List of Christian scientists and scholars of the medieval Islamic world explained

This is a list of Christian scientists and scholars from the Muslim world and Spain (Al-Andalus) who lived during medieval Islam up until the beginning of the modern age. Christian converts to Islam are also included.

The following Muslim naming articles are not used for indexing:

• Al - the

• ibn, bin, banu - son of

• abu - father of, the one with

A

• Aaron of Alexandria a physician active in the 7th century. His works were translated into Arabic and Syriac, and were used later by al-Razi.
• Abdollah ibn Bukhtishu (940–1058) Syriac physician.^[1]
• Athanasius II Baldoyo Syriac Orthodox historian and Patriarch of Antioch.
• Ammar al-Basri 9th-century East Syrian theologian and apologist.
• Anthony of Tagrit 9th-century West Syrian Syriac theologian and Rhetorician.^[2]
• Abdisho bar Berika (died 1318) Syriac writer and bishop.^[3]

B

• Bukhtishu (7th-9th centuries) family of syriac Christian physicians.^{[4] [5] [6] [7]}
• ibn Batriq (877–940) physician and melkite Patriarch of Alexandria.^[8]
• Ibn Butlan (1038, 1075) Arab Nestorian Christian physician.^[9]
• Abu Bishr Matta ibn Yunus (870–20 June 940) Nestorian Christian philosopher and translator.^[10]

D

• Dionysius I Telmaharoyo (died 845) Syriac Orthodox historian Patriarch of Antioch.^[11]

G

• Gerasimos, Abbot of the Monastery of Saint Symeon (between 9th and 13th centuries), knowledgeable Christian apologist

H

• Hunayn ibn Ishaq (809–873) Arab Christian scholar, physician, and scientist.^{[12] [13] [14]}

I

• Ishaq ibn Hunayn (c. 830 – c. 910-1) Arab Christian physician and translator.
• Ishodad of Merv (fl. 850 AD) Syriac theologian and writer.^[15]

J

• Jabril ibn Bukhtishu 8th century Nestorian physician.^[16]
• Jacob Bar-Salibi most prolific writer in the Syriac Orthodox Church of the twelfth century.
• Jacob of Edessa (c. 640 – 5 June 708) Syriac apologist and philosopher.^[17]
• Job of Edessa, a Christian natural philosopher and physician active in Baghdad and Khurāsān under the Abbasid Caliphate. He played an important role in transmitting Greek science to the Islamic world through his translations into Syriac.
• John III of the Sedre theologian.
• John bar Penkaye 7th century historian.^[18]

K

• Abu Yûsuf ibn Ishâq al-Kindī Arab Christian scholar and Apologist

M

• Masawaiyh (circa 777–857) Nestorian Christian physician.^{[19] [20]}
• Abu Sahl 'Isa ibn Yahya al-Masihi Persian Christian physician.^[21]
• Masawaih al-Mardini Nestorian Christian physician.^[22]
• Michael the Syrian (died 1199 AD) Syriac Orthodox Chronologist and Patriarchs of Antioch.^[23]

N

• Nastulus.

Q

• Qusta ibn Luqa (820–912) Syrian Melkite physician, scientist and translator.^[24]
• Ibn al-Qilai (1447–1516) Lebanese Maronite historian, theologian and poet.

R

• Ishaq bin Ali al-Rohawi 9th-century Arab physician and the author of the first medical ethics book in Arabic medicine.^[25]
• Abu Raita al-Takriti Syriac Orthodox theologian and apologist.

S

• Shapur ibn Sahl (died 869 CE) Persian Christian physician from the Academy of Gundishapur.^[26]
• Salmawaih ibn Bunan (died 840) Assyrian Nestorian Christian physician and translator.^[27]
• Serapion the Younger.
• Sahl ibn Bishr (c. 786–845?) Syriac Christian astrologer, astronomer and mathematician.^[28]

T

• Ibn al-Tilmīdh (1074–1165) Syriac Christian physician, pharmacist, poet, musician and calligrapher.^[29]
• Theodosius Romanus (died 1 June 896) Syriac Orthodox translator and Patriarch of Antioch.
• Theodore Abu Qurrah (c. 750 – c. 823) Orthodox Christian theologian and writer.^[30]
• Thomas of Marga 9th century East Syrian bishop and author of an important monastic history in Syriac.

U

• Ibn Uthal 7th-century Arab Christian physician.^[31]

Y

• Yahya ibn Sarafyun (9th century) Syriac physician.
• Yuhanna ibn Bukhtishu (9th-century) Nestorian Christian physician.^[32]
• Yahya Ibn al-Batriq Syrian astronomer and translator.^[33]
• Yahya ibn Adi (893–974) Syriac Jacobite philosopher, theologian and translator.^[34]

Z

• Ibn Zur'a (943–1008) Syriac Jacobite Christian physician and philosopher.

References

Works cited

• Book: Barsoum . 2003 . The Scattered Pearls: A History of Syriac Literature and Sciences . 2nd . Gorgias Press . Matti Moosa . Ignatius Aphrem I Barsoum . 14 July 2020.
• Bar-Ṣalībī, Jacob.
• Book: Guscin, Mark . The Tradition of the Image of Edessa . 2016 . Newcastle upon Tyne . Cambridge Scholars Publishing.
• Book: Mazzola . Marianna . Bar 'Ebroyo's Ecclesiastical History : writing Church History in the 13th century Middle East . PSL Research University . 31 May 2020 . 2018.
• Encyclopedia: Thomas Hockey . etal . Rius . Mònica . Nasṭūlus: Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh . The Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers . Springer . 2007 . New York . 822–3 . 9780387310220. (PDF version)
• Book: Thomas, David . Christians at the heart of Islamic rule: church life and scholarship in ʻAbbasid Iraq . 14 October 2012 . 2003 . Brill . 978-90-04-12938-2.

