Dr. Keith L. Moore is a Professor of Anatomy and Cell Biology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada. He is a world renowned scientist and a distinguished researcher in the fields of anatomy and embryology, he has published more than 150 research articles, chapters and books in this field. He is the author of several medical textbooks, such as the widely used and acclaimed "The Developing Human: Clinically oriented Embryology" (now in it's fifth edition, and translated into eight different languages), "Before We Are Born" and "Clinically Oriented Anatomy." He has also recently co-authored "Qur'an and Modern Science, Correlation Studies." Dr. Moore is the recipient of numerous awards and honors, including, in 1984, the J.C.B. Grant Award, which is the highest honor granted by the Canadian Association of Anatomists. He has served in many academic and administrative positions, including the President of the Canadian Association of Anatomists, 1968-1970. Let us see what Dr. Moore's opinion is on the scientific statements regarding embryology to be found in the Qur'an:
Dr. Moore was contacted by a Muslim scholar by the name of Abdul-Majeed Azzindani. He was asked to participate in a three-year study of around twenty-five verses of the Qur'an and the Sunnah (sayings of Muhammad, pbuh) which speak about embryology, and to determine the their correspondence to modern scientific discoveries. Dr. Moore's conclusion regarding this matter was:
"For the past three years, I have worked with the Embryology Committee of King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, helping them to interpret the many statements in the Qur'an and the Sunnah referring to human reproduction and prenatal development. At first I was astonished by the accuracy of the statements that were recorded in the seventh century AD, before the science of embryology was established. Although I was aware of the glorious history of Muslim scientists in the 10th century AD, and of some of their contributions to Medicine, I new nothing about the religious facts and beliefs contained in the Qur'an and Sunnah. It is important for Islamic and other students to understand the meaning of these Qur'anic statements about human development, based on current scientific knowledge. The interpretations of the "verses" in the Qur'an and the Sunnah, translated by Shaikh Azzindani, are to the best of my knowledge accurate."
From the forward of "The Developing Human: Clinically oriented Embryology," third edition, by Dr. Keith L. Moore.
The Qur'an and the Sunnah of the prophet Muhammad (pbuh) provide a very detailed description of the microscopic development of the human embryo from a mere sperm drop up to the stage of a completely formed human being. It is well known that microscopes were not developed until the sixteenth century AD, and even at that were very crude in design. Zacharias Janssen is credited with having invented the compound microscope in about 1590. With it, remarkable scientific discoveries were made in the 17th and 18th centuries. The Dutch naturalist Anthony van Leeuwenhoek produced lenses powerful enough to prove that many tiny creatures are not spontaneously generated but come from eggs.
Before this period, theories on human reproduction ran rampant. Some scientist believed that the menstrual blood itself developed into the fetus. Later on, a new theory was developed wherein the sperm drop was popularly believed to contain a completely developed miniature human (homunculus) which later grew to the size of a baby. The science of embryology as we know it today did not discover many of the detailed aspects of human development which are taken for granted today until only about twenty years ago, or 1973 to be precise.
Now we must ask the question: where did Muhammad (pbuh) get such detailed knowledge of the microscopic development of the human embryo in the 6th century AD without a microscope, technical training, a laboratory of any kind, or even the ability to write his own name? The only logical conclusion is that it came from exactly where he claimed it did. From the one who created mankind, God Almighty!
Prof. Moore has since given numerous lectures on the topic of embryology in the Qur'an. He is quoted in one of these lectures as saying:
"It is clear to me that these statements must have come to Muhammad from God, or Allah, because most of this knowledge was not discovered until many centuries later. This proves to me that Muhammad must have been a messenger of God, or Allah."
Prof. Moore was so impressed with the Qur'anic classification of the stages of development of the human embryo, that he suggested the adoption of the Qur'anic system in place of the system currently in use by scientists today. Prof. Moore said:
"Because the staging of the human embryo is complex owing to the continuous process of change during development. It is therefore suggested that a new system of classification could be developed using the terms mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah. The proposed system is simple, comprehensive, and conforms with present embryological knowledge."
When Dr. Moore first presented his findings in Toronto it caused quite a stir throughout Canada. It was on the front pages of some of the newspapers across Canada. One newspaper reporter asked Professor Moore,
"Don't you think That maybe the Arabs might have known about these things - the description of the embryo, its appearance and how it changes and grows? Maybe there were not scientists, but maybe they did some crude dissections on their own - carved up people and examined these things."
Professor Morre immediately pointed out to him, however, that he had missed a very important point. All of the slides of the embryo that Dr. Moore had based his study upon had come from pictures taken through a microscope. He said,
"It does not matter if someone had tried to discover embryology fourteen centuries ago, they could not have seen it!." Dr. Moore taunted, "Maybe fourteen centuries ago someone secretly had a microscope and did this research, making no mistakes anywhere. Then he somehow taught Muhammad and convinced him to put this information in his book. Then he destroyed his equipment and kept it a secret forever?. Do you believe that? You really should not unless you bring some proof because it is such a ridiculous theory."
When he was asked "How do you explain this information in the Qur'an?" Dr. Moore's reply was, "It could only have been divinely revealed."
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
The miracle and challenge of the Qur'an
"We shall show them Our signs on the horizons and within themselves until it will become clear to them that it is the Truth. Does it not suffice that your Lord is Witness over all things?"
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):53.
Muslims are taught that throughout the ages, Allah Almighty has sent a prophet to every nation as a warner and a bearer of glad tidings.
"Verily! We have sent you (O Muhammad) with the Truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; and there is not a nation but a warner has passed among them,"
The noble Qur'an, Fatir(35):24.
Each prophet was wisely selected by Allah in order to be the best person for the job. He was then provided by Allah with miracles as proof of his truthfulness and his message. These miracles were wisely selected by Allah in order to be in the same field as that which these people excelled in so that they could fully comprehend the magnitude of these miracles.
For instance, the people during the time of Moses excelled at magical trickery. Their rulers used to surround themselves with the most powerful of these wizards as a sign of power. This is why Allah made the miracles of Moses (pbuh) similar to their magical trickery (changing a stick into a snake, parting of the sea... etc.) but of a much greater magnitude than anything they could ever hope to accomplish. For they were not tricks, but actual physical miracles.
The people at the time of the prophet Jesus (pbuh) excelled in matters of medicine. For this reason, his miracles were of a medical nature (raising of the dead, healing of the blind...etc.), but of a degree that they could never hope to imitate. Similarly, one of the major miracles of Islam was a new and unheard-of type of literature similar to the Bedouin's poetry but far beyond anything they could ever hope to match. Although they did indeed try. This new literature was called "The Qur'an."
The Arabic language, as can be attested to by any of it's scholars, is a very rich and powerful language. The Bedouin people of the Arabian desert were, in general, illiterate people of very little scientific knowledge. The thing that set them apart, however, was their mastery of poetry. Spending their days as they did in the desert watching their sheep graze got quite boring. They alleviated their boredom by continually composing and refining poetry. They would spend entire years composing and refining their poetry in anticipation of a yearly face-down of the poetic compositions of their peers from all over the country. The fact that they were illiterate forced them to also train themselves in the memorization of works of literature to such an extent that they were able to memorize complete works from a single recitation. Even in matters of leadership, one of the major criteria for selecting the leaders of the various Bedouin tribes was the individual's prowess in literary composition and memorization.
The Arabian Bedouins took great pains to make their poetry as compact and picturesque as humanly possible, constantly expanding the language along the way. A single word could convey complete pictures. The Qur'an, however, has put even these great efforts to shame. You will notice that when a Muslim translates a verse of the Qur'an he usually does not say "the Qur'an says so and so" but rather "An approximation of the meaning of what the Qur'an says is so and so." You really need to know the language to comprehend this.
In the English language, we find that the words: "mustang," "colt," "mare," "pony," "stallion," "bronco"... etc. all refer to the same thing; a horse. Each one of these words conveys a slightly different mental picture. The mental picture we get when we hear the word "colt" is slightly different than the picture we get if we hear the word "mare." In a similar manner, the Arabic language progressed in such a fashion as to make it possible to convey such mental pictures in as concise and picturesque a format as possible. It is not at all uncommon to find over three hundred words that refer to the same thing in the Arabic language. Each one of these words gives a slightly different picture than the others.
Many centuries of this constant refinement eventually lead to a very complex and rich vocabulary, and the primary miracle of Muhammad (pbuh), the Qur'an, was in exactly this field
In the noble Qur'an we find a challenge from Allah to compose a literary work on a par with this Qur'an it is indeed the work of mankind. They could not. The Qur'an continued to reduce it's challenge until the challenge finally became: "compose only a single verse comparable to this Qur'an and you will have won." They still could not. This in addition to the fairness, justice, and logic of the Qur'an eventually won them over and slowly more and more people became Muslims.
[Webmasters note: there are some inaccuracies in the preceding paragraph. The least challenge posed in the quran is "a single surah" (10:38 & 2:23) as well as "whole Quran" (17:88) and "ten verses" (11:13).]
"Well then, if the Koran were his own [Muhammad's] composition other men could rival it. Let them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could not), then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evidential miracle"
Mohammedanism, H. A. R. Gibb, Oxford University Press, p. 42
"From the literary point of view, the Koran is regarded as a specimen of purest Arabic, written in half poetry, half prose. It has been said that in some cases grammarians have adopted their rules to agree with certain expressions used in it, and though several attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant writing is concerned, none yet has succeeded"
Glimpses of the Noble Qur'an, Muhammad Azizullah, Crescent Publications, pp. 104-105
"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind... This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony,' as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' - has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original."
The Koran Interpreted, Arthur J. Arberry, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.
"The Koran admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon today."
G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell's, The Koran, New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii.
"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as a mental development - a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind … Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history."
Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' Dictionary Of Islam, p. 526-528.
Many claims have been made against Muhammad in that day and this. Among them are the claims that he was a lunatic, a liar, or deceived by the devil. If Muhammad was a lunatic or a liar then we have to wonder how all of his prophesies came true?. Further, if he was a deceived by Satan then we are faced with another problem. For we know that all Muslims are taught that when reading the Qur'an they must first begin with the words "I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the stoned* one." and then follow this up with the words "In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful" So we have to wonder if Satan would "inspire" a man to teach mankind to seek refuge in God from Satan? Indeed this is the exact same accusation which was made against Jesus (pbuh). Let us read how Jesus responded to this claim:
"But some of them (the Jews) said, He (Jesus) casteth out devils through Beelzebub (Satan) the chief of the devils. And others, tempting [him], sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub."
Luke 11:15-18
It has been the case throughout the ages that with all previous prophets, their miracle was separate from their book. Although we may claim that we have the "Torah" of Moses, still, it is not possible now to bring Moses' (pbuh) staff and see it perform miracles as it did in his time. Similarly it is not possible today to see Jesus (pbuh) raise the dead as he did so many centuries ago. However, since the message of Islam was the final message of God to mankind, therefore, the book of Islam itself was made the main miracle of Islam and it has continued to renew it's challenge to mankind throughout the ages.
What does this mean? Nowadays, the number of people who can appreciate the literary content of the Qur'an has dwindled and this challenge no longer has the same impact it did fourteen hundred years ago. However, as we have seen in the verse quoted at the beginning of this chapter, Allah Almighty has promised to continually renew the challenge of the Qur'an throughout the ages. So how will it be renewed?
Recently, a new field of study has opened up to scholars. People nowadays are fascinated with science. This is the age of technology and scientific discovery. For this reason, mankind has begun to study the religious scriptures of mankind from a scientific point of view in order to challenge the scientific claims made in these scriptures. Many works have been published on this topic. In this chapter I will give a brief taste of these matters and then leave it up to the interested reader to learn more from any one of the many books which have been published in this regard (see list at back of this book).
As mentioned previously, Muhammad (pbuh) lived among tribes of people who were for the most part illiterate. He himself was also illiterate. These people used to live extremely simple lives. Some were traders and businessmen, others were farmers, and yet others were nomadic sheepherders who traveled from place to place depending on where they could find grass for their sheep to graze. When Muhammad (pbuh) brought them the Qur'an, the believers found in the Qur'an the command to go out, seek knowledge, and confirm the presence of their Creator by studying His creation. Muslims began to fulfill this command of the Qur'an and this resulted in one of the greatest explosions of scientific advancement mankind has ever seen. All of this was going on during a period that the West calls "The Dark Ages," wherein the scientists of the West were being persecuted and killed as sorcerers and wizards. During this period, Muslims scholars introduced into the world such things as:
* Mathematical evolution of spherical mirrors
* Rectilinear motion of light and use of lenses
* Refraction angle variations
* Magnifying effects of the plano convex lens
* Introduced the concept of the elliptical shape of cosmological bodies
* Study of the center of gravity as applied to balance
* Measurement of specific weights of bodies
* Rule of algebraic equations
* Solutions to quadratic and cubic equations
* Work on square roots, squares, theory of numbers, solution of the fractional numbers
* Solutions of equations of cubic order
* Wrote on conic geometry elaborating the solution of algebraic equations
* Determined the Trinomial Equation
* Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine." He is know as the Prince of Physicians to the West
* Wrote the first description of several drugs and diseases as meningitis.
* Treatment of physiological shocks
* Expertise in psychosomatic medicine and psychology
* Al-Biruni mentions fifty six manuscripts on pharmacology
* Credited for identifying small pox and its treatment
* Use of alcohol as an antiseptic
* Use of mercury as a purgative for the first time
* First to describe the circulation of blood.
* "Holy Abbas" was, after Rhazes, the most outstanding Physician. His works were authoritative till the works of ibn Sina appeared
* Writings on Cosmology, Astrology, Science of numbers and letters
* Proved that the earth is smaller than the sun but larger than the moon.
* Final authorities on Chemistry for many Centuries
* Classified metals into three classifications
* Laid the basis of the Acid Base theory
* Distillation, calcination, crystallization, the discovery of many acids
* Cultivation of Gold - is a continuation of Jabir's work
* Theory of Oscillatory motion of equinoxes
* Addition of ninth sphere to the eight Ptolematic astronomy
* Discovered the increase of the suns apogee
* Gravitational force
* Responsible for the discovery motion of the solar apsides
* wrote ' On the Science of Stars '
* Determination of latitudes and longitudes
* Determination of geodetic measurements
* Described the motion of the planets
* Solved the problems of spherical trigonometry
* First to study the isometric oscillatory motion of a pendulum
* Invented the instrument ' Sahifah "
* Responsible for the proof of the motion of the apogee of the sun with respect to the fixed stars.
* authorities on the theory of the system of homocentric spheres
* Prepared a calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian one in use today.
All of this began with a single illiterate Arab from the desert fourteen hundred years ago. The book that was brought into the world by such a man cries out to be studied from a scientific aspect. We will now give you a glimpse of the results:
"So ask the People of Knowledge if you do not know"
The Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):7
The noble Qur'an, Fussilat(41):53.
Muslims are taught that throughout the ages, Allah Almighty has sent a prophet to every nation as a warner and a bearer of glad tidings.
"Verily! We have sent you (O Muhammad) with the Truth, a bearer of glad tidings and a warner; and there is not a nation but a warner has passed among them,"
The noble Qur'an, Fatir(35):24.
Each prophet was wisely selected by Allah in order to be the best person for the job. He was then provided by Allah with miracles as proof of his truthfulness and his message. These miracles were wisely selected by Allah in order to be in the same field as that which these people excelled in so that they could fully comprehend the magnitude of these miracles.
For instance, the people during the time of Moses excelled at magical trickery. Their rulers used to surround themselves with the most powerful of these wizards as a sign of power. This is why Allah made the miracles of Moses (pbuh) similar to their magical trickery (changing a stick into a snake, parting of the sea... etc.) but of a much greater magnitude than anything they could ever hope to accomplish. For they were not tricks, but actual physical miracles.
The people at the time of the prophet Jesus (pbuh) excelled in matters of medicine. For this reason, his miracles were of a medical nature (raising of the dead, healing of the blind...etc.), but of a degree that they could never hope to imitate. Similarly, one of the major miracles of Islam was a new and unheard-of type of literature similar to the Bedouin's poetry but far beyond anything they could ever hope to match. Although they did indeed try. This new literature was called "The Qur'an."
The Arabic language, as can be attested to by any of it's scholars, is a very rich and powerful language. The Bedouin people of the Arabian desert were, in general, illiterate people of very little scientific knowledge. The thing that set them apart, however, was their mastery of poetry. Spending their days as they did in the desert watching their sheep graze got quite boring. They alleviated their boredom by continually composing and refining poetry. They would spend entire years composing and refining their poetry in anticipation of a yearly face-down of the poetic compositions of their peers from all over the country. The fact that they were illiterate forced them to also train themselves in the memorization of works of literature to such an extent that they were able to memorize complete works from a single recitation. Even in matters of leadership, one of the major criteria for selecting the leaders of the various Bedouin tribes was the individual's prowess in literary composition and memorization.
The Arabian Bedouins took great pains to make their poetry as compact and picturesque as humanly possible, constantly expanding the language along the way. A single word could convey complete pictures. The Qur'an, however, has put even these great efforts to shame. You will notice that when a Muslim translates a verse of the Qur'an he usually does not say "the Qur'an says so and so" but rather "An approximation of the meaning of what the Qur'an says is so and so." You really need to know the language to comprehend this.
