What Did Islamic Scholars Give to Modern Science?
وَقُل رَّبِّ زِدْنِى عِلْمًا
And say: My Lord, increase me in knowledge. (Quran 20:114)
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What did Islamic scholars give to science? Algebra, algorithms, optics, the scientific method, surgery, and the first teaching hospitals — fueled by faith, not despite it.
فَضْلُ ٱلْعَالِمِ عَلَى ٱلْعَابِدِ كَفَضْلِ ٱلْقَمَرِ
The superiority of the scholar over the worshipper is like that of the moon over the stars.
— Prophet Muhammad ﷺ (Abu Dawud)
Foundations of Disciplines
From roughly the 8th to the 14th century, Muslim scholars laid foundations modern science still rests on. Al-Khwarizmi gave us algebra and the word 'algorithm.' Ibn al-Haytham pioneered the scientific method and the study of optics. Al-Razi and Ibn Sina wrote medical texts taught in Europe for centuries.
Institutions of Learning
They built the world's first teaching hospitals with wards, pharmacies and licensed physicians, and established universities granting degrees. They preserved and advanced Greek philosophy, mapped the stars, refined surgery, and founded chemistry, all while the work was understood as a form of worship.
Faith as a Driver
This was not science despite religion but, in large part, because of it. The Quran's hundreds of calls to observe, reflect and seek knowledge, and the Prophet's ﷺ command that seeking knowledge is an obligation, fueled a civilization that saw studying creation as a way of knowing the Creator.
Much of the modern world was lit by lamps first kindled by people who believed that to study the universe was to read the signature of God.