{{Short description|none}} {{Redirect|Islamic science|the Islamic religious sciences|Islamic sciences}} {{Good article}} {{Use British English|date=June 2017}} [[File:Tusi couple.jpg|thumb|upright=1.5|The [[Tusi couple]], a mathematical device invented by the Persian polymath [[Nasir al-Din Tusi]] to model the not perfectly circular [[planetary motion|motions of the planets]]]] '''Science in the medieval Islamic world''' was the science developed and practised during the [[Islamic Golden Age]] under the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] of [[Baghdad]], the [[Caliphate of Córdoba|Umayyads]] of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], the [[Abbadid dynasty|Abbadids]] of [[Seville]], the [[Samanid Empire|Samanids]], the [[Ziyarid dynasty|Ziyarids]] and the [[Buyid dynasty|Buyids]] in [[Persia]] and beyond, spanning the period roughly between 786 and 1258. Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas, especially [[Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world|astronomy]], [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|mathematics]], and [[Medicine in the medieval Islamic world|medicine]]. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|alchemy and chemistry]], [[botany]] and [[agronomy]], [[Geography and cartography in medieval Islam|geography and cartography]], [[Ophthalmology in medieval Islam|ophthalmology]], [[pharmacology]], [[Physics in the medieval Islamic world|physics]], and [[zoology]]. Medieval Islamic science had practical purposes as well as the goal of understanding. For example, astronomy was useful for determining the ''[[Qibla]]'', the direction in which to pray, botany had practical application in agriculture, as in the works of [[Ibn Bassal]] and [[Ibn al-'Awwam]], and geography enabled [[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi]] to make accurate maps. Islamic mathematicians such as [[Al-Khwarizmi]], [[Avicenna]] and [[Jamshīd al-Kāshī]] made advances in [[algebra]], [[trigonometry]], [[geometry]] and [[Arabic numerals]]. Islamic doctors described diseases like [[smallpox]] and [[measles]], and challenged classical Greek medical theory. [[Al-Biruni]], Avicenna and others described the preparation of hundreds of [[drugs]] made from [[medicinal plants]] and chemical compounds. Islamic physicists such as [[Ibn Al-Haytham]], Al-Bīrūnī and others studied optics and mechanics as well as astronomy, and criticised [[Aristotle]]'s view of motion. During the Middle Ages, Islamic science flourished across a wide area around the [[Mediterranean Sea]] and further afield, for several centuries, in a wide range of institutions. ==Context and history== {{Further|History of Islam}} [[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|[[Early Muslim conquests|Islamic expansion]]: {{legend|#a1584e|under [[Muhammad]], 622–632}} {{legend|#ef9070|under [[Rashidun Caliphate|Rashidun caliphs]], 632–661}} {{legend|#fad07d|under [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyad caliphs]], 661–750}}]] The Islamic era began in 622. Islamic armies eventually conquered [[Arabia]], [[Egypt]] and [[Mesopotamia]], and successfully displaced the [[Sasanian Empire|Persian]] and [[Byzantine Empire]]s from the region within a few decades. Within a century, Islam had reached the area of present-day [[Portugal]] in the west and [[Central Asia]] in the east. The [[Islamic Golden Age]] (roughly between 786 and 1258) spanned the period of the [[Abbasid Caliphate]] (750–1258), with stable political structures and flourishing trade. Major religious and cultural works of the [[Islamic empire]] were translated into [[Arabic]] and occasionally [[Persian language|Persian]]. [[Transmission of the Greek Classics|Islamic culture inherited Greek]], [[Indian influence on Islamic science|Indic]], [[Assyria]]n and Persian influences. A new common civilisation formed, based on Islam. An era of [[high culture]] and innovation ensued, with rapid growth in population and cities. The [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]] in the countryside brought more crops and improved agricultural technology, especially [[irrigation]]. This supported the larger population and enabled culture to flourish.{{cite book |last=Hodgson |first=Marshall |author-link=Marshall Hodgson |title=The Venture of Islam; Conscience and History in a World Civilisation Vol 1 |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |date=1974 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/ventureofislamco00hodg/page/233 233–238] |isbn=978-0-226-34683-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/ventureofislamco00hodg/page/233 }}{{harvnb|McClellan|Dorn|2006|pp=103–115}} From the 9th century onwards, scholars such as [[Al-Kindi]]{{cite encyclopedia |title=Al-Kindi |url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/al-kindi/ |encyclopedia=[[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]] |date=17 March 2015}} translated [[India]]n, [[Assyria]]n, [[Sasanian|Sasanian (Persian)]] and [[Ancient Greece|Greek]] knowledge, including the works of [[Aristotle]], into [[Arabic]]. These translations supported advances by scientists across the [[Islamic world]].{{cite book |editor-last=Robinson |editor-first=Francis |editor-link=Francis Robinson |title=The Cambridge Illustrated History of the Islamic World |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=1996 |pages=228–229}} [[File:Abbasids850.png|thumb|The [[Abbasid Caliphate]], 750–1261 (and later in Egypt) at its height, c. 850]] Islamic science survived the initial Christian [[Reconquista|reconquest of Spain]], including the fall of [[Seville]] in 1248, as work continued in the eastern centres (such as in Persia). After the completion of the Spanish reconquest in 1492, the Islamic world went into an economic and cultural decline. The Abbasid caliphate was followed by the [[Ottoman Empire]] ({{circa}} 1299–1922), centred in Turkey, and the [[Safavid Empire]] (1501–1736), centred in Persia, where work in the arts and sciences continued.