Islamic attitudes towards science

Muslim scholars have developed a spectrum of viewpoints on science within the context of Islam.[1] Scientists of medieval Muslim civilization (e.g. Ibn al-Haytham) contributed to the new discoveries in science.[2][3][4] From the eighth to fifteenth century, Muslim mathematicians and astronomers furthered the development of mathematics.[5][6] Concerns have been raised about the lack of scientific literacy in parts of the modern Muslim world.[7]

Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a wide range of subject areas, especially medicine, mathematics, astronomy, agriculture as well as physics, economics, engineering and optics.[8][9][10][11][12]

Aside from these contributions, some Muslim writers have made claims that the Quran made prescient statements about scientific phenomena as regards to the structure of the embryo, the solar system, and the development of the universe.[13][14]

  1. ^ Seyyed Hossein Nasr. "Islam and Modern Science"
  2. ^ "The 'first true scientist'". January 4, 2009 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  3. ^ Haq, Syed (2009). "Science in Islam". Oxford Dictionary of the Middle Ages. ISSN 1703-7603. Retrieved 2014-10-22.
  4. ^ Robert Briffault (1928). The Making of Humanity, pp. 190–202. G. Allen & Unwin Ltd.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Islam and Science was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Egyptian Muslim geologist Zaghloul El-Naggar quoted in Science and Islam in Conflict| Discover magazine| 06.21.2007| quote: "Modern Europe's industrial culture did not originate in Europe but in the Islamic universities of Andalusia and of the East. The principle of the experimental method was an offshoot of the Islamic concept and its explanation of the physical world, its phenomena, its forces and its secrets." From: Qutb, Sayyad, Milestones, p. 111, https://archive.org/stream/SayyidQutb/Milestones%20Special%20Edition_djvu.txt
  7. ^ Hoodbhoy, Perez (2006). "Islam and Science – Unhappy Bedfellows" (PDF). Global Agenda: 2–3. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  8. ^ Saliba, George. 1994. A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam. New York: New York University Press. ISBN 0-8147-8023-7. pp. 245, 250, 256–57.
  9. ^ King, David A. (1983). "The Astronomy of the Mamluks". Isis. 74 (4): 531–55. doi:10.1086/353360. S2CID 144315162.
  10. ^ Hassan, Ahmad Y. 1996. "Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century." Pp. 351–99 in Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, edited by S. S. Al-Attas. Kuala Lumpur: International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  11. ^ "Contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific enterprise" (PDF).
  12. ^ "The greatest scientific advances from the Muslim world". TheGuardian.com. February 2010.
  13. ^ Cook, Michael, The Koran: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, (2000), p. 30
  14. ^ see also: Ruthven, Malise. A Fury For God. London; New York: Granta (2002), p. 126.