Arabic Science I

     The spread of Islam occurred within a very short timespan, about 200 years from the time Muhammad began to teach in Mecca. Islam's speedy expansion can be attributed to the concept of Jihad (Holy War). Such growth along with the forced conversions of pagans and the use of Arabic as a common language helped create a diverse society in which the natural philosophies flourished. Conquests of Aleksander the Great (4th century BC) and the expulsion of religious sects associated with Christianity meant that Muslims encountered many established places of Greek learning and people versed in Greek philosophy. After the death of Mohammad, Islamic areas were separated into states governed by caliphs. The states required administrative bureaucracies to which educated locals were appointed (Nestorian Christians would become court physicians or advisors in what was Persia). The spread of Islam also brought down political barriers in all parts of the European world that had previously been separated into several empires and warring states.  Trade with the Far East brought paper from China. The cheap material for recording and documentation helped spur translation.  Through a massive translation effort many scientific and philosophical texts that were written in several different languages became consolidated into Arabic allowing for easier consumption and criticism.

 Arabic Translation

     In Baghdad during the Abbasid Dynasty, under the supervision of caliph al-Mansur (754-75), a large effort to translate the Greek and Syriac texts of the Nestorian Christians into Arabic was undertaken. His grandson, Harud ar-Rashid (786-809), sent out for Greek manuscripts to Byzantium. The son of ar-Rahid in turn, al-Mamun (813-833) founded a research institute: The House of Wisdom, which became a clearinghouse for translation.

     Three of the most important translators were Hunayn ibn Ishaq, his son Ishaq ibn Hunayn, and Thabit ibn Qurra.  Hunayn ibn Ishaq, a Nestorian Christian (knowledge of Greek, Arabic, Syriac), translated Galen, some Hippocratic works, Plato's Timaeus, and some Aristotelian works: Metaphysics, On the Soul, On Generation and Corruption, and a part of Physics.  His son, Ishaq ibn Hunayn, translated Ptolemy's Almagest, Euclid's Elements and more of Aristotle's works.  And finally, Thabit ibn Qurra (a pagan) translated "mathematical and astronomical treatises" such as works of Archimedes (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). It is important to remember that due to the philosophical and mathematical complexity of these works, translation, and even more so semantic translation, required high intelligence and intense study.  Translations were also compared to other translations to ensure accuracy. 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's work was useful for developing medicine. Ptolemy's astronomical insight was needed in order to calculate times of prayer and help determine the direction of Mecca, the city to which daily prayers are directed. Aristotle's logic was used in theology and law. Mathematics was widely applicable - commerce, legal and government purposes (division of inheritance). For the most part, Greek natural philosophy was used to aid in the practice of Islam and further well-being in the Islamic commonwealth. It is important to note, however, that the pursuit of science always required justification of utility. Knowledge for its own sake was never endorsed, often led to social stigma and persecution.

Places of Learning  

     There were many places at which a student could get instruction in the Arabic world. Masters lectured their students privately in most cases, although Islamic law was taught publicly and led to a certificate allowing its practice. Basic intruction in reading and writing would occur at mosques or teacher's homes. A student would continue learning in madrasas - places of higher learning where the Koran, other indigenous writings, poetry, and history would be taught. The focus of these "colleges" was study of Islamic law, although the masters could be approached for private lessons in philosophy or the natural sciences. Study focussed on reading, copying and memorizing manuscripts. At the completion of a subject matter, the student obtained a personal ijaza (certificate to teach) from the master. There was no curriculum to follow and a student was free to pursue any courses of study from any master he could find. There were no degrees or any outside supervision of what was taught. Observatories founded in the Arabic world also offered instruction in astronomy and mathematics. They provided accuracy in celestial observation that was unparallelled until the invention of the telescope and creation of astronomical tables (zij) from which the lengths of seasons, detailed motions of the planets, and distances between terrestrial locations could be computed. For a deserving student, apprenticeships in hospitals along with instruction in medicine were available.

