A history of Islam and science:Timothy Winter(Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad): The Royal Institution:Mar 19, 2024
YouTube Video:
https://youtu.be/7EKtVx2A6d4?si=2iZbMqmALpyAHcTX
Explore the rich history intertwining Islam and Science, with the esteemed scholar and University of Cambridge lecturer Tim Winter (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad).In this enlightening lecture, we delve into the profound contributions made by Muslim scholars to the realms of science, astronomy, mathematics, medicine, and philosophy throughout the centuries. Travel back in time to a Golden Age of Islamic civilisation, when knowledge flourished, and scholars pushed the boundaries of human understanding. Discover the ground-breaking discoveries of luminaries such as Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Khwarizmi, and Ibn Sina, whose works helped to lay the foundation for modern scientific thought. With meticulous detail and deep reverence, Winter illuminates the intricate connections between Islamic principles and the pursuit of scientific knowledge. Gain a deeper appreciation for the Islamic worldview that fostered an environment of intellectual curiosity, critical thinking, and empirical investigation. The lecture also presents a Muslim reflection on the current global threats posed by the irresponsible use of science and technology in areas including climate change, artificial intelligence, and genetic manipulation. What does Islamic theology have to contribute to these urgent contemporary debates? Join us for this captivating lecture as we walk through the corridors of history, highlighting the often-overlooked but profound contributions of Islamic scholars to the scientific landscape. Prepare to be challenged by the unusual but dynamic relationship between Islam and science and its enduring relevance to today's world.Timothy Winter (Shaykh Abdal Hakim Murad) is an English academic, theologian and Islamic scholar who is a proponent of Islamic neo-traditionalism. His work includes publications on Islamic theology, modernity, and Anglo-Muslim relations, and he has translated several Islamic texts. He is the Founder and Dean of the Cambridge Muslim College, Aziz Foundation Professor of Islamic Studies at both Cambridge Muslim College and Ebrahim College, Director of Studies (Theology and Religious Studies) at Wolfson College and the Shaykh Zayed Lecturer of Islamic Studies in the Faculty of Divinity at University of Cambridge.
Amazon: Islamic Science and making of the European Renaissance: George Saliba
The Islamic scientific tradition has been described many times in accounts of Islamic civilization and general histories of science, with most authors tracing its beginnings to the appropriation of ideas from other ancient civilizations—the Greeks in particular. In this thought-provoking and original book, George Saliba argues that, contrary to the generally accepted view, the foundations of Islamic scientific thought were laid well before Greek sources were formally translated into Arabic in the ninth century. Drawing on an account by the tenth-century intellectual historian Ibn al-Naidm that is ignored by most modern scholars, Saliba suggests that early translations from mainly Persian and Greek sources outlining elementary scientific ideas for the use of government departments were the impetus for the development of the Islamic scientific tradition. He argues further that there was an organic relationship between the Islamic scientific thought that developed in the later centuries and the science that came into being in Europe during the Renaissance.
Saliba outlines the conventional accounts of Islamic science, then discusses their shortcomings and proposes an alternate narrative. Using astronomy as a template for tracing the progress of science in Islamic civilization, Saliba demonstrates the originality of Islamic scientific thought. He details the innovations (including new mathematical tools) made by the Islamic astronomers from the thirteenth to sixteenth centuries, and offers evidence that Copernicus could have known of and drawn on their work. Rather than viewing the rise and fall of Islamic science from the often-narrated perspectives of politics and religion, Saliba focuses on the scientific production itself and the complex social, economic, and intellectual conditions that made it possible.
Amazon:Pathfinders: The Golden Age of Arabic Science:Jim al-Khalili
Independent 'He has brought a great story out of the shadows'
Literary Review 'His command of Arabic and mathematical physics invests his story with sympathy as well as authority'
Guardian 'A fascinating and user-friendly guide'
Sunday Telegraph 'This captivating book is a timely reminder of the debt owed by the West to the intellectual achievements of Arab, Persian and Muslim scholars'
The Times :Jim Al-Khalili OBE is Professor of Physics at the University of Surrey, where he also holds the first Surrey chair in the public engagement in science. He was awarded the Royal Society Michael Faraday Prize for science communication in 2007, elected Honorary Fellow of the British Association for the Advancement of Science and has also received the Institute of Physic's Public Awareness of Physics Award. Born in Baghdad, Jim was educated in Iraq until the age of 16 and it was there, being taught by Arabic teachers in Arabic that he first heard and learnt about the great Arab scientists and philosophers.
Across six sections, a group of subject experts discuss and analyze scientific practices across a wide range of Islamicate societies. The authors take into consideration several contexts in which science was practiced, ranging from intellectual traditions and persuasions to institutions, such as courts, schools, hospitals, and observatories, to the materiality of scientific practices, including the arts and craftsmanship. Chapters also devote attention to scientific practices of minority communities in Muslim majority societies, and Muslim minority groups in societies outside the Islamicate world, thereby allowing readers to better understand the opportunities and constraints of scientific practices under varying local conditions.
Through replacing Islam with Islamicate societies, the book opens up ways to explain similarities and differences between diverse societies ruled by Muslim dynasties. This handbook will be an invaluable resource for both established academics and students looking for an introduction to the field. It will appeal to those involved in the study of the history of science, the history of ideas, intellectual history, social or cultural history, Islamic studies, Middle East and African studies including history, and studies of Muslim communities in Europe and South and East Asia.
YouTube Video:Science and Islam, Jim Al-Khalili. BBC Documentary
Part 2: The Empire of Reason: Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries. Al-Khalili travels to northern Syria to discover how, a thousand years ago, the great astronomer and mathematician Al-Biruni estimated the size of the earth to within a few hundred miles of the correct figure. He discovers how medieval Islamic scholars helped turn the magical and occult practice of alchemy into modern chemistry. In Cairo, he tells the story of the extraordinary physicist Ibn al-Haytham, who helped establish the modern science of optics and proved one of the most fundamental principles in physics - that light travels in straight lines. Prof Al-Khalili argues that these scholars are among the first people to insist that all scientific theories are backed up by careful experimental observation, bringing a rigour to science that didn't really exist before.
Part 3: The Power of Doubt: Physicist Jim Al-Khalili tells the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries. Al-Khalili turns detective, hunting for clues that show how the scientific revolution that took place in the 16th and 17th centuries in Europe had its roots in the earlier world of medieval Islam. He travels across Iran, Syria and Egypt to discover the huge astronomical advances made by Islamic scholars through their obsession with accurate measurement and coherent and rigorous mathematics. He then visits Italy to see how those Islamic ideas permeated into the West and ultimately helped shape the works of the great European astronomer Copernicus, and investigates why science in the Islamic world appeared to go into decline after the 16th and 17th centuries, only for it to re-emerge in the present day. Al-Khalili ends his journey in the Royan Institute in the Iranian capital Tehran, looking at how science is now regarded in the Islamic world.
Amazon: Science and Islam: A History: Ehsan Masood
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