About RIIFS | Publications | Journal (BRIIFS) | Nashra  | Conferences | Guest Speakers | Feedback on Islam

 ALL Abstracts [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies

Copyright © 2002 Bulletin of the Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies. All rights reserved.

Mohammed Abattouy

THE ARABIC SCIENCE OF WEIGHTS: A REPORT

ON AN ONGOING RESEARCH PROJECT

This article focuses upon three main concerns. The first is an overview of the textual tradition of a central part of Arabic mechanics dealing with the science of weights. A short paragraph on the ongoing digitization of Arabic mechanical writings is appended to this description of texts in order to indicate how they are being analyzed with the new tools of information technology. This is followed by an assessment of the historical significance of the Arabic science of weights, in which the transformation brought about in this important sub-field of Arabic mechanics is interpreted as the reorganization of a core part of ancient mechanics into an independent science of weights. Upon this basis, a strong claim is made in favour of the independent status of `ilm al-athqal, which may no longer be confused with `ilm al-hiyal, understood as a general descriptive discourse upon different types of machines. Finally, the paper presents a preliminary survey of the institutional setting for the control of weighing instruments in Islamic medieval society through the office of hisba. 

Kamel Ajlouni

VALUES, QUALIFICATIONS, ETHICS AND

LEGAL STANDARDS IN ARABIC (ISLAMIC) MEDICINE

Western scholars have given little attention to the role of the Arabs in the development of the medical sciences despite the fact that they formed the bridge between ancient and modern medicine, while also discovering and applying new knowledge and techniques. This paper attempts to fill in some of the gaps by examining: the principles governing the Islamic approach to health both as a science and as an art; the qualifications demanded of medieval medical practitioners; the rules and institutions overseeing the implementation of these qualifications; and evidence for the early appearance in Arab/Islamic society of the concept of informed medical consent and of the use of medical records and verbal autopsy to measure the quality of care. 

Bennacer El Bouazzati

THE CONTINUUM OF KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF

This paper advocates the view that there is a permanent interpenetration between the cultural constituents of human mental activity; and that, despite the unity of the mind, these constituents are not necessarily coherent for they are in permanent transformation. Indeed, mental activity gives birth to multiple competing and conflicting interpretations of events and attitudes; and, in every part of this activity, there is the intervention of belief. Science does not possess firm grounds to control faith, for its constructs change with time. Moreover, faith also manifests itself in different beliefs and no belief may be proven to be more fully and absolutely reliable than any other. Hence, all of the different beliefs can offer only partial images of divinity, owing to the diversity of cultures and historical conditions, but not a complete representation. It follows from this that the reasonable attitude consists in letting everyone experience faith in the way that he or she conceives it and in encouraging reflection and communication among the holders of competing world-views. 

Sonja Brentjes

ON THE LOCATION OF THE ANCIENT OR ‘RATIONAL’

SCIENCES IN MUSLIM EDUCATIONAL

LANDSCAPES (AH 500-1100)

This paper begins with a brief outline of two major positions on the question of whether the ancient (or ‘rational’) sciences were excluded from Muslim madrasas and cognate teaching institutes. In the section that follows, I take up positions formulated by Jonathan Berkey and Michael Chamberlain, who both stress the importance of networks, rather than schools, for Muslim education in the post-classical period, to show that these networks integrated the teaching and studying of mathematics, astronomy, astrology, philosophy, logic and/or the occult sciences into the Muslim educational landscapes. In the third and fourth sections of the paper, I talk about the differences between the ancient and the ‘rational’ sciences and about partnerships between the religious and philological sciences, on the one hand, and the ‘rational’ sciences, on the other. In section five, I discuss the inimical attitudes of religious scholars toward the ancient and ‘rational’ sciences and illustrate some of their strategies to deal with them. Finally, in the conclusion, I claim that the much-debated decline of the ancient sciences did not result from their exclusion from the religiously-dominated Muslim educational landscapes, but rather from their integration into them.

