Contributions of Ancient Arabian and Egyptian Scientists on the Development of Physics & Technology

Md. Wasim Aktar				the opposite process. Most of his successors did not
Deptt. of Agril. Chemicals, Bidhan Chandra Krishi				agree with his view, but Al-BirÃ¼ni and Ibn Sina
Viswavidyalaya, Mohanpur, Nadia, West Bengal, India.				independently and fully agreed with him. Ibn
The Muslim scientists studied deeply the fundamental				al-Haitham solved a number of optical, problems on
questions of physics. For instance Ibn Sina made a				the basis of the mathematical knowledge of his day.
profound study of such phenomena as force, motion,				Ibn al-Haitham dealt with such a medley of topics as
light, heat, vacuum, etc. A great progress was made				the structure of the eye, optical illusion, perspective,
in theoretical and applied mechanics. Useful work was				binocular vision, vision of outlines, shadows and
done in the field of mechanics on the wheel, axle,				colours, the ancient catoptrics and dioptrics with new
lever, pulley, inclined plane, windmill, water-wheel,				developments, camera obscura, Alhazen's problem,
toothed wheel, etc. The physicist and astronomer				mirages, comets, the Milky Way, rainbows, halos, etc.
al-Khazini wrote a book on mechanics, hydrostatics				Ibn al-Haitham conducted research catoptrics which
and physics, named Kitab Mizan al-Hikmah (Book of				contains the problem known Alhazen's problem. It is
the balance of wisdom) which is the most remarkable				as follows:-
medieval work on these subjects. It gives a theory				'From two points in the plane of a circle to draw lines
of the force of the attraction of the earth (gravity),				meeting at a point of the circumference and making
according to which the universal force is directed				equal angles with the normal at that point'. This leads,
towards the centre of the universe, which was				to an equation, of the fourth degree. Ibn al-Haitham
supposed at that time to be the centre of the earth.				solved it by the help of an hyperbola intersecting a
It includes the tables of specific gravity of many				circle. He also solved the so-called al-Mahani's cubic
liquids and solids (based on the work of al-Biruni), and				equation.
a history of the subject; the gravity of air;				Ibn al-Haitham showed a marked progress in
observations on capillarity; the use of aerometer for				experimental techniques. He made research on
the measurement of densities and the appreciation of				spherical and parabolic mirrors; spherical aberration
the temperature of liquids; the theory of lever; the				and dioptrics. He noticed that the ratio between the
application of balance to leveling and to the				angles of incidence and reflection does not remain
measurement of time. The analysis and extracts of				constant. He described the magnifying power of a
this book have been published in Arabic and English.				lens and studied atmospheric refraction. He stated
(1)				that the twilight only ceases or begins when the Sun
In another book on balance al-Khazini stresses the				is 19Â° below the horizon, and tried to measure
need to remove, as far as possible, the influences of				the height of the atmosphere on that basis. He gave
temperature variation during weighing. When				a better description of the eye and vision. He tried to
al-Khazini's other studies are considered, he seems to				explain, binocular vision, and gave a correct
be a precursor of Galileo.				explanation of the apparent increase in the size of
Al-Khazini's full name was Abu'l Fath 'Abd al-Rahman				the sun and the moon near the horizon. He gave the
al-Mansur al-Khazini (or al-Khazin). He flourished about				first mathematical treatment of the 'camera obscura'.
1115-1121. He was a Greek (Rumi) slave. His master				Thus he deals with the problems which now come
'Ali al-Khazin Ã l-Marwazi arranged for his good				under at least seven subjects including anatomy,
scientific and philosophical education in Marw.				physiology, psychology, mathematics, astronomy,
Al-KhÃ¤zin Compiled the astronomical tables called				physics and meteorology.
