Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Battuta, also known as Shams ad - Din, was born at Tangier, Morocco, on the 24th February 1304 C.E. (703 Hijra). He left Tangier on Thursday, 14th June, 1325 C.E. (2nd Rajab 725 A.H.), when he was twenty one years of age. His travels lasted for about thirty years, after which he returned to Fez, Morocco at the court of Sultan Abu 'Inan and dictated accounts of his journeys to Ibn Juzay. These are known as the famous Travels (Rihala) of Ibn Battuta. He died at Fez in 1369 C.E.
Ibn Battuta was the only medieval traveller who is known to have visited the lands of every Muslim ruler of his time. He also travelled in Ceylon (present Sri Lanka), China and Byzantium and South Russia. The mere extent of his travels is estimated at no less than 75,000 miles, a figure which is not likely to have been surpassed before the age of steam.
Travels
In the course of his first journey, Ibn Battuta travelled through Algiers, Tunis, Egypt, Palestine and Syria to Makkah. After visiting Iraq, Shiraz and Mesopotamia he once more returned to perform the Hajj at Makkah and remained there for three years. Then travelling to Jeddah he went to Yemen by sea, visited Aden andset sail for Mombasa, East Africa. After going up to Kulwa he came back to Oman and repeated pilgrimage to Makkah in 1332 C.E. via Hormuz, Siraf, Bahrain and Yamama. Subsequently he set out with the purpose of going to India, but on reaching Jeddah, he appears to have changed his mind (due perhaps to the unavailability of a ship bound for India), and revisited Cairo, Palestine and Syria, thereafter arriving at Aleya (Asia Minor) by sea and travelled across Anatolia and Sinope. He then crossed the Black Sea and after long wanderings he reached Constantinople through Southern Ukraine.
On his return, he visited Khurasan through Khawarism (Khiva) and having visited all the important cities such as Bukhara, Balkh, Herat, Tus, Mashhad and Nishapur, he crossed the Hindukush mountains via the 13,000 ft Khawak Pass into Afghanistan and passing through Ghani and Kabul entered India. After visiting Lahri (near modern Karachi), Sukkur, Multan, Sirsa and Hansi, he reached Delhi. For several years Ibn Battuta enjoyed the patronage of Sultan Mohammad Tughlaq, and was later sent as Sultan's envoy to China. Passing through Cental India and Malwa he took ship from Kambay for Goa, and after visiting many thriving ports along the Malabar coast he reached the Maldive Islands, from which he crossed to Ceylon. Continuing his journey, he landed on the Ma'bar (Coromandal) coast and once more returning to the Maldives he finally set sail for Bengal and visited Kamrup, Sylhet and Sonargaon (near Dhaka). Sailing along the Arakan coast he came to Sumatra and later landed at Canton via Malaya and Cambodia. In China he travelled northward to Peking through Hangchow. Retracing his steps he returned to Calicut and taking ship came to Dhafari and Muscat, and passing through Paris (Iran), Iraq, Syria, Palestine and Egypt made his seventh and last pilgrimage to Makkah in November 1348 C.E. and then returned to his home town of Fez. His travels did not end here - he later visited Muslim Spain and the lands of the Niger across the Sahara.
On his return to Fez, Ibn Battuta dictated the accounts ofhis travels to Ibn Juzay al-Kalbi (1321-1356 C.E.) at the court of Sultan Abu Inan (1348-1358 C.E). Ibn Juzay took three months to accomplish this work ,which he finished on 9th December 1355 C.E.

Omar Khayyam

(1048-1131)

Omar Kayyam was born Ghiyath al-Din Abul Fateh Omar Ibn Ibrahim al-Khayyam in Nishapur, the capital of Khurasan. The commercially rich province was at that time under Seljuq rule. Little is known of Omar's early life. The epithet Khayyam signifies "tent-maker" - it is possible that Omar or his father, Ibrahim the Tentmaker, one time exercised that trade. Omar was educated at his native town, where he studied under the celebrated teacher the Iman Mowaffak. In Samara he completed his treatise on algebra. When the Seljuq Sultan Malik Shah offered him preferment at court, Omar made a request: "The greatest boon you can confer on me," he said, "is to let me live in a corner under the shadow of your fortune, to spread wide the advantages of Science, and pray for your long life and prosperity." (from Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, trans. by Edward FitzGerald, 1859)

The Vizier Nizam al-Mulk granted Omar a pension, which enabled him to devote himself to learning and research, especially in mathematics and astronomy. In 1074 he was invited to undertake astronomical research. Omar was also commissioned to build an observatory in the city of Isfahan in collaboration with other astronomers. Malik Shah appointed him a member of a group of eight scholars assigned to reform the Moslem calendar, a task comparable to Pope Gregorius XIII's revision of the Julian calendar. Their work inaugurated the Jalalaean or Seljuq era, beginning March 15, 1079. Omar's revision of the old Persian solar calendar was discontinued when Islamic orthodoxy gained power, but in 1925 it was again introduced in Iran.

