1. Hospitals:
While European "hospitals" at this time were usually simply monasteries where the sick were told they would live or die according to God's will, not human intervention, Muslim hospitals pioneered the practices of diagnosis, cure, and future prevention.
The first hospital in the Islamic world was built in Damascus in 707, and soon most major Islamic cities had hospitals, in which hygiene was emphasized and healing was a priority. Hospitals were open 24 hours a day, and many doctors did not charge for their services. Later, a central hospital was established in Baghdad by order of the Abbasid ruler, the first of thirty-four hospitals throughout the Muslim world, many of them with special wards for women.
Traveling clinics with adequate supplies of drugs toured the countryside, and others paid regular visits to the jails.
2. Medical Schools:
The medical school at the University of Jundishapur, once the capital of Sassanid Persia, became the largest in the Islamic world by the 9th century. Its location in Central Asia allowed it to incorporate medical practices from Greece, China, and India, as well as developing new techniques and theories.
3. Famous Doctors
a.) Al-Razi, a 9th century Persian physician, made the first major Muslim contribution to medicine when he developed treatments for smallpox and measles. He also made significant observations about hay fever, kidney stones, and scabies, and first used opium as an anesthetic.
b.) Ibn Sina was one of the greatest physicians in the world, with his most famous book used in European medical schools for centuries. He is credited with discovering the contagious nature of diseases like tuberculosis, which he correctly concluded could be transmitted through the air, and led to the introduction of quarantine as a means of limiting the spread of such infectious diseases.
c.) In the 10th century, Al-Zahravi first conducted surgery for the eye, ear, and throat, as well as performing amputations and cauterizations. He also invented several surgical instruments, including those for the inner ear and the throat.
d.) Other Muslim physicians accurately diagnosed the plague, diphtheria, leprosy, rabies, diabetes, gout, epilepsy, and hemophilia long before the rest of the world.
4. Muslims also made advancements in the field of pharmacology (the study of drugs and medicines). They experimented with the medical effects of various herbs and other drugs, and familiarized themselves with anesthetics (germ killers) used in India. The Arabs established the first drugstores and wrote the first encyclopedias of drugs and medicines. Baghdad had at one time as many as eight hundred sixty two registered pharmacists, all of whom had passed formal examinations.
Learn more about Contributions of Muslim Scientists:
• See Hyperion Culture Academy's math and science section which includes:
o Astronomy
o Medicine
o Other Sciences
• Be sure to see "Muslim Scientists, Mathematicians and Astronomers Before European Renaissance, 700 - 1500 C.E." with its great chart!] Also see "Science in Al-Andalusia" (Muslim Spain)
• For further information on the history of science in Andalusia, see "Science and Scholarship in Al-Andalus"
• Quotations From Famous Historians of Science http://www.erols.com/zenithco/Introl1.html#refer1
• For a History of Islamic Scientists with some good images and biographies of five scientists, see http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam12.html
• For a chronological listing of scientists and their contributions, see "Timeline of Islamic Scientists" from 700 - 1400. http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam10.html
• Several biographies of scientists and mathematicians are found http://www.ummah.org.uk/history/scholars/index.html
• Learn about the use of "kerosene lamps" 1000 years before Europeans in "The Oil Weapons: Ancient Oil Industries"
• Sciences (contributions of Muslims) http://www.ummah.org.uk/science/islscience.htm
• In Spanish, see "Biomusulman" biographies of Muslim leaders, scientists, poets, philosophers, etc.
E. Technology:
For centuries, the dry and harsh environment of much of the Muslim lands made the collection, transportation, and storage of water important. It is hardly surprising that the most important progress in medieval Muslim technology and engineering was achieved in relation to water.
In the tenth century al-Kindi proposed a plan to dam the Nile. Many of the dams, reservoirs, and aqueducts constructed at this time throughout the Islamic world still survive.
Photo: At Hama in Syria, antique wooden wheels still lift the waters of the Orontes to gardens, baths, and fountains.
Syrian waterwheel still working. (Islam.org)
Muslim engineers also perfected the waterwheel and built underground water channels some fifty feet underground. The underground channels had manholes (openings from the street) so that they could be cleaned and repaired.
