Muslim Scientists

In the modern world Islam is seen as many things, but rarely is it viewed as a source of inspiration and enlightenment. Though it is a force of enlightenment and it is not only verses of the Quran that testify to that fact, but also the great body of scholarship produced during the Middle Ages. While Europe was in the midst of darkness, it was the Muslims, spurred on by the light of their new Deen who picked up the torch of scholarship and science. It was the Muslims who preserved the knowledge of antiquity, elaborated upon it, and finally, passed it on to Europe.
Although every peoples earn what they do and pass on, it is important for us to learn about and appreciate the contributions of the Islamic civilization by the early Muslims. Colonialism, the institution of the Western educational model, along with Eurocentrism often portrays Islam as backwards, incompatible with science and technology and anti-educational. Muslim school children never learn of their glorious past and often the only thing passed on to them is the inferiority complex of the generation before them. From the past we can learn from our mistakes and use the analysis of those great examples before us as role models to enrich us in the future.

In the seventh century A.D., the prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent to the people of Arabia. Within a decade of his death the Muslims had conquered all of the Arabian peninsula. Within a century, Islam had spread from Al-Andalus in Spain to the borders of China. Islam unified science, theology, and philosophy. Muslims were commanded to study, seek knowledge, and learn and benefit from others’ experiences by Allah (SWT) in the holy Quran and by the prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the Sunnah. It was this that inspired the Muslims to great heights in sciences, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, art and architecture.

Muslim scholars began obtaining Greek treatises and started their study and translation into Arabic a few centuries after the Hijrah (622 A.D.) They critically analyzed, collated , corrected and supplemented substantially the Greek science and philosophy. After this period began what is known as the Golden Age of Islam, which lasted for over two centuries. It is here we find many of the great scientists of Islam who literally left behind hundreds and thousands of books on the various branches of science.


Ibn al-Nafis
Physician and Expert: Ibn al-Nafis Ibn al-Nafis (1205-1288), also known as Al-Quarashi, ancient Islamic physician and expert on the Shafi’i


Ibn Sina (Avicenna)
IBN SINA (AVICENNA) – Best known for his work “The Canon Medicine” Ibn Sina most commonly known in English by


Al-Betrugi (Alpetragius)
Nur ad-Din al-Betrugi (also spelled Nur al-Din Ibn Ishaq Al-Bitruji and Abu Ishâk ibn al-Bitrogi; another spelling is al Bidrudschi)


Al-Farabi (Alpharabius)
Al-Farabi (Alpharabius) “The Second Teacher/Master”   Abu Nasr al-Farabi (Abu Nasr Muhammad al-Farabi; known in the West as Alpharabius (c.


Al-Zarqali (Arzachel)
Al-Zarqali (Latinized to Arzachel) – Most famous for his “Book of Tables”   Abu Is?aq Ibrahim ibn Ya?ya al-Naqqash al-Zarqali


Al-Balkhi (Albuxar)
Al-Balkhi (Latinized to Albuxar) – Most famous for “Albumasar De Magnis Coniunctionibus” Translation into Latin of a work of Albumasar


Al Battani (Albategnius)
Al Battani (Latinized to Albategnius) – “Astronomer”   Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan ar-Raqqi al-Harrani as-Sabi al-Batani. Latinized


Taqi Al-Din
Taqi Al-Din – “The Greatest Scientist on Earth” Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma’ruf al-Shami al-Asadi (Turkish: Takiyuddin) (1526–1585) was a


Jabbir Ibn Haiyan (Geber)
Generally known as the “Father of Chemistry” Abu Musa Jābir ibn Hayyān (born c. 721 in Tus, Iran–died c. 815


Al-Khwarizmi (Algoritmi)
Al-Khwarizmi (Latinized to Algoritmi) – Best Known for Contributions to mathematics Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi (c. 780, Khwarizm


Banu Musa - Family of Honor
There were three brothers Jafar Muhammad ibn Musa ibn Shakir, Ahmad ibn Musa ibn Shakir and al-Hasan ibn Musa ibn


Ibn Tufail (Abubacer)
Ibn Tufail (Latinized to Abubacer) – “Most famous for Hayy ibn Yaqdhan” Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Abd al-Malik ibn Muhammad


Ibn Bajjah (Avempace)
Ibn Bajjah (Latinized to Avempace) – “Polymath” Most famous for The Book of Plants Abu-Bakr Muhammad ibn Yahya ibn al-Sayigh


Al Ghazali - One of the great Jurist, Theologian and Mystic of the 12th Century
Abu Hamed Mohammad ibn Mohammad al-Ghazzali (1058–1111 C.E.) (Persian: ابو حامد محمد ابن محمد الغزالی), known as Al-Ghazali or Algazel


Al Kindi (Alkindus) - The Philosopher of the Arabs
Yaqub ibn Isaq al-Kindi (Latin: Alkindus) (c. 801–873 CE), known as “the Philosopher of the Arabs”, was a Muslim Arab


Al-Masudi - Herodotus of the Arabs
The historian and geographer, Abul Hasan Ali Ibn Hussain Ibn Ali Al Masudi (895-957 CE) was a scion of an


Kushyar ibn Labban
Abul-Hasan Kūshyar ibn Labbān ibn Bashahri Gilani (971–1029), also known as Kūshyar Gilani was a mathematician, geographer, and astronomer from


Abu al-Wafa
Abu’l-Wafa was brought up during the period that a new dynasty was being established which would rule over Iran. The


Al-Sufi (Azophi) - Astronomer
Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi (Persian: عبدالرحمن صوفی) (December 7, 903 – May 25, 986) was a Persian astronomer also known as


Ibn Rushd (Averroes) - The Islamic Scholar Who Gave Us Modern Philosophy
Ibn Rushd (Averroes) - The Islamic Scholar Who Gave Us Modern Philosophy 


Ibn Yunus
Ibn Yunus’s full name is Abu’l-Hasan Ali ibn Abd al-Rahman ibn Ahmad ibn Yunus al-Sadafi. As the name indicates, his


Ibn Rushd (Averroes) - One of the spiritual fathers of Europe
Abu ‘l-Walid Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Rushd better known just as Ibn Rushd, and in European literature as Averroes (1126


Ibn Firnas (Armen Firman) - The First Aviator
Abbas Ibn Firnas (810–887 A.D.), also known as Abbas Qasim Ibn Firnas and عباس بن فرناس (Arabic language), was a


Al-Farghani (Alfraganus)
Abū al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathīr al-Farghani also known as Alfraganus in the West was a Muslim astronomer and


Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) - World's First True Scientist
Alhazen, the great Islamic polymath. Alhazen was born in Basra, in the Iraq province of the Buyid Persian Empire. He


Al-Zahrawi – The Pioneer of Modern Surgery
It has often been stated on this website that the Muslim period of Spain’s history (also known as al-Andalus) was


Al Jazari - The Father of Robotics
Al Jazari (1136–1206) was a Muslim polymath: a scholar, inventor, mechanical engineer, craftsman, artist, mathematician and astronomer from Al-Jazira, Mesopotamia,


Famous Scientists
Einstein, Newton, Flemming … these names are well known, and with good reason, as influential and innovative scientists.  However, what