Muslim Contributions to Science, Philosophy, and the Arts

by Huma Ahmad

In the modern world Islam is seen as many things, but rarely is it viewed as a source of inspiration and enlightenment. Though it is a force of enlightenment and it is not only verses of the Qur’an that testify to that fact, but also the great body of scholarship produced during the Middle Ages. While Europe was in the midst of darkness, it was the Muslims, spurred on by the light of their new Deen who picked up the torch of scholarship and science. It was the Muslims who preserved the knowledge of antiquity, elaborated upon it, and finally, passed it on to Europe.

Although every peoples earn what they do and pass on, it is important for us to learn about and appreciate the contributions of the Islamic civilization by the early Muslims. Colonialism, the institution of the Western educational model, along with Eurocentrism often portrays Islam as backwards, incompatible with science and technology and anti-educational. Muslim school children never learn of their glorious past and often the only thing passed on to them is the inferiority complex of the generation before them. From the past we can learn from our mistakes and use the analysis of those great examples before us as role models to enrich us in the future.

In the seventh century A.D., the prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent to the people of Arabia. Within a decade of his death the Muslims had conquered all of the Arabian peninsula. Within a century, Islam had spread from Al-Andalus in Spain to the borders of China. Islam unified science, theology, and philosophy. Muslims were commanded to study, seek knowledge, and learn and benefit from others' experiences by Allah (SWT) in the holy Quran and by the prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the Sunnah. It was this that inspired the Muslims to great heights in sciences, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, art and architecture.

Muslim scholars began obtaining Greek treatises and started their study and translation into Arabic a few centuries after the Hijrah (622 A.D.) They critically analyzed, collated, corrected and supplemented substantially the Greek science and philosophy. After this period began what is known as the Golden Age of Islam, which lasted for over two centuries. It is here we find many of the great scientists of Islam who literally left behind hundreds and thousands of books on the various branches of science.

Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina, universally known as Avicinna (980-1037), alone wrote 246 books, including Kitab-al Shifa (The Book of Healing) consisting of 20 volumes and Al- Qanun fit Tibb (The Canons of Medicine). The Qanun was the chief guide for medical science in the West from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. Dr. William Osler, who wrote The Evolution of Modern Science, remarks "The Qanun has remained a medical Bible for a longer period than any other work". Containing over a million words, it surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources, and including his own original contributions.

Ibn Sina's original contributions included such advances such as recognition of the contagious nature of phtisis and tuberculosis; distribution of diseases by water and soil and the interaction between psychology and health. Also, the book described over 760 drugs and became the most authentic of its era. Ibn Sina was also the first to describe meningitis and made rich contributions to anatomy, gynaecology and child health.

This interest in medicine went back to the time of the Prophet (SAW), who once said that there existed a cure for every disease. With this spirit there were hospitals and clinics built all over the Muslim world, the earliest built in 707 by Caliph Walid ibn Abd a-Malik in Damascus. Muslims made many advances such as the idea of circulation of blood and quarantine and the foundation of the first apothecary shops and the earliest school of pharmacy.

Hunayn ibn Ishaq, a philosopher and physician made advances in Medicine, Physics, Mathematics, Astronomy Veterinary Science, and Ophthalmology. He was the head of the famous school of translators founded by Caliph Mamun at Baghdad and wrote the first systematic text book on opthamology.

Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (865-925 AD), known as Rhazes, was one of the most prolific Muslim doctors and probably second only to Ibn Sina in his accomplishments. He was born at Ray, Iran and became a student of Hunayn ibn Ishaq and later a student of Ali ibn Rabban. He wrote over 200 books, including Kitab al-Mansuri, ten volumes on Greek medicine, and al-Hawi, an encyclopedia of medicine in 20 volumes. In al-Hawi, he included each medical subject's information available from Greek and Arab sources and then added his own remarks based on his experience and views. He classified substances as vegetable, animal or mineral while other alchemists divided them into "bodies", "souls" and "spirits".

Al-Razi was first placed in charge of the first Royal Hospital at Ray, from where he soon moved to a similar position in Baghdad where he remained the head of its famous Muqtadari Hospital for a long time. He found a treatment for kidney and bladder stones, and explained the nature of various infectious diseases. He also conducted research on smallpox and measles and was the first to introduce the use of alcohol for medical purposes. A unique feature to his medical system was that he greatly favored cure through correct and regulated food intake. This was combined with his emphasis on the influence of psychological factors on health. He also tried proposed remedies first on animals in order to evaluate their effects and side effects. He was also an expert surgeon and the first to use opium for anesthesia.

Another great physician who soon followed was al-Razi was Abul Qasim al-Zahrawi (963-1013 AD) who is known as Albucasis to the West. A famous surgeon in his time, at the court of Caliph al- Hakam II, students and patients flocked to him from the Muslim world and Europe. He wrote the medical encyclopedia al-Tasrif li man ajaz an-il-talif, which contained 30 sections of surgical knowledge and illustrations of 200 surgical instruments, most of which he designed himself. The Encyclopedia was not only a standard for physicians, but even five centuries later it was being used as the standard textbook on surgery in universities in Europe. He also performed many delicate operations such as Cesareans and was also the first to use silk thread for stitching wounds.

Al-Idrisi was born in Cordova, Spain in 1099. His major contribution was in medicinal plants which he described in many books, such as Kitab al-Jami-li-Sifat Ashtat al-Nabatat. He collected plans and data not reported earlier and added this to the subject of botany. From him a large number of new drugs from plants with their evaluations became available to medical practitioners.

Al-Idrisi also made original contributions to topography, as related to economics, physical factors and cultural aspects. He wrote geographical encyclopedias, the largest called Rawd-Unnas wa Nuzhalat Nafs (Pleasure of Men and Delight of Souls). Al-Idrisi also wrote on the subjects of fauna, zoology and threapeutical aspects. His work was soon translated into Latin and his books on geography especially remained popular in the east and west for several centuries.

Working in the field of botany as well was abu Muhammad Ibn al-Baitar, also from Spain. He was one of the greatest scientists of Muslim Spain and one of the greatest botanists and pharmacists of the Middle Ages. He went on many traveling expeditions to collect plants as far as Africa and Asia Minor. He wrote Kitab al-Jami al-Adiwaya al-Mufrada, one of the greatest botanical compilations dealing with medicinal plants in Arabic The encyclopedia was made of over 1,400 items, many of which were not known before. The book referred to the works of 150 authors, mostly Arabic and quoted about 20 early Greek scientists. It was translated into Latin and published as late as 1758.

