Our favorite post: A Moonshot Moment for the Muslims: Making Covid 19 Vaccine before the West and China

Taj Mahal in India is also a symbol of Muslim Heritage. The Muslim Times has the best collection of articles on the theme of Muslim Heritage, which is also one of the best tools to refute Islamophobia
Written and collected by Zia H Shah MD, Chief Editor of the Muslim Times
Most of the information here is reproduced from Wikipedia, just to ensure longevity of this information. I was happy to note today that my effort was worthwhile, as the original article has been trimmed, since I copied it almost a year ago. More specifically, the section of Law has been taken out from the new article.
The information provided can bring the two civilizations, the East and the West together, as the division is artificial and both have drank from the same fountain!

Granada, Cardoba mosque and Alhambra in Spain are powerful symbols of the Muslim Heritage in Europe. How Islam Taught Medieval Christian Europe Religious and Political Tolerance
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europe were numerous, affecting such varied areas as art, architecture, medicine, agriculture, music, language, education, law, and technology. From the 11th to the 13th century, Europe absorbed knowledge from the Islamic civilization. In the early 20th century the musicologist Henry George Farmer wrote that a “growing number of scholars…recognize(d) that the influence of the Muslim civilization as a whole on medieval Europe was enormous in such fields as science, philosophy, theology, literature, aesthetics, than has been recognized.”[2] For many historians the contributions from the Islamic world have had a considerable effect on the development of Western civilization and contributed to the achievements of the Renaissance.[3] Their contributions included the rediscovery of ancient classic texts, notably the work of the Greek natural philosopher Aristotle, through retranslations and commentaries from Arabic.
We are also saving this wonderful BBC documentary by Jim Al Khalili here in the Muslim Times to ensure its longevity:
Suggested Reading: Prof. John Makdisi traces the Islamic Origins of the Common Law and Muhammad: the Light for the Dark Ages of Europe!
Contents
Use of the term “Islam”
Transmission routes
The Crusades also intensified exchanges between Europe and the Levant, with Italian City Republics taking a great role in these exchanges. In the Levant, such cities as Antioch, Arab and Latin cultures intermixed intensively.[5]
Classical knowledge
These texts were translated back into Latin in multiple ways. The main points of transmission of Islamic knowledge to Europe were in Sicilia, and in Toledo, Spain (with Gerard of Cremone, 1114–1187). Burgondio of Pise (died in 1193), who discovered in Antioch lost texts of Aristotle, translated them into Latin.
Islamic sciences
Contributing to the growth of European science was the major search by European scholars for new learning which they could only find among Muslims, especially in Islamic Spain and Sicily. These scholars translated new scientific and philosophical texts from Arabic into Latin.
One of the most productive translators in Spain was Gerard of Cremona, who translated 87 books from Arabic to Latin,[10] including Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī’s On Algebra and Almucabala, Jabir ibn Aflah’s Elementa astronomica,[11] al-Kindi’s On Optics, Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghānī’s On Elements of Astronomy on the Celestial Motions, al-Farabi’s On the Classification of the Sciences,[12] the chemical and medical works of Rhazes,[13] the works of Thabit ibn Qurra and Hunayn ibn Ishaq,[14] and the works of Arzachel, Jabir ibn Aflah, the Banū Mūsā, Abū Kāmil Shujā ibn Aslam, Abu al-Qasim, and Ibn al-Haytham (including the Book of Optics).[10]
Alchemy and chemistry
Marcelin Berthelot translated some of Jabir’s books under the fanciful titles Book of the Kingdom, Book of the Balances, and Book of Eastern Mercury. Several technical Arabic terms introduced by Jabir, such as alkali, have found their way into various European languages and have become part of scientific vocabulary.
The chemical and alchemical works of Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes) were also translated into Latin around the 12th century.[13]
Astronomy and mathematics
Al-Khazini’s Zij as-Sanjari (1115–1116) was translated into Greek by Gregory Choniades in the 13th century and was studied in the Byzantine Empire.[16] The astronomical corrections to the Ptolemaic model made by al-Battani and Averroes and the non-Ptolemaic models produced by Mo’ayyeduddin Urdi (Urdi lemma), Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (Tusi-couple) and Ibn al-Shatir were later adapted into the Copernican heliocentric model. Al-Kindi’s (Alkindus) law of terrestrial gravity influenced Robert Hooke’s law of celestial gravity, which in turn inspired Newton’s law of universal gravitation. Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī’s Ta’rikh al-Hind and Kitab al-qanun al-Mas’udi were translated into Latin as Indica and Canon Mas’udicus respectively.
Fibonacci presented the first complete European account of the Hindu-Arabic numeral system from Arabic sources in his Liber Abaci (1202).[13] Al-Jayyani’s The book of unknown arcs of a sphere, the first treatise on spherical trigonometry, had a “strong influence on European mathematics”, and his “definition of ratios as numbers” and “method of solving a spherical triangle when all sides are unknown” are likely to have influenced Regiomontanus.[17]
Translations of the algebraic and geometrical works of Ibn al-Haytham, Omar Khayyám and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī were later influential in the development of non-Euclidean geometry in Europe from the 17th century.[18][19]
European depiction of the Persian doctor al-Razi, in Gerard of Cremona’s Receuil des traites de medecine (1250-1260). Gerard de Cremona translated numerous works by Arabic scholars, such as al-Razi’s, but also those of Ibn Sina.[20][edit] Medicine
Ibn al-Nafis’ Commentary on Compound Drugs was translated into Latin by Andrea Alpago (d. 1522), who may or may not have also translated (with out publication) Ibn al-Nafis’ Commentary on Anatomy in the Canon of Avicenna, which first described pulmonary circulation and which might have had an influence on Michael Servetus and Realdo Colombo if they saw it.[25]
Islamic contributions to Medieval Europehttp://t.co/PnMZIo9mrk #MuslimHeritage pic.twitter.com/sGWaMUpnSW
— The Muslim Times (@The_MuslimTimes) February 23, 2015
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Physics
The theories of motion in Islamic physics developed by Avicenna and Avempace influenced Jean Buridan’s theory of impetus, the ancestor of the inertia and momentum concepts, and the work of Galileo Galilei on classical mechanics.[39] The work of Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī and al-Khazini on mechanics, particularly statics and dynamics, were also adopted and further developed in medieval Europe.[40]
Other works
Ibn Tufail’s Hayy ibn Yaqdhan was translated into Latin by Edward Pococke in 1671 and into English by Simon Ockley in 1708 and became “one of the most important books that heralded the Scientific Revolution.”[48] Ibn al-Baitar’s Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada also had an influence on European botany after it was translated into Latin in 1758.[49]
Islamic techniques
Numerous new techniques in clothing, as well as new materials were also introduced: muslin, taffetas, satin, skirts. Trade mechanisms were also transmitted: tarifs, customs, bazars, magazins.
