Abstract:
Among historians of science, there are two major theories regarding the position of science in Islamic culture: some believe that science in Islam is a marginal issue and that, fundamentally, within the Islamic educational and training system, the phenomenon of science did not hold a serious or important position and was placed on the periphery. Proponents of this theory call it the 'Marginalization Theory.' According to this theory, the great and undeniable scientific achievements and successes of Muslim scholars and natural philosophers should be considered the fruit of private circles that remained safe from the pressures and restrictions of religious fundamentalists and traditionalists. Others believe that science in Islamic culture enjoyed a high status and dignity, and that fundamentally, the words 'science' and 'knowledge' have never held such a position in any civilization other than Islamic civilization, serving as key terms in this civilization. Proponents of this theory call it the 'Regulation and Specialization Theory.' According to this theory, although rational sciences did not dominate transmitted sciences in the Islamic world, they reached a state of harmony with them. This article aims to examine these two theories by utilizing reliable sources.
Machine summary:
On the other hand, the words of the Quran also provide awareness of the various ways of acquiring human scholars, by utilizing all relevant Arabic roots such as ilm (science/knowledge), عرف (convention), shar' (law), aql (reason), yaqin (certainty), fiqh (jurisprudence), fikr (thought), fahm (understanding), and the like, makes it apparent.
Rosenthal has traced the words danesh (knowledge) and ilm from before Aristotle to the fourteenth century AD and, while examining its influence on the thoughts and teachings of Muslim scholars and scientists, as well as Shiite, Mu'tazilite, and Ash'arite thinkers, has paid attention to their reactions in this regard with particular precision and subtlety, independently, documented, and based on authoritative sources and works.
Gutas, a prominent professor at Yale University, says in this regard: If the Abbasids had not come to power after the end of the Umayyad dynasty, and if the seat of the Caliphate had not been moved to Baghdad, the movement of translating Greek works into Arabic would not have emerged in Damascus, and it is uncertain where the fate of science and knowledge would have ended in that era (1381: 19).
It is obvious that the conquests of the Muslims were the most important factor for the dissemination of science, knowledge, and technology in the Islamic world, so that in the very first decades of the Abbasid era, and with the support and patronage of courtiers, rulers, and some members of their families, individuals endowed with appropriate status, as well as the regional scholars themselves, emerged who completely absorbed secular knowledge.
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