Ibn al-Baitars works were characterized by observation, analysis and classification and exerted a profound influence on Eastern as well as Western botany and medicine. Even though many of his works were translated and published late in the western languages, many earlier scientists had studied various parts of the book and made several references to it.

At the same time as these advances in medicine were being made, the Muslims produced some of the most outstanding Mathematicians. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, born in 780 A.D., was the founder of modern Algebra. He developed sine, cosine and trigonometrical tables, which were later translated to the West. His book on algebra Hisab al-Jabr waal-Muqabalah (The Calculation of Integration and Equation) was used until the 16th century as the principal textbook of European universities. In it he writes that given an equation, collecting the unknowns in one side of the equation is called al-Jabr and collecting the knowns in the other side of the equation is called al-Mukabalah. He also described basic types of equations: nx=m , x^2=nx , x^2=m , m+x^2 =nx, m+nx +x^2 and x^2=m+nx. He also solved the particular equation x^2+21=10x using geometrical arguments.

Al-Khawarizmi also helped introduce Arabic numerals, the decimal position system, and the concept of zero. Algebra and Algorithm are in fact corruption's of his work and name. Interestingly, this first every book on algebra included many examples from the Islamic inheritance laws and how they could be solved using algebra. Under al-Mamun the caliph of the time, he with some others were the first to map the globe.

In the field of Algebra the Muslims continued with Thabit Ibn Qurra's more general equations solved by geometrical arguments. In 901, Abu Kamil, called "the Egyptian calculator", did some work on algebra in which he established rules for manipulating algebraic expressions. He also proved various laws such as ax*bx-abx^2, a(bx)=(ab)x and (10-x)(10-x)=100+x^2-20x (Mirza, p124).

Around 1000, Abu Bakr Al-Karaji, in his book. The Marvelous discussed higher order equations such as fourth and fifth order equations, combing geometry and arithmetic. Al-Samawal established the power law x^nx^n=x^(m+n) in 1180 in his work The Shining which is just one of his 85 books. He also worked on performing multiplication of algebraic expressions involving terms with different powers and division of polynomials. Abu Yunus proved the famous identity cos(a)cos(b)={cos(a+b)+cos(a-b)}/2 and used spherical trigonometry to set formulas to computer prayer times. Al-Biruni also used spherical trigonometry to find the direction of Mecca or any other city on the globe.

Another outstanding mathematician was Ghiyath al-Din al Kashani of the late fourteenth century. He worked on the theory of numbers and techniques of computations. In 1424, he computed a value of 2pi to sixteen decimal digits of accuracy using an approximation of the circle by 805306368 side polygon. One of his most important works was Miftah elHussab or The Calculators' Key, in it he described an algorithm for finding the fifth root of any number. The book was used in Persian schools until the seventeenth century. Later in his life he moved to Samarkand at the request of the then ruler to help direct a new scientific school and observatory and conduct research with other scholars of the time. Kashani also wrote on how to approximate sin(1) by solving a cubic equation accurately.

Umar Khayyam known to the west as only a poet actually also was an excellent mathematician. He criticized Euclid's theorems, evolved a methodology for the solution of third degree equations, and did research in the field of binomials and their coefficients.

Abu Wafa Muhammad al-Buzanji was born in Buzjan, Nishapur in 940 A. D. He became a great mathematician and astronomer at Baghdad and died in 997 A.D. Al-Buzanji's main contribution lies in several branches of mathematics, in geometry and trigonometry especially. In geometry he contributed to a solution of geometrical problems with opening of the compass, construction of a square equivalent to other squares, regular polyhedra, construction of regular hectagon taking for its side of the equilateral triangle inscribed in the same circle, constructions of parabola by points and geometrical solution of the equations x4=a and x4+ax3=b.

Al-Buzanji's contribution to the development of trigonometry was also extensive. He was the first to show the generality of the sine theorem relative to spherical triangles. He developed a new method of constructing sine tables, the value of sin 30` being correct to the eight decimal place. He also developed relations for sine(a+b) and the formula: 2 sin2 (a/2) = 1 -cos a and sin a = 2 sin (a/2) cos (a/2). In addition he studied tangent and calculated tables for them. He introduced the secant and cosecant for the first time. He wrote a large number of books on mathematics and other subjects, most of which have been lost or exist in modified forms. He also wrote rich commentaries on Euclid, Diophanatos and al-Khwarizmi. A sizable part of today's trigonometry can be traced back to him.

Abu Abdullah al-Battani (862-929 A.D.) was a son of a scientist and also a famous astronomer, mathematician and astrologer. He is often considered one of the greatest astronomists of Islam. His career of 42 years included a number of important discoveries, including the accurate determination of the solar year as 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes, and 24 seconds, which is very close to modern estimates. He also determined with accuracy the obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of the seasons and the true and mean orbit of the sun. He proved that in contrast to Ptolemy, the variation of the apparent angular diameter of the sun and the possibility of annular eclipses. His observations of lunar and solar eclipses were used by Dunthorne in 1749 to determine the secular acceleration of motion of the moon.

In mathematics, al-Battani was the first to replace the use of Greekchords by sines and the first to develop the concept of cotangent and furnished their table in degrees. He wrote a number of books on astronomy and trigonometry. His most famous book was his astronomical treatise with tables which was translated into Latin in the 12th century, called De Sceinta Stellerum De numeris Stellerum et Motibus. This was extremely influential in Europe until the Renaissance, with translations available in several languages. His original discoveries in both astronomy and trigonometry were of great consequence in the development of those sciences.

In the related field of Physics, Abu al-Fath Abd al-Rahman al-Khazini studied mechanics and hydrostats and wrote books on physics and astronomy. Al-Biruni, a geographer, chronologist, mathematician, astronomer, was also a physicist. His Elements of Astrology remained a textbook for centuries and he also wrote on specific gravity, and developed formulas to determine absolute and specific weights of all objects.

Abu al-Hassan al Haitham (965-1039 AD) was one of the most eminent physicists, whose contribution to optics and the scientific method were great. Originally from Basra, he went to Egypt where he was asked to find ways of controlling the flood of the Nile. Being unsuccessful in this, he feigned madness until the death of Caliph al-Hakim. He also traveled to Spain and during this time also had time for his scientific pursuits. He wrote treatises such as Kital al-Manzir on light, worked with mirrors and lenses, reflection, refraction, and magnifying and burning glasses. He discussed the propagation of light and colors, optic illusions and opposed the view of Euclid and Ptolemy that the eye sent out visual rays. From studying motion, he discovered the principle of inertia.