Architecture
[edit] Institutions
Music
According to a common theory on the origins of the troubadour, a composer of medieval lyric poetry, it may have had Arabic origins. Ezra Pound, in his Canto VIII, famously declared that William of Aquitaine “had brought the song up out of Spain / with the singers and veils…” referring to the troubadour song. In his study, Lévi-Provençal is said to have found four Arabo-Hispanic verses nearly or completely recopied in William’s manuscript. According to historic sources, William VIII, the father of William, brought to Poitiers hundreds of Muslim prisoners.[69] Trend admitted that the troubadours derived their sense of form and even the subject matter of their poetry from the Andalusian Muslims.[70] The hypothesis that the troubadour tradition was created, more or less, by William after his experience of Moorish arts while fighting with the Reconquista in Spain was also championed by Ramón Menéndez Pidal in the early twentieth-century, but its origins go back to the Cinquecento and Giammaria Barbieri (died 1575) and Juan Andrés (died 1822). Meg Bogin, English translator of the trobairitz, held this hypothesis. Certainly “a body of song of comparable intensity, profanity and eroticism [existed] in Arabic from the second half of the 9th century onwards.”[71]
Another theory on the origins of the Western solfège musical notation suggests that it may have also had Arabic origins. It has been argued that the solfège syllables (do, re, mi, fa, sol, la, ti) may have been derived from the syllables of the Arabic solmization system Durr-i-Mufassal (“Separated Pearls”) (dal, ra, mim, fa, sad, lam). This origin theory was first proposed by Meninski in his Thesaurus Linguarum Orientalum (1680) and then by Laborde in his Essai sur la Musique Ancienne et Moderne (1780).[72][73]
Technology
The Muslim Agricultural Revolution in particular diffused a large number of crops and technologies into medieval Europe, where farming was mostly restricted to wheat strains obtained much earlier via central Asia. Spain received what she in turn transmitted to the rest of Europe; many agricultural and fruit-growing processes, together with many new plants, fruit and vegetables. These new crops included sugar cane, rice, citrus fruit, apricots, cotton, artichokes, aubergines, and saffron. Others, previously known, were further developed. Muslims also brought to that country lemons, oranges, cotton, almonds, figs and sub-tropical crops such as bananas and sugar cane. Several were later exported from Spanish coastal areas to the Spanish colonies in the New World. Also transmitted via Muslim influence, a silk industry flourished, flax was cultivated and linen exported, and esparto grass, which grew wild in the more arid parts, was collected and turned into various articles.[74] Industries established for sugar plantations,[86] ceramics, distillation technologies, clocks, mechanical hydropowered and wind powered machinery, matting, pulp and paper, perfumery, silk, sugar, water, and the mining of minerals such as sulfur and ammonia, were transferred from the Islamic world to medieval Europe.[87] Factory installations and a variety of industrial mills (including fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, paper mills, steel mills[citation needed], sugar mills may have also been transmitted to medieval Europe,[88] along with the suction pump (which also incorporated a crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism) invented by al-Jazari,[89][90] noria and chain pumps for irrigation purposes.[91] These innovations made it possible for many industrial operations that were previously driven by manual labour to be driven by machinery in medieval Europe.[92]
Economics
Education
If a university is assumed to mean an institution of higher education and research which issues academic degrees at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, then the Jami’ah which appeared from the 9th century were the first examples of such an institution.[97][99] The University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco is thus recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university in the world with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri.[100] However, the madrasah differed from the medieval university of Europe in several important respects, namely that the degree took the form of a license (ijazah) which “was signed in the name of the teacher, not of the madrasa”.[101] In other words, “the authorization or licensing was done by each professor, not by a group or corporate body, much less by a disinterested or impersonal certifying body”.[102] The first colleges and universities in Europe were nevertheless influenced in many ways by the madrasahs in Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily at the time, and in the Middle East during the Crusades.[99]
The origins of the doctorate dates back to the ijazat attadris wa ‘l-ifta’ (“license to teach and issue legal opinions”) in the medieval Islamic legal education system, which was equivalent to the Doctor of Laws qualification and was developed during the 9th century after the formation of the Madh’hab legal schools. To obtain a doctorate, a student “had to study in a guild school of law, usually four years for the basic undergraduate course” and ten or more years for a post-graduate course. The “doctorate was obtained after an oral examination to determine the originality of the candidate’s theses,” and to test the student’s “ability to defend them against all objections, in disputations set up for the purpose” which were scholarly exercises practiced throughout the student’s “career as a graduate student of law.” After students completed their post-graduate education, they were awarded doctorates giving them the status of faqih (meaning “master of law”), mufti (meaning “professor of legal opinions”) and mudarris (meaning “teacher”), which were later translated into Latin as magister, professor and doctor respectively.[99] The term doctorate comes from the Latin docere, meaning “to teach”, shortened from the full Latin title licentia docendi meaning “license to teach.” This was translated from the Arabic term ijazat attadris, which means the same thing and was awarded to Islamic scholars who were qualified to teach. Similarly, the Latin term doctor, meaning “teacher”, was translated from the Arabic term mudarris, which also means the same thing and was awarded to qualified Islamic teachers.[99] The Latin term baccalaureus may have also been transliterated from the equivalent Arabic qualification bi haqq al-riwaya (“the right to teach on the authority of another”).[97]
According to Professor George Makdisi and Hugh Goddard, some of the terms and concepts now used in modern universities which have Islamic origins include “the fact that we still talk of professors holding the ‘Chair’ of their subject” being based on the “traditional Islamic pattern of teaching where the professor sits on a chair and the students sit around him”, the term ‘academic circles’ being derived from the way in which Islamic students “sat in a circle around their professor”, and terms such as “having ‘fellows’, ‘reading’ a subject, and obtaining ‘degrees’, can all be traced back” to the Islamic concepts of Ashab (“companions, as of the prophet Muhammad”), Qara’a (“reading aloud the Qur’an”) and Ijazah (“license to teach”) respectively. Makdisi has listed eighteen such parallels in terminology which can be traced back to their roots in Islamic education. Some of the practices now common in modern universities which Makdisi and Goddard trace back to an Islamic root include “practices such as delivering inaugural lectures, wearing academic robes, obtaining doctorates by defending a thesis, and even the idea of academic freedom are also modelled on Islamic custom.” The Islamic scholarly system of fatwa and ijma, meaning opinion and consensus respectively, formed the basis of the “scholarly system the West has practised in university scholarship from the Middle Ages down to the present day.”[99] According to Makdisi and Goddard, “the idea of academic freedom” in universities was “modelled on Islamic custom” as practiced in the medieval Madrasah system from the 9th century. Islamic influence was “certainly discernible in the foundation of the first delibrately-planned university” in Europe, the University of Naples Federico II founded by Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor in 1224.[103]
Law
Other legal scholars such as Monica Gaudiosi, Gamal Moursi Badr and A. Hudson have argued that the English trust and agency institutions in common law, which were introduced by Crusaders, may have been adapted from the Islamic Waqf and Hawala institutions they came across in the Middle East.[60][107][108] Dr. Paul Brand also notes parallels between the Waqf and the trusts used to establish Merton College by Walter de Merton, who had connections with the Knights Templar. Brand also points out, however, that the Knights Templar were primarily concerned with fighting the Muslims rather than learning from them, making it less likely that they had knowledge of Muslim legal institutions.[104]
Several legal institutions in civil law were also adapted from similar institutions in Islamic law and jurisprudence during the Middle Ages. For example, the Islamic Hawala institution influenced the development of the Avallo in Italian civil law and the Aval in French civil law.[109] The commenda limited partnership used in European civil law was also adapted from the Qirad and Mudaraba in Islamic law. The civil law conception of res judicata[98] and the transfer of debt, which was not permissible under Roman law but is practiced in modern civil law, may also have origins in Islamic law. The concept of an agency was also an “institution unknown to Roman law”, where it was not possible for an individual to “conclude a binding contract on behalf of another as his agent.”
Islamic law also introduced “two fundamental principles to the West, on which were to later stand the future structure of law: equity and good faith”[citation needed], which was a precursor to the concept of pacta sunt servanda in civil law and international law. Another influence of Islamic law on the civil law tradition was the presumption of innocence, which was introduced to Europe by Louis IX of France soon after he returned from Palestine during the Crusades. Islamic law was based on the presumption of innocence from its beginning, as declared by the caliph Umar in the 7th century.[110]
There is evidence that early Islamic international law influenced the development of European international law, through various routes such as the Crusades, Norman conquest of the Emirate of Sicily, and Reconquista of al-Andalus.[110] In particular, the Spanish jurist Francisco de Vitoria, and his successor Grotius, may have been influenced by Islamic international law through earlier Islamic-influenced writings such as the 1263 work Siete Partidas of Alfonso X, which was regarded as a “monument of legal science” in Europe at the time and was influenced by the Islamic legal treatise Villiyet written in Islamic Spain.[110][111]
A number of Islamic legal concepts on human rights were also adopted in European legal systems, including concepts such as the charitable trust, trusteeship of property, human dignity, dignity of labour[citation needed], condemnation of antisocial behavior, presumption of innocence, caring, women’s rights, privacy, juristic personality, individual freedom, equality before the law, non-retroactivity, limited sovereignty, tolerance[citation needed]. Many of these concepts were adopted in medieval Europe through contacts with Islamic Spain and the Emirate of Sicily, and through the Crusades and the Latin translations of the 12th century.[112] After Sultan al-Kamil defeated the Franks during the Crusades, Oliverus Scholasticus praised the Islamic laws of war, commenting on how al-Kamil supplied the defeated Frankish army with food:[113]
“Who could doubt that such goodness, friendship and charity come from God? Men whose parents, sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, had died in agony at our hands, whose lands we took, whom we drove naked from their homes, revived us with their own food when we were dying of hunger and showered us with kindness even when we were in their power.”[113]
According to Janet Abu-Lughod:
The preferred specie for international transactions before the thirteenth century, in Europe as well as the Middle East and even India, were the gold coins struck by Byzantium and then Egypt. It was not until after the thirtheenth century that some Italian cities (Florence and Genoa) began to mint their own gold coins, but these were used to supplement rather than supplant the Middle Eastern coins already in circulation.[119]
Literature
A famous example of Arabic poetry and Persian poetry on romance (love) is Layla and Majnun, dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century. It is a tragic story of undying love much like the later Romeo and Juliet, which was itself said to have been inspired by a Latin version of Layli and Majnun to an extent.[124]
Ibn Tufail (Abubacer) was a pioneer of the philosophical novel. He wrote the first Arabic novel, Hayy ibn Yaqdhan (Philosophus Autodidactus), which told the story of Hayy, an autodidactic feral child, living in seclusion on a desert island, being the earliest example of a desert island story.[125][126] A Latin translation of Ibn Tufail’s Hayy ibn Yaqdhan first appeared in 1671, prepared by Edward Pococke the Younger, followed by an English translation by Simon Ockley in 1708, as well as German and Dutch translations. These translations later inspired Daniel Defoe to write Robinson Crusoe, regarded as the first novel in English.[127][128][129][130] Philosophus Autodidactus also inspired Robert Boyle to write his own philosophical novel set on an island, The Aspiring Naturalist.[131] The story also anticipated Rousseau’s Emile: or, On Education in some ways[citation needed].
