragha astronomers remained
relatively unknown in medieval Europe.[92]
The Tusi couple was later employed in Ibn al-Shatir's geocentric model and Nicolaus Copernicus' heliocentric model although it is not known who the intermediary is or
if Copernicus rediscovered the technique independently. The names for some of
the stars used, including Betelgeuse, Rigel, Vega, Aldebaran,
and Fomalhaut are several of the names that come directly from
Arabic origins or are the translations of Ptolemy's Greek descriptions which
are still in use today.[92]
Physics:
in the medieval Islamic world
Alhazen played
a role in the development of optics. One of the
prevailing theories of vision in his time and place was the emission theory supported by Euclid and
Ptolemy, where sight worked by the eye emitting rays of light, and the other
was the Aristotelean theory that sight worked when the essence of objects flows
into the eyes. Alhazen correctly argued that vision occurred when light,
traveling in straight lines, reflects off an object into the eyes. Al-Biruni wrote
of his insights into light, stating that its velocity must be immense when
compared to the speed of sound.[94]
Chemistry:( Alchemy)
in the medieval Islamic world
The early Islamic period saw the establishment of some of
the longest lived theoretical frameworks in alchemy and chemistry.
The sulfur-mercury
theory of metals, first attested in
pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khalīqa ("The
Secret of Creation", c. 750–850) and in the Arabic writings attributed
to Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (written c. 850–950),[95] would
remain the basis of all theories of metallic composition until the eighteenth
century.[96] Likewise,
the Emerald Tablet, a compact and cryptic text that all later alchemists up
to and including Isaac Newton (1642–1727)
would regard as the foundation of their art, first occurs in the Sirr
al-khalīqa and in one of the works attributed to Jābir.[97]
Substantial advances were also made in practical chemistry.
The works attributed to Jābir, and those of the Persian alchemist and
physician Abū Bakr al-Rāzī (c. 865–925), contain the earliest known systematic
classifications of chemical substances.[98] However,
alchemists were not only interested in identifying and classifying chemical
substances, but also in artificially creating them.[99] Significant
examples from the medieval Islamic world include the synthesis of ammonium chloride from organic substances as
described in the works attributed to Jābir,[100] and
Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's experiments with vitriol, which
would eventually lead to the discovery of mineral acids like sulfuric acid and nitric acid by
thirteenth century Latin alchemists such as pseudo-Geber.[98]
Geodesy: Geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world
Al-Biruni (973–1048) estimated the radius of the earth as
6339.6 km (modern value is c. 6,371 km), the best estimate at that
time.[101]
Biology: Medicine
in the medieval Islamic world
In the cardiovascular system, Ibn al-Nafis in
his Commentary
on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon was
the first known scholar to contradict the contention of the Galen School that blood could pass between the ventricles
in the heart through the cardiac inter-ventricular septum that separates them,
saying that there is no passage between the ventricles at this point.[102] Instead,
he correctly argued that all the blood that reached the left ventricle did so
after passing through the lung.[102] He also
stated that there must be small communications, or pores, between the pulmonary artery and pulmonary vein, a
prediction that preceded the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries of Marcello Malpighi by
400 years. The Commentary was rediscovered in the twentieth
century in the Prussian State Library in Berlin; whether its view of the pulmonary circulation influenced scientists such as Michael Servetus is
unclear.[102]
In the nervous system, Rhazes
stated that nerves had motor or sensory functions,
describing 7 cranial and 31 spinal cord nerves. He
assigned a numerical order to the cranial nerves from the optic to the hypoglossal nerves. He
classified the spinal nerves into 8 cervical, 12 thoracic, 5 lumbar, 3 sacral, and 3 coccygeal
nerves. He used this to link clinical signs of injury to the corresponding
location of lesions in the nervous system.[103]
Modern commentators have likened medieval accounts of the
"struggle for existence" in the animal kingdom to the framework of
the theory of evolution. Thus, in his survey of the history of the ideas which
led to the theory of natural selection, Conway Zirkle noted
that al-Jahiz was one of those who discussed a "struggle for
existence", in his Kitāb al-Hayawān (Book of Animals), written in the 9th century.[104] In the
13th century, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi believed that humans were derived from advanced
animals, saying, "Such humans [probably anthropoid apes][105] live in the Western Sudan and other
distant corners of the world. They are close to animals by their habits, deeds
and behavior."[105] In
1377, Ibn Khaldun in his Muqaddimah stated,
"The animal kingdom was developed, its species multiplied, and in the
gradual process of Creation, it ended in man and arising from the world of the
monkeys."[106]
Engineering
The Banū Mūsā brothers,
in their 9th century Book of Ingenious Devices, describe an automatic flute player which may have been the first programmable machine.[107] The
flute sounds were produced through hot steam and the user
could adjust the device to various patterns so that they could get various
sounds from it.[108] The
brothers contributed to the House of Wisdom, a
research body which was established by the Abbasid Caliphate.