He contradicted Ptolemy's and Euclid's theory of vision that objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes. According to Haitham, the rays originated in the object of vision and not in the eye. Through this kind of extensive research on optics, he has been considered the father of modern Optics. Roger Bacon and all medieval Western writers on optics based their work largely on his Opticae Thesaurus and it even influenced Leonardo da Vinci, Johann Kepler and Newton.. Haitham also studied the phenomena of sunrise and sunset and explained rainbows through the principle of reflection. He was known for the earliest use of the camera obscura as well.

Al-Kindi (d. 873 AD) considered the first philosopher of the Arabs, also contributed to Physics , Optics, reflection of light, specific weights, tides and metallurgy.

Muslims also made discoveries in Chemistry by discovering many new substances such as potash, nitrate of silver, corrosive sublimate and nitrate and sulfuric acid as well as improving methods for evaporation, filtration, sublimation, calcination, melting, distillation, and crystallization. Jabir, otherwise known as the father of Arab alchemy contributed in the fields of Pharmacology and Toxicology.

Al-Asma'i (740-882 AD) was a philologist who contributed to Zoology, Botany and Animal Husbandry. Other Muslim botanists described plants in detail, medicinal herbs, physiology of plants and wrote books on horses, camels, sheep, birds, the history of bees and locusts, the effect of climate on the behavior of animals and men. Also working on the subject of Botany, Suri al- Dimashqi researched plants around Damascus and Lebanon at different stages of growth.

In the field of geography, Ibn Majid invented the compass. The Muslims traversed the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific Ocean as well as sailing around the African continent, in their trading with India, Iran and Greece. They wrote such books as Akhbar al-Hind (Reports on India), Akhbar al-Sin (Reports on China) and Ajib al-Hind (Curiosities of India). Sulaiman Al-Makri wrote of his travels in Al-budat and other books. Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi, a historian and scientist, traveled the world journeying from Persia, Central Asia, India, the Near East, Madagascar and the China Sea. He wrote his encyclopedic volume on his travels which included history, cosmology and geography.

Al-Biruni was the first known writer to identify certain geological facts, such as the formation of sedimentary rocks and the great geological changes that happened in the past. He was also the founder of geodesy and wrote and improved upon the methods of measuring longitudes, latitudes, heights of mountains and the diameter of the earth. He also wrote on biological evolution.

Of the many scientists in the field of astronomy, Al-Sufi helped build a famous observatory under the Buwayh sultan Sharaf-al-Dawlah. He prepared charts of the heavens with magnitudes and was the first to mark the nebula of Andromeda in his atlas. Al-Zarqali from al-Andalus invented the astrolabe and measured the rate of motion. He also constructed astronomical instruments and built a water clock.

Jabir ibn Aflah was a Spanish Arab who criticized Ptolemy's heliocentric theory of planetary motion. He designed the first portable celestial sphere to explain and measure the movements of celestial objects and led the way for spherical trigonometry. Al-Bitruji developed a new theory of stellar movements. Names of many constellations, words like zenith and nadir and even names of craters of the moon all go back to the works of Muslim scholars of this time.

We can see that these Islamic sciences had a great impact upon both the Western world and also the two major civilizations east of the Islamic world, India and China. Without the Islamic scientists and their work, the development of science in these civilizations would have been different. Between the eleventh and thirteenth centuries the major works of Islamic scientists were translated into Latin in Spain, Sicily and Italy. Muslim scientists like Ibn Sina and al-Razi became household names in the West. Islamic medicine led the way for European medicine.

In the field of mathematics the works of al-Khwarazmi and others were taught in the Western universities for centuries. Astronomical tables written in the West were based upon the work of Muslims before them. Treatises on algebra that were written were mostly based on the work of Khayyam. Works in chemistry written in Latin used an extensive Arabic vocabulary because there was no Latin vocabulary in this field.

Many of these scientists were also great philosophers, such as Ibn Sina and al-Razi. Ibn Sina initially began studying logic, from there he studied physics and metaphysics and was the first to develop a complete philosophical system in Arabic. Ibn Sina's philosophical encyclopedia Kitab al-Shifa was a monumental work, embodying a vast field of knowledge from philosophy to science. He classified the entire field as follows: theoretical knowledge; physics, mathematics, and metaphysics; ethics, economics and politics. His philosophy synthesized Aristotelian tradition, Neoplatonic influences and Muslim theology. Besides al-Shifa his well-known treatises in philosophy are al-Najat and Isharat.

Al-Razi's contribution as a philosopher was also well known. The basic elements in his philosophical system were the Creator, the spirit, matter, space and time. He discussed their characteristics in detail and his concepts of space and time as constituting a continuum. His philosophical views were, however, criticized by a number of other Muslim scholars of the era.

During the time of Harun al-Rashid (786-809) the Muslims built a library which contained both originals and translations of almost any then known scientific work in Sanskrit, Persian and Greek. His son, Caliph al-Mamun continued the tradition of philosophy and science and established in Baghdad his Bayt al-Hikmah (House of Wisdom), a library and academy. Here the objective was to collect all scientific works, translate them into Arabic and copy and bind them into books to preserve them. No doubt much of the knowledge of the Greeks and others was preserved in this way.

The greatest figure in Islamic philosophy is held to be Imam al-Ghazali, who was a jurist, theologian, philosopher and mystic. Born in 1058 in Khorasan, he came to have a high standard of scholarship in religion and philosophy and gained an appointment as a professor at the Nizamiyah University, which was one of the most reputed institutions of learning at the time. Muslim philosophers of his time had been following and developing many of the viewpoints of Greek philosophy, including Neoplatonic philosophy, which led to conflict with some Islamic teachings. Also at this time the Sufi's began introducing heretical beliefs like avoiding observances of obligatory prayers and other duties of Islam. Ghazali sought to show the faults in both these trends.

