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The Islamic Golden Age, also sometimes known as the Islamic Renaissance,Joel L. Kraemer (1992), Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam, p. 1 & 148, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004072594. is traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century,Matthew E. Falagas, Effie A. Zarkadoulia, George Samonis (2006). "Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today", The FASEB Journal 20, p. 1581-1586. though some have extended it to the 15th or 16th centuries. During this period, engineers, scholars and traders in the Islamic world contributed to the arts, agriculture, economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, and technology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and by adding inventions and innovations of their own.Howard R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam, University of Texas Press, November 1, 1997, ISBN 0-292-78149-0, pg. 270 (book cover, last page) Howard R. Turner writes: "Muslim artists and scientists, princes and laborers together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectly influenced societies on every continent."
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Age of the Caliphs Expansion under Muhammad, 622-632 Expansion during the Rashidun Caliphate, 632-661 Expansion during the Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750
During the Muslim conquests of the 7th and early 8th centuries, nomadic Arab armies established the Islamic Empire, which was one of the ten largest empires in history. The Islamic Golden Age was soon inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad. The Abbassids were influenced by the Qur\'anic injunctions and hadith such as "The ink of the scholar is more holy than the blood of martyrs" stressing the value of knowledge. During this period the Muslim world became the unrivaled intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education as the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established a "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad; where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world\'s knowledge into Arabic. Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and later in turn translated into Turkish, Persian, Hebrew and Latin. During this period the Muslim world was a cauldron of cultures which collected, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, North African, Greek and Byzantine civilizations. Rival Muslim dynasties such as the Fatimids of Egypt and the Umayyads of al-Andalus were also major intellectual centers with cities such as Cairo and Córdoba rivaling Baghdad.Vartan Gregorian, "Islam: A Mosaic, Not a Monolith", Brookings Institution Press, 2003, pg 26-38 ISBN 081573283X
A major innovation of this period was paper - originally a secret tightly guarded by the Chinese. The art of papermaking was obtained from prisoners taken at the Battle of Talas (751), resulting in paper mills being built in Samarkand and Baghdad. The Arabs improved upon the Chinese techniques of using mulberry bark by using starch to account for the Muslim preference for pens vs. the Chinese for brushes. By AD 900 there were hundreds of shops employing scribes and binders for books in Baghdad and even public libraries began to become established, including the first lending libraries. From here paper-making spread west to Fez and then to al-Andalus and from there to Europe in the 13th century.Arnold Pacey, "Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-Year History", MIT Press, 1990, ISBN 0262660725 pg 41-42
Much of this learning and development can be linked to topography. Even prior to Islam\'s presence, the city of Mecca served as a center of trade in Arabia. The tradition of the pilgrimage to Mecca became a center for exchanging ideas and goods. The influence held by Muslim merchants over African-Arabian and Arabian-Asian trade routes was tremendous. As a result, Islamic civilization grew and expanded on the basis of its merchant economy, in contrast to their Christian, Indian and Chinese peers who built societies from an agricultural landholding nobility. Merchants brought goods and their faith to China, India (the Indian subcontinent now has over 450 million followers), Southeast Asia (which now has over 230 million followers), and the kingdoms of Western Africa and returned with new inventions. Merchants used their wealth to invest in textiles and plantations.
Aside from traders, Sufi missionaries also played a large role in the spread of Islam, by bringing their message to various regions around the world. The principal locations included: Persia, Ancient Mesopotamia, Central Asia and North Africa. Although, the mystics also had a significant influence in parts of Eastern Africa, Ancient Anatolia (Turkey), South Asia, East Asia and Southeast Asia. Bülent Þenay. Sufism. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.Muslim History and the Spread of Islam from the 7th to the 21st century. The Islam Project. Retrieved on 2007-06-26.
Many medieval Muslim thinkers pursued humanistic, rational and scientific discourses in their search for knowledge, meaning and values. A wide range of Islamic writings on love poetry, history and philosophical theology show that medieval Islamic thought was open to the humanistic ideas of individualism, occasional secularism, skepticism and liberalism.Lenn Evan Goodman (2003), Islamic Humanism, p. 155, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0195135806.Joel L. Kraemer (1992), Humanism in the Renaissance of Islam, Brill Publishers, ISBN 9004072594.
