The Geographers

As mentioned in an earlier post, an understanding of geography was firstly necessary to enable Muslims to work out the direction of prayer. The actual pilgrimage to Mecca also promoted travel for Muslims not close at hand to the site and guidebooks were necessary for the journeys to Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem among other pilgrimage sites. A degree of geographic learning was also required to make the histories discussed in the last post meaningful and also in order to trade in, send mail over, administer and continue to control a large Empire. A final motivation for geographical learning was simply a sense of curiosity and adventure that was promoted by Islam itself and appears also to have been a feature of the early Arab psychology.

The idea of travelling as a scholar was developed initially in order that Hadith could be collected from the inhabitants of various regions and the Sufi movement also produced seekers of truth willing to travel in order to seek it from wise ones not living locally. Ibn Khaldoun, for example, followed the by-his-time long tradition of travelling in order to seek religious and other knowledge. Ibn Battuta, his contemporary from whom he had heard traveller's tales that he had at first thought were exaggerations, is a classic case of a geographical scholar of note and travelled further than any other. He also wrote about his travels and the people, local features and styles of government and thinking he noticed (among other things) for the benefit of others. His work thus falls mainly into the categories of satisfying a sense of curiosity and adventure and 'mind broadening' but even it could potentially be and conceivably was put to other uses.

Firstly, the Arabs translated geographical and astronomic works of Greek-speaking geographers such as Ptolemy of Alexandria and Marinus of Tyre. The 9^th Century also saw the beginnings of original work in Arabic including astronomical, ethnographic, regional literary anthologies and historical work. The state officials Ibn Khurdadhbeh (d. c. 912), al-Ya’qubi (d. c. 900) and Qudama Ibn Ja’far (d. c. 932) all produced early works. Al-Istakhri (d. 952), Ibn Hawqal (d. c. 989 or later) and al-Maqdisi (d. c. 1000) all produced geographical work including maps.

The work of al-Maqdisi of Jerusalem, who also travelled fairly extensively, covered a wide variety of themes concerning the Islamic world of the time and surrounding countries. Al-Biruni (d. c. 1050 or later) wrote especially about the climates at various locations and degrees of latitude. Al-Mas’udi (d. 956) wrote an encyclopaedic combined work of history and geography. Al-Idrisi, who lived in both Morocco and Norman Sicily, wrote on world geography with various detailed maps in the 12^th Century. Yaqut (d. 1229) wrote a major geographical dictionary including especially place-name listings.

Arab sea captains such as Ahmad Ibn Majid (d. 1500) also contributed geographical works that aided navigation in the Indian Ocean.

Al-Harawi (d. 1215), who lived in Palestine and Syria, wrote a guide book for religious and general tourists (both Christian and Muslim).

Muslim al-Jarmi (mid 9^th Century) and Harun Ibn Yahya (9^th and early 10^th Centuries) wrote works based on their experiences in captivity outside the Muslim world and Abu Hamid of Granada (1080 – 1170) wrote of his experience as a merchant which included experiences in Hungary. Ibn Fadlan, Abu Dulaf and Ibrahim of Tortosa (a Jew from Muslim Spain) all wrote of their experiences as envoys in the 10^th Century. Ibn Fadlan had been appointed by an ‘Abbasid Caliph as Muslim envoy to the Bulgars and wrote accounts of the Khazars and Russians. Ibrahim was an envoy of the Spanish Umayyad caliph at Cordoba to central Europe. Abu Dulaf travelled to central Asia.

Nasir ibn Khusraw, born in Afghanistan, also wrote in neo-Persian of his travels in the 11^th Century. Ibn Butlan (d. 1038) was an Arab Christian traveller and physician whose account of his travels from Baghdad through Syria and Anatolia we have in the form of a letter written to a friend in Baghdad.