In philosophy, Ghazali upheld the approach of mathematics and exact sciences as essentially correct, but he adopted the techniques of Aristotelian logic and the Neoplatonic procedqres and used these as tools to show the flaws in the then prevalent Aristotelianism and excessive rationalism. In contrast to some of the Muslim philosophers like Farabi, he portrayed the inability of reason to comprehend the absolute and the infinite. Reason could not transcend the finite and was limited to the observation of the relative, he argued. Also, several Muslim philosophers had the opinion that the universe was finite in space but infinite in time. Ghazali argued that infinite time was related to infinite space. He was able to create a balance between religion and reason.

Ghazali wrote many books including Tuhafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers) and Ihya al-Ulum al-Islamia (The Revival of the Islamic Sciences). Ghazali's influence was deep. His theological doctrines penetrated Europe and influenced Jewish and Christian Scholasticism and Thomas Aquinas.

Other Muslims also wrote extensively on Creation, God, Aristotelian thought, logic and developed systems of jurisprudence and law. During this period especially, Islamic philosophy was active in Spain and Morocco. These included Ibn Bajjah who wrote Tadbir al-mutawahhid (Regimen of the Solitary) where he discussed the perfect society built upon the inner perfection of individuals within the society. Ibn Tufayl, a physician and philosopher, followed with Hayy al Yaqzan (Living Son of the Awake).

Another great philosopher was Ibn Rushd, the Qadi of Cordova, a jurist, and interpreter of the Shair'ah. Ibn Rushd was a rationalist and wrote about religion and philosophy. In his book Kitab Fasl al-Makal, he wrote about the creation of the world, Divine knowledge of particular things, and the future of the human soul. He also wrote commentaries on Aristotle, to such an extent that in the West he was known as "The Commentator" during the Western Middle Ages and the Renaissance. He wrote an answer to Al-Ghazali's works and wrote the Tahafut al tahafut (Incoherence of the Incoherence). Ibn Rushd's influence on Medieval and Renaissance European history is found to be greater than that of his influence on the Islamic world.

Ibn Khaldun's (1332-1395) main contribution lies in philosophy of history and sociology. He wanted to write a world history aimed at analyzing historical events. The first volume was known as the Muqaddimah. This monumental work identified psychological, economic, environmental and social facts that contributed to the advancement of human civilizations and the currents of history as opposed to just the political context of earlier writers.

In this context, he analyzed the dynamics of group relationships and showed how group feelings, al-'Asabiyya, give rise to the ascent of a new civilization and political power and how, later on, its diffusion into a more general civilization invited the beginning of a still new 'Asabiyya in its pure form. He identified an almost rhythmic repetition of rise and fall in human civilization and analyzed factors contributing to it. His contribution to history is marked by the fact that, unlike most earlier writers who interpreted history through the political context, he emphasized environmental, sociological, psychological and economic factors governing the apparent events. This revolutionized the science of history and also laid the foundation of Umraniyat (Sociology).

Lastly we come to the realm of the arts. The well known Hadith "Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty" encouraged Muslims to beautify the word of Allah through calligraphy and other expressions. Islamic calligraphy began with the kufi styles, then followed naskhi, thuluth, muhaqqiq, rayhani, and nasta'liq. Calligraphy began as a direct response of the soul of Muslims to the descent of the Qur’anic revelation. Calligriphical art moved from beautifying the Quran and texts to objects, houses and Mosques and eventually to Architecture.

Writes T.B. Irving on Islamic architecture, "..few civilizations have approached Islam's beauties in architecture: her soaring minarets and spires, her fabled domes, her cool corridors, all reflect the yearning of Muslims, who refusing to find expression in natural depiction concentrate their energies on buildings and their embellishment."

These embellishments included the calligraphic mosaics of mosques, tombs and places through out Persia, India, Turkey, Egypt, Morocco along with marble carving, plaster work, delicate inlay and tile work. Muslims also evolved their own style of art, while producing beautiful ceramic tiles, porcelain, pottery, plates, bowls, tapestries and rugs, and lamps.

The defining elements of Islamic Architecture are many. The use of the frame created organization and design. Calligraphy was found in the decoration of almost every Islamic building as well as many objects. Geometry become a major art form by using the circle as a basis and generating patterns from repetition, symmetry and changing scale to create unusual effects. Reflected light was developed and multiplied with the Muqarnas cells beneath domes, and they reflected and refracted light.

Ceramic tiles and mirrors were added to use light and increase them. Foliation including the classical vine and scroll motifs gave rise to the abstract art of the arabesque. Lastly, water was an essential element, whether flowing through palaces in India or in fountains found in the inner courtyards of Spain. Islamic architecture influenced the widespread use of the niche form for Mihrab, tombstone, door, window or decorative feature, lamps, domes, mosaics, geometric shapes, patterns, intertwining leaf motifs and designs, fountains, gardens, and courtyards.

Islamic art took from the civilizations surrounding it and also impacted them. The Chinese were influenced in their vases and carpets. Medieval Europe were influenced in their arts and showed it from their adoption of arches to their illuminations of Latin and Hebrew manuscripts. Of course the epitome of Islamic art can be seen in the greatest Islamic masterpieces such as the grand mosques of Cordova in Spain, the Taj Mahal in India, and the Blue mosque in Turkey. The works of these Muslim artists have become prototypes and models on which other artists and craftsmen patterned their own works, or from which they derived the inspiration for related work.

Thus the contributions of early Islam was so rich, so voluminous and so varied that it defies this brief descriptive survey. These Muslims drew from their pre-Islamic traditions, plus those of the civilizations they came into contact with and they absorbed what went with their beliefs and rejected what did not. Over the centuries they continued to develop and partake in the pursuit of knowledge with no hesitation. The destruction of Baghdad and the Mongol invasions did not even hinder them from learning and elaborating on the arts and sciences, despite the great destruction of their books and knowledge.

However, what is most important is not the discoveries themselves of the early Muslims but the methodology and kind of thought behind what produced them. Inspired by the truth of Islam, by strong faith and by Qur’anic enjoinders to ponder, think and discover the world did they lead the world in doing so. Only with this verve to relate the outward world of science, art and philosophy to inner spirituality and religion can we again reach the heights of the Golden Age of Islam.