Charles Burnett

THE TRANSLATION OF ARABIC SCIENCE INTO

LATIN: A CASE OF ALIENATION OF

INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY?

This paper investigates the problems of transferring scientific literature from one culture to another, in this case, with respect to the translation of texts from Arabic into Latin in the sixth-seventh centuries AH/twelfth-thirteenth centuries AD. It takes as its starting point the injunction of Ibn `Abdun to the market-traders of Seville in the early sixth/twelfth century that they “should not sell to the Jews or Christians books concerning science . . . [because] they translate them and attribute them to their co-religionists and their bishops” and investigates whether Christian translators made the translations against the will of Islamic authorities, disguised the translations’ Arabic origin to pass off the works as their own and dishonoured Islam in their treatment of Arabic books. Only in the last case is there some evidence of practices that may give grounds for Ibn `Abdun’s prohibition.

Lawrence I. Conrad

COMMENTARY CULTURE AND THE SHAPING OF

ACADEMIC CULTURE IN MEDIEVAL ISLAM

One of the most important achievements in the European study of the Middle East during the late nineteenth century was Wilhelm Ahlwardt’s monumental Verzeichniss der arabischen Handschriften der Königlichen Bibliothek zu Berlin (1887-99). Ahlwardt’s systematic catalogue not only described many works that had hitherto been practically unknown in Europe, but also attempted to show how the Arabic literary tradition ‘fit together’ in terms of chronology, development of themes and the networks of commentaries, abridgements and glosses that arose around major works. It was, in fact, Ahlwardt’s Verzeichniss that made possible Brockelmann’s Geschichte der arabischen Literatur which, though now 50 years out of date, remains unsurpassed as a bio-bibliographical guide to medieval Arabic literary culture. Where Ahlwardt and his colleagues fell short, if that is the correct term, was in their assessment of this vast corpus, from which European scholars sought convenient and large-scale access to new ‘facts’ (in the Rankian sense of the notion) for their research. Works that contributed to this quest in major ways were recognized as important, for instance, al-Tabari in historical studies and Qur’anic exegesis, al-Bukhari and Muslim in hadith, al-I£fahani in belles lettres, Ibn Malik in grammar and Ibn Sina in philosophy and medicine. Vast swathes of the tradition were ignored because the works on offer were perceived as unoriginal and trivial, and it is still the case today that research in both the Middle East and the West tends to focus upon great names and great books. This paper attempts to turn away from the great books as such and view Arabic literary tradition at its most general levels with two purposes in mind: to comment upon the intellectual development of literary culture in the medieval Middle East as a whole, from its origins until the Ottoman conquest of the Mamluks; and to assess the dynamics of what I will call ‘commentary culture,’ the tendency of major works to attract increasingly detailed attention by later authors. Overall, the objective is to show how the evolution of literary types and forms reflects changes and developments in the professionalization of scholarship in general.

Ahmad Dallal

THE ADJUSTMENT OF SCIENCE

This essay examines the relationship between scientific and religious knowledge as reflected in theological works written in the fourteenth century. It argues that later works differ from earlier, classic works of theology partly as a result of developments in the field of astronomy. I contend that the theology that previously informed astronomy itself underwent theoretical adjustment and transformation under the influence of new conceptual trends in the science of astronomy. I also maintain that the new theology was conceptualized as a limited, rather than a comprehensive, field of knowledge.

Anne A. Davenport

MNÈMÈ THEOU: SCIENCE AS DHIKR IN DESCARTES, FARADAY

AND IBN AL-HAYTHAM

This paper explores three views of experimental science that depict the genuine scientist as practicing what religious contemplatives call ‘mindfulness’ and what is known in the Islamic tradition as dhikr. The key is that all three scientists, Descartes, Faraday and Ibn al-Haytham, root their vocation in an ethical option for truth, rather than in naive claims about human reason. Like Ibn al-Haytham, who transforms Aristotelian empiricism by promoting a more active and central use of experimental design, both Descartes and Faraday argue that science requires a spiritual break with ordinary modes of knowing. Truth, all three believe, is not naturally given to human beings, but demands special methods to dispel habitual automatisms and reorient the mind toward its transcendent origin. Understood within this religious framework, the very artificiality of scientific experimentation takes on a precise and fruitful spiritual meaning, with broad theoretical implications for the interfaith study of science as a pathway to self-realization.