Religious freedom, though limited, helped create cross-cultural networks by attracting Muslim, Christian and Jewish intellectuals and thereby helped spawn the greatest period of philosophical creativity in the Middle Ages from the 8th to 13th centuries. Another reason the Islamic world flourished during this period was an early emphasis on freedom of speech, as summarized by al-Hashimi (a cousin of Caliph al-Ma\'mun) in the following letter to one of the religious opponents he was attempting to convert through reason:Ahmad, I. A. (June 3, 2002), "The Rise and Fall of Islamic Science: The Calendar as a Case Study", Faith and Reason: Convergence and Complementarity, Al Akhawayn University, <http://images.agustianwar.multiply.com/attachment/0/RxbYbQoKCr4AAD@kzFY1/IslamicCalendar-A-Case-Study.pdf>. Retrieved on 31 January 2008
"Bring forward all the arguments you wish and say whatever you please and speak your mind freely. Now that you are safe and free to say whatever you please appoint some arbitrator who will impartially judge between us and lean only towards the truth and be free from the empery of passion, and that arbitrator shall be Reason, whereby God makes us responsible for our own rewards and punishments. Herein I have dealt justly with you and have given you full security and am ready to accept whatever decision Reason may give for me or against me. For "There is no compulsion in religion" (Qur\'an 2:256) and I have only invited you to accept our faith willingly and of your own accord and have pointed out the hideousness of your present belief. Peace be with you and the blessings of God!"
The earliest known treatises dealing with environmentalism and environmental science, especially pollution, were Arabic treatises written by al-Kindi, al-Razi, Ibn Al-Jazzar, al-Tamimi, al-Masihi, Avicenna, Ali ibn Ridwan, Abd-el-latif, and Ibn al-Nafis. Their works covered a number of subjects related to pollution such as air pollution, water pollution, soil contamination, municipal solid waste mishandling, and environmental impact assessments of certain localities.L. Gari (2002), "Arabic Treatises on Environmental Pollution up to the End of the Thirteenth Century", Environment and History 8 (4), pp. 475-488. Cordoba, al-Andalus also had the first waste containers and waste disposal facilities for litter collection.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)
A number of important educational and scientific institutions previously unknown in the ancient world have their origins in the medieval Islamic world, with the most notable examples being: the public hospital (which replaced healing temples and sleep temples) and psychiatric hospital,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]. the public library and lending library, the academic degree-granting university, and the astronomical observatory as a research institutePeter Barrett (2004), Science and Theology Since Copernicus: The Search for Understanding, p. 18, Continuum International Publishing Group, ISBN 056708969X. (as opposed to a private observation post as was the case in ancient times).Micheau, Francoise, "The Scientific Institutions in the Medieval Near East", pp. 992-3, in (Morelon & Rashed 1996, pp. 985-1007)
The first universities which issued diplomas were the Bimaristan medical university-hospitals of the medieval Islamic world, where medical diplomas were issued to students of Islamic medicine who were qualified to be practicing doctors of medicine from the 9th century.John Bagot Glubb (cf. Quotations on Islamic Civilization)
The Guinness Book of World Records recognizes the University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco as the oldest degree-granting university in the world with its founding in 859 CE.The Guinness Book Of Records, Published 1998, ISBN 0-5535-7895-2, P.242 Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in the 975 CE, offered a variety of academic degrees, including postgraduate degrees, and is often considered the first full-fledged university.
By the 10th century, Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries, the largest of which had 600,000 books. In the whole al-Andalus, 60,000 treatises, poems, polemics and compilations were published each year.Dato\' Dzulkifli Abd Razak, Quest for knowledge, New Sunday Times, 3 July 2005. The library of Cairo had two million books,Patricia Skinner (2001), Unani-tibbi, Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine while the library of Tripoli is said to have had as many as three million books before it was destroyed by Crusaders. The number of important and original Arabic works on science that have survived is much larger than the combined total of the surviving Greek and Latin works on science which at one time were much greater in number in antiquity and of which the extant Arabic works owe an enormous debt to, though only a small fraction of these surviving Arabic scientific works have been studied and even fewer have been published.N. M. Swerdlow (1993). "Montucla\'s Legacy: The History of the Exact Sciences", Journal of the History of Ideas 54 (2), p. 299-328 [320].