There were several elements of courtly love which developed in Arabic literature. The notions of “love for love’s sake” and “exaltation of the beloved lady” have been traced back to Arabic literature of the 9th and 10th centuries. The notion of the “ennobling power” of love was developed in the early 11th century by the Persian psychologist and philosopher, Ibn Sina (known as “Avicenna” in Europe), in his treatise Risala fi’l-Ishq (Treatise on Love). The final element of courtly love, the concept of “love as desire never to be fulfilled”, was at times implicit in Arabic poetry. These elements influenced the development of courtly love in European literature, in which all four elements of courtly love were present.[132]
Dante Alighieri’s Divine Comedy, considered the greatest epic of Italian literature, derived many features of and episodes about the hereafter directly or indirectly from Arabic works on Islamic eschatology: the Hadith and the Kitab al-Miraj (translated into Latin in 1264 or shortly before[133] as Liber Scale Machometi, “The Book of Muhammad’s Ladder”) concerning Muhammad’s ascension to Heaven, and the spiritual writings of Ibn Arabi. The Moors also had a noticeable influence on the works of George Peele and William Shakespeare. Some of their works featured Moorish characters, such as Peele’s The Battle of Alcazar and Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, Titus Andronicus and Othello, which featured a Moorish Othello as its title character. These works are said to have been inspired by several Moorish delegations from Morocco to Elizabethan England at the beginning of the 17th century.[134]
[edit] Philosophy
Al-Ghazali also had an important influence on Christian medieval philosophers along with Jewish thinkers like Maimonides.[138] According to Margaret Smith, “There can be no doubt that Ghazali’s works would be among the first to attract the attention of these European scholars” and “The greatest of these Christian writers who was influenced by Al-Ghazali was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), who made a study of the Islamic writers and admitted his indebtedness to them. He studied at the University of Naples where the influence of Islamic literature and culture was predominant at the time.”[139] René Descartes’ ideas from his Discourse on the Method were also influenced by al-Ghazali, and Descartes’ method of doubt was very much similar to al-Ghazali’s work.[140]
Notes
- ^ a b Lebedel, p.109
- ^ Macdonald, D. B. (April 1931), Reviewed work(s): Historical Facts for the Arabian Musical Influence by Henry George Farmer, 15, pp. 370–372 [371]
- ^ ”Without contacts with the Arab culture, Renaissance could probably not have happened in the 15th and 16th century”, Lebedel, p. 109
- ^ Lewis, p.148
- ^ Lebedel, p.109-111
- ^ Lebedel, p. 109
- ^ Fielding H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine: with Medical Chronology, Suggestions for Study and Biblographic Data, p. 86
- ^ Lebedel, p.111
- ^ Lebedel, p.112
- ^ a b c d Salah Zaimeche (2003). Aspects of the Islamic Influence on Science and Learning in the Christian West, p. 10. Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation.
- ^ a b c V. J. Katz, A History of Mathematics: An Introduction, p. 291.
- ^ For a list of Gerard of Cremona’s translations see: Edward Grant (1974) A Source Book in Medieval Science, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr.), pp. 35-8 or Charles Burnett, “The Coherence of the Arabic-Latin Translation Program in Toledo in the Twelfth Century,” Science in Context, 14 (2001): at 249-288, at pp. 275-281.
- ^ a b c d e f g Jerome B. Bieber. Medieval Translation Table 2: Arabic Sources, Santa Fe Community College.
- ^ D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 6.
- ^ G. G. Joseph, The Crest of the Peacock, p. 306
- ^ David Pingree (1964), “Gregory Chioniades and Palaeologan Astronomy”, Dumbarton Oaks Papers 18, p. 135-160.
- ^ O’Connor, John J.; Robertson, Edmund F., “Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani”, MacTutor History of Mathematics archive, University of St Andrews, http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Jayyani.html .
- ^ D. S. Kasir (1931). The Algebra of Omar Khayyam, p. 6-7. Teacher’s College Press, Columbia University, New York.
- ^ Boris A. Rosenfeld and Adolf P. Youschkevitch (1996), “Geometry”, p. 469, in (Morelon & Rashed 1996, pp. 447-494)
- ^ “Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age”, Samuel Sadaune, p.44
- ^ George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science.
(cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997), Quotations From Famous Historians of Science, Cyberistan.- ^ National Library of Medicine digital archives
- ^ David W. Tschanz, MSPH, PhD (August 2003). “Arab Roots of European Medicine”, Heart Views 4 (2).
- ^ a b c D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 3.
- ^ Anatomy and Physiology, Islamic Medical Manuscripts, United States National Library of Medicine.
- ^ Sabra, A. I.; Hogendijk, J. P. (2003), The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives, MIT Press, pp. 85–118, ISBN 0262194821, OCLC 237875424
- ^ Hatfield, Gary (1996), “Was the Scientific Revolution Really a Revolution in Science?”, in Ragep, F. J.; Ragep, Sally P.; Livesey, Steven John, Tradition, Transmission, Transformation: Proceedings of Two Conferences on Pre-modern Science held at the University of Oklahoma, Brill Publishers, p. 500, ISBN 9004091262, OCLC 19740432
- ^ a b Gorini, Rosanna (2003), “Al-Haytham the Man of Experience: First Steps in the Science of Vision”, Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine (Institute of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology, Rome, Italy) :
“According to the majority of the historians al-Haytham was the pioneer of the modern scientific method. With his book he changed the meaning of the term optics and established experiments as the norm of proof in the field. His investigations are based not on abstract theories, but on experimental evidences and his experiments were systematic and repeatable.”- ^ a b R. L. Verma, “Al-Hazen: father of modern optics”, Al-Arabi, 8 (1969): 12-13
- ^ a b Thiele, Rüdiger (August 2005), “In Memoriam: Matthias Schramm, 1928–2005”, Historia Mathematica 32 (3): 271–274, doi:10.1016/j.hm.2005.05.002
- ^ Thiele, Rüdiger (2005), “In Memoriam: Matthias Schramm”, Arabic Sciences and Philosophy (Cambridge University Press) 15: 329–331, doi:10.1017/S0957423905000214
- ^ Omar Khaleefa (Summer 1999). “Who Is the Founder of Psychophysics and Experimental Psychology?”, American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 16 (2).
- ^ H. Salih, M. Al-Amri, M. El Gomati (2005). “The Miracle of Light“, A World of Science 3 (3), UNESCO
- ^ Marshall, Peter (September 1981), “Nicole Oresme on the Nature, Reflection, and Speed of Light”, Isis 72 (3): 357–374 [367–74], doi:10.1086/352787
- ^ a b c Richard Powers (University of Illinois), Best Idea; Eyes Wide Open, New York Times, April 18, 1999.