al-Zij al-Mu'tabar al-Sinjari (The esteemed Sinjaric				The full name of Ibn al-Haitham is Abu 'Ali Muhammad
Tables) which were named after Sinjar Ibn Malikshah				Ibn al-Hasan Ibn al-Haitham. He was a native of Basra
Ibn Alp ArsalÃ£n, governor and later Sultan of				and was born in 354 A.H. (965 A.C.). He migrated to
KhurasÃ¤n (1097-98 to 1157-58). They give the				Egypt where he lived till his death. He was a noble
position of the stars for the year 1115-1116.				person and a genius who had the knowledge of
Before al-Khazini, Umar al-Khayyam did the greatest				many sciences. He was the greatest mathematician
work on the balance. Ibn Sina and al-Razi contributed				of his age and one of the greatest opticians in
to the theory of the balance. BanÃ¼				history. He was also well versed in medicine and
MÃ¼sÃ¤ (the sons of MusÃ¤), who				Arabic language. When the Caliph al-Hakim bi-Amrillah,
flourished during the reign of the Caliph al-Ma'mun,				who was very fond of philosophy, heard about Ibn
wrote many mechanical works. An important work				al-Haitham, he had a great desire to see him.
on the balance called FarastÃ¼n' or 'Qarastun is				Al-HÃ¤kim was informed that Ibn al-Haitham had
ascribed to them. Al-RÃ¤zi (d. 923-24) made				disclosed that if he had been in Egypt, he might have
investigations on specific gravity by using the				done something in connection with the river Nile, so
hydrostatic balance. This balance was called al-Mizan				that it would become beneficial in every case,
al-Tabi'i (the physical balance). (2)				whether the level of water was high or low.
Muhammad Ibn 'Ali Ibn Rustam al-Khurasani was a				According to Ibn al-Haitham, the river water fell from
famous constructor of clocks and, therefore, he was				a high place lying in the territory of Egypt. Hearing
called al-Sa'ati (the clock maker). Between 1146 and				this report Al-Hakim became more fond of meeting
1169, he constructed a clock placed in the Bab				Ibn al-Haitham .Al-HÃ£kim sent a great amount of
JairÃ¼n. (often called 'Bab al-Sa'ah, the door of				money to him, and persuaded him to come to his
the clock). Al-Sa'Ã¤ti remained in charge of his				court. Ibn al-Haitham left for Egypt. When he reached
clock until his death in 1184-85. (3)				near Cairo al-Hakim went to receive him. They met in
Another Muslim mechanician of the 13th century was				a village near BÃ b al-Qahirah (the gate of Cairo).
Abu'l-Isa IsmÃ£'il Ibn RazzÃ£z (the son of rice				Al-Hakim honored him, provided him with all the
merchant) Badi'al-ZamÃ n al-Jazari. He was				facilities, and asked him to fulfill his promise regarding
patronized from 577-578 to 601-602 A.H. 1181-1182 to				the river Nile. A group of workers was provided to
1205-1206 A.C.,by the Urtuqid rulers of Diyar Bakr, a				help him in executing his plan. When Ibn al-Haitham
district of al-Jazirah. He wrote a treatise on the				made the survey of the site and came to a place
knowledge of the geometrical mechanical				called 'Janadil' (now called ShalÃ¤l), which lies near
contrivances entitled Kitab fi Ma'rifat al-Hiyal				Aswan on an elevated ground, he realized the
al-Handsiyyah, which was dedicated to the Urtuqid				difficulties involved. Finding himself unable to fulfill his
Nasir al-Din MahmÃ¼d (ruled from 1200 to 1222).				promise, he became very ashamed, Now he feared
It deals mainly with hydraulic apparatus (elepsydras,				al-HÃ kim and to get rid of him he acted as a mad
fountains, etc.). This important work is interesting				man, and remained in the condition of madness until
from the technical point of view, and represents the				the death of al-HÃ£kim. Then he came to his
best Arabic work on applied mechanics. It is divided				senses and settled in Qubbah near the gate of
into six parts. The first part which deals with the				Jami'ah al-Azhar, and engaged himself in writing books.
various types of the elepsydras indicating either equal				He died in 1038.