A number of distinct features of the modern library were introduced in the Islamic world, where libraries not only served as a collection of manuscripts as was the case in ancient libraries, but also as a public library and lending library, a centre for the instruction and spread of sciences and ideas, a place for meetings and discussions, and sometimes as a lodging for scholars or boarding school for pupils. The concept of the library catalog was also introduced in medieval Islamic libraries, where books were organized into specific genres and categories.Micheau, Francoise, "The Scientific Institutions in the Medieval Near East", pp. 988-991 in (Morelon & Rashed 1996, pp. 985-1007)
Several fundamental common law instutitions may have been adapted from similar legal instututions in Islamic law and jurisprudence, and introduced to England by the Normans after the Norman conquest of England and the Emirate of Sicily, and by Crusaders during the Crusades. In particular, the "royal English contract protected by the action of debt is identified with the Islamic Aqd, the English assize of novel disseisin is identified with the Islamic Istihqaq, and the English jury is identified with the Islamic Lafif." Other legal institutions introduced in Islamic law include the trust and charitable trust (Waqf),(Gaudiosi 1988)(Hudson 2003, p. 32) and the agency and aval (Hawala),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] and the lawsuit and medical peer review.Ray Spier (2002), "The history of the peer-review process", Trends in Biotechnology 20 (8), p. 357-358 [357]. Other English legal institutions such as "the scholastic method, the license to teach," the "law schools known as Inns of Court in England and Madrasas in Islam" and the "European commenda" (Islamic Qirad) may have also originated from Islamic law. These influences have led some scholars to suggest that Islamic law may have laid the foundations for "the common law as an integrated whole".Makdisi, John A. (June 1999), "The Islamic Origins of the Common Law", North Carolina Law Review 77 (5): 1635-1739
Another common feature during the Islamic Golden Age was the large number of Muslim polymath scholars, who were known as "Hakeems", each of whom contributed to a variety of different fields of both religious and secular learning, comparable to the later "Renaissance Men" (such as Leonardo da Vinci) of the European Renaissance period. During the Islamic Golden Age, polymath scholars with a wide breadth of knowledge in different fields were more common than scholars who specialized in any single field of learning.Karima Alavi, Tapestry of Travel, Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, Georgetown University.
Notable medieval Muslim polymaths included al-Biruni, al-Jahiz, al-Kindi, Avicenna, al-Idrisi, Ibn Bajjah, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Tufail, Averroes, al-Suyuti,Sardar, Ziauddin (1998), "Science in Islamic philosophy", Islamic Philosophy, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy, <http://www.muslimphilosophy.com/ip/rep/H016.htm>. Retrieved on 3 February 2008 Geber,Bio-Bibliographies, United States National Library of Medicine. Abbas Ibn Firnas,Lynn Townsend White, Jr. (Spring, 1961). "Eilmer of Malmesbury, an Eleventh Century Aviator: A Case Study of Technological Innovation, Its Context and Tradition", Technology and Culture 2 (2), p. 97-111 [100-101]. Alhacen,Sami Hamarneh (March 1972), "Review: Hakim Mohammed Said, Ibn al-Haitham", Isis 63 (1), p. 118–119. Ibn al-Nafis,Dr. Abu Shadi Al-Roubi, Ibnul-Nafees As a Philosopher, Encyclopedia of Islamic World. Ibn Khaldun,Marvin E. Gettleman and Stuart Schaar (2003), The Middle East and Islamic World Reader, p. 54, Grove Press, ISBN 0802139361. al-Khwarizmi, al-Masudi, al-Muqaddasi, and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī, among others.
The Islamic Empire significantly contributed to globalization during the Islamic Golden Age, when the knowledge, trade and economies from many previously isolated regions and civilizations began integrating due to contacts with Muslim explorers, sailors, scholars, traders, and travelers. Some have called this period the "Pax Islamica" or "Afro-Asiatic age of discovery", in reference to the Muslim Southwest Asian and North African traders and explorers who travelled most of the Old World, and established an early global economy across most of Asia and Africa and much of Europe, with their trade networks extending from the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indian Ocean and China Sea in the east.Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), p. 79-96. This helped establish the Islamic Empire (including the Rashidun, Umayyad, Abbasid and Fatimid caliphates) as the world\'s leading extensive economic power throughout the 7th-13th centuries.John M. Hobson (2004), The Eastern Origins of Western Civilisation, p. 29-30, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521547245. Several contemporary medieval Arabic reports also suggest that Muslim explorers from al-Andalus and the Maghreb may have travelled in expeditions across the Atlantic Ocean between the 9th and 14th centuries.S. A. H. Ahsani (July 1984). "Muslims in Latin America: a survey", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 5 (2), p. 454-463.