Source: jannah.org

[ A timetable of contributions:]

- Chuzini, Abu al-Fath al-; physicist.
- Ibn Hisham; biographer, historian.
- Ibn Labban, Kushyar.
- Ibn Turk, `Abd al-Hamid; mathematician.
- Ibn al-Muqtafi, Abu al-Fadl Ja`far; astronomer.
- 767 Ibn Ishaq; biographer, historian.
721 - 815 Jabir ibn Hayyan, Abu Musa (Geber); alchemist.
780 - 850 Khwarizmi, Muhammad ibn Musa al-; astronomer, mathematician.
82? - 861 Farghani, Abu al-`Abbas al- (Afragamus); astronomer, geographer.
- 870 Kindi, Abu Yusuf Ya`qub ibn Ishaq al-Sabah al-; philosopher.
828 - 889 Ibn Qutaybah; historian, philologist, theologian.
826 - 901 Ibn Qurra, Thabit; mathematician.
865 - 923 Razi, al- (Rhazes); alchemist, philosopher, physician.
839 - 923 Tabari, al-; historian, theologian.
858 - 929 Battani, al- (Albatenius); astronomer, mathematician.
870 - 950 Farabi, al- (Alfarabicus); philosopher, poet.
940 - 998 Abu al-Wafa'; astronomer, mathematician.
- 1008 Ibn Yunus; astronomer, mathematician.
936 - 1013 Abu al-Qasim (Albucasis); physician.
- 1029 Karkhi, al-; mathematician.
930 - 1030 Ibn Miskawayh; historian, philosopher.
980 - 1037 Ibn Sina, Abu `Ali al-Husayn (Avicenna); philosopher, physician.
965 - 1039 Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen); mathematician, physicist.
973 - 1048 Biruni, al-; historian, mathematician, physicist.
1058 - 1111 Ghazali, Abu Hamid al- (Algazel); philosopher.
1048 - 1131 Khayyam, `Umar (Omar Khayyam); astronomer, mathematician, poet.
1095 - 1138 Ibn Bajjah (Avempace); philosopher.
1075 - 1144 Zamakhshari, al-; philologist, theologian.
1090 - 1162 Ibn Zuhr, Abu Marwun `Abd al-Malik (Avenzoar, Abumeron); physician.
1100 - 1185 Ibn Tufayl; philosopher, physician.
1126 - 1198 Ibn Rushd, Abu al-Walid (Averroes); philosopher, physician.
1135 - 1204 Ibn Maymun (Maimonides); Jewish philosopher, physician.
1201 - 1274 Tusi, Nasir al-Din al-; astronomer, mathematician, philosopher.
- 1288 Ibn al-Nafis; physician.
- 137? Ibn al-Shatir; astronomer.
1332 - 1406 Ibn Khaldun, Abu Zayd `Abd al-Rahman; historian, sociologist.
- 1436 Kashi, al-; mathematician.
1445 - 1505 Suyuti, al-; historian, philologist, theologian.


SOURCES

Brend, Barbara. Islamic Art. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1991.
Fakhry, Majid. A History of Islamic Philosophy. New York: Columbia University Press, 1970.
Haye, Kh. A. Stories of Great Muslims. Brentwood: American Trust Publications, 1991.
Hitti, K. Phillip. History of the Arabs. New York: St. Martins Press, 1970.
Irving, T.B. The Tide of Islam. Cedar Rapids: Igrams Press, 1982.
Michell, George. Architecture of the Islamic World. London: Thames and Hudson, 1995.
Mirza, Dr. Muhammad R. and Sidiiqi, Muhammad Iqbal. Muslim Contribution to Science. Chicago: Kazi Publications, 1986.
Nasr, Seyyed Hossein. A Young Muslim's Guide to the Modern World. Chicago: Kazi Publications,1994.
Qadir, C.A. Philosophy and Science in the Muslim World. London: Croom Helm, 1988.
Science : The Islamic Legacy: Worlds fair issue, 1987.

*Various Internet sources

The Tao of Islam

By Sachiko Murata

Chinese cosmology describes the whole universe in terms of уin and yang, which can be understood as the creative and receptive or male and female principles of existence. Nothing escapes this relationship. The famous symbol of Tai Chi, the 'Great Ultimate' or the Tao, portrays yin and yang as constant movement and change. Yin carries within itself potential yang and yang carries within itself potential yin. When yin and yang move and reach the 'old' or 'pure' state, potential yin and yang are actualized: yin becomes yang, and yang becomes yin. 'Change' or i is the process whereby heaven and earth and everything between them are created and re-created. When the sun rises, the moon disappears. When spring comes, winter goes. Yin and yang are the principles of change and the symbols of creation.

In the words of Confucius: "Like a running river, the whole universe is flowing ceaselessly day and night." Existence means harmonious change on the basis of the Tao. If harmony between yin and yang were to be lost, the universe would cease to flow and nothing could exist. Most students of religion are familiar with these basic concepts of Chinese cosmology. Given the popularity of the I Ching and the omnipresence of the yin/yang symbol, no one needs to be told that Chinese thought is concerned with harmony, equilibrium and balance between two principles of existence.

In contrast, Islamic cosmology is practically unknown in the West. What I would like to do in this essay is to try to draw a picture of the Islamic cosmos as it has generally been perceived by Muslims. In order to do this I will seek help from some of the great theoreticians of Islamic cosmology, such as the thirteenth-century thinkers Ebno'l-'Arabi, Najmo'd-Din Razi and 'Azizo'd-Din Nasafi. Characteristically, such authorities based most of what they say upon the description of the cosmos provided by the Koran and the sayings of the Prophet. What is perhaps unusual in my approach is that I will be looking at Islam from the point of view of Chinese thought, as set down primarily in the I Ching.

In Islamic terms, the 'cosmos' (al-'alam) is defined as 'everything other than God', so the term has no spatial or temporal limitations. The relationship of God to everything other than God is described from two basic points of view. In one respect, God is infinitely beyond the cosmos. Here, the theological term is tanzih, which means 'to declare God incomparable' with everything that exists. In this respect God is completely inaccessible to His creatures and beyond their understanding. This point of view is the classical position of 'Kalam' ('Islamic dogmatic theology'). Many verses could be cited to show how the Koran takes this point of view, such as "Glory be to God, the Lord of Inaccessibility, above everything that they describe" (37:180) or, in simpler terms, "Nothing is like Him" (42:11). In this respect, God is an impersonal reality far beyond human concerns. He is the God of negative theology.

Though the proponents of Kalam emphasized the perspective of incomparability and transcendence, they represented only a small number of intellectuals who had relatively little influence on the Muslim masses. There is also a second point of view which is clearly supported by many Koranic verses and which is stressed in popular Islam and the spiritual tradition. The God of the theologians, as Ebno'l-'Arabi remarked, was a God whom no one could possibly love, since He was too remote and incomprehensible (Ebnol-'Arabi n.d.. Vol. II. p. 326, line 13). But the God of the Koran, the Prophet, and the spiritual authorities of Islam is a God who is supremely lovable, since He is dominated by concern for His creatures.