{{harvnb|Turner|1997|p=7}} ==Fields of inquiry== Medieval Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas, especially [[Mathematics in medieval Islam|mathematics]], [[Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world|astronomy]], and [[Medicine in the medieval Islamic world|medicine]]. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included [[Alchemy and chemistry in medieval Islam|alchemy and chemistry]], [[Geography and cartography in medieval Islam|geography and cartography]], [[Ophthalmology in medieval Islam|ophthalmology]], and [[Physics in the medieval Islamic world|physics]].{{harvnb|Turner|1997|at=Table of contents}}{{efn|{{harvnb|Lindberg|Shank|2013|loc=chapters 1–5}} cover science, mathematics and medicine in Islam.}} ===Alchemy and chemistry === {{main|Alchemy and chemistry in the medieval Islamic world}} The early Islamic period saw the development of theoretical frameworks in [[alchemy]] and [[chemistry]], laying the foundation for later advancements in both fields. The [[sulfur-mercury theory of metals]], first found in ''[[Sirr al-khalīqa]]'' ("The Secret of Creation", c. 750–850, [[pseudepigraphy|falsely attributed]] to [[Apollonius of Tyana]]), and in the writings attributed to [[Jabir ibn Hayyan]] (written c. 850–950),{{cite book |last=Kraus |first=Paul |author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist) |year=1942–1943 |title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque |publisher=[[Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale]] |location=Cairo |oclc=468740510 |isbn=978-3-487-09115-0}} vol. II, p. 1, note 1; {{cite book |last=Weisser |first=Ursula |editor-first1=Otto |editor-last1=Spies |title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |year=1980 |location=Berlin |doi=10.1515/9783110866933 |page=199|isbn=978-3-11-007333-1 }} remained the basis of theories of metallic composition until the 18th century.{{cite journal |last=Norris |first=John |year=2006 |title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science |journal=Ambix |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=43–65 |doi=10.1179/174582306X93183|s2cid=97109455 }} The ''[[Emerald Tablet]]'', a cryptic text that all later alchemists up to and including [[Isaac Newton]] saw as the foundation of their art, first occurs in the ''Sirr al-khalīqa'' and in one of the works attributed to Jabir.{{cite book |last=Weisser |first=Ursula |editor-first1=Otto |editor-last1=Spies |title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana |publisher=[[De Gruyter]] |year=1980 |location=Berlin |doi=10.1515/9783110866933|isbn=978-3-11-007333-1 }} p. 46. On Newton's alchemy, see {{cite book |last=Newman |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Newman |title=Newton the Alchemist: Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's Secret Fire |year=2019 |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-17487-7}} In practical chemistry, the works of Jabir, and those of the Persian alchemist and physician [[Abu Bakr al-Razi]] (c. 865–925), contain the earliest systematic classifications of chemical substances.{{cite journal |last1=Karpenko |first1=Vladimír |last2=Norris |first2=John A. |year=2002 |title=Vitriol in the History of Chemistry |journal=Chemické listy |volume=96 |issue=12 |pages=997–1005 |url=http://www.chemicke-listy.cz/ojs3/index.php/chemicke-listy/article/view/2266}} Alchemists were also interested in artificially creating such substances.See {{cite book |last=Newman |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Newman |year=2004 |title=Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature |location=Chicago |publisher=University of Chicago Press |isbn=978-0-226-57524-7}} Jabir describes the synthesis of [[ammonium chloride]] ([[sal ammoniac]]) from [[Organic compound|organic substances]], and Abu Bakr al-Razi experimented with the heating of ammonium chloride, [[vitriol]], and other [[Salt (chemistry)|salts]], which would eventually lead to the discovery of the [[mineral acids]] by 13th-century Latin alchemists such as [[pseudo-Geber]]. ===Astronomy and cosmology=== {{main|Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world| Cosmology in medieval Islam}} [[File:Lunar phases al-Biruni.jpg|thumb|[[al-Biruni]]'s explanation of the [[Lunar phase|phases of the moon]] ]] Astronomy became a major discipline within Islamic science. Astronomers devoted effort both towards understanding the nature of the cosmos and to practical purposes. One application involved determining the [[Qibla]], the direction Muslims face during prayer.Another was [[Astrology in medieval Islam|astrology]], which was used to predict events affecting human life and to select suitable times for activities such as warfare or founding cities.{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=59–116}} [[Al-Battani]] (850–929) accurately determined the length of the [[solar year]]. He contributed to the [[Tables of Toledo]], used by astronomers to predict the movements of the sun, moon and planets across the sky. [[Nicolaus Copernicus|Copernicus]] (1473–1543) later used some of Al-Battani's astronomic tables.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=74, 148–150}} [[Al-Zarqali]] (1028–1087) developed a more accurate [[astrolabe]], used for centuries afterwards. He constructed a [[water clock]] in [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]], discovered that the Sun's [[apogee]] moves slowly relative to the fixed stars, and obtained a good estimate of its motion{{harvnb|Linton|2004|p=97}}. Owing to the unreliability of the data al-Zarqali relied on for this estimate, its remarkable accuracy was fortuitous. for its rate of change.