Document Type : Original Article
Author
Graduated in History, Department of History, Zanjan University. Zanjan, Iran.
10.30484/jii.2023.3396.1112
Abstract
Zakariya al bin Muhammad bin Mahmoud Ansari, known as Zakariya al al-Qazwini, is one of the most important natural scientists in the Islamic world in the Middle Ages. Zakariya al al-Qazwini's mastery, expertise, and extensive knowledge, especially in the sciences of his time such as history, natural sciences, geography, and cosmology, have led to his name being included in the list of Iranian Muslim scholars. The breadth of his information and method of writing miracles have also led some to compare him to Pliny, the miracle writer and scientist of the ancient Roman period. The two books Athar al-Bilad and Akhbar al-Ibad in geography; and Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat in natural sciences are the most important works of Zakariya al al-Qazwini. Due to the importance of the book Aja'ib al-Makhluqat in the history of natural sciences, the present article seeks to answer the main question using a descriptive-analytical method: What did Qazwini, as a natural scientist, view these sciences in the book Aja'ib al-Makhluqat wa Ghara'ib al-Mawjudat? Based on the findings of the research, although Qazvini sometimes used experimental and observational methods to explain scientific phenomena in nature, under the influence of the scientific and intellectual atmosphere of the seventh century AH, he examined these phenomena more from a mythological and miraculous perspective.
One of the great figures in the history of Iranian-Islamic civilization who played an important role in the development of natural sciences is Zakariya al bin Muhammad bin Mahmoud Ansari, known as Zakariya al Qazvini. His two important works, one is Atra al-Bilad and Akhbar al-Ibad and the other Ajayib al-Makhluqat and Gharayib al-Muqooduwat, are available today to understand his views and thoughts. Of course, Atra al-Bilad is mostly a geographical book, but Ajayib al-Makhluqat is related to the study of natural sciences such as botany, geology, zoology, anthropology, and . . .
Studies have shown that, given Qazvini's reputation as a natural scientist and the content of his main work, the Book of Wonders of Creation, the decline of the rational-empirical tradition in the Islamic world from the seventh century onwards and the dominance and expansion of the tradition of narration and symbolism-symbolism of natural phenomena led to the growth and development of the tradition of writing miracles in the Islamic world. In this tradition, rather than looking at nature from an empirical and rational perspective, natural phenomena are described from a mythological and miraculous perspective. The result of this situation is the writing of works such as the Book of Wonders of Creation by Zakariya al Qazvini.
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