Name:

Intellectual Contributions of Islam

World Studies

Mr. Rosentel

Literature
Math
Science
Economics
Law

Homework [due 12/21/07]: Encyclopedia Britannica (or Wikipedia) wants you to write a short section on one of the intellectual contributions of Islam. Write a paragraph on what you believe to be the greatest intellectual contribution of Islam. Be specific, and use this worksheet to guide you.

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Literature

Stories from the Thousand and One Nights.
The Harvard Classics.1909–14.
The Story of the Husband and the Parrot
THERE was a certain merchant, of an exceedingly jealous disposition, having a wife endowed with perfect beauty, who had prevented him from leaving his home; but an event happened which obliged him to make a journey; and when he found his doing so to be indispensable[CRR1], he went to the market in which birds were sold, and bought a parrot, which he placed in his house to act as a spy, that, on his return, she might inform him of what passed during his absence; for this parrot was cunning and intelligent, and remembered whatever she heard. So, when he had made his journey, and accomplished his business, he returned, and caused the parrot to be brought to him, and asked her respecting the conduct of his wife. She answered, Thy wife has a lover, who visited her every night during thy absence,—and when the man heard this, he fell into a violent rage, and went to his wife, and gave her a severe beating. / 1
The woman imagined that one of the female slaves had informed him of what had passed between her and her paramour[CRR2] during his absence: she therefore called them together, and made them swear; and they all swore that they had not told their master anything of the matter; but confessed that they had heard the parrot relate to him what had passed. Having thus established, on the testimony of the slaves, the fact of the parrot’s having informed her husband of her intrigue, she ordered one of these slaves to grind with a handmill under the cage, another to sprinkle water from above, and a third to move a mirror from side to side, during the next night on which her husband was absent; and on the following morning, when the man returned from an entertainment at which he had been present, and inquired[CRR3] again of the parrot what had passed that night during his absence, the bird answered, O my master, I could neither see nor hear anything, on account of the excessive darkness, and thunder, and lightning, and rain. Now this happened during summer: so he said to her, What strange words are these? It is now summer, when nothing of what thou hast described ever happens.—The parrot, however, swore by Allah the Great that what she had said was true; and that it had so happened: upon which the man, not understanding the case, nor knowing the plot, became violently enraged, and took out the bird from the cage, and threw her down upon the ground with such violence that he killed her. / 2
But after some days, one of his female slaves informed him of the truth; yet he would not believe it, until he saw his wife’s paramour going out from his house; when he drew his sword, and slew the traitor by a blow on the back of his neck: so also did he to his treacherous[CRR4] wife; and thus both of them went, laden with the sin which they had committed, to the fire; and the merchant discovered that the parrot had informed him truly of what she had seen; and he mourned grievously for her loss. / 3
When the Wezir[CRR5] heard these words of King Yunan, he said, O King of great dignity, what hath this crafty sage[CRR6]—this man from whom nought[CRR7] but mischief proceedeth—done unto me, that I should be his enemy, and speak evil of him, and plot with thee to destroy him? I have informed thee respecting him in compassion for thee, and in fear of his despoiling thee of thy happiness; and if my words be not true, destroy me, as the Wezir of Es-Sindibad was destroyed.—The King asked, How was that? And the Wezir thus answered:—

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Literature

Questions

  1. What is this story about? Summarize it in 2-3 sentences.
  2. How does this story refer to God? What is the context?
  3. In the end, who does the husband feel most badly for? Why?
  4. What does this story say about women? What is the moral of the story?

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Math

Arab contributions to mathematics and the introduction of the Zero
Regional, Science, 4/22/1998

Arab contributions to human civilization are noteworthy. In arithmetic the style of writing digits from right to left is an evidence of its Arab origin. For instance, the numeral for five hundred in English should be written as 005, not as 500 according to English's left-to-right reading style.

Another invention that revolutionized mathematics was the introduction of the number zero by Muhammad Bin Ahmad in 967 AD. Zero was introduced in the West as late as the beginning of the thirteenth century. Modern society takes the invention of the zero for granted, yet the Zero is a non-trivial concept, that allowed major mathematical breakthroughs.