or temporal hours is the most important. Muslims				Ibn al-Haitham is the author of many works. He
divided the day into twenty-four equal hours. But				summarized Aristotle's works, and wrote
they adopted another type of division. They divided				commentaries on them. He also summarized many
the day and night each into twelve hours of varying				medical works of Galen. His writings on mathematics
length according to the season. Such type of hours				and physics are 15 and on metaphysics and physics
were also used by the Christians in Europe e.g., Italy,				are 44 in number. His books include the one on plants
until the middle of the 18th century.				and one on the properties of simple and Compound
The book was translated into German, and				drugs. (12)
commentaries on it were also written. (4)				His kitab al-Manazir (the optical thesaurus), is one of
Al-SÃ¤'Ã£ti's son RidwÃ¤n repaired and				the leading classics which influenced scientific thought
improved the clock, and also wrote a book to				for more than six centuries. The Latin, Muslim and
describe its construction and use. This book is an				Hebrew writers such as Roger Bacon, John Peckham,
important source of the study of early Muslim clocks.				Witelo, Ahmad Ibn Idris al-Qarafi, Qutb al-Din
Ridwan was a mechanician, physician and poet, and				al-ShirÃ£zi, Levi Ben Gerson based their works on
had knowledge of literature and music. He played the				this great book.
flute. Originally he belonged to Khurasan. He was				Ibn SinÃ£ made a deep study of light. He
appointed as wazir by the Ayyubi prince al-Faiz				observed that if light is emitted due to the ejection
Ibrahim and his brother al-Mu'azzam IsÃ£. Ridwan				of some sort of particles by the luminous source, the
also wrote a supplement to Ibn SinÃ 's treatise on				speed of light must be finite. (13) Al-Biruni noticed
grapes, and a commentary on his QanÃ¼n				that the speed of light is immensely greater than that
(Canon). (5)				of the sound. (14)
Qaisar Ibn Abu'l-Qasim, the Egyptian mathematician,				Nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote two books on Optics. One
astronomer (d. 1251 A.C.) made a celestial globe. He				of them, is entitled Al-Mabahith fi In'ikÃ£s
probably made improvements on the water-wheels				al-Shu'a'at wa In'itafiha (Research on the reflection
or water-mills. Such improved types of water-wheels				and refraction of rays), contains a proof of the
are still seen on the Orontes, and are among the				equality of the angles of incidence and reflection.
glories of Hama. He constructed these water-wheels				The other is entitled 'Tahrir kitab al-ManÃ£zir. In
(naura) for al-Muzzaffar al-Taqi al-Din Mahmud, the				the preface the author remarks that one perceive
ruler of Hama from 1229 to 1244 A.C. (6)				objects because of the light rays emanating from
The philosopher Abu Nasr al-Farabi refuted the				them, but that everything happens as if the rays
existence of a vacuum. He wrote a remarkable essay				emanated from our eyes. (15)
on the elasticity of the air. It is an original piece of				Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, (d. 1311) who was one of the
research. (7)				greatest scientist of all times presented his views on
The Muslim scientists took interest in the				Optics in his astronomical works. In one of such
determination of the specific gravity of various				works, entitled 'NihÃ£yat al-IdrÃ£k fi
substances. Sanad Ibn 'Ali, a scientist of the ninth				DirÃ£yat al-Aflak(Highest understanding of the
century made investigations on specific gravity.				knowledge of the Spheres); he discusses questions
Al-Biruni determined the specific gravity of 18				of geometrical optics, the nature of vision, and finally
precious stones and metals. Ibn SinÃ£ and				the rainbow. He was the first to give a satisfactory
al-RÃ£zi also made research on this subject.				account of the rainbow. His explanation of the
Ibn Yunus (d. 1009 A.C.) applied the pendulum to the				rainbow is based on his study of the passage of a
measurement of time. Al-Biruni devised a time				ray of light through a transparent sphere (drop of
machine based on the Roman calendar. He				water). He discovered that the rainbow is formed
constructed it for use in the mosque of Ghazna. But				when the rays are refracted twice and reflected
the Imam of the mosque rejected it saying that it				once (or tunice in the case of the secondary
was based on a non-Muslim work. At this Al-Biruni				rainbow) in the humid atmosphere. (16)
was very much annoyed. He said that the,				Another, important physicist and mathematician of
determination of time is a purely secular matter. It is,				the 14th century, was Kamal al-Din Abu'l- Hasan
therefore, of little value whether it is based on a				al-Farisi. He wrote a book entitled 'Tanqih al-Manazir
Muslim calendar or a non-Muslim one. Only				(Correction of optics) which is an elaborate and
convenience should be taken into consideration.				original commentary on Ibn al-Haitham's KitÃ¤b
Al-Biruni made reference to a certain kind of wells				al-ManÃ£zir (the book of optics). It covers not
which are obtained by boring the earth to that level				only physical and physiological optics, but also
of water which is submitted to the hydrostatic				meteorology, perspective and many other subjects.
