Science and Islam [Hardcover]

Ehsan Masood (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 23, 2008

Between the 8th and 15th centuries, scholars and researchers working from Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan to Cordoba in Spain advanced our knowledge of astronomy, chemistry, engineering, mathematics, medicine and philosophy to new heights. It was Musa al-Khwarizmi, for instance, who developed algebra in 9th century Baghdad, drawing on work by mathematicians in India; al-Jazari, a Turkish engineer of the 13th century whose achievements include the crank, the camshaft, and the reciprocating piston; ibn Sina, whose textbook Canon of Medicine was a standard work in Europe's universities until the 1600s. These scientists were part of a sophisticated culture and civilization that was based on belief in God - a picture which helps to scotch the myth of the 'Dark Ages' in which scientific advance faltered. Science writer Ehsan Masood weaves the story of these and other scientists into a compelling narrative, taking the reader on a journey through the Islamic empires of the middle ages, the cultural and religious circumstances that made this revolution possible, and its contribution to science in Western Europe. He unpacks the debates between scientists, philosophers and theologians on the nature of physical reality and limits to human reason, and explores the many reasons for the eventual decline of advanced science and learning in the Arabic-speaking world. This eye-opening, enjoyable book, which complements and builds on the BBC television series, should be essential reading for anyone keen to explore science's hidden history and its contribution to the making of the modern world.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'The fruits of the golden age of Islamic science are summarised briskly and engagingly in Ehsan Masood's Science & Islam, which was written to accompany a recent BBC television series ... Keen to dismantle the myth that Islam is fundamentally opposed to science, and [shows] that the words of Muhammad can be read as obliging rational inquiry.' Sunday Times 'Why did science and learning decline so rapidly [in the Islamic World]? Ehsan Masood gives a viable answer to this question. Masood's eminently readable survey of science in Islam fills many gaps in [Jonathan Lyons'] The House of Wisdom by providing the social and political context in which discoveries took place.' The Times 'A delightful and approachable work, packed with surprises and treats, and offered by a writer whose passion for the subject does not daunt his objectivity' Wharf --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

Ehsan Masood is Acting Chief Commissioning Editor at Nature. Formerly Opinion Editor at the New Scientist, he writes for Prospect andOpenDemocracy.Net and is a regular panellist on BBC radio's Home Planet. Ziauddin Sardar is a columnist, author, TV presenter and much more besides. Hislatest books are Balti Britain (Granta, 2008) and, with Merryl WynDavies, Will America Change? (Icon, 2008).

Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Icon Books (December 23, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1848310404
• ISBN-13: 978-1848310407
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 2.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,778,171 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 22 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Eminently readable survey of science in Islam, February 1, 2009

By 

César González Rouco (Madrid, Madrid Spain) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Science and Islam (Hardcover)

The synopsis of the book provided by the "Product Description" is fairly accurate. Therefore, I will only point out that it is difficult nowadays to get an objective, nuanced opinion on Islam, neither flattering nor biased against it (if I were to recommend a way to try and achieve this, I would suggest reading several good books on the matter, including this one among them).

So when I found this book I decide it to give it a chance, in despite of not finding previous comments on it. I was surprised that no one else had made a comment before to this interesting work, which, in my opinion, is an eminently readable survey of science in Islam. So I add my review (I would also suggest to find and read in google Ziauddin Sardar's review of this book; he reviewed it together with "The House of Wisdom: How the Arabs Transformed Western Civilization" by Jonathan Lyons).

The book is short, less than 240 pages (plus bibliography), and is divided in the following way: Prologue.//1. The dark age myth. PART I: THE ISLAMIC QUEST. 2. The coming of the Prophet. 3. Building Islam. 4. Baghdad's splendour. 5. The Caliph of science. 6. The flowering of Andalusia. 7. Beyond the Abbasids. PART II: BRANCHES OF LEARNING. 8. The Best Gift from God. 9. Astronomy: the structured heaven. 10. Number: the living universe of Islam. 11. At home in the elements. 12. Ingenious devices. PART III: SECOND THOUGHTS. 13. An endless frontier. 14. One chapter closes, another begins. 15. Science and Islam: lessons from history.//Timeline. Acknowledgments. Bibliography. Index.

I was somehow worried it would be boring. However, the author manages to narrate the social and political context in which Islamic discoveries took place in such a way that I could not put it down, and read it in as couple of days' time. In any event I think that the professional historian and the educated layperson alike can savour it. So I add my review, my rate being between 4 (content) and 5 (pleasure).

Other interesting books dealing with the history of science that I would recommend would be "A People's History of Science: Miners, Midwives, and Low Mechanicks" by Clifford D. Conner, and "Science and Technology in World History: An Introduction" by James E. McClellan and Harold Dorn.

For a better understanding of Islam, I would suggest reading the following works, it is worth it:

A) ASSESSMENTS OF ISLAM: 1) The best, impartial, wise: "Islam. History, present, future" by Hans Küng. 2) The political point of view of 1.3 billion Muslim people today: " Who Speaks For Islam?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think " by John L. Esposito and Dalia Mogahed; and 3) Harsh but well argued: "Muslims in the West: Redefining the Separation of Church & State" by Sami Awad Aldeeb Abu-Sahlieh;

B) WOMEN AND ISLAM. 4) A good reference book: "Women In Islam: An Anthology From The Qu'ran And Hadiths" by Nicholas Awde; and 5) Autobiography of a courageous woman: "Infidel" by Ayaan Hirsi Ali. She is a controversial thinker with a very interesting life.

C) HISTORY: 6) General: "The Venture of Islam", by Marshall G. S. Hodgson (nowadays a classic included in any bibliography on Islam); 7) Turks: "The Turks in World History" by Carter Vaughn Findley; 8) Political theory: "God's Rule : Government and Islam" by Patricia Crone; and 9) Jihad: Understanding Jihad" by David Cook.

2 of 44 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars pseudo-multi-cultural societies, January 13, 2010

By 

Grand Sen~or - See all my reviews

This review is from: Science and Islam (Hardcover)

Ehsan on page 71 of Science & Islam compares al-Andalus with pseudo-multi-cultural society of his times. During his comparison he recalls several not so important structural similarities and differences between the present pseudo-multi-cultural society and al-Andalus, but somehow the structural core of the real-multi-cultural society; the right to practice their own laws, with their own legal institutions of Christians, Jews and Muslims which was a historic fact in al-Andalus, slips from Ehsan's intellectual mind. Based on that I don't think I can recommend this book to you, for I am not sure how many other ommissions of important historic facts are filled up with gossips and legends to save the secular-pseudo-multi-cultural, mono-law society.