- ^ Kriss, Timothy C.; Kriss, Vesna Martich (April 1998), “History of the Operating Microscope: From Magnifying Glass to Microneurosurgery”, Neurosurgery 42 (4): 899–907, doi:10.1097/00006123-199804000-00116
- ^ Nicholas J. Wade, Stanley Finger (2001), “The eye as an optical instrument: from camera obscura to Helmholtz’s perspective”, Perception 30 (10): 1157-77
- ^ Falco, Charles M. (12–15 February 2007), Ibn al-Haytham and the Origins of Modern Image Analysis, International Conference on Information Sciences, Signal Processing and its Applications
- ^ Ernest A. Moody (1951), “Galileo and Avempace: The Dynamics of the Leaning Tower Experiment (I)”, Journal of the History of Ideas 12 (2): 163-193
- ^ Mariam Rozhanskaya and I. S. Levinova (1996), “Statics”, p. 642, in (Morelon & Rashed 1996, pp. 614-642)
- ^ M.-T. d’Alverny, “Translations and Translators,” pp. 444-6, 451
- ^ D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 4-5.
- ^ D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 5.
- ^ “Biographisch-Bibliographisches Kirchenlexicon“. http://www.bautz.de/bbkl/m/michael_sco.shtml.
- ^ Charles Burnett, ed. Adelard of Bath, Conversations with His Nephew, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999), p. xi.
- ^ D. Campbell, Arabian Medicine and Its Influence on the Middle Ages, p. 4.
- ^ M.-T. d’Alverny, “Translations and Translators,” pp. 429, 455
- ^ Samar Attar, The Vital Roots of European Enlightenment: Ibn Tufayl’s Influence on Modern Western Thought, Lexington Books, ISBN 0739119893.
- ^ Russell McNeil, Ibn al-Baitar, Malaspina University-College
- ^ Roux, p. 47
- ^ ”Les Normans en Sicile”
- ^ Pierre Aubé (2006), Les empires normands d’Orient, p. 164-5, Editions Perrin, ISBN 2262022976
- ^ Christopher Wren (1750). Parentalia: or, Memoirs of the family of the Wrens, viz. of Mathew Bishop, printed for T. Osborn; and R. Dodsley, London.
- ^ Christopher Wren and the Muslim Origin of Gothic Architecture (2003), Foundation for Science Technology and Civilisation.
- ^ a b Peter Barrett (2004), Science and Theology Since Copernicus: The Search for Understanding, p. 18, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 056708969X.
- ^ Ibrahim B. Syed PhD, “Islamic Medicine: 1000 years ahead of its times”, Journal of the Islamic Medical Association, 2002 (2), p. 2-9 [7-8].
- ^ Micheau, Francoise, “The Scientific Institutions in the Medieval Near East”, pp. 992–3 , in (Rashed & Morelon 1996, pp. 985-1007)
- ^ (Gaudiosi 1988)
- ^ (Hudson 2003, p. 32)
- ^ a b Badr, Gamal Moursi (Spring, 1978), “Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems”, The American Journal of Comparative Law 26 (2 – Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 24–25, 1977): 187–198 [196–8], doi:10.2307/839667
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 137)
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 140)
- ^ (Farmer 1988, pp. 140-1)
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 141)
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 142)
- ^ Rabab Saoud (March 2004). “The Arab Contribution to the Music of the Western World” (PDF). FSTC Limited. http://www.muslimheritage.com/uploads/Music2.pdf. Retrieved 2008-06-20.
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 143)
- ^ (Farmer 1988, p. 144)
- ^ M. Guettat (1980), La Musique classique du Maghreb (Paris: Sindbad).
- ^ J. B. Trend (1965), Music of Spanish History to 1600 (New York: Krause Reprint Corp.)
- ^ “Troubadour”, Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, edited by Stanley Sadie, Macmillan Press Ltd., London
- ^ (Farmer 1988, pp. 72-82)
- ^ Miller, Samuel D. (Autumn 1973), “Guido d’Arezzo: Medieval Musician and Educator”, Journal of Research in Music Education 21 (3): 239–45, doi:10.2307/3345093
- ^ a b Andrew M. Watson (1974), “The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700–1100”, The Journal of Economic History 34 (1), pp. 8–35.
- ^ David A. King (2002). “A Vetustissimus Arabic Text on the Quadrans Vetus”, Journal for the History of Astronomy 33, p. 237-255 [237-238].
- ^ Roberto Moreno, Koenraad Van Cleempoel, David King (2002). “A Recently Discovered Sixteenth-Century Spanish Astrolabe”, Annals of Science 59 (4), p. 331-362 [333].
- ^ Regis Morelon, “General Survey of Arabic Astronomy”, pp. 9-10, in (Rashed & Morelon 1996, pp. 1-19)
- ^ Donald Routledge Hill (1996), “Engineering”, p. 766, in (Rashed & Morelon 1996, pp. 751-95)
- ^ Fielding H. Garrison, History of Medicine
- ^ S. P. Scott (1904), History of the Moorish Empire in Europe, 3 vols, J. B. Lippincott Company, Philadelphia and London.
F. B. Artz (1980), The Mind of the Middle Ages, Third edition revised, University of Chicago Press, pp 148-50.(cf. References, 1001 Inventions)- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering, History of Science and Technology in Islam
- ^ Lynn Townsend White, Jr., quoted in The Automata of Al-Jazari, The Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul
- ^ Segment gear, TheFreeDictionary.com
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part III: Technology Transfer in the Chemical Industries, History of Science and Technology in Islam.
- ^ Middle Ages
- ^ J. H. Galloway (1977), “The Mediterranean Sugar Industry”, Geographical Review 67 (2), pp. 177–94.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part 1: Avenues Of Technology Transfer
- ^ Adam Lucas (2006), Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology, p. 10 & 65, BRILL, ISBN 9004146490.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan. The Crank-Connecting Rod System in a Continuously Rotating Machine.
- ^ Ahmad Y Hassan. The Origin of the Suction Pump.
- ^ Zohor Idrisi (2005), The Muslim Agricultural Revolution and its influence on Europe, FSTC.
- ^ Adam Robert Lucas (2005), “Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe”, Technology and Culture 46 (1), p. 1-30.
- ^ “Partnership and Profit in Medieval Islam by Abraham L. Udovitch”. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0007-6805%28197223%2946%3A3%3C397%3APAPIMI%3E2.0.CO%3B2-R&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage.
- ^ Banaji, Jairus (2007). “Islam, the Mediterranean and the rise of capitalism”. Journal Historical Materialism (Brill Publishers) 15: 47–74. doi:10.1163/156920607X171591.
- ^ Shatzmiller, Maya (1994). Labour in the Medieval Islamic World. Brill Publishers. pp. 402–403. ISBN 9004098968.
- ^ Labib, Subhi Y. (1969). “Capitalism in Medieval Islam”. The Journal of Economic History 29: 79–96.
- ^ a b c Alatas, Syed Farid (2006), “From Jami`ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue”, Current Sociology 54 (1): 112–32, doi:10.1177/0011392106058837
- ^ a b c d e f g (Makdisi 1999)
- ^ a b c d e Makdisi, George (April-June 1989), “Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 109 (2): 175–182 [175–77], doi:10.2307/604423
- ^ The Guinness Book Of Records, 1998, p. 242, ISBN 0-5535-7895-2
- ^ William J. Courtenay, Jürgen Miethke, David B. Priest (2000), Universities and Schooling in Medieval Society, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004113517, p. 96
- ^ Toby E. Huff (2003), The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China and the West, Cambridge University Press, pp. 77-8
- ^ Goddard, Hugh (2000), A History of Christian-Muslim Relations, Edinburgh University Press, p. 100, ISBN 074861009X, OCLC 237514956
- ^ a b Mukul Devichand (24 September 2008). “Is English law related to Muslim law?”. BBC News. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7631388.stm. Retrieved 2008-10-05.
