Science Class
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Biology in 800 C.E.?
The year was about 800 C.E ~ The Muslim world was in its Golden Age — wonderful advancements in many fields, not just in biology, but all natural sciences.
This was a time of knowledge, culture, and trade across the Islamic Empire, in parts of Europe, Africa, and Asia. Muslim scholars were making contributions to biology and all sciences by using the Quran and hadith to observe, experiment, and integrate their understanding earlier civilizations.
- Translation Movement
- They translated from Greek, Persian, and Indian texts into the Arabic language to develop biological sciences. Scholars like Al-Kindi and Al-Farabi made it easy to preserve and enhance ancient their understandings. The works of previous generations, accompanied by Quran and sunnah helped develop modern biology and medical techniques influential and studied even today.
- Botany and Zoology:
- Al-Jaiz (c. 776-868 CE) and scholars like him, contributed immensely to studies of zoology. His famous work, "Book of Animals," explored animal behavior and classification and also touched on ecological concepts, the relationships between species and environments. In botany, scholars documented the medicinal properties of plants, categorizing them for therapeutic use, essentially from Quran and sunnah.
- Al-Razi (Rhazes):
- He lived around 865-925 CE. He was extremely notable for texts on medicine and included discussions on physiology and anatomy. Al-Razi demonstrated the importance of observing the clinical practices, and contributions he laid out were the groundwork for future developments in both biology and medicine.
- Ibn Sina:
- His works gained prominence in the 900’s. He wrote "The Canon of Medicine," and it was a foundational text in both the Islamic world and later on in Europe. Ibn Sina detailed human anatomy, the function of various organs, and the principles of diseases, contributed to biological sciences, from the Quran and hadith.
- Environmental Studies:
- The Islamic tradition encouraged the study of the natural world, including ecological relationships and environmental science.