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=73–75}} [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] (1201–1274) wrote an important revision to [[Ptolemaic system|Ptolemy's 2nd-century celestial model]]. When Tusi became [[Hulagu Khan|Helagu]]'s astrologer, he was given an observatory and gained access to Chinese techniques and observations. He developed [[trigonometry]] as a separate field, and compiled the most [[Zij-i Ilkhani|accurate astronomical tables]] available up to that time.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=132–135}} ===Botany and agronomy=== {{further|Arab Agricultural Revolution}} [[File:A Quince Tree, a Cypress Tree, and a Sumac Tree in Zakariya al-Qazwini's Wonders of Creation.jpg|thumb|upright=0.6|[[Quince]], [[cypress]], and [[sumac]] trees, in [[Zakariya al-Qazwini]]'s 13th century [[ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt|''Wonders of Creation'']] ]] The study of the natural world extended to a detailed examination of plants. The work done proved directly useful in the unprecedented growth of [[pharmacology]] across the Islamic world. [[Abu Hanifa Dinawari|Al-Dinawari]] (815–896) popularised [[botany]] in the Islamic world with his six-volume ''Kitab al-Nabat'' (''Book of Plants''). Only volumes 3 and 5 have survived, with part of volume 6 reconstructed from quoted passages. The surviving text describes 637 plants in alphabetical order from the letters ''sin'' to ''ya'', so the whole book must have covered several thousand kinds of plants. Al-Dinawari described the phases of [[plant growth]] and the production of flowers and fruit. The thirteenth century encyclopedia compiled by [[Zakariya al-Qazwini]] (1203–1283) – [[ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt|''ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt'' (The Wonders of Creation)]] – contained, among many other topics, both realistic botany and fantastic accounts. For example, he described trees which grew birds on their twigs in place of leaves, but which could only be found in the far-distant British Isles.{{citation|last=Fahd |first=Toufic |title=Botany and agriculture| page=815}}, in Morelon & Rashed [[#CITEREFMorelonRashed1996|1996, pp.813–852]]{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=138–139}}{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=162–188}} The use and cultivation of plants was documented in the 11th century by [[Ibn Bassal|Muhammad bin Ibrāhīm Ibn Bassāl]] of [[Toledo, Spain|Toledo]] in his book ''Dīwān al-filāha'' (The Court of Agriculture), and by [[Ibn al-'Awwam|Ibn al-'Awwam al-Ishbīlī]] (also called Abū l-Khayr al-Ishbīlī) of [[Seville]] in his 12th century book ''Kitāb al-Filāha'' (Treatise on Agriculture). Ibn Bassāl had travelled widely across the Islamic world, returning with a detailed knowledge of [[agronomy]] that fed into the [[Arab Agricultural Revolution]]. His practical and systematic book describes over 180 plants and how to propagate and care for them. It covered leaf- and root-vegetables, herbs, spices and trees.{{cite web |title=Ibn Baṣṣāl: Dīwān al-filāḥa / Kitāb al-qaṣd wa'l-bayān |url=http://www.filaha.org/author_Ibn_bassal.html |website=The Filaha Texts Project: The Arabic Books of Husbandry |access-date=11 April 2017}} ===Geography and cartography=== {{main|Geography and cartography in medieval Islam}} [[File:Piri reis world map 01.jpg|thumb|upright| Surviving fragment of the [[Piri Reis map|first World Map]] of [[Piri Reis]] (1513)]] The spread of Islam across Western Asia and North Africa encouraged an unprecedented growth in trade and travel by land and sea as far away as Southeast Asia, China, much of Africa, Scandinavia and even Iceland. Geographers worked to compile increasingly accurate maps of the known world, starting from many existing but fragmentary sources.{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=117–130}} [[Abu Zayd al-Balkhi]] (850–934), founder of the Balkhī school of cartography in Baghdad, wrote an atlas called ''Figures of the Regions'' (Suwar al-aqalim).{{cite book |author1=Edson, E. |author2=[[Savage-Smith, Emilie]] |title=Medieval Views of the Cosmos |pages=61–63 |publisher=[[Bodleian Library]] |date=2004 |isbn=978-1-851-24184-2}} [[Al-Biruni]] (973–1048) measured the radius of the Earth using a new method. It involved observing the height of a mountain at [[Nandana]] (now in Pakistan).{{cite encyclopedia |last=Pingree |first=David |author-link=David Pingree |title=BĪRŪNĪ, ABŪ RAYḤĀN iv. Geography |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |date=March 1997 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-1-56859-050-9}} [[Al-Idrisi]] (1100–1166) drew a map of the world for [[Roger II of Sicily|Roger]], the Norman King of Sicily (ruled 1105–1154). He also wrote the ''[[Tabula Rogeriana]]'' (Book of Roger), a geographic study of the peoples, climates, resources and industries of the whole of the world known at that time.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=79–80}} The [[Ottoman Empire|Ottoman]] [[admiral]] [[Piri Reis]] ({{circa}} 1470–1553) made a map of the New World and West Africa in 1513. He made use of maps from Greece, Portugal, Muslim sources, and perhaps one made by [[Christopher Columbus]]. He represented a part of a major tradition of Ottoman cartography.