Innovations in Physics of Banu Saljuq Era

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International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology (IJCIET) Volume 8, Issue 12, December 2017, pp. 843–849, Article ID: IJCIET_08_12_091 Available online at http://http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=8&Issue=12 ISSN Print: 0976-6308 and ISSN Online: 0976-6316

INNOVATIONS IN PHYSICS OF BANU SALJUQ ERA

Roziah Sidik @ Mat Sidek and Wan Hamdi Wan Sulaiman Department of Arabic Studies and Islamic Civilization, Faculty of Islamic Studies, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

ABSTRACT This article analyzes innovations in the field of physics during the ‘Abbasid era when the Banu Saljuq was in control of politics and the military. Basically, physics was divided into two branches, mechanics and optics. This article only touches innovations in mechanics as it was during the Bani Saljuq rule that many innovations took place in the area of mechanics in various aspects, including weight measurement and specific gravity of a substance. The most prominent figure of that time was al- Khazini. Key words: Banu Saljuq Era, Abbasid era, mechanics and optics Cite this Article: Roziah Sidik @ Mat Sidek and Wan Hamdi Wan Sulaiman. Innovations in Physics of Banu Saljuq Era. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology, 8(12), 2017, pp. 843-849. http://iaeme.com/Home/issue/IJCIET?Volume=8&Issue=12

1. INTRODUCTION WHAT IS INNOVATION? The word innovation originates from the Latin word which means to renew or innovare which means to renew or amend. It is a topic discussed in various disciplines including economics, commerce, engineering as well as sociology. Thus its definition varies and may probably differ according to the relevant discipline. Ioan Lala Popa, Gheorghe Preda and Monica Boldea (n.d.) listed various definitions of innovation put forward by many scholars. Joseph Schumpeter, for example, in giving his definition of innovation, made a long list including introducing a new product or modifications brought to an existing product; a new process of innovation in an industry; the discovery of a new market; developing new sources of supply with raw materials; other changes in the organization. Peter Druker referred to innovation as one of the two basic functions of an organization. And Howard and Sheth explained innovation as any new element brought to the buyer, whether or not new to the organization. Other than that, Mohr (1976) defined innovation as the degree to which specific new changes are implemented in an organization. Damanpour and Evan explained it as a broad utility concept defined in various ways to reflect a specific requirement and characteristic of a particular study.

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According to Kenneth Simmonds, innovations are new ideas that consist of: new products and services, new use of existing products, new markets for existing products or new marketing methods. Damanpour (1991) views innovation as development and adoption of new ideas by a firm, while Davenport defined it as completing a task development in a radically new way. For Evans, innovation is the ability to discover new relationships, of seeing things from new perspectives and to form new combinations from existing concepts. According to Covin şi Slevin, Lumpkin and Dess and Knox, innovation can be defined as a process that provides added value and a degree of novelty to the organization, suppliers and customers, developing new procedures, solutions, products and services and new ways of marketing. And the Australian Business Council defines innovation as adoption of new or significantly improved elements to create added value to the organization directly or indirectly for its customers. In Henderson’s view (1990), innovation refers to implementation of innovative ideas. Nohria and Gulati explained it as any policy, structure, method, process, product or market opportunity that the manager of a working business unit should perceive as new. For Rogers, innovation involves both knowledge creation and diffusion of existing knowledge. In The New Oxford Dictionary of English, innovation is defined as making changes to something established by introducing something new. The European Commission Green defines it as successful production, assimilation and exploitation of novelty in the economic or social environment. In addition, Boer and During defined it as creating a new association (combination) product-market-technology-organization. According to Kamus Dewan (2007), innovation refers to something new introduced such as a method, system, custom and so on. Ahmad Shukri and Amran (2005) associated innovation with design considered as a new idea or concept generated through the process of research and development. However, this design becomes an innovation only when it is a product or process which can be commercialized. Although various definitions have been submitted by scholars, in the context of this research, focus is on new refinements and inventions in the field of science and technology through scholarly efforts during Banu Saljuq rule. This article focuses specifically on innovations in the field of physics under Banu Saljuq.