What were some other Muslim inventions and technological achievements?
• Water raising equipment for irrigation are shown and described, including techniques included the waterwheel.
• A type of windmill, a horizontal mill with sails that revolve in a horizontal plane around a vertical axis. Such mills are known from the 7th century AD in the region around modern Iran and Afganistan.
• The heavy plow helped many farmers.
• Steel made from iron after heating and pounding was improved upon by skilled steelworkers in Damascus and Toledo (Spain); they were famous for making fine steel weapons.
• Paper making (first invented by the Chinese) was adapted by Middle Eastern workers and later introduced into Europe. See the process of early paper making.
• The astrolabe (an instrument used for measuring the positions on the earth). For two student projects, see "Building an Astrolabe" and "Building an Astrolabe" from Singapore's Virtual Science Center. Photo: Muslim scientists developed the astrolabe, an instrument used long before the invention of the sextant to observe the position of celestial (heavenly) bodies.
• See "Islamic History in Arabia and the Middle East", especially section on "The Golden Age" for inventions.
• Medieval Inventions are listed on a timeline at "Medieval Technology Pages". See which ones had their origins in the Middle East and were brought to Europe.
F. Agriculture
Agricultural advances are also part of the Muslim legacy. Important books were written on soil, water, and what kinds of crops were suited to (fit best with) what soil. Many new plants were introduced into all parts of the Muslim empire from Africa, Europe, and from as far away as India and China. Farmers made advances in these areas of agriculture:
1. grafting (cutting of a branch from one plant and putting it onto another)
2. fertilizers (used to make the fields more fertile and grow more)
3. new plant varieties
III. Arabic words are still used as English scientific terms:
Examples of Arabic words that are now part of scientific English include algebra, algorithm, chemistry, alchemy, zircon, atlas, almanac, earth, monsoon, alcohol, elixir, aorta, pancreas, colon, cornea, diaphragm, and many more!
IV. Why did this "Golden Age" of science and learning end? [This is an adaption and simplification of The Golden Age of Islam (Stormwind.com).]
The Abbassid Empire became weaker in the 12th century. But from its golden beginnings in the mid-8th century until the destruction of Baghdad by the Mongols in 1256, Arabic culture was unequalled in its splendor and learning. It was a period of almost 500 years!
A. Why did Islam's Golden Age come to an end? What forces shifted both political power and learning from the Islamic Empire to Christian Europe?
Like all historical trends, the explanations are complex. Yet some broad outlines may be identified, both within and without Muslim lands.
1. Internal Pressures (From Inside the Empire): the End to Scientific Progress
With the end of the Abbasid Caliphate and the beginning of the Turkish Seljuk Caliphate in 1057 CE, the centralized power of the empire began to shatter. Religious differences resulted in splinter groups, charges of heresy, and assassinations. Aristotelian logic, adopted early on as a framework upon which to build science and philosophy, appeared to be undermining the beliefs of educated Muslims. Orthodox faith was in decline and skepticism on the rise.
The appeal made by theologian (a person who studies religion and about the nature of God) al-Ghazali turned the religious tide back to orthodox (traditional) belief. In a masterful philosophical argument, most clearly stated in his book, The Destruction of Philosophy, al-Ghazali declared reason and all its works to be bankrupt. Experience and the reason that grew out of it were not to be trusted; they could say nothing meaningful about the reality of Allah. Only direct intuition of God led to worthwhile knowledge. Philosophy was a snare, leading the unwary to the pits of Hell. By the time of his death in 1111, free scientific investigation and philosophical and religious toleration were phenomena of the past. Schools limited their teaching to theology (religion and the nature of God). Scientific progress came to a halt.
2. External Pressures (From Without)
During this same period, the European Crusades (1097-1291) weakened the Islamic Empires' powers from without. Cordoba fell to Spanish Christians in 1236. When the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1256 the Islamic Empire never recovered. Trade routes became unsafe. Urban life broke down.
Individual communities drew in upon themselves in feudal isolation. Science and philosophy survived for a while in scattered pockets, but the golden age of Islamic culture was at an end.
