The Effect of Islam on Science in the Middle East - 9th-12th Century

Neil Tyson talks about this period of time when the scientific centre of the world was Baghdad (from the Beyond Belief lectures). People of all beliefs were free to come and exchange ideas, including 'doubters' or what we'd call athiests. Out of this came a great number of scientific discoveries about astronomy, mathematics, medicine, engineering.

However something happened that led to the end of this age of science in the Islamic world. Neil Tyson describes what happened, involving a scholar (Imam Hamid al-Ghazali) who put forth the idea that mathematics was the work of the devil. This plus other things led to the collapse of that scientific tradition, and it has not since recovered.

I suspect that if the thinkers from that period saw the evidence for evolution, they would accept it gladly. Only with this attitude of accepting evidence as more reliable than dogma can a society develop intellectually, as it did in the time of Islamic science, when doubt wasn't blasphemy.

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Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Islamic
• Science
• Neil
• Tyson
• Athiest
• Evolution
• Intelligent
• Design
• Baghdad
• Imam
• Hamid
• al-Ghazali
• Koran
• Quran
• Islam

[thecreepyguy]

This reminds me of that documentary guns germs and steel.

A part of it that i found interesting was how china had an emperor that outlawed building ocean ships or something. And how they could have potentially been more prominent in the world in place of what actually happened with spain/france/england.

In the same way that assuming this is true, Islamic nations could have been world leaders in science and philosophy if their religion wasn't so restrictive.

[salimzwein]

@tarqoo3 while I totally agree with you on the fact that it was wars that put a halt to the science progress in the Abbasid Empire, the question is what happened after these wars ended: the Mamelouks who governed (as well as the Fatimids and all who followed) were not as open minded towards science as the Abbasids were and the influence of Al Ghazali became so potent that basically it is his teachings they teach in the religious schools of Baghdad and Cairo

[forgottenmemories63]

@ZainQasmi Well, If we compare Christianity and Islam side by side during the dark ages, We see that Islamic scholars were the ones that made the most important discoveries for some time.

My point is what led to decline of Islamic Golden Age after the 12th Century ? It was the rise in - "Islam is Perfect and Quran cannot be questioned" mentality that lasts till this day. People became more religious and sparks of Curiosity and Interest disappeared in Islamic world as everything became "Haram".

[ZainQasmi]

@forgottenmemories63 Extremist? Brother you are a victim of the same propaganda by media/governments against Islam.Ever wondered why Islam is the fastest growing religion in the world esp Europe?I'm pretty sure no one is being forced to convert. Infact all those bombings & terrorism -thats NOT ISLAM. Islam means "PEACE". So would you blame a religion of 1.8 billion followers just b/c a small band of people carry out such acts claiming to be Muslims?Btw "Kafir" means non-muslim,its not derogatory

[ZainQasmi]

@forgottenmemories63 I'm sorry to say but belief in ALLAH & CREATION is a fundamental part of Islam,ur point is flawed NO ISLAMIC SCHOLAR COULD HAVE SAID THAT.I suggest you study and evaluate both the theories yourself. Thats true the Greeks should be credited with a lot of development in science but ALOT (thousands) of Muslim research and books were literally burnt after invasion. I'm talking facts here, Most Muslim scientists and scholars during that era were actually DEVOUT Muslims.

[ZainQasmi]

@forgottenmemories63 Dear if Muslims had any DARK AGE in history then its TODAY, for then it was dark age of the Christendom. I would advise you to study history of Spain during the middle age,it included sewage system,street lightning,public baths plus a 2000 bed hospital two nurses for each ...it was the most prosperous european nation. For 700 years Spain was under Muslim rule thu they were pushed out in under 20 days Why?B/C of our weakened faith, we gave more priority to worldly pleasures!

[forgottenmemories63]

@ZainQasmi Critical thinkers like Persian "Sohrevardi" were put to death because he proposed theories that conflicted with Islamic beliefs. He was the first one to suggest a theory that excluded Allah from the equation and Islamic Clerics did not like this.

Many such as him were hunted down and put to death during 12th Century as Islamic age of learning transformed into Islamic Extremist Belief System that lasts to this day. So, I believe Belief in Islam only made it worse for free thinkers.

[forgottenmemories63]

@ZainQasmi The reason Islam stopped it's progress in the Dark Ages was because Muslims became more conservative over their religion. Ancient Islamic law by people such as Al-Ghazali commanded that depiction of art, creation of theories that held the importance of man (Islamic Scholars were the first to suggested something similar to Theory of Evolution) were in direct contradiction to Allah, Also topics of Science were first put forward by Greeks, Who were considered as "Khafirs" by Al-Ghazali.

[TheAlsalaam]

fool neil come in arab world and know him from near or stop misleading if you dare debate face to face that we undrestand you what we were and is.

[ZainQasmi]

@thecreepyguy brother, with all due respect You dont have a clue as to what you are saying...if there is a reason why Islam/Muslims had such a prosperous past then it was solely due to the FAITH of Muslims in their hearts which today unfortunately isnt all that good...on the contrary America promised the world all that Freedom and see what it actually gave - A MORALLY DECAYED AND GREEDY SOCIETY plus wars all over the world with entire nations annihilated...i hope u get the point...

[uarsalan]

@MsBaystater It still is but faith is not there. When Islam was at its peak, the believers were actually believers and adhered to every word of it not what you see today. It is that Muslims became too arrogant and big headed and started to derail. The book is a guide. It says balance religion and the world. But it seems they seem to be slipping from both.

[tarun1982]

Islam is for the mentally crippled.