2. ‘ABBASID BANU SALJUK ERA Throughout a period of 508 years, the Abbasid administration changed rulers three times, that is, Banu Abbas, Banu Buwayh and Banu Saljuq. Banu Abbas rule began in the year 750CE and lasted until 847CE. During this time, the caliph had absolute authority in administering affairs of the empire.. The Banu Buwayh era began in the year 945CE lasting until 1055CE. During this time, the Banu Abbas caliphate was still present but its power was limited to only religious affairs, while Banu Buwayh held political powers. The Banu Saljuq era lasted from the year 1038CE to 1258CE (see map below). Even in this era, the Banu Abbas caliphate still existed but its powers was also limited to religious affairs, while Banu Saljuq held political powers and controlled the military.

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Source: http://www.mideastweb.org/middle-East- Encylopedia/seljuk_map [23 July 2013] The emergence of the Banu Saljuq in mid-11th century CE carved a new Islamic history in the political and social arena because it succeeded in forming a third Islamic nation after the Arabs and Persians (Saunders 1965: 287). Among the special characteristics of the Banu Saljuq was their holding fast to Islamic teachings and their strong inclination to Sunni denomination (ahl Sunnah wa al-Jama’ah). During that time, the Muslim community achieved high progress in science and technology. In addition, various arts emerged thoughout Banu Saljuq rule (Ensiklopedia Dunia. 2005 19: 71).

3. INNOVATIONS IN FIELD OF PHYSICS The word physics originates from the Greek word Physis which means natural. In the Islamic civilization, there was no physics discipline as we understand it today. Physics then was understood as a natural philosophy which covers life sciences, earth sciences, and physics itself. Physics concepts such as sound, light, vacuum, energy, motion, atom, force, gravity, momentum, law of light refraction, image formation by the lens, laws of mechanics, earthquake, mechanics, hydrostatistics and parabolic motion were studied by scientists in the Islamic civilization since long ago. Among the scientists or physicists in the Islamic civilization were al-Farabi, Ibn Sina, Abu al-Barakah al-Baghdadi, Nasir al-Din al-Tusi, Ibn Bajah, Ibn Rushd, Ibn ‘Arabi, Banu Musa Ibn Shakir, Hassan al-Biruni, al-Jaldaki, al- Khazini, al-Biruni, al-Kindi, Ibn al-Haytham, Ibn Yunus and Ibn Razzaz. Basically, physics was divided into two branches, mechanic and optics. However discussion in this study touches only on innovations in mechanics as during Banu Saljuq rule, innovations were mainly in the area of mechanics.

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4. INNOVATIONS IN MECHANICS During Banu Saljuq rule, various innovations in mechanics were introduced. This includes weight measurement and specific gravity of substance. In discussing innovations in physics, specifically weight measurement, we cannot leave out the name of a great figure such as al- Khazini. He was known for introducing systematic weight measurement. In determining weights, he referred much to the work of Archimedes entitled The Weight of the Crown (Rosenthal 1994), besides drawing from the works of past Muslim figures such as al-Nayrizi and al-Biruni in developing the balance as an instrument of measuring weight with accuracy. He realized the role of heat as affecting the density of an object. The word eureka ( I found it!), a historically reputed exclamation of Archimedes when he discovered or solved something, was frequently mentioned by al-Khazini to himself when he applied the Archimedes principle in developing a formula to determine weight. Initially, scholars of the Islamic civilization studied mechanics and hydrostatics. Studies on mechanics were done by Banu Musa, while al-Biruni and ‘Umar al-Khayyam studied hydrostatics. According to Nasr (1984), during the ‘Abbasid Banu Saljuq rule, al-Khazini introduced innovations by combining studies on menchanics and hydrostatics.. He gave full attention to the centre of gravity concept used in balancing. Al-Khazini formulated a theory to apply to gold and silver in alloy, mixture of two metals. If X= weight of silver in alloy ; A= absolute weight of alloy ; S= gravity of alloy; d1= gravity of gold ; and d2= gravity of silver (Nasr 1976: 143), then the formula is as follows:

