Sciences in Islamic Societies until 1800
December 5, 2006

On the 5th of December 2006, Dr Sonja Brentjes presented a lunch-hour seminar on her research about sciences in Islamic societies until 1800, exploring the history, practices and beliefs that have occurred in a variety of Muslim settings.

Dr Brentjes explained that her exploration of this topic is in part a reaction to the largely content-based methods that have traditionally dominated research about the sciences in Islamic societies and an increasing marginalisation of the history of sciences and Islamic studies. Dr Brentjes' research has focused on developing a concept of the history of science in Islamic societies in their own contexts.

Dr Brentjes noted that there are three major platforms of multiple origins that feed into the discipline of the history of science in Islamic societies.

"One is the history of science as a subject of science, and you may find that surprising. One is the history of science as a subject of history, which you may think is the normal, appropriate format. And one is the history of science as a subject of social and political competition. And when you see what has gone on in the last couple of years, you might think this a possibility." Dr Brentjes explained that surprisingly, these three platforms emerged relatively early - possibly in the 10th century or even before.

Providing an overview of 20th century developments in the field, Dr Brentjes noted that until the 1960s the major belief was that sciences in Islamic societies were passively received from earlier civilisations, namely Greece, India, Iran and possibly China. The prevailing idea was that the most important contributions to science and the framework for the sciences in Islamic societies came from ancient and classical Greece.

Due to this emphasis on the importance of ancient Greek sciences, the value of sciences in Islamic societies has been seen as the preservation of ancient sciences for medieval, Latin Europe. Dr Brentjes pointed to the belief in an Islamic orthodoxy which was both anti-philosophical and anti-scientific, leading to the situation whereby very few contributions had been made to the sciences, and what contributions had been made were limited to the framework of the Greek sciences. This belief was compounded by the idea that science as a discipline in Islamic societies declined in the 11th century, and eventually disappeared altogether. This belief has, she noted, changed significantly due mainly to the work of Soviet and American researchers in the 1960s and 1970s. These researchers asserted that new developments by Islamic scientists were made from the 11th century onwards, especially in the mathematical and astronomical sciences. These developments occurred both within and outside of the framework of the ancient Greek sciences.

During the 1980s and 1990s there was a concerted effort to rediscover past achievements in Islamic societies and thus prove that Muslims really had done work of scientific originality and relevance. For this to take place, the very nature of what the sciences were in Muslim contexts had to be considered.

"After the 11th century, courtly patronage for the sciences was basically non-existent. Courtly patronage is seen as the cultural, social and economical base for the sciences before 1100. After 1100 there was no such courtly patronage . but the idea of the decline of sciences has shifted, because more and more scholars, in their search for manuscripts, found that of course these libraries (were) full of manuscripts after 1100, 1200, 1300."

Dr Brentjes explained the importance of understanding that there is no single history of science in Islamic society, and that it varies according to cultural and geographical area. Providing an example, she noted that while the Mamluks supported new scientific research in timekeeping (for prayer at mosques, etc), there was almost no scientific development in Central Asia at this time. The same phenomenon can be seen in the field of astronomy - with various developments taking place up until the 14th century in urban centres in a variety of different Muslim contexts.

From this research, Dr Brentjes explained, it can be concluded that the sciences in Islamic societies were not marginalised and that original scientific achievements in the Muslim world continued well into the 19th century. From the 13th century to the 16th century several Islamic dynasties sponsored the sciences, demonstrating that a micro historio-cultural and social study is needed to reveal the true nature of the history of the sciences in Islamic contexts.

In order for this to happen, Dr Brentjes recommended an approach on three levels. One is to decentralise historiography and focus on local and scientific histories by looking at whether religion and language brought science together. Another is to look at practices in Islamic societies - exploring the role visualisation plays in scientific work. The third approach should question the 18th and 19th century historiography of reforms by ascertaining the nature of modernity and science and taking historical sources seriously.

"Through this process I hope to be able to understand sciences in Muslim contexts on their own terms and to formulate new questions, desires and histories. In order to do this, research should try to find the forgotten and study actors in their particular locality at that point in time. In this regard, the focus should be on the issue of transfer of a change of locality and therefore explore changes in the contexts of individuals."