As the Koran puts it, "He loves them, and they love Him" (5:54). God's love for creation produces in the creatures love for God. This God of compassion and love can be grasped and understood. To use the theological term. He must be 'declared similar' (tashbih) in some mysterious fashion to His creation. We can rightly conceive of Him in human attributes. This is the point of view of God's immanence in all things, and it is clearly supported by such Koranic verses as "Wherever you turn, there is the face of God" (2:115) and "We are nearer to man than the jugular vein" (50:16). In this respect, God is a personal God.

These two basic theological perspectives form two poles between which Islamic thought takes shape. The most sophisticated of the Muslim thinkers strike a delicate balance between the two positions. Negative and positive theology both play a role in the understanding of the Divine Reality. One can gain a certain grasp of the role these two perspectives have played in Islam by comparing them with the situation found in the Chinese tradition, where the Confucianists place emphasis upon yang and the Taoists upon yin.

In other words, if asked whether the Tao itself is yin or yang, a Confucianist would more probably answer that the Tao itself is yang, while a Taoist would be more likely to say that it is yin. In the same way, the experts in jurisprudence and Kalam - that is, those Muslim authorities who defend the outward and legalistic teachings of Islam - lay stress upon God's transcendence. They insist that He is a wrathful God and they constantly warn about hell and the divine punishment. These are the Muslim 'Confucianists', who see God primarily as yang. In contrast, those authorities who are concerned with Islam's spiritual dimension constantly remind the first group of the prophetic saying,"God's mercy precedes His wrath." They maintain that mercy, love and gentleness are the overriding reality of existence, and that these will win out in the end. In their view, God is primarily yin.

Islamic theological thinking revolves around the divine names revealed in the Koran, the so-called 'ninety-nine names or attributes of God'. Each of the two basic theological perspectives, transcendence and immanence, emphasizes certain names or attributes of God. When God is conceived of as transcendent, He is called by such names as Mighty, Inaccessible, Great, Majestic, Compeller, Creator, Proud, All-High, King, Wrathful, Avenger, Slayer, Depriver and Harmer. The tradition calls these the Names of Majesty or the Names of Severity. In the present context, I would call them 'yang names', since they place stress upon greatness, power, control and masculinity. When God is understood in terms of similarity and immanence. He is called by names such as Beautiful, Near, Merciful, Compassionate, Loving, Gentle, Forgiving, Pardoner, Life-giver, Enricher and Bestower. These are known as the 'Names of Beauty' or 'Gentleness'. They are 'yin names', since they place stress on submission to the wishes of others, softness, acceptance and receptivity.

All these names and many more like them are mentioned in the Koran. In the view of the Muslim cosmolo-gists, these two categories of names work in harmony to bring the cosmos into existence. As Rumi puts it, referring to the two kinds of names by their dominant attribute, "Severity and gentleness were married, and a world of good and evil was born from the two" (Rumi 1925-40, II 2680, quoted in Chittick, 1983, p. 101).

Many theologians see a reference to the two kinds of divine names in the Koranic expression, 'the two hands of God'. They take this as a symbol for the complementarity of yin and yang. The Koran says that only human beings among all creatures were created with both hands of God (38:76). This is read as an allusion to the fact that, as the Prophet said, man was created in God's own image.

Hence, human beings had to manifest all the names of God, both the names of severity and the names of gentleness. In contrast, the angels of mercy were created with only God's right hand, while the satans were created with only His left hand. Everything other than human beings represents an imperfect image of the Divine Reality; so it is dominated by one hand or the other. Only humans were created through a perfect balance and equilibrium of both kinds of attributes.

The Koran repeatedly affirms that all things are signs of God, which is to say that everything gives news of God's nature and reality. As a result, many Muslim thinkers, the cosmologists in particular, see everything in the universe as a reflection of the divine names and attributes. In a famous saying, the Prophet explained why God created the universe: "God says, I was a hidden treasure and I desired to be known. Therefore I created the creatures, so that I might be known'."

Hence, the universe is the locus in which the Hidden Treasure is known by the creatures. Through the universe God comes to be known, and since there is nothing in the universe but created things, it is the created things themselves which give news of the Hidden Treasure. The cosmologists employ the terms zohur or 'manifestation' and tajalli or 'self-disclosure' to explain the relationship of the world to God through the cosmos. God discloses Himself to His creatures. The creatures themselves are God's self-manifestation.

The fact that the Reality of God which is disclosed through the cosmos can be described by opposite and conflicting attributes explains, in the Muslim view, why the cosmos itself can be seen as a vast collection of opposites. The two hands of God are busy shaping all that exists. Hence, mercy and wrath, severity and gentleness, life-giving and slaying, exalting and abasing, and all the contradictory attributes of God are displayed in existence. These opposing pairs of names act together in a manner analogous to yin and yang.

One way in which we perceive this constant interaction of the names is through change (haraka) and transmutation (estehala). Here Chuang Tzu could say: "The existence of things is like a galloping horse. With every motion existence changes, at every second it is transformed" (Chuang Tsu 17. 6). For their part, the Ash'arite theologians said that nothing stands still in creation and no phenomenon remains constant in its place for two successive moments. Everything is in constant need of divine replenishment, since nothing exists on its own. Things can exist only if God gives them existence. If God were to stop giving existence to the universe for an instant, it would disappear. Hence, at each moment God re-creates the cosmos to prevent its annihilation.

The concept of the continual recreation of the cosmos became a mainstay of Islamic cosmological thinking. Many authorities interpreted this constant change and transmutation in terms of the interplay of the diverse divine names. Thus, at each instant, the divine mercy and gentleness create all the things of the universe. In other words, at each instant God reaffirms His immanence and presence in the cosmos. But God is also transcendent and incomparable.

Hence, just as His mercy creates. His wrath destroys. His unique and absolute reality cannot allow any other reality to exist along with it. At each instant, the divine gentleness brings the world into existence, and at each instant the divine severity destroys it. Every succeeding moment represents a new universe, similar to the preceding universe, but also different from it. Each new universe represents a new self-disclosure of God. According to the cosmological axiom, 'God's self-disclosure never repeats itself, since God is infinite.