Two major works by pilgrims to Mecca from the West of the then Arab world concerning the experience of the pilgrimage and side-trips are the works of Ibn Jubayr (d. 1217 - he recounted his travels from Spain to Mecca and back via Sicily) and Ibn Battuta (d. 1377). Ibn Battuta appears to have travelled as extensively as any Arab of the pre-modern period in Africa and Asia both within and beyond the Muslim world (including to the coast of China and to Greek Orthodox Constantinople) and wrote about it all in his great work. Finally, Ibn Khaldoun wrote of his own travels in his memoirs.

History and Historiography Again

I've discussed historiography as an aspect of religious science but I also want to discuss it as a 'secular' science that has contributed to the writing of Arab history even until today. I say 'secular' because I want to emphasise that its religious origins make it impossible to consider it as a science divorced in every way from the religious impulse. Nevertheless, attempts were made to achieve a method that reflected worldly epistemological concerns precisely in order that it might support the religion of the historiographer in the hope that the religion was the true revealed religion.

Ibn Khaldoun, who lived in the 14^th Century, has been regarded as the greatest Arab-Islamic historian of the the pre-modern era (or at least the latest serious one). However, as mentioned in earlier posts, histories were quite important from the very beginning of the Islamic Era, firstly as a means of reliably authenticating Hadith transmission. The life of the prophet himself is among the earliest subjects of biographical history. One form of history that in a significant sense formed its basis was the Arab genealogy that had preceded the Islamic Era. The early Islamic conquests were also historically attested by Islamic as well as non-Islamic writers in and beyond the Islamic world. The origin of the Arabs was also considered religiously relevant history and world history (from Adam on) was an early historical interest. At-Tabari, living in the late 9^th and early 10^th Centuries, produced a famous version of such a global and comprehensive history.

Historical schools developed in Medina, Iraq, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere and regional histories and histories of cities were produced (as I've mentioned before). History thus became quite varied in its subjects but was nevertheless often based on the same model of biography and validated with the same scholarly genealogy (borrowing a method from Hadith scholarship which in turn owed something to pre-Islamic methods).

Al-Mas’udi’s famous 10^th Century history was both thematic and encyclopaedic and also drew upon the author’s extensive travel experience. Al-Ya’qubi (9^th Century) and Miskawayh (10^th Century) were also notable early historians.

Ibn Khaldoun produced the great Introductions (Muqaddima) to History. His historiography is potentially a culturally satisfying model for explaining history for the Arabs and Islamic groups today. The essence of his theory is that certain triggers have inexorably led to a cycle of civilisations and that environment (along with religious revelation) plays a role in the different regional forms of civilisation. In particular, he examined the role of both the cities and the uncivilised Bedouin desert-dwellers in this process in the Arab and Islamic worlds.

The Mathematicians, Physicists and Astronomers

The Hellenistic traditions, beginning with Euclid, Ptolemy and Archimedes, were continued by the Arabs and in the Muslim world in arithmetic, algebra, geometry, physics and astronomy.

Maths

Works in the field of arithmetic were translated from Sanskrit (but mainly Greek) and the Arabs borrowed the novel Indian concept of zero and used a then-novel base ten (decimal) Indian numeral system. Algebra (al-Jabr) was a new Arabic branch of mathematics popularised by Muhammad Ibn Musa al-Khwarasmi (d. 850) after whom the algorithm was also named.

Physics

Al-Hasan Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen to the West), who lived in Iraq and Egypt in the 11^th Century and possibly also the 10^th Century and was translated into Latin for study in the West, developed the study of light (optics). The Sons of Musa, who worked in Baghdad, produced an illustrated 9^th Century work of mechanical engineering. Al-Jazari, working in northern Iraq and northern Syria, produced an important illustrated 14^th Century work. Al-Farabi of Baghdad and Syria produced a major work of musicology (properly considered as an element of physics) in the 10^th Century. Ibn al-Munajjim (10^th Century) and al-Armawi (13^th Century), both of Baghdad, also produced works of musicology.