Arab civilizations also made a great contribution to fractions and to the principle of errors, which is employed to solve Algebra problems arithmetically.

Concerning Algebra, al-Khawarzmi is credited with the first treatise. He solved Algebra equations of the first and second degree (known as quadratic equations, and are prevalent in science and engineering) and also introduced the geometrical method of solving these equations.

He also recognized that quadratic equations have two roots. His method was continued by Thabet Bin Qura, the translator of Ptolemy's works who developed Algebra and first realized application in geometry. By the 11th century the Arabs had founded, developed and perfected geometrical algebra and could solve equations of the third and fourth degree.

Another outstanding Arab mathematician is Abul Wafa who created and successfully developed a branch of geometry which consists of problems leading to equations in Algebra of a higher degree than the second. He made a number of valuable contributions to polyhedral theory.

Al-Karaki, of the 11th century is considered to be one of the greatest Arab mathematicians. He composed one arithmetic book and another on Algebra. In the two books, he developed an approximate method of finding square roots, a theory of indices, a theory of mathematical induction and a theory of intermediate quadratic equations.

Arabs have excelled in geometry, starting with the transition of Euclid and conic section of Apolonios and they preserved the genuine works of these two Greek masters for the modern world, by the 9th century AD. and then started making new discoveries in this domain.

In his book translated by Roger Bacon, Ibn al-Haitham wrote a book on geometrical optics, dealing with problems that would be difficult to solve even now.

It is also at the hand of the Arabs that the geometry of conic sections was developed to a great extent.

However, Arab achievements in this field were crowned by the discovery made by Abu Jafar Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn al-Hassan, known as Nassereddine al-Tusi. Al-Tusi separated trigonometry from astronomy. This contribution recognizes and explains weakness in Euclid's theory of parallels, and thereby may thus be credited as founder of non-Euclidian geometry.

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Math

Questions:

  1. Based on the first paragraph, in what direction do you think you read Arabic?
  2. About how long after Muhammad Bin Ahmad introduced the number zero did it take the West (Europe and the Americas) to use it?
  3. Name five mathematical concepts that Islamic scholars discovered or created.
  4. Name one Islamic mathematician and write a sentence summarizing his contribution.

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Science

Medicine

Muslim physicians were responsible for many notable developments in the field of medicine. While European "hospitals" at this time were usually simply monasteries where the sick were told they would live or die according to God's will, not human intervention, Muslim hospitals pioneered the practices of diagnosis, cure, and future prevention. The first hospital in the Islamic world was built in Damascus in 707, and soon most major Islamic cities had hospitals, in which hygiene was emphasized and healing was a priority. Hospitals were open 24 hours a day, and many doctors did not charge for their services. The medical school at the University of Jundishapur, once the capital of Sassanid Persia, became the largest in the Islamic world by the 9th century. Its location in Central Asia allowed it to incorporate medical practices from Greece, China, and India, as well as developing new techniques and theories.

Al-Razi, a 9th century Persian physician, made the first major Muslim contribution to medicine when he developed treatments for smallpox and measles. He also made significant observations about hay fever, kidney stones, and scabies, and first used opium as an anaesthetic. A generation later, Ibn Sina earned his place as one of the greatest physicians in the world, with his most famous book used in European medical schools for centuries. He is credited with discovering the contagious nature of diseases like tuberculosis, which he correctly concluded could be transmitted through the air, and led to the introduction of quarantine as a means of limiting the spread of such infectious diseases. Other Muslim physicians accurately diagnosed the plague, diphtheria, leprosy, rabies, diabetes, gout, epilepsy, and hemophilia long before the rest of the world. In the 10th century, Al-Zahravi first conducted surgery for the eye, ear, and throat, as well as performing amputations and cauterisations. He also invented several surgical instruments, including those for the inner ear, the throat, and the urethra.