The cosmos is a constantly shifting and changing pattern of relationships established by the archetypes of all existence, which are the names of God. Since the universe is created through the activity of the paired divine attributes, duality can be perceived at every level. Everywhere yin and yang are working together, producing transmutation and constant change. The Koran quotes God as saying, "And of everything We created pairs" (51:40). Or again, "God Himself created the pairs, male and female" (53:49). All things in the universe are paired with other things. Several of the pairs mentioned in the Koran take on special importance as the fundamental principles of creation. These include the Pen and the Tablet, which are specifically Islamic symbols, and heaven and earth, which find deep parallels in the Chinese tradition and elsewhere.

The Pen and the Tablet are mentioned in a few Koranic verses and some sayings of the Prophet. Referring to itself, the Koran says, "Nay, but it is a glorious Koran, on a guarded tablet" (85:22). The commentators explain this tablet as an invisible spiritual reality on which the Koran, the eternal and uncreated word of God, is written. The Koran refers to the Pen in the first verses which were revealed to the Prophet: "Read out! And thy Lord is the most generous, Who taught by the Pen, taught man what he knew not" (96:1-5). In another verse. God swears by the Pen: "By the Pen and what they inscribe" (68:1). These short and rather enigmatic verses provided a great deal of food for meditation, especially since the Prophet himself added a certain amount of interesting clarification. For example, he said:

The first thing God created was the Pen. Then He created the Tablet.
He said to the Pen, "Write!" The Pen said, "What should I write?" God said to it, "Write whatever I dictate to you!" So, the Pen inscribed in the Tablet everything that God dictated to it, and that was His knowledge of thecreation. He would create until the Day of Resurrection.

Here the Prophet has told us that God's first creation was the Pen. He also said that the first thing God created was the intellect. Hence, he identified the cosmic Pen with what the cosmologists call the 'First Intellect'. All creatures are latent and un-differentiated in the Intellect's knowledge, just as ink is present inside the Pen. Then, by means of the Intellect, God creates the whole universe.

It should be clear that the term 'Pen' alludes to the yang side of the first spiritual creation, while the term 'Intellect' alludes to the yin side of this same reality. The Muslim cosmologists, like the Chinese, never saw anything as exclusively yang or exclusively yin. Each thing in the cosmos has both yin and yang dimensions to it. These can be brought out by investigating the various relationships which each thing establishes with other things.

Thus, for example, the First Intellect is called by the name 'Intellect' at least partly because it has a receptive and feminine side to its nature. It has a face turned toward God through which it contemplates God and takes constant replenishment from His light. In contrast, this same reality is called a 'Pen' because of the active and masculine side to its nature. It has a face turned toward the universe, which it brings into existence by the act of writing upon the Tablet.

Without the Tablet, no duality could appear within spiritual existence, and without duality, there could be no physical universe, which depends upon multiplicity. Just as the Pen is called the 'First Intellect', so also the Tablet is called the 'Universal Soul'. In relationship to God, the First Intellect is receptive, dark and yin, but in relationship to the Universal Soul it is active, luminous, and yang. This principle has important repercussions in psychology, where spirit and soul in the human being correspond to the First Intellect and the Universal Soul in the cosmos.

Ebnol-'Arabi describes all the realities in the cosmos as manifestations of different divine names. He fmds the archetype of the Pen and Tablet in the Koranic verse, "God governs the affair and He differentiates the signs" (13:3). The Pen manifests the divine name, *He who governs', while the Tablet manifests the name, 'He who differentiates'. On a lower level of existence, the spirit manifests the name, 'He who governs', in relation to the body. The spirit, which is the principle of life and awareness, governs, controls and directs the body in the same way that the Pen governs, controls and directs the Tablet.

Without the Tablet, the Pen could not write. The Tablet takes what is undifferentiated in the Pen and manifests all of its details. It allows for the articulation of all the existential words of God at a spiritual level of existence. This symbolism of the divine creative words is central to Islamic cosmological thinking, no doubt because a large number of Koranic verses allude to it. One of the most often cited support for the idea that all things are words of God is the verse, "God's only word, when He desires a thing, is to say to it 'Be!', and it is" (16:40).

Hence, say the cosmologists, each creature is a unique expression of the divine word, 'Be'. The Pen writes out these divine words on the Tablet, thus manifesting the spiritual essences of all things. The spirit of each and every thing in the cosmos is brought into existence as a unique word on the Tablet. Both Pen and Tablet, yang and уin, creative and receptive, are necessary for the spiritual realities of all things to come into actuality.

The Pen has two faces. With one face it looks at God, and with the other it looks at the Tablet and everything below it. In the same way, the Tablet also has two faces. With one face it looks at the Pen, and with the other it looks at the worlds which lie below it. In relation to the Pen, the Tablet is receptive and thereby manifests differentiation. But in relation to the cosmos, the Tablet is active and manifests governing control. It becomes a yang reality. More specifically, says Ebnol-'Arabi, it manifests both creativity and receptivity, both governing and differentiating.

Hence, when the Tablet is discussed by its name 'Universal Soul', it is said to have two faculties: the faculty of knowing, through which it receives from the Intellect, and the faculty of acting or doing, through which it exercises control. The Universal Soul knows the details of the existence of all things, since these are differentiated within it. Since it knows these details, it governs the destiny of all things, for nothing escapes its knowledge. It acts by bestowing existence upon what it knows.

Pen and Tablet illustrate the workings of yang and yin within the spiritual or invisible world. On a lower level of existence, the spiritual world interacts with the visible world. This is frequently described in terms of 'heaven and earth', a pair of terms constantly employed in the Koran. The cosmologist Nasafi explains that the term 'heaven' refers to everything which stands above something else, while the term 'earth' refers to everything which stands below something else. Thus, the terms are relative and depend upon our point of view. That which is called 'earth' with respect to one thing may be called heaven with respect to another, just as a single reality may be yang in relation to one thing and yin in relation to another.

Heaven acts through effusing light and existence, while earth receives through accepting these. However, the station of the earth has a certain priority over that of the heavens. This is not to suggest that one of them comes into existence first, since there is always a heaven and an earth, that is, an aboveness and a belowness in created things. It simply means that the sufficient reason for the existence of heaven is to bestow upon the earth.