The 12th century scholar-inventor Ismail al-Jazari, in his
writings describes of numerous mechanical devices, ideas on automation and
construction methods, most notable among them being the Elephant clock.[109] While
late in the 16th century, the Ottoman-era Taqi
ad-Din Muhammad wrote on a
mechanism that worked with the application of steam energy. He describes a
self-rotating spit which was rotated by the direction of steam into the
mechanism's vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of an axle,[110] this technology being an important
part of the development of the steam turbine.[111]
Healthcare
Mansuri Hospital
in Cairo
Entrance to the Qalawun complex which housed the
notable Mansuri hospital in Cairo
The earliest known Islamic hospital was built in 805 in
Baghdad by order of Harun Al-Rashid, and the most important of Baghdad's
hospitals was established in 982 by the Buyid ruler 'Adud al-Dawla.[114] The
best documented early Islamic hospitals are the great Syro-Egyptian
establishments of the 12th and 13th centuries.[114] By
the tenth century, Baghdad had five more hospitals, while Damascus had
six hospitals by the 15th century and Córdoba alone had 50 major hospitals, many exclusively for
the military.[115]
The typical hospital was divided into departments such as
systemic diseases, surgery, and orthopedics, with larger hospitals having more
diverse specialties. "Systemic diseases" was the rough equivalent of
today's internal medicine and was further divided into sections such as
fever, infections and digestive issues. Every department had an
officer-in-charge, a presiding officer and a supervising specialist. The
hospitals also had lecture theaters and libraries. Hospitals staff included
sanitary inspectors, who regulated cleanliness, and accountants and other
administrative staff.[115] The
hospitals were typically run by a three-man board comprising a non-medical administrator,
the chief pharmacist, called the shaykh saydalani, who was equal in rank to the
chief physician, who served as mutwalli (dean).[90] Medical
facilities traditionally closed each night, but by the 10th century laws were
passed to keep hospitals open 24 hours a day.[116]
Baghdad was also known to have a separate hospital for
convicts since the early 10th century after the vizier ‘Ali ibn Isa ibn Jarah
ibn Thabit wrote to Baghdad's chief medical officer that "prisons must
have their own doctors who should examine them every day". The first
hospital built in Egypt, in Cairo's Southwestern quarter, was the first
documented facility to care for mental illnesses. In Aleppo's Arghun
Hospital, care for mental illness included abundant light, fresh air, running
water and music.[115][better source needed]
Medical students would accompany physicians and
participate in patient care. Hospitals in this era were the first to require
medical diplomas to license doctors.[117] The
licensing test was administered by the region's government appointed chief
medical officer. The test had two steps; the first was to write a treatise, on
the subject the candidate wished to obtain a certificate, of original research
or commentary of existing texts, which they were encouraged to scrutinize for
errors. The second step was to answer questions in an interview with the chief
medical officer. Physicians worked fixed hours and medical staff salaries were
fixed by law. For regulating the quality of care and arbitrating cases, it is
related that if a patient dies, their family presents the doctor's
prescriptions to the chief physician who would judge if the death was natural
or if it was by negligence, in which case the family would be entitled to
compensation from the doctor. The hospitals had male and female quarters while
some hospitals only saw men and other hospitals, staffed by women physicians,
only saw women.[115] While
women physicians practiced medicine, many largely focused on obstetrics.[118][better source needed]
Hospitals were forbidden by law to turn away patients who
were unable to pay.[116] Eventually, charitable
foundations called waqfs were formed to support hospitals, as well as
schools.[116] Part
of the state budget also went towards maintaining hospitals.[115] While
the services of the hospital were free for all citizens[116] and patients were sometimes
given a small stipend to support recovery upon discharge, individual physicians
