Science and Public Policy February 2004 69 Science and Public Policy, volume 31, number 1, February 2004, pages 69–75, Beech Tree Publishing, 10 Watford Close, Guildford, Surrey GU1 2EP, England Review essay Scientific enterprise in Islam Toby E Huff The Enterprise of Science in Islam. New Per- spectives edited by Jan P Hogendijk and Abdelhamid I Sabra MIT Press, Cambridge MA, 2003, US$45.00, ISBN 0-262-19482-1 (hardback) Islam and Science by Muzaffar Iqbal Ashgate Publications, Burlington VT, 2002, US$29.95, ISBN 0-7546-0800-X (paperback) The question of whether or not science is compatible with Islam has been debated for centuries both within and without the Muslim world by western scholars. For those who see science mainly as a bundle of tech- niques for producing more exact measurements of natural phenomena, the conflict becomes vanishingly small. For those, on the other hand, who suspect that science is a new method of investigation, an enter- prise that periodically overturns ancient wisdom and sacred truths, science is perceived as a subversive en- deavor that must be reined in. In the two volumes reviewed here, the reader gets a fascinating picture of how these themes played out during the course of Islamic civilization’s history. In the first volume, The Scientific Enterprise in Is- lam, edited by Jan P Hogendijk and Abdelhamid I Sabra, attention is directed almost wholly toward the exact sciences. What the chapters reveal is an amaz- ing amount of technical virtuosity, especially in mathematics — in algebra, geometry and trigonome- try — and its applications in astronomy, optics, and architecture. While the collection of papers leaves the deeper metaphysical connections between Islam and science unexamined, the second volume, Islam and Science by Muzaffar Iqbal, plunges deeply into what he takes to be the authentic sources of “Islamic sci- ence.” Moreover, he traces the struggle between science and Islam from the early phases of Islam’s arrival to the 20th century, revealing along the way the various conflicts that ensued, thereby transform- ing the Islam and science “discourse.” Fascinating collection of papers The Scientific Enterprise in Islam is the product of a conference on New Perspectives in Islamic Science held at the Dibner Institute at MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) in November 1998. Based on those papers and other recent research, the editors suggest that “the Islamic scientific tradition was even richer, more profound, and [characterized by] more complex relations to other cultures than had been thought hitherto” (page ix). The volume contains 12 papers, divided into six parts, dealing with such things as cultural transmission, the transformation of Greek optics, and mathematics and philosophy. There are papers on the transmission of the Hindu–Arabic numerals to the Muslim world and within it (Paul Kunitzsch), the attitudes of philoso- phers towards the mathematical sciences (Gerhard Endress), the problem of calculating surfaces and volumes in Islamic architecture (Yvonne Dole- Samplonius), a chapter on the geometer al-Kuhi (J L Berggren), the transmission of astronomical (zij) tables, especially those of Ulugh Beg (1393–1449) in the 17th century to India (David Pingree), and to North Africa in the 19th century (Julio Samsó). There is also a useful summary of the results of re- search on mathematics in the Maghreb (North Af- rica) undertaken from 1834 to 1980 (Ahmed Djebbar), the transmission of Greek optical terms into Arabic (Elaheh Kheirandish), the transmission of Arabic astronomy via Antioch and Pisa in the 12th century (Charles Barnett), the very high level of computation achieved in ‘magic squares’ of a 10th century Arab mathematician (Jacques Sesiano), and a discussion and critique of al-Kindi’s system of pharmacological preparation (Tzvi Langermann). Toby E Huff is Chancellor Professor of Sociology, Center for Policy Analysis, UMass Dartmouth, No. Dartmouth, MA 02747, USA; Tel office: +1 508 999 8405; Tel home: +1 617 332 2033; Fax: +1 508 999 8808; E-mail: thuff@umassd.edu.