Science in Islam

hivizman

For those who have access to BBC4, you may be interested in a documentary being broadcast at 9PM tonight (Monday 5 January 2009) looking at the contributions to the development of science made by Muslim scientists in the medieval period. Here's a summary of the programme:

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science - there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.

For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili this is also a personal journey and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, he pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists.

I understand that there will be another programme on the same theme next Monday (12 January 2009).

If you can't get BBC4, then perhaps you can see the programme later on BBC iPlayer.

hivizman

Well, having seen the programme, I must say that I was a little disappointed. I'd expected the programme to bring out the "usual suspects", for example Muhammad b. Musa Al-Khwarizmi and the transmission of hindu numerals, the invention of algebra (his famous book was entitled al-kitab al-mukhtasar fi hisab al-jabr wa'l-muqabala or "The compendious book on calculation by completion and balancing") and the idea of an algorithm (derived from his name), and Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and his book al-qanun fi al-tibb ("The Canon of Medicine"). And the programme did indeed cover them in detail. But I didn't get a sense of a distinctive Islamic take on science (and indeed at the end of the programme the presenter claimed that an important contribution of the Muslim scientists was to demonstrate the universality of science). The basic message was that Baghdad during the height of the Abbasid Caliphate was the hot place to be, so that's where the new ideas and discoveries would emerge.

Still, the travelogue aspects of the programme were pleasant enough. Maybe next week will be more exciting.

hivizman

Just caught up with the second part, and fortunately it was more interesting. There was a discussion of how Muslim mathematicians used a combination of algebra and geometry to estimate the size of the earth, and came up with answers very close to the actual measurements. There was also a discussion of how science was mobilised in aid of commerce, and the programme concluded with an extensive discussion of Ibn Al-Haytham, the so-called "Father of Optics", who is presented as attempting to develop a unified science combining mathematics and physics, and also as introducing the modern scientific method based around deducing hypotheses from general theories and then testing the hypotheses through controlled and replicable experimentation.

What hasn't come out so far, though, reiterating the point I made after the first programme, is the extent to which this is a distinctive Islamic science rather than simply science by Muslims. It would have been interesting to explore the extent to which, for example, Ibn Al-Haytham's attempt to unify science reflected the Islamic doctrine of tawhid, the idea of the unity and indivisibility of God leading to the belief that the world is coherent rather than chaotic. Also, how far does the Qur'an encourage scientific exploration of the world, for example through verses such as Sura al-baqarah 2:164:

Verily, in the creation of the heavens and of the earth, and the succession of night and day: and in the ships that speed through the sea with what is useful to man: and in the waters which God sends down from the sky, giving life thereby to the earth after it had been lifeless, and causing all manner of living creatures to multiply thereon: and in the change of the winds, and the clouds that run their appointed courses between sky and earth: [in all this] there are messages indeed for people who use their reason.

Trans. Muhammad Asad The Message of the Qur'an

studiorat

For those who don't have BBC 4/iplayer or whatever...

http://ie.youtube.com/watch?v=D-n2BoPE2GE

ChocolateSauce

I think it is one of the greatest ironies in history that once the Muslim world was at the forefront of science and civilisation while we in the west lived in barbarity and ignorance.

hivizman

Not sure whether to post this in the Islamic books thread, but I thought people might be interested in two recent books. The first of these is Science and Islam: A History by Ehsan Masood (Icon Books: 2009). This is billed on the dust cover as "the official tie-in to the BBC Television series". The author is one of the editors of Nature and writes on science for various publications.

The other book is The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization by Jonathan Lyons (Bloomsbury: 2009). Interestingly, the author uses the expression "Arab science" rather than "Islamic science", even though he acknowledges that many of the people involved were not actually Arabs. In the introduction, he mentions that much of the scientific research was not specifically motivated by religious concerns. He also is aware that the term "Islamic sciences" is more commonly used by Muslims to refer to such disciplines as the exegesis of the Qur'an.

I haven't read these books yet, but when I manage to find the time I'll give my comments.

Fionnanc

"I think it is one of the greatest ironies in history that once the Muslim world was at the forefront of science and civilisation while we in the west lived in barbarity and ignorance."

While Western Europe was emerging from the dark ages by the 13th century, would have been able to compete directly with the Islamic powers. The Byzantine Empire held out during this time period, the civil infrastructure the islamic people appropriated during their conquests from Byzantium provinces.

THe availablility of money and patrons in the Islamic world due to commerce and conquest during these centuries on the backround of Byzantine/Far Eastern knowledge allowed these scientific developments.

As a sidenote in the 11th century AD approximately 3 million people were taken into slavery in Southern Europe by state sponsored muslim raiders and Vikings because Western Europe was weak and backward and easy-pickings.