Al-Khwarizmi

Jess and Taylor

History

• Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi lived in Baghdad in the ninth-century

• The mathematician that invented Algebra and solved linear and quadratic equations using algorithms (the basis of modern computer programming)

• Algebra was initially developed to help solve property disputes.

History

• Al-Khwarizmi introduces the revision of arithmetic, using zero’s to create multiples of 10, 100 1000 etc.

• The Indian-Arabic decimal system made arithmetic quicker and easier to use.

• From the works of Euclid and Apollonius, Greek scholars, Muslim mathematicians helped expand Mathematics to what it is today.

History

• Fibonacci, the creator of the Fibonacci sequence, aka. the Da Vinci Code (the sequence not the book) learned advanced arithmetic from Arab teachers, in what is now present-day Algeria.

• Fibonacci was one of the founders of Western Mathematics.

History

• “The Arabs were not simply transmitters of Greek concepts; they were creators in their own right.” – Jean Audouze, Director of French National Centre for Scientific Research in Paris.

• “Like astronomy, which evolved from the practical necessities of finding the directions and hours for prayers, Islamic mathematics was very much a hands-on affair at the beginning, a product of the marketplace and of the need for pragmatic legal precedents.”

Repression

• Abu Amir al-Kahtani, the Regent of Cordoba in the 10 century, had many academic manuscripts burned, claiming “the teachings of the Greeks, particularly in astronomy and philosophy, contradicted the Qur’an.”

• Muhammad al-Ghazali, the Baghdad theologian and mystic in the 12 century, banned theoretical mathematics claiming it was dangerous and encouraged atheism.

Islamic Astronomy

al-Biruni

• Persian astronomer Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, dismissed Ptolemy’s model of planetary motion and created his own model.

• “...Ptolemy’s Almagest, or The Great Book, initially translated into Arabic by al-Hajjaj around 828...” (Covington 2007)

• Polish astronomer Nicholas Copernicus took his ideas to build his model where the sun is at the centre 300 years later.

• “Although the Babylonians, Indians and Egyptians had astronomical observatories, those founded under Islamic rulers in Maragha (in present-day Iran), Samarkand and Istanbul were far more sophisticated, equipped with an impressive array of astrolabes, sundials, sextants, celestial globes and armillary spheres to track the movements of the planets and constellations.” (Covington 2007)

• Astronomy was used to determine the hours of prayer and lunar calendars were used to set the dates of Ramadan.

• The Arabs were also able to determine latitude and longitude with great accuracy. The calculated the Earth’s circumference to around 37,380 kilometres. (the accepted value today is 40,000)

• Persian Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni (973–1048) wrote in Arabic, Greek, Persian, Hebrew and Sanskrit (A language used by Hindus).

• With astronomer Abu al-Wafa, over 2km away in Baghdad had a simultaneous observation of a lunar ecplispe.

• “...Mas’ud, al-Biruni also observed that the planets revolved in apparent elliptical orbits...” (Covington 2007)

• The House of Wisdom was also an observatory.• European astronomy is riddled with Arabic names for stars and a

basis for which Europeans could begin to explore science for themselves. (Welser-Sherrill 2007)

Cartography

Al-Khwarizmi

• Al-Khwarizmi (780-850), a Muslim Mathematician, drafted a map that traced the Nile River.

• He also wrote work that gave the latitude and longitude for 2402 localities. The book was based on Ptolemy’s Geography (a Greco-Roman of Egypt) which was written in Greek.

• Ptolemy’s Geography was translated into Arabic, during the 9th century.

Al-Sufi

• Al-Sufi wrote The Book of Constellations of the Fixed Stars, which covered the topic of star cartography/uranography. This book became a classic of Islamic Astronomy.

Al-Biruni

• al-Biruni introduced new techniques of measuring the Earth using triangulation.

• He found that radius of the earth to be 6339.6 (this was not discovered in the west until the 19th century

• http://www-history.mcs.st-and.ac.uk/HistTopics/Cartography.html

• http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm#lines

Arabic Surgery

Al-Zahrawi

Al-Zahrawi

• He lived in the 10th century (936 circa)• Wrote an illustrated encyclopedia of medicine

and surgery named Al-Tasrif (The Method of Medicine)

Al-Tasrif

• 30 Chapter medical encyclopedia• 3 parts: Cauterization, Surgery and Orthopaedics • Described surgical instruments (Scalpels, cauterizing

tools)• First listed the hereditary nature of haemophilia• Dentistry, Created a method of replacing defective

teeth with artificial teeth• Perfected the surgical procedure of removing dead

fetuses and the practice of amputation.

Influence on Europe

• Gerard of Cremona(1114-1187) translated Al-Tasrif into Latin

• Between the 12th and the 16th centuries nearly all European authors of surgical texts referred to the Al-Tasarif

Bibliography

• http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm

• www.zahrawi.com/code/navigate.php?id=77 • Muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?

ArticleID=223

Harun al-Rashid & Al-Ma’mun

Q 1.

• Harun al-Rashid established the ‘House of Wisdom’ in Baghdad.

• The House of Wisdom facilitated the exchange of Greek ideas, knowledge and books. (Pioneer of Physicians).