- ^ Hussain, Jamila (2001), “Book Review: The Justice of Islam by Lawrence Rosen”, Melbourne University Law Review 30
- ^ El-Gamal, Mahmoud A. (2006), Islamic Finance: Law, Economics, and Practice, Cambridge University Press, p. 16, ISBN 0521864143, OCLC 173610010
- ^ Gaudiosi, Monica M. (April 1988), “The Influence of the Islamic Law of Waqf on the Development of the Trust in England: The Case of Merton College”, University of Pennsylvania Law Review 136 (4): 1231–1261
- ^ Hudson, A. (2003), Equity and Trusts (3rd ed.), London: Cavendish Publishing, p. 32, ISBN 1-85941-729-9
- ^ Badr, Gamal Moursi (Spring, 1978), “Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems”, The American Journal of Comparative Law 26 (2 [Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 24–25, 1977]): 187–198 [196–8], doi:10.2307/839667
- ^ a b c Boisard, Marcel A. (July 1980), “On the Probable Influence of Islam on Western Public and International Law”, International Journal of Middle East Studies 11 (4): 429–50
- ^ Weeramantry, Judge Christopher G. (1997), Justice Without Frontiers: Furthering Human Rights, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9041102418, OCLC 219748178
- ^ Judge Weeramantry, Christopher G. (1997), Justice Without Frontiers, Brill Publishers, pp. 129–31, ISBN 9041102418, OCLC 219748178
- ^ a b Judge Weeramantry, Christopher G. (1997), Justice Without Frontiers, Brill Publishers, pp. 136–7, ISBN 9041102418, OCLC 219748178
- ^ British Museum
- ^ Blanchard, Ian Mining, Metallurgy and Minting in the Middle Ages Franz Steiner Verlag, 2001 ISBN 9783515079587 [1], p.196
- ^ British Museum, Islamic Art room
- ^ Cardini, Franco Europe and Islam Blackwell Publishing, 2001 ISBN 9780631226376 [2], p.26
- ^ Grierson, Philip Medieval European Coinage Cambridge University Press, 1998 ISBN 9780521582315 [3], p.3
- ^ Janet Abu-Lughod Before European Hegemony, The World System A.D. 1250-1350, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195067746 p.15
- ^ a b John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, “Arabian fantasy”, p 51 ISBN 0-312-19869-8
- ^ L. Sprague de Camp, Literary Swordsmen and Sorcerers: The Makers of Heroic Fantasy, p 10 ISBN 0-87054-076-9
- ^ a b John Grant and John Clute, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, “Arabian fantasy”, p 52 ISBN 0-312-19869-8
- ^ James Thurber, “The Wizard of Chitenango”, p 64 Fantasists on Fantasy edited by Robert H. Boyer and Kenneth J. Zahorski, ISBN 0-380-86553-X
- ^ “Nizami: Layla and Majnun – English Version by Paul Smith”. http://www.shirazbooks.com/ebook1.html.
- ^ Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi (1982), “Ibn Al-Nafis as a philosopher”, Symposium on Ibn al-Nafis, Second International Conference on Islamic Medicine: Islamic Medical Organization, Kuwait (cf. Ibn al-Nafis As a Philosopher, Encyclopedia of Islamic World).
- ^ Nahyan A. G. Fancy (2006), “Pulmonary Transit and Bodily Resurrection: The Interaction of Medicine, Philosophy and Religion in the Works of Ibn al-Nafīs (d. 1288)”, p. 95-101, Electronic Theses and Dissertations, University of Notre Dame.[4]
- ^ Nawal Muhammad Hassan (1980), Hayy bin Yaqzan and Robinson Crusoe: A study of an early Arabic impact on English literature, Al-Rashid House for Publication.
- ^ Cyril Glasse (2001), New Encyclopedia of Islam, p. 202, Rowman Altamira, ISBN 0759101906.
- ^ Amber Haque (2004), “Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists”, Journal of Religion and Health 43 (4): 357-377 [369].
- ^ a b Martin Wainwright, Desert island scripts, The Guardian, 22 March 2003.
- ^ a b G. J. Toomer (1996), Eastern Wisedome and Learning: The Study of Arabic in Seventeenth-Century England, p. 222, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0198202911.
- ^ G. E. von Grunebaum (1952), “Avicenna’s Risâla fî ‘l-‘išq and Courtly Love”, Journal of Near Eastern Studies 11 (4): 233-8 [233-4].
- ^ I. Heullant-Donat and M.-A. Polo de Beaulieu, “Histoire d’une traduction,” in Le Livre de l’échelle de Mahomet, Latin edition and French translation by Gisèle Besson and Michèle Brossard-Dandré, Collection Lettres Gothiques, Le Livre de Poche, 1991, p. 22 with note 37.
- ^ Professor Nabil Matar (April 2004), Shakespeare and the Elizabethan Stage Moor, Sam Wanamaker Fellowship Lecture, Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre (cf. Mayor of London (2006), Muslims in London, pp. 14-15, Greater London Authority)
- ^ a b Majid Fakhry (2001). Averroes: His Life, Works and Influence. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 1851682694.
- ^ Corbin (1993), p.174
- ^ Irwin, Jones (Autumn 2002), “Averroes’ Reason: A Medieval Tale of Christianity and Islam”, The Philosopher LXXXX (2)
- ^ Ormsby, Eric. “Averroes (Ibn Rushd): His Life, Works and Influence”. H-Net Review. See also: “The Influence of Islamic Thought on Maimonides”. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/maimonides-islamic/. Retrieved 2008-08-28.
- ^ Margaret Smith, Al-Ghazali: The Mystic (London 1944)
- ^ Najm, Sami M. (July-October 1966), “The Place and Function of Doubt in the Philosophies of Descartes and Al-Ghazali”, Philosophy East and West 16 (3-4): 133–41, doi:10.2307/1397536
- ^ “Inventions et decouvertes au Moyen-Age”, Samuel Sadaune, p.112
- ^ G. A. Russell (1994), The ‘Arabick’ Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England, pp. 224-262, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004094598.
- ^ Dominique Urvoy, “The Rationality of Everyday Life: The Andalusian Tradition? (Aropos of Hayy’s First Experiences)”, in Lawrence I. Conrad (1996), The World of Ibn Tufayl: Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Ḥayy Ibn Yaqẓān, pp. 38-46, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004093001.
- ^ Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik Ibn Tufayl and Léon Gauthier (1981), Risalat Hayy ibn Yaqzan, p. 5, Editions de la Méditerranée.[5]
- ^ G. A. Russell (1994), The ‘Arabick’ Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England, pp. 224-239, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004094598.
- ^ G. A. Russell (1994), The ‘Arabick’ Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England, p. 227, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004094598.
- ^ G. A. Russell (1994), The ‘Arabick’ Interest of the Natural Philosophers in Seventeenth-Century England, p. 247, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004094598.
- ^ Makdisi, George (April-June 1989), “Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West”, Journal of the American Oriental Society 109 (2): 175–182, doi:10.2307/604423
- ^ Judge Weeramantry, Christopher G. (1997), Justice Without Frontiers, Brill Publishers, pp. 8, 135, 139–40, ISBN 9041102418, OCLC 219748178
- ^ Lebedel, p.113
References
- Farmer, Henry George (1988), Historical facts for the Arabian Musical Influence, Ayer Publishing, ISBN040508496X, OCLC220811631
- Lebedel, Claude (2006), Les Croisades, origines et conséquences, Editions Ouest-France, ISBN2737341361, OCLC181885553
- Lewis, Bernard (1993), Les Arabes dans l’histoire, Flammarion, ISBN2080813625, OCLC36229500
- Makdisi, John A. (June 1999), “The Islamic Origins of the Common Law”, North Carolina Law Review77 (5): 1635–1739
- Roux, Jean-Paul (1985), Les explorateurs au Moyen-Age, Hachette, ISBN2012793398
Categories: Europe, Highlight, MUSLIM HERITAGE, Muslim Heritage
Additional References
Attar, Samar (2007), The vital roots of European enlightenment : Ibn Tufayl’s influence on modern Western thought, Lanham: Lexington Books, ISBN 0739119893
Badr, Gamal Moursi (Spring 1978), “Islamic Law: Its Relation to Other Legal Systems”, The American Journal of Comparative Law (The American Journal of Comparative Law, Vol. 26, No. 2) 26 (2 [Proceedings of an International Conference on Comparative Law, Salt Lake City, Utah, February 24–25, 1977]): 187–198, doi:10.2307/839667, JSTOR 839667
Cardini, Franco. Europe and Islam. Blackwell Publishing, 2001. ISBN 978-0-631-22637-6
Farmer, Henry George (1988), Historical facts for the Arabian Musical Influence, Ayer Publishing, ISBN 0-405-08496-X, OCLC 220811631
Frieder, Braden K. Chivalry & the perfect prince: tournaments, art, and armor at the Spanish Habsburg court Truman State University, 2008 ISBN 1-931112-69-X, ISBN 978-1-931112-69-7
Grierson, Philip Medieval European Coinage Cambridge University Press, 2007 ISBN 0-521-03177-X, ISBN 978-0-521-03177-6
Hobson, John M. (2004), The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, ISBN 0521547245
Lebedel, Claude (2006), Les Croisades, origines et conséquences, Editions Ouest-France, ISBN 2-7373-4136-1, OCLC 181885553
Lewis, Bernard (1993), Les Arabes dans l’histoire, Flammarion, ISBN 2-08-081362-5, OCLC 36229500
Mack, Rosamond E. Bazaar to Piazza: Islamic Trade and Italian Art, 1300–1600, University of California Press, 2001 ISBN 0-520-22131-1, google books
Makdisi, John A. (June 1999), “The Islamic Origins of the Common Law”, North Carolina Law Review 77 (5): 1635–1739
Matthew, Donald, The Norman kingdom of Sicily Cambridge University Press, 1992 ISBN 978-0-521-26911-7
Roux, Jean-Paul (1985), Les explorateurs au Moyen-Age, Hachette, ISBN 2-01-279339-8
Watt, W. Montgomery (2004), The influence of Islam on medieval Europe, Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, ISBN 0748605177
Mashallah, such an extensive in-depth study! We need to read this again and again.
