An Arabic Science History - Book Report/Review Example

The Arabic science history is an extremely important period that is crucial to the advancement of sciences as we know them today. This paper presents a review of three books on Arabic science history depending on their content and context. This books will go a long way to show how important they are in recording this crucial part of history. In the review their works will be highlighted and authors discussed. 1. Jim Al-Khalili, Pathfinders: The golden Age of Arabic Science, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, 30th Sept 2010 The intellectual history’s relay race is simple enough. A go ahead culture will pick up the torch and run with it as far as it can it will then hand the torch to a younger contender before it sinks into exhaustion. Ancient Greeks fan the rational inquiry flame and surrender it to the Romans. The romans leave it to flicker. The Visigoths and Vandals snuff it out. However, ambers of scholarship still glow in the eastern empire of Byzantium. When the Arabs emerge from a desert of darkness they establish the Islam Empire. They inquire the minds in Baghdad and Isfahan to preserve, translate and annotate the wisdom of Aristotle and Ptolemy for the preceding six centuries. Sultans and satraps who come from Europe arrive with the sword. However, this is not all they come possessing. They arrive too with algebra, astrolabe and the glory that is Greece. This is enough to ignite the renaissance and light up the dark ages. It also inflames modern science according to Jim Al-Khalili’s book. The book does more than enrich a narrative that is already familiar. The book brings to life the bubbling invention of the Islamic world. The book serves to delight curiosity in the world of Arabs and Islam. The thread of the story is definitely provided by the Greek. From such a thread, the Abbasids and Umayyad’s weave their own fascinating fabricof enlighten and discovery. It is said that empires are built on bloodshed. However, for them to survive, they depend on the know-how of those running them. According to the book, “The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr.” these were the words of Prophet Muhammad. The Empire that was formed in the name of Prophet Muhammad had to solve the communication problem before building on its knowledge. According to the book, Persian texts had to be translated into Arabic. Among these studies were studies of astrology that were initially based on mathematics texts on engineering, geometry and arithmetic. The book goes further to state that not all heroes of this great revolution were Arabs. The tradition of inquiry wasfar beyond Baghdad reaching as far as Bokhara, Samarkand and Cairo. Al-Khalili is a British physicist who traces his roots and was born in Baghdad. He possesses a good command of Arabic and mathematical physics. This command serves to invest his story with sympathy and authority as well. He puts Arabic science in its context carefully. In the book, the author tries not to claim toomuchfor its heroes. The attention to fairness and detail is rewarding. The metaphor where science is regarded as a relay race is deemed unsatisfactory. Cultures will overlap, stimulate and overlap each other. The book depicts 10th century Arabs scholars as men who are hungry and greedy for knowledge. They strive to understand the ways of the community. One thing that the book succeeds in is to clear define that empires are not sustained by ignorance. 2. Masood, Ehsan, Science and Islam A History, Icon Books Ltd. 2009 The writing style of this publication is extremely simple. At the end of the book, only references are listed as a bibliography. This book is the official tie-in to the television series aired on the BBC Television Network. Islam and science tell the story of one of the most misunderstood, fertile and rich periods in science, historically. This period was between 700 and 1400 CE. This book looks at the religious empire’s heyday, the many debates surrounding it and its decline. Scholars and researchers, between the 8th and 15th centuries,working from Samarkand presently referred to as Uzbekistan to Cordoba made great strides concerning the knowledge of chemistry, astronomy, philosophy, mathematics, engineering and medicine reaching previously unattained heights. In the 9th century for example, Musa al-Khwarizmi, developed algebra in Baghdad. He did this by drawing on work of mathematicians based in India. Another example is Al-Jazari, a Turkish engineer in the 13th century. His achievements includethe camshaft, the reciprocating piston, and the crank. Then there is Ibn-Sina, who wrote a textbook, “Canon of Medicine.” This textbook was considered a standard work among Europes universities up until the 1600s. Such scientists are considered part of a sophisticated civilization and culture that based its beliefs in God.This picture helps scotch the Dark Ages myth. The myth was of the idea that religion derailed or faultedscientific progress.  Ehsan Masood, a Science history writer weaves the story of these scientists and others in an extremely compelling narration. He takes the reader on a journey. Masood goes through the Islamic empires, culture of the middle ages and religion. He goes further to explore the circumstances that made this revolution possible. The author explores the Islamic contribution Western Europe science. He stirs a debate between,theologians,scientists andphilosophers. This is regarding the limits of human reasonthe nature of physical reality.The many reasons are explored by the book on the reasons for the eventual decline of advanced science and continued learning in the Islam Arabic speaking world. A majority of readers read the book and attain a certain mentality.They will think that based on past acceptance, by Muslims, of the validity of scientific work, Muslims can participate in the global scientific enterprise.This is especiallyso when such work supported religiously-mandated activities. These activities will include the determination of prayer times or healing of the sick.These activities will also compromise approved secular activities, for examplequality of life improvement through applied technology in horticulture and chemistry.Muslims are also known for their past tolerance non-orthodox Muslims and non-Muslims.All these factors point to Muslims as accepting to participate to science all through their history. However, there have been some stumbling blocks along the way. The Arabic Muslims history of colonial administrations and coercive pre- and early modern monarchies have been a challenge.There has been a masses suspicion that the science class act as an arm of the state. Readers who feel they want more from the publication will simply have to follow up on the clues left for them by Dr. Ehsan.  