DEVELOPMENT OF THE

SCIENCES DURING THE

UMMAYAD AND
ABBASID PERIODS
 TABLE OF CONTENTS
 Introduction
 Factors that caused the development of
sciences
 List of sciences that developed during the
Ummayad and Abbasid age
 Muslim scholars
 Scientific achievements
 Conclusion
 Introduction
The Islamic Ideology and world-view during the first few
centuries of Hijra provided a most powerful source of
inspiration, for the Muslim’s quest for knowledge.
• The Islamic spirit produced a radical transformation in the
Arabian Peninsula.
• The rich contributions which Islam made in the various
branches of Science served as the basis for the
development of modern science.
• Although many earlier western historians tended to ignore
this fact, recent investigations have led to a wider
recognition of the importance of the Muslim contributions,
especially to the development of scientific thought and the
scientific method.
 Continued…
• The injunctions of the Qur'an and the teachings
of the Holy Prophet (peace be upon him) laid
great stress on the acquisition of knowledge and
developing the spirit of inquiry. The Muslims
strictly followed these precepts and spared no
pains to acquire, preserve and spread knowledge.
As a result of their vigorous and dedicated
efforts, a truly scientific outlook was developed.
This in itself is a most valuable service of the
Muslims to human civilization.
 Factors that caused the
development of sciences
 Once Muslims established the new Islamic order
during the Umayyad period, they turned their
attention to establish centers of learning.
 They therefore set about with a concerted
effort of translating the philosophical and
scientific works which were available to them
from not only Greek and Syriac (which was the
language of eastern Christian scholars) but also
from Pahlavi, the scholarly language of pro-
Islamic Persia, and even from Sanskrit.
 Continued …..
 Most of the important philosophical and scientific
works of Aristotle and his school, much of Plato
and the Pythagorean school, and the major works
of Greek astronomy, maths and medicine such as
the Almagest of Ptolemy, The Elements of Euclid,
and the works of Hippocrates and Galen, were all
translated into Arabic.
 Important works of astronomy, mathematics and
medicine were translated from Pahlavi and
Sanskrit.
 As a result, Arabic became the most important
scientific language of the world for many
centuries
 Continued….
Much of this learning and
development can be linked to
geographical expansion.
There was no systematic learning in
the rational sciences.
Muslim scientists made great
contributions in different sciences.
 Continued……
 Great centers of religious learning were
also centers of knowledge and scientific
development.
 Such formal centers began during the
Abbasid period (750-1258 A.D.) when
thousands of mosque schools were
established.
 The four schools of thought-Madhhabs
were founded.
 List of sciences that
developed during the
Ummayad and Abbasid age
• Ilm al Aqliyyah-Rational sciences
• Mathematics
• Astronomy
• Geometry
• Trigonometry
• Medicine
• History
• Geography
 Continued …
• Chemistry
• Pharmacology
• Geography
• Botany
• Optics/ Ophthalmology
• Gynecology
• Literature
 Continued…..
Ilm al Naqliyyah- Religious sciences
• Ilm al Qira’ah
• Usool at Tafseer
• Usool al Hadith
• Usool al fiqh
• Ilm at Tareekh
• Ilm al Kalam
 Muslim Scholars
Some noteworthy scholars in the religious sciences
• Imam Shafi
• Imam Abu Hanifa
• Imam Malik Ibn Anas
• Imam Bukhari
• Imam Muslim
• Imam Ahmad Ibn Hanbal
• Abu Jafar Muhammad At Tabari
• Abul ala Hasan Al Asha’ari
 Yaqub Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi-
800-873 A.D
• Al-Kindi was a philosopher, mathematician, physicist,
astronomer, physician, geographer and even an expert in
music.
• In mathematics, he wrote four books on the number system
and laid the foundation of a large part of modern
arithmetic.
• In medicine, his chief contribution comprises the fact that
he was the first to systematically determine the doses to
be administered of all the drugs known at his time
• His books that were translated into Latin during the
Middle Ages comprise Risalah dar Tanjim, Ikhtiyarat al-
Ayyam, Ilahyat-e-Aristu, al-Mosiqa, Mad-o-Jazr, and
Adviyah Murakkaba
 Jabir Ibn Haiyan
803 A.D
• Jabir Ibn Haiyan, the alchemist Geber of the Middle Ages,
is generally known as the father of chemistry he also
contributed to other sciences such as medicine and
astronomy.
• His books on chemistry, including his Kitab-al-Kimya, and
Kitab al-Sab'een were translated into Latin and various
European languages.
• These translations were popular in Europe for several
centuries and have influenced the evolution of modern
chemistry. Several technical terms devised by Jabir, such
as alkali, are today found in various European languages and
have become part of scientific vocabulary.
• Only a few of his books have been edited and published
 Thabit Ibn Qurra-836A.D

