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Arabic Science I

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Saved by Garrett McCormack
on September 29, 2008 at 8:41:37 pm
 

Arabic Science I

 

   

     The rise of the Islamic empire led to the growth of natural philosophy. Islamic philosophy centered on the teachings of Mohammad and how to further them, helping to lead the Islamic world into greater discoveries in the mathematical sciences.

 

     The spread of Islam occurred within a very short timespan, about 200 years from the time Muhammad began to teach in Mecca. The fast spreading of Islam can be attributed to the forced conversions of pagans (non-Christians and non-Jews), the concept of Jihad (Holy War), and the use of Arabic as a common language. The fast growth of Islam also helped create a diverse society in which the natural philosophies flourished. After the death of Mohammad, Islamic areas were separated into small kingdoms that were governed by caliphs. These people controlled what went on as a whole in the region.

 

     In Baghdad during the Abbasid Dynasty, under the supervision of Caliph Al-Mamun, a large movement to translate the Greek texts into Arabic was undertaken. Baghdad was considered the center of translation in the Arabic world. Al-Mamun sent out people to gather documents from across the Grecian and Arabic world to bring them back to Al-Mamun's House of Wisdom so that they could translate the texts into Arabic. They found large amounts of Syriac texts from the Nestorian Christians, and these were translated.

 

     Three of the most important translators were Hunayn ibn-Ishaq, Hunyan's son Ishaq ibn-Hunayn, and Thabit ibn- Qurra.  Hunayn ibn-Ishaq, a Nestorian Christian, translated Galen, Plato's Timaeus, and some Aristotelian works.  His son translated Ptolemy's Almagest, Euclid's Elements and more of Aristotle's works (Lindberg 172).  And finally, Thabit ibn-Qurra translated "mathematical and astronomical treatises" (Lindberg 172). The majority of these translations were from Syriac to Arabic and done sentence by sentence to preserve the text's meaning (semantic translation). Not only were they translated well, they were also compared to other translations to ensure the accuracy of the translations in circulation. By 1000 A.D., nearly all of the Greek corpus had been translated into Arabic.

 

     The reasons for translations of the texts ranged from practical means to plain curiosity. Galen was useful because of his experience with medicine. Ptolemy's astronomical insight was needed in order to create a calendar to start the sacred months of the Islamic culture. Also, Ptolemy's astronomy was used to help determine the direction of Mecca, a city to which daily prayers are directed. Aristotle's logic was used to defend the Islamic faith. For the most part, Greek natural philosophy was used to aid in the practice of Islam.  Importing the means to make paper from the Chinese, made the translations cheaper, and more available which assisted in the diffusion of the works.

 

     In practicing Islam the Arabic world created many libraries. Some located in Cairo, Toledo, and many other places scattered about the Islamic world. This effort helped to create the first observatories. At a young age, students learned the fundamentals of education, how to read and write, in a mosque or at a teacher's house.  Once mastered, students studied the Koran, other indigenous writings, poetry, and history; pedagogy focused on memorization.  This study also led to the creation of a “college”-like places called madrasas, private schools where one studied with a specific master in religious law and mathematics to aid in religious studies.

 

Major Achievements

 

  • Mathematics: Arabic numerals and the idea of “zero”, a concept which was borrowed from Indians, quickly spread across the land. Algebra was also brought to light, and while the subject was practiced differently during this time, it was used in many of the same ways as it is today. The idea of logarithms and trigonometry also came from the Islamic world.

 

  • Astronomy: Observatories came into existence, and new instruments such as the astrolab were created.  Islamic astronomy was largely based on the continuation of cosmologies and mathematics presented by the Greeks.  The Islamic astronomers focused on three main features, the first being further mastery of Ptolemy's Almagest, in which they corrected and checked the parameters of Ptolemaic planetary models.  The second focus was on the attempt to create planetary models that were accurate using calculations and mathematical predictions.  Lastly, Islamic scientists established astronomical observatories as institutional homes for astronomers and activities.  

 

  • Optics: Ibn Al-Haytham made great contributions to mathematical science, including resolving discrepancies between the mathematical models of Ptolemy's Almagest and the physical model he presented.  Qusta idn Luqa and Ahmad ibn Isa also studied reflection in concave mirrors, and Abu Ishaq al-Kindi claimed that light does not radiate from a luminous object as a unit, but in all directions from each point on the surface of the object.  This theory, described in The Book of Optics along with other theories of vision, became Europe's fundamental principle on the science of optics.  Later, two other experimenters analyzed the refraction of light leading to the geometrical equivalent of the modern law of refraction.

 

  • Medicine: Critical discussions on Galen were common. Pulmonary circulation was discovered.

 

     While most of the works in this time were focused on translation and practical use, the Islamic world began to question and discuss the very texts they were translating.  In this way, they contributed to a continuing tradition of natural philosophy.  


  

Primary Sources

 


 

Key Terms and Definitions

Caliph:  The succesive leaders of Islam and the Muslim world after Mohammed's death.

Koran:  The holy book of Islam containing the teachings of Mohammed.

Mosques:  A place of worship in the Islamic religion, also where some religious study was done in Islamic faith.

muqqawit:  A nmuslim timekeeper usually employed in mosques in order to find prayer times and other calendric tasks.

 House of Wisdom: started by Caliph Al-Mamun and was the "clearing house" for the translation of the documents brought from around the known world

 

Madrasas: schools of religious thought and institutions of learning similar to colleges today.

 


 

Relevant Links

 

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