On another note: The great achievement of Islamic science are clear and obvious to all genuine students of the period. What is not so clear are the reasons for the (temporary) decline. Do we have some articles that are explaining that unfortunate period?
And what does it take for Muslims to excel again over all others in science also?
The past achievements are already proof that Islam and science do not clash. However, again, what can we answer when our today’s opponents say: Why are no Arab / Islamic Universities in Science among the top 10, 100 ?
(Your contributions welcome!!!)
Thank you dear brother Rafiq for your comment.
You raise a very important question and we will find useful articles about this question. You have today made a post, 11-year Pak (Ahmadi) girl sets world record in O-level.
God willing a great future awaits Ahmadiyya Muslim Community and Dr. Abdus Salam was the first drop of rain.
Let me quote here from the prophecy from the writing of the Messiah, Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Qadiani:
http://www.alislam.org/library/books/DivineManifestations.pdf
January 2010 eGazette – Europe’s debt to the Muslim Empire?
http://www.alislam.org/egazette/egazette/january-2010-egazette-europes-debt-to-the-muslim-empire/
January 2011 eGazette – Muhammad: the Light for the Dark Ages
http://www.alislam.org/egazette/egazette/january-2011-egazette/
Pioneer Muslim Physicians
By David W Tschanz
In 1120, a Muslim doctor was on his way to see his patient, the Almoravid ruler of Seville. By the side of the road he saw an emaciated man holding a water jug. The man’s belly was swollen, and he was in obvious distress.
“Are you sick?” the doctor asked. The man nodded.
“What have you been eating?”
“Only a few crusts of bread and the water from this jug.”
“Bread won’t hurt you,” said the doctor. “It could be the water. Where are you getting it?”
“From the well in town.”
The doctor pondered a moment. “The well is clean. It must be the jug. Break it and find a new one.”
“I can’t,” whined the man, “This is my only jug.”
“And that thing bulging out there,” replied the doctor, pointing to the man’s midsection, “is your only stomach. It is easier to find a new jug than a new stomach.”
The man continued to protest, but one of the doctor’s servants picked up a stone and smashed the jug. A dead frog spilled out with the foul water.
“My friend,” the doctor said to the patient, “look what you have been drinking. That frog would have taken you with him. Here, take this coin and go buy a new jug.”
When the doctor passed by a few days later, he saw the same man sitting by the side of the road. His stomach had shrunk, he had gained weight, and his color was back. Seeing the doctor, the man heaped praise on him.
—attributed to Ibn Abi Usaybi’a, 13th century
hile this demonstration of clear reasoning was taking place in Muslim Spain, medical practice in Christian Europe, hobbled by a mindset that would have seen the doctor’s work as a challenge to divine will, offered the sick little more than prayers and comfort, rather than medicine or treatments.
In the East, the spread of Islam, beginning in the seventh century ce, sparked the assimilation of existing knowledge and its development in all branches of learning, including medicine. Arab conquerors rapidly absorbed much from their new subjects. Arabic became to the East what Latin and Greek had been to the West—the language of literature and of the arts and sciences, the common tongue of learned men from the Rann of Kutch to the French border—and the Hajj, or pilgrimage to Makkah, brought hundreds of thousands of pilgrims together each year, facilitating the exchange of ideas, knowledge and books.
Recognizing the importance of translating Greek works into Arabic to make them more widely available, the Abbasid caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son, al-Ma’mun, sponsored a translation bureau in Baghdad—the Bayt al-Hikmah, or House of Wisdom—starting in the late eighth century, that sent agents throughout Muslim and non-Muslim lands in search of scholarly manuscripts in every language. Rendered into Arabic, these precious documents established a solid foundation for the Muslim sciences, not the least of which was medicine.
http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/201101/pioneer.physicians.htm
An Islamic History of Europe (full documentary; produced by BBC)
Few other documentaries on the same theme:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fRrehLDyZv0
Why Copernicus work should be considered as the culmination of 500 year work of the Muslim astronomers, watch a BBC documentay, Science and Islam — the Power of Doubt:
John Davenport describing Muslim Heritage beautifully in one paragraph
He writes in An apology for Mohammed and the Koran:
In a short paragraph, John Davenport has very precisely identified all the links in the human intellectual evolution. Additionally, his book, that is available in Google books, is a master piece in the defense of the Prophet Muhammad, may peace be on him. Read his two page Preface and he is standing shoulder to shoulder with other great defenders of the Prophet Muhammad in the Western world, like Thomas Carlyle.
An Evolutionist centuries before Sir Charles Darwin!
Al-Jāḥiẓ (in Arabic الجاحظ) (real name Abu Uthman Amr ibn Bahr al-Kinani al-Fuqaimi al-Basri) (born in Basra, 781 – December 868/January 869) was an Arabic prose writer and author of works of literature, Mu’tazili theology, and politico-religious polemics.
In biology, Al-Jahiz introduced the concept of food chains and also proposed a scheme of animal evolution that entailed natural selection, environmental determinism and possibly the inheritance of acquired characteristics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Jahiz
Cordoba
Córdoba was captured in 711 by a Muslim army. In 716 it became a provincial capital, subordinate to the Caliphate of Damascus; in Arabic it was known as قرطبة (Qurṭuba). In May 766, it was chosen as the capital of the independent Muslim emirate of al-Andalus, later a Caliphate itself. During the caliphate apogee (1000 AD), Córdoba had a population of roughly 500,000 inhabitants, though estimates range between 350,000 and 1,000,000. In the 10th and 11th centuries, Córdoba was one of the most advanced cities in the world as well as a great cultural, political, financial and economic centre. The Great Mosque of Córdoba dates back to this time; under caliph Al-Hakam II Córdoba had 3,000 mosques, splendid palaces and 300 public baths, and received what was then the largest library in the world, housing from 400,000 to 1,000,000 volumes.
Reinhardt Dozy wrote:,
“The fame of Córdoba penetrated even distant Germany: the Saxon nun Hroswitha, famous in the last half of the 10th century for its Latin poems and dramas, called it the Jewel of the World.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%C3%B3rdoba,_Spain
West in the dark on Muslim world’s bright ideas
By Jim al-Khalili
There is no such thing as Islamic science, because science is the most universal of human activities. But the means to facilitate scientific advances have always been dictated by culture, political will and wealth. What is only now becoming clear to many in the West is that during the dark ages of mediaeval Europe, incredible scientific advances were made in the Muslim world.