The Islamic Golden Age witnessed a fundamental transformation in agriculture known as the "Muslim Agricultural Revolution", "Arab Agricultural Revolution", or "Green Revolution".Thomas F. Glick (1977), "Noria Pots in Spain", Technology and Culture 18 (4), p. 644-650. Due to the global economy established by Muslim traders across the Old World, this enabled the diffusion of many plants and farming techniques between different parts of the Islamic world, as well as the adaptation of plants and techniques from beyond the Islamic world. Crops from Africa such as sorghum, crops from China such as citrus fruits, and numerous crops from India such as mangos, rice, and especially cotton and sugar cane, were distributed throughout Islamic lands which normally would not be able to grow these crops. Some have referred to the diffusion of numerous crops during this period as the "Globalisation of Crops",The Globalisation of Crops, FSTC which, along with an increased mechanization of agriculture (see Industrial growth below), led to major changes in economy, population distribution, vegetation cover,Andrew M. Watson (1983), Agricultural Innovation in the Early Islamic World, Cambridge University Press, ISBN 052124711X. agricultural production and income, population levels, urban growth, the distribution of the labour force, linked industries, cooking and diet, clothing, and numerous other aspects of life in the Islamic world.Andrew M. Watson (1974), "The Arab Agricultural Revolution and Its Diffusion, 700-1100", The Journal of Economic History 34 (1), p. 8-35.
During the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, sugar production was refined and transformed into a large-scale industry by the Arabs, who built the first sugar refineries and sugar plantations. The Arabs and Berbers diffused sugar throughout the Islamic Empire from the 8th century.Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering
Muslims introduced cash cropping and the modern crop rotation system where land was cropped four or more times in a two-year period. Winter crops were followed by summer ones, and in some cases there was in between. In areas where plants of shorter growing season were used, such as spinach and eggplants, the land could be cropped three or more times a year. In parts of Yemen, wheat yielded two harvests a year on the same land, as did rice in Iraq. Muslims developed a scientific approach to agriculture based on three major elements; sophisticated systems of crop rotation, highly developed irrigation techniques, and the introduction of a large variety of crops which were studied and catalogued according to the season, type of land and amount of water they require. Numerous encyclopaedias on farming and botany were produced, containing accurate, precise detail.Al-Hassani, Woodcock and Saoud (2007), Muslim heritage in Our World, FSTC publishing, 2nd Edition, p. 102-123.
Early forms of proto-capitalism and free markets were present in the Caliphate,The Cambridge economic history of Europe, p. 437. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521087090. where an early market economy and early form of merchant capitalism was developed between the 8th-12th centuries, which some refer to as "Islamic capitalism".Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), p. 79-96 [81, 83, 85, 90, 93, 96]. A vigorous monetary economy was created on the basis of the expanding levels of circulation of a stable high-value currency (the dinar) and the integration of monetary areas that were previously independent. Innovative new business techniques and forms of business organisation were introduced by economists, merchants and traders during this time. Such innovations included early trading companies, credit cards, big businesses, contracts, bills of exchange, long-distance international trade, early forms of partnership (mufawada) such as limited partnerships (mudaraba), and early forms of credit, debt, profit, loss, capital (al-mal), capital accumulation (nama al-mal), circulating capital, capital expenditure, revenue, cheques, promissory notes,Robert Sabatino Lopez, Irving Woodworth Raymond, Olivia Remie Constable (2001), Medieval Trade in the Mediterranean World: Illustrative Documents, Columbia University Press, ISBN 0231123574. trusts (waqf), startup companies,Timur Kuran (2005), "The Absence of the Corporation in Islamic Law: Origins and Persistence", American Journal of Comparative Law 53, p. 785-834 [798-799]. savings accounts, transactional accounts, pawning, loaning, exchange rates, bankers, money changers, ledgers, deposits, assignments, the double-entry bookkeeping system,Subhi Y. Labib (1969), "Capitalism in Medieval Islam", The Journal of Economic History 29 (1), p. 79-96 [92-93]. and lawsuits.Ray Spier (2002), "The history of the peer-review process", Trends in Biotechnology 20 (8), p. 357-358 [357]. Organizational enterprises similar to corporations independent from the state also existed in the medieval Islamic world.Said Amir Arjomand (1999), "The Law, Agency, and Policy in Medieval Islamic Society: Development of the Institutions of Learning from the Tenth to the Fifteenth Century", Comparative Studies in Society and History 41, p. 263-293. Cambridge University Press.Samir Amin (1978), "The Arab Nation: Some Conclusions and Problems", MERIP Reports 68, p. 3-14 [8, 13]. Many of these early proto-capitalist concepts were adopted and further advanced in medieval Europe from the 13th century onwards.Jairus Banaji (2007), "Islam, the Mediterranean and the rise of capitalism", Historical Materialism 15 (1), p. 47-74, Brill Publishers.
