Die Blutezeit der arabischen Wissenschaft.

• Author: Haarmann, Ulrich

This small volume brings together five papers, four in German (nos. 1, 2, 4, 5), one in English (no. 3), on different Islamic sciences, including philosophy, the science of science. The selections are uneven, yet representative; we find, side-by-side, papers on philosophy, medicine, mathematics, musicology, as well as physics and chemistry; some are highly technical, others have been designed and revised to address a broader public.

The book opens with Gerhard Endress' informative and balanced survey on Aristotelianism in Islam. His main thesis is that Aristotle's logic provided the adepts of the Greek heritage in the early Islamic middle ages with a methodology and a consistent system of thought, whereas Aristotle's metaphysical and ethical writings were construed to serve as vehicles toward purifying and guiding the rational soul. Attention is given to the attributions, in Islamic times, of neo-Platonic writings to Aristotle, the "first teacher" of philosophy and pure science. With the further elaboration and systematization of philosophical arguments and models in Islam toward a universal truth, so Endress makes clear, the superior claims of Revelation for providing individual and collective orientation were challenged. In the end, despite its formal defeat, Aristotelianism remained germane to Islamic thinking, particularly to nascent scholasticism. In mystical Islam, notably in the theosophy of Suhrawardi and his Shii followers, Aristotelian falsafa could even be cited as having come to full fruition only in the union with the Creator.

The second contribution is Johann Christoph Burgel's concise survey of the genesis of an indigenous Islamic medicine between large-scale borrowings from Galenic medicine and al-tibb al-nabawi in later centuries. Attention is given to the intrinsic impediments to a full adoption of Greek medicine by the Arabs: it was tarnished by its pagan origin; it was practiced, for the most part at least, by non-Muslims; and most significant, it meant an infringement upon God's sole and unadulterated command over causality. After a long process (on which we, as Burgel repeatedly states, still know much too little) a crude synthesis between the two constituents was achieved; elements of the anti-rational tenets of the Prophetic medicine were even projected back into the writings of the Greek masters. When reading this lucid and well-structured treatise, one becomes more curious than ever to see in print Burgel's major...