Mongol archer
B. Destruction of Books and Libraries
1. The fall of Baghdad (1258) meant the end of the Abbasid Caliphate. Two million Muslims were massacred (killed, wiped out) in Baghdad. The major scientific institutions, laboratories, schools, and even roads and waterways in leading Muslim centers of civilization were destroyed. The books from the House of Wisdom were either burned or dumped into the Euphrates River. There were so many books dumped into the river that the waters turned black with their ink.
2. Another wave of destruction came when the Christians took over Spain in 1492. More than one million volumes of Muslim works on science, arts, philosophy and culture were burnt in the public square in Granada.
Above: The Public Library of Hulwan, Baghdad from a scene in Maqamat al-Hariri. The leather-bound books were stacked into niches cut into the wall. The last line in the Arabic text above is a common proverb still in use: "During an exam, a person is either honored or disgraced."
Part III. Mathematics Advancements by Muslims:
Introduction: Just as with science, the Muslims learned from the Greeks, Egyptians, Indians, and Babylonians. Many translations took place in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Empire. The Muslim scholars there translated the works of the Greeks who loved mathematics and geometry, including Euclid's work on geometry. They borrowed from India a number system that had a zero and rewrote it as their own. They borrowed from the Babylonians whose number system was based on 60 (just like the minutes in an hour), and from the ancient Egyptians who had the math and geometry skills to build incredible pyramids. So from the beginning, "Arabic math" was a mixing of international knowledge. But the Muslims made additional contributions of their own, and through their study and written work, they preserved the knowledge of mathematics that otherwise might have been lost to the world.
Arithmetic:
12 + 10 =
14 - 8 =
5 X 4 =
6 ÷ 2 =
Algebra:
2x = 14
x = ?
3x + 6 = 18
x = ?
x2 + xy = 10
x = 5
y = ?
Geometry:
A = r2
a2 + b2 = c2
Trigonometry:
Top image from Hyperion Cultural Academy.
Arab contributions:
- the numbers we use are called Arabic numbers (numerals) which is a system of tens, with place values, and a zero to show an empty place: 1,302,005
- fractions: 1/2
- decimal fractions: 1.5
Arab contributions:
Algebra was first fully developed by Al Khwarism, the "father of algebra". Arab contributions:
The Arabs translated and improved upon the Egyptian, Hebrew, and Greek geometry. Arab contributions:
Al-Tusi, a Muslim, is the "father of trigonometry".
The decimal (tens place) system first came from India.
Al Khwarismi reworked these numbers and gave us Arabic numerals. Much later Europeans changed the Arabic numerals into the numerals we use today.
Al-Khwarizmi wrote about squares and square roots, first studied by the Greeks and Egyptians.
- squares 32 = 9 (3 X 3)
- square roots = 3
Al-Khashi (from Persia, 15th century) invented decimal fractions: 5.25 In Khwarizmi's own words what he wanted to teach:
"...what is easiest and most useful in arithmetic, such as men constantly require in cases of inheritance, legacies, partition, lawsuits, and trade, and in all their dealings with one another, or where the measuring of lands, the digging of canals, geometrical computations, and other objects of various sorts and kinds are concerned..." The Egyptians were very advanced in geometry and could build great pyramids.
The Greeks loved geometry. The most famous Greek mathematician was Euclid who wrote about geometry. The Arabs translated and improved upon his work.
The Hebrews also had made important contributions to mathematics that were studied by the Arabs. The idea of trigonometry was originally from the Greeks, by Hipparchus in 140 BCE.
The Muslims further developed trigonometry from their work in astronomy.
Today astronomers use trigonometry for calculating distances to stars, and for measuring distances and heights of buildings, trees, etc.
A. Arabic Numerals
One of the greatest advances was the introduction of "Arabic" numerals. The "Arabic" numerals were influenced by India's mathematics. It is a system based on place values and a decimal system of tens. This system had a zero to hold a place. These numbers were much easier to use for calculation than the Roman system which used numbers, like I, V, X, L, C, M, etc. Addition, subtraction, multiplication and division now became easy.
Top: Western Arabic or Hindu-Arabic Numerals Below: Modern Arabic numerals which developed from them
With Arabic numerals, simple fractions and decimal fractions were also possible. Fractions and decimal fractions were also described by Muslim mathematicians during the Middle Ages.