Alnoor Dhanani

PROBLEMS IN ELEVENTH-CENTURY KALAM PHYSICS

Historians of science in Islamic civilization usually study science as it was practiced in the context of falsafa: the mathematical sciences, the physical sciences, the life sciences, and medicine and its allied disciplines. But within the milieu of Islamic civilization, the physical sciences, particularly theories of matter, space, time and motion, were also discussed by scholars immersed in the discipline of kalam. Preserved in eleventh-century kalam texts, these discussions highlight problems of physical theory that arise as a result of kalam’s minimal parts atomism, which is similar, in many ways, to Epicurean atomism. These problems include the nature of space and of motion, the possibility of relative motion within an absolute space and the questions of place, the earth’s motion and falling bodies. Kalam’s engagement with these problems provides a vivid illustration of the anti-Aristotelian spirit of its physics, which is generally evident in its embrace of discontinuity, atomism, vacuum and impetus. Kalam perspectives on these problems of physics are echoed in earlier as well as later historical developments, although there do not seem to be any clear lines of influence or transmission. Kalam discussions are therefore a rich source for the study of the history of these problems, some of which are central to the evolution of physics.

 
Hisham Ghassib

CAN RELIGIOUS METAPHYSICS COEXIST WITH

THE SCIENTIFIC METHOD?

This paper deals with the scientific method as a socio-intellectual disruptive force, specifically, a permanent intellectual revolution that constantly challenges belief systems in society. Accordingly, no society has been able to tolerate the active existence of the scientific method. In particular, pre-capitalist societies, with their rigid totalitarian belief and thought systems, found it difficult to accept the independent existence of science, especially in view of the fact that these systems tended to include detailed pictures of nature and life. Thus, the ceiling of toleration was a religion-oriented metaphysic of nature, which could include pockets of the scientific method in specific limited areas. With the advent of capitalism and the new needs that it engendered, particularly the need for objective, reliable and practical knowledge, the growing pockets of the scientific method were bound to expand into forbidden areas and to enter into conflict with the prevalent religious metaphysic. The result in Europe is well-known: the birth of the scientific method as a hegemonic socio-intellectual force and the destruction of traditional religious metaphysics and their theoretical legitimacy. In this paper, religious metaphysics are contrasted with the scientific method in terms of their fundamental intellectual mechanisms. On this basis, the history of physical science is divided into two broad stages: the prehistory of science and its history; and scientific revolutions are classified into two general types: super revolutions, which give birth to the scientific method in specific fields and transfer these fields from prehistory to history, and Hegelian revolutions, which occur in the stage of history and after the science under consideration has matured. This also leads to a discussion of the dialectical nature of physical theory.

