HUAS95613 - Islam and Science

Course Description

Contemporary American media often presents us with a strict dichotomy between science and religion: in debates about climate change, evolution vs. creation, etc. Although we see most of these debates as happening within a Western framework, these issues reverberate within the Islamic world as well. This course will trouble this science vs. religion dichotomy, through the lens of Islam. Through an introduction to the history of science in the medieval and modern Islamic world, we will explore the normative narrative of the rise and decline of the “Golden Age of Islamic Science” (approximately 750-1250 CE), and seek to answer how our understanding of Islamic science impacts our understanding of the Renaissance and modern (Western) science. 

HUAS95613 Arabic Language and Cultures