times), astronomy held a prominent place on the
scientific scene. Rulers sponsored the construc-
tion of observatories and large observation instru-
ments and employed scientists such as al-Battani
(d. 929), al-Khayyam (d. 1123), and al-Tusi (d.
1274) to construct astronomical tables and keep
time. In medicine and pharmaceutics the Qanun of
ibn sina (Avicenna, d. 1037) continued to serve as
a major reference until the 18th century. All across
the empire, public hospitals were constructed to
cure the ill and train new doctors. In mathematics
al-Khawarizmi inaugurated a new science, algebra.
In optics Ibn al-Haytham (d. 1039) was the first to
use the experimental method in science. Trying to
transform cheap metals into gold, Arabo-Islamic
alchemists such as Jabir ibn Hayyan discovered
new substances and devised ways for making
them. Scientific teaching was mainly dispensed
from private homes and hospitals where teachers
would certify that a student “read” (studied) this
or that major book with him.
See also alchemy.
A. Nazir Atassi
Further reading: Toby E. Huff, The Rise of Early Modern
Science: Islam, China, and the West, 2d ed. (London:
Cambridge University Press, 2003); Roshdi Rashed, ed.,
Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science (London:
Routledge, 1996); A. I. Sabra, Optics, Astronomy and
Logic: Studies in Arabic Science and Philosophy (Hamp-
shire, England: Variorum, 1994).
secularism
Secularism denotes a relationship between religion
and the state born out of modern Anglo-Atlan-
tic conceptions of social, religious and political
aUthority. Although it has become a prominent
political idea worldwide, it is important to note
that secularism is rooted in a particular context
and reflects both the theological developments
and the predominance of a scientific outlook
toward political, economic, and social organiza-
tion that developed in medieval, Renaissance, and
Enlightenment eUrope. Thus, while secularism
has made its way into political and religious ideas
across the world, its exact meaning in those differ-
ent contexts is sometimes difficult to discern.
There are two dominant models and under-
standings of secularism in contemporary Western
European and North American societies. One, the
strict disestablishment of religion, is found in the
United states and stresses that the state may not
ally itself with any particular religious tradition.
In this case, it is important to note, however, that
individual decisions made by the government
often reflect the tradition in which most law- and
policymakers have been shaped, namely, Christi-
anity. The second model, found in particular in
France and tUrkey, is often called laicism. In it,
the state oversees and regulates religion, working
to enforce a privatized understanding of religion,
thus removing religion from public visibility.
These two models reflect the history of the differ-
ent rationales for secularism: on the one hand, the
protection of religion from the hands of the state
and, on the other hand, the protection of the state
from the hands of religion.
During the 19th century and into the 20th
century, colonized societies in the Middle East and
South Asia began to grapple with the issue of sec-
ularism, often as a result of legal, economic, and
political reforms instituted by colonial authorities
and sympathetic local elites. Vigorous debates
surrounded the effects of these secular reforms,
debates that had a tremendous influence on the
character of modern states that emerged from
colonial control in the early to mid-20th century,
such as syria, iraq, egypt, and india.
Many of the conflicts that have racked these
states since independence, from the partition
of India/pakistan to conflicts between Islamists
and both nominally secular and self-consciously
Islamic states throughout the Middle East, have
resulted in part from disagreements about the
proper role of religion—in general or in regard to
specific traditions—in the public sphere. Today,
many opponents of secularism stress the historic
particularity of secularism’s origins, thus raising
questions about the portability of the idea from
its original context, dominated by Christian-K 610 secularism