Notable Arabic Natural Philosophers:

• Al-Kindi: worked in philosophy and optics
• Al-Battani: Worked in Astronomy
• Al-Farghani: Worked in Astronomy
• Ibn Sina: General Natural Philosophy
• Ibn al-Haytham: Worked in Optics
• Ibn Rushd: General Natural Philosophy
• Al-Tusi: Worked in Astronomy
• Ibn ash-Shatir: Worked in Astronomy

Major Achievements

• Mathematics: Arabic numerals and the idea of “zero”, a concept which was borrowed from Indians, are of Arabic origin. Algebra is an Arabic invention as well, and while the subject was practiced differently during this time, it was used in much the same way as it is today. The idea of logarithms and trigonometry also came from the Islamic world.

• Astronomy: Observatories - institutional homes for astronomers and their activities, came into existence, and new instruments such as the quadrant were created.  Islamic astronomers worked in the Greek framework, which they expande, corrected or rearticulated according to their needs.  They focused on mastery of Ptolemy's Almagest, then compared Ptolemy's model against observations and made corrections where necessary.

• Optics: Ibn al-Haytham created a theory of optics which had both physical and mathematical aspects. It was an intromissionist theory with light travelling from the object to the eye. Arabic work in the field led to a culmination which lasted to the 17th century.

• Medicine: Critical discussions on Galen were common. Pulmonary circulation was discovered before it's inception in Western Europe.

Decline of Arabic Science

     Arabic science flourished thanks to the complete access to Greek achievement (deductive geometry, logic of proof) and the development of the Arabic-Hindu numeral system, which was easy to use and generalizable. In astronomy, medicine, mathematics and optics the achievements of Muslim scholars were surpased in the West only after the scientific revolution. There are many possible reasons why the revolution did not, and perhaps could not have occured in the land of Islam.

     Warfare between Islamic states, the conquest of Spain and the invasion of the Mongols as well as the rising opposition from conservative forces within Islam meant patronage was more difficult to find. There were no secure institutional homes for the study of natural sciences or even philosophy in general. The travel of students to study under a master or the gathering of notable scholars such as that in the Maragha observatory required a patron that could support the undertaking financially and protect it against religious zealots.

     The reason institutions such as madrasas and observatories lasted only for short periods of time had to do with the law under which they were founded - waqf law. They were established as charitable trusts strictly according to the wishes of the founder, and could only serve purposes sanctified by Islam. There was no way for them to adapt to a changing environment, since they were subject to the literal interpretation of the founding document. For example, the Maragha observatory with a great library was founded in 1259 by the Mongol rulers (notably after the conquest of Baghdad in 1258) under the waqf law with an astrological purpose in mind. Of course astrology had no place in Islam and the project was doomed to failure from its inception (survived less than one hundred years). In any case, during its prime it saw the establishment of the Maragha school of astronomy with such scholars as al-Tusi, al-Shirazi, and al-Shatir.

     The personal tract of learning meant that many accomplishments were buried along with their creators or fell on deaf ears within the Arabic community. Scholars such as Averroes, who was widely read and admired in the West, were sometimes persecuted and their works burnt. There existed only very narrow and unprogressive avenues for development of natural science (or foreign science as it was known) within Islam such as the postion of muwaqqit at a mosque. A principle of Islamic theology called occasionalism effectively denied the existence of natural law. Legal rulings or fatwas against a particular person or pursuit could be issued by anyone with a certificate to practice law from a madrasa. There was no universal legal tradition to appeal to in a defense. Although paper existed and the technology to print was available in the Arabic lands centuries before it came to Western Europe, nothing came of it. There was a ban on printing in Islamic states into the 19th century.

     Clearly Islam did not provide an environment for scientific pursuit and developed a strong opposition to it. With the growing rates of conversions and disappearance of freethinkers came a lasting decline in learning.

(based on Toby E. Huff, "The Rise of Early Modern Science")

Primary Sources

Key Terms and Definitions

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

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

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

muqqawit:  A muslim timekeeper employed in mosques in order to calculate prayer times; trained in astronomy

House of Wisdom: founded by caliph al-Mamun; the "clearing house" for the translation of documents

Madrasas: places of higher learning, with a purpose of teaching Islamic law, although the masters taught other subjects as well though only privately

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