Dimitri Gutas

THE SOCIAL CONTEXTS OF THE SCIENCES IN THE MEDIEVAL

ISLAMIC WORLD

The Arabic scientific and philosophical tradition and the Graeco-Arabic translation movement to which it was closely connected have their origins in the social policies and imperial ideology adopted by the early `Abbasid caliphs in their efforts to legitimize their rule and consolidate their power (as I argue in my 1998 book, Greek Thought, Arabic Culture). For more than two centuries after the foundation of Baghdad, the Graeco-Arabic translations and the scientific and philosophical work conducted under the patronage of `Abbasid society’s entire élite generated a massive amount of source material that was to feed all future scientific research and create a cultural attitude that viewed scientific work as being socially valuable and prestigious. Early `Abbasid Baghdad became a symbol of the highest achievement of Islamic civilization and an example to be emulated. This imperial paradigm was followed by all subsequent Islamic states so long as it was actually sustained by real political power and wealth. At the level of political leadership, science conferred prestige upon rulers and, hence, political legitimization of their power; at the personal level, it conferred prestige upon individuals as well and held out the promise of appointment to high office, while sometimes functioning as a commodity that could be traded. Examples for these instances are provided from the history of al-Andalus. In order to understand better the function of the sciences and philosophy within society, it is necessary to investigate how they related to other branches of knowledge and whether the former were socially meaningful in the same manner as the latter. This question is discussed under three rubrics: science and philosophy in relation to these other branches of knowledge and the hierarchies implicit in the way they were classified; science and philosophy in relation to the religious sciences; and science as utilitarian or as socially useful. A rapid survey of the evidence indicates that it is impossible to make generalizations in this case. For the most part, each science evolved in accordance with its own internal dynamic and each must be studied individually and from one locality and period to the next.

S. Nomanul Haq

THE CORPUS JABIRIANUM AS A RELIGIOUS DOCUMENT

It has been observed that the large body of medieval Arabic writings attributed to the enigmatic Jabir ibn Hayyan constitutes the subject matter of two distinct areas of research: the history of science and the history of religion. Indeed, in so far as it is a single corpus and not a confused jumble, the corpus Jabirianum operates in an ocean of religious speculation and the scientific thought so prominent in it cannot be understood in isolation from religious doctrines. The treatises belonging to this massive body of writings deal with what we today would call science proper, though frequently interspersed with and linked to much occult material. However, many parts of these writings bear a thoroughly religio-political character in which the chiliastic cosmology of proto-Shi`i gnosis constitutes the author’s subject. And, of course, we find throughout the corpus numerous references to the sixth Shi`i Imam, Ja`far al-‹adiq, who is described as the writer’s teacher and supreme master. In general, the corpus Jabirianum has received little attention from contemporary scholars. The few studies that do exist have largely been undertaken from the perspective of the history of science, with works from the corpus often presented as preludes to the history of chemistry. It should be emphasized, however, that the writings attributed to Jabir also contain a wealth of information for the religious historian: eschatological speculations, discourses on the metaphysics of prophethood and the Imamate, alphabetical symbolism—these are only some of the most intriguing elements to be found in abundance. Nonetheless, scholars of medieval Islamic history have barely recognized the importance of the Jabirian texts for the reconstruction of Islam’s sectarian religious history, especially its beginnings, which are still wrapped in obscurity. Hence, this paper ventures to shift the perspective of Jabirian studies by examining the tantalizing corpus as a religious document, both historically and substantively.

Elaheh Kheirandish

THE ALEXANDRIAN OPTICAL TRADITIONS IN ARABIC AND THE

IOTA (INDEX OF TERMS IN ARABIC) PROJECT

This paper focuses upon the optical traditions of ancient Alexandria and examines problems associated with the relevant works of Euclid (fourth century BC), Ptolemy (second century AD), Theon and Pappus of Alexandria (fourth century AD) in the light of the extant early Arabic corpus (third century AH/ninth century AD). The paper is specifically intended to contribute to the solution of problems of textual transmission and reception (in the context of Islam and science), and of cross-lingual comparisons and reconstructions (in the context of optics), all with reference to a relational Greek-Arabic-Latin database presented in the form of an evolving electronic project: the Index of Terms in Arabic (IOTA) Project.