Without an earth, heaven is meaningless. You cannot have an above without a below - nor, of course, can you have a below without an above. If the earth is not there to receive effusion, heaven is useless. Like the ground which receives the rain, the existence of the earth is a precondition for the manifestation of qualities which are concealed in heaven. The heavenly realities are formless or spiritual, and the earth gives them bodily forms. A spirit can do nothing until it gains control over a body which acts as its vehicle and instrument. Just as God created the universe to manifest His own perfections, the Hidden Treasure, so also the spirit needs the body to display its perfections. As Rumi (1925-40, p. 29, cf. Chittick, 1983. p. 29) puts it,

The spirit cannot function without the
body,
and without the spirit, the body is
empty and cold.
Your body is manifest and your spirit
hidden:
These two put all the world's business
in order.

Nasafi goes on to divide all things into three kinds: Giver of effusion, receiver of effusion and product of the interrelationship between the two. 'Heaven' is that which is above something else and gives effusion to it. It may be a spiritual or a corporeal reality. 'Earth' is that which is below something else and receives effusion from it. It may belong to either the spiritual or the corporeal world. The creatures are the children of heaven and earth, the product of their interrelationship (Nasafi 1344 A. H./ 1965, pp. 224-25). Rumi (1925-40, III 4404, cf. Chittick, 1983. p. 163) expresses this idea in the verse:

In the view of intellect,
heaven is the man
and earth the woman.
Whatever the one throws down,
the other nurtures.

In this context Confucius sounds like just another Muslim cosmologist: "Heaven is lofty and earth is low. The creative directs the great beginning, and the receptive completes all things" (Та Chuan I).

Examples of conceptual pairs in Muslim thinking could be multiplied indefinitely. Najmo'd-Din Razi sums up the general picture as follows: The seventy thousand worlds are all included in two all-embracing realms. These may be called light and darkness, kingship and kingdom, the unseen and the visible, the spiritual and the corporeal, the next world and mis world. All these pairs are the same. Only the names differ" (Razi 1982, p. 304).

Instead of continuing with examples, however, I will try to put all this together by pointing to the Islamic conception of a human being. The whole purpose of cosmological thinking in Islam is to explain how human beings are the mediating reality in existence, the point at which everything comes together. Only through human beings can perfect harmony and equilibrium be established between God and the cosmos - that is, if they are successful in living according to the Tao. Chuang Tzu expresses the ultimate goal of Islamic cosmology with his words, "Heaven and earth and I live together - all things and I are one" (Chuang Tsu 2.6).

To review what has already been said, the one God is looked upon from two points of view, transcendence and immanence. With respect to God's transcendence and distance, human beings and all other creatures are God's absolute servants who must submit to His will. But with respect to God's immanence and nearness, human beings have another role to play. They were chosen out of all creatures to be God's vicegerents upon the face of the earth. That is why they were created in the divine image and with God's two hands. They possess all the divine attributes and can, therefore, act as God's representatives.

In gaining correct knowledge of God, one needs to combine the declaration of God's transcendence with the understanding of His imma nence. In the same way, Islamic anthropology sees a perfect human being as one who combines servant-hood with vicegerency. In respect of God's transcendence, man is God's servant, but in respect of His immanence, man is His representative and vicegerent.

How we understand God and how we understand self depend on the point of view. Neither God nor a human being has two essences. God is one, and man is one. But man is like a two-sided mirror, one side of which reflects the qualities of servanthood as manifested in all of creation, and the other side of which reflects the qualities of Lordship as possessed by God. Man is both Lord and servant, and the human task is to keep these two sides of his reality in proper balance.

As the image of God, man reflects Lordship and is greater than all other creatures. But since man manifests God, he also manifests the whole of creation, combining in himself the servanthood of all things. Hence, he is less than all creatures, since he is the servant of all God's names and attributes, while other creatures serve only some of His names and attributes, since they are incomplete images of God. As lord of all creation, man is the supreme yang reality, and as servant of all creation, he is the supreme yin reality. As Ebnol-'Arabi puts it, "A human being is two transcriptions: an outward transcription and an inward transcription. The outward transcription corresponds to the macrocosm in its totality, while the inward transcription corresponds to God" (Ebnol-'Arabi 1919, p. 21).

The outward dimension of the human being is related to servanthood, the inward dimension to lordship and vicegerency. The outward dimension reflects man's distance from God and God's transcendence, while the inward dimension reflects man's nearness and God's immanence. The two dimensions, thus, reflect the two hands of God by which man was created.

In the Islamic view of things, all creation comes into existence through the marriage of the complementary divine names, the names of Beauty and of Majesty, or the names of yin and of yang. Duality at the divine level results in the dual structure of humans, spiritual and corporeal, or formless and formal. The form or body is the receptacle of the formless or spirit, and both together are the locus of manifestation for the divine nature. In other words, the original nature of human beings is a copy of the divine nature. Spiritual perfection is to realize one's primordial and original nature, the divine nature latent in oneself.

This whole discussion cannot be epitomized better than by the words of the I Ching: "One yin and one yang. This is Tao. To inherit from the Tao is good. To actualize the Tao is the primordial human nature" (Та Chuan 5).

References:

Chittick, W. C. (1983). The Sufi Path of Love: The Spiritual Teaching of Rumi. SUNY Press: Albany.
Ebnol-'Arabi. (n. d.). al-Fotuhat al-mak-kiya. Dar Sader: Beirut.
______ (1919). finsAa' al-Dawa'er.
H. S. Nyberg (ed.) in Kleinere Schriften des Ibn al-'Araoi. Brill: Leiden.
Nasafi, 'Azizo'd-Din. (1344 A. H./ 1965). Kashf al-haqa'eq, A. Mahdawi-ye Damghani (ed.), Bongah-e Tarjama wa Nashr-e Ketab: Tehran.
Razi, Najmo'd-Din. (1982). The Path of God's Bondsmen. H. Algar (trans.). Caravan Books: Delmar, N. Y.
Rumi, J. (1925-40). The Mathnawi, R. A. Nicholson (ed.). Luzac: London.


Sachiko Murata received a B. A. in family law from chiba University in Japan and a Ph. D. in Persian literature from Tehran University. She then became the first woman and the first non-Muslim to enroll in the division of jurisprudence (feqh) at Tehran University’s Faculty of Theology, where she received an M. A. and was well on her way to a Ph. D. when the revolution broke out. She teaches Islam and Oriental religions at the State University of New York, Stony Brook. Among her books are Temporary Marriage in Islamic Law and a Japanese translation of Ma’alem al-osul by Shaykh Hasan, a classic text on the principles of jurisprudence.