Omar's series of astronomical tables is known as Ziji Malikshahi. Among his other mathematical writings are a work on algebra and a study of The Difficulties of Euclid's Definitions (1077). He tried to classify equations of the first degree and his algebra textbook, dealing with quadric and cubic equations in particular, was very advanced compared to contemporary European studies of mathematics.

In the West Omar's reputation as a poet has shadowed his achievements as a mathematician. His poems were made popular by Edward FitzGerald, who translated his Rubaiyat (quatrains) from the original Persian to English. The first edition was published anonymously. It contained 101 rubáiyát (or rubáis). Only 250 copies were printed and soon forgotten. FitzGerald's arranged the scattered quatrains in long, continuous elegy. His work was more than an ordinary translation, it was so inspired and visionary, that some critics later believed that it was an English poem with Persian allusions. The "exotic" verses caught the attention of Rossetti and Swinburne, who wrote that FitzGerald "has given to Omar Khayyam a permanent place among the major English poets". The second edition of the work in 1868 marked the beginning of Omar Khayyam cult. "Isaac Luria the Lion taught that the soul of a dead man can enter an unfortunate soul to nourish or instruct it," wrote the Argentinian writer Jorge Luis Borges, "perhaps, around 1857, Omar's soul took up residence in FitzGerald's." (in 'The Enigma of Edward FitzGerald', 1951) Omar's rubáiyát did not circulate in his homeland during his lifetime. Also contemporary biographers did not note him as a great poet.

According to convention, in quatrains the first, second and last lines are rhymed, while the third line rarely follows the rhyme of the other lines. Thus a rubái (plural rubáiyát) has the form aaba. Each line expresses a complete thought.

Omar Khayyam, whose daily thoughts in his rubáiyát were often pessimistic and who was troubled by eternal question of life, death, deity, and the nature of the universe, was viewed with suspicion by orthodox Muslims. For his philosophy he was "said to have been especially hated and dreaded by the Sufis, whose Practise he ridiculed" (G. Fitzgerald). However, the Sufi poets read his works and the rubáiyát in general were frequently sung at mystical concerts. The thoughts of Avicenna (980-1037) and Omar were condemned by the highly influential Islamic philosopher Abu Hamid al-Ghazali (1058-1111) in Incoherence of the Philosophers. Al-Ghazali saw that the Muslim Aristotelian and Neoplatonic philosophers were is many questions in conflict with the fundamentals of religion.

Major themes in Omar's rubáiyát is the fragility of human life. The pleasures of Paradise do not give any comfort for the poet - "Cash is better than a thousand promises." Although he has solved "all the puzzles of the Universe", he cannot loosen the "fetter of death". Omar also praised wine - "Drink wine - it drives sorrow from the heart." The subject was inflammable, because wine and drunkenness was prohibited by the principles of Islamic law. However, these poems could be interpreted metaphorically, referring to spiritual or romantic intoxication. "Drink either at he company of wise, / Or with your beloved at the moonrise," Omar wrote. He called wine the water of life; we are rare bowls made by the cosmic potter - "The cup is the body, its wine is the soul."

After the death of his patron, Nizam al-Mulk, in 1092, Omar went on a pilgrimage to Mecca. In one poem, assigned to Omar, the poet wrote: "Khayyám, who stitched the tents of science, / Has fallen in grief's furnace and been sudden burned; / The shears of Fate have cut the tent ropes of his life, / And the broker of Hope has sold him for nothing." After returning to Nishapur, he continued as a teacher and reluctantly made some astrological predictions. Like Avicenna, he was skeptical of astrology.

According to an anecdote, Omar said to one of his pupils, with whom he hold conversations in a garden: "My tomb shall be in a spot where the north wind my scatter roses over it." Omar Khayyam died on December 4, 1131 in Nishapur. 'Ali ibn Zaidu'l-Baihaqi wrote in his biography, that Omar was reading Avicenna's Book of Healing. He then called his household to hear his will and last instructions, and said before his death: "Oh Lord, I have known You according to the sum of my ability. Pardon me since verily my knowledge is my recommendation to You." 'Ali ibn Zaid's book, which appeared sometime between 1158 and 1170, has the oldest biographical notice on Omar. Forty-five years after Omar's death appeared a work, in which his verses were described as "a tissue of error like poisonous snakes" in the eyes of the Canon Law (News of the Learned with Reports of the Sages by Al-Qifri, abridged by Az-Zausani in 1249).

