Science
Arab
and Muslim science, art, design, and architecture have over many centuries
been at the forefront of creativity. From the 9th century, during Europe's
so-called Dark Ages, Muslim scholars made huge intellectual strides. Partly
inspired by their faith, in an attempt to understand creation, they synthesised
and developed knowledge from India, Persia, Ancient Babylon and Greece.
Astronomy flourished: several major observatories were built, most famously in Maragha, in present-day Azerbaijan.
One of the most influential Muslim scholars was Muhammed ibn Musa al Khawarizmi (around 800-850 AD). The court astronomer to the Caliph of Baghdad, he wrote the earliest, still existing, work of astronomy in Arabic. He also developed the new Arab discipline of algebra and popularised the use of the Indian (which we call 'Arabic') system of numerals.
In medicine, Muslims studied anatomy and the healing properties of plants. Their cities had hospitals to treat rich and poor alike. In the 13th century, Muslims were the first to understand that blood flows round the body.
Muslim scientists developed – and transformed – earlier Greek work on optics: Ibn al Haytham, in the 11th century, was the first to realise that light travels in straight lines and that we see as a result of light entering the eye, rather than being emitted by the eye, as had previously been thought.
In engineering, Muslim scientists invented gears, pumps and cranks. They pioneered inventions for irrigation, such as waterwheels and underground aquifers – vital in desert regions. In the 12th century, al-Jazari wrote the first mechanical handbook.