The systems of contract relied upon by merchants was very effective. Merchants would buy and sell on commission, with money loaned to them by wealthy investors, or a joint investment of several merchants, who were often Muslim, Christian and Jewish. Recently, a collection of documents was found in an Egyptian synagogue shedding a very detailed and human light on the life of medieval Middle Eastern merchants. Business partnerships would be made for many commercial ventures, and bonds of kinship enabled trade networks to form over huge distances. Networks developed during this time enabled a world in which money could be promised by a bank in Baghdad and cashed in Spain, creating the cheque system of today. Each time items passed through the cities along this extraordinary network, the city imposed a tax, resulting in high prices once reaching the final destination. These innovations made by Muslims and Jews laid the foundations for the modern economic system.
Though medieval Islamic economics appears to have been closer to proto-capitalism, some scholars have also found a number of parallels between Islamic economic jurisprudence and communism, including the Islamic ideas of zakat and riba.Bernard Lewis (1954), "Communism and Islam", International Affairs (Royal Institute of International Affairs 1944-) 30 (1), p. 1-12.
Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) introduced the experimental method to chemistry. He also established the chemical industry and perfumery industry.
Muslim engineers in the Islamic world made a number of innovative industrial uses of hydropower, and early industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, steam power,Ahmad Y Hassan (1976). Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering, p. 34-35. Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo. fossil fuels such as petroleum, and early large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).Maya Shatzmiller, p. 36. The industrial uses of watermills in the Islamic world date back to the 7th century, while horizontal-wheeled and vertical-wheeled water mills were both in widespread use since at least the 9th century. A variety of industrial mills were being employed in the Islamic world, including early fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, paper mills, sawmills, shipmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, tide mills and windmills. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.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 [10]. Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, employed gears in mills and water-raising machines, and pioneered the use of dams as a source of water power, used to provide additional power to watermills and water-raising machines. Such advances made it possible for many industrial tasks that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be mechanized and driven by machinery instead in the medieval Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe had an influence on the Industrial Revolution.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.
A number of industries were generated due to the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, including early industries for agribusiness, astronomical instruments, ceramics, chemicals, distillation technologies, clocks, glass, mechanical hydropowered and wind powered machinery, matting, mosaics, pulp and paper, perfumery, petroleum, pharmaceuticals, rope-making, shipping, shipbuilding, silk, sugar, textiles, water, weapons, and the mining of minerals such as sulfur, ammonia, lead and iron. Early large factory complexes (tiraz) were built for many of these industries, and knowledge of these industries were later transmitted to medieval Europe, especially during the Latin translations of the 12th century, as well as before and after. For example, the first glass factories in Europe were founded in the 11th century by Egyptian craftsmen in Greece.Ahmad Y Hassan, Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part 1: Avenues Of Technology Transfer The agricultural and handicraft industries also experienced high levels of growth during this period.
The labour force in the Caliphate were employed from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, while both men and women were involved in diverse occupations and economic activities.Maya Shatzmiller, p. 6-7. Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupationsMaya Shatzmiller, p. 400-401. in the primary sector (as farmers for example), secondary sector (as construction workers, dyers, spinners, etc.) and tertiary sector (as investors, doctors, nurses, presidents of guilds, brokers, peddlers, lenders, scholars, etc.).Maya Shatzmiller, p. 350-362. Muslim women also had a monopoly over certain branches of the textile industry.
A significant number of inventions were produced by medieval Muslim engineers and inventors, such as Abbas Ibn Firnas, the Banū Mūsā, Taqi al-Din, and most notably al-Jazari.
Some of the inventions believed to have come from the Islamic Golden Age include the camera obscura, coffee, hang glider, flight controls, soap bar, shampoo, pure distillation, liquefaction, crystallisation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation, filtration, distilled alcohol, uric acid, nitric acid, alembic, crankshaft, valve, reciprocating suction piston pump, mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, programmable humanoid robot, combination lock, quilting, pointed arch, scalpel, bone saw, forceps, surgical catgut, windmill, inoculation, smallpox vaccine, fountain pen, cryptanalysis, frequency analysis, three-course meal, stained glass and quartz glass, Persian carpet, modern cheque, celestial globe, explosive rockets and incendiary devices, torpedo, and artificial pleasure gardens.Paul Vallely, How Islamic Inventors Changed the World, The Independent, 11 March 2006.
As urbanization increased, Muslim cities grew unregulated, resulting in narrow winding city streets and neighborhoods separated by different ethnic backgrounds and religious affiliations. These qualities proved efficient for transporting goods to and from major commercial centers while preserving the privacy valued by Islamic family life. Suburbs lay just outside the walled city, from wealthy residential communities, to working class semi-slums. City garbage dumps were located far from the city, as were clearly defined cemeteries which were often homes for criminals. A place of prayer was found just near one of the main gates, for religious festivals and public executions. Similarly, Military Training grounds were found near a main gate.
