Danielle Abi-Najm

History of Science
Professor Doel
Sep. 29, 2014
Science in the Ancient Islamic Empire
The Ancient Islamic Empire rose when Islamic armies conquered the Arabian Peninsula
in the seventh century and then fell by 1258 when the Mongols sacked Baghdad. During the
greatest extent of the Ancient Islamic Empire, from approximately 700 AD-850 AD, the borders
of its conquered lands were Spain and North Africa to the west, Turkey to the north, Arabian
Peninsula to the south and Iran to the east. The religion of the Islamic Empire was Islam, a
religion that began when Muhammad preached the revelations that Gabriel had relayed to him
from God; these revelations eventually became the Quran, which is the holy book and basis of
education for the Muslim people. Islam spread quickly; within one century, it was the dominant
religion in the Middle East, North Africa and Spain. The role of education plays an important
role in the Islamic community but it must be made clear that they believed scientia -- human
knowledge -- is to be regarded as legitimate and noble only so long as it is subordinated to
sapientia -- Divine wisdom, (Nasr, 3). This empire held the worlds greatest centers of
learning at the time; the Arabic scholars studied all subjects from religion and philosophy to law
and literature but considered altogether, in mathematics, astronomy, optics, physics and
medicine, Arabic science was the most advanced in the world, (Huff, 52). Alexander the Great
introduced the Hellenistic culture to this area of the world and it was the Abbasid Dynasty which
continued the process of Hellenization (spreading and assimilation of Greek culture). Science
had a prominent role in the Islamic Empire because their religion relied heavily on the
calculations performed and they approached the study of sciences by learning what the Greeks

had already discovered and expanding on it; they conducted science in order to understand the
world around them as a unified entity.
The key to the Hellenization of the Islamic Empire, which led to scientific achievement,
was the translation of the texts from Greek to Arabic; the Syriac language acted as a bridge
between Greek and Arabic so the works were translated from Greek to Syriac and from Syriac to
Arabic. These translated texts were available only to those who were enrolled in school or who
could afford a private tutor. The scientific method for Islamic scientists was simple: they would
read about the Greek scientists derivations about nature, ask the same questions, observe the
world for data to support or refute the previously accepted derivations, and eventually come to
conclusions that would confirm or deny the previous thoughts on nature. There is a debate
between historians whether the science conducted in Ancient Islam was "anything more than a
re-enactment of the glories of ancient Greece," (Saliba, 2) or if the Islamic people actually
contributed new information to the realm of science. Looking at the work of Ibn Sina (known as
Avicenna), one of the most influential and well-known scholars of his time, it is apparent that the
truth is a mix of the two theories. Ibn Sina began his intellectual career by mastering Aristotle's,
Euclid's and Ptolemy's works; he then wrote over 100 commentaries on the works of major
Greek scientists such as Plato and Aristotle. His most influential piece of work was his Canon of
Medicine, which was so successful it was used in schools in Western Europe in later centuries.
Ibn Sinas contribution is the perfect example that shows that the knowledge of Greece was, in
fact, re-enacted, but was also extended to make way for knowledge that was unique to the
Islamic Empire. "This span of time is remarkable for having produced the first clear evidence of
buildings constructed especially as observatories," (Kennedy, 237); observatories were invented
Islam and they provided a proper structure for analyzing the stars. This enabled the scientists of

the Islamic Empire to observe the patterns of the night sky and develop hypotheses based of the
patterns of movement. Another example of how the Islamic scientists mastered and improved the
Greek science is the astrolabe; an astrolabe is an instrument invented by the Greeks to determine
and predict the position of celestial bodies. The astrolabe was adopted by the Islamic Empire and
they improved its structure to make it a more specialized instrument in order to calculate what
time of the day to pray. It is up for debate exactly where and when the first hospital was founded,
but it was definitely founded somewhere in the Islamic Empire in the 8th or 9th century (popular
beliefs include Baghdad in 800 AD or in Damascus in 707 AD). The hospitals provided care for
patients as well as training for doctors and centers for intellectual discussion.
The Islamic Empire did not master the Greek sciences and create new books on the
information just for entertainment; "the aim of all the Islamic sciences and, more generally
speaking, of all the medieval and ancient cosmological sciences is to show the unity and
interrelatedness of all that exists," (Nasr, 1). 'Umar Khayyam, a scholar who exceeded in poetry
and mathematics, divided intellects into four different categories: the theologians who satisfied
proofs, the philosophers who discovered and utilized laws of logic, the Ismailis who believe that
"it is better to seek knowledge from the words of a sincere person, " (Nasr, 6) and finally the
Sufis, who believe in purifying the soul so it can face the truths of the spiritual world. It is
apparent that there were various approaches to conducting science but they were all done for a
common goal: the goal of comprehending the unification of nature. The theologians and the
philosophers may have used more concrete examples that they had deducted from reasoning and
experimentation whereas the Ismailis and the Sufis would have taken a more spiritual and
personal route in order to figure out why or how nature is unified. Astronomy was one of the
scientific fields that was highly focused on because the Islamic people needed to know the star

patterns in order to calculate when to pray and when certain holidays should occur. Nasr makes
the point that, however important its uses may have been in calendric work, in irrigation, in
architecture, its ultimate aim has always been to relate the corporeal world to its basic spiritual
principle, through the knowledge of those symbols which unite the various orders of reality.
This means that the purpose for all of the science conducted was not to obtain quantitative data,
but to obtain confirmations of spiritual connections between all things in the world.
Ultimately, the scientists in the Ancient Islamic Empire executed science in order to
discern the spiritual, underlying force of nature and they achieved this by improving on the
science done by the Greeks. The role of science was very important; it enabled the scientists of
Ancient Islam to connect religion with physical nature. Science was a key part of their
civilization because without it, they would not have been able to calculate times of prayer, dates
of holidays, or patterns of celestial bodies. There was a tight relationship between religion and
science; religion guided science and science was done for religious purposes. Overall, the role
that Ancient Islamic Science had in history was a great one; it enabled Greek science to be
passed on, it developed hospitals and observatories, and it provided a connection between the
physical and spiritual aspects of the world.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Saliba, George. "The Islamic Scientific Traditions: Questions of Beginnings." Islamic Science
and the Making of the European Renaissance. MIT, 2007. 2-4. Print.

Huff, Toby E. The Rise of Early Modern Science: Islam, China, and the West. Cambridge
[England]: Cambridge UP, 1993. 52. Print.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. "The Principles of Islam." Science and Civilization in Islam. New
American Library, 1968. 1-8. Print.
E.S. Kennedy. "The Observatory in Islam and Its Place in the General History of the
Observatory." Isis. 2nd ed. Vol. 53. U of Chicago. 237-239. Print.