Readings on the Heritage of Science

DATE

SESSION 

13 December 2025 – Saturday 

Text: George Saliba – Islamic Reception of Greek Astronomy 

Content: 
Introduction of participants, explanation of the reading group methodology, background on the selected work, and an initial discussion. 

The central question of the book is: 
“The Islamic world did not merely inherit Greek astronomy; how did it transform it?” 

This session aims to develop a general understanding of the book’s thesis, method, and its significance within the history of Islamic science. 

31 January 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30 

Text: George Saliba – Islamic Reception of Greek Astronomy 
Reading: Entire text 

Content: 
This session will address debates concerning the rise of the Islamic scientific tradition, the socio-political context of the translation movement, and the nature of the first encounters with Greek science. Within the framework of Saliba’s argument—which challenges the widespread claim that “the Islamic world merely translated”—the formation of early astronomical and mathematical studies will be examined. 

21 February 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30 

Text: George Saliba – The Role of the Astrologer in Medieval Islamic Society 
Reading: Entire text 

Content: 
Main question: 
“What intellectual, social, and institutional roles did the astrologer assume in medieval Islamic society?” 

The aim is to understand how Saliba reinterprets the social context of Islamic scientific activity through the figure of the astrologer, his methodology, and the importance of this study for the history of Islamic science. 

14 March 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30 

Text: Maurice Lombard – The Golden Age of Islam 
Reading: Chapters 1 and 2 

Content: 
“What economic, commercial, and urban dynamics made the ‘Golden Age’ of the Islamic world possible, and how did this dynamism transform world history?” 

This session introduces the historical foundations upon which Lombard builds the concept of the “Golden Age of Islam,” his method, and the importance of the work for both Islamic civilization and world historiography. 

4 April 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30 

Text: F. Jamil Ragep – Freeing Astronomy from Philosophy: An Aspect of Islamic Influence on Science 
Reading: Sections 1 and 2 

Content: 
Focus: the intellectual shift in Islamic astronomy that separated astronomical inquiry from philosophical constraints. The session examines Ragep’s argument, his historical-analytical method, and the importance of this study for understanding Islamic contributions to the development of science. 

25 April 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30 

Text: F. Jamil Ragep – A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam 
Reading: Chapters 4 and 5 

Content: 
“Through which mathematical and conceptual transformations did Islamic scholars reconstruct Ptolemaic astronomy?” 

The aim is to understand how Ragep positions Islamic astronomy as original theoretical production, his methodology, and the work’s place in the history of Islamic science. 

16 May 2026 – Saturday 

20:00–21:30  

Text: Khaled El-Rouayheb – The Myth of the Triumph of Fanaticism in the Seventeenth-Century Islamic World 
Reading: Entire text 

Content: 
The session analyzes El-Rouayheb’s challenge to decline narratives, his method, and the book’s contested position in the historiography of science and intellectual history. 

6 June 2026 – Saturday 

15:30–17:00 

Text: Seyyed Hossein Nasr – Science and Islam: An Illustrated Study 
Reading: Chapters 1, 4, and Conclusion 

Content: 
“Upon which metaphysical and cosmological principles was the Islamic scientific tradition built, and in what ways do these differ from modern scientific paradigms?” 

The aim is to understand how Nasr grounds Islamic science within its own ontological and epistemological framework without reducing it to modern science, his approach, and the distinctive place of this work in the literature on Islamic science.