Islamic Astronomy and Copernicus

Author : F. Jamil Ragep

Reviewed By : Mustafa KOÇ

Book Reviews

Several discoveries in the history of Islamic science since the last quarter of the XX
century have led to a re-evaluation of the origins of the Scientifc Revolution. Te main
criticism of the Scientifc Revolution concept, which is handled on the Copernicus-GalileiNewton axis,

is that the historical context of this revolution is ignored. Since the sources of
both Islamic and European scientifc traditions are similar, it is unthinkable for the new ideas
to be independent of each other, and this attitude has provided evidence that scientifc change
predates modern science. F. Jamil Ragep, who discusses the influence of Islamic astronomy
on Copernicus’ work in “Islamic Astronomy and Copernicus”, provides substantial evidence
considering the orthographic background of history. Ragep showed that there are remarkable
similarities between Islamic astronomers and Copernicus and that this is not a coincidence.
Since Islamic science is based on observation and mathematics, it played an essential role in
developing Copernicus’ heliocentric universe model.