• Thabit's major contribution lies in mathematics and

astronomy.
• He was instrumental in extending the concept of traditional
geometry to geometrical algebra and proposed several
theories that led to the development of non-Euclidean
geometry, spherical trigonometry, integral calculus and real
numbers.
• He criticised a number of theorems of Euclid's elements
and proposed important improvements.
• He applied arithmetical terminology to geometrical
quantities, and studied several aspects of conic sections,
notably those of parabola and ellipse
 Abu Jafar Muhammad at-Tabari
838-923A.D

• The earliest tafsir (commentary, or exegesis)

that covered the whole of the Quran was
supposed to have been compiled by Abdullah b.
Abbas, who died in 688 A.D
• In the eighth and ninth centuries commentaries
were expanded, to provide information on
questions that might arise about any of the 114
Suras, and finally indeed about any single word in
the Quran. The making of commentaries
culminated in the immense tafsir compiled by Abu
Jafar Muhammad al-Tabari (838-923).
 Al-Khwarizmi 840A.D
• Mohammed ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi wrote
Al-Jabr wa'l Muqabalah, from which we
derive the word "Algebra", which gave
algorithms for finding the positive
solutions to all equations of the first and
second degree (linear and quadratic).
• He was one of the first to compute
astronomical and trigonometrical tables.
• He also explained the use of zero.
 Continued…
• He is also reported to have collaborated in the degree
measurements aimed at measuring of volume and circumference of
the earth.
• His other contributions include original work related to clocks,
sun-dials and astrolabes.
• The contribution of Khawarizmi to geography is also outstanding,
in that not only did he revise Ptolemy's views on geography, but
also corrected them in detail as well as his map of the world. Kitab
Surat-al-Ard, together with its maps, was also translated.
• Several of his books were translated into Latin in the early l2th
century. In fact, his book on arithmetic, Kitab al-Jam 'a wal- Ta
freeq bil Hisab al-Hindi, was lost in Arabic but survived in a Latin
translation
• In addition, he wrote a book on the Jewish calendar Istihhraj
Tarikh al-Yahud, and two books on the astrolabe.
 Mohammad Ibn Zakariya
Al-Razi - 864-930A.D
• He has more than 200 outstanding
scientific contributions to his credit, out
of which about half deal with medicine and
21 of them with alchemy.
• He was also an expert surgeon and was the
first to use opium for anaesthesia.
• He also wrote on physics, mathematics,
astronomy and optics, but these writings
could not be preserved.
 Continued …
• He made an accurate classification of chemical
substances into minerals, vegetables and animals
• He also sub-classified minerals into metals,
spirits, salts, and stones.
• He also gave formulae for making metallic
antimony, soap and many other substances.
• Most of the works of Al-Razi have been printed
many times, in Venice in 1509, Paris in 1528 and
1548. His treatise on small pox was reprinted in
1745. Medical universities have relied primarily on
his works for their courses.
 Continued…..
• A number of his books, including Jami-fi-al-Tib,
Mansoori, al-Hawi, Kitab al-Jadari wa al-Hasabah,
al-Malooki, Maqalah fi al- Hasat fi Kuli wa al-
Mathana, Kitab al-Qalb, Kitab al-Mafasil, Kitab-al-
'Ilaj al-Ghoraba, Bar al-Sa'ah, and al-Taqseem wa
al-Takhsir, have been published in various
European languages.
• About 40 of his manuscripts are still extant in
the museums and libraries of Iran, Paris, Britain,
Rampur, and Bankipur.
 Abu Abdullah Al-Battani
858-929 A.D
• Battani was a famous astronomer, mathematician and
astrologer.
• He is responsible for a number of important discoveries in
astronomy, which was the result of a long career of 42
years of research beginning at Raqqa.
• His well-known discovery is the remarkably accurate
determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours,
46 minutes and 24 seconds, which is very close to the latest
estimates. He found that the longitude of the sun's apogee
had increased by 16° , 47' since Ptolemy. This implied the
important discovery of the motion of the solar apsides and
of a slow variation in the equation of time. He did not
believe in the trepidation of the equinoxes, unlike
