My Profile
My Images
My Kulliyah
My University
My Protein
My Assignments
Islam,Al-Quran N Science
Miracles of Words
In astronomy the Muslims integrated
the astronomical traditions of the Indians, Persians, the ancient Near East and
especially the Greeks into a synthesis which began to chart a new chapter in the
history of astronomy from the 8th century onward. The Almagest of Ptolemy, whose
very name in English reveals the Arabic origin of its Latin translation, was
thoroughly studied and its planetary theory criticized by several astronomers of
both the eastern and western lands of Islam leading to the major critique of the
theory by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi and his students, especially Qutb alDin
al-Shirazi, in the 13th century.
The Muslims also observed the heavens
carefully and discovered many new stars. The book on stars of 'Abd al-Rahman
al-Sufi was in fact translated into Spanish by Alfonso X el Sabio and had a deep
influence upon stellar toponymy in European languages. Many star names in
English such as Aldabaran still recall their Arabic origin. The Muslims carried
out many fresh observations which were contained in astronomical tables called
zij. One of the acutest of these observers was al-Battani whose work was
followed by numerous others. The zij of al-Ma'mun observed in Baghdad, the
Hakimite zij of Cairo, the Toledan Tables of alZarqali and his associates, the
ll-Khanid zij of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi observed in Maraghah, and the zij of
Ulugh-Beg from Samarqand are among the most famous Islamic astronomical tables.
They wielded a great deal of influence upon Western astronomy up to the time of
Tycho Brahe. The Muslims were in fact the first to create an astronomical
observatory as a scientific institution, this being the observatory of Maraghah
in Persia established by al-Tusi. This was indirectly the model for the later
European observatories . Many astronomical instruments were developed by Muslims
to carry out observation, the most famous being the astrolabe. There existed
even mechanical astrolabes perfected by Ibn Samh which must be considered as the
ancestor of the mechanical clock.
Astronomical observations also had
practical applications including not only finding the direction of Makkah for
prayers, but also devising almanacs (the word itself being of Arabic origin).
The Muslims also applied their astronomical knowledge to questions of
time-keeping and the calendar. The most exact solar calendar existing to this
day is the Jalali calendar devised under the direction of 'Umar Khayyam in the
12th century and still in use in Persia and Afghanistan
Geometry
The Muslims also excelled in geometry as
reflected in their art. The brothers Banu Musa who lived in the 9th century may
be said to be the first outstanding Muslim geometers while their contemporary
Thabit ibn Qurrah used the method of exhaustion, giving a glimpse of what was to
become integral calculus. Many Muslim mathematicians such as Khayyam and al-Tusi
also dealt with the fifth postulate of Euclid and the problems which follow if
one tries to prove this postulate within the confines of Eucledian geometry.
Trigonometry
Another branch of mathematics
developed by Muslims is trigonometry which was established as a distinct branch
of mathematics by al-Biruni. The Muslim mathematicians, especially al-Battani,
Abu'l-Wafa', Ibn Yunus and Ibn al-Haytham, also developed spherical astronomy
and applied it to the solution of astronomical problems.
Number Theory
The love for the study of magic
squares and amicable numbers led Muslims to develop the theory of numbers.
Al-Khujandi discovered a particular case of Fermat's theorem that "the sum of
two cubes cannot be another cube", while alKaraji analyzed arithmetic and
geometric progressions such as: 1^3+2^3+3^3+...+n^3=(
1+2+3+...+n)^2.
Al-Biruni also dealt with progressions while Ghiyath al-Din
Jamshid al-Kashani brought the study of number theory among Muslims to its
peak.