In the English language, we find that the words: "mustang," "colt," "mare," "pony," "stallion," "bronco"... etc. all refer to the same thing; a horse. Each one of these words conveys a slightly different mental picture. The mental picture we get when we hear the word "colt" is slightly different than the picture we get if we hear the word "mare." In a similar manner, the Arabic language progressed in such a fashion as to make it possible to convey such mental pictures in as concise and picturesque a format as possible. It is not at all uncommon to find over three hundred words that refer to the same thing in the Arabic language. Each one of these words gives a slightly different picture than the others.
Many centuries of this constant refinement eventually lead to a very complex and rich vocabulary, and the primary miracle of Muhammad (pbuh), the Qur'an, was in exactly this field
In the noble Qur'an we find a challenge from Allah to compose a literary work on a par with this Qur'an it is indeed the work of mankind. They could not. The Qur'an continued to reduce it's challenge until the challenge finally became: "compose only a single verse comparable to this Qur'an and you will have won." They still could not. This in addition to the fairness, justice, and logic of the Qur'an eventually won them over and slowly more and more people became Muslims.
[Webmasters note: there are some inaccuracies in the preceding paragraph. The least challenge posed in the quran is "a single surah" (10:38 & 2:23) as well as "whole Quran" (17:88) and "ten verses" (11:13).]
"Well then, if the Koran were his own [Muhammad's] composition other men could rival it. Let them produce ten verses like it. If they could not (and it is obvious that they could not), then let them accept the Koran as an outstanding evidential miracle"
Mohammedanism, H. A. R. Gibb, Oxford University Press, p. 42
"From the literary point of view, the Koran is regarded as a specimen of purest Arabic, written in half poetry, half prose. It has been said that in some cases grammarians have adopted their rules to agree with certain expressions used in it, and though several attempts have been made to produce a work equal to it as far as elegant writing is concerned, none yet has succeeded"
Glimpses of the Noble Qur'an, Muhammad Azizullah, Crescent Publications, pp. 104-105
"In making the present attempt to improve on the performance of my predecessors, and to produce something which might be accepted as echoing however faintly the sublime rhetoric of the Arabic Koran, I have been at pains to study the intricate and richly varied rhythms which - apart from the message itself - constitute the Koran's undeniable claim to rank amongst the greatest literary masterpieces of mankind... This very characteristic feature - 'that inimitable symphony,' as the believing Pickthall described his Holy Book, 'the very sounds of which move men to tears and ecstasy' - has been almost totally ignored by previous translators; it is therefore not surprising that what they have wrought sounds dull and flat indeed in comparison with the splendidly decorated original."
The Koran Interpreted, Arthur J. Arberry, Oxford University Press, 1964, p. x.
"The Koran admittedly occupies an important position among the great religious books of the world. Though the youngest of the epoch-making works belonging to this class of literature, it yields to hardly any in the wonderful effect which it has produced on large masses of men. It has created an all but new phase of human thought and a fresh type of character. It first transformed a number of heterogeneous desert tribes of the Arabian peninsula into a nation of heroes, and then proceeded to create the vast politico-religious organizations of the Muhammadan world which are one of the great forces with which Europe and the East have to reckon today."
G. Margoliouth, Introduction to J.M. Rodwell's, The Koran, New York: Everyman's Library, 1977, p. vii.
"A work, then, which calls forth so powerful and seemingly incompatible emotions even in the distant reader - distant as to time, and still more so as a mental development - a work which not only conquers the repugnance which he may begin its perusal, but changes this adverse feeling into astonishment and admiration, such a work must be a wonderful production of the human mind indeed and a problem of the highest interest to every thoughtful observer of the destinies of mankind … Here, therefore, its merits as a literary production should perhaps not be measured by some preconceived maxims of subjective and aesthetic taste, but by the effects which it produced in Muhammad's contemporaries and fellow countrymen. If it spoke so powerfully and convincingly to the hearts of his hearers as to weld hitherto centrifugal and antagonistic elements into one compact and well-organized body, animated by ideas far beyond those which had until now ruled the Arabian mind, then its eloquence was perfect, simply because it created a civilized nation out of savage tribes, and shot a fresh woof into the old warp of history."
Dr. Steingass, quoted in T.P. Hughes' Dictionary Of Islam, p. 526-528.
Many claims have been made against Muhammad in that day and this. Among them are the claims that he was a lunatic, a liar, or deceived by the devil. If Muhammad was a lunatic or a liar then we have to wonder how all of his prophesies came true?. Further, if he was a deceived by Satan then we are faced with another problem. For we know that all Muslims are taught that when reading the Qur'an they must first begin with the words "I seek refuge in Allah from Satan the stoned* one." and then follow this up with the words "In the name of Allah, Most Compassionate, Most Merciful" So we have to wonder if Satan would "inspire" a man to teach mankind to seek refuge in God from Satan? Indeed this is the exact same accusation which was made against Jesus (pbuh). Let us read how Jesus responded to this claim:
"But some of them (the Jews) said, He (Jesus) casteth out devils through Beelzebub (Satan) the chief of the devils. And others, tempting [him], sought of him a sign from heaven. But he, knowing their thoughts, said unto them, Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and a house [divided] against a house falleth. If Satan also be divided against himself, how shall his kingdom stand? because ye say that I cast out devils through Beelzebub."
Luke 11:15-18
It has been the case throughout the ages that with all previous prophets, their miracle was separate from their book. Although we may claim that we have the "Torah" of Moses, still, it is not possible now to bring Moses' (pbuh) staff and see it perform miracles as it did in his time. Similarly it is not possible today to see Jesus (pbuh) raise the dead as he did so many centuries ago. However, since the message of Islam was the final message of God to mankind, therefore, the book of Islam itself was made the main miracle of Islam and it has continued to renew it's challenge to mankind throughout the ages.
What does this mean? Nowadays, the number of people who can appreciate the literary content of the Qur'an has dwindled and this challenge no longer has the same impact it did fourteen hundred years ago. However, as we have seen in the verse quoted at the beginning of this chapter, Allah Almighty has promised to continually renew the challenge of the Qur'an throughout the ages. So how will it be renewed?
Recently, a new field of study has opened up to scholars. People nowadays are fascinated with science. This is the age of technology and scientific discovery. For this reason, mankind has begun to study the religious scriptures of mankind from a scientific point of view in order to challenge the scientific claims made in these scriptures. Many works have been published on this topic. In this chapter I will give a brief taste of these matters and then leave it up to the interested reader to learn more from any one of the many books which have been published in this regard (see list at back of this book).
As mentioned previously, Muhammad (pbuh) lived among tribes of people who were for the most part illiterate. He himself was also illiterate. These people used to live extremely simple lives. Some were traders and businessmen, others were farmers, and yet others were nomadic sheepherders who traveled from place to place depending on where they could find grass for their sheep to graze. When Muhammad (pbuh) brought them the Qur'an, the believers found in the Qur'an the command to go out, seek knowledge, and confirm the presence of their Creator by studying His creation. Muslims began to fulfill this command of the Qur'an and this resulted in one of the greatest explosions of scientific advancement mankind has ever seen. All of this was going on during a period that the West calls "The Dark Ages," wherein the scientists of the West were being persecuted and killed as sorcerers and wizards. During this period, Muslims scholars introduced into the world such things as:
* Mathematical evolution of spherical mirrors
* Rectilinear motion of light and use of lenses
* Refraction angle variations
* Magnifying effects of the plano convex lens
* Introduced the concept of the elliptical shape of cosmological bodies
* Study of the center of gravity as applied to balance
* Measurement of specific weights of bodies
* Rule of algebraic equations
* Solutions to quadratic and cubic equations
* Work on square roots, squares, theory of numbers, solution of the fractional numbers
* Solutions of equations of cubic order
* Wrote on conic geometry elaborating the solution of algebraic equations
* Determined the Trinomial Equation
* Avicenna's "Canon of Medicine." He is know as the Prince of Physicians to the West
* Wrote the first description of several drugs and diseases as meningitis.
* Treatment of physiological shocks
* Expertise in psychosomatic medicine and psychology
* Al-Biruni mentions fifty six manuscripts on pharmacology
* Credited for identifying small pox and its treatment
* Use of alcohol as an antiseptic
* Use of mercury as a purgative for the first time
* First to describe the circulation of blood.
* "Holy Abbas" was, after Rhazes, the most outstanding Physician. His works were authoritative till the works of ibn Sina appeared
* Writings on Cosmology, Astrology, Science of numbers and letters
* Proved that the earth is smaller than the sun but larger than the moon.
* Final authorities on Chemistry for many Centuries
* Classified metals into three classifications
* Laid the basis of the Acid Base theory
* Distillation, calcination, crystallization, the discovery of many acids
* Cultivation of Gold - is a continuation of Jabir's work
* Theory of Oscillatory motion of equinoxes
* Addition of ninth sphere to the eight Ptolematic astronomy
* Discovered the increase of the suns apogee
* Gravitational force
* Responsible for the discovery motion of the solar apsides
* wrote ' On the Science of Stars '
* Determination of latitudes and longitudes
* Determination of geodetic measurements
* Described the motion of the planets
* Solved the problems of spherical trigonometry
* First to study the isometric oscillatory motion of a pendulum
* Invented the instrument ' Sahifah "
* Responsible for the proof of the motion of the apogee of the sun with respect to the fixed stars.
* authorities on the theory of the system of homocentric spheres
* Prepared a calendar that was more accurate than the Gregorian one in use today.
All of this began with a single illiterate Arab from the desert fourteen hundred years ago. The book that was brought into the world by such a man cries out to be studied from a scientific aspect. We will now give you a glimpse of the results:
"So ask the People of Knowledge if you do not know"
The Qur'an, Al-Anbia(21):7
Muhammad Targai Ulugh Beg
Ulugh Beg was a grandson of Timur (known in the West as Tamerlane), a Tartar prince and ruler of Turkestan. He was an exceptional astronomer and mathematician of the fifteenth century. Ulugh Beg was the son of Timurid King Shah Rukh and was born in 1393 C.E. at Sultaniyya in Central Asia. He was a Hafiz-e-Quran.
Ulugh Beg made Samarkand famous as one of the leading cities of Muslim civilization. In 1424 he built a madrasa, an institution of higher learning, where astronomy was taught. Later in 1428, Ulugh Beg began the construction of a magnificent three-story observatory in Samarkand. It was more than two hundred fifty feet in diameter and one hundred twenty feet high. He appointed Ali-Kudsi, a Muslim astronomer as the director of the Observatory. Several well-known mathematicians and astronomers including Al-Kashi and Kadizada worked there. He equipped it with the best and most accurate astronomical instruments available then.
In 1437 he published his most famous and enduring work, a new catalogue of stars entitled 'Zidj-i Djadid Sultani' In it, he revisited the positions and magnitudes of stars observed by Ptolemy. He found many errors in the computations of Ptolemy. It includes a diverse collection of observations and computations, the position of the fixed stars, the course of the stars, and the knowledge of time. An English translation of this work was published in 1917.
Ulugh Beg computed the length of the year as 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes and 15 seconds, a fairly accurate value. In addition, he prepared Tables of Planetary Motions which were very popular and in demand throughout the astronomical community. Ulugh Beg studied the yearly movements of the five bright planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. His data is still considered very accurate. In 1437, he also compiled a star catalogue giving the positions of 992 stars. His compilation of tables of sines and tangents at one-degree intervals are accurate to eight decimal places.
Ulugh Beg was assassinated in 1449 C.E. in Samarkand after a brief reign as ruler of Turkestan for three years. This catastrophe led to the neglect of the observatory and Samarkand slowly phased out as the leading center of astronomy. The observatory was eventually destroyed and its location was confirmed in 1908 by Russian archaeologists. Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after Ulugh Beg. It is the name of a prominent elliptical ring in the northwest of the Eighteenth section.
Ulugh Beg made Samarkand famous as one of the leading cities of Muslim civilization. In 1424 he built a madrasa, an institution of higher learning, where astronomy was taught. Later in 1428, Ulugh Beg began the construction of a magnificent three-story observatory in Samarkand. It was more than two hundred fifty feet in diameter and one hundred twenty feet high. He appointed Ali-Kudsi, a Muslim astronomer as the director of the Observatory. Several well-known mathematicians and astronomers including Al-Kashi and Kadizada worked there. He equipped it with the best and most accurate astronomical instruments available then.
In 1437 he published his most famous and enduring work, a new catalogue of stars entitled 'Zidj-i Djadid Sultani' In it, he revisited the positions and magnitudes of stars observed by Ptolemy. He found many errors in the computations of Ptolemy. It includes a diverse collection of observations and computations, the position of the fixed stars, the course of the stars, and the knowledge of time. An English translation of this work was published in 1917.
Ulugh Beg computed the length of the year as 365 days 5 hours 49 minutes and 15 seconds, a fairly accurate value. In addition, he prepared Tables of Planetary Motions which were very popular and in demand throughout the astronomical community. Ulugh Beg studied the yearly movements of the five bright planets: Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Mercury. His data is still considered very accurate. In 1437, he also compiled a star catalogue giving the positions of 992 stars. His compilation of tables of sines and tangents at one-degree intervals are accurate to eight decimal places.
Ulugh Beg was assassinated in 1449 C.E. in Samarkand after a brief reign as ruler of Turkestan for three years. This catastrophe led to the neglect of the observatory and Samarkand slowly phased out as the leading center of astronomy. The observatory was eventually destroyed and its location was confirmed in 1908 by Russian archaeologists. Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after Ulugh Beg. It is the name of a prominent elliptical ring in the northwest of the Eighteenth section.
Ibn Khaldun
Abd al-Rahman Ibn Mohammad is generally known as Ibn Khaldun (1332-1395 C.E.), after a remote ancestor. His parents, originally Yemenite Arabs, had settled in Spain, but after the fall of Seville, had migrated to Tunisia. He was born in Tunisia in 1332 C.E., where he received his early education and where, still in his teens, he entered the service of the Egyptian ruler Sultan Barquq. His thirst for advanced knowledge and a better academic setting soon made him leave this service and migrate to Fez.
This was followed by a long period of unrest marked by contemporary political rivalries affecting his career. This turbulent period also included a three year refuge in a small village Qalat Ibn Salama in Algeria, which provided him with the opportunity to write Muqaddimah, the first volume of his world history that won him an immortal place among historians, sociologists and philosophers. The uncertainty of his career still continued, with Egypt becoming his final abode where he spent his last 24 years. Here he lived a life of fame and respect, marked by his appointment as the Chief Malakite Judge and lecturing at the Al-Azhar University, but envy caused his removal from his high judicial office as many as five times.
Ibn Khaldun's chief contribution lies in philosophy of history and sociology. He sought to write a world history preambled by a first volume aimed at an analysis of historical events. This volume, commonly known as Muqaddimah or 'Prolegomena', was based on Ibn Khaldun's unique approach and original contribution and became a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology.
The chief concern of this monumental work was to identify psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contribute to the advancement of human civilization and the currents of history. In this context, he analysed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group-feelings 'al-Asabiyya', give rise to the ascent of a new civilisation and political power and how, later on, its diffusion into a more general civilization invites the advent of a still new 'Asabiyya' in its pristine form.
He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of rise and fall in human civilization, and analysed factors contributing to it. His contribution to history is marked by the fact that, unlike most earlier writers interpreting history largely in a political context, he emphasised environmental, sociological, psychological and economic factors governing the apparent events. This revolutionised the science of history and also laid the foundation of Umraniyat (Sociology).
Apart from the Muqaddimah that became an important independent book even during the lifetime of the author, the other volumes of his world history Kitab al-I'bar deal with the history of Arabs, contemporary Muslim rulers, contemporary European rulers, ancient history of Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, etc., Islamic History, Egyptian history and North-African history, especially that of Berbers and tribes living in the adjoining areas. The last volume deals largely with the events of his own life and is known as Al-Tasrif. This was also written in a scientific manner and initiated a new analytical tradition in the art of writing autobiography. A book on mathematics written by him is not extant.
Ibn Khaldun's influence on the subject of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and educution has remained paramount ever since his life. His books have been translated into many languages, both in the East and the West, and have inspired subsequent development of these sciences. For instance, Prof. Gum Ploughs and Kolosio consider Muqaddimah as superior in scholarship to Machiavelli's The Prince, written a century later, as the former bases the diagnosis more on cultural, sociological, economic and psychological factors.
This was followed by a long period of unrest marked by contemporary political rivalries affecting his career. This turbulent period also included a three year refuge in a small village Qalat Ibn Salama in Algeria, which provided him with the opportunity to write Muqaddimah, the first volume of his world history that won him an immortal place among historians, sociologists and philosophers. The uncertainty of his career still continued, with Egypt becoming his final abode where he spent his last 24 years. Here he lived a life of fame and respect, marked by his appointment as the Chief Malakite Judge and lecturing at the Al-Azhar University, but envy caused his removal from his high judicial office as many as five times.
Ibn Khaldun's chief contribution lies in philosophy of history and sociology. He sought to write a world history preambled by a first volume aimed at an analysis of historical events. This volume, commonly known as Muqaddimah or 'Prolegomena', was based on Ibn Khaldun's unique approach and original contribution and became a masterpiece in literature on philosophy of history and sociology.
The chief concern of this monumental work was to identify psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contribute to the advancement of human civilization and the currents of history. In this context, he analysed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group-feelings 'al-Asabiyya', give rise to the ascent of a new civilisation and political power and how, later on, its diffusion into a more general civilization invites the advent of a still new 'Asabiyya' in its pristine form.
He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of rise and fall in human civilization, and analysed factors contributing to it. His contribution to history is marked by the fact that, unlike most earlier writers interpreting history largely in a political context, he emphasised environmental, sociological, psychological and economic factors governing the apparent events. This revolutionised the science of history and also laid the foundation of Umraniyat (Sociology).