Muslims also advanced the field of pharmacology. They experimented with the medical effects of various herbs and other drugs, and familiarised themselves with anaesthetics used in India. There is evidence that some Muslim physicians also adopted the practice of acupuncture from China. Despite many advancements in medicine, however, Muslim physicians still based their work on the idea of the ancient Greek, Galen, that the body was made up of the same four elements as the world in general - earth, air, fire, and water. Contrary to Christian beliefs, Muslim physicians concluded that illness was not due to supernatural forces, but rather to an imbalance in the body's elements, which physicians were able, in many cases, to correct.

Astronomy

The medieval Islamic world also made significant advancements in the field of astronomy. Part of the reason for the Muslim interest in astronomy is unique to the Islamic faith, and grew from the Muslim attempt to solve practical problems. Because the Muslim calendar is a lunar calendar, for example, the ability to see, and even predict, the arrival of the new moon was fundamental to marking the beginning and ending of each month. This issue was particularly significant for the month of Ramadan, when fasting is required during the day, and for determining the date of the Hajj, the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Secondly, the study of astronomy grew out of a need to map the coordinates of the stars, in order to determine the direction of Mecca from any city, because Muslims are required to face that direction when praying.

These practical concerns for Muslims led to great advancements in astronomy. Observatories were first established in the Islamic world, in major cities such as Baghdad, Hamadan, Toledo, Maragha, Samarkand, and Istanbul, and new instruments were developed. The Muslim invention of the astrolabe[CRR8], for example, was one of the most important in astronomy until the invention of the telescope in the 17th century. Muslims were also the first astronomers to challenge the long-accepted theories of Ptolemy and Aristotle regarding eclipses, planetary orbits, and the position of the stars. In the early 11th century, the Muslim physicist, Ibn al-Haytham, measured the height of the earth's atmosphere to be the equivalent of about 52 kilometres; today we know it is about 50 kilometres. In the early 14th century, Ibn al-Shatir designed models for the movement of the moon and the planet Mercury, which are very similar to those later done by Copernicus in the 16th century.

From their work in astronomy, Muslim scientists also developed new methods of time-keeping. 9th century estimates of the length of a solar year and the length of seasons were very close to what we know today, and the Jalali calendar, devised by Omar Khayyam in the 12th century, remains the most accurate calendar ever invented. Similarly, astronomy influenced the field of optics, in which Muslim scientists explained the colors of the sunset, and the process of how rainbows appeared. They also discarded the ancient theory that vision was due to rays of light emanating from the eyes, and proved that vision was instead caused by the reflection of light from the object viewed. Much of the work of Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton during the European Renaissance was influenced by the discoveries of these early Muslim scientists.

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Science

Questions

  1. For how long were Muslim hospitals open and how much did they cost?
  2. Explain why Ibn Sina is considered one of the greatest physicians in the world.
  3. According to the last sentence of the “Medicine” section, how was Islamic medicine different to Christian medicine
  4. What two main reasons caused Muslims to be interested in astronomy?
  5. How did Islamic scientists explain vision?
  6. Name 3 scientists that were influenced by the ideas of the early Muslims.

Intellectual Contributions of Islam: Economics

Industrial Growth

Jabir ibn Hayyan (Geber) is considered the father of chemistry, particularly for introducing the experimental method in chemistry. He also established the chemical industry and perfumery industry.

Muslim engineers in the Islamic world were responsible for numerous innovative industrial uses of hydropower, the first industrial uses of tidal power, wind power, steam power,and fossil fuels such as petroleum, and the earliest large factory complexes (tiraz in Arabic).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 first invented in the Islamic world, including 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.Muslim engineers also invented crankshafts and water turbines, first 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 later laid the foundations for the Industrial Revolution in 18th century Europe.

Many industries were generated due to the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, including the earliest industries for agribusiness, astronomical instruments, ceramics, chemicals, distillation technologies, clocks, glass, mechanical hydropowered and wind poweredmachinery, 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. The first large factory complexes (tiraz) were built for many of these industries. 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.The agricultural and handicraft industries also experienced high levels of growth during this period.

Labor

The labor 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.Women were employed in a wide range of commercial activities and diverse occupations 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.).Muslim women also had a monopoly over certain branches of the textile industry.