Astronomy and Observatories

The first Arab-Islamic observatories date to the early 9^th Century. At-Tusi (d. 1274) and Shirazi (d. 1311) were important for their practical application of astronomy. Much of the development occurred in Iran and Central Asia. Development of astronomy continued in the Ottoman period in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries and Arab astronomy was important to the work of Copernicus, who was the first (but only in the West) to propose an end to Ptolemy's Geocentric model of the Cosmos in favour of the still limited but at least improved Heliocentric one later supported by the further observations of Galileo.

The Doctors, Pharmacists and Biologists

The Doctors

Galan’s teachings, the School of Alexandria, the Indian medical tradition as transferred North into the Indus region and the Gundishapur School of western Iran and Iraq were influential. Translations from Syriac to Arabic began in the Umayyad period and the works of Galen and other works were translated at the Bayt al-Hikma discussed in earlier posts (from both Syriac and eventually the original Greek).

The head of the Bayt was himself a Christian Arab physician from al-Hira, a site of pre-Islamic learning and civilisation.

Hunayn (besides his role as head of the Bayt al-Hikma) also wrote original medical works. His major contribution to medicine was to eye anatomy, disease and treatments.

Ar-Razi was a physician, administrator, medical teacher, medical author and philosopher who lived in Iran and Baghdad in the 9^th and early 10^th Centuries. He made major lasting contributions in clinical care, nutrition and several other areas of medicine. His students included at least several from China and his medical works were translated into Latin for European students.

Avicenna, a 10^th and 11^th Century physician and philosopher from Bukhara and eastern Iran, earned the title “prince of physicians”. His interests and areas of contribution included anatomy and psychology. A work of his was a valued Western European medical textbook until as late as the 18^th Century.

Ibn an-Nafis of Damascus, who lived in the 13^th Century, described pulmonary blood circulation.

Other scholars such as Nafis’s Christian colleague, Ibn al-‘Ibri, and Ibn al-Jazzar of Tunisia (who worked on the digestive system) made further contributions.

In surgery, Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, who lived in Islamic Spain in the 10^th and 11^th Centuries and was known in the West as Abulkassis, made contributions to the development of surgical procedures and instruments.

The Pharmacists

The area of pharmacy consisted mainly of the recognition and use of healing plants and other substances and followed the translated work of Galen and Dioscurides. Ar-Razi, Avicenna and Ibn Wafid al-Idrisi made early contributions (9^th to 12^th Centuries) and Ibn al-Bitar made a 13^th Century contribution. The latter’s work both consolidated and added to all of the earlier works (from Galen’s on).

The Biologists

Aristotle’s work of zoology was influential. Arab and Muslim scientists (and scientists in the Muslim world) produced works on plants and zoology from the 9^th to the 13^th Centuries.

Science

The new Arab and Islamic rulers of the Middle East continued to study the sciences that had preceded Islam in their region as I've already mentioned (especially but not exclusively Hellenistic science). Naturally they focused on what would be useful to them and so medicine was continued in the Eastern tradition. As the position of heavenly bodies was still regarded as important to events on earth, astrology (and ultimately astronomy) continued to be studied. Astronomy and geography assumed new importance in order to determine the direction of Mecca from a given locality for religious and architectural purposes. Already-established hospitals, the newly formed ‘Abbasid centre for translation in Baghdad, the Bayt al-Hikma, and observatories all played a role in ensuring the continuation of the older forms of learning. The great translation process into Arabic from (usually) Greek initially tended to take place via an earlier Syriac translation with attendant problems of subtly changed meanings (later, as Arabic expanded its capacities as a language of learning, direct translations from the Greek into Arabic were able to be made).

The initial chief of the Bayt al-Hikma was Hunayn Ibn Ishaq who lived in the 9^th Century. His translators translated works of philosophy, logic, medicine, pharmacy, alchemy, astrology, astronomy, geography, mathematics, musicology, politics and ethics.

These motives and actions are the basis for the sciences that I will discuss in later posts as well as the philosophy I discussed in the last post. I'll begin with medicine in the next post and proceed to discuss the other sciences mentioned above and other forms of Arab science in later posts.