Omar's poetry preserved only in mutilated manuscripts, also not much of his prose writings have survived. The problem whether or not Omar composed all the poem attributed to him, including the famous quatrain with the words "A Jug of Wine, a Loaf of Bread - and Thou", has been hard to solve. A.J. Avberry, who used 13th-century manuscripts, identified at least 250 authentic poems. Perhaps the most complete is the one in the library of the Asiatic Society, Calcutta. The manuscript contains 516 quatrains. Other important manuscripts are in the Chester Beatty collection and at Cambridge.

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan

Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan (born 1935, Bhopal, India) is the undisputed hero of Pakistan's nuclear saga. Called "the father of the Islamic bomb," Dr. Khan pioneered and led Pakistan's effort to enrich uranium with gas centrifuges. In 1976 he took charge of the secretive Engineering Research Laboratories at Kahuta, now named the A.Q. Khan Research Laboratories in his honor, where he assembled the machinery and manpower it would take to produce weapon-grade uranium. Khan recruited scores of Pakistani scientists living abroad to work with him at Kahuta, boasting that "the scientists and engineers whom I recruited had never heard of a centrifuge, even though some of them were Ph.D.'s."

Khan had learned about gas centrifuges when he worked on uranium enrichment technology for a Dutch company from 1972 to 1975. Khan says he and his colleagues devised "a strategy to buy everything we needed in the open market to lay the foundation of a good infrastructure and would then switch over to indigenous production." In 1983 Khan was sentenced in absentia for trying to steal enrichment secrets from the Netherlands. He denies the charges, and his conviction was overturned in 1986.

In 1990, Pakistan President Ghulam Ishaq Khan, lauded A.Q. Khan's contributions to the nuclear field and declared: "The name of Dr. Abdul Qadeer Khan will be inscribed in golden letters in the annals of the national history of Pakistan." And even Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto has acknowledged his "invaluable contribution not only in the nuclear field but also in other fields including defense production."

A.Q. Khan says Western governments repeatedly tried to prevent Pakistan from developing a nuclear weapon capability, but they were foiled by the greed of their own companies: "Many suppliers approached us with the details of the machinery and with figures and numbers of instruments and materials ... In the true sense of the word, they begged us to purchase their goods. And for the first time the truth of the saying, They will sell their mother for money,' dawned on me. We purchased whatever we required..."

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ஜ иστнιπg ιš ιмթΘรรιвlε тσ α ωιℓℓιиg нєαят ஜ

During the Middle Ages the Islamic World had a very significant impact upon Europe, which in turn cleared the way for the Renaissance and the Scientific Revolution. In the Medieval age, Islam and Muslims influenced Europe in a number of different ways. One of the most important of these subjects was Science.

Ever since Islam was born, Muslims had made immense leaps forward in the area of Science. Cities like Baghdad, Damascus, Cairo and Cordoba were the centers of civilization. These cities were flourishing and Muslim scientists made tremendous progress in applied as well as theoretical Science and Technology. While Europe was in the midst of darkness, it was the Muslims, spurred on by the light of their new religion that 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.

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. 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.

Muslim Scientists:
Muslim scientists and scholars have contributed immensely to human knowledge especially in the period between 8th and 14th century CE. However, their contributions have been largely ignored, forgotten or have gone un-acknowledged.

Following is the account of some of the most talented Muslim Scholars in history whose contributions have left lasting marks in the annals of science, astronomy, medicine, surgery, engineering and philosophy.

1) Ibn Al – Baitar (Died 1248 A.D.)

a) Life History

Abu Muhammad Abdallah Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Baitar Dhiya al-Din al-Malaqi was one of the greatest scientists of Muslim Spain and was the greatest botanist and pharmacist of the Middle Ages. He was born in the Spanish city of Malaqa (Malaga) towards the end of the 12th century. He learned botany from Abu al-Abbas al-Nabati, a learned botanist, with whom he started collecting plants in and around Spain. In 1219 he left Spain on a plant-collecting expedition and traveled along the northern coast of Africa as far as Asia Minor.He died in Damascus in 1248.

b) Achievements
Ibn Baitar's major contribution, Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al- Mufrada, is one of the greatest botanical compilations dealing with medicinal plants in Arabic. The encyclopedia comprises some 1,400 different items, largely medicinal plants and vegetables, of which about 200 plants were not known earlier. The book refers to the work of some 150 authors mostly Arabic and it also quotes about 20 early Greek scientists.

