IMPORTANT
CONTRIBUTION OF ISLAMIC PHILOSOPHY TO ISLAMIC EDUCATIONAL SYSTEM
Arabian
physician and philosopher,
born at Kharmaithen, in the province of Bokhara, 980; died at Hamadan, in
Northern Persia,
1037. Avicenna was actually Persian, not Arabian. Avicenna
(AKA Ibn Sina or Ibn Seena or, in full, Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina)
(980 - 1037) was a Persian
philosopher, physician and polymath in the Medieval
period (Islam's Golden Age). He
was one of the most learned men
of his time in a wide variety of
subjects, and is often considered one of the greatest thinkers and scholars
in history. In particular, he is regarded by many as the father of early modern medicine.
From the autobiographical sketch which has come down to us
we learn that he was a very precocious youth; at the age of ten he knew the Koran by heart; before he
was sixteen he had mastered what was to be learned of physics, mathematics, logic, and metaphysics; at the age of
sixteen he began the study and practice of medicine; and before he
had completed his twenty-first year he wrote his famous "Canon" of medical science, which for
several centuries, after his time, remained the principal authority in medical schools both in Europe and in Asia. He served
successively several Persian
potentates as physician and adviser, travelling with them from place to place,
and despite the habits of conviviality for which he was well known, devoted
much time to literary labours, as is testified by the hundred volumes which he
wrote. Our authority for the foregoing facts is the "Life of
Avicenna,", based on his autobiography, written by his disciple Jorjani
(Sorsanus), and published in the early Latin editions of his
works.
Besides the medical "Canon,"
he wrote voluminous commentaries on Arisotle's works and two
great encyclopedias entitled "Al Schefa", or "Al Chifa"
(i.e. healing) and "Al Nadja" (i.e. deliverance). The
"Canon" and portions of the encyclopedias were translated into Latin as early as the
twelfth century, by Gerard of Cremona,
Dominicus Gundissalinus, and John Avendeath; they were published at Venice, 1493-95. The
complete Arabic texts are said to be are said to be in the manuscript in the Bodleian
Library. An Arabic text of the "Canon" and the "Nadja" was
published in Rome,
1593. Avicenna's philosophy, like that of
his predecessors among the Arabians,
is Aristoteleanism
mingled with neo-Platonism,
an exposition of Aristotle's
teaching in the light of the Commentaries of Thomistius, Simplicius, and other neo-Platonists.
His Logic is divided into nine parts, of which the first is
an introduction after the manner of Porphyry's "Isagoge"; then follow
the six parts corresponding to the six treatises composing the
"Organon"; the eighth and ninth parts consists respectively of
treatises on rhetoric and poetry. Avicenna devoted special attention to
definition, the logic
of representation, as he styles it, and also to the classification of sciences. Philosophy, he says, which
is the general name for scientific
knowledge, includes
speculative and practical philosophy.
Speculative philosophy
is divided into the inferior science (physics), and middle science (mathematics), and
the superior science
(metaphysics including theology). Practical philosophy is divided into
ethics (which considers man as an individual); economics (which considers
man as a member of
domestic society);
and politics (which considers man as a member of civil society). These divisions
are important on account of their influence on the arrangement of sciences in the schools
where the philosophy
of Avicenna preceded the introduction of Aristotle's works.
Ibn-Sina wrote
some 99 books dealing with philosophy, medicine, geometry, astronomy, theology,
philosophy, and art. Ibn-Sina was also known for Kitab al Shifa (Book
of Healing), in which he divided practical knowledge into ethics,
economics, and politics, and theoretical knowledge into mathematics, physics,
and metaphysics.
2. Ibn Rushd (Averroes) (1126—1198)
Abu al-Walid
Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd, better known in the Latin West as Averroes, lived
during a unique period in Western intellectual history, in which interest in
philosophy and theology was waning in the Muslim world and just beginning to
flourish in Latin Christendom. Just fifteen years before his birth, the great
critic of Islamic philosophy, al-Ghazzali (1058-1111), had died after striking
a blow against Muslim Neoplatonic
philosophy, particularly against the work of the philosopher Ibn Sina (Avicenna). From such bleak
circumstances emerged the Spanish-Muslim philosophers, of which the jurist and
physician Ibn Rushd came to be regarded as the final and most influential
Muslim philosopher, especially to those who inherited the tradition of Muslim
philosophy in the West.
His influential commentaries and unique
interpretations on Aristotle
revived Western scholarly interest in ancient Greek
philosophy, whose works for the most part had been neglected since
the sixth century. He critically examined the alleged tension between
philosophy and religion in the Decisive Treatise, and he challenged the
anti-philosophical sentiments within the Sunni tradition sparked by
al-Ghazzali. This critique ignited a similar re-examination within the
Christian tradition, influencing a line of scholars who would come to be
identified as the “Averroists.”