• Subsequent caliphs encouraged the translation of works from Archimedes, Apollonius and Ptolemy. (The Tiles Of Infinity)

Q 2.

• Cities within Iraq were renound for the sophistication of their roads. The roads were financed by Harun’s wife. Famous road: Darb Zubayda.

• 200 kilometers north-east of Medina; town which was centre for religious teaching.

Q 3.

• Al-Razi, Abu-Bakr, Ishaq al-Sabbah, Al-Khwarizmi. These people exemplified the rationality of Islamic civilisation; they were the some of the most prominent translators of Greek works.

• The House of Wisdom also served as a astronomical observatory; where al-Khwarizmi developed algebra.

Q 4.

• Bimaristans introduced by the Abbasid caliphs. Was the basis for modern European hosptials. Hospitals became educational institutions for students.

• Pharmacies established.• “a network of intellectual cross-pollination

arose that spanned more than half a millennium, ushering in a European scientific renaissance”(Rediscovering Arab Science)

Arabic Science: the Lines of Transmission

Transmission of Arabic Learning to Europe

• Around the 10th or 11th centuries European scholarship became aware of the vast scientific knowledge accumulated in the Islamic world

• Transmitted to Europe through “three main geographical areas, in which contact between the Islamic world and the Latin world allowed for the transmission of knowledge from one culture to the other; Spain, southern Italy and Sicily, and the area encompassing the Holy Land”(Gale 2005/6)

• The Crusades in the Levant and the Reconquista of the Iberian peninsula brought many Arabic works into circulation in Europe, from captured Muslim cities, schools and libraries.

• However, the process was not purely one of conquest; “Translators such as Gerard of Cremona from Italy, Adelard of Bath from England, Constantine the African, [...], and Michael Scot, a Scotsman who studied in Spain and Sicily, crisscrossed Europe”(Covington 2007), bringing back works of science from the east.

• As well, Covington tells us “...Arabic-speaking Holy Roman Emperor Frederick II maintained a thriving correspondence with Muslim philosophers and scientists from his court in Palermo, Sicily, and (sic) even during his occupation of Jerusalem...” showing that despite the crusades a peaceful transfer of knowledge between the east and west was underway.

Bibliography

• Covington, Richard. "Saudi Aramco World : Rediscovering Arabic Science." Saudi Aramco World : Rediscovering Arabic Science. N.p., 2007. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

• Gale, Thomson. "Research Article: The Transmission of Arabic Science to Europe." BookRags. BookRags, 2005/6. Web. 27 Mar. 2013.

Decline of Islamic Science

By Nic and Nikolai

Decline of Islamic Science• The Crusades, instead of damaging Islamic scientific

progress, energised it. According to Rashed, “The Crusades encouraged Muslims & to find out the secrets of their enemies’ forces”.

• “The first crippling blow to Islamic science occurred with the Mongol invasions”. In 1258, the Mongols sacked Baghdad; two million Muslims were killed, and the libraries, hospitals, Observatories and House of Wisdom were destroyed. It is said that the “...Tigris ran red with the blood of scholars and black with the ink of their books.”

Decline of Islamic Science

• Despite the Mongol Invasions, there was still plenty of scientific innovation. However, according to Rashed, “...scholars had to spend more time and energy preserving knowledge instead of pushing ahead with new explorations.”

• Portuguese and Spanish ships began to exploit the East-West sea trade routes, which resulted in the abandonment of the silk road, which the Arabs maintained a monopoly over. This economic damage led to even more decline in Islamic science.

Decline of Islamic Science

‘Arabic science had arrived at a critical turning point where a cognitive revolution was needed in order to continue,” the French science historian explains. In mathematics, for example, complex equations became so cumbersome they required 50 pages to articulate. “Creating new symbols to condense these equations required a conceptual leap that’s possible in a society in expansion, but not in a society in decline,” says Rashed.’

Decline of Islamic Science

• The rise of the Ottoman Empire also dealt a blow to Islamic science. The Ottoman sultans were more interested in funding military expansion than research and science.

• “Science only develops in cultivated societies where the economy and commerce are in good health, and it creates a virtuous circle where the economy favours science which in turn generates profits and wealth of all kinds, spiritual as well as material.”

Decline of Islamic Science

• “Academics have long maintained that the great Islamic theologian, Abu Hamid Al Ghazali, who lived from 1055 to 1111, single-handedly steered Islamic culture away from independent scientific inquiry towards religious fundamentalism.” Abu Hamid maintained that scientific topics such as physics and mathematics were not compatible with Islam.

• Spanish reconquest of former Islamic territory, and other losses of Arabic territory to the east hindered scientific growth.

BibliographyCovington, Richard (2007), Rediscovering Arab Science, Accessed 28 March 2013,

<http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm>

Hassan, Hassan (2012), How the Decline of Muslim Scientific Thought still Haunts, Accessed 28 March 2013,<http://www.thenational.ae/thenationalconversation/comment/how-the-decline-of-muslim-scientific-thought-

still-haunts#page2>

Ofek, Hillel (2011), Why the Arabic World turned away from Science, Accessed 28 March 2013, <http://www.thenewatlantis.com/publications/why-the-arabic-world-turned-away-from-science>