{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=128–129}} File:TabulaRogeriana upside-down.jpg| Modern copy of [[al-Idrisi]]'s 1154 ''[[Tabula Rogeriana]]'', upside-down, north at top ===Mathematics=== {{main|Mathematics in medieval Islam}} [[File:Image-Al-Kitāb al-muḫtaṣar fī ḥisāb al-ğabr wa-l-muqābala.jpg|thumb|upright|left| A page from [[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī|al-Khwarizmi]]'s ''Algebra'']] Islamic mathematicians gathered, organised and clarified the mathematics they inherited from ancient Egypt, Greece, India, Mesopotamia and Persia, and went on to make innovations of their own. Islamic mathematics covered [[algebra]], [[geometry]] and [[arithmetic]]. Algebra was mainly used for recreation: it had few practical applications at that time. Geometry was studied at different levels. Some texts contain practical geometrical rules for surveying and for measuring figures. Theoretical geometry was a necessary prerequisite for understanding astronomy and optics, and it required years of concentrated work. Early in the Abbasid caliphate (founded 750), soon after the foundation of Baghdad in 762, some mathematical knowledge was assimilated by [[al-Mansur]]'s group of scientists from the pre-Islamic Persian tradition in astronomy. Astronomers from India were invited to the court of the caliph in the late eighth century; they explained the rudimentary [[trigonometry|trigonometrical]] techniques used in Indian astronomy. Ancient Greek works such as [[Ptolemy]]'s ''[[Almagest]]'' and [[Euclid's Elements|Euclid's ''Elements'']] were translated into Arabic. By the second half of the ninth century, Islamic mathematicians were already making contributions to the most sophisticated parts of Greek geometry. Islamic mathematics reached its apogee in the Eastern part of the Islamic world between the tenth and twelfth centuries. Most medieval Islamic mathematicians wrote in Arabic, others in Persian.{{cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef W. |title=Medieval Islamic Civilization, Volume 1: An Encyclopedia |date=January 2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-96691-7 |pages=484–485}}{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=43–61}}{{cite journal |first1=Jan P. |last1=Hogendijk |last2=Berggren |first2=J. L. |title=''Episodes in the Mathematics of Medieval Islam'' by J. Lennart Berggren |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |volume=109 |issue=4 |year=1989 |pages=697–698 |doi=10.2307/604119 |jstor=604119}} [[File:Khayyam-paper-1stpage.png|thumb|upright|[[Omar Khayyam]]'s "Cubic equation and intersection of [[conic sections]]"]] [[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī|Al-Khwarizmi]] (8th–9th centuries) was instrumental in the adoption of the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]] and the development of [[algebra]], introduced methods of simplifying equations, and used [[Euclidean geometry]] in his proofs.[[Gerald J. Toomer|Toomer, Gerald]] (1990). "Al-Khwārizmī, Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Mūsā". In Gillispie, Charles Coulston. ''Dictionary of Scientific Biography''. 7. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons. {{ISBN|978-0-684-16962-0}}.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=139–145}} He was the first to treat algebra as an independent discipline in its own right,{{cite journal |last=Gandz |first=S. |title=The Sources of Al-Khowārizmī's Algebra |journal=[[Osiris (journal)|Osiris]] |volume=1 |year=1936 |pages=263–277 |doi=10.1086/368426 |s2cid=60770737 }}, page 263–277: "In a sense, al-Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than Diophantus because al-Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers". and presented the first systematic solution of [[linear equation|linear]] and [[quadratic equation]]s.Maher, P. (1998). From Al-Jabr to Algebra. Mathematics in School, 27(4), 14–15.{{rp|14}} [[Ibn Ishaq al-Kindi]] (801–873) worked on cryptography for the [[Abbasid Caliphate]],{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=49–52}} and gave the first known recorded explanation of [[cryptanalysis]] and the first description of the method of [[Frequency analysis (cryptanalysis)|frequency analysis]].{{cite journal |last=Broemeling |first=Lyle D.|title=An Account of Early Statistical Inference in Arab Cryptology |journal=The American Statistician |date=1 November 2011 |volume=65 |issue=4 |pages=255–257 |doi=10.1198/tas.2011.10191|s2cid=123537702}}{{cite journal | last1=Al-Kadi | first1=Ibrahim A. | year=1992 | title=The origins of cryptology: The Arab contributions | journal=Cryptologia | volume=16 | issue=2| pages=97–126 | doi=10.1080/0161-119291866801}} [[Avicenna]] ({{circa}} 980–1037) contributed to mathematical techniques such as [[casting out nines]].{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=104–105}} [[Thābit ibn Qurra]] (835–901) calculated the solution to a [[Mathematical chess problem|chessboard problem]] involving an exponential series.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=48–49}} [[Al-Farabi]] ({{circa}} 870–950) attempted to describe, geometrically, the [[Islamic geometric patterns|repeating patterns popular in Islamic decorative motifs]] in his book ''Spiritual Crafts and Natural Secrets in the Details of Geometrical Figures''.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=148–149}} [[Omar Khayyam]] (1048–1131), known in the West as a poet, calculated the length of the year to within 5 decimal places, and found geometric solutions to all 13 forms of cubic equations, developing some [[quadratic equation]]s still in use.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=5, 104, 145–146}} [[Jamshīd al-Kāshī]] (c. 1380–1429) is credited with several theorems of trigonometry, including the [[law of cosines]], also known as Al-Kashi's Theorem. He has been credited with the invention of [[decimal fractions]], and with a [[Horner's method|method like Horner's]] to calculate roots. He calculated [[Pi|π]] correctly to 17 significant figures.O'Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., "Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid Mas'ud al-Kashi", MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews. Sometime around the seventh century, Islamic scholars adopted the [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system]], describing their use in a standard type of text ''fī l-ḥisāb al hindī'', (On the numbers of the Indians). A distinctive Western Arabic variant of the [[Eastern Arabic numerals]] began to emerge around the 10th century in the [[Maghreb]] and [[Al-Andalus]] (sometimes called ''ghubar'' numerals, though the term is not always accepted), which are the direct ancestor of the modern [[Arabic numerals]] used throughout the world.