Publisher's Synopsis
"Scientist of the Islamic Era" is a book series encompassing eight volumes; the present book is volume 4 titled "Religious Scientists of the Islamic Era". It covers 83 religious Scientists encompassing people of tafsir and ta'wil, ilm-al-kalam, hadith, fiqh, justice, ijtihad, and ruhaniyyaat. The period of coverage is part 1 of the Islamic Era, from AD 610 to 1400. They com-manded exceptional breadth in their learning and deepest insights in their specializations. They formulated the foundations of the fields of knowledge in the Religious Sciences and defined its frontiers. The field of religious science is unique to Muslims and Islam because Islam is a religion free from dogmas and therefore amenable to scientific treatment; and consequently Muslims were free to develop the required scientific world-view to formulate the related sciences.
Each scientist is briefly described. First, the name of the scientist is disambiguated, and an attempt is made to correct the misrepresentations common in the European translations. Salient scientific contributions of each scientist are briefly highlighted, a difficult task because of the fact that many of these scientists were polymaths. For each scientist we have provided a biographical summary to help picture their love and craving for knowledge, and the motivations and opportunities for them to do their research.
It is our objective that this fourth volume in the series will inform the Muslims about the wealth of their scientific heritage, and the next generations will feel inspired to surpass the excellence of their ancestors to enrich their heritage further, and be, like their ancestors, the flag bearers of world civilization in the religious sciences.
Muslims are now excelling in research with superb agility, and this series on Scientists of the Islamic Era will further stimulate this ongoing Renaissance in the Muslim world.
