Botany

The Muslim scientists made considerable progress in biology, especially in botany, and developed horticulture to a high degree of perfection. They paid greater attention to botany in comparison to zoology. Botany reached its zenith in Spain. Al-Masudi gave the rudiments of the theory of evolution in his well-known work Meadows of Gold. Another of his works, Kitab al-Tanbih wal Ishraq, advances his views on evolution from mineral to plant, from plant to animal, and from animal to man. In botany, Spanish Muslims made the greatest contribution, and some of them are known as the greatest botanists of medieval times. They were keen observers and discovered sexual differences in plants such as palms and hemp. They roamed seashores, mountains, and distant lands in search of rare botanical herbs. They classified plants into those that grow from seeds, those that grow from cuttings, and those that grow of their own accord, i.e., wild growth.

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The Spanish Muslims advanced in botany far beyond the state in which “it had been left by Dioscorides and augmented the Greeks’ herbology by the addition of 2,000 plants.” Regular botanical gardens existed in Cordova, Baghdad, Cairo, and Fez for teaching and experimental purposes. Some were among the finest in the world. The Cordovan physician Al-Ghafiqi (d. 1165) was a renowned botanist who collected plants in Spain and Africa and described them with great accuracy. According to G. Sarton, he was “the greatest expert of his time on simples. His description of plants was the most precise ever made in Islam; he gave the names of each in Arabic, Latin and Berber”.

Ibn Baylor later appropriated his outstanding work Al Adwiyah al Mufradah dealing with simples.”Abu Zakariya Yahya Ibn Muhammad Ibn Al-Awwan, who flourished in Seville (Spain) at the end of the 12th century, wrote the most important Islamic treatise on agriculture in medieval times, Kitab al Filahah. The book covers more than 585 plants and discusses the cultivation of more than 50 fruit trees. It also discusses numerous plant diseases and suggests remedies.

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The book presents new observations on the properties of soil and different types of manures. Abdullah Ibn Ahmad Ibn al-Baytar was the greatest botanist and pharmacist in medieval Spain. He traveled, searching for plants and collecting herbs along the Mediterranean littoral from Spain to Syria; he described more than 1,400 medical drugs and compared them with the records of more than 150 ancient and Arabian authors. His collection of simple drugs is the most outstanding botanical work in Arabic.

“This book, in fact, is the most important for the whole period extending from Dioscorides down to the 16th century.” It is an encyclopedic work on the subject. He later entered the service of the Ayyubid king, al-Malik al-Amil, as his chief herbalist in Cairo. From there, he traveled through Syria and Asia Minor and died in Damascus. One of his works, AI-Mughani-fi al Adwiyah al Mufradah, deals with medicine. The other, Al Jami Ji al Adwiyah al Mufradah, is a valuable book containing simple remedies regarding the animal, vegetable, and mineral matters described above. It also covers 200 novel plants unknown at the time.

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Abdul Abbas Al-Nabati also wandered along the African Coast from Spain to Arabia in search of herbs and plants. He discovered rare plants on the Red Sea coast. Another botanist, Ibn Sauri, traveled in Syria with an artist who sketched the plants they found. Ibn Wahshiya wrote his celebrated work al-Filahah al-Nabatiyah, which contains valuable information about animals and plants. Many

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Cosmographical encyclopedias have been written by Arabs and Persians, which contain sections on animals, plants, and stones, of which the best known is that of Zakariya al-Kaiwini, who died in 1283 A. D. Al-Dinawari wrote an excellent ‘book of plants’ and al-Bakri had written a book describing in detail the ‘Plants of Andalusia ‘. Ibn Maskwaih, a contemporary of Al-Beruni, advanced a definite theory about evolution. According to him, plant life at its lowest stage of evolution does not need a seed to be born and grow. Nor does it perpetuate its species using seeds.

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The great advancement of botanical science in Spain led to the development of agriculture and horticulture on a grand scale. “Horticulture improvements,” says G. Sarton, “constituted the finest legacies of Islam, and the gardens of Spain proclaim to this clay one of the noblest virtues of her Muslim conquerors. The development of agriculture was one of the glories of Muslim Spain.”