Physics

Physics

Published: 2002

The Holy Quran had awakened a spirit of inquiry among the Arabs, which was instrumental in their splendid achievements in the field of science and, according to a Western critic, led them to realize that “science could not be advanced by mere speculation; its only sure progress lay in the practical interrogation of nature. The essential characteristics of their method are experiment and observation.

The Muslims developed physics to a high degree and produced eminent physicists like Kindi, al-Beruni, and Ar-Razi. Abu Yusuf Ibn Ishaq, known as al-Kindi, was born in Kufa in the mid-9th century and flourished in Baghdad. He was one of the most prominent Muslim scholars of physics. He applied mathematics not only to physics but also to medicine.

Therefore, Cardon, a Renaissance philosopher, regarded him “as one of the 12 subtlest minds.” He believed gold and silver could be obtained only from mines, not through any other process. He endeavored to ascertain the laws that govern the fall of bodies.

Al Razi

Razi investigated specific gravity using a hydrostatic balance, which he called Mizan-al-Tabii. Most of his works on physics, mathematics, astronomy, and optics have perished. In physics, his writings deal with matter, space, time, and motion.

In his view, matter in its primitive state, before the creation of the world, consisted of scattered atoms that had an extent. Mixed in various proportions with empty space, these atoms produced five elements: earth, air, water, fire, and the celestial element.

Abu Rehan Beruni was a versatile genius who adorned the durbar of Mahmud of Ghazni. His outstanding achievement in physics was accurately determining the weight of 18 stones. He also discovered that light travels faster than sound. He also contributed immensely to geological knowledge by correctly explaining the formation of natural springs and artesian wells.

He suggested that the Indus Valley was formerly an ancient basin filled with alluvial soil. His Kitab al Jawahir deals with different types of gems and their specific gravity. A voluminous unedited lapidary by Betuni is kept in manuscript form in the Escorial Library. It covers many stones and metals from natural, commercial, and medical perspectives.

What is Taught: In the 17th century, Galileo developed the pendulum during his teenage years. He noticed a chandelier swaying in the wind. As a result, he went home and invented the pendulum.

Pendulum

What Should be Taught: Ibn Yunus al-Masri discovered the pendulum during the 10th century and was the first to study and document its oscillatory motion. Muslim physicists introduced its value for use in clocks during the 15th century.

What is Taught: Galileo (17th century) was the world’s first great experimenter.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (d. 1050) was the world’s first great experimenter. He wrote over 200 books, many of which discuss his precise experiments.
His scientific output amounts to about 13,000 pages, far exceeding what Galileo or, for that matter, Galileo and Newton combined wrote.

Using math in Physics and Astronomy, Ibn Al-Haytham wrote treatises on the light of the moon, arguing that the moon shines like a self-luminous object, though its light is borrowed from the sun. He wrote on the Halo and Rainbow, Spherical Burning Mirrors, Paraboloidal Burning Mirrors, and the shape of an eclipse, which examines the camera.