The Philosophers

I'll now turn to secular learning and before I consider various sciences and the humanities I want to examine an area that was a special challenge for some time for what I may call fundamentalist Islam: philosophy, as inspired by the Classical Greeks.

Up until the 12^th century, the philosophers were concerned to build upon Hellenistic philosophy. Many of the philosophers were Christian Arabs but philosophy didn’t require a specific religion. Schools of mainly Christian scholars in mainly Syria and Iraq continued the Neo-Platonist teachings of Plotinus and Porphyry of Tyre of the School of Alexandria. Philosophy was (initially, at least) considered useful for theological argument. The Four new philosophy masters of the Islamic world were al-Kindi, al-Fārābi (called Alfarabius or Avennasr in the West), Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and Ibn Rushd (Averroes).

Al-Kindi was a Muslim Arab who lived in Iraq in the early to mid 9^th century. He also studied mu’tazila theology. He distinguished between human and divine knowledge and sought a détente between reason and revelation. He also studied arithmetic, geometry, music, astronomy, astrology, natural sciences and alchemy. He received the support of the ‘Abbasid Caliphate and some of his work was considered sufficiently important in the mediaeval West to translate into Latin in the 12^th Century. He suggested to Arabs that they should not fear knowledge from wherever it came.

Al-Fārābi lived in Baghdad, Damascus and Aleppo in the 9^th and 10^th Centuries and was a student of Aristotle in the Neo-Platonic form taught in Alexandria. He sought truth and happiness in his philosophy. He asserted that religious dogma was inferior philosophically to human reason while claiming that they do not necessarily conflict. His commentaries on various Aristotelian works earned him the title (after Aristotle) of “the second master” in both the East and the West. He also wrote a famous work on musicology and works on science, cities and politics, among many others.

Avicenna lived in the 10^th and 11^th Centuries in Eastern Iran and was also a physician, politician and scientist. He wrote a famous work on medicine along with his philosophical works.

Averroes, also a practicing physician, lived in the mid 12^th Century in Cordova and Morocco and is considered the best Arabic translator of Aristotle. He also criticised other interpretations and contributed to the commentaries. He famously wrote a refutation of al-Ghazali’s Refutation of the Philosophers (known informally as "The Refutation of the Refutation") and also wrote a significant work of Islamic jurisprudence and one of medicine.

Sufism and Islamic Asceticism

As with many religious traditions, Islam has always had two main strands: the strand that emphasised a god-given moral law to be followed without question out of fear of God and a strand that sought a deeper understanding of, communion with and true love of God and thus an understanding of the deeper meaning of "His" laws. Islamic ascetic traditions also had direct precursors in the Middle East before the Islamic Era. In fact, Muhammad himself was practicing a form of ascetic practice in an isolated cave when he received his first revelation. Tasawwuf is the term for Sufism in Arabic. Muhammad and some of his closest companions also continued to practice asceticism. They were called the Ahl al-Suffa. Such practices also remained common among devout Christians in Syria, Palestine and Egypt.

The ascetic practices began to be supplemented with mystical ideas from the 8^th to the 9^th Centuries. Centres of mysticism developed in Kufa, Basra, Khurasan, Baghdad, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt under the influence of location and individual ideologists.

Al-Hasan al-Basri (d. 728) was possibly the first ideologist of mystical Sufism. His ideas revolved around great and necessary fear of Allah. In that sense he was only beginning to depart from the first strand that I mentioned above.

Ibrahim Ibn Adham (d. 777) lived in Khurasan in eastern Iran and later Syria. He abandoned a former life of luxury in Khurasan to journey to Syria practising asceticism. Shaqiq of Balkh (d. 801), also of eastern Iran, was possibly the first to develop the notion of certain attitudes denoting particular mystical ‘states’ that later 'caught on' in Sufi ideology. The first attitude he articulated was one of “trust in God” or “tawakkul”.

Rabi’a of Basra’s (d. 801) focus was on love of God. She was the first noted female Sufi and still inspires today with her concise poetry and aphorisms concerning that love as she experienced it.