{{citation |first=Paul |last=Kunitzsch |chapter=The Transmission of Hindu-Arabic Numerals Reconsidered |editor1=J. P. Hogendijk |editor2=A. I. Sabra |title=The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_AUtLNtg3nsC&pg=PA3 |year=2003 |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-262-19482-2 |pages=3–22}} ===Medicine=== {{main|Medicine in the medieval Islamic world}} [[File:Mansur1911.jpg|thumb|upright|A coloured illustration from [[Mansur ibn Ilyas|Mansur]]'s ''Anatomy'', {{circa|1450}}]] Islamic society paid careful attention to medicine, following a ''[[hadith]]'' enjoining the preservation of good health. Its physicians inherited knowledge and traditional medical beliefs from the civilisations of classical Greece, Rome, Syria, Persia and India. These included the writings of [[Hippocrates]] such as on the theory of the [[four humours]], and the theories of [[Galen]].{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=131–161}} [[Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi|al-Razi]] ({{circa}} 865–925) identified smallpox and measles, and recognized fever as a part of the body's defenses. He wrote a 23-volume compendium of Chinese, Indian, Persian, Syriac and Greek medicine. al-Razi questioned the classical Greek medical theory of how the four humours regulate [[Physiology|life processes]]. He challenged Galen's work on several fronts, including the treatment of [[bloodletting]], arguing that it was effective.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=74, 99–105}} [[al-Zahrawi]] (936–1013) was a surgeon whose most important surviving work is referred to as ''[[al-Tasrif]]'' (Medical Knowledge). It is a 30-volume set mainly discussing medical symptoms, treatments, and pharmacology. The last volume, on surgery, describes surgical instruments, supplies, and pioneering procedures.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=108–109}} Avicenna (c. 980–1037) wrote the major medical textbook, ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''. [[Ibn al-Nafis]] (1213–1288) wrote an influential book on medicine; it largely replaced Avicenna's ''Canon'' in the Islamic world. He wrote commentaries on Galen and on Avicenna's works. One of these commentaries, discovered in 1924, described [[Pulmonary circulation|the circulation of blood through the lungs]].{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=110–111}}{{harvnb|Turner|1997|pp=131–139}} ===Optics and ophthalmology=== {{Main|Physics in the medieval Islamic world#Optics|Ophthalmology in medieval Islam}} [[File:Cheshm manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|The eye according to [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], {{circa|1200}}]] Optics developed rapidly in this period. By the ninth century, there were works on physiological, geometrical and physical optics. Topics covered included mirror reflection. [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]] (809–873) wrote the book ''Ten Treatises on the Eye''; this remained influential in the West until the 17th century.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=47–48, 59, 96–97, 171–172}} [[Abbas Ibn Firnas|Abbas ibn Firnas]] (810–887) developed lenses for magnification and the improvement of vision.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=71–73}} [[Ibn Sahl (mathematician)|Ibn Sahl]] ({{circa}} 940–1000) discovered the law of refraction known as [[Snell's law]]. He used the law to produce the first [[Aspheric lens]]es that focused light without geometric aberrations.K. B. Wolf, "Geometry and dynamics in refracting systems", ''European Journal of Physics'' 16, p. 14–20, 1995.R. Rashed, "A pioneer in anaclastics: Ibn Sahl on burning mirrors and lenses", ''Isis'' 81, p. 464–491, 1990 In the eleventh century [[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen, 965–1040) rejected the Greek ideas about vision, whether the Aristotelian tradition that held that the form of the perceived object entered the eye (but not its matter), or that of Euclid and Ptolemy which held that the eye emitted a ray. Al-Haytham proposed in his ''Book of Optics'' that vision occurs by way of light rays forming a cone with its vertex at the center of the eye. He suggested that light was reflected from different surfaces in different directions, thus causing objects to look different.{{cite book |last=Dallal |first=Ahmad |title=Islam, Science, and the Challenge of History |url=https://archive.org/details/islamsciencechal0000dall |url-access=registration |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |date=2010 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/islamsciencechal0000dall/page/38 38–39]}}{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David C.