Richard Lorch

ASTRONOMICAL INSTRUMENTS IN THE ISLAMIC MIDDLE AGES

Apart from sundials, medieval astronomical instruments may be classified into three types: those constructed for observation, in order to obtain data for astronomers; those that imitate the motions of the heavens, in order to find the time of day, fulfil purely astronomical or geographical functions, or display phenomena in exotic latitudes; and those that are essentially mathematical. The first category includes the armillary sphere (or dhat al-halaq), nested rings turning about various poles, which goes back to the time of Ptolemy (second century AD). The ‘universal’ instrument of Jabir ibn Aflah (twelfth century) was a theoretical construct. With the addition of extra rings, the dhat al-halaq was adapted to the purposes of the second category by Dunas ibn Tamim (tenth century AD), among others. However, the instrument that most directly imitates the heavens is the kura or celestial globe, which is described by a number of scholars, including Qusta ibn Luqa (ninth century). Discussion of the astrolabe, a projection of the kura on a plane, appears in the works of al-Khwarizmi, al-Farghani and many others. During the Islamic Middle Ages, scholars such as al-Sijzi also described many beautiful, but not very practical, astrolabes from mixed projections. In the third category is the sine quadrant, designed for trigonometrical calculations. Related to it is the horary quadrant. The backs of many astrolabes display both of these quadrants.

Robert Morrison

REASONS FOR A SCIENTIFIC PORTRAYAL OF NATURE IN MEDIEVAL COMMENTARIES ON THE QUR’AN

Medieval commentators on the Qur’an sometimes brought the achievements of Islamic science to bear in their exegeses of the verses of the Qur’an discussing God’s creation of and control over the natural world. In previous research, I have shown that the portrayal of the celestial realm in the tafsir of Nizam al-Din al-Nisaburi (d. 1329) adheres closely to the findings of Islamic science. Al-Nisaburi’s use of Islamic science becomes all the more striking when we compare his tafsir to that of his predecessor, Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (d. 1209). In this paper, I investigate possible applications of al-Nisaburi’s portrayal of the heavens in his tafsir, while also comparing it to the contributions of other commentators. Because al-Nisaburi discusses, throughout the tafsir, the emanation of God’s will from the heavens to the earth, there arises the possibility that al-Nisaburi’s portrayal of the heavens may better explain the process of emanation. Alternatively, one might conclude that al-Nisaburi’s technically accurate portrayal of the heavens was the result of his lengthy training in astronomy, a training that most other commentators lacked.

George Saliba

ISLAMIC ASTRONOMY IN CONTEXT: ATTACKS ON ASTROLOGY

AND THE RISE OF THE HAY’A TRADITION

The early Islamic period witnessed the appearance of a new astronomical discipline, `ilm al-hay’a (‘science of the configuration’ of the universe), which had no Greek equivalent per se. In an effort to determine the conditions underlying this development, the paper argues that its main impetus was a rejection of the discipline of astrology, which was conceived to be an integral part of the imported Greek astronomical tradition and which was opposed by social forces sufficiently influential to compel the principal intellectuals of the day to dissociate themselves from it. Astrology’s opponents were not only religious figures, but included, among others, physicians and even astronomers who, in the end, created a new discipline that was free of the stigma attached to Greek astronomy. The evidence for these developments comes from the work of a contemporary author named Abu Ma`shar al-Balkhi (AD 787-886), whose famous astrological work, Al-Madkhal ila `ilm ahkam al-nujum (Introduction to the science of the judgements of the stars), devotes a full chapter to the opponents of astrology, which included most sectors of society, even those considered the discipline’s natural allies. In order to corroborate Abu Ma`shar’s assessment, recourse is made to the well-known, but relatively later Mu`tazilite author, `Abd al-Jabbar (d. AD 1025/26), whose famous work, Tathbit dala’il al-nubuwwa (Confirmation of the signs of prophecy), contains a full attack upon astrology and all those associated with the foreign sciences in Islam. The paper concludes by asserting that the identification of astrology with Greek astronomy and its consequent denigration in the newly-emerging Islamic environment left practicing Islamic astronomers with no option but to dissociate themselves from both disciplines and to create a new astronomy that may be called Islamic. In order to distinguish this new astronomy from its Greek antecedents, it was given a new name: `ilm al-hay’a.