Ibn Rushd contended that the claim of many Muslim
theologians that philosophers were outside the fold of Islam had no base in
scripture. His novel exegesis of seminal Quranic verses made the case for three
valid “paths” of arriving at religious truths, and that philosophy was one if
not the best of them, therefore its study should not be prohibited. He also
challenged Asharite, Mutazilite, Sufi, and “literalist” conceptions of God’s
attributes and actions, noting the philosophical issues that arise out of their
notions of occasionalism, divine speech, and explanations of the origin of the
world. Ibn Rushd strived to demonstrate that without engaging religion critically
and philosophically, deeper meanings of the tradition can be lost, ultimately
leading to deviant and incorrect understandings of the divine.
This article provides an overview of Ibn
Rushd’s contributions to philosophy, emphasizing his commentaries, his original
works in Islamic philosophy, and his lasting influence on medieval thought and
the Western philosophical tradition.
3. Jaber
ibn Haiyan and Al-Razi (Chemistry,
Pharmacology and Pharmacy)
In chemistry,
the works of Jaber ibn Haiyan and Al-Razi formed the basis of modern science. Jaber,
know as Geber in Latin, described in his works the preparation of many chemical
substances: the sulphide of mercury, oxides and arsenic compounds. Al-Razi in
his book Secret of Secrets know as Liber secretorum bubacaris,
described the chemical processes and experiments he conducted. Hill (1993,
p.83) has stated that Al-Razi’s book Secret of Secrets ‘foreshadows a laboratory
manual’ it deals with substances, equipment and procedures. Muslim chemists developed
recipes for products that had industrial and military applications. The
discovery of inorganic acids during chemical experiments had valuable
industrial applications in the centuries that followed.
In the fields of
pharmacology and pharmacy Muslims made notable progress. These fields involved
scientific investigation into the composition, dosages, uses and therapeutic
effects of drugs. Having translations of Dioscorides’ De Materis Medica,
along with knowledge from Syria, Persia, India and the Far East, Muslim scholars
and physicians showed great innovative skills. They developed the procedures
for the manufacture of syrups and
juleps, and established apothecary shops (Turner, 1995). Ibn al-Baytar’s book Al-Jami‘fi
al-Tibb (Collection of Simple Diets and Drugs) contained detailed
records of the plants in the lands along the length of the Mediterranean coast
between Spain and Syria. In addition, he systematically compared this knowledge
with that of the scientists of previous eras. His book on botany was used until
the Renaissance by Europeans.
4. Al
Kindi (Abu Yusuf Ya’qub ibn Ishaq al-Kindi (188-c.260/803-873)
The first Arab philosopher and
only great philosopher of the Arab race, was, like most other moslem
philosophers, a polymath: he had an encyclopedic scholarship in the scientific
knowledge of his day including such a variety of subjects as arithmetic,
geometry, astronomy, theory of music,
physics (particular optic), meteorology, geography, medicine, pharmacy,
politics, etc). He has well acquainted with the philosophical views of
Socrates, Plato, Aritotle and his commentators, particularly Alexander of
Aphrodisias. He was also a student of comparative religion. In philosophy, he
had leaning towards Neoplatonism and Neopythagoreanism, and in Muslim theology
towards the then flourishing school of Mu’tazilism. He wrote on all subjects;
the number of his treatises amounts to 265.
He was essentially an effort to
bring about reconciliation between since and philosophy, on the hand, and of
both with religion, on the other. This led to the development of syncretic
philosophyor syncretism which is indeed the characteristic feature of systems
of almost all the muslim philosophers.
Al-Kindi brought science and philosophy close together by strongly emphasizing,
after the Phytagoreans and Plato, that nobody could be a philosopher without
being thoroughly disciplined in mathematics. Thos was confirmed by his own
mathematical applications of quantitative methods in the fields of medicine,
optic, music, etc. There may be some justification for making the claim that be
forestalled, at least in some rudimentary form, the mostmodern developments in
scientific methodology. One is reminded of the observation made by Briffault in
his work, The Making of Humanity,
that Muslim thinkers were the first in the history of scientific thought to
realize the importance of quantitative methods.
5. Mathematical Sciences
The mathematical
sciences as practised in the Islamic world during this period consisted of mathematics,
algebra, and geometry as well as mathematical geography, astronomy and optics. Muslims
derived their theory of numbers (‘ilm al-a‘dad) in arithmetic from
translations of the Greeks sources such as Books VΙΙ through to ΙX of Euclid’s Elements
and the Introduction to the Science of Numbers by Nicomachus of
Gerasa (Berggren, 1997). Moreover, they acquired numerals from India (Hindu)
and possibly China and made their use widespread. Mohammad Bin Ahmed in the
tenth century invented the concept of zero or sifr.