|year=1976 |title=Theories of Vision from al-Kindi to Kepler |publisher=University of Chicago Press, Chicago |isbn=978-0-226-48234-7|oclc=1676198}}{{cite book |last=El-Bizri |first=Nader |author-link=Nader El-Bizri |title=A Philosophical Perspective on Alhazen's Optics |work=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, Vol. 15 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2005 |pages=189–218}}{{cite web |last=El-Bizri |first=Nader |url=http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/nader-el-bizri-ibn-al-haytham-introduction |publisher=Muslim Heritage |title=Ibn al-Haytham |date=30 March 2011 |access-date=9 July 2017}} He argued further that the mathematics of reflection and [[refraction]] needed to be consistent with the anatomy of the eye.Masood {{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=173–175}} He was also an early proponent of the [[scientific method]], the concept that a hypothesis must be proved by experiments based on confirmable procedures or mathematical evidence, five centuries before [[History of science in the Renaissance|Renaissance scientists]].{{citation |last=Ackerman |first=James S. |title=Distance Points: Essays in Theory and Renaissance Art and Architecture |date=August 1991 |location=Cambridge, Massachusetts |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-262-01122-8}}[[Nomanul Haq|Haq, Syed]] (2009). "Science in Islam". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. {{ISSN|1703-7603}}. Retrieved 22 October 2014.[[G. J. Toomer]]. [https://www.jstor.org/stable/228328?pg=464 Review on JSTOR, Toomer's 1964 review of Matthias Schramm (1963) ''Ibn Al-Haythams Weg Zur Physik''] Toomer p.464: "Schramm sums up [Ibn Al-Haytham's] achievement in the development of scientific method."{{cite web|url=http://www.light2015.org/Home/ScienceStories/1000-Years-of-Arabic-Optics.html|title=International Year of Light - Ibn Al-Haytham and the Legacy of Arabic Optics|access-date=2019-04-09|archive-date=2014-10-01|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141001171116/http://www.light2015.org/Home/ScienceStories/1000-Years-of-Arabic-Optics.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news|url=https://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7810846.stm |work=BBC News |title=The 'first true scientist' |last=Al-Khalili |first=Jim |date=4 January 2009 |access-date=24 September 2013}}{{cite journal |last=Gorini |first=Rosanna |title=Al-Haytham the man of experience. First steps in the science of vision |url=http://www.ishim.net/ishimj/4/10.pdf |journal=Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine |volume=2 |issue=4 |pages=53–55 |date=October 2003 |access-date=25 September 2008}} ===Pharmacology=== {{further|History of pharmacy}} [[File:Avicenna Expounding Pharmacy to his Pupils Wellcome L0008688.jpg|thumb|left|[[Avicenna|Ibn Sina]] teaching the use of drugs. 15th-century ''Great Canon of Avicenna'']] Advances in [[botany]] and [[chemistry]] in the Islamic world encouraged developments in [[pharmacology]]. [[Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi]] (Rhazes) (865–915) promoted the medical uses of chemical compounds. [[Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi]] (Abulcasis) (936–1013) pioneered the preparation of medicines by [[sublimation (phase transition)|sublimation]] and [[distillation]]. His ''Liber servitoris'' provides instructions for preparing [[Simple (pharmacology)|"simples"]] from which were [[compounding|compounded]] the complex drugs then used. Sabur Ibn Sahl (died 869) was the first physician to describe a large variety of drugs and remedies for ailments. [[Abu Mansur Muwaffaq|Al-Muwaffaq]], in the 10th century, wrote ''The foundations of the true properties of Remedies'', describing chemicals such as [[arsenious oxide]] and [[silicic acid]]. He distinguished between [[sodium carbonate]] and [[potassium carbonate]], and drew attention to the poisonous nature of [[copper]] compounds, especially copper [[vitriol]], and also of [[lead]] compounds. [[Al-Biruni]] (973–1050) wrote the ''Kitab al-Saydalah'' (''The Book of Drugs''), describing in detail the properties of drugs, the role of pharmacy and the duties of the pharmacist. [[Avicenna|Ibn Sina]] (Avicenna) described 700 preparations, their properties, their mode of action and their indications. He devoted a whole volume to simples in ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]''. Works by [[Masawaih al-Mardini]] ({{circa}} 925–1015) and by [[Ibn al-Wafid]] (1008–1074) were printed in [[Latin]] more than fifty times, appearing as ''De Medicinis universalibus et particularibus'' by [[Masawaih al-Mardini|Mesue the Younger]] (died 1015) and as the ''Medicamentis simplicibus'' by [[Ibn al-Wafid|Abenguefit]] (c. 997 – 1074) respectively. [[Peter of Abano]] (1250–1316) translated and added a supplement to the work of al-Mardini under the title ''De Veneris''. [[Ibn al-Baytar]] (1197–1248), in his ''Al-Jami fi al-Tibb'', described a thousand simples and drugs based directly on Mediterranean plants collected along the entire coast between Syria and Spain, for the first time exceeding the coverage provided by [[Dioscorides]] in classical times.{{cite book |last=Levey |first=M. |date=1973 |title=Early Arabic Pharmacology |publisher=E. J. Brill}} Islamic physicians such as Ibn Sina described [[clinical trials]] for determining the efficacy of medical [[drug]]s and [[Chemical substance|substances]].{{cite book |first1=Curtis L. |last1=Meinert |first2=Susan |last2=Tonascia |title=Clinical trials: design, conduct, and analysis |year=1986 |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |page=3 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1oAxuE29MUC&pg=PA3 |isbn=978-0-19-503568-1 }} ===Physics=== {{main|Physics in the medieval Islamic world}} [[File:Banu musa mechanical.jpg|thumb|upright|''Self trimming lamp'' in [[Banū Mūsā|Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir]]'s treatise on mechanical devices, c. 850]] The fields of physics studied in this period, apart from optics and astronomy which are described separately, are aspects of [[mechanics]]: [[statics]], [[dynamics (mechanics)|dynamics]], [[kinematics]] and [[Motion (physics)|motion]]. In the sixth century [[John Philoponus]] ({{circa|490|570}}) rejected the [[Aristotle|Aristotelian]] view of motion. He argued instead that an object acquires an inclination to move when it has a motive power impressed on it. In the eleventh century Ibn Sina adopted roughly the same idea, namely that a moving object has force which is dissipated by external agents like air resistance.