pressure in which case due to the pressure water is				It includes remarks on serial perspective, colour
driven upward as in the natural springs. He correctly				effects, etc.
explains the action of such wells by the principle of				Kamal al-Din suggested the use, of hyperboloidal
communicating vessels. (8)				lenses in order to avoid spherical aberration. He gave
The Muslims developed the techniques of bathing.				an account of the refraction of light. According to
They constructed the hot, steam bath called				George Sarton, this account implies the following
HammÃ¤m (from the Arabic root Hamm meaning				facts; the speed of light is finite but very great; the
to heat). When the European Crusaders came to the				speed of light in different media is inversely
East and experienced the comforts of these baths,				proportional to the optical density (not the same as
they introduced them into their own countries.				the material density). The second of these facts
The Muslims were the first to apply the directive				seems to be an adumbration of the wave theory of
property of the magnetic needle to the				light as against the corpuscular theory.
determination of the direction of their journey while				KamÃ£l al-Din performed a number of
traveling on sea. The Chinese were the first to				experiments on camera obscura and improved its use
discover this property. The maritime trade between				initiated by Ibn al-Haitham. He showed that the
the Muslims gave much importance to the southern				images obtained on a screen in a dark room by
end of the needle than the northern one as it is done				means, of the rays of light passing through a narrow
these days. This was probably because in some				hole, are independent of the shape of the ho1e, and
places like Syria and Asia Minor the southern end				that the smaller the hole, the sharper the images. It
pointed roughly towards Makkah. Thus this end of				was also proved that the images of many objects
the needle gave the general direction of the Qiblah. In				are formed separately on the screen, but the images
the West the compass was first of all used by the				and the directions were reversed. With the help of
Italian sailors. Some Muslims have referred to the				the camera he observed eclipses and the
compass in their writings. For instance, Bailak				movements of the clouds and birds. (17)
al-Qabajaqi in his book entitled Kanz al-AhjÃ¤r				Al-Hasan al-Rammah (the lancer) Najm al- Din
described the use of a floating compass witnessed				al-Ahadab (the hunchback) wrote on military subjects.
by him in l242-43. (9)				He flourished in Syria. He wrote two treatises on
'The Muslims were also the first to invent guns and				horsemanship and the art of war, (1) Kitab
cannons and use explosive material in them. The				al-Furusiyah wa'l Munasab al-Harbiyah (Horsemanship
purpose of this invention was to throw bullets at the				and war stratagems), (2) Nihayat al-Su'ul wa'l 'Umniya
enemy from a long distance. The Chinese used				fi Ta'allum al-A'mal al-Furusiyah.
sodium nitrate only. But the penetrating power of				The first treatise deals with the military matters such
explosives was discovered and made use of only by				as the military operation, means of using lances,
Muslims. The historians generally write that first of all				bows, siege engines, and the method of fighting at
guns were used in the war of Cressi, but from the				sea and the communication of fire etc. It contains
writings of many Muslims it is revealed that guns had				various pyrotechnic recipes; Al-Hasan considered
been used a long time ago. In one of these writings				saltpeter the fundamental substance of pyrotechnics.
there is a story that some ruler named Ya'qÃ¼b				He explained the methods of preparing and purifying
besieged in 602 A.H. (1205 A.C.) an African town				it by means of potash and of repeated
Mehdra which was under the control of his chief				crystallizations.