Al-Harith Ibn Asad al-Muhasibi (d. 857) moved from Basra to Baghdad to found the Baghdad School whose focus tended to be on spiritual accountability and self examination and understanding, hence his nickname related to examination or investigation (al-Muhasibi).

Al-Ghazali (d. 1111), the extremely multi-talented 11^th and 12^th Century religious and secular scholar, later recognised al-Muhasibi’s contribution in what he called the “science of hearts”. There was room in Sufism, he considered, for all of (scientific) introspection, theology and Qur’anic and Hadith study. He further articulated attitudes (such as repentance, pious fear of God, love, resolution and fear with hope) that would be held to produce particular mystical ‘states’ and ‘stations’ in later Sufism.

Al-Junayd’s (d. 910) focus was on knowledge of God. He was initially a Baghdadi follower of Muhasibi who developed a school of ‘sober’ Sufis (as opposed to the "intoxicated" Sufis (see below)). He continued to follow the idea of Sufism as an intellectual and sober quest for understanding of God. This he saw as a process of returning to God and "life" from a state of absence of God and "death".

Abu Yazid al-Bistami (d. c. 875) led the "intoxicated" Sufis who believed that the mystic was actually able to become one with God (rather than merely subsist in Him/Her/It as soberly proposed by the other school). Al-Hallaj (d. 922) took this to such an extreme that he was executed at the indirect instigation of Islamic jurists, who saw him as mad and a blasphemer (which he probably was). He proposed that the mystic could achieve this oneness without erecting all the ‘pillars’ of Islam (he (or she) could perform a ‘spiritual’ hajj, for instance, in his (or her) own home without having to outwardly perform a hajj). For a time, the teachings of this "intoxicated" school led to a decline in the prestige of Sufism. Al-Hallaj was essentially executed for saying that he was God (so he essentially suffered the fate of Jesus).

Finally, after over a century, the many-talented al-Ghazali managed to reinstate Sufism as legitimate in Islam. He was reacting to excessive formalism and intellectualism in Islamic rules. He sought to actually experience God’s presence and finally settled on Sufism after rejecting theology, philosophy and Esoteric Isma’ili teaching methods (in all of which he apparently excelled). He was able to integrate his practice into a scheme permitted by Islamic theology and laws. His form of Sufism was directed towards a fullness of worship of God and fellowship with others. He fully articulated the way of Sufism including its stations and states also discussed by al-Qushayri (d. 1074) and others in the 11^th Century.

The main stations were held to be repentance, abstinence, renunciation, wariness or pious awe of God, meekness (tawadu’), humility (khushu’), sincerity, constancy and courtesy. Others included earnest spiritual striving, solitude and withdrawal, silence, hope, sorrow and fear. The last "station", which may also be the first of the "states" is satisfaction or acceptance. Later states include servanthood to God, desire for God or seeking of God and finally love and spiritual yearning.

Major Sufi poets after this rebirth include Ibn ‘Arabi (d. 1240), the Egyptian, Omar Ibn al-Farid (d. 1235), the Iranian (and writing in Persian), Farid al-Din Attar (d. 1220), and from Anatolia the famous Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273) (also writing in Persian).

Ibn ‘Arabi was also a great Sufi master. He was born in Murcia in Islamic Spain and was also educated in Cordova. In Sufism, he was first instructed by masters including two women. He also travelled to Tunisia, Mecca, Jerusalem, Damascus (where he died and his tomb there is still venerated) and Aleppo in Syria and Konya and Malatya in Anatolia. He wrote extensively on Sufism and his main idea was that man could receive insight direct from God with the aid of a Sufi master as guide. For him, the guided part which was a “journey towards God” would be followed by the “journey in God” of the successful Sufi who had learned to love the divine wisdom.

After the early asceticism was thus modified and as a more popularist form of Sufism thus developed and until the late 19th Century, most Muslims in the Middle East were affiliated with at least one of the many Sufi "Schools" (usually as "lay" members).