Apart from the Muqaddimah that became an important independent book even during the lifetime of the author, the other volumes of his world history Kitab al-I'bar deal with the history of Arabs, contemporary Muslim rulers, contemporary European rulers, ancient history of Arabs, Jews, Greeks, Romans, Persians, etc., Islamic History, Egyptian history and North-African history, especially that of Berbers and tribes living in the adjoining areas. The last volume deals largely with the events of his own life and is known as Al-Tasrif. This was also written in a scientific manner and initiated a new analytical tradition in the art of writing autobiography. A book on mathematics written by him is not extant.
Ibn Khaldun's influence on the subject of history, philosophy of history, sociology, political science and educution has remained paramount ever since his life. His books have been translated into many languages, both in the East and the West, and have inspired subsequent development of these sciences. For instance, Prof. Gum Ploughs and Kolosio consider Muqaddimah as superior in scholarship to Machiavelli's The Prince, written a century later, as the former bases the diagnosis more on cultural, sociological, economic and psychological factors.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Ibn Battuta
" To the world of today the men of medieval Christendom already seem remote and unfamiliar. Their names and deeds are recorded in our history-books, their monuments still adorn our cities, but our kinship with them is a thing unreal, which costs an effort of imagination. How much more must this apply to the great Islamic civilization, that stood over against medieval Europe, menacing its existence and yet linked to it by a hundred ties that even war and fear could not sever. Its monuments too abide, for those who may have the fortunate to visit them, but its men and manners are to most of us utterly unknown, or dimly conceived in the romantic image of the Arabian Nights. Even, for the specialist it is difficult to reconstruct their lives and see them as they were. Histories and biographies there are in quantity, but the historians for all their picturesque details, seldom show the ability to select the essential and to give their figures that touch of the intimate which makes them live again for the reader. It is in this faculty that Ibn Battuta excels "
Thus begins the book, [Ref 1] "Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354" published by Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad-Din, was born at Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra). He left Tangier on Thursday, 14th June, 1325 C.E. (2nd Rajab 725 A.H.), when he was twenty one years of age. His travels lasted for about thirty years, after which he returned to Fez, Morocco at the court of Sultan Abu 'Inan and dictated accounts of his journeys to Ibn Juzay. These are known as the famous Travels (Rithala) of Ibn Battuta. He died at Fez in 1369 C.E.
Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveller who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also travelled to Ceylon (present Sri Lanka), China and Byzantium and South Russia. The mere extent of his travels is estimated to be no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.
In the course of his first journey, Ibn Battutu travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Palestine and Syria to Makkah. After visiting Iraq, Shiraz and Mesopotamia he once more returned to perform the Hajj at Makkah and remained there for three years. Then travelling to Jeddah he went to Yemen by sea, visited Aden and set sail for Mombasa, East Africa. After going up to Kulwa he came back to Oman and repeated pilgrimage to Makkah in 1332 C.E. via Hormuz, Siraf, Bahrain and Yamama.
Subsequently he set out with the purpose of going to India, but on reaching Jeddah, he appears to have changed his mind (due perhaps to the unavailability of a ship bound for India), and revisited Cairo, Palestine and Syria, thereafter arriving at Aleya (Asia Minor) by sea and travelled across Anatolia and Sinope. He then crossed the Black Sea and after long wanderings he reached Constantinople through Southern Ukraine.
On his return, he visited Khurasan through Khawarism (Khiva) and having visited all the important cities such as Bukhara, Balkh, Herat, Tus, Mashhad and Nishapur, he crossed the Hindukush mountains via the 13,000 ft Khawak Pass into Afghanistan and passing through Ghani and Kabul entered India. After visiting Lahri (near modern Karachi), Sukkur, Multan, Sirsa and Hansi, he reached Delhi. For several years Ibn Battuta enjoyed the patronage of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq, and was later sent as Sultan's envoy to China.
Passing through Cental India and Malwa he took ship from Kambay for Goa, and after visiting many thriving ports along the Malabar coast he reached the Maldive Islands, from which he crossed to Ceylon. Continuing his journey, he landed on the Ma'bar (Coromandal) coast and once more returning to the Maldives he finally set sail for Bengal and visited Kamrup, Sylhet and Sonargaon (near Dhaka). Sailing along the Arakan coast he came to Sumatra and later landed at Canton via Malaya and Cambodia.
In China he travelled northward to Peking through Hangchow. Retracing his steps he returned to Calicut and taking a ship came to Dhafari and Muscat, and passing through Faris (Iran), Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt made his seventh and last pilgrimage to Makkah in November 1348 C.E. and then returned to his home town of Fez. His travels did not end here - he later visited Muslim Spain and the lands of the Niger across the Sahara.
On his return to Fez, Ibn Battuta dictated the accounts of his travels to Ibn Juzay al-Kalbi (1321-1356 C.E.) at the court of Sultan Abu Inan (1348-1358 C.E). Ibn Juzay took three months to accomplish this work which he finished on 9th December 1355 C.E.
In order to experience the flavour of Ibn Battuta's narrative one must sample a few extracts. The following passage illustrates the system of social security in operation in the Muslim world in the early 14th century C.E:
" The variety and expenditure of the religious endowments at Damascus are beyond computation. There are endowments in aid of persons who cannot undertake the pilgrimage to Makkah, out of which are paid the expenses of those who go in their stead. There are other endowments for supplying wedding outfits to girls whose families are unable to provide them, and others for the, freeing of prisoners. There are endowments for travellers, out of the revenues of which they are given food, clothing, and the expenses of conveyance to their countries. Then there are endowments for the improvement and paving of the streets, because all the lanes in Damascus have pavements on either side, on which the, foot passengers walk, while those who ride use the roadway in the centre " [p.69, Ref 1]
Here is another example which describes Baghdad in the early 14th century C.E:
" Then we travelled to Baghdad, the Abode of Peace and Capital of Islam. Here there are two bridges like that at Hilla, on which the people promenade night and day, both men and women. The baths at Baghdad are numerous and excellently constructed, most of them being painted with pitch, which has the appearance of black marble. This pitch is brought from a spring between Kufa and Basra, from which it flows continually. It gathers at the sides of the spring like clay and is shovelled up and brought to Baghdad. Each establishment has a number of private bathrooms, every one of which has also a wash-basin in the corner, with two taps supplying hot and cold water. Every bather is given three towels, one to wear round his waist when he goes in, another to wear round his waist when he comes out, and the third to dry himself with " [p.99, Ref 1]
In the next example Ibn Battuta describes in great detail some of the crops and fruits encountered on his travels:
" From Kulwa we sailed to Dhafari [Dhofar], at the extremity of Yemen. Thoroughbred horses are exported from here to India, the passage taking a month with favouring wind.... The inhabitants cultivate millet and irrigate it from very deep wells, the water from which is raised in a large bucket drawn by a number of ropes. In the neighbourhood of the town there are orchards with many banana trees. The bananas are of immense size; one which was weighed in my presence scaled twelve ounces and was pleasant to the taste and very sweet. They also grow betel-trees and coco-palms, which are found only in India and the town of Dhafari " [p.113, Ref 1]
Another example of In Battuta's keen observation is seen in the next passage:
" Betel-trees are grown like vines on can trellises or else trained up coco-palms. They have no fruit and are only grown for their leaves. The Indians have a high opinion of betel, and if a man visits a friend and the latter gives him five leaves of it, you would think he had given him the world, especially if he is a prince or notable. A gift of betel is a far greater honour then a gift of gold and silver. It is used in the following way: First one takes areca-nuts, which are like nutmegs, crushes them into small bits and chews them. Then the betel leaves are taken, a little chalk is put on them, and they are chewed with the areca-nuts " [p.114, Ref 1]
Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims completely dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travellers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact travelled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West.
Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great Muslims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach.
Thus begins the book, [Ref 1] "Ibn Battuta, Travels in Asia and Africa 1325-1354" published by Routledge and Kegan Paul.
Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad-Din, was born at Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra). He left Tangier on Thursday, 14th June, 1325 C.E. (2nd Rajab 725 A.H.), when he was twenty one years of age. His travels lasted for about thirty years, after which he returned to Fez, Morocco at the court of Sultan Abu 'Inan and dictated accounts of his journeys to Ibn Juzay. These are known as the famous Travels (Rithala) of Ibn Battuta. He died at Fez in 1369 C.E.
Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveller who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also travelled to Ceylon (present Sri Lanka), China and Byzantium and South Russia. The mere extent of his travels is estimated to be no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.
In the course of his first journey, Ibn Battutu travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Palestine and Syria to Makkah. After visiting Iraq, Shiraz and Mesopotamia he once more returned to perform the Hajj at Makkah and remained there for three years. Then travelling to Jeddah he went to Yemen by sea, visited Aden and set sail for Mombasa, East Africa. After going up to Kulwa he came back to Oman and repeated pilgrimage to Makkah in 1332 C.E. via Hormuz, Siraf, Bahrain and Yamama.
Subsequently he set out with the purpose of going to India, but on reaching Jeddah, he appears to have changed his mind (due perhaps to the unavailability of a ship bound for India), and revisited Cairo, Palestine and Syria, thereafter arriving at Aleya (Asia Minor) by sea and travelled across Anatolia and Sinope. He then crossed the Black Sea and after long wanderings he reached Constantinople through Southern Ukraine.
On his return, he visited Khurasan through Khawarism (Khiva) and having visited all the important cities such as Bukhara, Balkh, Herat, Tus, Mashhad and Nishapur, he crossed the Hindukush mountains via the 13,000 ft Khawak Pass into Afghanistan and passing through Ghani and Kabul entered India. After visiting Lahri (near modern Karachi), Sukkur, Multan, Sirsa and Hansi, he reached Delhi. For several years Ibn Battuta enjoyed the patronage of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq, and was later sent as Sultan's envoy to China.
Passing through Cental India and Malwa he took ship from Kambay for Goa, and after visiting many thriving ports along the Malabar coast he reached the Maldive Islands, from which he crossed to Ceylon. Continuing his journey, he landed on the Ma'bar (Coromandal) coast and once more returning to the Maldives he finally set sail for Bengal and visited Kamrup, Sylhet and Sonargaon (near Dhaka). Sailing along the Arakan coast he came to Sumatra and later landed at Canton via Malaya and Cambodia.
In China he travelled northward to Peking through Hangchow. Retracing his steps he returned to Calicut and taking a ship came to Dhafari and Muscat, and passing through Faris (Iran), Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt made his seventh and last pilgrimage to Makkah in November 1348 C.E. and then returned to his home town of Fez. His travels did not end here - he later visited Muslim Spain and the lands of the Niger across the Sahara.
On his return to Fez, Ibn Battuta dictated the accounts of his travels to Ibn Juzay al-Kalbi (1321-1356 C.E.) at the court of Sultan Abu Inan (1348-1358 C.E). Ibn Juzay took three months to accomplish this work which he finished on 9th December 1355 C.E.
In order to experience the flavour of Ibn Battuta's narrative one must sample a few extracts. The following passage illustrates the system of social security in operation in the Muslim world in the early 14th century C.E:
" The variety and expenditure of the religious endowments at Damascus are beyond computation. There are endowments in aid of persons who cannot undertake the pilgrimage to Makkah, out of which are paid the expenses of those who go in their stead. There are other endowments for supplying wedding outfits to girls whose families are unable to provide them, and others for the, freeing of prisoners. There are endowments for travellers, out of the revenues of which they are given food, clothing, and the expenses of conveyance to their countries. Then there are endowments for the improvement and paving of the streets, because all the lanes in Damascus have pavements on either side, on which the, foot passengers walk, while those who ride use the roadway in the centre " [p.69, Ref 1]
Here is another example which describes Baghdad in the early 14th century C.E:
" Then we travelled to Baghdad, the Abode of Peace and Capital of Islam. Here there are two bridges like that at Hilla, on which the people promenade night and day, both men and women. The baths at Baghdad are numerous and excellently constructed, most of them being painted with pitch, which has the appearance of black marble. This pitch is brought from a spring between Kufa and Basra, from which it flows continually. It gathers at the sides of the spring like clay and is shovelled up and brought to Baghdad. Each establishment has a number of private bathrooms, every one of which has also a wash-basin in the corner, with two taps supplying hot and cold water. Every bather is given three towels, one to wear round his waist when he goes in, another to wear round his waist when he comes out, and the third to dry himself with " [p.99, Ref 1]
In the next example Ibn Battuta describes in great detail some of the crops and fruits encountered on his travels:
" From Kulwa we sailed to Dhafari [Dhofar], at the extremity of Yemen. Thoroughbred horses are exported from here to India, the passage taking a month with favouring wind.... The inhabitants cultivate millet and irrigate it from very deep wells, the water from which is raised in a large bucket drawn by a number of ropes. In the neighbourhood of the town there are orchards with many banana trees. The bananas are of immense size; one which was weighed in my presence scaled twelve ounces and was pleasant to the taste and very sweet. They also grow betel-trees and coco-palms, which are found only in India and the town of Dhafari " [p.113, Ref 1]
Another example of In Battuta's keen observation is seen in the next passage:
" Betel-trees are grown like vines on can trellises or else trained up coco-palms. They have no fruit and are only grown for their leaves. The Indians have a high opinion of betel, and if a man visits a friend and the latter gives him five leaves of it, you would think he had given him the world, especially if he is a prince or notable. A gift of betel is a far greater honour then a gift of gold and silver. It is used in the following way: First one takes areca-nuts, which are like nutmegs, crushes them into small bits and chews them. Then the betel leaves are taken, a little chalk is put on them, and they are chewed with the areca-nuts " [p.114, Ref 1]
Ibn Battuta's sea voyages and references to shipping reveal that the Muslims completely dominated the maritime activity of the Red Sea, the Arabian Sea, the Indian Ocean, and the Chinese waters. Also it is seen that though the Christian traders were subject to certain restrictions, most of the economic negotiations were transacted on the basis of equality and mutual respect. Ibn Battuta, one of the most remarkable travellers of all time, visited China sixty years after Marco Polo and in fact travelled 75,000 miles, much more than Marco Polo. Yet Battuta is never mentioned in geography books used in Muslim countries, let alone those in the West.
Ibn Battuta's contribution to geography is unquestionably as great as that of any geographer yet the accounts of his travels are not easily accessible except to the specialist. The omission of reference to Ibn Battuta's contribution in geography books is not an isolated example. All great Muslims whether historians, doctors, astronomers, scientists or chemists suffer the same fate. One can understand why these great Muslims are ignored by the West. But the indifference of the Muslim governments is incomprehensible. In order to combat the inferiority complex that plagues the Muslim Ummah, we must rediscover the contributions of Muslims in fields such as science, medicine, engineering, architecture and astronomy. This will encourage contemporary young Muslims to strive in these fields and not think that major success is beyond their reach.
Ibn Al-Nafis Damishqui
Ala-al-Din Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Abi al-Hazm al-Qarshi al- Damashqi al-Misri (1213-1288 C.E.) was born in 607 A.H. of Damascus. He was educated at the Medical College-cum-Hospital founded by Nur al-Din Zangi. In medicine his teacher was Muhaththab al-Din Abd al-Rahim. Apart from medicine, Ibn al-Nafis learnt jurisprudence, literature and theology. He thus became a renowned expert on Shafi'i School of Jurisprudence as well as a reputed physician.
After acquiring his expertise in medicine and jurisprudence, he moved to Cairo where he was appointed as the Principal at the famous Nasri Hospital. Here he imparted training to a large number of medical specialists, including Ibn al-Quff al-Masihi, the famous surgeon. He also served at the Mansuriya School at Cairo. When he died in 678 A.H. he donated his house, library and clinic to the Mansuriya Hospital.
His major contribution lies in medicine. His approach comprised writing detailed commentaries on early works, critically evaluating them and adding his own original contribution. His major original contribution of great significance was his discovery of the blood's circulatory system, which was re-discovered by modern science after a lapse of three centuries. He was the first to correctly describe the constitution of the lungs and gave a description of the bronchi and the interaction between the human body's vessels for air and blood. Also, he elaborated the function ofthe coronary arteries as feeding the cardiac muscle.
The most voluminous of his books is Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb, which was designed to be an encyclopaedia comprising 300 Volumes, but it could not be completed due to his death. The manuscript is available at Damascus. His book on ophthalmology is largely an original contribution and is also extant. However, his book that became most famous was Mujaz al-Qanun and a number of commentaries were written on this.
His own commentaries include one on Hippocrates' book. He wrote several volumes on Ibn Sina's Qanun, that are still extant. Likewise he wrote a commentary on Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's book. Another famous book embodying his original contribution was on the effects of diet on health, entitled Kitab al-Mukhtar fi al-Aghdhiya.
Ibn Al-Nafis' works integrated the then existing medical knowledge and enriched it, thus exerting great influence on the development of medical science, both in the East and the West. However, only one of his books was translated into Latin at early stages and, therefore, a part of his work remained unknown to Europe for a long time.
After acquiring his expertise in medicine and jurisprudence, he moved to Cairo where he was appointed as the Principal at the famous Nasri Hospital. Here he imparted training to a large number of medical specialists, including Ibn al-Quff al-Masihi, the famous surgeon. He also served at the Mansuriya School at Cairo. When he died in 678 A.H. he donated his house, library and clinic to the Mansuriya Hospital.
His major contribution lies in medicine. His approach comprised writing detailed commentaries on early works, critically evaluating them and adding his own original contribution. His major original contribution of great significance was his discovery of the blood's circulatory system, which was re-discovered by modern science after a lapse of three centuries. He was the first to correctly describe the constitution of the lungs and gave a description of the bronchi and the interaction between the human body's vessels for air and blood. Also, he elaborated the function ofthe coronary arteries as feeding the cardiac muscle.