B. The Development of Algebra.
Al Khwarizmi wrote the first book on algebra. (The name "algebra" was first used by him.)
Al Khwarizmi was born about 790 in Baghdad (now in Iraq) and died about 850.
The word for "Algebra" comes from the Arabic word for "al-jabr" which means "restoration of balance" in both sides of an equation.. Algebra was based on previous work from Greeks, Alexandrians in Egypt, and Hindus who had preserved the work from ancient Egyptians and Babylonians.
In the ninth century, al-Khwarizmi wrote one of the first Arabic algebras with both proofs and examples. Because of his work, he is called "the Father of Algebra." Al-Khwarizmi was a Persian born in the eighth century. He converted (changed) Babylonian and Hindu numerals into a workable system that almost anyone could use. He gave the name to his math as "al-jabr" which we know as "algebra".
A Latin translation of al-Khwarizmi's book on algebra appeared in Europe in the 12th century. In the early 13th century the new algebra appeared in the writings of the famous Italian mathematician, Leonardo Fibonacci. So, algebra was brought into Europe from ancient Babylon, Egypt and India by the Arabs and then into Italy.
C. Geometry
The scholars at the House of Wisdom in Baghdad and at universities in Cairo, Egypt also contributed to geometry. Geometry was highly developed by the Greeks, and the Muslims translated such great Greek thinkers as Euclid. Muslims used their understanding of geometry into designing wheels of all kinds, especially waterwheels and other systems for drawing up water, in improving farming equipment, and in designing devices of war such as catapults and crossbows. Geometry was also put to work in art, with beautiful geometric designs. Muslims further defined Euclidian geometry, and pointed the way toward the discovery of independent, non-Euclidean geometry developed in the most recent centuries.
D. Trigonometry is also mostly a Muslim creation. It is a branch of mathematics which studies plane and spherical triangles. It developed from the need of astronomers to map points in the sky on a heavenly sphere. Trigonometry's functions, involving ratios such as sine and cosine, tangent and cotangent, were greatly developed and refined in the Islamic lands.
E. Famous Muslim Mathematicians of the Middle Ages
1. Al-Khwarizmi (770 - 840 C.E.) was one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived and is called the "Father of Algebra". He also helped to bring "Arabic numerals" into use into the Islamic Empire, as well as later into Europe. He also demonstrated operations with fractions for the first time. Khwarizmi influenced the growth of science and mathematics. Several of his books were translated into many other languages, and were used as university textbooks until the 16th century. His approach was systematic and logical. He brought together the knowledge of his time on various branches of science, especially mathematics, and also added his original contributions.
2. Omar Khayyam (1044 - 1123 C.E.): Another great Muslim mathematician was Omar Khayyam. He is best known today for his poetry, but his contribution to mathematics was great. He showed how to express roots of cubic equations by line segments obtained by intersecting conic sections. Khayyam was an outstanding poet, mathematician, and astronomer. His work on algebra was known throughout Europe in the Middle Ages, and he also contributed to a calendar reform. Khayyam refers in his algebra book to Pascal's triangle. The algebra of Khayyam is geometrical, solving linear and quadratic equations by methods appearing in Euclid's Elements. Khayyam also gave important results on ratios giving a new definition and extending Euclid's work to include the multiplication of ratios. He poses the question of whether a ratio can be regarded as a number but leaves the question unanswered.
3. Al-Khashi was born in 1390 in Kashan, Iran and died in 1450 in Samarkand (now Uzbek). He calculated 1 (pi) to 16 decimal places which was the best until about 1700. He considered himself the inventor of decimal fractions. He wrote The Reckoners' Key which summarizes arithmetic and contains work on algebra and geometry.
4. Al-Biruni (973 - 1048 C.E.) was a philosopher, astronomer, pharmacologist (one who studies drugs and herbs used for health), botanist (one who studies plants), geologist and mathematician. He translated Euclid's work into Sanskrit (an Indian language), and calculated the earth's circumference (distance around the earth) and radius (distance to the center) with an accuracy that is close to today's measurements.
