Iranian Scientists’ Role in Development of Islamic Studies

Dr. Mahdi Goljan

 Islamic culture and civilization have been intertwined and interlinked with the name of Iran and Iranian individuals, as it is impossible to address Islamic civilization without enumerating Iranian scientists. Inspiring Islam, Quran and Holy Prophet’s moral spirituality, Iranians affected positively the mankind civilization, and thanks to their invaluable services, either Islam or Muslims found more reputation and higher stand across the globe. In other words, researchers and scientists who are active in the Islamic culture and civilization have unanimously emphasized the importance of the mentioned fact and have described it as an actual and very serious matter. Ayatollah Murtaza Motahhari[1]’s The Contributions of Islam and Iran to each other and Dr. Ali Akbar Velayati’s the encyclopedia of Islam and Iran: dynamics of culture and the living civilization, translated into English and Arabic, have addressed such interactive contributions by detail and have explained the role and influence of Iranians in the Islamic culture and civilization. However, I believe that this matter is so important that any more studies and researches would not be sufficed to explore its covert corners. In the following paragraphs you can find a short brief of some of such broad services offered by Iranians which need to be explained by detail later:

Science transfer and attraction of scientists in the Muslim World were realized through two ways; first, through attraction, development, and innovation of sciences emerged mostly from the West (Greece especially) and second, through attraction, development and innovation of sciences emerged from the East (India and Iran). 

1)     West: Greece was the main source of sciences which found its way into Muslim World through two methods:

a)     Indirectly, using Syriac and Latin language whose agents were among Muslims, Christians and Syriac came from Iraq and Syria who have converted to Islam or have started to translate Latin contexts into Arabic.

b)    The biggest science center occupied by Muslims was Egypt’s Grand Alexandria Library

2)     Science transfer and attraction of scientists from the East was done through two methods:

a)     Through India: During Abbasid era which mostly was limited to Indian medical, astronomical and mathematical texts.

b)    Through Iran and Iranian scientists

The scientific activities in Iran were at its peak during Khosrau I, aka Anushirawan the Just. Gundishapur City was the sole grand scientific center of the world in the time. Gundishapur University was chock-full of Syriac and Christian students. Its main field of activity was education and training medicine. Nestorians who have expelled from Odessa and settled in Gundishapur have brought about many books with them including philosophical books. Equally, a number of exiled scientists from Athens started to translate Plato’s books in Gundishapur City.

Al-Mansur, the second caliph of Abbassid Dynasty, set Baghdad as his capital. He was the first caliph who summoned astronomers to his court, and used them as his advisors in all affairs of the country. Iranian’s information and knowledge on medicine and astronomy was so considerable that Al Mansur has called on a number of them to his territory. Nobakhti family was an Iranian family whose members were proficient in astronomy and were invited by Al Mansur to Baghdad. Later they converted to Islam and Shia. Late in his life, Al Mansur suffered from gastroenteritis, thus invited Bakhtashiu, Gundishapur Hospital’s president in 147 AH, invited to come and cure his disease. The Caliph requested Bakhtashiu to stay with him in Baghdad. The Caliph son, Mahdi, was overly fond of Bakhtashiu and his family. The influence of Gundishapur University on the preliminary medicine of Abbasids has partly indebted to Bakhtashiu family; ten members of the family were special physicians, advisors and also translators of Abbasids for about 300 years. Harun Al-Rashid was another Caliph of Abbasids who under consultations of his chancellor, Yahya Khalid Barmaki, started to purchase scientific books and encouraged his scientists to study them; he also transferred the books of Constantinople library after conquest.

Harun Al-Rashid took advantage of Nobakhti Family to promote translation occupation and later during Al-Ma’moon era the translation movement was developed and Iranians played a significant role in this regard. Al-Ma’moon’s mother was Iranian as well, so he was very fond of Iranian scientists.

Al-Ma’moon’s House of Wisdom was run by Iranians such as Sahl ibn Haroon and Sa’d ibn Haroon and later Mohammad Ibn Musa Khwarazmi (322 A.H.), a famous Iranian astronomer, became president of Ma’moon’s library. He was one of the outstanding tutors of Gundishapur University and set down Algebra and Moghabela which was one of the major mathematical textbooks taught in the European universities up to 16^th century. In other words he was the founder of Algebra or Algorithm and counting technique.

Avicenna, Iranian well known physician who was proficient in philosophy, medicine, astronomy was born in 370 A.H. in Bukhara. He cured Nuh II, One of Samanid’s kings, when he was only 17, and found his way into the royal library. He was communicating with Abu Reihan Birouni and Abu Nasr Eraqghi, and his best book in medicine is Canon of Medicine which was considered for many years as a textbook in the West. Avicenna’s Al-Shifa was a prominent book on mathematics in his era as well and has four sections: 1) geometry, 2) arithmetic, 3) Music, and 4) astronomy.

Nasir al-Din al-Tusi was another Iranian scientist who served the Islamic civilization on mathematics and astronomy fields. He was born in Tus in 597 A.H. he immigrated to Neyshabur when he was young and learned mathematic from Ibn Yones. His life was overshadowed by the Mongol invasions of Genghis Khan and his grandson Helagu. He constructed Maragheh observatory for Ilkhanites and late in his life Tusi went to Kadhimiya and died there in 672 A.H.

His mathematical works can be categorized in two classes:

a)     His own works including nine books such as Al-Tadhkirahfi'ilm al-hay'ah (A memoir on the science of astronomy)

b)    His works on others’ books, such as sharh al-isharat (Commentary on Avicenna's Isharat)

He enjoyed some exhaustive viewpoints in astronomy as well, it is said that Nicolaus Copernicus under influence of Tusi wrote a book in opposition of Ptolemy.

Besides Nasirddin Tusi, for mathematics we had another pundit named Ghiaseddin Jamshid Kashani who found and measured "π" and "2π" for the first time. Khayyam Neyshaburi was another great Iranian mathematician and astronomer in his time; however his is known in the world, particularly in west, as a poet. Khayyam played a very important role in solving third degree equations and analytical geometry. He is recalled as the first scientist who used algebra in the geometry.

Ibn Haitham Ahvazi was another Iranian scientists who was born in 354  A.H. he was minister of Buyid Dynasty, an Iranian ruling dynasty, then immigrated to Egypt and started scientific works for Fatimid caliphs. As a head of a scientific board he fathomed Nile and its peripheral area.

His perspectives about optics and darkroom photography were excellent. He set down many books about light and physic, out of which Al-Manazer can be pointed. Even, he has been called as founder father of photography and cinema.

Abdolrahman Sufi Razi and Abolvafa Buzjani were other prominent Iranian scientists who were proficient in astronomy and mathematics.

Historically, there were four great medical encyclopedias which all were compiled by Iranian authors and scientists:

-Al-Havi and Al-Mansuri written by Zakariya Razi

- Al-Sana'ate Al-Tayyeba by Ali ibnAbbas Ahwazi

- Canon of medicine by Avicenna