His second monumental treatise Kitab al-Mlughni fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada is an encyclopedia of medicine. The drugs are listed in accordance with their therapeutical value. Thus, its 20 different chapters deal with the plants bearing significance to diseases of head, ear, eye, etc. On surgical issues he has frequently quoted the famous Muslim surgeon, Abul Qasim Zahrawi. Besides Arabic, Baitar has given Greek and Latin names of the plants, thus facilitating transfer of knowledge.

Ibn Baitar's contributions are characterised by observation, analysis and classification and have exerted a profound influence on Eastern as well as Western botany and medicine. Though the Jami was translated and published late in the western languages as mentioned above, yet many scientists had earlier studied various parts of the book and made several references to it.

c) Books
i) Kitab al-Jami fi al-Adwiya al- Mufrada
ii) Kitab al-Mlughni fi al-Adwiya al-Mufrada

2) Abu – Abdullah Al – Battani (868 – 929 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abu Abdallah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan al-Battani al-Harrani was born around 858 C.E. in Harran, and according to one account, in Battan, a State of Harran. Battani was first educated by his father Jabir Ibn San'an al-Battani, who was also a well-known scientist. At the beginning of the 9th century, he migrated to Samarra, where he worked till the end of his life in 929 C.E.

b) Achievements
Battani was a famous astronomer, mathematician and astrologer. His well-known discovery is the remarkably accurate determination of the solar year as being 365 days, 5 hours, 46 minutes and 24 seconds, which is very close to the latest estimates. He also discovered that the motion of the solar apsides and of a slow variation in the equation of time.

Al-Battani determined with remarkable accuracy the obliquity of the ecliptic, the length of the seasons and the true and mean orbit of the sun. He proved the variation of the apparent angular diameter of the sun and the possibility of annular eclipses.

He also provided very neat solutions by means of orthographic projection for some problems of spherical trigonometry. In mathematics, he was the first to replace the use of Greek chords by sines, with a clear understanding of their superiority. He also developed the concept of cotangent and furnished their table in degrees.

c) Books
i) De scienta stellerum — De numeris stellerum et motibus: 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 and flourished as De scienta stellerum — De numeris stellerum et motibus.

3) Abu Raihan Al – Biruni (973 – 1048 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abu Raihan Mohammad Ibn Ahmad al-Biruni was one of the well-known figures associated with the court of King Mahmood Ghaznawi, who was one of the famous Muslim kings of the 11th century C.E. Al-Biruni was a versatile scholar and scientist who had equal facility in physics, metaphysics, mathematics, geography and history. Born in the city of Kheva near "Ural" in 973 C.E., he was a contemporary of the well-known physician Ibn Sina. He died in 1048 C.E. at the age of 75, after having spent 40 years in thus gathering knowledge and making his own original contributions to it.

b) Achievements
He recorded observations of his travels through India in his well-known book Kitab al-Hind which gives a graphic account of the historical and social conditions of the sub-continent. At the end of this book he makes a mention of having translated two Sanskrit books into Arabic, one called Sakaya, which deals with the creation of things and their types, and the second, Patanjal dealing with what happens after the spirit leaves the body.

Al-Biruni wrote his famous book Qanun-i Masoodi (al-Qanun al-Masudi, fi al-Hai'a wa al-Nujum), which he dedicated to Sultan Masood. The book discusses several theories of astronomy, trigonometry, solar, lunar, and planetary motions and relative topics. In another well-known book al-Athar al-Baqia, he has attempted a connected account of ancient history of nations and the related geographical knowledge. In this book, he has discussed the rotation of the earth and has given correct values of latitudes and longitudes of various places. He has also made considerable contribution to several aspects of physical and economic geography in this book.

His other scientific contributions include the accurate determination of the densities of 18 different stones. He also wrote the Kitab-al-Saidana, which is an extensive materia medica that combines the then existing Arabic knowledge on the subject with the Indian medicine. His book the Kitab-al-Jamahir deals with the properties of various precious stones. He was also an astrologer and is reputed to have astonished people by the accuracy of his predictions. He gave a clear account of Hindu numerals, elaborating the principle of position.