occasionally charged fees.[115] In
a notable endowment, a 13th-century governor of Egypt Al-Mansur Qalawun ordained
a foundation for the Qalawun hospital that
would contain a mosque and a chapel, separate wards for different diseases, a
library for doctors and a pharmacy[119] and
the hospital is used today for ophthalmology.[115] The
Qalawun hospital was based in a former Fatimid palace which had accommodation for
8,000 people – [120] "it
served 4,000 patients daily."[citation
needed] The waqf stated,
... The hospital shall keep all
patients, men and women, until they are completely recovered. All costs are to
be borne by the hospital whether the people come from afar or near, whether
they are residents or foreigners, strong or weak, low or high, rich or poor,
employed or unemployed, blind or sighted, physically or mentally ill, learned
or illiterate. There are no conditions of consideration and payment, none is
objected to or even indirectly hinted at for non-payment.[119]
Pharmacies
Arabic scholars used their natural and cultural resources
to contribute to the strong development of pharmacology. They believed that God
had provided the means for a cure for every disease. However, there was
confusion about the nature of some ancient plants that existed during this
time.[121]
A prominent figure that was influential in the
development of pharmacy used the name Yūhannā ibn Māsawaiyh (circa
777-857). He was referred to as "The Divine Mesue" and "The
Prince of Medicine" by European scholars. Māsawaiyh led the first private
medical school in Baghdad and wrote three major pharmaceutical treatises.[122] These
treatises consisted of works over compound medicines, humors, and
pharmaceutical recipes that provided instructions on how they were to be
prepared. In the Latin West, these works were typically published together
under the title "Opera Medicinalia" and were broken up into "De
simplicubus", "Grabadin", and "Canones universales".
Although Māsawaiyh's influence was so significant that his writings became
the most dominant source of pharmaceutical writings,[122] his exact identity remains
unclear.[122]
In the past, all substances that were to be introduced
into, on or near the human body were labeled as medicine, ranging from drugs,
food, beverages, even perfumes to cosmetics.[citation
needed] The earliest distinction between medicine and
pharmacy as disciplines began in the seventh century, when pharmacists and
apothecaries appeared in the first hospitals. Demand for drugs increased as the
population increased. By the ninth century where pharmacy was established as an
independent and well-defined profession by Muslim scholars. It is said by many
historians that the opening of the first private pharmacy in the eighth century
marks the independence of pharmacy from medicine.[121]
The emergence of medicine and pharmacy within the Islamic
caliphate by the ninth century occurred at the same time as rapid expansion of
many scientific institutions, libraries, schools, hospitals and then pharmacies
in many Muslim cities.[citation
needed] The rise of alchemy during
the ninth century also played a vital role for early pharmacological
development. While Arab pharmacists were not successful in converting
non-precious metals into precious metals, their works giving details of
techniques and lab equipment were major contributors to the development of
pharmacy. Chemical techniques such as distillation, condensation, evaporation
and pulverization were often used.[citation needed]
The Qur'an provided the basis for the development of
professional ethics where the rise of ritual washing also influenced the
importance of hygiene in pharmacology. Pharmacies were periodically visited by
government inspectors called muhtasib, who
checked to see that the medicines were mixed properly, not diluted and kept in
clean jars. Work done by the muhtasib was
carefully outlined in manuals that explained ways of examining and recognizing
falsified drugs, foods and spices. It was forbidden for pharmacists to perform
medical treatment without the presence of a physician, while physicians were
limited to the preparation and handling of medications. It was feared that
recipes would fall into the hands of someone without the proper pharmaceutical
training.[citation needed] Licenses
were required to run private practices. Violators were fined or beaten.
