Iqbal Academy Scandinavia

7/29/2019 Iqbal Academy Scandinavia

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IQBAL ACADEMY SCANDINAVIA

The teaching of the

Qur'an that life is a

process of

progressive creationnecessitates that each

generation, guided

but unhampered by

the work of its

predecessors, should

be permitted to solve

its own problems.

(The Reconstruction

of Religious Thought

in Islam)

MUSLIMS CONTRIBUTION TO SCIENCE AND

TECHNOLOGY

A number of inventions were made in the Muslim world. Manyof these inventions had direct implications for Fiqah related

issues. Fiqah is the Islamic jurisprudence. This is an expansion

of what is called the Divine Law. The technological

development came so fast in the Islamic era because of the

Muslim culture and their way of living. In fact the inventions of

the Muslim world were outcome of their culture.[1]

The history of Western Europe typically divide the development

of Western civilisation into Ancient Greek period, Ancient

Roman period, Early Middle Ages, High Middle Ages,

Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, and Twentieth century.
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INTRODUCTIO

N

AIMS and

OBJECTIVES

ARTICLES/PAP

ERS

EVENTS

AUDIO

ORGANIZATIO

NAL

STRUCTURE

CONTACT US

Many Muslims feel that the term Dark Ages inexact suggests

that for approximately 1000 years (early AD) nothing valuable

happened either scientifically or intellectually. No discovery, no

invention, no progress. This neglects the vibrant scientific

activity in the Islamic world during the period 750-1258 AD.

Consequently, some Muslims prefer to call this period theIslamic Golden Age.1

During the Middle Ages, Islamic scholars made significant

advances in mathematics, medicine, astronomy, engineering and

many other fields. Science was one of the most powerful areas of

the Islamic culture of the period. Islamic people believed in truth

and logic. They believed anything could be proven through

logic.1

These are some of the fields Islamic science has worked with:[2]

- Mathematical science: The Muslim mind has always been

attracted to the mathematical sciences. The mathematical

sciences have traditionally included astronomy, mathematics

itself and physics. As for mathematics, like astronomy, it

received its direct stimulation from the Qur'an.[3]Islamic

mathematics is also known as Arabic mathematics due to

most of the text on Islamic mathematics being written in

Arabic. Algebra is for example an Arabic word. Islamic

mathematics is the main aspect of the greater history of

Islamic science, and also an important part of the history of

mathematics. Many of the most important Islamic

mathematicians were Persians. Many of the ideas, which

were thought as brilliant and new conceptions due to

European mathematicians of the sixteenth, seventeenth, and

eighteenth centuries, are now known to have been originated

by Arabic/Islamic mathematicians like Al-Khwarazmi and

Khayyam, around four centuries earlier.

- Geometry: The Muslims also excelled in geometry as

reflected in their art. The Muslim geographers began to study

the geography of practically the whole globe and divided theearth into the traditional seven climes. They studied each of

these carefully from both the geographical and climactic

point of view. Columbus made use of Muslim geographers

knowledge in his discovery of America. The word Euclid,

which is a synonym of the word geometry, has derived from

the Arabic word Uqlaidas.

- Botany, Zoology: The Muslims also showed much interest in

zoology especially in horses, and falcons, and other hunting

birds. The works of al-Damiri and al-Jahiz are especially

famous in the field of zoology and deal with the literary,moral and theological dimensions of the study of animals as
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well as the zoological aspects of the subject. Abu Yahya al-

Qazwini has written the most famous book about zoology

The Wonders of Creation.

- Architecture: One of the major achievements of Islamic

civilization is architecture, which combines technology ofnature and art. Some of the greatest masterpieces of Islamic

architecture are the Cordoba Mosque, the Dome of the Rock

in Jerusalem and Taj Mahal in India.

Muslim physicians contributed significantly to the field of

medicine. Islam contains many instructions concerning health.

Early in Islamic history Muslims began to cultivate the field of

medicine, because of the great attention paid in Islam to the need

of taking care of the body and to hygiene.[4]The scientist,

Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi (born in 865- died in 925),

was one of the greatest of physicians who emphasized clinicalmedicine and diagnosis. He was a master of prognosis and

psychosomatic medicine and also of anatomy. He was the first to

identify and treat smallpox, to use alcohol as an antiseptic and

make medical use of mercury. Mercury is a metal used in

medicine, in form of various organic and inorganic compounds.

Muhammad ibn Zakariyya al-Razi was recognised as a medical

authority in West up to the 18th century.[5]

The greatest of all Muslim physicians, however, was ibn Sina

(born in 980-died in 1037), who was called the prince of

physicians in the West. Ibn Sina is known as Avicenna in the

West. Ibn Sina discovered many drugs and identified and treated

several physical and mental disorders. His greatest contribution

was however in the philosophy of medicine. He created a system

of medicine within which medical practice could be carried out,

and in which physical and psychological factors, drugs and diet

are combined. He synthesised Islamic medicine in his major

masterpiece The Canon Of Medicine, which is the most

famous of all medical books in history. It was the final authority

in medical matters in Europe for nearly six centuries and is still

taught wherever Islamic medicine has survived to this day insuch lands as Pakistan and India.[6]

Islamic medicine has advanced to a large extent in the fields of

medical education, hospitals, bacteriology, medicine,

anaesthesia, surgery, pharmacy, ophthalmology, psychotherapy

and psychosomatic diseases.[7]

