Maths Astron History Proofread1.Indd
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Islam is a system of life which originated from the Creator. degree of latitude by walking north and south until the 1) Masha’Allah is a plain in the 13th section of the Allah is the One who created the universe, man and life polar star rose or sank a degree, thus they took the mean moon. Masha’Allah (d.815 CE) was an Egyptian Jew who and subjected man to the physical laws that He imposed distance for one degree. However, this method did not embraced Islam during the time of the Abbasid Khalifah, on the universe. The Quran, as revealed to the Prophet produce very accurate results but it does show they were Al-Mamun. Two of his books on astronomy, De Muhammad (peace be upon him), directs man to study well aware of the fact that the earth was round. This was Scientia Motus olbis and De Composition et the physical world in order to understand the reality and during a time when most people in Europe thought the Utilitat Astrolotic, were translated into Latin to appreciate more the greatness of the Creator. Many earth was flat. In fact science in general was viewed very in the 16th century. verses in the Quran point to the physical world and negatively in the West with many scientists being branded 2) Al-Mamun is crater in the ninth explain natural phenomena to man, as a confi rmation heretics, infi dels and satanic by the Church. For example, section. Abd-Allah Al-Mamun was the for mankind that this revelation is from the Creator, the in 1633 CE Galileo was forced to renounce his beliefs son of Haroon Al-Rashid. In 829 CE Supreme. The notion that religion is not compatible with and writings that supported Copernican’s theory, that the he built an observatory in Baghdad. scientifi c development is therefore, alien to Islam. History sun was the centre of the universe and not the earth, as In his academy, Bayt-al-Hikmat, the shows that most of the scientifi c developments by the informed by the Church. greatest scientists and philosophers Muslims were carried out when Islam prevailed. One has of his age carried out their research. to only look at the Arabic origins of many words used in Thabit ibn Qurra determined the altitude of the sun and the West, such as alkali, algebra, cipher and algorithm. computed the length of the solar year. Al-Biruni at Ghaz- 3) Al-Farghani is a crater in the nah in Afghanistan worked out the latitude and longitude second section. Abu-al-Abbas Ahmad Astronomy of every major city in the Middle East. Notwithstanding ibn Kathir Al-Farghani was one of Al- this, Nasir al-Din developed the most accurate instruments Mamun’s researchers into astronomy. God (Allah) says in the Quran (chapter 21, verse 33): of that time and compiled Ilkhanian Tables, which were His most famous book kitab fi Harakat Al- “It is He Who created the night, the day, the sun and regarded as the most exact astronomical tables. Samawiyah wa Jamawi ilm al Nujum was the main the moon. Each one is travelling in an orbit with its infl uence for the Italian Dante. own course.” The Arabic names of stars and constellations and the 4) Al-Battani is a plain in the fi rst section. Abu Abd-Allah Arabic origins of the words ‘azimuth’, ‘nadir’ and ‘zenith’ Muhammad ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan Al-Battani was born in The science of determining the direction of the Kabah all point to the great contribution of the Muslims towards 858 CE. He determined many astronomical measurements (direction of Makkah) was highly developed from the this field. The West recognised this brilliance and continued with great accuracy. 9th century onwards, as a result of which many other to use the works of the Muslims for a very long time. breakthroughs were made. The direction of the Kabah is 5) Thabit is a prominent circular plain in the eighth signifi cant because Muslims are commanded to perform section. Thabit ibn Qurrah ibn Marwan Al-Harrani was The Moon prayers facing towards Makkah, irrespective of where they born in 826 CE. He translated into Arabic a large number are. As Islam expanded beyond the Arabian peninsular of Greek and Syrian works on science. He also made the problem of its direction surfaced, and to solve this Long before Neil Armstrong took his first step on the major contributions to pure Mathematics. moon. A number of great Muslims scientists had a problem scientists started the study of astronomy. The 6) Al-Sufi is a mountainous ring in the ninth section. Abd- other stimulus for the study of astronomy, was the need close association with the Earth’s closest astronomical