In such a short article like this, we can not list all the ways in which Islamic culture contributed to the civilization of mankind.
We therefore limit ourselves to briefly name some of the great discoveries we owe to the genius of Muslim investigation and the names of some of the scholars, philosophers and writers, who gave brightness to the science and literature and which exerted a significant influence on the thinking West.
ASTRONOMY
The first science that attracted the curiosity of the learned Muslims were astronomy and mathematics. His mind and, without doubt, the practical character trait led them to devote himself mainly to the exact sciences. Specifically, astronomy interest not only to scientists: several caliphs, both Spain and the East, and Seljuk sultans and khans certain descendants of Genghis Khan and Timur, he showed a tremendous dedication. Observatories were built in the more or less important of the Islamic Empire: in Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, Toledo and Samarkand, acquired well-deserved fame.
The Baghdad School of Astronomy from the reign of Al Mansnur, the second caliph of the Abassidas (754-775), himself an astronomer. Under his successors Harun ar-Rasheed and Al Mamun, the school made some important jobs. We reviewed the old theories, several errors were rectified and corrected Ptolemy’s Greek tables. The School of Baghdad was responsible for the discovery of the swing movement of the sun, the evaluation of the obliquity of the ellipse and its gradual decline and detailed study of the exact duration of the year. The learned of the Baghdad School of the finding of the highest lunar latitude and discovered a third inequality known as the lunar variation, predicted sunspots studied the eclipses and the appearance of comets and other celestial phenomena, set in immobility of the doubt, land and were the precursors of Copernicus and Kepler.
The results of these observations made by the School of Baghdad, were recorded in the “Letter of Findings.” Yahya bin Abu Mansur is considered the author of this work. Among the most famous scholars of this school we would mention: Al Batani, who ranks among the twenty Lalande world’s leading astronomers, Abul Wefa, whose name is connected to one of the foundations of astronomy (the third inequality mole). Muslim astronomer was ten centuries ahead of Tycho Brahe Danish scholar who has been wrongly attributed this finding.
The illustrious Ali Ibn Younis, inventor of the pendulum and the sundial to who built the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim (990-1021), the observatory on Mount Mocattam, is considered the founder of the School of Cairo. Edited Hakemita large table, the accuracy exceeded that of all his predecessors.
Throughout the East, and even as far away as China replaced the Almagest of Ptolemy and the treaties of Baghdad. During the same period, Hassan Ibn Haiti, another astronomer and mathematician of the School of Cairo, wrote his famous treatise on optics, which was the basis for the work of Roger Bacon and Kepler. Interestingly, Ibn Haïta was the first to advocate the construction of a dam at Aswan to raise the level of the Nile
Astronomical studies were also highly esteemed in Muslim Spain. The Emir of Cordoba, Abdur Rahman II, showed a special interest in this science. Unfortunately we still have very little evidence of the astronomical work of Muslim Spain. Almost all his works were destroyed during the conquest and the period of religious persecution. However, we know that once the observatories of Toledo and Cordoba had a lot of fame. History has preserved the names of several scholars Andalusian: Maslamah, Al Mahrebi, Omar Ibn Khaldoun, Averroes and some more. You can appreciate the high quality of the jobs lost by the many contemporary Christian authors that copied. Thus, it appears that the astronomical tables of Alfonso X, called “Tables Alfonsinas” is based largely on Arabic works, if not entirely.
The intellectual life of Muslim society suffered greatly as a result of wars and infighting that met Asia from the eleventh century. It is true that slowed the process considerably civilization but not stopped completely. The School of Baghdad survived the Eastern Caliphate political decay and dissolution of the Empire. His creative attitude did not end until the fifteenth century. Meanwhile, his influence had spread to Central Asia, India, China, one of the most distinguished scholars of Islam, Abdur Rahman Mohammad Ben Ahmad Al Biruni, who was a living link between the traditions of the School of Baghdad and of the learned Indians lived in the court of Mahmud of Ghazna (997-1030). Among the many papers on various topics, published lists of latitude and longitude of major cities worldwide. Seljuk Sultan Malik Shah called (1072-1092), an illustrious sovereign had many friends among the scholars and writers, he was very attracted to astronomy. The observations that led, led to a reform of the calendar ten centuries before the Gregorian reform and even more accurate. The authors of this reform were Abdur Rahman Haseni and Omar Khayyam, the author of the famous lines that made his name immortal.
The Mongol rulers also supported science. Hulagu, wild and disreputable, who was responsible for the destruction of Baghdad, built an observatory Meragah model, whose director was Thusi Nasr Ed Dine, author of llkanianas Tables, which led to the development of many tools used in observation. In this new study center, the work of the astronomers of Baghdad and Cairo came to China during the reign of Kublai Khan.
But it was during the reign of Ulug Beg, grandson of Tamburlaine, when it reached its peak. Ulug Beg, whose name as his father Shan Ruh, is closely related to the impressive literary and artistic movement that we call the “Timurid renaissance”, is also devoted to astronomy. He is considered the last representative of the School of Baghdad. Their work, which was published in 1437, presents a comprehensive view of contemporary knowledge of astronomy. A century before Kepler astronomy would link the old with the modern times.
MATH
Along with astronomy, mathematics, science were most favored by the Arabs. Many basic principles of arithmetic, geometry and algebra were discovered by Muslim scholars.
In arithmetic, we still use numbers and counting method invented by the Arabs. The invention of algebra is given to the Arabs and it is very likely to be true. When the caliph Al Mamun founded the “House of Knowledge”, appointed as director of the same to Ben Mussa Ben Khwarizimi Mohmmed. His treatise on algebra is called Al Gebr wa’l Maakalala (calculations by symbols). It is the first part of the title of this work where we get the word algebra and author “Alkarizimi” the word “algorithm.” This work, in the translation of Gerard of Cremona, “after having been the cornerstone in the building built by the Arab mathematician who came after him, would one day start their Western counterparts in the beauty of algebra and same time in decimal arithmetic “(Max Vinte Joux: The Miracle Arabic editions Charlot, Paris, 1950).
In the opinion of Philip K. Hitti, “Al Khwarizimi, one of the best scientific minds of Islam, is undoubtedly the man who had the greatest influence on mathematical thought throughout the Middle Ages.”
His work was continued by Thabit Ben Garrahan, translator of the Almagest of Ptolemy, who developed algebra and was the first to apply it to geometry.
Trigonometry is the branch of mathematics that the Arabs grew more diligently, because of its application in astronomy. The first steps in this science goes back to the days of Al Batani, which had the ingenious idea of replacing the arcs subtending the Greeks used in trigonometric calculations for half of the arc subtending twice, ie, within that arc.
Al Batani was the first to use in their work the terms “breast” and “cosine.” Introduced in calculating the gnomic and called shadow extended. It is what we call in modern trigonometry, the tangent. (M. Charles: Conception historical geometric methods).
The introduction of tangents in trigonometry proved to be of great importance. “Mathematicians did not discover this until five hundred years later. Regimontanus is credited, but almost a century later Copernicus was unaware of the tangents. (M. Charles: Conception historical geometric methods).
The invention of the sign “zero” by Ben Ahmad Mohammad, in 976, revolutionized mathematics, but was not used in the West until the early thirteenth century.
Finally, remember that Nasr Ed Dine Thusi was the first to question the ineffability of the geometry of Euclid. Should be considered the precursor of Lobatchevsky and Riemann in Euclidean geometry.
