Islamic Civilization

The Need for Further Study of the Legacy of Islamic Mathematics

In his conclusion on the state of the studies of Muslim mathematics, Berggren insists that 

‘Since past researches now allow us to identify with some certainty the major figures in the history of Islamic mathematics, it is important that scholars begin to publish series of works by these men or their students. Only on the basis of reliably edited texts can the history of Islamic mathematics move beyond what has often been a random development dependent on chance discoveries, and so explore the many inviting avenues that now appear to be open to further  research.’[1]

Focus might also be first placed on an early figure, Al-Kindi (801-873), who wrote on spherical geometry and its uses in astronomical works, and an introduction to arithmetic and the theory of numbers.[2] As one of the earliest scholars/mathematicians of Islam, his work can unravel some fundamental issues on the innovative character of Islamic mathematics, and how it developed. The Banu Musa brothers (early 9^th century), who  among others wrote on the measurement of the sphere, and discovered kinematical methods of trisecting angles and of drawing ellipses,[3] by being like al-Kindi some of the pioneering Islamic scientists, can also throw light on the early developments of Islamic mathematics. Al-Biruni ’s mathematical works also require sustained interest, for, as noted by Meyerhof, they have hardly been touched;[4] and knowing al-Biruni’s contribution, his works must have many answers to unresolved issues. The mathematics of North Africa  would have remained totally unknown has not it been for the sustained efforts of Djebbar, in particular.[5] The role of this region is central as it was the place through which passed most of the learning from East to West; and the links between the Maghrib  and Spain are all too obvious.[6] It remains crucial to determine when and how mathematics, in its diversity, transferred from East to West, what is distinctly eastern, and what is western, and in this respect answer once for all some issues such as that of the numerals, for instance.