Medicine: Medicine in the medieval Islamic world
The theory of Humorism was
largely dominant during this time. Arab physician Ibn Zuhr provided
proof that scabies is caused by the itch mite and
that it can be cured by removing the parasite without the need for purging,
bleeding or other treatments called for by humorism, making a break with the
humorism of Galen and Avicenna.[118] Rhazes differentiated
through careful observation the two diseases smallpox and measles, which
were previously lumped together as a single disease that caused rashes.[123] This
was based on location and the time of the appearance of the symptoms and he
also scaled the degree of severity and prognosis of infections according to the
color and location of rashes.[124] Al-Zahrawi was
the first physician to describe an ectopic pregnancy,
and the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of haemophilia.[125]
On hygienic practices,
Rhazes, who was once asked to choose the site for a new hospital in Baghdad,
suspended pieces of meat at various points around the city, and recommended
building the hospital at the location where the meat putrefied the slowest.[91]
Al-Razi is sometimes called the "Father of
pediatrics" for writing the monograph, The Diseases of Children treating
paediatrics as an independent field of medicine.[126]
For Islamic scholars,
Indian and Greek physicians and medical researchers Sushruta, Galen, Mankah, Atreya, Hippocrates, Charaka, and Agnivesha were
pre-eminent authorities.[127] In
order to make the Indian and Greek tradition more accessible, understandable,
and teachable, Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast
Indian and Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and
summaries. Sometimes, past scholars were criticized, like Rhazes who criticized
and refuted Galen's revered theories, most notably, the Theory of Humors and
was thus accused of ignorance.[91] It
was through 12th-century Arabic
translations that medieval Europe
rediscovered Hellenic medicine, including the works of Galen and Hippocrates, and
discovered ancient Indian medicine, including the works of Sushruta and Charaka.[128][129] Works
such as Avicenna's The Canon of
Medicine were translated into
Latin and disseminated throughout Europe. During the 15th and 16th centuries
alone, The Canon of Medicine was published more than
thirty-five times. It was used as a standard medical textbook through the 18th
century in Europe.[130]
Baghdad was also known to have a separate hospital for
convicts since the early 10th century after the vizier ‘Ali ibn Isa ibn Jarah
ibn Thabit wrote to Baghdad's chief medical officer that "prisons must
have their own doctors who should examine them every day". The first
hospital built in Egypt, in Cairo's Southwestern quarter, was the first
documented facility to care for mental illnesses. In Aleppo's Arghun
Hospital, care for mental illness included abundant light, fresh air, running
water and music.[115][
Medical students would accompany physicians and
participate in patient care. Hospitals in this era were the first to require
medical diplomas to license doctors.[117] The
licensing test was administered by the region's government appointed chief
medical officer. The test had two steps; the first was to write a treatise, on
the subject the candidate wished to obtain a certificate, of original research
or commentary of existing texts, which they were encouraged to scrutinize for
errors. The second step was to answer questions in an interview with the chief
medical officer. Physicians worked fixed hours and medical staff salaries were
fixed by law. For regulating the quality of care and arbitrating cases, it is
related that if a patient dies, their family presents the doctor's
prescriptions to the chief physician who would judge if the death was natural
or if it was by negligence, in which case the family would be entitled to
compensation from the doctor. The hospitals had male and female quarters while
some hospitals only saw men and other hospitals, staffed by women physicians,
only saw women.[115] While
women physicians practiced medicine, many largely focused on obstetrics.[118][better source needed]
Hospitals were forbidden by law to turn away patients who were unable to pay.[116] Eventually, charitable foundations called waqfs were formed to support hospitals, as well as schools.[116] Part of the state budget also went towards maintaining hospitals.[115] While the services of the hospital were free for all citizens[116] and patients were sometimes given a small stipend to support recovery upon discharge, individual physicians occasionally charged fees.[115] In a notable endowment, a 13th-century governor of Egypt Al-Mansur Qalawun ordained a foundation for the Qalawun hospital that would contain a mosque and a chapel, separate wards for different diseases, a library for doctors and a pharmacy[119] and the hospital is used today for ophthalmology.[115] The Qalawun hospital was based in a former Fatimid palace which had accommodation for 8,000 people – [120] "it served 4,000 patients daily.