Copernicus.
 Al-Farghani /Alfraganus
860A.D
• Astronomer and Geographer Al Farghani, was the
first Muslim to write a comprehensive treatise on
astronomy, that was very popular until the
fifteenth century. It influenced not only the
Muslim, but also through Latin and Hebrew
translations, Christian and Jewish astronomers.
• The Jawami ilm al nujum, or 'The
Elements' as we shall call it, was Al-
Farghani's best-known and most influential
work.
 Al-Farabi – Alfarabius
• Kitab tahsil as-Saadah (attainment of Happiness)
• 'Ara' ahl al-Madina-al-Fadilah (Opinions of people
of the Perfect state)
• Kitab 'Ihsa' al-Uloom (Categories of Science)
• Kitab as-Siysah al-Madinyah (Public
Administration)
• Kitab al-Huruf (Book of letters)
• Al-tahsil and kitab al musiqa
• The Philosophy of Plato and Aristotle.
 Al-Biruni 973-1048 AD
• He discovered seven different ways of finding
the direction of the north and south, and
discovered mathematical techniques to determine
exactly the beginnings of the season.
• He also wrote about the sun and its movements
and the eclipse.
• In addition, he invented a few astronomical
instruments. Many centuries before the rest of
the world he discussed that the earth rotated on
its axis and made accurate calculations of latitude
and longitude.
 Ibn Sina – Avicenna
980 -1037A.D
• Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb ("The Canon of Medicine") is
still one of the most important medical books ever
written, and served as the medical authority
throughout Europe for 600 years.
• Kitab al-Shifa ("Book of Healing") brought
Aristotelian and Platonian philosophy together
with Islamic theology in dividing the field of
knowledge into theoretical knowledge (physics,
mathematics, and metaphysics) and practical
knowledge (ethics, economics, and politics).
 Continued ……
• In physics, his contribution comprised the study
of different forms of energy, heat, light and
mechanical, and such concepts as force, vacuum
and infinity.
• He made the important observation that if the.
perception of light is due to the emission of some
sort of particles by the luminous source, the
speed of light must be finite.
• He propounded an interconnection between time
and motion, and also made investigations on
specific gravity and used an air thermometer.
 Continued…
• In the field of chemistry, he did not
believe in the possibility of chemical
transmutation because, in his opinion, the
metals differed in a fundamental sense.
• His treatise on minerals was one of the
"main" sources of geology of the Christian
encyclopedists of the thirteenth century.
• Besides Shifa his well-known treatises in
philosophy are al-Najat and Isharat.
 Ali Ibn Rabbani Al-Tabari
838-870 A.D
• Firdous al-Hikmat is the first ever Medical
encyclopaedia which incorporates all the branches
of medical science in its folds.
• 1. Part one: Kulliyat-e-Tibb. This part throws light
on contemporary ideology of medical science. In
that era these principles formed the basis of
medical science.
2. Part two: Elucidation of the organs of the
human body, rules for keeping good health and
comprehensive account of certain muscular
diseases.
3. Part three: Description of diet to be taken in
conditions of health and disease.
.
 Continued ….
• 4. Part four: All diseases right from head to toe.
This part is of profound significance in the whole
book and comprises twelve papers:
• i) General causes relating to eruption of diseases.
• ii) Diseases of the head and the brain.
• iii) Diseases relating to the eye, nose, ear, mouth
and the teeth.
• iv) Muscular diseases (paralysis and spasm).
• v) Diseases of the regions of the chest, throat
and the lungs.
• vi) Diseases of the abdomen.
 Continued ….
• vii) Diseases of the liver.
• viii) Diseases of gallbladder and spleen. ix)
Intestinal diseases.
• x) Different kinds of fever.
• xi) Miscellaneous diseases- brief
explanation of organs of the body.
• xii) Examination of pulse and urine. This
part is the largest in the book and is
almost half the size of the whole book.
 Continued…
5. Part five: Description of flavour,
taste and colour.
6. Part six: Drugs and poison.
7. Part seven: Deals with diverse
topics. Discusses climate and
astronomy. Also contains a brief
mention of Indian medicine.
 Abul Hasan Ali Al Masu’di-957A,D