{{cite journal |last=Sayili |first=Aydin |title=Ibn Sina and Buridan on the Motion the Projectile |year=1987 |journal=Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences |volume=500 |issue=1 |pages=477–482 |doi=10.1111/j.1749-6632.1987.tb37219.x |s2cid=84784804 }} Ibn Sina distinguished between "force" and "inclination" (''mayl''); he claimed that an object gained ''mayl'' when the object is in opposition to its natural motion. He concluded that continuation of motion depends on the inclination that is transferred to the object, and that the object remains in motion until the ''mayl'' is spent. He also claimed that a projectile in a vacuum would not stop unless it is acted upon. That view accords with [[Newton's first law of motion]], on inertia.{{cite journal |last=Espinoza |first=Fernando |title=An Analysis of the Historical Development of Ideas About Motion and its Implications for Teaching |year=2005 |journal=Physics Education |volume=40 |issue=2 |doi=10.1088/0031-9120/40/2/002 |pages=139–146 |bibcode=2005PhyEd..40..139E |s2cid=250809354 }} As a non-Aristotelian suggestion, it was essentially abandoned until it was described as "impetus" by [[Jean Buridan]] (c. 1295–1363), who was likely influenced by Ibn Sina's [[The Book of Healing|''Book of Healing'']]. In the ''Shadows'', [[Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī]] (973–1048) describes non-uniform motion as the result of acceleration.{{cite web| title=Biography of Al-Biruni| publisher=[[University of St Andrews]] |url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Biruni.html}} Ibn-Sina's theory of ''mayl'' tried to relate the velocity and weight of a moving object, a precursor of the concept of [[momentum]].{{cite book |last1=Nasr |first1=S. H. |last2=Razavi |first2=M. A. |title=The Islamic Intellectual Tradition in Persia |date=1996 |publisher=[[Routledge]]}} Aristotle's theory of motion stated that a constant force produces a uniform motion; [[Abu'l-Barakāt al-Baghdādī]] (c. 1080 – 1164/5) disagreed, arguing that velocity and acceleration are two different things, and that force is proportional to acceleration, not to velocity.{{cite book |title=Studies in Arabic versions of Greek texts and in mediaeval science |volume=2 |first=Shlomo |last=Pines |author-link=Shlomo Pines |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |year=1986 |isbn=978-965-223-626-5 |page=203}} [[Banū Mūsā|The Banu Musa brothers]], Jafar-Muhammad, Ahmad and al-Hasan (c. early 9th century) invented automated devices described in their ''[[Book of Ingenious Devices]]''.{{harvnb|Masood|2009|pp=161–163}}{{cite book |last=Lindberg |first=David |title=Science in the Middle Ages |publisher=[[University of Chicago Press]] |year=1978 |pages=23, 56}}{{cite book |editor-last=Selin |editor-first=Helaine |editor-link=Helaine Selin |title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures |publisher=[[Kluwer Academic Publishers]] |year=1997 |pages=151, 235, 375}} ===Zoology=== {{further|Kitāb al-Hayawān}} [[File:Al-Jahiz - pages from Kitaab al Hayawaan 3.jpg|thumb|upright|Page from the ''Kitāb al-Hayawān'' (''Book of Animals'') by [[Al-Jahiz]]. Ninth century]] Many [[Transmission of the Greek Classics|classical works, including those of Aristotle, were transmitted from Greek]] to Syriac, then to Arabic, then to Latin in the Middle Ages. [[Aristotle's biology|Aristotle's zoology]] remained dominant in its field for two thousand years.{{cite book |last=Hoffman |first=Eva R. |title=Translating Image and Text in the Medieval Mediterranean World between the Tenth and Thirteenth Centuries|work=Mechanisms of Exchange: Transmission in Medieval Art and Architecture of the Mediterranean, ca. 1000–1500 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XaNjNFu8fnEC&pg=PA288 |year=2013 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |isbn=978-90-04-25034-5 |pages=288–}} The ''[[Kitāb al-Hayawān]]'' (كتاب الحيوان, English: ''Book of Animals'') is a 9th-century [[Arabic]] translation of ''History of Animals'': 1–10, ''On the Parts of Animals'': 11–14,Kruk, R., 1979, The Arabic Version of Aristotle's ''Parts of Animals'': book XI–XIV of the Kitab al-Hayawan, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, Amsterdam-Oxford 1979. and ''Generation of Animals'': 15–19.{{cite book |last1=Contadini |first1=Anna |title=A World of Beasts: A Thirteenth-Century Illustrated Arabic Book on Animals (the Kitab Na't al-Hayawan) in the Ibn Bakhtishu' Tradition) |date=2012 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers]] |location=Leiden |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mf0xAQAAQBAJ&pg=PA39|isbn=978-90-04-22265-6 }}Kruk, R., 2003, "La zoologie aristotélicienne. Tradition arabe", DPhA Supplement, 329–334 The book was mentioned by [[Al-Kindī]] (died 850), and commented on by [[Avicenna]] (Ibn Sīnā) in his ''[[The Book of Healing]]''. [[Avempace]] (Ibn Bājja) and [[Averroes]] (Ibn Rushd) commented on and criticised ''On the Parts of Animals'' and ''Generation of Animals''.{{cite book |last=Leroi |first=Armand Marie |author-link=Armand Marie Leroi |title=The Lagoon: How Aristotle Invented Science |title-link=Aristotle's Lagoon |publisher=[[Bloomsbury Publishing]] |date=2014 |isbn=978-1-4088-3622-4 |pages=354–355}} ==Significance== {{Further|Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe|Latin translations of the 12th century}} Muslim scientists helped in laying the foundations for an [[experiment]]al science with their contributions to the [[scientific method]] and their [[empirical]], experimental and [[Quantitative property|quantitative]] approach to scientific [[inquiry]].