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Cynthia Smith and Brian Parkinson
INTRODUCTION
DISCOVERY
Many historical discoveries come from finding new relics or documents, or cracking the code to translate an ancient language. Another kind of discovery in historical understanding occurs when preconceptions or lack of awareness are replaced by new appreciation and understanding. In recent years, the achievements of Islamic cultures during Islam’s ‘golden age’ (8th–15th centuries) are increasingly being recognized and touted in media and educational forums. Articles and documentaries highlight the great debt the world owes to scientific, mathematical, medical, and engineering discoveries born out of the cultural fusion and intellectual ferment of the Islamic world, particularly during the peak of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate.
Several factors contributed to this vibrant era. The breadth of the Islamic world ruled under one Caliphate during this era included cultures and thinkers from the Atlantic Ocean to India. Many shared the Islamic faith and thus familiarity with the Arabic language, which facilitated interchange commerce and ideas. Additionally, faith based emphases on textual analysis in the study of the Qur’an, Hadith, the Sunna, and Shari’a law fostered societal literacy and scholarly pursuits. Further, under ‘Abbasid Caliphs, there was an explicit focus on translating great works from the many cultures under Muslim rule. Islamic achievements thus incorporated insights from ancient Greece, Rome, Syria, Mesopotamia, Persia, India and many other cultures.
Whether due to religious bias, centuries of religious tensions between the Christian and Muslim worlds, or parochial pride in Western achievements, many remarkable innovators of the Medieval Islamic world have traditionally been ignored. In some cases, Western thinkers were credited as the founders of scientific truths and methods discovered earlier during this Islamic golden age. But today influential Islamic thinkers are increasingly being acknowledged. Examples include the physician Ibn al-Nafis, who accurately described pulmonary circulation centuries before William Harvey. Abu Al Qasim Al Zahrawi (known in the West as Albucasis) is recognized as the father of modern surgery. His great work Al-Taṣrīf (“The Method”) was a massive, 1,500 page, 30-volume illustrated medical encyclopedia written around 1000 CE. It documented a vast array of medical procedures and treatments and was used by Europeans as a reference for over five centuries leading up to the Scientific Revolution. Al Zahrawi invented, and was the first to use, medical instruments such as the syringe, bone saw, surgical hook and needle, surgical scissors, and forceps. He carried out complicated surgeries, and pioneered the use of catgut for sutures hundreds of years before the European physician often given credit for this innovation. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizm, a Persian mathematician, created the field of algebra by merging insights from Greek and Hindu mathemat