Geniuses in Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus and Cordoba took on the works of ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, Persia, Greece, India and China, developing ”modern” science. New disciplines emerged – algebra, trigonometry and chemistry as well as major advances in medicine, astronomy, engineering and agriculture. Arabic texts replaced Greek as the fonts of wisdom, helping shape the scientific revolution of the Renaissance. Here are some of the best discoveries of this forgotten age:
http://www.smh.com.au/world/science/west-in-the-dark-on-muslim-worlds-bright-ideas-20101020-16uc8.html
Islam The Empire Of Faith (The Real History Of Islam)
This 55 minute long documentary is narrated by Ben Kingsley:
‘Islam was major influence on modern State Law’ – Jona Lendering
Abdul Haq Compier writes:
Historian Jona Lendering just republished his book ‘Vergeten erfenis. Oosterse wortels van de westerse cultuur’ (Lost Legacy. Eastern Roots of Western Culture) in which he confirms two strong suspicions of mine, namely that Islamic Law was in fact the basis for the modern State — with its fabled separation of State and Church–, and that the Greek origins of our civilisation are an artificially created myth. I differ with Lendering in his statement that Hellenism was founded in the 18th century; I see the Renaissance itself as the moment where this myth was created. Nonetheless, enjoy the summaries of some of the chapters of his book from his website Livius.org
Islamic Law
Islam was born in the seventh century. The faithful were less skeptical towards the quest for knowledge than the Christians. At the same time, they were a bit more skeptical about Greco-Roman culture, which resulted in the creation of a law system of their own that did not resemble earlier systems. The jurists involved demanded freedom to discuss important issues, organized themselves in madrassas, and set professional standards.
Origins of the Modern State
In this age of close cultural contact [the 11th-15th centuries, SC], Roman Law was reintroduced in Western Europe, but even though Medieval Law was inspired by ancient forms, it is in fact a pragmatic selection from existing traditions, which became a structuralizing element. At the same time, new elements were introduced, like the ideal of equality, which has no roots in ancient or feudal society, but is derived from Islam. The separation of Church and State, another important structuralizing element, could not be created without philosophical theories from the Islamic world.
…
http://www.livius.org/nl/vergeten_erfenis_summary.html
How Muslim inventors changed the world
By Paul Vallely
From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we in the West take for granted. Here are 20 of their most influential innovations:
(1) The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry.
He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Makkah and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645.
It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic “qahwa” became the Turkish “kahve” then the Italian “caffé” and then English “coffee”.
(2) The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham.
He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word “qamara” for a dark or private room).
He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.
(3) A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe — where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century — and eastward as far as Japan. The word “rook” comes from the Persian “rukh”, which means chariot.
(4) A thousand years before the Wright brothers, a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts.
He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn’t. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries.
In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles’ feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing — concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.
(5) Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade.
But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders’ most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash.
Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed’s Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.
http://www.dawn.com/weekly/science/archive/060325/science3.htm
William Montgomery Watt
He explains not only how Europe learnt from the Arab Muslims but also how she chose to eventually disregard and marginalize them. He writes in his book Islam: A short history
In Western Europe before 1100 a little was known about Aristotelian logic, but not much else about Greek philosophy. After that date, however, Christian theologians became interested and studied the numerous translations from Arabic which were now being made. Among these were the philosophical works of Avicenna, including the exposition of his views by al-Ghazali, and nearly all those of Averroes. By the thirteenth century there was a vigorous intellectual movement which was soon to develop further what had been learned from the Muslims in science and philosophy, though not for a time in medicine. Of the philosophical works, the Aristotelian commentaries of Averroes probably had the greatest influence. One group of Christian thinkers was known as the Latin Averroists, but they aligned themselves with the more sceptical side of his philosophy, and were regarded as heretics by other Christian scholars. Much more important was the influence of the Aristotelianism of Averroes on theologians of the Dominican monastic order, and notably Thomas Aquinas (1226-74). The latter largely accepted the thought of Aristotle, though this had hitherto been regarded with suspicion by Christian scholars; and on this basis he produced a comprehensive philosophical and theological system which is still considered one of the fullest and best intellectual accounts of Christian belief.
By the fourteenth century, however, the Western European outlook was beginning to change. The poet Dante (1265-1321), in his great work The Divine Comedy, at one point speaks of the philosophers and mentions Avicenna and Averroes, but at the same time he has the names of a dozen Greek philosophers, and calls Aristotle ‘the master of those who know’. By this time there were already one or two translations made directly from Greek, and the trickle became a flood after the conquest of Con¬stantinople by the Ottomans in 1453, when many Greek manuscripts were brought to the West. There then developed what can only be called a revulsion of feeling from things Arabic and Islamic. Latin Christendom completely lost awareness of all that it had been given by Islamic thinkers, seeing instead everything as having come directly from the Greeks. This virtual denial of the Islamic contribution is now urgently in need of correction.
William Montgomery Watt. Islam: A short history. One World, 1999. 121-122.
He further writes:
Until about 1700 the Ottoman Empire and the Western European countries were roughly equal in military power. Even before then, however, the Europeans had been developing in ways which the Muslims were unable to follow. From the Muslims the Western Europeans had learned methods of improving sailing ships, and this ultimately enabled them to produce ships capable of crossing the Atlantic and other oceans.
William Montgomery Watt. Islam: A short history. One World, 1999. 131.
The making of humanity
This is a book by Robert Briffault. He writes:
What we call science arose as a result of new methods of experiment, observation, and measurement, which were introduced into Europe by the Arabs. […] Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. […]
The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence. The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to the Greek temperament. Only in Hellenistic Alexandria was any; approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical world. .What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs.
Greek manuscripts were collected and translated at the court of the ‘Abbassids with an ardour even more enthusiastic than that which inspired the Aurispas and Filelfos of fifteenth-century Italy. But the choice of the Arab’ collectors and the object of their interest were very different. Of the poets and historians of Greece, beyond satisfying their curiosity by a few samples, they took little account. Their object was information ; and besides the writings of the philosophers from Thales to Apollonius of Tyana, and the textbooks of medical science, it was above all to the writings of the Alexandrian Academy, the astronomy and geography of Ptolemy, the mathematical works of Euclid, Archimedes, Diophantes, Theon, Apollonius of Perga, that they devoted their attention. For speculative theories and broad generalizations they showed little aptitude, valuing as they did information for its own sake and as a means to the extension of knowledge, rather than as the basis of generalizing induction. They accepted the conclusions of the Greeks as working theories necessary to the pursuit of scientific inquiry, only venturing to criticize or modify them as the expansion of knowledge forced them to adapt them to new facts. They have been reproached with imposing a dogmatic spirit in science upon Europe. Christian Europe had little to learn in the way of dogmatism ; and those theories, such as the Ptolemaic system, the geographical doctrine of ‘ climates,’ the doctrine of alchemical transmutation, which it received from the Arabs, were not Arabic, but Greek. But the spirit in which the Arabs made use of existing materials was the exact opposite of that of the Greeks. It supplied precisely what had been the weak and defective aspect of Greek genius. For the Greeks it was in theory and generalization that the interest lay, they were neglectful and careless of fact ; the Arabian inquirers’ zeal, on the contrary, was careless of theory, and directed to the accumulation of concrete facts, and to giving to their knowledge a precise and quantitative form. What makes all the difference between fruitful, enduring science and mere loose scientific curiosity, is the quantitative as against the qualitative statement, the anxiety for the utmost attainable accuracy in measurement. In that spirit of objective researchand quantitative accuracy the whole of the vast scientific work of the Arabs was conducted. They accepted Ptolemy’s cosmology, but not his catalogue of stars or his planetary table, or his measurements. They drew up numerous new star catalogues, correcting and greatly amplifying the Ptolemaic one ; they compiled new sets of planetary tables, obtained more accurate values for the obliquity of the ecliptic and the precession of equinoxes, checked by two independent measurements of a meridian the estimates of the size of the earth. They devised for the carrying out of those observations elaborate instruments superior to those of the Greeks and exceeding in accuracy those manufactured in the fifteenth century at the famous Nuremberg factory. Each observer took up the, work independently, sought to eliminate the personal equation, and the method of continuous observation was systematically carried out—some observations extending over twelve years—at the observatories of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo. So much importance did they attach to accuracy in their records that those of special interest were formally signed on oath in legal form. …
For the rest of the story go to:
http://www.archive.org/details/makingofhumanity00brifrich
From the pen of John Davenport
He writes in An apology for Mohammed and the Koran:
Europe is still further indebted to Mohammedanism, for, not to mention that to the struggles during the Crusades we mainly owe the abolition of the onerous parts of the feudal Bystem, and the destruction of thoso aristocratic despotisms on the ruins of which arose the proudest bulwark of our liberties, Europe is to be reminded that she is indebted to the followers of Mohammed, as the link which connects ancient and modern literature; for the preservation, during a long reign of Western darkness, of the works of many of the Greek philosophers; and for the cultivation of some of the most important branches of science, mathematics, medicine, etc., which are highly indebted to their labours. Spain, Cassino, and Salernum were the nurseries of the literature of the age; and the works of Avicenna, Averroes, Beithar, Abzazel and others, gave new vigour and direction to the studies of those who were emerging from a state of barbarism. Their zeal in the pursuit of geographical knowledge impelled them to explore and found kingdoms even in the desert regions of Africa. Through its brightest periods, nay, even from its origin, Mohammedanism was, comparatively, favourable to literature. Mohammed himself said “that a mind without erudition was like a body without a soul; that glory consists not in wealth, but in knowledge,” and he charged his followers to seek for learning in the remotest parts of the globe.
