List of Islamic scholars described as father or

founder of a field
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The following is a list of scholars of medieval Islamic civilization who have been described as the
father or the founder of a field by some modern scholars:

Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi, also known as Abulcasis, has been called the "father of modern
surgery" and the "father of operative surgery".
[1]

[2]

'Ali ibn al-'Abbas al-Majusi, also known as Haly Abbas is ranked among the top three of most
eminent doctors of medieval Islam. One scholar asserts that he "must be acknowledged as a
founder of anatomic physiology". In addition, the section on dermatology in his Kamil as-sina'ah
at-tibbiyah (Royal book-Liber Regius) has one scholar to regard him as the "father of Arabic
dermatology".
[3]

[4]

[7]

Alhazen: is considered the "father of modern optics",

and the "father of optics".

[5][6]

the "father of physiological optics",

[8][9]

Al-Biruni: According to Francis Robinson, Al-Biruni earned the "founder of Indology" and "first
anthropologist" titles for his remarkable description of early 11th-century India. Georg
Morgenstierne regarded him as "the founder of comparative studies in human culture". AlBiruni is also known as the "father of Islamic pharmacy".
[10]

[11]

[12][13]

Al-Farabi: regarded as the "founder of Islamic/Arab Neoplatonism" and by some as the

"father of formal logic in the Islamic world".
Many consider Al-Farabi to be the real founder of Islamic Peripatetic philosophy. He has
also been credited with being the "founder of Islamic political philosophy", however, Peter
Adamson, professor of Ancient and Medieval Philosophy at King's College London, rejects
the title arguing that Al-Farabi "was not a political philosopher in the sense of having given
concrete political proposals for running a society: Rather, his aim was to describe the societal
conditions that tend to produce virtue and vice".
[14][15]

[16]

[16]

[17]

[18]

Al-Khalil ibn Ahmad al-Farahidi: has been called the father of Arabic lexicography ('ilm allugha) and prosody (al-ar).
[19]

Al-Khawarizmi: most renowned as the "father of algebra". Solomon Gandz states: "In a
sense, Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra"
thanDiophantus because Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and
for its own sake, Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers".
[20]

Al-Kindi, known as "the Philosopher of the Arabs", is unanimously hailed as the "father
of Islamic/Arab philosophy".
[17][21][22]

Averroes (1126-1198): known in Arabic as Ibn Rushd, was an Andalusian polymath born
in Crdoba, Spain. Averroes was regarded by some (medieval ?) Christian bishops as the
"father of free thought and unbelief" and has been described by some as the "father of
rationalism" and the "founding father of secular thought in Western Europe".
Ernest
[23][24]

[25]

[26][27]

Renan called Averroes the absolute rationalist, and regarded him as the father of
freethought and dissent.
[28]

Ibn Hazm: author of one of the earliest works on comparative religion and "honoured in the
West as that of the founder of the science of comparative religion". Alfred Guillaume refers
to him the composer of "the first systematic higher critical study of the Old and New
testaments". However, William Montgomery Watt disputes the claim, stating that Ibn
Hazm's work was preceded by earlier works in Arabic and that "the aim was polemical and
not descriptive".
[29]

[30]

[31]

Ibn Khaldun is regarded by many as the father of sociology, historiography and modern
economics. He is best known for his Muqaimah.

Jabir ibn Hayyan was a prominent Arab alchemist who is praised as the "father of
Islamic/Arabic alchemy" and who has often been referred to as the father of chemistry
and is widely credited with the introduction of the experimental method into alchemy, as well
as with the invention of numerous important processes that are still used in chemistry today.
[32]

[33][34]

Rhazes: His treatise on Diseases in Chilren has led many to consider him the "father of
pediatrics".
He has also been praised as the "real founder of clinical medicine in Islam".
[35][36][37]

[38]

Muhammad al-Shaybani: the father of Muslim international law.

Suhrawardi: founder of the Illuminationist school of Islamic philosophy.

[39]

[40][41]

See also[edit]

List of people considered father or mother of a scientific field

Islamic Golden Age

Science in medieval Islam

Timeline of science and engineering in the Islamic world

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