Al-Khwarizmi wrote
the first book of algebra, the word ‘algebra’ transliterates into the term aljabr.
Al-jabr represents the two basic operations used by al-Khwarizmi in solving
quadratic equations. In the latter half of the twelfth century, the first part
of al-Khwarizmi’s Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabalah was translated and made
available in Europe (Kettani, 1976; Sarton, 1927). Another famous contributor
to this field was Umar Khayyam, who studied cubic equations and algebra came to
be regarded as a science in its own right. Subsequently in later centuries
Italians took over his methods and extended them (Anawati, 1976). Thus the
Muslims not only developed the methods of solving quadratic equations they also
produced tables containing sine, cosine, cotangent and other trigonometrical
values. Al-Battani (d.929) systematically developed trigonometry and extended
it to spherical trigonometry (Kettani, 1976; Sarton, 1927), with important
consequences for astronomy, geography and exploration beyond the known world,
thus making the construction of better maps and the reconceptualisation of the
structure of the planet Earth.
Much work was
under-taken by Islamic mathematicians regarding the theory of parallels. This theory
consisted of a group of theorems whose proofs depended on Euclidean postulates.
The Islamic mathematicians continued their research for over 500 years on these
postulates in order to obtain proofs and not just the acceptance of them.
However, after these problems were transmitted to Europe in the twelfth
century, little further research was done until the sixteenth century. Muslim
scholars contributed not only to the use of logic in the development of
mathematical ideas and relationships, but also to a workable system of
numeration that included zero and led to the solution of equations. Muslims had
thus begun the work that led on to mathematical modeling and its application
for the purpose of testing their theories. This knowledge and approach was slowly
transferred to Europe through Spain and Sicily.
6.
Astronomy
Muslim scholars
considered astronomy as one of the mathematical sciences. Muslims came across ancient
astronomical manuscripts and translated them into Arabic. They then undertook observations
to verify the calculations in these scientific works. The Greek astronomer
Ptolemy had developed an astronomical theory about the movements of the moon
and planets; and had placed the earth at the centre of the universe. In order
to compensate for errors in observation he had attributed additional movements
to the planets. Al-Khwarizmi was one of the first scholars to produce a
detailed astronomical table (zij). This astronomical table provided the
means of calculating the positions of the stars and planets. Subsequently, each
astronomer wrote his own zij, trying to make it more accurate than those
prepared before (Beshore, 1998). Al-Farghani, in the ninth century wrote a
detailed account of Ptolemy’s Almagest and his book was used throughout
Europe and central Asia for the next 700 years (Beshore, 1998, p. 24). This
work was the beginnings of the empirical verification of scientific ideas and
relationships. Muslim philosophers and astronomers had inherited the Ptolemaic
planetary system that hypothesised the principle of uniform circular motion
allowing the planets to move in epicycles. However, Muslim astronomers
eventually came to reject this theory in that the epicyclic movement violated
the principle of uniformity of motion. In the thirteenth century, Al-Tusi, a Persian
astronomer put forward his concept known as the “Tusi Couple”, a hypothetical
model of “epicyclic motion that involves a combination of motions each of which
was uniform with respect to its own center”(Turner, 1995, p.68). This model was
applied by Ibn al-Shatir to the motions of the heavenly bodies in the
fourteenth century. Ibn al-Shatir’s formulations were the beginnings of verifying
theoretical astronomy through systematic observations.
Ibn al-Shatir’s theory of lunar motion was very
similar to that attributed to Copernicus some 150 years later (Sabra, 2002).
Currently researchers are investigating whether it was possible, that Copernicus
visiting the Vatican library in Rome had seen Ibn al-Shatir’s fourteenth
century manuscript illustrating his concept of planetary motion (Saliba, 2002).
The reason for this supposition being a diagram in Copernicus’ Commentaries that
was remarkable similar to Ibn al-Shatir’s schematic diagrams. Whereas Ibn
al-Shatir’s concept of planetary motion was conceived in order to play an
important role in an earth-centred planetary model, Copernicus used the same concept
of motion to present his sun-centred planetary model. Thus the development of
alternative models took place that permitted an empirical testing of the models
References :
Hoodbhoy, Perves. 1991. Islamic
And Science: Religious Orthodoxy And The Battle for Rationality, , London
and New Jersey Zed Books Ltd.
Internet Encyclopedia Philosophy, Ibn Rushd (Averroes)(1126-1198), http://www.iep.utm.
Be access at June 18, 2012
Catholic Encyclopedia, Avicenna,
http://www.newadvent.org. be access at
June 18, 2012.
Faruqi, Yasmeen Mahnaz. 2006. Contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific. International Education Journal, 2006, 7(4), 391-399. http://iej.cjb
Sheikh, M Saeed.
1982. Islamic Philosophy. The Octagon
Press. London
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