rebel, and attacked the walls with the help of				In the opinion of George Sarton, that is more
sounding guns and machines. From every machine				important than it may seem, for the impurities of
there came out a number of showers of big stones				saltpeter are hygroscopic, and thus tend to destroy
and fire balls.				its value. To discover saltpeter and its uses was one
The statement given by Ibn KhaldÃ¼n in his				thing, to purify it was another. (18)
'History of Berbers' also proves the use of the guns				The Muslims improved the art of shipbuilding, taught
at the time of war. He writes "Abu Yusuf, the Sultan				Mediterranean seamen to construct lighter sailing-ships
of Morocco besieged in 672 A.H. (1273 A.C.) the city				or caravels (garaf), to caulk their boats with tar still
of Sijilmasa. He installed the instruments for besiege in				known in Romance languages by the Arabic name of
front of the city. These instruments consisted of				gatran (Fr goudron, It. caltrame)-to handle sails and
Manjneeq, Urawe and Handam with which the bits of				cables (Ar. habl). (19)
iron were thrown. These bits were filled in the box of				REFERENCES :-
Handam, and the explosives kept behind them were				1. A1-Khazini, 'Abd al-RahmÃ¤n, 'Mizan al-Hikmah,
set on fire. Its effect was strange and its results				Hyderabad Deccan, 1359 A.H. pp. 1-170.
could be called an act of Allah. One day with the help				2. Al-Qifti, 'Ali Ibn YÃ¼suf, Tarikh al-Hukama,
of a stone thrown by Manjneeq, part of the wall fell,				Leipzig, 1903, p. 271.
and from there the attack was made on the city.				3. Sarton, George, Introduction to the History of
(10)				Science, Carneige Institution of Washington, 1951, Vol.
The Muslims developed the science of optics. Ibn				I, p. 632.
al-Haitham (Latin Alhazen) made a remarkable				4. Ibid., p. 631.
contribution towards this science. Indeed modern				5. Ibid., 632.
optics began with him. Before Ibn al-Haitham it was				6. Ibid., vol. II, Part II, p. 623.
generally thought by the Greek, Roman and Muslim				7. Al-Qifti, op. cit., p. 277.
scientists that rays are emitted from the eyes				8. Sarton, op. cit., vol. I, p. 707.
towards the objects seen. Plato suggested that				9. Ibid., Vol. II, Part I, p. 24.
there was another set of rays which emitted from				10. Balgirami, 'Ali, Tamaddun-e-Arab, (Urdu translation
the object seen. Alexandrians believed that the vision				of a French work by Lebon), Hyderabad Deccan, p.
lies in the lens of the eye. Ibn Sina and al-Biruni also				441.
believed that the ray went from the object to the				11. Ibid., vol I, p. 609.
eye. Aristotle's ideas were very near to modern				12. Ibid., p. 721.
conception. The atomists put forward an atomical				13 Isma'il Basha al-Baghdadi, Hadiyyah al-Arifin,
theory. Hunain Ibn IshÃ£q in his work entitled				Istanbul, 1951, Vol. II, p. 66.
"Questions on the eye' put forward a theory which				14. Sarton, op.cit., p. 707.
was somewhat like that of Plato. In his opinion the				15. Ibid., p. 709-713.
lens was the central organ of vision. Both the visual				16. Ibid. vol. II, Part, II, p. 1009.
force coming from the brain and the image of the				17. Ibid.,p. 1018.
object coming from without were received in the				18. Ibid., Vol III, part I p. 707. Al-FÃ¡risi, KamÃ¡l
lens. Al-Razi, too, in his monograph on the nature of				al-Din, TÃ£nqih al-Manazir, Hyderabad Decean,
vision showed that the eyes do not radiate light. (11)				India.
Ibn al-Haitham changed the traditional view by putting				19. Sarton op. cit., Vol. II, Part II, p. 1039.
forward the theory that the objects are seen by				20. Briffault, Dr. Robert, The Making of Humanity,
rays passing from them towards the eye and not by				Islamic Book Foundation, 1980, p. 205.

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