Muslim cities also had advanced domestic water systems with sewers, public baths, drinking fountains, piped drinking water supplies,Fiona MacDonald (2006), The Plague and Medicine in the Middle Ages, p. 42-43, Gareth Stevens, ISBN 0836859073. and widespread private and public toilet and bathing facilities.Tor Eigeland, "The Tiles of Iberia", Saudi Aramco World, March-April 1992, p. 24-31. By the 10th century, Cordoba had 700 mosques, 60,000 palaces, and 70 libraries.
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) was a pioneer of modern optics, and some have also described him as a "pioneer of the modern scientific method" and "first scientist". He also invented the camera obscura and pinhole camera, was the first to discover the principle of least time and first law of motion, and laid the foundations for telescopic astronomy.
The traditional view of Islamic science was that it was chiefly a preserver and transmitter of ancient knowledge.Bertrand Russell (1945), History of Western Philosophy, book 2, part 2, chapter X For example, Donald Lach argues that modern science originated in Europe as an amalgam of medieval technology and Greek learning.Lach, Donald (1977), Asia in the Making of Europe. A Century of Wonder, Vol. 2, Book 3, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 0-226-46734-1, p. 397:These views have been disputed in recent times, with some scholars suggesting that Muslim scientists laid the foundations for modern science,Robert Briffault (1928). The Making of Humanity, p. 191. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.Fielding H. Garrison, An Introduction to the History of Medicine: with Medical Chronology, Suggestions for Study and Biblographic Data, p. 86Muhammad Iqbal (1934, 1999). The Reconstruction of Religious Thought in Islam. Kazi Publications. ISBN 0686184823. for their development of early scientific methods and an empirical, experimental and quantitative approach to scientific inquiry.Rosanna Gorini (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, 2003 (2): 53-55 [55]. Institute of Neurosciences, Laboratory of Psychobiology and Psychopharmacology, Rome, Italy. Some scholars have referred to this period as a "Muslim scientific revolution",Abdus Salam, H. R. Dalafi, Mohamed Hassan (1994). Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries, p. 162. World Scientific, ISBN 9971507137.George Saliba (1994), A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, p. 245, 250, 256-257. New York University Press, ISBN 0814780237.Abid Ullah Jan (2006), After Fascism: Muslims and the struggle for self-determination, "Islam, the West, and the Question of Dominance", Pragmatic Publishings, ISBN 978-0-9733687-5-8.Salah Zaimeche (2003), An Introduction to Muslim Science, FSTC. a term which expresses the view that Islam was the driving force behind the Muslim scientific achievements,Ahmad Y Hassan and Donald Routledge Hill (1986), Islamic Technology: An Illustrated History, p. 282, Cambridge University Press. and should not to be confused with the early modern European Scientific Revolution leading to the rise of modern science.Thomas Kuhn, The Copernican Revolution, (Cambridge: Harvard Univ. Pr., 1957), p. 142.Herbert Butterfield, The Origins of Modern Science, 1300-1800.R. Hooykaas, “The Rise of Modern Science: When and Why?”, The British Journal for the History of Science, Vol. 20, No. 4. (Oct., 1987), pp. 453-473 Edward Grant argues that modern science was due to the cumulative efforts of the Hellenic, Islamic and Latin civilizations.Edward Grant (1996), The Foundations of Modern Science in the Middle Ages: Their Religious, Institutional, and Intellectual Contexts, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
"Modern science originated in Europe during the sixteenth century as an amalgam of medieval technology, Greek learning, medicine, and mathematics."
Early scientific methods were developed in the Islamic world, where significant progress in methodology was made, especially in the works of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) in the 11th century, who is considered the pioneer of experimental physics.David Agar (2001). Arabic Studies in Physics and Astronomy During 800 - 1400 AD. University of Jyväskylä. The most important development of the scientific method was the use of experimentation and quantification to distinguish between competing scientific theories set within a generally empirical orientation. Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) wrote the Book of Optics, in which he significantly reformed the field of optics, empirically proved that vision occurred because of light rays entering the eye, and invented the camera obscura to demonstrate the physical nature of light rays.David C. Lindberg (1968). "The Theory of Pinhole Images from Antiquity to the Thirteenth Century", Archive for History of the Exact Sciences 5, p. 154-176.R. S. Elliott (1966). Electromagnetics, Chapter 1. McGraw-Hill.