... The hospital shall keep all
patients, men and women, until they are completely recovered. All costs are to
be borne by the hospital whether the people come from afar or near, whether
they are residents or foreigners, strong or weak, low or high, rich or poor,
employed or unemployed, blind or sighted, physically or mentally ill, learned
or illiterate. There are no conditions of consideration and payment, none is
objected to or even indirectly hinted at for non-payment.[119]
Pharmacies
Arabic scholars used their natural and cultural resources
to contribute to the strong development of pharmacology. They believed that God
had provided the means for a cure for every disease. However, there was
confusion about the nature of some ancient plants that existed during this
time.[121]
A prominent figure that was influential in the
development of pharmacy used the name Yūhannā ibn Māsawaiyh (circa
777-857). He was referred to as "The Divine Mesue" and "The
Prince of Medicine" by European scholars. Māsawaiyh led the first private
medical school in Baghdad and wrote three major pharmaceutical treatises.[122] These
treatises consisted of works over compound medicines, humors, and
pharmaceutical recipes that provided instructions on how they were to be
prepared. In the Latin West, these works were typically published together
under the title "Opera Medicinalia" and were broken up into "De
simplicubus", "Grabadin", and "Canones universales".
Although Māsawaiyh's influence was so significant that his writings became
the most dominant source of pharmaceutical writings,[122] his exact identity remains
unclear.[122]
In the past, all substances that were to be introduced
into, on or near the human body were labeled as medicine, ranging from drugs,
food, beverages, even perfumes to cosmetics.[citation
needed] The earliest distinction between medicine and
pharmacy as disciplines began in the seventh century, when pharmacists and
apothecaries appeared in the first hospitals. Demand for drugs increased as the
population increased. By the ninth century where pharmacy was established as an
independent and well-defined profession by Muslim scholars. It is said by many
historians that the opening of the first private pharmacy in the eighth century
marks the independence of pharmacy from medicine.[121]
The emergence of medicine and pharmacy within the Islamic
caliphate by the ninth century occurred at the same time as rapid expansion of
many scientific institutions, libraries, schools, hospitals and then pharmacies
in many Muslim cities.[citation
needed] The rise of alchemy during
the ninth century also played a vital role for early pharmacological
development. While Arab pharmacists were not successful in converting
non-precious metals into precious metals, their works giving details of
techniques and lab equipment were major contributors to the development of
pharmacy. Chemical techniques such as distillation, condensation, evaporation
and pulverization were often used.[citation needed]
The Qur'an provided the basis for the development of
professional ethics where the rise of ritual washing also influenced the
importance of hygiene in pharmacology. Pharmacies were periodically visited by
government inspectors called muhtasib, who
checked to see that the medicines were mixed properly, not diluted and kept in
clean jars. Work done by the muhtasib was
carefully outlined in manuals that explained ways of examining and recognizing
falsified drugs, foods and spices. It was forbidden for pharmacists to perform
medical treatment without the presence of a physician, while physicians were
limited to the preparation and handling of medications. It was feared that
recipes would fall into the hands of someone without the proper pharmaceutical
training.[citation needed] Licenses
were required to run private practices. Violators were fined or beaten.