neighbour. When viewed with the naked eye, the surface al-Rahman Al-Sufi , born in 903 CE, was one of the most of navigation for the people who travelled from far away outstanding practical astronomers of the Middle Ages. Al- lands towards Makkah for pilgrimage. of the moon appears unevenly bright, with dark and light patches. These features are called ‘lunar formations’ and Sufi ’s book Surwar al-Kawakib al-Thabit was a masterpiece on stellar astronomy. Records show that even during the rule of al-Mansur their names were finally decided upon at a conference of (754-775 CE) many professional observatories existed, the International Astronomical Union in 1935. Of the 7) Al-Hassan Al-Haytham is a ring shaped plain in the especially in Jundishpur and Baghdad. The scientists at 672 lunar formations, 609 were named after distinguished 12th section. Abu Ali ibn Al-Hasan Al-Haytham, born in the time of al-Ma’mun (813-833 CE) were so advanced persons and the rest were borrowed from terrestrial 987 CE, was one of the foremost investigators of optics that they even calculated the diameter of the earth. They designations. Thirteen formations were given the names in the world. It was he who discovered that light travels in went to the plain of Sinjar to determine the length of a of major Muslim astronomers as follows. straight lines. 8) Al-Zarqali is a plain in the eighth section. Abu Ishaq The use of zero also made it possible to take square Ibrahim ibn Al-Zarqali, born in 1028 CE, was a Spanish and cube roots of numbers with great ease. The word Scientific Muslim. In collaboration with other Muslim and Jewish ‘cipher’, meaning zero, is taken directly from the Arabic astronomers he prepared the famous Toledan Tables. His word sifr, which means empty or nothing. The concept of achievements work greatly infl uenced that of Copernicus. the zero transformed the whole science of mathematics at the time and this numerical system forms the most 9) Jabir ibn Afl ah is a circular, fl at plain in the 9th section. fundamental part of our modern world. under Islam Jabir Ibn Afl ah, who died in 1145 CE, was also a Spanish Muslim. He was the fi rst to design a portable celestial Building on Greek and Indian works, al-Khwarizmi sphere to measure and explain the movements of celestial developed ways of solving quadratic equations in the 9th objects. century CE. The word ‘algorithm’ is taken directly from Astronomy his name and the word ‘algebra’ is taken from the Arabic 10) Nasir Al-Din is a crater 30 miles in diameter. Nasir Al- word al-Jabr (integration) which was used in the title of his Din Tusi, born in 1201 CE, was a minister of the Tartar book Hisab al-Jabr wal Muqabalah. Hulagu II Khan of Persia. Nasir Al-Din was put in charge & Mathematics of the observatory installed at Maraghah by Hulagu. The 10th century CE saw further advances in mathematics. He prepared the II-Khani Tables and the catalogue of Al-Battani was the first to present ideas on trigonometry fi xed stars which remained in use for several centuries ratios, and Abu al-Wafa of Baghdad established the throughout the world, from China to Western Europe. trigonometry formula to add angles. Al-Karaji was able to determine the sum of successive numbers raised to 11) Al-Bitruji is a crater in the eighth section. Nur Al- the third power. In the 11th century CE, Abu Sa’id al-Sijzi Din Ibn Ishaq Al-Bitruji was born in Morocco, lived in studied conic sections and trisected an angle by means of Ishbiliah (Seville) and died around 1204 CE. Al-Bituji’s the intersection of a circle and hyperbola. book Kitab-al-Hay’ah was popular in thirteenth century Europe. Thus, Muslim mathematicians were able to make very significant original contributions to mathematics, as well 12) Abu Al-Fida is a circular plain in the ninth section. as developing many areas that were taken from Greek and Ismail Ibn Al-Fida, born in 1273 CE, was the last Muslim Indian works, under the rule of Islam. Through Muslim geographer and astronomer trained and nurtured on the Spain and Sicily, most of the mathematical achievements traditions established by Al-Mamun. He was also a great was passed into the Western world, where they formed historian, the most famous of his works being Mukhtasar the backbone of scientific advancement in Europe. Tarik Al-Bashar. 13) Ulugh Beg is a prominent elliptical ring in the 18th section. Ulugh Beg, born in 1394 CE, constructed a magnifi cent observatory in Samarkand equipped with Exhibition Islam is a registered UK charity and the world’s leading astronomical instruments of excellent make and accuracy Islamic exhibition provider.