Ibn al-Haytham has also been described as the "first scientist" for his introduction of the scientific method,Bradley Steffens (2006). Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, Morgan Reynolds Publishing, ISBN 1599350246. and his pioneering work on the psychology of visual perceptionBradley Steffens (2006). Ibn al-Haytham: First Scientist, Chapter 5. Morgan Reynolds Publishing. ISBN 1599350246. Reynor Mausfeld, "From Number Mysticism to the MauBformel: Fechner\'s Pyschophysics in the Tradition of Mathesis Universalis", Keynote Address International Symposium in Honour to G.Th. Fechner, International Society for Pyshophysics 19-23, October 2000, University of Leipzig.[1] is considered a precursor to psychophysics and experimental psychology.Omar Khaleefa (Summer 1999). "Who Is the Founder of Psychophysics and Experimental Psychology?", American Journal of Islamic Social Sciences 16 (2).
The earliest medical peer review, a process by which a committee of physicians investigate the medical care rendered in order to determine whether accepted standards of care have been met, is found in the Ethics of the Physician written by Ishaq bin Ali al-Rahwi (854–931) of al-Raha in Syria. His work, as well as later Arabic medical manuals, state that a visiting physician must always make duplicate notes of a patient\'s condition on every visit. When the patient was cured or had died, the notes of the physician were examined by a local medical council of other physicians, who would review the practising physician\'s notes to decide whether his/her performance have met the required standards of medical care. If their reviews were negative, the practicing physician could face a lawsuit from a maltreated patient.Ray Spier (2002), "The history of the peer-review process", Trends in Biotechnology 20 (8), p. 357-358 [357].
The first scientific peer review, the evaluation of research findings for competence, significance and originality by qualified experts, was described later in the Medical Essays and Observations published by the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1731. The present-day scientific peer review system evolved from this 18th century process.Dale J. Benos et al., 145">Dale J. Benos et al.: “The Ups and Downs of Peer Review”, Advances in Physiology Education, Vol. 31 (2007), pp. 145–152 (145): Scientific peer review has been defined as the evaluation of research findings for competence, significance, and originality by qualified experts. These peers act as sentinels on the road of scientific discovery and publication.
Some have referred to the achievements of the Maragha school and their predecessors and successors in astronomy as a "Maragha Revolution", "Maragha School Revolution" or "Scientific Revolution before the Renaissance". Advances in astronomy by the Maragha school and their predecessors and successors include the construction of the first observatory in Baghdad during the reign of Caliph al-Ma\'mun,Nas, Peter J (1993). Urban Symbolism. Brill Academic Publishers, 350. ISBN 9-0040-9855-0. the collection and correction of previous astronomical data, resolving significant problems in the Ptolemaic model, the development of universal astrolabes,Krebs, Robert E. (2004). Groundbreaking Scientific Experiments, Inventions, and Discoveries of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. Greenwood Press, 196. ISBN 0-3133-2433-6. the invention of numerous other astronomical instruments, the beginning of astrophysics and celestial mechanics after Ja\'far Muhammad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir discovered that the heavenly bodies and celestial spheres were subject to the same physical laws as Earth,George Saliba (1994). "Early Arabic Critique of Ptolemaic Cosmology: A Ninth-Century Text on the Motion of the Celestial Spheres", Journal for the History of Astronomy 25, p. 115-141 [116]. the first elaborate experiments related to astronomical phenomena and the first semantic distinction between astronomy and astrology by Abū al-Rayhān al-Bīrūnī,S. Pines (September 1964). "The Semantic Distinction between the Terms Astronomy and Astrology according to al-Biruni", Isis 55 (3), p. 343-349. the use of exacting empirical observations and experimental techniques,Toby Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, p. 326. Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0521529948. the discovery that the celestial spheres are not solid and that the heavens are less dense than the air by Ibn al-Haytham,Edward Rosen (1985), "The Dissolution of the Solid Celestial Spheres", Journal of the History of Ideas 46 (1), p. 13-31 [19-20, 21]. the separation of natural philosophy from astronomy by Ibn al-Haytham and Ibn al-Shatir,Roshdi Rashed (2007). "The Celestial Kinematics of Ibn al-Haytham", Arabic Sciences and Philosophy 17, p. 7-55. Cambridge University Press. the first non-Ptolemaic models by Ibn al-Haytham and Mo\'ayyeduddin Urdi, the rejection of the Ptolemaic model on empirical rather than philosophical grounds by Ibn al-Shatir, the first empirical observational evidence of the Earth\'s rotation by Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī and Ali al-Qushji, and al-Birjandi\'s early hypothesis on "circular inertia."F. Jamil Ragep (2001), "Tusi and Copernicus: The Earth\'s Motion in Context", Science in Context 14 (1-2), p. 145–163. Cambridge University Press.
