The Influence of Islam on Science

 

Above: Dr William MacLehouse.
Below: Audiences in the lecture theatre

This 45-minute lecture over lunch hour has attracted quite a number of audience from all religous back ground to the Darwin Lecture Theatre in University College London (UCL) main campus. This interesting topic was chosen in conjuction with the UCL Islamic Week. I was extremely excited to attend this lecture - thank you to my friend Husna who mentioned about it a week ago. Alhamdulillah I was able to spare the time to be part of the audience today. Before we go further, I must say that what is recapped in here are from my notes and the best of my memory and understanding. Therefore, my words of choice may have minor decsrepencies to the original speaker (ofcourse!); but...I have tried my very best to be precise in explaining the message and In sha Allah, may Allah give us all the same understanding to benefit from this summary.

 

This talk was presentd by Dr William MacLehouse, a Lecturer in History of Science and Medicine, UCL. A little bit about Dr William: works on the connections between medical, natural philosophical, and religious thought in western Europe during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. His research emphasises the transformations within medical knowledge as the medieval west rediscovered the Hippocratic-Galenic traditions via the Arabic world. His primary interest lies in the importance of childhood as a source of interest and concern within medieval society, as reflected in the fields of embryology, obstetrics, and pediatrics.

The lecture started with a brief introduction to the Abbasid (Abbasiyah) Dynasty in Baghdad which took place between 750 to 1250 AD. After the death of Prophet Muhammad (puh), the Isalmic empire shifted from Medina and Mecca to Baghdad. The Abbasid Dynasty was built in an impressive site and architecure to symbolise a great empire in the history of civilisation. It was once an important centre for political, commerce and scientific learning. In the glory of this dynasty the Muslims, Christians and Jews scholars collaborate to explore the magic of science. This was the era science of religion or the science of nature was borned. According to Dr William, this period was not just a passive education acceptance; in contrast, many challenging ideas was introduced. For example the development of astrology which saw the creation of many tools and mathematical methods to predict nature of the world. For instance a precise method to calculate Ramadhan. Al-Idrisi was one of the famous muslim astrologist who came out with a detailed map of the Isalmic World in the 12th century AD. Another example is Al-Jazari (1260 AD), a scientist who today, would be entitled Mechanical Engineer for his invention of a mechanical clock using water power.

An interesting question was rasied 'Why did the westerns stood to appreciate Islamic science in the 12th century?' There are may reasons but perhaps one of them was because the fallen of a rich leadership that did not survive (the Roman empire) in the west.

Later on, Dr William mentioned about the huge development of medicine knowledge and the Islam scholars behind them. In 1013 century AD in Spain, Al-Zahrawi contributed a wonderful work in compiling the descriptions and illustrations of surgical instruments.  It was also important to mention that the distillation technique was initiated since the 9th century; and this technique is still widely use to extract chemical compunds in most of our laboratories at present.  One prominent contribution of Islamic science in medicine was in the science of brain disease which we know refer to as psychiatry, mental illness or disease of the central nervous system. Among the many scholars who had done brilliant work on this was Al-Razi (Rhazes 925 AD). In one of his book, a lengthy discussion of the spritual and psychological aspect of the brain was presented beyond the scope covered by Greek scientists. Ibnu-Sina (980 - 1037 AD), a well respected physician in the area of mental illness has also contributed tremendous work and philosophy in medicine. In one of the old book, Ibnu Sina was known as the Prince of Medicine as he was illustrated crowned and seated in the middle between Hippocrates and Galen.  The advancement of Islamic medicine in psychiatry during those days came to a point of having many Islamic Hospitals that was carefully designed for space to heal by understanding the body and soul - something very lacking and almost forgotten in today's modern medicine.

To conclude, Dr William summarised that Islamic science has given a huge impact to modern medicne we have today; followed by a round of applause.



In the Q & A session, four questions were discussed in respect to limited time. However, I  manage to copied down three of them: 

1) The lecture so far presented only the good influence of Isalmis science; what were the bad influence? I could not think of any definite example in particular; perhaps errors in experiments that were later explored by western scientists. I'll have to get back to you about this.

2) To what extend did religion influence on science, in particluar the healing of mental illness? Parelal influence as in Chritianity and other religions. 

3) What and when did  the Isamic golden era declined? It could be the raising of western science; as how Islamic science took over the western in the beggining of the 12 th century. However, this seems to be an illogical theory because there are multiple explainations.



My friend Husna (right), who has been very persistent in
promoting the Islamic events and lectures in UCL