5. Nasir Al-Din Al-Tusi (1201 - 1274 C.E.) pioneered spherical trigonometry which includes six fundamental formulas for the solution of spherical right-angled triangles. One of his most important mathematical contributions was the treatment of trigonometry as a new mathematical discipline. He wrote on binomial coefficients which Pascal later introduced. (He can be called the "Father of Trigonometry".) He was also an astronomer philosopher, and medical scholar as well as a mathematician.
Learn more about Arab mathematicians:
• See Hyperion Culture Academy's math and science section which includes:
o Geometry
o Trigonometry
o Algebra
• Hindu-Arabic Numerals and how they came into Europe as "Arabic numerals" are explained. See other links at the bottom of this site. Also see how "Hindu" numerals came to Persia and Arabia, and then how "Arabic" numbers came into Europe.
• Read an overview of "Arab Contributions to Medieval mathematics". It includes the contributions of Al-Khwarizmi, Abu Kamil Shuja (al'Hasib), Abu'l-Wafa, al-Karkhi, Omar Khayyam, and Al-Kashi.
• Several biographies of scientists and mathematicians are found on on the Muslim Scholars Homepage: Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Kindi, Omar Khayyam, Al-Biruni, Nasir al-Din, and others.
• Learn about Mathematicians born in Iraq, including Al Khwarizmi.
• Biographies of Mathematicians by Dr. Zahoor are listed. Choose three or four of the most famous: al-Khwarizmi (algebra) [al-Khwarizmi is also here], Omar Khyyam, al-Battani (trigonometry), al-Haitham (known as Alhazen in the West, developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry), al-Tusi (non-Euclidian geometry), and al-Biruni (who determined the circumference of the earth).
• See a chart comparing modern Arabic numerals with the earlier Arabic numerals developed in the Middle Ages (and influenced by the Hindu numerals with the concept of place value and the "zero").
• Al-Khwarizmi (father of algebra); read another biography of Al-Khwarizmi. Read about Al-Khwarizmi and see one of his famous works on completing the square (shown below).
See Al-Khwarizmi for explanation.
• Arabic Mathematics is a somewhat difficult, but important article about the contributions of the Arabs in the field of mathematics. Also read another university level discussion about Arab Mathematics: Forgotten Brilliance? (St. Andrew's University, Scotland)
source: http://www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/sciencemath/Math.html
Arabic Alchemy
ʿIlm al-Ṣanʿa
(Science of the Art)
Introduction
The Art of alchemy (ʿIlm al-Ṣanʿa) as we shall discuss here, is a theoretical and a practical science and it aimed at the transmutation of metallic bodies such as iron, copper and lead into silver and gold by using chemical preparations and with the help of the elixir. On the other hand, practical industrial chemistry discusses the production of industrial products by using chemical processes and this will be the subject of a separate article. Our discussion here does not deal with the occult or mystical aspects of alchemy.
The Origin of the Word Alchemy
The Arabic word al-kimiya ‘ الكيمياء is composed of the article al (the) and kimiya’ (chemistry). This word reached the West with the translation movement which took place in the twelfth century. The Arabic form al-kimiya’ is the origin of the word alchemy which is used to denote the science of alchemy which preceded modern chemistry. Kimiya’ without the Article “al “ is the origin of the word chemistry. In Arabic the word al-kimiya’ means both alchemy and chemistry, Some contemporary Arab writers try to differentiate between alchemy and chemistry by using the word al-khimiya’ الخيمياء to denote alchemy.
The word khemeia occurred for the first time in a decree issued by the Roman Emperor Diocletian (c. 245–c. 312), to burn all Egyptian books of khemeia that deal with alchemy and the manufacture of gold and silver.
This word is most probably derived from the name of Egypt. Plutarch (c. 46 - 127) mentions in a treatise written about 100 C.E. that Egypt is called Khemia because of the colour of its black soil. Some think that the word is of Greek origin, and others think that it is of Chinese. [1]
Although this branch of science was called al-kimiya’ in Arabic, yet it was called also the Science of the Art ‘ílm al-san’a علم الصنعة and the practitioner of this Art was called sahib al-san’a, and alchemists were called hukama’ or philosophers.
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