• Al Masu’di travelled to Fars in 915 C.E. and, after staying

for one year in Istikhar, he proceeded via Baghdad to India,
where he visited Multan and Mansoora before returning to
Fars.
• From there he visited Kirman and then returned to India.
Mansoora in those days was a city of great renown and was
the capital of the Muslim state of Sind. Around it, there
were many settlements/townships of new converts to Islam.
• In 918 C.E., Masu'di travelled to Gujrat, where more than
10,000 Arab Muslims had settled in the sea-port of
Chamoor.
• He also travelled to Deccan, Ceylon, Indo-China and China,
and proceeded via Madagascar, Zanjibar and Oman to Basra.
• At Basra he completed his book Muruj-al-Thahab, in which
he has described in a most absorbing manner his experience
of various countries, peoples and climates.
 Continued ….
• By presenting a critical account of historical
events, he initiated a change in the art of
historical writing, introducing the elements of
analysis, reflection and criticism, which was later
on further improved by Ibn Khaldun.
• In particular, in al-Tanbeeh he makes a
systematic study of history against a perspective
of geography, sociology, anthropology and ecology.
• Masu'di had a deep insight into the causes of rise
and fall of nations.
 Scientific Achievements
 Maktabat (libraries) were developed and foreign
books acquired.
 The two most famous ones are Bait al-Hikmah in
Baghdad (820) and Dar al-Ilm in Cairo (998).
 Universities such as Al-Azhar (969 A.D.) were
also established long before those in Europe.
 University of Al Qarawiyyin in Fez,
Morocco is the oldest university in the
world with its founding in 859 A.D.
 Continued….
University
 Continued ….
 A major innovation was papermaking - originally a
secret tightly guarded by the Chinese.
 The art of papermaking was obtained from two
prisoners at the Battle of Talas (751), resulting in
paper mills being built in Samarkand and Baghdad.
 The Arabs improved upon the Chinese techniques
using linen rags instead of mulberry bark.
 In the period between 913 and 1005, all over the
Muslim world, paper replaces rare and costly
writing materials, which hence facilitates the
making of books and the advance of learning.
 Continued …..

Paper Astrolabe
making

Library
Continued…
 Continued…..
• The first free public hospital was opened in
Baghdad during the Caliphate of Haroon-ar-
Rashid. It employed 24 physicians, and included a
surgical unit and a department for eye diseases
As the system developed, physicians and surgeons
were appointed who gave lectures to medical
students and issued diplomas to those who were
considered qualified to practice.
• The first hospital in Egypt was opened in 872 AD
and thereafter public hospitals sprang up all over
the empire from Spain and the Maghrib to Persia.
 Conclusion
 During this period the Muslim world became the unrivaled
intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and
education.
 The Quran urged Muslims to discover the natural laws which
governed the universe by reflecting on signs/ayats in the
universe, and such reflection led to scientific, political and
social advances.
 Allah created the entire universe, and the whole of
creation shows humanity his signs. For Muslims, Science
was the method of investigating what has been created, so
there was no conflict between religion and science.
 References
• www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/scien
retrieved on 21st Aug 2008
• www.muslimheritage.com retrieved on
16th Aug 2008
• www.ummah.net/history/scholars
retrieved on 19th Aug 2008
 Continued…..
• www.amaana.org/ISWEB/contents.html
retrieved on 22nd Aug 2008
• The Muslim Mind by Muhammad Abdul
Rauf
• www.ediscoverislam.com retrieved on 22nd
Aug 2008
• www.pre-renaissance.com retrieved on 26th
Aug 2008