Several Muslim astronomers also considered the possibility of the Earth\'s rotation on its axis and perhaps a heliocentric solar system.Seyyed Hossein Nasr (1964), An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines, (Cambridge: Belknap Press of the Harvard University Press), p. 135-136 It is known that the Copernican heliocentric model in Nicolaus Copernicus\' De revolutionibus was adapted from the geocentric model of Ibn al-Shatir and the Maragha school (including the Tusi-couple) in a heliocentric context,George Saliba (1999). Whose Science is Arabic Science in Renaissance Europe? Columbia University.
The relationship between Copernicus and the Maragha school is detailed in Toby Huff, The Rise of Early Modern Science, Cambridge University Press. and that his arguments for the Earth\'s rotation were similar to those of Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī and Ali al-Qushji.
Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan) is considered a pioneer of chemistry,Derewenda, Zygmunt S. (2007), "On wine, chirality and crystallography", Acta Crystallographica Section A: Foundations of Crystallography 64: 246-258 [247]John Warren (2005). "War and the Cultural Heritage of Iraq: a sadly mismanaged affair", Third World Quarterly, Volume 26, Issue 4 & 5, p. 815-830. as he was responsible for introducing an early experimental scientific method within the field, as well as the alembic, still, retort, and the chemical processes of pure distillation, filtration, sublimation,Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p. 195. liquefaction, crystallisation, purification, oxidisation and evaporation.
The study of traditional alchemy and the theory of the transmutation of metals were first refuted by al-Kindi,Felix Klein-Frank (2001), "Al-Kindi", in Oliver Leaman & Hossein Nasr, History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 174. London: Routledge. followed by Abū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī,Michael E. Marmura (1965). "An Introduction to Islamic Cosmological Doctrines. Conceptions of Nature and Methods Used for Its Study by the Ikhwan Al-Safa\'an, Al-Biruni, and Ibn Sina by Seyyed Hossein Nasr", Speculum 40 (4), p. 744-746. Avicenna,Robert Briffault (1938). The Making of Humanity, p. 196-197. and Ibn Khaldun. In his Doubts about Galen, al-Razi was the first to prove both Aristotle\'s theory of classical elements and Galen\'s theory of humorism false using an experimental method. Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī stated an early version of the law of conservation of mass, noting that a body of matter is able to change, but is not able to disappear.Farid Alakbarov (Summer 2001). A 13th-Century Darwin? Tusi\'s Views on Evolution, Azerbaijan International 9 (2). Alexander von Humboldt and Will Durant consider medieval Muslim chemists to be founders of chemistry.Dr. Kasem Ajram (1992). Miracle of Islamic Science, Appendix B. Knowledge House Publishers. ISBN 0911119434.Will Durant (1980). The Age of Faith (The Story of Civilization, Volume 4), p. 162-186. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0671012002.
An Arabic manuscript describing the eye, dating back to the 12th century
Muslim physicians made many significant contributions to medicine, including anatomy, experimental medicine, ophthalmology, pathology, the pharmaceutical sciences, physiology, surgery, etc. They also set up some of the earliest dedicated hospitals, including the first medical schools and psychiatric hospitals.George Sarton, Introduction to the History of Science.
(cf. Dr. A. Zahoor and Dr. Z. Haq (1997), Quotations From Famous Historians of Science, Cyberistan.[not in citation given] Al-Kindi wrote the De Gradibus, in which he first demonstrated the application of quantification and mathematics to medicine and pharmacology, such as a mathematical scale to quantify the strength of drugs and the determination in advance of the most critical days of a patient\'s illness. Felix Klein-Frank (2001), Al-Kindi, in Oliver Leaman and Hossein Nasr, History of Islamic Philosophy, p. 172. Routledge, London. Al-Razi (Rhazes) discovered measles and smallpox, and in his Doubts about Galen, proved Galen\'s humorism false.G. Stolyarov II (2002), "Rhazes: The Thinking Western Physician", The Rational Argumentator, Issue VI.
Abu al-Qasim (Abulcasis) helped lay the foudations for modern surgery,A. Martin-Araguz, C. Bustamante-Martinez, Ajo V. Fernandez-Armayor, J. M. Moreno-Martinez (2002). "Neuroscience in al-Andalus and its influence on medieval scholastic medicine", Revista de neurología 34 (9), p. 877-892. with his Kitab al-Tasrif, in which he invented numerous surgical instruments, including the first instruments unique