The most voluminous of his books is Al-Shamil fi al-Tibb, which was designed to be an encyclopaedia comprising 300 Volumes, but it could not be completed due to his death. The manuscript is available at Damascus. His book on ophthalmology is largely an original contribution and is also extant. However, his book that became most famous was Mujaz al-Qanun and a number of commentaries were written on this.
His own commentaries include one on Hippocrates' book. He wrote several volumes on Ibn Sina's Qanun, that are still extant. Likewise he wrote a commentary on Hunayn Ibn Ishaq's book. Another famous book embodying his original contribution was on the effects of diet on health, entitled Kitab al-Mukhtar fi al-Aghdhiya.
Ibn Al-Nafis' works integrated the then existing medical knowledge and enriched it, thus exerting great influence on the development of medical science, both in the East and the West. However, only one of his books was translated into Latin at early stages and, therefore, a part of his work remained unknown to Europe for a long time.
Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi
Al-Tusi was one of the greatest scientist, mathematician, astronomer, philosopher, theologian and physician of his time. He was a prolific writer. He wrote many treatises on such varied subjects as Algebra, Arithmetic, Trigonometry, Geometry, Logic, Metaphysics, Medicine, Ethics, and Theology.
Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was born in Tus, Khurasan (present Iran) in 1201 C.E. He studied sciences and philosophy under the tutelage of Kamal al-Din Ibn Yunus. Al-Tusi was kidnaped by the Isma'ili Hasan Bin Sabah's agents and sent to Alamut where he remained until its capture by the Mongol Halagu Khan in 1256 C.E. Impressed by Al-Tusi's exceptional abilities and astrological competency, Ilkhanid Halagu Khan appointed him as one of his ministers. Later, he served as an administrator of Auqaf.
In 1262, he built an observatory at Meragha and directed its activity. It was equipped with the best instruments from Baghdad and other Islamic centers of learning. It contained a twelve-feet wall quadrant made from copper and an azimuth quadrant and 'turquet' invented by Al-Tusi. Other instruments included Astrolabes, representations of constellation, epicycles, and shapes of spheres. Al-Tusi designed several other instruments for the Observatory.
Al-Tusi produced a very accurate table of planetary movements and a star catalogue, and he published it under the title "Al-Zij-Ilkhani" which was dedicated to Ilkhan, Halagu Khan. The tables were developed from observations over a twelve-year period and were primarily based on original observations.
Al-Tusi calculated the value of 51o for the precession of the equinoxes. Al-Tusi was among the first of several Muslim astronomers who pointed out several serious shortcomings in Ptolemy's models based on mechanical principles and modified it. His critique on the Ptolemy's theories convinced future astronomers of the need to develop an alternative model ending in Copernicus famous work. The Al-Zij Ilkhani was the most popular book among astronomers until fifteenth century.
His memoir on astronomy entitled "Tadhkira Fi Ilm Al-Haya", includes his ingenious device for generating rectilinear motion along the diameter of the outer circle from two circular motions. At the end of his long outstanding career, he moved to Baghdad and died within a year in 1274 in Kadhimain (near Baghdad, present Iraq).
Al-Tusi pioneered spherical trigonometry which includes six fundamental formulas for the solution of spherical right-angled triangles. One of his most important mathematical contributions was the treatment of trigonometry as a new mathematical discipline. He wrote on binomial coefficients which Pascal later introduced.
Al-Tusi revived the philosophy of Ibn Sina. His book "Akhlaq-i-Nasri" (Nasirean Ethics) was regarded as the most important book on ethics and was popular for centuries. The Tajrid-al-Aqaid was an excellent work on Islamic scholastic philosophy. He also composed a few verses of poetry.
Al-Tusi was a prolific writer. He wrote his works in Arabic and Persian. According to George Sarton, sixty four treatises are known to have survived. These were translated into Latin and other European languages in the Middle Ages. Al-Tusi's book "Shaq al-Qatta" was translated into Latin by the title "Figura Cata". Among Al-Tusi's well-known students are Nizam al-Araj, who wrote a commentary on the Almagest, and Qutb ad-Din ash-Shirazi, who gave the first satisfactory mathematical explanation of the rainbow.
Al-Tusi's contributions were highly valued for several centuries.
Abu Jafar Muhammad ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hasan Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was born in Tus, Khurasan (present Iran) in 1201 C.E. He studied sciences and philosophy under the tutelage of Kamal al-Din Ibn Yunus. Al-Tusi was kidnaped by the Isma'ili Hasan Bin Sabah's agents and sent to Alamut where he remained until its capture by the Mongol Halagu Khan in 1256 C.E. Impressed by Al-Tusi's exceptional abilities and astrological competency, Ilkhanid Halagu Khan appointed him as one of his ministers. Later, he served as an administrator of Auqaf.
In 1262, he built an observatory at Meragha and directed its activity. It was equipped with the best instruments from Baghdad and other Islamic centers of learning. It contained a twelve-feet wall quadrant made from copper and an azimuth quadrant and 'turquet' invented by Al-Tusi. Other instruments included Astrolabes, representations of constellation, epicycles, and shapes of spheres. Al-Tusi designed several other instruments for the Observatory.
Al-Tusi produced a very accurate table of planetary movements and a star catalogue, and he published it under the title "Al-Zij-Ilkhani" which was dedicated to Ilkhan, Halagu Khan. The tables were developed from observations over a twelve-year period and were primarily based on original observations.
Al-Tusi calculated the value of 51o for the precession of the equinoxes. Al-Tusi was among the first of several Muslim astronomers who pointed out several serious shortcomings in Ptolemy's models based on mechanical principles and modified it. His critique on the Ptolemy's theories convinced future astronomers of the need to develop an alternative model ending in Copernicus famous work. The Al-Zij Ilkhani was the most popular book among astronomers until fifteenth century.
His memoir on astronomy entitled "Tadhkira Fi Ilm Al-Haya", includes his ingenious device for generating rectilinear motion along the diameter of the outer circle from two circular motions. At the end of his long outstanding career, he moved to Baghdad and died within a year in 1274 in Kadhimain (near Baghdad, present Iraq).
Al-Tusi pioneered spherical trigonometry which includes six fundamental formulas for the solution of spherical right-angled triangles. One of his most important mathematical contributions was the treatment of trigonometry as a new mathematical discipline. He wrote on binomial coefficients which Pascal later introduced.
Al-Tusi revived the philosophy of Ibn Sina. His book "Akhlaq-i-Nasri" (Nasirean Ethics) was regarded as the most important book on ethics and was popular for centuries. The Tajrid-al-Aqaid was an excellent work on Islamic scholastic philosophy. He also composed a few verses of poetry.
Al-Tusi was a prolific writer. He wrote his works in Arabic and Persian. According to George Sarton, sixty four treatises are known to have survived. These were translated into Latin and other European languages in the Middle Ages. Al-Tusi's book "Shaq al-Qatta" was translated into Latin by the title "Figura Cata". Among Al-Tusi's well-known students are Nizam al-Araj, who wrote a commentary on the Almagest, and Qutb ad-Din ash-Shirazi, who gave the first satisfactory mathematical explanation of the rainbow.
Al-Tusi's contributions were highly valued for several centuries.
Ibn Al-Baitar
Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Baitar Dhiya al-Din al-Malaqi was one of the greatest scientists of Muslim Spain and was the greatest botanist and pharmacist of the Middle Ages.
He was born in the Spanish city of Malaya (Malaga) towards the end of the 12th century. He learned botany from Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, a learned botanist, with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. In 1219 he left Spain on a plant-collecting expedition and travelled along the northern coast of Africa as far as Asia Minor. The exact modes of his travel (whether by land or sea) are not known, but the major stations he visited include Bugia, Qastantunia (Constantinople), Tunis, Tripoli, Barqa and Adalia.
After 1224 he entered the service of al-Kamil, the Egyptian Governor, and was appointed chief herbalist. In 1227 al-Kamil extended his domination to Damascus, and Ibn al-Baitar accompanied him there which provided him an opportunity to collect plants in Syria. His researches on plants extended over a vast area:including Arabia and Palestine, which he either visited or managed to collect plants from stations located there. He died in Damascus in 1248.
Ibn Baitar's major contribution, 'Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada' is one of the greatest botanical compilations dealing with medicinal plants in Arabic. It enjoyed a high status among botanists up to the l6th century and is a systematic work that embodies earlier works, with due criticism, and adds a great part of original contribution. The encyclopaedia comprises some 1400 different items, largely medicinal plants and vegetables, of which about 200 plants were not known earlier.
The book refers to the work of some 150 authors mostly Arabic, and it also quotes about 20 early Greek scientists. It was translated into Latin and published in 1758. His second monumental treatise Kitab al-Mlughni fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada is an encyclopaedia of medicine. The drugs are listed in accordance with their therapeutical value. Thus, its 20 different chapters deal with the plants bearing significance to diseases of head, ear, eye, etc.
On surgical issues he has frequently quoted the famous Muslim surgeon, Abul Qasim Zahrawi. Besides Arabic, Baitar has given Greek and Latin names of the plants, thus facilitating transfer of knowledge.
Ibn Baitar's contributions are characterised by observation, analysis and classification and have exerted a profound influence on Eastern as well as Western botany and medicine. Though the Kitab al-Jami was translated / published late in the western languages as mentioned above, yet many scientists had earlier studied various parts of the book and made several references to it.
He was born in the Spanish city of Malaya (Malaga) towards the end of the 12th century. He learned botany from Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, a learned botanist, with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. In 1219 he left Spain on a plant-collecting expedition and travelled along the northern coast of Africa as far as Asia Minor. The exact modes of his travel (whether by land or sea) are not known, but the major stations he visited include Bugia, Qastantunia (Constantinople), Tunis, Tripoli, Barqa and Adalia.
After 1224 he entered the service of al-Kamil, the Egyptian Governor, and was appointed chief herbalist. In 1227 al-Kamil extended his domination to Damascus, and Ibn al-Baitar accompanied him there which provided him an opportunity to collect plants in Syria. His researches on plants extended over a vast area:including Arabia and Palestine, which he either visited or managed to collect plants from stations located there. He died in Damascus in 1248.
Ibn Baitar's major contribution, 'Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada' is one of the greatest botanical compilations dealing with medicinal plants in Arabic. It enjoyed a high status among botanists up to the l6th century and is a systematic work that embodies earlier works, with due criticism, and adds a great part of original contribution. The encyclopaedia comprises some 1400 different items, largely medicinal plants and vegetables, of which about 200 plants were not known earlier.
The book refers to the work of some 150 authors mostly Arabic, and it also quotes about 20 early Greek scientists. It was translated into Latin and published in 1758. His second monumental treatise Kitab al-Mlughni fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada is an encyclopaedia of medicine. The drugs are listed in accordance with their therapeutical value. Thus, its 20 different chapters deal with the plants bearing significance to diseases of head, ear, eye, etc.
On surgical issues he has frequently quoted the famous Muslim surgeon, Abul Qasim Zahrawi. Besides Arabic, Baitar has given Greek and Latin names of the plants, thus facilitating transfer of knowledge.
Ibn Baitar's contributions are characterised by observation, analysis and classification and have exerted a profound influence on Eastern as well as Western botany and medicine. Though the Kitab al-Jami was translated / published late in the western languages as mentioned above, yet many scientists had earlier studied various parts of the book and made several references to it.
Nur Al-Din Ibn Ishaq Al-Bitruji
Nur al-Din Ibn Ishaq Al-Bitruji, known in the West as Alpetragius, was born in Morocco. He later migrated to Spain and lived in Seville (Arabic Isbiliah). He died at the beginning of the thirteenth century around 1204 C.E. Al-Bitruji was a leading astronomer of his time. His 'Kitab-al-Hay'ah was popular in Europe in the thirteenth century. It was first translated into Hebrew and then from Hebrew into Latin. The Latin edition of his book was printed in Vienna in 1531 C.E. He attempted to modify Ptolemy's system of planetary motions, but was unsuccessful primarily because he followed Aristotle's notion of 'perfect' (circular) motion. However, other Spanish Arab astronomers have suggested an elliptical orbit for planetary motion.
Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after Al Bitruji (Alpetragius). It is a crater twenty-six miles in diameter in the eighth section of the lunar chart. It has a small conical peak at its center and its terraced perpendicular walls and surrounding plain shine with noticeable brightness.
Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after Al Bitruji (Alpetragius). It is a crater twenty-six miles in diameter in the eighth section of the lunar chart. It has a small conical peak at its center and its terraced perpendicular walls and surrounding plain shine with noticeable brightness.
Abul-Waleed Muhammad Ibn Rushd
Ibn Rushd (1128 - 1198 C.E.) was a genius of encyclopedic scope. He spent a great part of his fruitful life as a judge and as a physician. Yet he was known in the West for being the grand commentator on the philosophy of Aristotle, whose influence penetrated the minds of even the most conservative of Christian Ecclesiastes in the Middle Ages, including men like St. Thomas Aquinas. People went to him for consultation in medicine just as they did for consultation in legal matters and jurisprudence.
Abul-Waleed Muhammad Ibn Rushd (known in the West as Averroes) was born in Cordova, Spain in 520 A.H. (1128 C.E.). Both his father and grand father were prominent judges. His family was well known for scholarship and it gave him fitting environment to excel in learning. He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. He studied philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Haroon and from Ibn Baja. At the age of twenty-seven, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions.
Upon the ascendancy of Yousuf, he was introduced to him by another great Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufail to help in translating, abridging and commenting on some works of Aristotle (in 1169 C.E.).
Ibn Rushd was appointed a judge (Qaadi) in Seville at the age of forty-four. That year he translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima". This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott. Two years later he was transferred to Cordova, his birthplace where he spent ten years as a judge in that town. During those ten years Ibn Rushd wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle including the Metaphysics. He was later called back to Marrakesh to work as a physician for the Caliph there, before his return to Cordova as Chief Judge.
Ibn Rushd was well versed in the matters of the faith and law, which qualified him for the post of Qaadi (judge), but he was also keenly interested in philosophy and logic. So he tried to reconcile philosophy and religion in many of his works. Besides this area of study, he was deeply interested in medicine as well, as was his predecessor Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
According to the French philosopher Renan, Ibn Rushd wrote seventy-eight books on various subjects. A careful examination of his works reveals that Averroes was a deeply religious man. As an example, we find in his writing:
" Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith
in the omnipotence and oneness of God The Almighty "
In his medical and philosophical works we see the depth of his faith and knowledge of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions, which he often quotes in support of his views in different matters.
Ibn Rushd said that true happiness for man can surely be achieved through mental and psychological health, and people cannot enjoy psychological health unless they follow ways that lead to happiness in the hereafter, and unless they believe in God and His oneness.
Ibn Rushd commented that Islam aims at true knowledge, which is knowledge of God and of His creation. This true knowledge also includes knowing the various means that lead to worldly satisfaction and avoidance of misery in the Hereafter. This type of practical knowledge covers two branches: (1) Jurisprudence which deals with the material or tangible aspect of human life and (2) the spiritual sciences which deal with matters like patience, gratitude to God, and morals.
He compared spiritual laws to medicine in their effect on human beings physically on one hand, and morally and spiritually on the other. He pointed out that spiritual health is termed 'Taqwa' (righteousness and God-fearing) in the Qur'an.
Ibn Rushd's writings spread more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. He wrote 20 books on medicine.
In Philosophy, his most important work Tuhafut al-Tuhafut was written in response to al-Ghazali's work. Ibn Rushd was criticized by many Muslim scholars for this book, which, nevertheless, had a profound influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science.
His views on fate were that man is in neither full control of his destiny nor it is fully predetermined for him. He wrote three commentaries on the works of Aristotle, as these were known then through Arabic translations.
The shortest 'Jami' may be considered as a summary of the subject. The intermediate was 'Talkhis' and the longest was the 'Tafsir'. These three commentaries would seem to correspond to different stages in the education of pupils; the short one was meant for the beginners, then the intermediate for the students familiar with the subject, and finally the longest one for advanced studies. The longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Qur'anic concepts.
Ibn Rushd wrote many books on the question of theology, where he tried to use his knowledge of philosophy and logic. It is not surprising then that his works greatly influenced European religious scholarship, though Averroes is innocent of many views of Western so-called Averroism. Professor Bammate in his booklet "Muslim Contribution to Civilization" quotes Renan: St. Thomas Aquinas was "the first disciple of the Grand Commentator (i.e., Averroes). Albert Alagnus owes everything to Avicenna, St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroess."
Professor Bammate continues: The Reverend Father Asin Palacios, who has carried out intensive studies of the theological Averroism of St. Thomas and, in no way classifies Averroes with Latin Averroists, takes several texts of the Cordovan philosopher and compares them with the Angelic Doctor of (St. Thomas). The similarity in their thought is confirmed by the use of expressions similar to that of Ibn Rushd. It leaves no room for any doubt about the decisive influence that the Muslim Philosopher (Averroes) had on the greatest of all Catholic theologians.
In Medicine, his well-known book Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb was written before 1162 C.E. Its Latin translation was known as 'Colliget.' In it, Ibn Rushd has expounded on various aspects of medicine, including the diagnoses, cures and prevention of diseases. This book focuses on specific areas in comparison of Ibn Sina's al-Qanun, but contains several original observations of Ibn Rushd.
