ISCI490/ASTU400M Science and Civilization in Islam

I changed my mind. I’m going to edit the “history of science” and “science and Islam” pages.

– aalia

Hey, just wanted to let you all know that I’m going to edit the “Gravity” page on Wiki

– aalia

Hey,

I am going to do my Wiki projects on 2 articles. I am adding a section to the ‘Inventions in Medeival Islam article,” and  I am adding to the history section of the neuroscience article.

Hi people,

For those of you who don’t already know about it. I have found this BBC documentary on YouTube called Science & Islam. It is hosted by a physicist, Jim Al-Khalili, who travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

His interest basically stemmed from the fact that he is a child of Iraqi (father) and British (mother) parents. His early education took place in Iraq, but eventually he moved on to study in England when his family moved. What he noticed was a major difference in the names of scientists during his studies, in particular, the absence of all Muslim/Arab contribution to the scientific sphere. In adulthood he decides to go back to his routes in Iraq and other Islamic countries to uncover and learn more about these Muslim scientists who have been completely obscured from Western education and Science.

I found it to be a very interesting documentary. It is rather long. It consists of three parts but each part is broken down into six sections because of copyrighting or distribution laws or whatever it is.

Part 1: The Language of Science goes over how the Islamic world increased scientific knowledge between the 8th and 14th centuries. Examples of how many words we hear today in science like algebra, algorithm and more come from Arabic origin.

Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sxepxIPPaBw&feature=related
Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OrEAhsZusqk&feature=related
Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADSae9lwfdA&feature=related
Part 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3nR2P-q31A&feature=related
Part 5 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZOxLwbUCJs&feature=related
Part 6 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODyU6Tkc7i4&feature=related

Part 2: The Empire of Reason looks at how Egyptian physicist Ibn al-Haytham helped establish the science of optics.

Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wnQ7-GIAO_U&feature=related
Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nyWqx4qWr1s&feature=related
Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WMXks8eib7s&feature=related
Part 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sqZ3CzIt4x4&feature=related
Part 5 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V2we-6K2x3U&feature=related
Part 6 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHV3EyKaOTg&feature=related

Part 3: The Power of Doubt shows how Islamic scientific ideas permeated into the West in the 16th and 17th centuries.

Part 1 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RG0gOMq4ihE&feature=related
Part 2 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2bVMkwjmAw&feature=related
Part 3 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9iTQg5iyx4&feature=related
Part 4 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWgwULmmZjA&feature=related
Part 5 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JI187ih5z0I&feature=related
Part 6 – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHuPCiC5jHM&feature=related

I really recommend it if you have the time. Maybe it will give you some creative ideas about your projects.

Hilary

I still think an instructional tour (to a school) to teach our own community about the contributions of Muslims to the Sciences they are studying is a good idea so I give myself a vote. Either that or informative posters to be posted on the walls of these schools.

Mohamad Abdelwahab

1001 inventions video

This is the 1001 inventions video Dalia posted earlier. It’s very well made and pretty entertaining. Something of this sort would be a cool project and it’s perfect for a yoing audience which corresponds to our kids book idea?

I am sure many of you know that we have trying to find guest speakers for the course, and in doing so we have been able to speak to many knowledgable scholars. Today I had the oppurtunity to speak to Dr.Alnoor Dhanani, a scholar from Harvard  University. He specializes in the fields of the history of Islamic science, philosophy and relious thought. Speaking with him gave me an interesting perspective on many issues relavent to our course and he also brought up some ambiguous, but noteworthy questions that we could discuss in our “Islam and Modern Science,” section. Some of our discussions we have had in the past few weeks would have also benefitted from his insight.

Nonetheless he brought up a few key points. One of which is that in studying the hitory of science in any civilization, it must be understood in a local and temporal context. This means, how did scientisits view their work, why did they do it and how was it received by the society that existed at the time? It is very complicated to study historical sciences under Islam through the lens of modern science. This also brings up another point which is the fact that it is tough to draw similarities in abstract discoveries of the past to finding in the present. This will be very interesting to discuss in class. One last thing that stuck with me, is that many of the “great discoveries” we will see over the next few weeks in our presentations were not highlly revered in Muslim societies. An example of this is that Ibn Al-Haytham’s work on Optics was more widely read in some Latin circles than it was by some Muslims. I am sure why this is the case.

Anyways he sent me a chapter he wrote in a textbook, which would have probably been more useful earlier in the course as a reading, but it is still very well written, informative and interesting.  I will attach it to the media tab.

Raheem

Hello! So there is some weird admin setting turned on which only allows the blog admin (i.e. Raheem) to see who posted what which is kind of annoying. Could you guys please start leaving your name at the end of your posts? Also if you have a second please add this to your previous posts… Some of you are already doing this Thank You!

-aalia

Hey Guys,

Since we have student presentations for the next few weeks, are going to move the discussion about term project ideas here. Please comment and post your ideas! We should decide fairly soon so everybody can start working on things and avoid having all the work pile up until the end.  PS. quick note about marking: Our faculty sponsor, Dr. Dharamsi, whom most of you have met, will likely be marking this project.

IDEAS:

– term paper. possibly compiled into a published monologue. topic: pick a Muslim scientist and situate them and their contributions in their respective field.

– poster/exhibition somewhere (sub? art gallery?). problems: difficult to book. possible solution: booth during I-week? or celebrate research week?

– you tube video. possibly show somewhere on campus. (I LIKE!)

– lesson plan for elementary school students. either to be delivered by students in the class or given to teachers. at BCMS or local elementary schools or both?

– children’s book

– game? i don’t remember the details of this….

– calendar. each page could represent a particular Muslim scientist, OR a field (for example mathematics or chemistry). Give calendar (sell?) to people (like the UBC Dean’s and science professors) to put up in their offices. (I LIKE THIS IDEA. I know the point was brought up that it’s “too easy” or “lazy” BUT i think that if we put the appropriate amount of time into it, we could get it to look very professional, plus perhaps find some funding somewhere…. and its very feasible and will result in a more permanent way of getting our information out there… like how cool would it be if Mr. Toope had this in his office? The dean of science? science advising? professors who you went to see for office hours? etc. etc. etc.!!!)

– aalia

Hey, This is an article I found from a couple years ago in the Vancouver Sun by Peter Mcknight, entitled “Coupling of Science and Religion.”

Link:http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/westcoastnews/story.html?id=920b6a41-2536-4cab-a98f-df24da4c8789

I thought it was very well written and gave a good overview of historical relations between science and religion. It has obvious relevance to our class since he talks about Muslim influence on Modern science and about Islamic sentiments towards understanding divinity as driving intellectual pursuits.It is also interesting that he talks of Christianity and Science, and that these two entities have not always been hostile toward one another.

I was very happy to see this published in a local newspaper. It goes to show that voices which look not only to reconcile Science and Faith but also encourage exploring ways in which the two have been intertwined, can be heard. He makes a powerful point in his conclusion that only in the last century or two have Science and Religion been pried apart form one another into seperate spheres. It is this perceived segregation that has caused the dominant idea to be one of outright incompatibility. However, such an article will get everyday readers, whether they are religious or irreligious, or scientifically inclined, to consider the “Coupling of Science and Religion.”