He developed a method for trisection of angle and other problems which cannot be solved with a ruler and a compass alone. Al-Biruni discussed, centuries before the rest of the world, the question whether the earth rotates around its axis or not. He was the first to undertake experiments related to astronomical phenomena. His scientific method, taken together with that of other Muslim scientists, such as Ibn al-Haitham, laid down the early foundation of modern science. He ascertained that as compared with the speed of sound the speed of light is immense. He explained the working of natural springs and artesian wells by the hydrostatic principle of communicating vessels. His investigations included description of various monstrosities, including that known as "Siamese" twins. He observed that flowers have 3,4,5,6, or 18 petals, but never 7 or 9.

c) Books
He wrote a number of books and treatises.
i) Kitab-al- Hind (History and Geography of India),
ii) Al-Qanun al-Masudi (Astro- nomy, Trigonometry),
iii) Al-Athar al-Baqia (Ancient History and Geography),
iv) Kitab al-Saidana (Materia Medica),
v) Kitab al-Jawahir (Precious Stones), and
vi) Al-Tafhim-li-Awail Sina'at al-Tanjim (a summary of mathematics and astronomy)

4) Abul Wafa Muhammad Al – Buzjani (940 – 997 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abul Wafa Muhammad Ibn Muhammad Ibn Yahya Ibn Ismail al-Buzjani was born in Buzjan, Nishapur in 940 C.E. He flourished as a great mathematician and astronomer at Baghdad and died in 997/998 C.E. He learnt mathematics in Baghdad. In 959 C.E. he migrated to Iraq and lived there till his death.

b) Achievements
Abul Wafa's main contribution lies in several branches of mathematics, especially geometry and trigonometry. In geometry his contribution comprises 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 half the side of the equilateral triangle inscribed in the same circle; constructions of parabola by points and geometrical solution of the equations:
Abul Wafa's contribution to the development of trigonometry was 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 eighth decimal place. He also developed relations for sine (a+b) and the formula:
In addition, he made a special study of the tangent and calculated a table of tangents. He introduced the secant and cosecant for the first time, knew the relations between the trigonometric lines, which are now used to define them, and undertook extensive studies on conics.
Apart from being a mathematician, Abul Wafa also contributed to astronomy. In this field he discussed different movements of the moon, and discovered 'variation'. He was also one of the last Arabic translators and commentators of Greek works.

c) Books
He wrote a large number of books on mathematics and other subjects, most of which have been lost or exist in modified forms. His contribution includes:
i) Kitab 'Ilm al-Hisab, a practical book of arithmetic,
ii) Al-Kitab al-Kamil (the Complete Book),
iii) Kitab al-Handsa (Applied Geometry).

Apart from this, he wrote rich commentaries on Euclid, Diophantos and Al-Khawarizmi, but all of these have been lost. His books now extant include Kitab 'Ilm al-Hisab, Kitab al- Handsa and Kitab al-Kamil.

5) Abu Al Nasr Al – Farabi (870 – 950 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abu Nasr Mohammad Ibn al-Farakh al-Farabi was born in a small village Wasij, near Farab in Turkistan in 259 A.H. (870 C.E.). He completed his earlier education at Farab and Bukhara but, later on, he went to Baghdad for higher studies, where he studied and worked for a long time viz., from 901 C.E. to 942 C.E. During this period he acquired mastery over several languages as well as various branches of knowledge and technology. He died a bachelor in Damascus in 339 A.H. /950 C.E. at the age of 80 years.

b) Achievements
Farabi contributed considerably to science, philosophy, logic, sociology, medicine, mathematics and music. His major contributions seem to be in philosophy, logic and sociology and, of course, stand out as an Encyclopedist. As a philosopher, he may be classed as a Neoplatonist who tried to synthesize Platonism and Aristotelism with theology and he wrote such rich commentaries on Aristotle's physics, meteorology, logic, etc., in addition to a large number of books on several other subjects embodying his original contribution, that he came to be known as the 'Second Teacher' (al-Mou'allim al-Thani) Aristotle being the First. One of the important contributions of Farabi was to make the study of logic easier by dividing it into two categories viz., Takhayyul (idea) and Thubut (proof).
In sociology he wrote several books out of which Ara Ahl al-Madina al-Fadila became famous. His books on psychology and metaphysics were largely based on his own work. He also wrote a book on music, captioned Kitab al-Musiqa. He was a great expert in the art and science of music and invented several musical instruments, besides contributing to the knowledge of musical notes. It has been reported that he could play his instrument so well as to make people laugh or weep at will. In physics he demonstrated the existence of void.

c) Books
Although many of his books have been lost, 117 are known, out of which 43 are on logic, 11 on metaphysics, 7 on ethics, 7 on political science, 17 on music, medicine and sociology, while 11 are commentaries. Some of his more famous books include the book Fusus al-Hikam, which remained a text book of philosophy for several centuries at various centres of learning and is still taught at some of the institutions in the East. The book Kitab al-lhsa al 'Ulum discusses classification and fundamental principles of science in a unique and useful manner. The book Ara Ahl al-Madina al- Fadila 'The Model City' is a significant early contribution to sociology snd political science.