In Astronomy, he wrote a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitab fi-Harakat al-Falak. According to Draper, Ibn Rushd is credited with the discovery of sunspots. He also summarized Almagest and divided it into two parts: description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres. This summary of the Almagest was translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in 1231.
His book on jurisprudence 'Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid' has been held by Ibn Jafar Zahabi as possibly the best book on the Maliki School of Fiqh. Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into various languages, including Latin, English, German and Hebrew.
Most of his commentaries on philosophy are preserved in the Hebrew translations, or in Latin translations from the Hebrew, and a few in the original Arabic. His commentary on zoology is entirely lost. Ibn Rushd also wrote commentaries on Plato's Republic, Galen's treatise on fevers, al-Farabi's logic, and many others. Eighty-seven of his books are still extant.
lbn Rushd has been held as one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the twelfth century. According to Philip Hitti, Ibn Rushd influenced Western thought from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. His commentaries were used as standard texts in preference to the treatises of Aristotle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. His books were included in the syllabi of Paris and other Western universities till the advent of modern experimental sciences. Ibn Rusd was studied in the University of Mexico until 1831.
Abul-Waleed Muhammad Ibn Rushd (known in the West as Averroes) was born in Cordova, Spain in 520 A.H. (1128 C.E.). Both his father and grand father were prominent judges. His family was well known for scholarship and it gave him fitting environment to excel in learning. He studied religious law, medicine, mathematics, and philosophy. He studied philosophy and law from Abu J'afar Haroon and from Ibn Baja. At the age of twenty-seven, Ibn Rushd was invited to the Movahid Court at Marrakesh (in Morocco) to help in establishing Islamic educational institutions.
Upon the ascendancy of Yousuf, he was introduced to him by another great Muslim philosopher Ibn Tufail to help in translating, abridging and commenting on some works of Aristotle (in 1169 C.E.).
Ibn Rushd was appointed a judge (Qaadi) in Seville at the age of forty-four. That year he translated and abridged Aristotle's book "de Anima". This book was translated into Latin by Mitchell the Scott. Two years later he was transferred to Cordova, his birthplace where he spent ten years as a judge in that town. During those ten years Ibn Rushd wrote commentaries on the works of Aristotle including the Metaphysics. He was later called back to Marrakesh to work as a physician for the Caliph there, before his return to Cordova as Chief Judge.
Ibn Rushd was well versed in the matters of the faith and law, which qualified him for the post of Qaadi (judge), but he was also keenly interested in philosophy and logic. So he tried to reconcile philosophy and religion in many of his works. Besides this area of study, he was deeply interested in medicine as well, as was his predecessor Ibn Sina (Avicenna).
According to the French philosopher Renan, Ibn Rushd wrote seventy-eight books on various subjects. A careful examination of his works reveals that Averroes was a deeply religious man. As an example, we find in his writing:
" Anyone who studies anatomy will increase his faith
in the omnipotence and oneness of God The Almighty "
In his medical and philosophical works we see the depth of his faith and knowledge of the Qur'an and Prophetic traditions, which he often quotes in support of his views in different matters.
Ibn Rushd said that true happiness for man can surely be achieved through mental and psychological health, and people cannot enjoy psychological health unless they follow ways that lead to happiness in the hereafter, and unless they believe in God and His oneness.
Ibn Rushd commented that Islam aims at true knowledge, which is knowledge of God and of His creation. This true knowledge also includes knowing the various means that lead to worldly satisfaction and avoidance of misery in the Hereafter. This type of practical knowledge covers two branches: (1) Jurisprudence which deals with the material or tangible aspect of human life and (2) the spiritual sciences which deal with matters like patience, gratitude to God, and morals.
He compared spiritual laws to medicine in their effect on human beings physically on one hand, and morally and spiritually on the other. He pointed out that spiritual health is termed 'Taqwa' (righteousness and God-fearing) in the Qur'an.
Ibn Rushd's writings spread more than 20,000 pages, the most famous of which deal with philosophy, medicine and jurisprudence. He wrote 20 books on medicine.
In Philosophy, his most important work Tuhafut al-Tuhafut was written in response to al-Ghazali's work. Ibn Rushd was criticized by many Muslim scholars for this book, which, nevertheless, had a profound influence on European thought, at least until the beginning of modern philosophy and experimental science.
His views on fate were that man is in neither full control of his destiny nor it is fully predetermined for him. He wrote three commentaries on the works of Aristotle, as these were known then through Arabic translations.
The shortest 'Jami' may be considered as a summary of the subject. The intermediate was 'Talkhis' and the longest was the 'Tafsir'. These three commentaries would seem to correspond to different stages in the education of pupils; the short one was meant for the beginners, then the intermediate for the students familiar with the subject, and finally the longest one for advanced studies. The longest commentary was, in fact, an original contribution as it was largely based on his analysis including interpretation of Qur'anic concepts.
Ibn Rushd wrote many books on the question of theology, where he tried to use his knowledge of philosophy and logic. It is not surprising then that his works greatly influenced European religious scholarship, though Averroes is innocent of many views of Western so-called Averroism. Professor Bammate in his booklet "Muslim Contribution to Civilization" quotes Renan: St. Thomas Aquinas was "the first disciple of the Grand Commentator (i.e., Averroes). Albert Alagnus owes everything to Avicenna, St. Thomas owes practically everything to Averroess."
Professor Bammate continues: The Reverend Father Asin Palacios, who has carried out intensive studies of the theological Averroism of St. Thomas and, in no way classifies Averroes with Latin Averroists, takes several texts of the Cordovan philosopher and compares them with the Angelic Doctor of (St. Thomas). The similarity in their thought is confirmed by the use of expressions similar to that of Ibn Rushd. It leaves no room for any doubt about the decisive influence that the Muslim Philosopher (Averroes) had on the greatest of all Catholic theologians.
In Medicine, his well-known book Kitab al-Kulyat fi al-Tibb was written before 1162 C.E. Its Latin translation was known as 'Colliget.' In it, Ibn Rushd has expounded on various aspects of medicine, including the diagnoses, cures and prevention of diseases. This book focuses on specific areas in comparison of Ibn Sina's al-Qanun, but contains several original observations of Ibn Rushd.
In Astronomy, he wrote a treatise on the motion of the sphere, Kitab fi-Harakat al-Falak. According to Draper, Ibn Rushd is credited with the discovery of sunspots. He also summarized Almagest and divided it into two parts: description of the spheres, and movement of the spheres. This summary of the Almagest was translated from Arabic into Hebrew by Jacob Anatoli in 1231.
His book on jurisprudence 'Bidayat al-Mujtahid wa-Nihayat-al-Muqtasid' has been held by Ibn Jafar Zahabi as possibly the best book on the Maliki School of Fiqh. Ibn Rushd's writings were translated into various languages, including Latin, English, German and Hebrew.
Most of his commentaries on philosophy are preserved in the Hebrew translations, or in Latin translations from the Hebrew, and a few in the original Arabic. His commentary on zoology is entirely lost. Ibn Rushd also wrote commentaries on Plato's Republic, Galen's treatise on fevers, al-Farabi's logic, and many others. Eighty-seven of his books are still extant.
lbn Rushd has been held as one of the greatest thinkers and scientists of the twelfth century. According to Philip Hitti, Ibn Rushd influenced Western thought from the twelfth to the sixteenth centuries. His commentaries were used as standard texts in preference to the treatises of Aristotle in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. His books were included in the syllabi of Paris and other Western universities till the advent of modern experimental sciences. Ibn Rusd was studied in the University of Mexico until 1831.
Al-Idrisi
Al-ldrisi is best known in the West as a geographer, who made a globe of silver sphere weighing 400 kilograms for King Roger II of Sicily. Some scholars regard him as the greatest geographer and cartographer of the Middle Ages. He also made original contributions in medicinal plants. Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Abdullah Ibn Idris Ash-Sharif was born in 1099 C.E. in Ceuta, Spain. He is also known by his short name Al-Sharif Al-ldrisi al-Qurtubi.
Al-ldrisi was educated in Cordova. As was common with Muslim geographers, he traveled many distant places, including Europe, to gather geographical data. The Muslim geographers by his time had already made accurate measurements of the earth surface, and several maps of the whole world were available. Al-ldrisi combined this available knowledge to his own findings. It is for this comprehensive knowledge of all parts of the known world, he became famous and began to get the attention of European sea navigators and military planners.
Al-Idrisi's fame and competence eventually led to the attention of Roger II, the Norman King of Sicily, who invited him to produce an up-to-date world map. It should be mentioned that Sicily was under Muslim rule before King Roger, where Muslim works were freely available for transmission to Europe through Latin West. Al-ldrisi procured a ball of silver weighing approximately 400 kilograms and meticulously recorded on it the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, and plains and mountains. He also included such information as the distance, length and height as appropriate. His globe was accompanied by his book Al-Kitab al-Rujari (Roger's Book). He also made a representation of the known world on a disc.
Al-Idrisi's book 'Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq' (The Delight of Him Who Desires to Journey Through The Climates) is a geographical encyclopedia which contains detailed maps and information on European countries, Africa and Asia.
Later, he compiled a more comprehensive encyclopedia, entitled 'Rawd-Unnas wa-Nuzhat al-Nafs' (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls). Al-Idrisi's knowledge of the Niger above Timbuktu, the Sudan, and of the head waters of the Nile was remarkable for its accuracy.
Al-ldrisi also made major contributions in the science of medicinal plants and wrote several books. The most popular among them is entitled 'Kitab al-Jami-li-Sifat Ashtat al-Nabatat'. He reviewed and synthesized all the literature on the subject of medicinal plants and associated drugs available to him from Muslim scientists and added to it his research collection from travels. He contributed this material to the subject of botany with emphasis on medicinal plants.
He describes the names of the drugs in several languages including Berber, Syriac, Persian, Hindi, Greek, and Latin. Idrisi also wrote on zoology and fauna. Al-ldrisi died around 1166 C.E. Al-Idrisi became famous in Europe more than other Muslim geographers because ships and navigators from north sea, Atlantic and the Mediterranean frequented Sicily, which is located about the middle of the Mediterranean.
Srveral of his books were translated into Latin and his books on geography were popular for several centuries. The translation of one of his books was published in 1619 in Rome. This translation was an abridged edition and the translator did not give credit to AI-Idrisi. It is interesting that Europe took several centuries to make use of his globe and the world map. Christopher Columbus used the map which was originally taken from Al-Idrisi's work.
Al-ldrisi was educated in Cordova. As was common with Muslim geographers, he traveled many distant places, including Europe, to gather geographical data. The Muslim geographers by his time had already made accurate measurements of the earth surface, and several maps of the whole world were available. Al-ldrisi combined this available knowledge to his own findings. It is for this comprehensive knowledge of all parts of the known world, he became famous and began to get the attention of European sea navigators and military planners.
Al-Idrisi's fame and competence eventually led to the attention of Roger II, the Norman King of Sicily, who invited him to produce an up-to-date world map. It should be mentioned that Sicily was under Muslim rule before King Roger, where Muslim works were freely available for transmission to Europe through Latin West. Al-ldrisi procured a ball of silver weighing approximately 400 kilograms and meticulously recorded on it the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, and plains and mountains. He also included such information as the distance, length and height as appropriate. His globe was accompanied by his book Al-Kitab al-Rujari (Roger's Book). He also made a representation of the known world on a disc.
Al-Idrisi's book 'Nuzhat al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq' (The Delight of Him Who Desires to Journey Through The Climates) is a geographical encyclopedia which contains detailed maps and information on European countries, Africa and Asia.
Later, he compiled a more comprehensive encyclopedia, entitled 'Rawd-Unnas wa-Nuzhat al-Nafs' (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls). Al-Idrisi's knowledge of the Niger above Timbuktu, the Sudan, and of the head waters of the Nile was remarkable for its accuracy.
Al-ldrisi also made major contributions in the science of medicinal plants and wrote several books. The most popular among them is entitled 'Kitab al-Jami-li-Sifat Ashtat al-Nabatat'. He reviewed and synthesized all the literature on the subject of medicinal plants and associated drugs available to him from Muslim scientists and added to it his research collection from travels. He contributed this material to the subject of botany with emphasis on medicinal plants.
He describes the names of the drugs in several languages including Berber, Syriac, Persian, Hindi, Greek, and Latin. Idrisi also wrote on zoology and fauna. Al-ldrisi died around 1166 C.E. Al-Idrisi became famous in Europe more than other Muslim geographers because ships and navigators from north sea, Atlantic and the Mediterranean frequented Sicily, which is located about the middle of the Mediterranean.
Srveral of his books were translated into Latin and his books on geography were popular for several centuries. The translation of one of his books was published in 1619 in Rome. This translation was an abridged edition and the translator did not give credit to AI-Idrisi. It is interesting that Europe took several centuries to make use of his globe and the world map. Christopher Columbus used the map which was originally taken from Al-Idrisi's work.
Abu Marwan Abd Al-Malik Ibn Zuhr
Ibn Zuhr, known in the West as Avenzoar, was one of the greatest physicians, clinicians and parasitologist of the Middle Ages. Some historians of science have declared him as the greatest among the Muslim physicians since Al-Razi (Rhazes) of Baghdad. Some of his contemporaries called him as the greatest physician since Galen.
Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr was born at Seville, Spain in 1091 C.E. He graduated from Cordova (Arabic Qurtuba) Medical University. After a brief stay in Baghdad and Cairo, he returned to Spain and worked for Almoravides as a physician. Later, Ibn Zuhr worked for 'Abd al-Mu'min, the first Muwahid ruler, both as physician and a minister. He devoted his career in Seville and died in 1161 C.E.
Ibn Zuhr confined his work only in Medicine, contrary to the prevailing practice of Muslim scientists typically working in several fields. However, by focusing in one field he made many original and long-lasting contributions. He emphasized observation and experiment in his work.
Dr. Neuberger in History of Medicine writes that
" Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) was proficient in the art of dissecting dead human bodies and knew anatomy in detail. His operative technique was superb "
Ibn Zuhr made several breakthroughs as a physician. He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering them to humans. Also, he was the first to describe in detail scabies, the itch mite, and is thus regarded as the first parasitologist.
He was also the first to give a full description of the operation of tracheotomy and practiced direct feeding through the gullet in those cases where normal feeding was not possible. As a clinician, he provided clinical descriptions of intestinal phthisis, inflammation of the middle ear, peri carditis, and mediastinal tumors among others.
Ibn Zuhr wrote many monumental books for the medical specialists and for common people. Several of his books were translated into Latin and Hebrew and were in great demand in Europe until the late Eighteenth century.
Only three of his great books have survived. Ibn Zuhr wrote Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir at the request of Ibn Rushd (Averroes). In English, it is entitled "The Book of Simplification concerning Therapeutics and Diet". It contains many of his original contributions. This book discusses pathological conditions and therapy in detail.
The second book Kitab al-Iqtisad fi Islah Al-Anfus wa al-Ajsad (translated as the "Book of the Middle Course concerning the Reformation of Souls and the Bodies") summarizes different diseases, therapeutics and the hygiene. It also discusses the role of psychology in treatment. This book is written in an easy to understand format for the nonspecialist.
The third book Kitab al-Aghziya (Book on Foodstuff) discusses numerous drugs, and the importance of food and nutrition. Ibn Zuhr's influence on the development of medical science was felt for several centuries throughout the world.
Abu Marwan Abd al-Malik Ibn Zuhr was born at Seville, Spain in 1091 C.E. He graduated from Cordova (Arabic Qurtuba) Medical University. After a brief stay in Baghdad and Cairo, he returned to Spain and worked for Almoravides as a physician. Later, Ibn Zuhr worked for 'Abd al-Mu'min, the first Muwahid ruler, both as physician and a minister. He devoted his career in Seville and died in 1161 C.E.
Ibn Zuhr confined his work only in Medicine, contrary to the prevailing practice of Muslim scientists typically working in several fields. However, by focusing in one field he made many original and long-lasting contributions. He emphasized observation and experiment in his work.
Dr. Neuberger in History of Medicine writes that
" Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar) was proficient in the art of dissecting dead human bodies and knew anatomy in detail. His operative technique was superb "
Ibn Zuhr made several breakthroughs as a physician. He was the first to test different medicines on animals before administering them to humans. Also, he was the first to describe in detail scabies, the itch mite, and is thus regarded as the first parasitologist.
He was also the first to give a full description of the operation of tracheotomy and practiced direct feeding through the gullet in those cases where normal feeding was not possible. As a clinician, he provided clinical descriptions of intestinal phthisis, inflammation of the middle ear, peri carditis, and mediastinal tumors among others.
Ibn Zuhr wrote many monumental books for the medical specialists and for common people. Several of his books were translated into Latin and Hebrew and were in great demand in Europe until the late Eighteenth century.
Only three of his great books have survived. Ibn Zuhr wrote Kitab al-Taisir fi al-Mudawat wa al-Tadbir at the request of Ibn Rushd (Averroes). In English, it is entitled "The Book of Simplification concerning Therapeutics and Diet". It contains many of his original contributions. This book discusses pathological conditions and therapy in detail.
The second book Kitab al-Iqtisad fi Islah Al-Anfus wa al-Ajsad (translated as the "Book of the Middle Course concerning the Reformation of Souls and the Bodies") summarizes different diseases, therapeutics and the hygiene. It also discusses the role of psychology in treatment. This book is written in an easy to understand format for the nonspecialist.
The third book Kitab al-Aghziya (Book on Foodstuff) discusses numerous drugs, and the importance of food and nutrition. Ibn Zuhr's influence on the development of medical science was felt for several centuries throughout the world.