I think the biggest problem facing Muslim-majority societys contribution to scientific production, personally, is a lack ofmodern science infrastructure. Modern science is no longer a reserve for a single brilliant individual with sufficient time and energy to carry out their own experiments.Brain drain has now become a serious problem. It is estimated by Mills et al that a total of nine sub-Saharan African countries counted for a loss of more than 2 billion U.S Dollars. This is the amount lost in terms of investment through the emigration of doctors trained locally in these countries. This investment lost can comfortably be used to subsidize medicines in the nations to which these doctors migrated immigrated. A World Health Organization publication is of the opinion, “Based on the number of doctors working from the nine source countries and the average cost of medical education in these countries, this equals a saving of at least $621m for Australia, $384m for Canada, $2.7bn for the United Kingdom, and $846m for the United States; $4.55bn in total.The World Health Organization has adopted the WHO Global Code of Practice on the International Recruitment of Health Personnel, but implementation is not widespread” (WHO 2010). These book when compared to the modern situation paints a picture where the Arabs have abandoned their scientific experiments. The Islamic world is very much a part of the science exercised today. However, social, cultural and theological factors have led to them abandoning this practice. The few that are now left in the field are now poached by the developed countries. Their own rich historic history does not benefit the modern generation. 3. Haddad, F. S. Arab contribution to medicine. Bull. Soc. Liban. Hist. Med. 1, 21-33. 1993 The Arab world isa vast space, covering a huge geographical are. It comprises of host ofmultiple countries in Africa and Asia.The modern contemporary world owes much to the Arab World. Most of the modern progress inall fields of human intellectual activity can be credited to Arabs. This is including medicine and the Arabic culture. This is particularly so with the advancements made during the Arabic-Islamic scienceGolden Age. The Arabic world’s glorious historic background permits us to identify the debt owed by humanity to the Golden Age of Arabic science. It enables us to estimate the the participation of the Arab world in relation to present day medicine and biomedical. During the 8th to the 13th centuries, the biomedical sciences of the Arabic-Islamic world underwent remarkable development. The flowering of knowledge andintellect that later spread throughout Europe and greatly influencd both medical practice and education. In the 7th century CE, the Arabian Peninsula became the centre for Arab scientific inventions. The Islamic state was formed in 622 CE. This was a time in history when it is believed that the Prophet Muhammad moved to Medina from Mecca. Almost within a century after his death a huge part of the world had been influenced by the Arabic-Muslim Empire. From southern Europe to India, Central Asia and throughout North Africa. All these parts of the world were either controlled by or influenced by a new order. In 711 C.E, the Arab invaded southern Spain, as a territory expansion initiative. This resulted in a center of flourishing civilization being created. Another center to emerge was in Baghdad. This was because of Abbasids who governed part of the Islamic world during a historic period. This period was to later bereferred to as the “Golden Age” (750 to 1258C.E.).   Arguably, many of the achievements of the Islamic- Arabic Golden Age achievements were based on some previous initiatives taken by the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians, Romans, Greeks, and Persians. Hence, translators were invited to Baghdad, where scientists and researchers studied. The studies here were in regards to the past and a creation of the future. In his book, Hadad famously states about the Arabic scientists, “The result of their work was an almost impressive progress in all sectors of science. The rulers of Islamic Spain, in an attempt to surpass Baghdad, recruited scholars who made contributions of paramount importance to science, medicine, technology, philosophy, and art. Some of the fields of medicine that were greatly explored at that time include the following, bacteriology, urology, obstetrics, psychiatry, hygiene, dietetics, dentistry and neurology.” These are some of the medicine fields that are commonly used in today’s medicine practice. It was during this period, that Islamic medicine was to go through some impressive developments. These developments were to later influence medical education and practice all the way to Europe. There were intense efforts for translation and analysis of the works of done by some earlier people and societies. These societies inclined the Rufus of Ephesus, HippocratesGalentook and Dioscurides. Elaboration of the attained knowledge was the work of the Arab scholars. They did so using the knowledgefrom ancient manuscripts whilst also adding their own experiences. The modern world, therefore, owes a lot to the Golden age of Arabic world history. Huge strides were made that are so vital today especially in the field of medicine. Works Cited Haddad, F. S. Arab contribution to medicine. Bull. Soc. Liban. Hist. Med. 1,21-33.1993 Jim, Al-Khalili, Pathfinders: The golden Age of Arabic Science, London: Allen Lane, Penguin Books, 30th Sept 2010 Masood, Ehsan. Science and Islam A History, Icon Books Ltd. 2009 Read More