The development of efficient hospitals during the Middle Ages

was an outstanding contribution of Muslim medicine. Hospitals

were built all over the Muslim World with high standards of

hygiene. One of the reasons for the Muslims' interest in healthwas the saying of the Prophet Muhammad that God had given a
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cure for every disease. Furthermore, the third Pillar of Islam was

charity, which could go to the poor, and sick, so the building of

hospitals and taking care of the sick was a part of a religious

duty.[8]

The hospitals served all citizens with best available medicalservice and cared for all people free of charge without any regard

to their colour, religion, sex, age or social status. The hospitals

were run by government and the directors of hospitals were

physicians. There were separate wards for male patients and

female patients. Different diseases were allocated different

wards. Hospitals provided patients with unlimited water supply

and with bathing facilities. They had housing for students and

house-staff. Furthermore they had waiting rooms for visitors

and patients. They contained pharmacies dispensing free drugs to

patients. On discharge, each patient received five gold pieces to

support himself until he could return to work. For the first timein history, these hospitals kept records of patients and their

medical care.[9]

A great medieval surgeon was Abu al-Qasim Khalaf ibn al-

Abbas Al-Zahrawi (born in 939 - died in 1013). Al-Zahrawi,

who is known as Abulcasis in the West, was an Arabic physician

and scientist. He shaped European surgical procedures up until

the renaissance. Al-Zahrawi is often regarded as the Father of

Surgery. Al-Zahrawi was also the inventor of several surgical

instruments, and he made the real breakthrough in surgical

instrumentation. Many surgical instruments were manufactured

from bronze, iron and silver, such as scalpels, lancets, curettes,

tweezers, forceps, tubes, surgical knives, etc. The catgut was

among other things one of the inventions of Al-Zahrawi. The

catgut was used for internal stitching, a method that is still

practised in most of todays surgery.[10]

These are some of the surgical instruments invented by the

forefathers of surgery. These surgical instruments are still used

in developed shape:

- Graspers, especially tweezers and forceps

- Clamps and occluders for blood vessels and other organs.

- Retractors, used to spread open skin, ribs and other tissue.

- Mechanical cutters like scalpels, lancets, drill bits, and

rasps.

- Suction tips and tubes, for removal of bodily fluids.

- Irrigation and injection needles, tips and tubes, for

introducing fluid, etc.

Al-Zahrawi wrote his famous thirty volumes medical

encyclopaedia Al-Tasrif translated as The Method ofMedicine. He introduced more than 200 surgical tools in his
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medical encyclopaedia, which included illustrations and detailed

information on how and when each instrument was to be used.

Al-Zahrawi got a tremendous influence on surgery in the West,

When Al-Tasrif was translated into Latin in the 12 th century.

There can be no doubt that Al-Zahrawi influenced the field of

medicine and surgery very deeply, and the principles laid downby him were recognized as authentic in medical science,

especially surgery, and these continued to influence the medical

world for further five centuries.

There are still many Muslim medicinal researchers, who are

innovating new techniques and engaging in original research.

We are living in a world where the technological development is

going very fast. The knowledge about medical science and many

of the surgical instruments from the Islamic Golden Age, are still

being used today, but they have been developed with the most upto date technology. In todays world we talk about Artificial

Intelligence, DNA, and cloning. The technological development

is taking us to a point where our caretakers will be robots and

where it will be normality for us to associate with cloned human

beings. But do we have any limit, when the talk about the

development of technology and science is surrounding us?

There are many arguments in terms of medical ethics. A female

Arabian doctor argued about using bone marrow as a source of

stem cells instead of having to resort to embryonic stem cells for

stem cell research, by following the Muslim jurisprudence and

ethical system. The arguments included that a cloned person

would not fit the scope of a kin, and would therefore be deprived

of family connections that all humans currently enjoy, such as

filial or sibling affiliations. Another argument used as a rejection

of human cloning, was that cloning would undermine the

variation necessary for the healthy continuation of the human

gene pool.

The Muslim world has contributed to science in a very large

extent. They not only preserved, but also added to theachievements in medicine. They have fostered the flame of

civilization, made it brighter, and handed it over to Europe in the

best possible condition. Europe, in turn, passed it to the United

States of America, and it will continue like that for the time to

come.

Table of contents:

Literature:

The Making Of Humanity, By Robert Briffault


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Internet:

http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya

%27_al-Razi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sina

http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasim

http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamics

cience3.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_science

[1]The Making Of Humanity, By Robert Briffault: Page 185-202

[2]http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.html[3]http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islam

icscience3.htm

[4]The Making Of Humanity, By Robert Briffault: Page 185-202[5]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya

%27_al-Razi

[6]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sina

[7]The Making Of Humanity, By Robert Briffault: Page 185-202[8]http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htm

[9]http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htm

[10]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasim
http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_sciencehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_sciencehttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref1http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref1http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref2http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref3http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref3http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref4http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref4http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref5http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref5http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref7http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref7http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref8http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref9http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref10http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref10http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref9http://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref8http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref7http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref6http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref5http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref4http://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref3http://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.htmlhttp://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref2http://www.allamaiqbal.com/ias/muslimscon_science_tech.html#_ftnref1http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_sciencehttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://www.channel4.com/science/microsites/S/science/society/islamicscience3.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_al-Qasimhttp://www.islamicmedicine.org/history.htmhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_sinahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abu_Bakr_Muhammad_Ibn_Zakariyya%27_al-Razihttp://www.usc.edu/dept/MSA/introduction/woi_knowledge.html


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