Muslim Contributions to Mathematics, Science, Technology and Medicine

2:24

25 June 2011

History of Science, Mathematics

Abdullah Hakim Quick

In this clip from an undated lecture, Abdullah Hakin Quick, apparently speaking at a mosque in Coral Gables, Florida, presents a summary of the ways Muslims from the eighth to the fifteenth centuries excelled in mathematics and exact sciences.

The context of the talk seems to be one in which Quick is encouraging his audience to stop being mentally subservient to Western science and technology, because Muslims historically have also engaged in those disciplines.

Topics mentioned:  “Golden Age” of Islam, mathematics, algebra, trigonometry, chemistry, astronomy, optics, medicine (al-Qanūn fī-ṭ-ṭib), map-making.

Evaluation:

The material on Islam is within the bounds of what Muslims have historically understood as acceptable.

The discussion of historical scientific ideas here is loosely connected to the present day; many of those links are rather weak.  Muslims are no more able “naturally” to think spatially than any other group.

The historical constructions here are vague and not linked to any social or geographic context.