PRESENTATION BY: NURUDEEN SHERIF

MAJOR MUSLIM CONTRIBUTION IN THE FIELD OF SCIENCE

THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM

The golden age began under the Abbasid rule (750-1258) and in Muslim Spain(755 1492). For at least five centuries, Islamic civilization was the most prominent in the world Schools and libraries were part of mosques An example of this was manifested in the HOUSE OF WISDOM in Bagdad in the 9th century. It served as a huge academic center, library and translation center.

THE EUROPEAN DARK AGES

The common expression DARK AGES should be in fact qualified as the EUROPEAN DARK AGES because this period coincides with the emergence of the Islamic civilization. Many Education systems teach that the world civilisation scientifically passed through, Greeks Era (BC), Romans Era(500 AD),Dark Ages(600-1600 AD) Renaissance(1600 AD), Industrial Revolution (1800/1900 AD), Modern Civilisation (2000-)

MUSLIM DISCOVERIES AND INVENTIONS

There are many discoveries that took place during the 6th-16th century that shaped up the world immensely. Over time, Muslim discoveries were translated by Europeans who attributed such discoveries to themselves or incorporated them in their work without due credit. for example Kepler took the idea of atmospheric refraction from the work of Ibn Al-Haythan. Isaac Newton derived the notion of gravity not from a falling apple, but from the earlier work of Mohammad Bin Musa who spoke about the force of attraction between the heavenly bodies.

For several centuries the Language of the Quran, Arabic was the international vehicle of scientific research and advancement. as English is today. Europeans who wanted to study physics, chemistry mathematics Astronomy or medicine had to flock to muslim universities especially in spain. Those Europeans who tried to popularize muslim science were accused as Muhammadans. such accusations were made against roger Bacon and Feather for which they were imprisoned for fourteen years.

ASTRONOMY

Astronomy was one of the earliest sciences that attracted the attention of muslims as early as the 3rd century. Among their achievements are the discovery of the suns epogee. They drew catalogue maps of visible stars and gave it Arabic names, corrected the the sun and the moon tables and fixed the length of the year. They were the first to use the pendulum to measure time and the first to build observatories.

Ibn Yunus (11th century) invented the sun dial which according to John Draper was the most valuable of all chromatic improvements. They predicted sun spots, eclipses and appearance of commets. Abul-Wafa discovered a major aspect of astronomy known as the third lunar inequality. Among the luminaries in this field are Al Batani who is regarded as one of the world top 20 astronomers, Al- Bairouni who was linked between the schools of Baghdad and India. AlKhaldoun and Ibn Rushd also made some works in muslim spain in this field which were lost at the time of inquisition.

CHEMISTRY

In a world that new no stranger acid than concentrated vinegar, the 8th century Muslim chemist Jabir discovered the Nitric Acid and described the operations of distillation, sublimation, filtration, coagulation and crystallization. Abu Bakr Al Razi in the 9th century was the first to describe the properties of Sulpheric Acid. His contributions in his time According to John Draper is comparable to discoveries in the west in recent times.

Abu Musa Al- Kufi was one of the chemist who contributed greatly to chemistry. His works were translated to Latin and French. Muslim chemist were much oriented in applied chemistry. They knew about distillation of water, plasters, syrups, ointments and tampering of steel. Many English terms in chemistry originated from Arabic terms such as al-cohol, al-kali, syrup, camphor etc.

MATHEMATICS
While my classmate Jannah may follow the assumption that the development of numerals originated from India, it was popularised by Muslims. Muhammad Bin Ahman in the 10th century invented the concept of zero (sifr or void from which the terms cipher and cilipher were derived). This did not only replace the cumbersome roman numerals, but it was a new revolution in Mathematics. It was nearly 300 years before Europe began to know this concept.

Algebra or calculations by symbols come from the Arabic word Al Jabr which literally means untying the broken parts. Likewise Algorithm comes from the Muslim mathematician Muhammad bin Musa Al- Khawarizmi in the 9th century, His work was completed in the 10th century by Abul Wafa who also worked on quadratic equations. Had it not been Muslim scholars, the famous work of Euclid would have been lost. Al-Tusi in the 13th century had a major influence in in the development of non-euclidean geometry.

Muslims were the first to develop trigonometry in the post greek modern form. They were the first to use the sine and ccosine due to their interest in Astronomy. They also wrote on speric triignomery. But their work on trigonometry ws not known until five ccenturies later. According to George sarton the development of trigonometry was entirely due to muslim efforts

PHYSICS

Al-Hassan Iibn Al-Haythaam, the greatest muslim physicist and the greatest student of optics of all times exerted great influence upon westernscience and showed great progress in experimental method. Infact his work were the begining of the science of optics and so the inventions of telescopes, microscopes and cameras are indebted to him. for several centuries his works was the main source of study in Europe .

Another practical contributions of muslim was the discovery of the compass. whilst the greek new about the properties of magnets, and while the chhinese discovered the directive properties, muslims were the first to apply this knowledge and use the compass foe navigation. other contributions include the investigation of hydrostatis and the improvement in the use of water wheels.

MEDICINE
Muslim interest in health care relates to Islamic teachings. Both preventive and remedial aspects were covered in Islamic teachings. Somme early works of muslim scientists date back to the 88th century Ibn Al- Muqqaffa. great progress was achieved, however in the 9th century, Fikr Al deen Al Razi chief physician in Baghdad and the greatest physician in the middle ages wrote a medical encyclopedia. which remained the most important medical references in Europe for 600 years. His treatise on smallpox and measles were translated many times until the 18th century.

In the 10th century, Areeb bin Saad had written systematically on pediatrics. His works were translated into latin and Hebrew About the same time Al Mardeeni from Egypt excelled in the preparation of drugs. he compiled a dispensatory which was immensely popular in Europe. for centuries it remained a standard work.

Ibn Sina also known as doctor of all doctors lived in the 11th century wrote a five volume work called precepts of medicine, dealing with physiology, hygiene, pathology, therapeutics and material medicine. for at least 600 years, his works were the supreme authority in the middle ages and the bases of medical sciences in Italian and French universities. Muslim physicians treated so many complications. Among them was the famous surgeon Abul Qasim who lived in Cordoba Muslim Spain in the 11th century. Ibn Al Nafees in the 13th century demonstrated the circulatory system. Ibn Al Zuhr was a skin specialist who treated so many skin diseases. The Muslims in Tripoli and Spain were the first to employ the psychological element of treatment.

OTHER DISCIPLINES
Equally important contributions were made in areas such as 1. Art and architecture, 2. Agriculture, 3. Geography, 4. political science 5. sociology.

THE LOST HERITAGE

It is unfortunate that most of the rich and voluminous work of Muslim scholars were lost during the assaults on the Muslims. The mangols cast into the river Tigris enough books to make a bridge on which they crossed. The ink from the books blackened the river for a long time. During the crusades in Syria, 3 million books were destroyed. When Muslims were defeated in Granada Spain, one million books were burned in a day. The Cardinal Zimones of Sicily 15th century burned more than 80,000 Arabic volumes in the main square in the city of Franda. Many more historians try to hide Muslim contributions by attributing them to European scientists.

CONCLUSION

A civilization which pays lips service to its basic precepts and fails to fulfill its duties may fall as well not because of the weakness of its principles but because of the failure to adhere to those principles. Should Muslims, joined by others move forward towards this inexhaustible source of strength, history will repeat itself and a better world can be built for the benefit of all.