…
Who has not mourned over the fate of the last remnant of chivalry, the fall of the Mussulman empire in Spain ? Who has not felt his bosom swell with admiration towards that brave and generous nation of whose reign for eight centuries, it is observed even by the historians of their enemies, that not a single instance of cold-blooded cruelty is recorded? Who has not blushed to see a Christian priesthood goading on the civil power to treat with unexampled bigotry and devilish cruelty, a people from whom they had always received humanity and protection; and to record the political fanaticism of Ximenes in consigning to the flames the labours of the philosophers, mathematicians, and poets of Cordova, the literature of a splendid dynasty of seven hundred years.
It is in the compositions of Friar Bacon, who was born in 1214, and who learned the Oriental languages, that we discover the most extensive acquaintance with the Arabian anthors. He quotes Albumazar, Thabet-Ebu-Corah, Ali Alhacer, Alkandi, Alfraganus and Arzakeb; and seems to have been as familiar with them as with the Greek and Latin classics, especially with Avicenna, whom he calls “the chief and prince of philosophy.” The great Lord Bacon, it is well known, imbibed and borrowed the first principles of his famous experimental philosophy from his predecessor and namesake Roger Bacon, a fact which indisputably establishes the derivation of the Baconian philosophical system from the descendants of Ishmael and disciples of Mohammed.
In reply to the almost stereotyped assertion that “Mohammedanism is in the present day an enemy to science and letters,” it has been observed, that so far from this being the truth, Islam has outstripped the enlightenment of our age by making instruction a fundamental law. Every child must be put to school in its fifth year. It is the duty of the State to instruct the citizen, that he may understand the laws he has to obey, and of the family to teach the child the means by which he may acquire his livelihood.
Greek versus the Arabs
Robert Briffault wrote in The Making of Humanity:
What we call science arose as a result of new methods of experiment, observation, and measurement, which were introduced into Europe by the Arabs. […] Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab civilization to the modern world, but its fruits were slow in ripening. […]
The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries or revolutionary theories; science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence. The ancient world was, as we saw, pre-scientific. The astronomy and mathematics of the Greeks were a foreign importation never thoroughly acclimatized in Greek culture. The Greeks systematized, generalized and theorized, but the patient ways of investigation, the accumulation of positive knowledge, the minute methods of science, detailed and prolonged observation, experimental inquiry, were altogether alien to the Greek temperament. Only in Hellenistic Alexandria was any; approach to scientific work conducted in the ancient classical world. .What we call science arose in Europe as a result of a new spirit of inquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment, observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to the Greeks. That spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs.
Greek manuscripts were collected and translated at the court of the ‘Abbassids with an ardour even more enthusiastic than that which inspired the Aurispas and Filelfos of fifteenth-century Italy. But the choice of the Arab’ collectors and the object of their interest were very different. Of the poets and historians of Greece, beyond satisfying their curiosity by a few samples, they took little account. Their object was information ; and besides the writings of the philosophers from Thales to Apollonius of Tyana, and the textbooks of medical science, it was above all to the writings of the Alexandrian Academy, the astronomy and geography of Ptolemy, the mathematical works of Euclid, Archimedes, Diophantes, Theon, Apollonius of Perga, that they devoted their attention. For speculative theories and broad generalizations they showed little aptitude, valuing as they did information for its own sake and as a means to the extension of knowledge, rather than as the basis of generalizing induction. They accepted the conclusions of the Greeks as working theories necessary to the pursuit of scientific inquiry, only venturing to criticize or modify them as the expansion of knowledge forced them to adapt them to new facts. They have been reproached with imposing a dogmatic spirit in science upon Europe. Christian Europe had little to learn in the way of dogmatism ; and those theories, such as the Ptolemaic system, the geographical doctrine of ‘ climates,’ the doctrine of alchemical transmutation, which it received from the Arabs, were not Arabic, but Greek. But the spirit in which the Arabs made use of existing materials was the exact opposite of that of the Greeks. It supplied precisely what had been the weak and defective aspect of Greek genius. For the Greeks it was in theory and generalization that the interest lay, they were neglectful and careless of fact ; the Arabian inquirers’ zeal, on the contrary, was careless of theory, and directed to the accumulation of concrete facts, and to giving to their knowledge a precise and quantitative form. What makes all the difference between fruitful, enduring science and mere loose scientific curiosity, is the quantitative as against the qualitative statement, the anxiety for the utmost attainable accuracy in measurement. In that spirit of objective researchand quantitative accuracy the whole of the vast scientific work of the Arabs was conducted. They accepted Ptolemy’s cosmology, but not his catalogue of stars or his planetary table, or his measurements. They drew up numerous new star catalogues, correcting and greatly amplifying the Ptolemaic one ; they compiled new sets of planetary tables, obtained more accurate values for the obliquity of the ecliptic and the precession of equinoxes, checked by two independent measurements of a meridian the estimates of the size of the earth. They devised for the carrying out of those observations elaborate instruments superior to those of the Greeks and exceeding in accuracy those manufactured in the fifteenth century at the famous Nuremberg factory. Each observer took up the, work independently, sought to eliminate the personal equation, and the method of continuous observation was systematically carried out—some observations extending over twelve years—at the observatories of Damascus, Baghdad, and Cairo. So much importance did they attach to accuracy in their records that those of special interest were formally signed on oath in legal form. …
http://www.archive.org/details/makingofhumanity00brifrich
1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets
Oscar-winning actor and screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley has taken the starring role in a short feature film about the scientific heritage of Muslim civilisation. The mini-movie, entitled 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets, accompanies a global touring exhibition that this currently open to the public at the Science Museum in London:
German Interior Minister – ‘German Identity is Shaped by Christianity.’ But, is it True?
http://www.themuslimtimes.org/2011/08/religion/islam/german-interior-minister-german-identity-is-shaped-by-christianity
Mashallah!!! I am spellbound by its informative material, extensive details and length.
May Allah reward your efforts a million trillion folds.Amen
God Bless you. Amen
Charlemagne or Charles the Great and total lack of religious freedom
It is important not to forget the evolution of religious freedom in the world. As those who cannot remember the past are apt to repeat it. Charles the Great expanded the Frankish kingdom into an empire that incorporated much of Western and Central Europe. During his reign, he conquered Italy and was crowned Imperator Augustus by Pope Leo III on 25 December 800. The French and German monarchies descending from the empire ruled by Charlemagne as Holy Roman Emperor cover most of Europe. In his acceptance speech of the Charlemagne Prize, Pope John Paul II referred to him as the Pater Europae (“father of Europe”), see Wikipedia for reference.
According to Encyclopedia Britannica:
“Charlemagne.” Encyclopædia Britannica. 2009. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 16 Aug. 2009 .
Thanks a lot for sharing this with all folks you really recognise what you are talking approximately! Bookmarked. Please additionally discuss with my web site =). We will have a hyperlink exchange arrangement between us
You could definitely see your expertise within the work you write. The sector hopes for more passionate writers like you who are not afraid to mention how they believe. Always follow your heart.
It is important that Moslems and the rest of the world, especially, the West, should know of Islam’s contributions to human civilization.
I want to know of universities, if any, in Islamic Spain.
You need to know how the lawyer will handle your case.
There are many ways to choose a freelance graphic design artist.
This article offers some important points to consider for buying out a partner.
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js