Medicine: Medicine in the medieval Islamic world
The theory of Humorism was
largely dominant during this time. Arab physician Ibn Zuhr provided
proof that scabies is caused by the itch mite and
that it can be cured by removing the parasite without the need for purging,
bleeding or other treatments called for by humorism, making a break with the
humorism of Galen and Avicenna.[118] Rhazes differentiated
through careful observation the two diseases smallpox and measles, which
were previously lumped together as a single disease that caused rashes.[123] This
was based on location and the time of the appearance of the symptoms and he
also scaled the degree of severity and prognosis of infections according to the
color and location of rashes.[124] Al-Zahrawi was
the first physician to describe an ectopic pregnancy,
and the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of haemophilia.[125]
On hygienic practices,
Rhazes, who was once asked to choose the site for a new hospital in Baghdad,
suspended pieces of meat at various points around the city, and recommended
building the hospital at the location where the meat putrefied the slowest.[91]
Al-Razi is sometimes called the "Father of
pediatrics" for writing the monograph, The Diseases of Children treating
paediatrics as an independent field of medicine.[126]
For Islamic scholars,
Indian and Greek physicians and medical researchers Sushruta, Galen, Mankah, Atreya, Hippocrates, Charaka, and Agnivesha were
pre-eminent authorities.[127] In
order to make the Indian and Greek tradition more accessible, understandable,
and teachable, Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast
Indian and Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and
summaries. Sometimes, past scholars were criticized, like Rhazes who criticized
and refuted Galen's revered theories, most notably, the Theory of Humors and
was thus accused of ignorance.[91] It
was through 12th-century Arabic
translations that medieval Europe
rediscovered Hellenic medicine, including the works of Galen and Hippocrates, and
discovered ancient Indian medicine, including the works of Sushruta and Charaka.[128][129] Works
such as Avicenna's The Canon of
Medicine were translated into
Latin and disseminated throughout Europe. During the 15th and 16th centuries
alone, The Canon of Medicine was published more than
thirty-five times. It was used as a standard medical textbook through the 18th
century in Europe.[130]
S urgery
Al-Zahrawi was
a tenth century Arab physician. He is sometimes referred to as the
"Father of surgery".[131] He
describes what is thought to be the first attempt at reduction mammaplasty for
the management of gynaecomastia[131] and
the first mastectomy to treat breast cancer.[118] He
is credited with the performance of the first thyroidectomy.[132] He
wrote three textbooks on surgery, including Manual of Medial
Practitioners which contains a catalog of 278 instruments used in
surgery [133]
In the thirteenth century, Ibn al-Quff was
a physician and surgeon who published numerous books, commentaries, treatises
on surgery. Most notably, he wrote Basics in the Art of Surgery, a
general medical manual covering anatomy, drugs therapy and surgical care, which
was by far the largest Arabic text on surgery during the entire medieval
period.[134]
Agriculture
The Arabs of Al-Andalus exerted
a large impact on Spanish agriculture, including the restoration of Roman-era
aqueducts and irrigation channels, as well as the introduction of new
technologies such as the acequias (derived
from the qanats of
Persia) and Persian gardens (such as at the Generalife). In
Spain and Sicily, the Arabs introduced crops and foodstuffs from the Persia and
India such as rice, sugarcane, oranges, lemons, bananas, saffron,
carrots, apricots and eggplants, as well as restoring cultivation of olives and
pomegranates from Greco-Roman times. The Palmeral of Elche in
southern Spain is a UNESCO World Heritage
site that is emblematic of the
Islamic agricultural legacy in Europe.
Islamic
architecture
The Great Mosque of Kairouan (in Tunisia), the
ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world excluding Turkey and
the Balkans,[151] is one of the best preserved
and most significant examples of early great mosques. Founded in 670, it dates
in its present form largely from the 9th century.[152] The
Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a three-tiered square minaret, a
large courtyard surrounded by colonnaded porticos, and a huge hypostyle prayer
hall covered on its axis by two cupolas.[151]
The Great Mosque of
Samarra in Iraq was completed in
847. It combined the hypostyle architecture of rows of columns supporting a
flat base, above which a huge spiralling minaret was
constructed.
The beginning of construction of the Great Mosque at
Cordoba in 785 marked the beginning
of Islamic architecture in Spain and Northern Africa. The mosque is noted for
its striking interior arches. Moorish architecture reached its peak with the
construction of the Alhambra, the magnificent palace/fortress of Granada, with its
open and breezy interior spaces adorned in red, blue, and gold. The walls are
decorated with stylized foliage motifs, Arabic inscriptions,
and arabesque design work, with walls covered in geometrically
patterned glazed tiles.
Many traces of Fatimid architecture exist in Cairo today, the most defining examples
include the Al Azhar University and the Al Hakim mosque.
Biography
of Muslim Scientists
Comments
Post a Comment