6) Al – Farghani (860 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abu'l-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani, born in Farghana, Transoxiana, was one of the most distinguished astronomers in the service of al-Mamun and his successors.

b) Achievements
He accepted Ptolemy's theory and value of the precession, but thought that it affected not only the stars but also the planets. He determined the diameter of the earth to be 6,500 miles, and found the greatest distances and also the diameters of the planets.
The Jawami, or 'The Elements' as we shall call it, was Al- Farghani's best-known and most influential work. Abd al-Aziz al-Qabisi (d. 967) wrote a commentary on it, which is preserved in the Istanbul manuscript, Aya Sofya 4832, fols. 97v-114v. Two Latin translations followed in the 12th century. Jacob Anatoli produced a Hebrew translation of the book that served as a basis for a third Latin version, appearing in 1590, whereas Jacob Golius published a new Latin text together with the Arabic original in 1669. The influence of 'The Elements' on mediaeval Europe is clearly vindicated by the presence of innumerable Latin manuscripts in European libraries.

c) Books
He wrote "Elements of Astronomy" (Kitab fi al-Harakat al-Samawiya wa Jawami Ilm al-Nujum i.e. the book on celestial motion and thorough science of the stars).
The Fihrist of Ibn al-Nadim, written in 987, ascribes only two works to Al-Farghani: (1) "The Book of Chapters, a summary of the Almagest" (Kitab al-Fusul, Ikhtiyar al-Majisti) and (2) "Book on the Construction of Sun-dials" (Kitab 'Amal al-Rukhamat).

7) Abu – Hamid Al – Ghazali (1058 – 1128 A.D.)

a) Life History
Abu Hamid Ibn Muhammad Ibn Muhammad al-Tusi al-Shafi'i al-Ghazali was born in 1058 C.E. in Khorasan, Iran. He had the opportunity of getting education in the prevalent curriculum at Nishapur and Baghdad. Soon he acquired a high standard of scholarship in religion and philosophy and was honored by his appointment as a Professor at the Nizamiyah University of Baghdad, which was recognized as one of the most reputed institutions of learning in the golden era of Muslim history. He died in 1128 C.E. at Baghdad.

b) Achievements
Ghazali's major contribution lies in religion, philosophy and Sufism. A number of Muslim philosophers had been following and developing several viewpoints of Greek philosophy, including the Neoplatonic philosophy, and this was leading to conflict with several Islamic teachings. On the other hand, the movement of Sufism was assuming such excessive proportions as to avoid observance of obligatory prayers and duties of Islam. Based on his unquestionable scholarship and personal mystical experience, Ghazali sought to rectify these trends, both in philosophy and Sufism.

In philosophy, Ghazali upheld the approach of mathematics and exact sciences as essentially correct. However, he adopted the techniques of Aristotelian logic and the Neoplatonic procedures and employed these very tools to lay bare the flaws and lacunae of the then prevalent Neoplatonic philosophy and to diminish the negative influences of Aristotelianism and excessive rationalism. 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. Several Muslim philosophers had held that the universe was finite in space but infinite in time. Ghazali argued that an infinite time was related to an infinite space. With his clarity of thought and force of argument, he was able to create a balance between religion and reason, and identified their respective spheres as being the infinite and the finite, respectively.

In religion, particularly mysticism, he cleansed the approach of Sufism of its excesses and reestablished the authority of the orthodox religion. Yet, he stressed the importance of genuine Sufism, which he maintained was the path to attain the absolute truth.

c) Books
He was a prolific writer. His immortal books include Tuhafut al-Falasifa (The Incoherence of the Philosophers), Ihya al-'Ulum al-Islamia (The Rivival of the Religious Sciences), "The Beginning of Guidance and his Autobiography", "Deliverance from Error". Some of his works were translated into European languages in the Middle Ages. He also wrote a summary of astronomy.

TO BE CONTINUED

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