Science
&
Medicine

Nowadays,

science is seen as something quite separate from religion,

having a truth that is all its own,

with no need for any connection to a wider understanding of human existence that includes the spiritual.

But this was not always the case.

Muslim scientists never felt the need to set science in a world that has no God

and no human soul,

and many of the most famous names in muslim science

were equally well known for other kinds of knowledge,

and many were deeply learned in Islam as well as science.

So we know that the mathematician Al-Khwarizmi is famous for inventing algebra,

and has the algorithm named after him,

but another famous muslim mathematician, Omar Khayyam

is better known today for his poetry.

Maths is more than just figures on a sheet of paper,

it is a language we use to describe the world around us,

and the fundamental truths of how it works,

and the Qur'an often mentions how everything in creation is numbered.

And so it was with all the sciences. When Al-Jahiz wrote on zoology,

with his "Kitab-al-Hayawan"

scientifically studying about 350 animals,

he saw it as a branch of religious studies.

The same was true of the 9th century botanical study of plant life by Al-Dinawari,

the use of plants in agriculture by Ibn al-Awwam,

and in pharmacology by Al-Ghafiqi.

The link between humanity and nature is threaded throughout the Qur'an,

with its concern for Khilafah, human stewardship and nurture of the earth.

This idea can be seen in all the writings of muslim scientists,

who studied not just the planet, but the heavens

and the influence of its heavenly bodies on the earth.

So Al-Tusi built a giant observatory

in Persia in the 13th century,

and others soon followed around the muslim world.

New maths was developed to deal with these observations,

using trigonometry and sines,

but the insights gained were equally at home in the spiritual poetry of Attar and Sana'i.

Muslims developed new theories of mechanics and dynamics,

with Ibn Sina studying projectile motion,

and Ibn al-Haytham studying motion, and inertia and momentum,

and along with many others, like Ibn Bajjah and Al-Razi made extensive studies of gravity.

In 9th century Baghdad,

Al-Kindi considered the relationship between time, space and relative movement,

even using the Arabic word for "relativity".

And working beside Al-Kindi in the House of Wisdom

were the Banu Musa brothers,

who not only made fabulous toys and trick devices,

along with their wonderful "elephant clock",

but were great mathematicians,

translated Greek scientific works,

and calculated the circumference of the earth

with remarkable accuracy.

Muslim scientists didn't feel the need to focus on a narrow branch of science

without setting it in the greater field of human understanding.

So they didn't really separate the fields of physics and chemistry,

both studied along with mineralogy and metallurgy.

So many worked in the field of "Al-Kimia",

including Al-Razi and Al-Kindi,

but best known by far was Jabir Ibn Hayyam,

known in the west as Geber,

who lived in Kufa in Iraq at the end of the 8th century,

and who is known as "the father of chemistry".

He devised and perfected methods for

sublimation, liquefaction, crystallization,

distillation, purification, amalgamation,

oxidation, evaporation and filtration,

and classified materials into

spirits, metals and minerals.

He wrote about how chemicals combine,

and discovered sulphuric and nitric acids.

His work resulted in all manner of different practical uses,

from the dying of cloth

to glassmaking,

and ceramic glazes.

His work on the preparation of steel

helped develop foundry techniques,

and his work on the constitution of metals

was in use until the 18th century

But while Ibn Sina and Al-Biruni

discussed the finiteness of the speed of light,

they also considered its connection to the bodily senses through the human eye,

though it was Ibn al-Haytham in the 10th century who is known as "the father of optics".

The study of the human body was always considered to be of prime importance

for an understanding of the wisdom of God,

and public hospitals were often built next door to mosques,

where mental and physical illnesses were treated,

with discussion of moral and ethical issues concerning medical procedures

such as abortion and contraception.

Herbal medicines were given

and surgery was performed,

like the first use of Caesarian sections,

but of great concern was disease prevention

by personal and public hygiene.

But the most famous medical muslim was certainly Ibn Sina,

known as Avicenna,

who at the start of the 11th century

wrote "Al Qanun fi'l Tibb",

considered to be the most influential single work in the history of medicine.

But all these studies were set in a hierarchy of knowledge,

'Ilm,

that included moral and spiritual, understandings,

which of course had their own famous scholars.

So human anatomy is dealt with at length by AlGhazzali,

Ibn Arabi and Mulla Sadra,

and linked to politics by Al-Farabi,

as part of their concern for issues

relating to God and the human soul,

for which they are more famous.

Lawyers muhaddithun sufi orders and imams