Omar Al-Khayyam
Omar Al-Khayyam was an outstanding mathematician and astronomer. He was also well known as a poet, philosopher, and physician. In the "History of Western Philosophy", Bertrand Russell remarks that Omar Khayyam was the only man known to him who was both a poet and a mathematician. Omar Khayyam reformed the solar calendar in 1079 C.E. His work on Algebra was highly valued throughout Europe in the Middle Ages. In the West, he is best known for his poetic work 'Rubaiyat' (quatrains) which was translated by Edward Fitzgerald in 1859.
His full name was Ghiyath al-Din Abul Fateh Omar Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam. Omar Khayyam was born in 1044 C.E. at Nishapur, the provincial capital of Khurasan. He is generally known as a Persian. However, it has been suggested that his ancestors (from the Arab Khayyami tribe) migrated and settled in Persia. Omar Khayyam was educated at Nishapur. He also traveled to several reputed institutions of learning, including those at Bukhara, Balkh, Samarqand and Isphahan. He lived in Nishapur and Samarqand (Central Asia) for most of his life. Omar Khayyam was a contemporary of Nizam al-Mulk Tusi. He died in 1123 C.E. in Nishapur.
Al-Khayyam made major contributions in Mathematics, particularly in Algebra. His book 'Maqalat fi al-Jabr wa al-Muqabila' on Algebra provided great advancement in the field. He classified many algebraic equations based on their complexity and recognized thirteen different forms of cubic equation. Omar Khayyam developed a geometrical approach to solving equations, which involved an ingenious selection of proper conics. He solved cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle. Omar Khayyam was the first to develop the binomial theorem and determine binomial coefficients.
He developed the binomial expansion for the case when the exponent is a positive integer. Omar Khayyam refers in his Algebra book to another work on what we now know as Pascal's triangle. This work is now lost. He extended Euclid's work giving a new definition of ratios and included the multiplication of ratios. He contributed to the theory of parallel lines.
Omar Al-Khayyam is famous for another work which he contributed when he worked for Saljuq Sultan, Malik Shah Jalal al-Din. He was asked to develop an accurate solar calendar to be used for revenue collections and various administrative matters. To accomplish this task, Omar Khayyam began his work at the new observatory at Ray in 1074 C.E.
His calendar 'Al-Tarikh-al-Jalali' is superior to the Gregorian calendar and is accurate to within one day in 3770 years. Specifically, he measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days. It shows that he recognized the importance of accuracy by giving his result to eleven decimal places. As a comparison, the length of the year in our time is 365.242190 days. This number changes slightly in the sixth decimal place, e.g., in the nineteenth century it was 365.242196 days. Al-Khayyam contributed also to other fields of science. He developed a method for accurate determination of the specific gravity. He wrote two books in metaphysics, 'Risala Dar Wujud' and Nauruz Namah'. As a poet, Omar Khayyam is well known for his Rubaiyat (quatrains). His themes involved complex mystical and philosophical thoughts.
Omar Al-Khayyam's ten books and thirty monographs have survived. These include four books on mathematics, one on algebra, one on geometry, three on physics, and three books on metaphysics. He made great contributions in the development of mathematics and analytical geometry, which benefitted Europe several centuries later.
His full name was Ghiyath al-Din Abul Fateh Omar Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam. Omar Khayyam was born in 1044 C.E. at Nishapur, the provincial capital of Khurasan. He is generally known as a Persian. However, it has been suggested that his ancestors (from the Arab Khayyami tribe) migrated and settled in Persia. Omar Khayyam was educated at Nishapur. He also traveled to several reputed institutions of learning, including those at Bukhara, Balkh, Samarqand and Isphahan. He lived in Nishapur and Samarqand (Central Asia) for most of his life. Omar Khayyam was a contemporary of Nizam al-Mulk Tusi. He died in 1123 C.E. in Nishapur.
Al-Khayyam made major contributions in Mathematics, particularly in Algebra. His book 'Maqalat fi al-Jabr wa al-Muqabila' on Algebra provided great advancement in the field. He classified many algebraic equations based on their complexity and recognized thirteen different forms of cubic equation. Omar Khayyam developed a geometrical approach to solving equations, which involved an ingenious selection of proper conics. He solved cubic equations by intersecting a parabola with a circle. Omar Khayyam was the first to develop the binomial theorem and determine binomial coefficients.
He developed the binomial expansion for the case when the exponent is a positive integer. Omar Khayyam refers in his Algebra book to another work on what we now know as Pascal's triangle. This work is now lost. He extended Euclid's work giving a new definition of ratios and included the multiplication of ratios. He contributed to the theory of parallel lines.
Omar Al-Khayyam is famous for another work which he contributed when he worked for Saljuq Sultan, Malik Shah Jalal al-Din. He was asked to develop an accurate solar calendar to be used for revenue collections and various administrative matters. To accomplish this task, Omar Khayyam began his work at the new observatory at Ray in 1074 C.E.
His calendar 'Al-Tarikh-al-Jalali' is superior to the Gregorian calendar and is accurate to within one day in 3770 years. Specifically, he measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days. It shows that he recognized the importance of accuracy by giving his result to eleven decimal places. As a comparison, the length of the year in our time is 365.242190 days. This number changes slightly in the sixth decimal place, e.g., in the nineteenth century it was 365.242196 days. Al-Khayyam contributed also to other fields of science. He developed a method for accurate determination of the specific gravity. He wrote two books in metaphysics, 'Risala Dar Wujud' and Nauruz Namah'. As a poet, Omar Khayyam is well known for his Rubaiyat (quatrains). His themes involved complex mystical and philosophical thoughts.
Omar Al-Khayyam's ten books and thirty monographs have survived. These include four books on mathematics, one on algebra, one on geometry, three on physics, and three books on metaphysics. He made great contributions in the development of mathematics and analytical geometry, which benefitted Europe several centuries later.
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn Yahya Al-Zarqali
Abu Ishaq Ibrahim Ibn Yahya al-Zarqali (1028 - 1087 C.E.), known in the West as Arzachel, was a Spanish Arab. He was the foremost astronomer of his time. AI-Zarqali carried out a series of astronomical observations at Toledo (Arabic Al Tulaytalah) and compiled them in what is known as his famous Toledan Tables.
He corrected the geographical data from Ptolemy and Al-Khwarizmi. Specifically, AI-Zarqali corrected Ptolemy's estimate of the length of the Mediterranean sea from 62 degrees to approximately correct value of 42 degrees. The Toledo Tables were translated into Latin in the Twelfth century. AI-Zarqali was the first to prove conclusively the motion of the Aphelion relative to the stars. He measured its rate of motion as 12.04 seconds per year, which is remarkably close to the modern calculation of 11.8 seconds. AI-Zarqali invented a flat astrolabe which is known as Safihah. Its details were published in Latin, Hebrew and several European languages.
Copernicus in his famous book 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Clestium' expresses his indebtedness to al-Battani (albategnius) and Al-Zarqali (Arzachel) and quotes their work several times. Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after AI-Zarqali (Arzachel). It is a plain in the eighth section more than sixty miles in diameter and is surrounded by rows of mountains rising like terraces to heights of 13,000 feet above the interior region. It also includes several hills and craters and a prominent cleft by the side of the base of the western mountainous wall.
He corrected the geographical data from Ptolemy and Al-Khwarizmi. Specifically, AI-Zarqali corrected Ptolemy's estimate of the length of the Mediterranean sea from 62 degrees to approximately correct value of 42 degrees. The Toledo Tables were translated into Latin in the Twelfth century. AI-Zarqali was the first to prove conclusively the motion of the Aphelion relative to the stars. He measured its rate of motion as 12.04 seconds per year, which is remarkably close to the modern calculation of 11.8 seconds. AI-Zarqali invented a flat astrolabe which is known as Safihah. Its details were published in Latin, Hebrew and several European languages.
Copernicus in his famous book 'De Revolutionibus Orbium Clestium' expresses his indebtedness to al-Battani (albategnius) and Al-Zarqali (Arzachel) and quotes their work several times. Beer and Madler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention a surface feature of the moon after AI-Zarqali (Arzachel). It is a plain in the eighth section more than sixty miles in diameter and is surrounded by rows of mountains rising like terraces to heights of 13,000 feet above the interior region. It also includes several hills and craters and a prominent cleft by the side of the base of the western mountainous wall.
Abu Al-Hasan Al-Mawardi
Abu al-Hasan Ali Ibn Muhammad Ibn Habib al-Mawardi was born at Basrah in 972 C.E. He was educated at first in Basrah where, after completion of his basic education, he learned Fiqh (Islamic jurisprudence) from the jurist Abu al-Wahid al-Simari. He then went to Baghdad for advanced studies under Sheikh Abd al-Hamid and Abdallah al-Baqi. His proficiency in jurisprudence ethics, political science and literature proved useful in securing a respectable career for him. After his initial appointment as Qazi (Judge), he was gradually promoted to higher offices, till he became the Chief Justice at Baghdad.
The Abbasi Khalifah al-Qaim bi Amr Allah appointed him as his roving ambassador and sent him to a number of countries as the head of special missions. In this capacity he played a key role in establishing harmonious relations between the declining Abbasid Caliphate and the rising powers of Buwahids and Seljukes. He was favoured with rich gifts and tributes by most Sultans of the time. He was still in Baghdad when it was taken over by Buwahids. Al-Mawardi died in 1058 C.E.
Al-Mawardi was a great jurist, mohaddith, sociologist and an expert in Political Science. He was a jurist in the school of Fiqh and his book Al-Hawi on the principles of jurisprudence is held in high repute. His contribution in political science and sociology comprises a number of monumental books, the most famous of which are Kitab al-Ahkam al-Sultania, Qanun al-Wazarah, and Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk. The books discuss the principles of political science, with special reference to the functions and duties of the caliphs, the chief minister, other ministers, relationships between various elements of public and government and measures to strengthen the government and ensure victory in war. Two of these books, al-Ahkam al-Sultania and Qanun al-Wazarah have been published and also translated into various languages.
He is considered as being the author / supporter of the 'Doctrine of Necessity' in political science. He was thus in favour of a strong caliphate and discouraged unlimited powers delegated to the Governors, which tended to create chaos. On the other hand, he has laid down clear principles for election of the caliph and qualities of the voters, chief among which are attainment of a degree of intellectual level and purity of character.
In ethics, he wrote Kitab Aadab al-Dunya wa al-Din, which became a widely popular book on the subject and is still read in some Islamic countries. Al-Mawardi has been considered as one of the most famous thinkers in political science in the middle ages. His original work influenced the development of this science, together with the science of sociology, which was further developed later on by Ibn Khaldun.
The Abbasi Khalifah al-Qaim bi Amr Allah appointed him as his roving ambassador and sent him to a number of countries as the head of special missions. In this capacity he played a key role in establishing harmonious relations between the declining Abbasid Caliphate and the rising powers of Buwahids and Seljukes. He was favoured with rich gifts and tributes by most Sultans of the time. He was still in Baghdad when it was taken over by Buwahids. Al-Mawardi died in 1058 C.E.
Al-Mawardi was a great jurist, mohaddith, sociologist and an expert in Political Science. He was a jurist in the school of Fiqh and his book Al-Hawi on the principles of jurisprudence is held in high repute. His contribution in political science and sociology comprises a number of monumental books, the most famous of which are Kitab al-Ahkam al-Sultania, Qanun al-Wazarah, and Kitab Nasihat al-Mulk. The books discuss the principles of political science, with special reference to the functions and duties of the caliphs, the chief minister, other ministers, relationships between various elements of public and government and measures to strengthen the government and ensure victory in war. Two of these books, al-Ahkam al-Sultania and Qanun al-Wazarah have been published and also translated into various languages.
He is considered as being the author / supporter of the 'Doctrine of Necessity' in political science. He was thus in favour of a strong caliphate and discouraged unlimited powers delegated to the Governors, which tended to create chaos. On the other hand, he has laid down clear principles for election of the caliph and qualities of the voters, chief among which are attainment of a degree of intellectual level and purity of character.
In ethics, he wrote Kitab Aadab al-Dunya wa al-Din, which became a widely popular book on the subject and is still read in some Islamic countries. Al-Mawardi has been considered as one of the most famous thinkers in political science in the middle ages. His original work influenced the development of this science, together with the science of sociology, which was further developed later on by Ibn Khaldun.
Abu Raihan Muhammad Al-Biruni
AI-Biruni was an outstanding astronomer, mathematician, physicist, physician, geographer, geologist and historian. According to Max Meyerhoff, Al-Biruni is perhaps the most prominent figure in the phalanx of those universally learned Muslim scholars who characterize the Golden Age of Islamic Science. His great contributions in so many diverse fields earned him the title "al-Ustadh," the Master or Professor par excellence. Some historians have called the period of his activity as "The Age of Al-Biruni."
Abu Raihan Muhammad Al-Biruni was born in Khwarizm (now Kara-Kalpakskaya in present Uzbekistan) in 973 C.E. He studied Arabic, Islamic Law, and several branches of knowledge. Later, he learnt Greek, Syriac and Sanskrit. His knowledge of several languages helped him in understanding the available work and bring together a fresh and original approach in his work. Al-Biruni was of the view that whatever the subject one should use every available source in its original form, investigate the available work with objective scrutiny, and carry out research through direct observation and experimentation.
He was a contemporary of the famous physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and is known to have corresponded with him. Al-Biruni's contributions are so extensive that an index of his written works covers more than sixty pages. His scientific work combined with contributions of Al-Haitham (Al-Hazen) and other Muslim scientists laid down the early foundation of modern science. Al-Biruni died in 1048 C.E. in Ghazna (Afghanistan) after a forty-year illustrious career.
Al-Biruni made original and important contributions to science. 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 few astronomical instruments.
Many centuries before the rest of the world, Al-Biruni discussed that the earth rotated on its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude and longitude. These observations are contained in his book "Al-Athar Al-Baqia." He wrote a treatise on timekeeping in 1000 C.E.
Al-Biruni was the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena. He stated that the speed of light is immense as compared with the speed of sound. He described the Milky Way as a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars.
Al-Biruni described his observation of the solar eclipse of April 8, 1019 and the lunar eclipse of September 17, 1019. On the solar eclipse which he observed at Lamghan, a valley surrounded by mountains between the towns of Qandahar and Kabul, he wrote: ... at sunrise we saw that approximately one-third of the sun was eclipsed and that the eclipse was waning. He observed the lunar eclipse at Ghazna and gave precise details of the exact altitude of various well-known stars at the moment of first contact. Al-Biruni's book "Al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina'at al-Tanjim" summarizes work on Mathematics and Astronomy. It was translated by Ramsay Wright in 1934, Luzac.
Al-Biruni's contributions in Physics include work on springs and accurate determination of the specific weight of eighteen elements and compounds including many metals and precious stones. His book "Kitab-al-Jamahir" discusses the properties of various precious stones. He was a pioneer in the study of the angles and trigonometry. He worked on shadows and chords of circles and developed a method for trisection of an angle. He elaborated on the principle of position and discussed the Indian numerals.
In the fields of geology and geography, al-Biruni contributed on geological eruptions and metallurgy, to the measurement of the longitudes and latitudes and methods of determining the relative position of one place to another. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His book Al-Athar Al-Baqiyah fi Qanun al-Khaliyah deals with ancient history and geography, and it was translated by Edward Sachau. Al-Biruni observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 18 petals, but never seven or nine.
Al-Biruni is most commonly known by his association with Mahmood Ghaznavi, a famous Muslim king who also ruled India, and his son Sultan Masood. Impressed by his scholarship and fame, Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi took al-Biruni along with him in his journeys to India several times. Al-Biruni traveled many places in India for about 20 years and studied Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from the Pundits. In return, he taught them Greek and Muslim sciences and philosophy.
Al-Biruni's book "Kitab al-Hind" provides a detailed account of Indian life, religions, languages, and cultures and includes many observations on geography. He stated that the Indus valley must be considered as an ancient sea basin filled with alluvials. In this book, he mentions two books Patanjal and Sakaya.
He translated these two Sanskrit books into Arabic. The former book deals with after death accounts, and the latter with the creation of things and their types. Abu-al-Fadal's book "Aein-i-Akbari," written six centuries later during the reign of Akbar, was influenced by Al-Biruni's book.
Al-Biruni wrote his famous book "Al-Qanun Al-Masudi Fi Al-Hai'a Wa AI-Nujum," in 1030 C.E. This book was written after he returned from India and was dedicated to Sultan Masood. It discusses several theorems of trigonometry, astronomy, solar, lunar and planetary motions, and contains a collection of twenty-three observations of equinoxes. His other well-known books are Al-Athar Al-Baqia and Kitab-al-Saidana.
The former book gives an account of ancient history of nations and the latter is an extensive materia medica that synthesizes the Arabic Medicine with the Indian medicine. His
Al-Biruni was a true Muslim Scientist who benefitted from both the Islamic guidance and scientific investigations. He said:
" My experience in the study of astronomy and geometry and experiments in physics revealed to me that there must be a Planning Mind of Unlimited Power. My discoveries in Astronomy showed that there are fantastic intricacies in the universe which prove that there is a creative system and a meticulous control that cannot be explained through sheer physical and material causes." [Al-Biruni]
He never exploited his work as a means to fame, authority or material gains. When Sultan Masood sent him three camel-loads of silver coins in appreciation of his encyclopedic work "Al-Qanoon al-Masoodi," (The Mas'udi Canon), Al-Biruni politely returned the royal gift saying:
" I serve knowledge for the sake of knowledge and not for money " [Al-Biruni]
AI-Biruni is considered as one of the greatest scientists of all times.