Ramazan Şeşen

LA SCIENCE DANS L’EMPIRE OTTOMAN

Comme démontré dans un récent ouvrage de l’IRCICA (Histoire de la littérature scientifique pendant la période ottomane), science et culture sous les Ottomans avaient atteint un niveau appréciable. A l’égal du persan et de l’arabe, la langue turque était devenue un véhicule de connaissances, comme l’attestent les ouvrages existant dans cette langue, traitant de littérature, d’histoire et des sciences. Pourtant, jusqu’à la fin du XVIIIème siècle, si les échanges de connaissances et d’hommes de lettres, entre l’Anatolie et les régions de l’Iran-Asie centrale d’une part, et de Syrie-Egypte d’autre part, étaient intenses, le contenu de l’enseignement restait fondé sur l’héritage des générations précédentes. Les institutions d’éducation (madrasas, hânikahs, palais et hôpitaux, secrétariat des divans, observatoires) se limitaient à l’enseignement de la langue arabe, des sciences religieuses, tandis que la philosophie, les mathématiques et la littérature restaient des matières secondaires. A partir du XVIème siècle, sous l’influence d’hommes de lettres et de science tels Piri Reis qui introduit la géographie occidentale dans l’Empire, Takiyyudin al-Rasid (mort en 1585), Kâtib Çelebi (mort en 1657), —brahim Müteferrika (mort en 1745), Yanyal– Esad Efendi, grâce également aux membres des minorités, aux Européens convertis à l’islam, la science et la technologie occidentales pénètrent peu à peu le monde ottoman. A la fin du XVIIIème siècle, les échanges se font avec l’Occident, qui influencera dès lors et de façon décisive le processus de formation de techniciens, d’abord au service de la modernisation de l’Armée, le développement de l’enseignement supérieur, de la philosophie, des mathématiques, des sciences naturelles, etc., aux dépens des madrasas et de leur enseignement traditionnel.

HRH Princess Wijdan Ali, Ph.D.

BUILDING TECHNOLOGY IN THE UMAYYAD PERIOD AS SHOWN

IN THE MURALS OF QUSAYR `AMRA

This paper discusses building technologies depicted upon the barrel-vaulted ceiling of the left aisle of the main hall in Qusayr `Amra. Besides constituting the first paintings in Islam, the murals represent the oldest and most elaborate illustration of the building techniques used by the Umayyads. The ceiling is divided into three rows of square triple-lined frames, with each containing the image of a workman, who is representative of a particular trade employed in the construction of the building. Although some of the frames are badly damaged, the paper attempts to explore, through the remaining murals, the different skills portrayed and the concept of sciences and crafts within the philosophy of Islamic art.

A. B. Zahlan

SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY IN THE ISLAMIC WORLD

Science encompasses a wide range of activities, the most notable being research and the application of scientific and technological capabilities to socio-economic development. Along with technology, science is a global activity that takes place through the exchange of knowledge and other forms of cooperation among scientists. The acquisition and application of technology is a function of an appropriate enabling environment. This paper discusses research activity in Arab and selected Muslim countries with special emphasis upon output as measured in terms of publications, regional and international cooperation, and linkages to international science. The performance of these countries is compared to that of other developing countries, particularly those that have been most successful in this context. Moreover, changes and trends extending over the past 30 years are examined in a comparative analysis of research performance, with some discussion of the implications of this factor for economic development. Finally, data is also presented on cooperation between scientists in Arab, non-Arab Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) and industrialized countries. The paper ends with a discussion of the opportunities for inter-Islamic cooperation in science and technology.

The Royal Institute for Inter-Faith Studies would like to thank Dr. Sami Hamarneh and Dr. Edward S. Kennedy for contributing to the success of the conference.

<<<<Back to Journal (BRIIFS) main 

Home  | About RIIFS  |  Publications  |  Journal (BRIIFS)  |  Nashra   |  Conferences  |  Guest Speakers 
 Feedback on Islam  |   Basic Info about Islam  |   Responses to Questions  
 Order Form  |  Inquiry Form  | Contact us