Science and Islam. Interest in this subject by mainly Muslim contemporary writers, is evident from the amount of literature seeking to link scientific phenomena to Islam. While the trend to relate scientific facts to Quran, Hadith and related Islamic texts is confirmed by the amount of literature cited, whether or not there has been such an approach by scientists in the history of Muslim civilisation is the question this thesis seeks to answer. Historical contribution to science by scientists within the domain of Muslim civilisation is well recognised. Although the vital role played by Muslim civilisation in the transmission of ancient science, especially that of the Greek, to mediaeval Europe is generally acknowledged, the exact role of Islam as a religion in this scientific development is not clear. This thesis explores an aspect of the history of Muslim civilisation which may contribute to elucidate the role of Islam in Muslim science.

Thesis (M.S.)--Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, 1993. / Vita. Abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 76-80). Also available via the Internet.

What can we learn about the Intellectual history of the pre-modern Islamic world by examining the science of music? This dissertation addresses how the science of music, as a body of knowledge, was appropriated from its Greek origins, how this science was then reproduced and disseminated throughout Islamic civilization, and how Muslim society situated it vis-à-vis Islamic tradition. Widely considered to be an art today, music in the medieval Islamic world was categorized as one of the four branches of the mathematical sciences, alongside arithmetic, geometry, and astronomy; indeed, some philosophers and scholars of music went as far as linking music with medicine and astrology as part of an interconnected web of cosmological knowledge. This dissertation examines the epistemological tools and techniques that contributed to the production of musical knowledge from the early medieval to the early modern period (9th–17th centuries CE). This knowledge was often produced through the patronage of both the ruling and the urban elite classes. Furthermore, this dissertation demonstrates how this science was preserved and subsequently transmitted by scholars of the mathematical disciplines through manuscripts. By studying the marginalia and super commentaries of these manuscripts, it demonstrates how scholars in the Islamic world understood and engaged the tradition of the science of music.

The legitimation of science is an increasingly important issue in science studies. In this thesis, I examine the legitimation issue in a non-Euroamerican setting within the context of the Islamization of knowledge debate. The Islamization of knowledge debate emerged within the context of the perceived crisis of Islamic civilizational and concomitant crisis the intellectuals. Within the Islamization of knowledge, I describe three distinct approaches which I label traditional, indigenization, and nativization approaches. The legitimation used by the advocates of the Islamization of knowledge changed over time. The change is due to the increasing legitimacy and power the Islamization of knowledge gained in the last two decades. This increasing legitimacy has led to the exclusion the most traditional views on science and to disciplinary infighting between advocates of the different Islamization strategies. Each approach to science uses different legitimation strategies and has different objectives. The advocates of traditional approach are trying to maintain the status quo. The advocates of the indigenization approach are trying to change power relationships in their favor by constructing themselves as the modern ulama who would make policy-decisions based on their possession of knowledge relevant to Islamic civilization. The advocates of the nativization approach are trying to change power relationships in their favor by reconstructing science from its epistemological foundations using Islamic concepts. / Master of Science

Ibn Jumay''s (d. c. 594/1198) commentary on the Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sīnā (d. 428/1037) occupies an important place in the history of medicine for it is the first Canon commentary written by a physician and thus stands at the start of a tradition extending over 500 years. In addition, it is a so-far neglected source for our understanding of mediaeval Islamic medicine. The present thesis analyses the commentary with the aims of (1) determining the methods by which the court physician composed his treatise and (2) understanding why Ibn Jumay' undertook to prepare a commentary on one of the most thorough medical compendia of the middle ages. Chapter One presents the biography of Ibn Jumay', reveals that his religion had little impact on his writings and surveys his library which played a pivotal role in the composition of the commentary. Chapter Two investigates Ibn Jumay''s methodology in the entire commentary; it reveals that with his philological and source-critical methods Ibn Jumay' wanted to establish an authoritative reading of the Canon and to demonstrate the high degree of his erudition. Chapter Three focuses on selected passages in the commentary in form of three case studies. Ibn Jumay''s comments on anatomy/dissection, assorted materia medica and headaches demonstrate the court physician’s reverence for ancient authorities and his quest to revive and refine their teachings. Chapter Four contextualises Ibn Jumay''s methods and agenda by comparing them to those of other relevant scholars of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The thesis concludes by arguing that Ibn Jumay''s commentary was part of his revival of the art of medicine and his attempt to gain power in the medical tradition by attaching his name to one of the greatest scholars of his time — the ra'īs Ibn Sīnā.