I/d1– I/s

X=A I/d1– I/d2 The above formula shows that al-Khazini had devised a new element to determine weight. Such a formula in the 12th Century CE was an innovation by al-Khazini, specifically in weight measurement. By this one theory, he succeeded in producing a weighing instrument as follows:

Source: http:// www.republika.co.id [23 July 2013]

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Source: Hill, Donald R. 1993. Islamic Science and Engineering. Hill (1993: 66-67) reported that al-Khazini inserted this theory in his book, Mizan al- Hikmah. This work focused more on the explanation of the parts of the weighing instrument and the beginning of the balancing concept of Archimedes, a mathematician and physicist of ancient Greece. Proceedings by Muslim scholars on weight measurement concluded that the weighing instrument developed by al-Khazini was comprehensive. However, al-Khazini was not the first to study this matter. The theory of weights actually was first introduced by a previous scholar, namely, Muzaffar b. Isma’il al-Isfizari, who had submitted the theory of two by three scale, that is a form of balance usually used by scholars before al-Khazini, such as al-Biruni an Isfizari. However, al-Khazini introduced a new theory of balance by inventing a weighing machine which could measure with the utmost accuracy. The invention of this machine was the climax of Islamic achievement in the field of physics, particularly, weighing instrument. Abattouy (2006: 15) confirmed that al-Khazini accomplished this extraordinary achievement by his theory on balance whereby the result of measurement from the base to the end and the special method of suspension of a load showed that the centre of gravity and axis of oscillation are closely inter-related. Another innovation in mechanics during Banu Saljuq rule is the theory of specific gravity of substances. This theory was also introduced and developed by al-Khazini. He recorded the gravity or attraction force to 50 types of substances, that is, 9 metals, 10 gems, 13 imitation gems and 18 liquids including water . In most cases, al-Khazini admitted that he highlighted the results obtained by al-Biruni. But however, he further developed al-Biruni’s results until he succeeded in making a detailed classification of specific gravity such as revealed by Hill (1993: 65) as follows:

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Table 1 Specific Gravity Table Substance Specific Gravity Value detailed by al-Khazini 1. Gold 19.05 19.26-19.3 2. Mercury 13.56 13.56 3. Lead 11.32 11.39-11.445 4. Silver 10.30 10.43-10.47 5. Copper 8.66 8.67-8.73 6. Brass 8.57 8.45-8.60 7. Iron 7.74 7.60-7.79 8. Tin 7.32 7.29 9. Emerald 2.75 2.68-2.77 10. Pearl 2.60 2.68 11. Red Gem 2.56 2.62 12. Coral 2.56 2.69 13 Natural Salt 2.19 2.07-2.17 14. Tar 1.04 1.07 15. Sweet Water 1.00 1.00 16. Hot Water 0.958 (Boiling) 0.960 17. Ice 0.965 0.916-0.927 18. Sea water 1.04 1.029-1.04 19. Sour Vinegar 1.027 1.013-1.08 20. Alcohol 1.022 (all types) 0.992-1.04 21. Olive Oil 0.92 0.918-0.919 22. Cow Milk 1.11 1.02-1.04 23. Chicken Egg 1.035 1.09 24. Honey 1.406 1.45 In summary, innovations in physics were more focused on mechanics. The innovations made were weight measurement, invention of weighing instrument and detailed classification of specific gravity. He highlighted the theory of balance and method of its application in measuring the weight of an object.

5. CONCLUSIONS Innovations made in physics during Banu Saljuq rule proved that the field of science and technology developed rapidly in that period. In addition, innovations made by figures during that era were recognised by other later scholars as inspirational to further develop more innovations, particularly in the field of science and technology.

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