Customer Reviews

Islamic Science : An Illustrated Study

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A very informative and well written book by some one who is obviously an authority on the subject. A good aspect of this book is to intorduce the reader to the notion of "Islamic science" rather than "Arab science" which is used by some semi schoalrs. The term "Islamic scinece"is significant since it indicates the input and contribution of many cultures, Arab and non Arab into the body of sicentific knowledge created in Islamic civilization. It also is an indication of how, contrary to common misconceptions, Islamic religion brought together a vast number of people from different cultures and background and created an environment of harmony and spiritual awareness which led to many great philosophical and scientific works. As a moslem philosopher once said " The dark ages for moslem nations started when moslems lost connection with the essence of their religion and spirituality".

I came across this book purely by chance in a charity shop, and as I had a passing intrest in the history of mathematics decided to buy it, mainly for the pictures. To be honest at first I just flicked through it, put it on my bookshelf, and forgot about it. It was only about a year later, when I started to do some more serious research into the history of the number system that I took a second look at the book. The author, I have since discovered is a well known authority on the subject, and coined the term Islamic Science. The book's presentation is excellent. The pictures are both attractive and well chosen, and add to the content of the book rather than just decorating it. I was primarilly interested in the sections concerning Islamic mathematics, and it was a pleasure to be able to see the manuscripts and instruments I had been reading so much about. The book covers a lot of ground, from maths to medicine, although it is not as detailed as some on the subject. It's interest lies however in the fact that it covers different ground to most similar books. The author mentions lots of facts which I otherwise found only in old or obscure texts. It should also be noted that the author is Muslim, which means that he is able to offer more of an insight into the religious and philosophical aspects of the history of Islamic Science and Maths than most western writers do. This is the most pleasing aspect of the book, and the one which makes it a valuable addition to the bookshelf of any mathematician, islamicist, or maths teacher. This book is worth buying if you want an attractive introduction to Islamic Science, or if you want to read the perspective of somone who doesn't simple see the Arab contribution to Mathematics and Science as a diversion to fill the pages between the greeks and the renaisance.

I just wish it were more detailed, and discussed more the implications many discoveries in the Islamic world (which, the authors admit, were made by Muslims, Jews, Christians, and other religious people of various ethnic backgrounds) had on the development of the European Sciences.

Ibn Sina (Avicenna), for example, does not get nearly as much mention as he deserves in this regard. His medical textbook was THE source of medical information in Europe until the 1700s, and continues to be used in traditional schools in the underdeveloped world (such as Tajikistan). Medical Science in the Western World would be very different if it weren't for this book.

Also, the authors do not discuss much how Muslim scholars were responsible for translating and keeping alive ancient Greek texts which were lost to Europe for centuries, after the great Christian book burnings. While Hippocrates was known in the Greek Christian world (including Russia), he remained unknown in the Latin/Roman Christian world until the Muslims began teaching it at their great schools in Cordoba, Andalusia (Spain). Indeed, the great scholars of Andalusia taught European scholars of all faiths (primarily Jews and Christians) how to read Greek, although Arabic was the language of daily scholarly life there.

However, if you want a BASIC overview (not sufficient for a truly scholarly work), this book will give it to you.

This book is nothing but mere misrepresentation of history. The knowledge and sciences that the authors claims to be somehow associated with Islam, were produced by Persian, Egyptian and Indian scientists who were either Muslims or pretended to be Muslims. These three civilizations have been prosperous and flourishing for thousands of years before the existence of Islam and have contributed to the advancement of human knowledge long before anything like Islam come to existence. These civilizations and others that, were present in the vicinity of Arabic peninsula were affluent and successful even right before rapid spread of Islam by means of military endeavors. The indigenous cultures of these people were destroyed and the progress was halted in these regions for a couple of centuries after advent of Islam and forceful conversion of the inhabitants to Islamic faith. Many books and libraries and knowledge produced by them were burnt in the fire of Arabo-Muslim ignorance.

Much of knowledge claimed in this book to be of Islamic origin was simply the translation of Greek, Pahlavi (Persian), Indian and Egyptian books by Egyptians, Persians, Indians and some Arabs to Arabic. And the later progresses were based on them.
If you look at the biography of these famous so-called Muslim scientists like Khayyam, Avecina, Averos, Arrazi, Khawrizmi etc. most of them one way or another had been accused of apostasy or infidelity during their lifetime. I don't know how somebody for instance could associate Khayyam with Islam or any other religion in that matter!!
The contents of this book even the title of it is as absurd and as preposterous as trying to associate the scientific advancements made in today's US research and educational institutes to Pat Robertson, Jerry Falwel and Church of Jesus Christ, simply because all of the scientists there, are born Christians.