Mathematics and Physics in Classical Islam

This impressive volume brings together ten original contributions that collectively challenge and enrich the historiography of science . Published in Brill’s Crossroads series, the volume spans classical Islamic epistemology, mathematics, physics, optics, social theory, and art . It is anchored by the conviction—voiced most clearly by Roshdi Rashed—that scientific rationality in Islam was not derivative but deeply innovative . The authors, ranging from eminent f igures like Rashed to newer scholars such as Zeinab Karimian and Marouane ben Miled, offer a scholarly feast of considerable scope and depth. 

The volume is the product of research and symposia held between 2015 and 2017 at Ghent University, partly in tribute to the work of Roshdi Rashed . Lelli’s editorial introduction outlines the book’s intent: to reframe the emergence of modern science by demonstrating that several of its foundational forms— algebraic rationality, experimental physics, and interdisciplinary integration— were already active in the Islamic world from the ninth century onward . She notes: ‘This volume presents various aspects of the history of Arabic mathematics and physics in the classical era from a comparative perspective . It expounds on advances and ruptures of classical Islam with respect to Hellenism, and namely the emergence of a new mathematical rationality, which was both algebraic and experimental, and the beginning of the mathematisation of physics . These were the features of classical science as it was understood and practiced in Europe until the end of the seventeenth century, after Europe had engaged in its own appropriation of Arabic and Hellenistic mathematics and physics as early as the twelfth century . Advances and ruptures varied from one discipline to another and from one branch to another within the same discipline . Also, we have pointed out that the interdisciplinary openness of classical Islam was a factor of creativity and contributed to advances in the scientific and social thought’ (p. 6).