Abu Raihan Muhammad Al-Biruni was born in Khwarizm (now Kara-Kalpakskaya in present Uzbekistan) in 973 C.E. He studied Arabic, Islamic Law, and several branches of knowledge. Later, he learnt Greek, Syriac and Sanskrit. His knowledge of several languages helped him in understanding the available work and bring together a fresh and original approach in his work. Al-Biruni was of the view that whatever the subject one should use every available source in its original form, investigate the available work with objective scrutiny, and carry out research through direct observation and experimentation.
He was a contemporary of the famous physician Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and is known to have corresponded with him. Al-Biruni's contributions are so extensive that an index of his written works covers more than sixty pages. His scientific work combined with contributions of Al-Haitham (Al-Hazen) and other Muslim scientists laid down the early foundation of modern science. Al-Biruni died in 1048 C.E. in Ghazna (Afghanistan) after a forty-year illustrious career.
Al-Biruni made original and important contributions to science. 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 few astronomical instruments.
Many centuries before the rest of the world, Al-Biruni discussed that the earth rotated on its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude and longitude. These observations are contained in his book "Al-Athar Al-Baqia." He wrote a treatise on timekeeping in 1000 C.E.
Al-Biruni was the first to conduct elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena. He stated that the speed of light is immense as compared with the speed of sound. He described the Milky Way as a collection of countless fragments of the nature of nebulous stars.
Al-Biruni described his observation of the solar eclipse of April 8, 1019 and the lunar eclipse of September 17, 1019. On the solar eclipse which he observed at Lamghan, a valley surrounded by mountains between the towns of Qandahar and Kabul, he wrote: ... at sunrise we saw that approximately one-third of the sun was eclipsed and that the eclipse was waning. He observed the lunar eclipse at Ghazna and gave precise details of the exact altitude of various well-known stars at the moment of first contact. Al-Biruni's book "Al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina'at al-Tanjim" summarizes work on Mathematics and Astronomy. It was translated by Ramsay Wright in 1934, Luzac.
Al-Biruni's contributions in Physics include work on springs and accurate determination of the specific weight of eighteen elements and compounds including many metals and precious stones. His book "Kitab-al-Jamahir" discusses the properties of various precious stones. He was a pioneer in the study of the angles and trigonometry. He worked on shadows and chords of circles and developed a method for trisection of an angle. He elaborated on the principle of position and discussed the Indian numerals.
In the fields of geology and geography, al-Biruni contributed on geological eruptions and metallurgy, to the measurement of the longitudes and latitudes and methods of determining the relative position of one place to another. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His book Al-Athar Al-Baqiyah fi Qanun al-Khaliyah deals with ancient history and geography, and it was translated by Edward Sachau. Al-Biruni observed that flowers have 3, 4, 5, 6, or 18 petals, but never seven or nine.
Al-Biruni is most commonly known by his association with Mahmood Ghaznavi, a famous Muslim king who also ruled India, and his son Sultan Masood. Impressed by his scholarship and fame, Sultan Mahmood Ghaznavi took al-Biruni along with him in his journeys to India several times. Al-Biruni traveled many places in India for about 20 years and studied Hindu philosophy, mathematics, geography and religion from the Pundits. In return, he taught them Greek and Muslim sciences and philosophy.
Al-Biruni's book "Kitab al-Hind" provides a detailed account of Indian life, religions, languages, and cultures and includes many observations on geography. He stated that the Indus valley must be considered as an ancient sea basin filled with alluvials. In this book, he mentions two books Patanjal and Sakaya.
He translated these two Sanskrit books into Arabic. The former book deals with after death accounts, and the latter with the creation of things and their types. Abu-al-Fadal's book "Aein-i-Akbari," written six centuries later during the reign of Akbar, was influenced by Al-Biruni's book.
Al-Biruni wrote his famous book "Al-Qanun Al-Masudi Fi Al-Hai'a Wa AI-Nujum," in 1030 C.E. This book was written after he returned from India and was dedicated to Sultan Masood. It discusses several theorems of trigonometry, astronomy, solar, lunar and planetary motions, and contains a collection of twenty-three observations of equinoxes. His other well-known books are Al-Athar Al-Baqia and Kitab-al-Saidana.
The former book gives an account of ancient history of nations and the latter is an extensive materia medica that synthesizes the Arabic Medicine with the Indian medicine. His
Al-Biruni was a true Muslim Scientist who benefitted from both the Islamic guidance and scientific investigations. He said:
" My experience in the study of astronomy and geometry and experiments in physics revealed to me that there must be a Planning Mind of Unlimited Power. My discoveries in Astronomy showed that there are fantastic intricacies in the universe which prove that there is a creative system and a meticulous control that cannot be explained through sheer physical and material causes." [Al-Biruni]
He never exploited his work as a means to fame, authority or material gains. When Sultan Masood sent him three camel-loads of silver coins in appreciation of his encyclopedic work "Al-Qanoon al-Masoodi," (The Mas'udi Canon), Al-Biruni politely returned the royal gift saying:
" I serve knowledge for the sake of knowledge and not for money " [Al-Biruni]
AI-Biruni is considered as one of the greatest scientists of all times.
Abu Ali Hasan Ibn Al-Haitham
Al-Haitham (965 - 1040 C.E.), known in the West as Alhazen, is considered as the father of modern Optics. Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al-Haitham was one of the most eminent physicists, whose contributions to optics and the scientific methods are outstanding. Ibn al-Haitham was born in 965 C.E. in Basrah (present Iraq), and received his education in Basrah and Baghdad. He traveled to Egypt and Spain. He spent most of his life in Spain, where he conducted research in optics, mathematics, physics, medicine and development of scientific methods.
Al-Haitham conducted experiments on the propagation of light and colors, optic illusions and reflections. He examined the refraction of light rays through transparent medium (air, water) and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. In detailing his experiment with spherical segments (glass vessels filled with water), he came very close to discovering the theory of magnifying lenses which was developed in Italy three centuries later. It took another three centuries before the law of sines was proposed by Snell and Descartes.
His book Kitab-al-Manazir was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as also his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena such as the rainbow, shadows, eclipses, and speculated on the physical nature of light. Roger Bacon (thirteenth century), Pole Witelo (Vitellio) and all Medieval Western writers on Optics base their optical work primarily on Al-Haitham's 'Opticae Thesaurus.' His work also influenced Leonardo da Vinci and Johann Kepler. His approach to optics generated fresh ideas and resulted in great progress in experimental methods.
Al-Haitham was the first to describe accurately the various parts of the eye and gave a scientific explanation of the process of vision. He contradicted Ptolemy's and Euclid's theory of vision that the eye sends out visual rays to the object of the vision; according to him the rays originate in the object of vision and not in the eye. He also attempted to explain binocular vision, and gave a correct explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon. He is known for the earliest use of the Camera obscura. Through these extensive researches on optics, he has been considered as the father of modern Optics.
In Al-Haitham's writings, one finds a clear explanation of the development of scientific methods as developed and applied by the Muslims, the systematic observation of physical phenomena and their relationship to a scientific theory. This was a major breakthrough in scientific methodology, as distinct from guess work, and placed scientific study on a sound foundation comprising systematic relationship between observation, hypothesis and verification. His research in catoptrics focused on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration.
He made the important observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant and investigated the magnifying power of a lens. His catoptrics contains the important problem known as Alhazen's problem. It comprises drawing lines from two points in the plane of a circle meeting at a point on the circumference and making equal angles with the normal at that point. This leads to an equation of the fourth degree. He also solved the shape of an aplantic surface for reflection.
In his book Mizan al-Hikmah, Al-Haitham has discussed the density of the atmosphere and developed a relation between it and the height. He also studied atmospheric refraction; He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the sun is 19o below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis. He deduced the height of homogeneous atmosphere to be fifty-five miles.
Al-Haitham's contribution to mathematics and physics is extensive. In mathematics, he developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry. In Physics, he studied the mechanics of motion of a body and was the first to propose that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This is strikingly similar to the first law of motion. He has also discussed the theories of attraction between masses, and it appears that he was aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity.
Al-Haitham wrote more than two hundred books, very few of which have survived. His monumental treatise on optics has survived through its Latin translation.
During the Middle Ages his books on cosmology were translated into Latin, Hebrew and other European languages. He also wrote a book on the subject of evolution; the ideas contained in that book are worth reading and useful even today.
Al-Haitham's influence on physical sciences in general, and optics in particular, have been held in high esteem and his ideas heralded in a new era in both the theoretical and experimental optical research. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle, Galen, Euclid and Ptolemy.
Beer and Medler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention one of the surface features of the moon after Al-Haitham.
Al-Haitham conducted experiments on the propagation of light and colors, optic illusions and reflections. He examined the refraction of light rays through transparent medium (air, water) and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. In detailing his experiment with spherical segments (glass vessels filled with water), he came very close to discovering the theory of magnifying lenses which was developed in Italy three centuries later. It took another three centuries before the law of sines was proposed by Snell and Descartes.
His book Kitab-al-Manazir was translated into Latin in the Middle Ages, as also his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena such as the rainbow, shadows, eclipses, and speculated on the physical nature of light. Roger Bacon (thirteenth century), Pole Witelo (Vitellio) and all Medieval Western writers on Optics base their optical work primarily on Al-Haitham's 'Opticae Thesaurus.' His work also influenced Leonardo da Vinci and Johann Kepler. His approach to optics generated fresh ideas and resulted in great progress in experimental methods.
Al-Haitham was the first to describe accurately the various parts of the eye and gave a scientific explanation of the process of vision. He contradicted Ptolemy's and Euclid's theory of vision that the eye sends out visual rays to the object of the vision; according to him the rays originate in the object of vision and not in the eye. He also attempted to explain binocular vision, and gave a correct explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon. He is known for the earliest use of the Camera obscura. Through these extensive researches on optics, he has been considered as the father of modern Optics.
In Al-Haitham's writings, one finds a clear explanation of the development of scientific methods as developed and applied by the Muslims, the systematic observation of physical phenomena and their relationship to a scientific theory. This was a major breakthrough in scientific methodology, as distinct from guess work, and placed scientific study on a sound foundation comprising systematic relationship between observation, hypothesis and verification. His research in catoptrics focused on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration.
He made the important observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant and investigated the magnifying power of a lens. His catoptrics contains the important problem known as Alhazen's problem. It comprises drawing lines from two points in the plane of a circle meeting at a point on the circumference and making equal angles with the normal at that point. This leads to an equation of the fourth degree. He also solved the shape of an aplantic surface for reflection.
In his book Mizan al-Hikmah, Al-Haitham has discussed the density of the atmosphere and developed a relation between it and the height. He also studied atmospheric refraction; He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the sun is 19o below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis. He deduced the height of homogeneous atmosphere to be fifty-five miles.
Al-Haitham's contribution to mathematics and physics is extensive. In mathematics, he developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry. In Physics, he studied the mechanics of motion of a body and was the first to propose that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This is strikingly similar to the first law of motion. He has also discussed the theories of attraction between masses, and it appears that he was aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity.
Al-Haitham wrote more than two hundred books, very few of which have survived. His monumental treatise on optics has survived through its Latin translation.
During the Middle Ages his books on cosmology were translated into Latin, Hebrew and other European languages. He also wrote a book on the subject of evolution; the ideas contained in that book are worth reading and useful even today.
Al-Haitham's influence on physical sciences in general, and optics in particular, have been held in high esteem and his ideas heralded in a new era in both the theoretical and experimental optical research. He wrote commentaries on Aristotle, Galen, Euclid and Ptolemy.
Beer and Medler in their famous work Der Mond (1837) mention one of the surface features of the moon after Al-Haitham.
Abu Ali Al-Hussain Ibn Abdullah Ibn Sina
Ibn Sina (981 - 1037 C.E.) was born in 981 C.E. in the village of Afshana near Bukhara which today is located in the far south of Russia. His father, Abdullah, an adherent of the Ismaili sect, was from Balkh and his mother from a village near Bukhara. In any age Ibn Sina, known in the West as Avicenna, would have been a giant among giants. He displayed exceptional intellectual prowess as a child and at the age of ten was already proficient in the Qur'an and the Arabic classics. During the next six years he devoted himself to Muslim Jurisprudence, Philosophy and Natural Science and studied Logic, Euclid, and the Almeagest.
He turned his attention to Medicine at the age of 17 years and found it, in his own words, "not difficult". However he was greatly troubled by metaphysical problems and in particular the works of Aristotle. By chance, he obtained a manual on this subject by the celebrated philosopher al-Farabi which solved his difficulties. By the age of 18 he had built up a reputation as a physician and was summoned to attend the Samani ruler Nuh ibn Mansur (reigned 976 - 997 C.E.), who, in gratitude for Ibn Sina's services, allowed him to make free use of the royal library, which contained many rare and even unique books.
Endowed with great powers of absorbing and retaining knowledge, this Muslim scholar devoured the contents of the library and at the age of 21 was in a position to compose his first book.
At about the same time he lost his father and soon afterwards left Bukhara and wandered westwards. He entered the services of Ali ibn Ma'mun, the ruler of Khiva, for a while, but ultimately fled to avoid being kidnapped by the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. After many wanderings he came to Jurjan, near the Caspian Sea, attracted by the fame of its ruler, Qabus, as a patron of learning. Unfortunately Ibn Sina's arrival almost coincided with the deposition and murder of this ruler. At Jurjan, Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy and wrote the first part of the Qanun, his greatest work.
He then moved to Ray, near modern Teheran and established a busy medical practice. When Ray was besieged, Ibn Sina fled to Hamadan where he cured Amir Shamsud-Dawala of colic and was made Prime Minister. A mutiny of soldiers against him caused his dismissal and imprisonment, but subsequently the Amir, being again attacked by the colic, summoned him back, apologised and reinstated him! His life at this time was very strenuous: during the day he was busy with the Amir's services, while a great deal of the night was passed in lecturing and dictating notes for his books. Students would gather in his home and read parts of his two great books, the Shifa and the Qanun, already composed.
Following the death of the Amir, Ibn Sina fled to Isfahan after a few brushes with the law, including a period in prison. He spent his final years in the services of the ruler of the city, Ala al-Daula whom he advised on scientific and literary matters and accompanied on military campaigns.
Friends advised him to slow down and take life in moderation, but this was not in character. He would reply:
" I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length " [Ibn Sina]
Worn out by hard work and hard living; Ibn Sina died in 1036/1 at a comparatively early age of 58 years. He was buried in Hamadan where his grave is still shown. Al-Qifti states that Ibn Sina completed 21 major and 24 minor works on philosophy, medicine, theology, geometry, astronomy and the like. Another source (Brockelmann) attributes 99 books to Ibn Sina comprising 16 on medicine, 68 on theology and metaphysics 11 on astronomy and four on verse. Most of these were in Arabic; but in his native Persian he wrote a large manual on philosophical science entitled Danish-naama-i-Alai and a small treatise on the pulse.
His most celebrated Arabic poem describes the descent of Soul into the Body from the Higher Sphere. Among his scientific works, the leading two are the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing), a philosophical encyclopaedia based upon Aristotelian traditions and the al-Qanun al-Tibb which represents the final categorisation of Greco-Arabian thoughts on Medicine.
Of Ibn Sina's 16 medical works, eight are versified treatises on such matter as the 25 signs indicating the fatal termination of illnesses, hygienic precepts, proven remedies, anatomical memoranda etc. Amongst his prose works, after the great Qanun, of which the treatise on cardiac drugs, is important, but it remains unpublished.
The Qanun is, of course, by far the largest, most famous and most important of Ibn Sina's works. The work contains about one million words and like most Arabic books, is elaborately divided and subdivided. The main division is into five books, of which the first deals with general principles; the second with simple drugs arranged alphabetically; the third with diseases of particular organs and members of the body from the head to the foot; the fourth with diseases which though local in their inception spread to other parts of the body, such as fevers and the fifth with compound medicines.
The Qanun distinguishes mediastinitis from pleurisy and recognises the contagious nature of phthisis (tuberculosis of the lung) and the spread of disease by water and soil. It gives a scientific diagnosis of ankylostomiasis and attributes the condition to an intestinal worm. The Qanun points out the importance of dietetics, the influence of climate and environment on health and the surgical use of oral anaesthetics. Ibn Sina advised surgeons to treat cancer in its earliest stages, ensuring the removal of all the diseased tissue. The Qanun's materia medica considers some 760 drugs, with comments on their application and effectiveness. He recommended the testing of a new drug on animals and humans prior to general use.
Ibn Sina noted the close relationship between emotions and the physical condition and felt that music had a definite physical and psychological effect on patients. Of the many psychological disorders that he described in the Qanun, one is of unusual interest: love sickness! Ibn Sina is reputed to have diagnosed this condition in a Prince in Jurjan who lay sick and whose malady had baffled local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the address and name of his beloved were mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite the sufferer with the beloved.
The Arabic text of the Qanun was published in Rome in 1593 and was therefore one of the earliest Arabic books to see print. It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. This 'Canon', with its encyclopaedic content, its systematic arrangement and philosophical plan, soon worked its way into a position of pre-eminence in the medical literature of the age displacing the works of Galen, al-Razi and al-Majusi, and becoming the text book for medical education in the schools of Europe. In the last 30 years of the 15th century it passed through 15 Latin editions and one Hebrew. In recent years, a partial translation into English was made. From the 12th-17th century, the Qanun served as the chief guide to Medical Science in the West and is said to have influenced Leonardo da Vinci. In the words of Dr. William Osler, the Qanun has remained "a medical bible for a longer time than any other work".