[[Will Durant|Durant, Will]] (1980). ''The Age of Faith ([[The Story of Civilization]], Volume 4)'', p. 162–186. Simon & Schuster. {{ISBN|978-0-671-01200-7}}. [[Fielding H. Garrison|Garrison, Fielding H.]], ''An Introduction to the History of Medicine: with Medical Chronology, Suggestions for Study and Bibliographic Data'', p. 86. {{Cite book |title=What Went Wrong? : Western Impact and Middle Eastern Response |first=Bernard |last=Lewis |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2001 |isbn=978-0-19-514420-8 |page=[https://archive.org/details/whatwentwrongwes00lewi/page/79 79] |url=https://archive.org/details/whatwentwrongwes00lewi/page/79 }} In a more general sense, the positive achievement of Islamic science was simply to flourish, for centuries, in a wide range of institutions from observatories to libraries, [[madrasas]] to hospitals and courts, both at the height of the Islamic golden age and for some centuries afterwards. It did not lead to a [[Scientific Revolution]] like that in [[Early modern Europe]], but such external comparisons are probably to be rejected as imposing "chronologically and culturally alien standards" on a successful medieval culture. ==See also== {{div col}} * [[Continuity thesis]] * [[Indian influence on Islamic science]] * [[History of scientific method]] * [[History of Islamic economics]] * [[Islamic philosophy]] * [[Islamic attitudes towards science]] * [[Scholasticism]] * [[Timeline of science and engineering in the Muslim world]] {{div col end}} ==References== {{Reflist|30em}} ==Notes== {{Notelist|30em}} ==Sources== * {{cite book | last=Linton | first=Christopher M. | title=From Eudoxus to Einstein—A History of Mathematical Astronomy | publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] | year=2004 | isbn=978-0-521-82750-8 }} * {{cite book |last=Masood |first=Ehsan |title=Science and Islam: A History |author-link=Ehsan Masood |publisher=[[Icon Books]] |year=2009 | isbn=978-1-785-78202-2 }} * {{cite book |editor1-last=McClellan |editor1-first=James E. III |editor2-last=Dorn |editor2-first=Harold |title=Science and Technology in World History |edition=2 |year=2006 |publisher=[[Johns Hopkins University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8018-8360-6 }} * {{cite book |last1=Morelon |first1=Régis |last2=Rashed |first2=Roshdi |year=1996 |title=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science |volume=3 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-12410-2 |title-link=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science }} * {{cite book |last=Turner |first=Howard R. |title=Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction |publisher=[[University of Texas Press]] |year=1997 |isbn=978-0-292-78149-8 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/scienceinmedieva0000turn }} ==Further reading== * {{cite book |last1=Al-Daffa |first1=Ali Abdullah |author-link=Ali Abdullah Al-Daffa |first2=J.J. |last2=Stroyls |title=Studies in the exact sciences in medieval Islam |publisher=[[Wiley (publisher)|Wiley]] |year=1984 |isbn=978-0-471-90320-8 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Hogendijk |first=Jan P. |author-link=Jan Hogendijk |author2=Sabra, Abdelhamid I. |year=2003 |title=The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |isbn=978-0-262-19482-2 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Hill |first=Donald Routledge |author-link=Donald Hill |title=Islamic Science And Engineering |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |date=1993 |isbn=978-0-7486-0455-5 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Huff |first=Toby |author-link=Toby Huff |date=1993 |title=The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Kennedy |first=Edward S. |title=Studies in the Islamic Exact Sciences |year=1983 |publisher=[[Syracuse University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8156-6067-5 |ref=none}} * {{cite book |editor1-last=Lindberg |editor1-first=D. C. |editor1-link=David C. Lindberg |editor2-last=Shank |editor2-first=M. H.|date=2013 |title=The Cambridge History of Science |volume=2: Medieval Science |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]]}} (chapters 1–5 cover science, mathematics and medicine in Islam) * {{cite book |last1=Morelon |first1=Régis |last2=Rashed |first2=Roshdi |author-link2=Roshdi Rashed |year=1996 |title=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science |volume=2–3 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-02063-3 |title-link=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science |ref=none}} * {{cite book |last=Saliba |first=George |author-link=George Saliba |title=Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance |publisher=[[MIT Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-262-19557-7 |ref=none}} ==External links== {{Commons category|History of Islamic science}} *[http://www.aina.org/books/hgsptta.pdf "How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs"] by [[De Lacy O'Leary]] *{{cite web |url=http://www.columbia.edu/~gas1/project/visions/case1/sci.1.html |title=Whose Science is Arabic Science in Renaissance Europe? |first=George |last=Saliba |author-link=George Saliba |ref=none}} *Habibi, Golareh. [https://www.scq.ubc.ca/is-there-such-a-thing-as-islamic-science-the-influence-of-islam-on-the-world-of-science/ is there such a thing as Islamic science? the influence of Islam on the world of science], ''Science Creative Quarterly''. {{Islam topics |Studies |state=collapsed}} {{History of science}} {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Science In Medieval Islam}} [[Category:Science in the medieval Islamic world| ]] [[Category:Islamic Golden Age|.Science]] [[Category:Medieval history of the Middle East]] [[Category:Science in the Middle Ages|Islamic world]]