Despite such glorious tributes to his work, Ibn Sina is rarely remembered in the West today and his fundamental contributions to Medicine and the European reawakening goes largely unrecognised.
However, in the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who became known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.
He turned his attention to Medicine at the age of 17 years and found it, in his own words, "not difficult". However he was greatly troubled by metaphysical problems and in particular the works of Aristotle. By chance, he obtained a manual on this subject by the celebrated philosopher al-Farabi which solved his difficulties. By the age of 18 he had built up a reputation as a physician and was summoned to attend the Samani ruler Nuh ibn Mansur (reigned 976 - 997 C.E.), who, in gratitude for Ibn Sina's services, allowed him to make free use of the royal library, which contained many rare and even unique books.
Endowed with great powers of absorbing and retaining knowledge, this Muslim scholar devoured the contents of the library and at the age of 21 was in a position to compose his first book.
At about the same time he lost his father and soon afterwards left Bukhara and wandered westwards. He entered the services of Ali ibn Ma'mun, the ruler of Khiva, for a while, but ultimately fled to avoid being kidnapped by the Sultan Mahmud of Ghazna. After many wanderings he came to Jurjan, near the Caspian Sea, attracted by the fame of its ruler, Qabus, as a patron of learning. Unfortunately Ibn Sina's arrival almost coincided with the deposition and murder of this ruler. At Jurjan, Ibn Sina lectured on logic and astronomy and wrote the first part of the Qanun, his greatest work.
He then moved to Ray, near modern Teheran and established a busy medical practice. When Ray was besieged, Ibn Sina fled to Hamadan where he cured Amir Shamsud-Dawala of colic and was made Prime Minister. A mutiny of soldiers against him caused his dismissal and imprisonment, but subsequently the Amir, being again attacked by the colic, summoned him back, apologised and reinstated him! His life at this time was very strenuous: during the day he was busy with the Amir's services, while a great deal of the night was passed in lecturing and dictating notes for his books. Students would gather in his home and read parts of his two great books, the Shifa and the Qanun, already composed.
Following the death of the Amir, Ibn Sina fled to Isfahan after a few brushes with the law, including a period in prison. He spent his final years in the services of the ruler of the city, Ala al-Daula whom he advised on scientific and literary matters and accompanied on military campaigns.
Friends advised him to slow down and take life in moderation, but this was not in character. He would reply:
" I prefer a short life with width to a narrow one with length " [Ibn Sina]
Worn out by hard work and hard living; Ibn Sina died in 1036/1 at a comparatively early age of 58 years. He was buried in Hamadan where his grave is still shown. Al-Qifti states that Ibn Sina completed 21 major and 24 minor works on philosophy, medicine, theology, geometry, astronomy and the like. Another source (Brockelmann) attributes 99 books to Ibn Sina comprising 16 on medicine, 68 on theology and metaphysics 11 on astronomy and four on verse. Most of these were in Arabic; but in his native Persian he wrote a large manual on philosophical science entitled Danish-naama-i-Alai and a small treatise on the pulse.
His most celebrated Arabic poem describes the descent of Soul into the Body from the Higher Sphere. Among his scientific works, the leading two are the Kitab al-Shifa (Book of Healing), a philosophical encyclopaedia based upon Aristotelian traditions and the al-Qanun al-Tibb which represents the final categorisation of Greco-Arabian thoughts on Medicine.
Of Ibn Sina's 16 medical works, eight are versified treatises on such matter as the 25 signs indicating the fatal termination of illnesses, hygienic precepts, proven remedies, anatomical memoranda etc. Amongst his prose works, after the great Qanun, of which the treatise on cardiac drugs, is important, but it remains unpublished.
The Qanun is, of course, by far the largest, most famous and most important of Ibn Sina's works. The work contains about one million words and like most Arabic books, is elaborately divided and subdivided. The main division is into five books, of which the first deals with general principles; the second with simple drugs arranged alphabetically; the third with diseases of particular organs and members of the body from the head to the foot; the fourth with diseases which though local in their inception spread to other parts of the body, such as fevers and the fifth with compound medicines.
The Qanun distinguishes mediastinitis from pleurisy and recognises the contagious nature of phthisis (tuberculosis of the lung) and the spread of disease by water and soil. It gives a scientific diagnosis of ankylostomiasis and attributes the condition to an intestinal worm. The Qanun points out the importance of dietetics, the influence of climate and environment on health and the surgical use of oral anaesthetics. Ibn Sina advised surgeons to treat cancer in its earliest stages, ensuring the removal of all the diseased tissue. The Qanun's materia medica considers some 760 drugs, with comments on their application and effectiveness. He recommended the testing of a new drug on animals and humans prior to general use.
Ibn Sina noted the close relationship between emotions and the physical condition and felt that music had a definite physical and psychological effect on patients. Of the many psychological disorders that he described in the Qanun, one is of unusual interest: love sickness! Ibn Sina is reputed to have diagnosed this condition in a Prince in Jurjan who lay sick and whose malady had baffled local doctors. Ibn Sina noted a fluttering in the Prince's pulse when the address and name of his beloved were mentioned. The great doctor had a simple remedy: unite the sufferer with the beloved.
The Arabic text of the Qanun was published in Rome in 1593 and was therefore one of the earliest Arabic books to see print. It was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century. This 'Canon', with its encyclopaedic content, its systematic arrangement and philosophical plan, soon worked its way into a position of pre-eminence in the medical literature of the age displacing the works of Galen, al-Razi and al-Majusi, and becoming the text book for medical education in the schools of Europe. In the last 30 years of the 15th century it passed through 15 Latin editions and one Hebrew. In recent years, a partial translation into English was made. From the 12th-17th century, the Qanun served as the chief guide to Medical Science in the West and is said to have influenced Leonardo da Vinci. In the words of Dr. William Osler, the Qanun has remained "a medical bible for a longer time than any other work".
Despite such glorious tributes to his work, Ibn Sina is rarely remembered in the West today and his fundamental contributions to Medicine and the European reawakening goes largely unrecognised.
However, in the museum at Bukhara, there are displays showing many of his writings, surgical instruments from the period and paintings of patients undergoing treatment. An impressive monument to the life and works of the man who became known as the 'doctor of doctors' still stands outside Bukhara museum and his portrait hangs in the Hall of the Faculty of Medicine in the University of Paris.
Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahravi
Almost a thousand years ago at a time when Spain (Andulesia) was part of the Islamic empire, there lived near the capital city of Cordoba one of the great, but now largely forgotten, pioneers of surgery. He was known as Al-Zahravi, though in European languages his name is written in over a dozen different ways: Abulcases, Albucasis, Bulcasis, Bulcasim, Bulcari, Alzahawi, Ezzahrawi, Zahravius, Alcarani, Alsarani, Aicaravi, Alcaravius, Alsahrawi etc.
Al-Zahravi is believed to have been born in the city of Al-Zahra, six miles northwest of Cordoba, sometime between 936 and 940. It was here that he lived, studied, taught and practiced medicine and surgery until shortly before his death in about 1013, two years after the sacking of Al-Zahra. Because Al-Zahra was pillaged and destroyed, little is known about its illustrious son Al-Zahravi. He was first mentioned by the Andalusian scholar Abu Muhammad bin Hazm (993-1064), who listed him among the great physician-surgeons of Moorish Spain.
The first known biography of Al-Zahravi, however, appeared in al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-Muqtabis (On Andalusian Savants), completed six decades after Al-Zahravi's death. It is clear from Al-Zahravi's life history and from his writings that he devoted his entire life and genius to the advancement of medicine as a whole and surgery in particular.
Al-Zahravi wrote a medical encyclopaedia spanning 30 volumes which included sections on surgery, medicine, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition etc. This book was known as At-Tasrif and contained data that Al-Zahravi had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching and practice. He apparently travelled very little but had wide experience in treating accident victims and war casualties.
In At-Tasrif, Al-Zahravi expressed his concern about the welfare of his students whom he called "my children". He emphasised the importance of a good doctor patient relationship and took great care to ensure the safety of his patients and win their trust irrespective of their social status.
Al-Zahravi's clinical methods showed extreme foresight - he promoted the close observation of individual cases in order to establish the most accurate diagnosis and the best possible treatment. He insisted on compliance with ethical norms and warned against dubious practices adopted by some physicians for purposes of material gain. He also cautioned against quacks who claimed surgical skills they did not possess.
At-Tasrif contains many original observations of historical interest. In it, Al-Zahravi elaborates on the causes and symptoms of disease and theorizes on the upbringing of children and youth and on the care of the aged and convalescent. In the section on pharmacology and therapeutics, he covers areas such as cardiac drugs, emetics, laxatives, cosmetology, dietetics, materia medica, weights and measures and drug substitution. At-Tasrif was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century and alongside Avicenna's Canon, played a major role as a medical text in the universities of Europe from the 12th to the 17th century C.E.
Two of Al-Zahravi's treatises deserve special mention. Firstly his 28th treatise, known in Latin as 'Liber Servitoris de Preeparatione Medicinarum Simplicium', describes chemical preparations, tablet making, filtering of extracts and related pharmaceutical techniques. This treatise was printed in Venice in 1471 by Nicolaus Jensen. Perhaps the most importance treatise is the one on surgery. This monumental work was the first in Arabic to treat surgery independently and in detail. It included many pictures of surgical instruments, most invented by Al-Zahravi himself, and explanations of their use. Al-Zahravi was the first medical author to provide illustrations of instruments used in surgery. There are approximately 200 such drawings ranging from a tongue depressor and a tooth extractor to a catheter and an elaborate obstetric device.
The variety of operations covered is amazing. In this treatise Al-Zahravi discussed cauterisation, bloodletting, midwifery and obstetrics and the treatment of wounds. He described the exposure and division of the temporal artery to relieve certain types of headaches, diversion of urine into the rectum, reduction mammoplasty for excessively large breasts and the extraction of cataracts. He wrote extensively about injuries to bones and ,joints, even mentioning fractures of the nasal bones and of the vertebrae. In fact 'Kocher's method' for reducing a dislocated shoulder was described in At-Tasrif long before Kocher was born! Al-Zahravi outlined the use of caustics in surgery, fully described tonsillectomy, tracheotomy and craniotomy operations he had performed on a dead foetus.
He explained how to use a hook to extract a polyp from the nose, how to use a bulb syringe he had invented for giving enemas to children and how to use a metallic bladder syringe and speculum to extract bladder stones. Al Zahriwi was the first to describe the so-called "Walcher Position" in obstetrics; the first to depict dental arches, tongue depressors and lead catheters and the first to describe clearly the hereditary circumstances surrounding haemophilia. He also described ligaturing of blood vessels long before Ambroise Pare.
Once At-Tasrif was translated into Latin in the 12th century, Al-Zahravi had a tremendous influence on surgery in the West. The French surgeon Guy de Chauliac in his 'Great Surgery', completed in about 1363, quoted At-Tasrif over 200 times. Al-Zahravi was described by Pietro Argallata (died 1423) as "without doubt the chief of all surgeons". Jaques Delechamps (1513-1588), another French surgeon, made extensive use of At-Tasrif in his elaborate commentary, confirming the great prestige of Al-Zahravi throughout the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance (Page from a 1531 Latin translation by Peter Argellata of Al-Zahravi's treatise on surgical and medical instruments).
Al-Zahravi is believed to have been born in the city of Al-Zahra, six miles northwest of Cordoba, sometime between 936 and 940. It was here that he lived, studied, taught and practiced medicine and surgery until shortly before his death in about 1013, two years after the sacking of Al-Zahra. Because Al-Zahra was pillaged and destroyed, little is known about its illustrious son Al-Zahravi. He was first mentioned by the Andalusian scholar Abu Muhammad bin Hazm (993-1064), who listed him among the great physician-surgeons of Moorish Spain.
The first known biography of Al-Zahravi, however, appeared in al-Humaydi's Jadhwat al-Muqtabis (On Andalusian Savants), completed six decades after Al-Zahravi's death. It is clear from Al-Zahravi's life history and from his writings that he devoted his entire life and genius to the advancement of medicine as a whole and surgery in particular.
Al-Zahravi wrote a medical encyclopaedia spanning 30 volumes which included sections on surgery, medicine, orthopaedics, ophthalmology, pharmacology, nutrition etc. This book was known as At-Tasrif and contained data that Al-Zahravi had accumulated during a career that spanned almost 50 years of training, teaching and practice. He apparently travelled very little but had wide experience in treating accident victims and war casualties.
In At-Tasrif, Al-Zahravi expressed his concern about the welfare of his students whom he called "my children". He emphasised the importance of a good doctor patient relationship and took great care to ensure the safety of his patients and win their trust irrespective of their social status.
Al-Zahravi's clinical methods showed extreme foresight - he promoted the close observation of individual cases in order to establish the most accurate diagnosis and the best possible treatment. He insisted on compliance with ethical norms and warned against dubious practices adopted by some physicians for purposes of material gain. He also cautioned against quacks who claimed surgical skills they did not possess.
At-Tasrif contains many original observations of historical interest. In it, Al-Zahravi elaborates on the causes and symptoms of disease and theorizes on the upbringing of children and youth and on the care of the aged and convalescent. In the section on pharmacology and therapeutics, he covers areas such as cardiac drugs, emetics, laxatives, cosmetology, dietetics, materia medica, weights and measures and drug substitution. At-Tasrif was translated into Latin by Gerard of Cremona in the 12th century and alongside Avicenna's Canon, played a major role as a medical text in the universities of Europe from the 12th to the 17th century C.E.
Two of Al-Zahravi's treatises deserve special mention. Firstly his 28th treatise, known in Latin as 'Liber Servitoris de Preeparatione Medicinarum Simplicium', describes chemical preparations, tablet making, filtering of extracts and related pharmaceutical techniques. This treatise was printed in Venice in 1471 by Nicolaus Jensen. Perhaps the most importance treatise is the one on surgery. This monumental work was the first in Arabic to treat surgery independently and in detail. It included many pictures of surgical instruments, most invented by Al-Zahravi himself, and explanations of their use. Al-Zahravi was the first medical author to provide illustrations of instruments used in surgery. There are approximately 200 such drawings ranging from a tongue depressor and a tooth extractor to a catheter and an elaborate obstetric device.
The variety of operations covered is amazing. In this treatise Al-Zahravi discussed cauterisation, bloodletting, midwifery and obstetrics and the treatment of wounds. He described the exposure and division of the temporal artery to relieve certain types of headaches, diversion of urine into the rectum, reduction mammoplasty for excessively large breasts and the extraction of cataracts. He wrote extensively about injuries to bones and ,joints, even mentioning fractures of the nasal bones and of the vertebrae. In fact 'Kocher's method' for reducing a dislocated shoulder was described in At-Tasrif long before Kocher was born! Al-Zahravi outlined the use of caustics in surgery, fully described tonsillectomy, tracheotomy and craniotomy operations he had performed on a dead foetus.
He explained how to use a hook to extract a polyp from the nose, how to use a bulb syringe he had invented for giving enemas to children and how to use a metallic bladder syringe and speculum to extract bladder stones. Al Zahriwi was the first to describe the so-called "Walcher Position" in obstetrics; the first to depict dental arches, tongue depressors and lead catheters and the first to describe clearly the hereditary circumstances surrounding haemophilia. He also described ligaturing of blood vessels long before Ambroise Pare.
Once At-Tasrif was translated into Latin in the 12th century, Al-Zahravi had a tremendous influence on surgery in the West. The French surgeon Guy de Chauliac in his 'Great Surgery', completed in about 1363, quoted At-Tasrif over 200 times. Al-Zahravi was described by Pietro Argallata (died 1423) as "without doubt the chief of all surgeons". Jaques Delechamps (1513-1588), another French surgeon, made extensive use of At-Tasrif in his elaborate commentary, confirming the great prestige of Al-Zahravi throughout the Middle Ages and up to the Renaissance (Page from a 1531 Latin translation by Peter Argellata of Al-Zahravi's treatise on surgical and medical instruments).
Abul Qasim Maslamah Al-Majriti
Little is known of the life of this Muslim scientist who was one of the first to introduce the study of the sciences, especially mathematics and alchemy, to the eastern part of the Islamic world. It is known that Abul Qasim Maslamah Al-Majriti (Died 1007 C.E.) was born in Madrid and later moved to Cordova, where he established a school in which such figures as the historian Ibn Khaldun and the physician al-Zahravi were to study later.
He was also responsible for spreading the Epistles of the brethern of Purity, an encyclopaedia of knowledge with a Pythagorean tinge, which had just become popular in the East, in Andalusia. Some attribute to him the treatise that summarizes the contents of the fift-two Epistles. Although he wrote on astronomy and mathematics and in fact commented on the tables of al-Khwarzami, his most important works are on alchemy. The Sage's Step and The Aim of the Wise, two of the best known works in Islamic alchemy, are either by him or directly inspired by his teachings. The later was translated into Latin as Picatrix and became a mainstay of alchemical literature in the west.
He was also responsible for spreading the Epistles of the brethern of Purity, an encyclopaedia of knowledge with a Pythagorean tinge, which had just become popular in the East, in Andalusia. Some attribute to him the treatise that summarizes the contents of the fift-two Epistles. Although he wrote on astronomy and mathematics and in fact commented on the tables of al-Khwarzami, his most important works are on alchemy. The Sage's Step and The Aim of the Wise, two of the best known works in Islamic alchemy, are either by him or directly inspired by his teachings. The later was translated into Latin as Picatrix and became a mainstay of alchemical literature in the west.
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