See also

• Islamic science
• List of Muslim scientists
• List of Iranian scientists and scholars
• List of Arab scientists and scholars
• List of medieval European scientists

Notes and References

1. Web site: Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts: Greek Influences . Nlm.nih.gov . 1998-04-15 . 2010-02-08.
2. Book: Schadé, Johannes P.. Encyclopedia of World Religions. 23 June 2013. 2006. Foreign Media Group. 978-1-60136-000-7. 63.
3. Book: René. Lavenant. Abdīšō Berika bar. 3. 1919.
4. Book: Bonner. Ener. Singer. Bonner. Mine. Amy. Poverty and charity in Middle Eastern contexts. 2003. SUNY Press. 978-0-7914-5737-5. 97.
5. Book: Ruano. Burgos. Eloy Benito . Manuel Espadas. 17e Congrès international des sciences historiques: Madrid, du 26 août au 2 septembre 1990. 1992. Comité international des sciences historiques. 978-84-600-8154-8. 527.
6. Book: Frye. R.N.. The Cambridge history of Iran.. 1975. Cambridge U.P.. London. 978-0-521-20093-6. 415. Repr.. Among the Christians also there were some of Persian origin or at least of immediate Persian background, among whom the most important are the Bukhtyishu' and Masuya (Masawaih) families. The members of the Bukhtyishu* family were directors of the Jundishapur hospital and produced many outstanding physicians. One of them, Jirjls, was called to Baghdad by the 'Abbasid caliph al-Mansur, to cure his dyspepsia..
7. Philip Jenkins. The Lost History of Christianity. Harper One. 2008. .
8. Encyclopedia: Eutychius of Alexandria . Sidney H. . Griffith . 15 December 1998 . . 2011-02-07.
9. Book: Loudon, Irvine. Western Medicine: An Illustrated History. 5 September 2012. 2002-03-07. Oxford University Press. 9780199248131.
10. Book: Street, Tony. Arabic and Islamic Philosophy of Language and Logic: Farabian Aristotelianism. Edward N.. Zalta. 1 January 2015. 13 June 2016. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy.
11. Barsoum (2003)
12. G.. Strohmaier. Ḥunayn b. Isḥāḳ al-ʿIbādī. Encyclopaedia of Islam. en. 24 April 2012.
13. Web site: Ḥunayn ibn Isḥāq Arab scholar. Encyclopedia Britannica. en.
14. Esposito, John L. (2000). The Oxford History of Islam. Oxford University Press. p. 160.:"The most famous of these translators was a Nestorian (Christian) Assyrian by the name of Hunayn ibn Ishaq al-Ibadi (808–73)."
15. .
16. Anna Contadini, 'A Bestiary Tale: Text and Image of the Unicorn in the Kitāb naʿt al-hayawān (British Library, or. 2784)', Muqarnas, 20 (2003), 17-33 (p. 17), https://www.jstor.org/stable/1523325.
17. Web site: St. Jacob (James) of Edessa (+ June 5th, 708).
18. S. Brock, A brief outline of Syriac Literature, Moran Etho 9, Kottayam, Kerala: SEERI (1997), pp.56-57, 135
19. Book: Beeston, Alfred Felix Landon. Arabic literature to the end of the Umayyad period. 20 January 2011. 1983. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-24015-4. 501.
20. Web site: Compendium of Medical Texts by Mesue, with Additional Writings by Various Authors. World Digital Library. 2014-03-01.
21. Book: Bosworth. C.E.. History of civilizations of Central Asia, Volume IV. 2000. UNESCO Publ.. Paris. 92-3-103654-8. 306. Comparable to al-Rāzi before him and to his own younger contemporary Ibn Sinā, al-Masihi represents the physician-philosopher of classical and Islamic tradition. From the point of view of religious history, it is also of interest that he was descended from Iranian Christians and held, albeit discreetly, to his faith..
22. Book: Sarton , George . George Sarton . Introduction to the History of Science: From Homer to Omar Khayyam . 1 . 1975 . R. E. Krieger Pub. Co. . 574 . 978-0-88275-172-6.
23. William Wright, A short history of Syriac literature, p.250, n.3.
24. Worrell . W. H. . Qusta Ibn Luqa on the Use of the Celestial Globe . Isis . 35 . 4 . 285–293 . 1944. 330840 . 10.1086/358720 . 143503145 .
25. none. Al-Ghazal. Sharif. 2004. 3. Journal of the International Society for the History of Islamic Medicine. 12–13.
26. Web site: Aʿlam. Hūšang. EBN AL-BAYṬĀR, ŻĪĀʾ-AL-DĪN ABŪ MOḤA – Encyclopaedia Iranica. www.iranicaonline.org. Encyclopedia Iranica. 11 February 2017. en. the Christian Persian physician Sābūr (Šāpūr) b. Sahl from Gondēšāpūr (d. 255/869) ....
27. [De Lacy O'Leary]
28. Book: Prioreschi, Plinio. A History of Medicine: Byzantine and Islamic medicine. 29 December 2014. 2001-01-01. Horatius Press. 9781888456042. 223. Ali ibn Sahl Rabban al-Tabari, the son of a Syriac Christian scholar living in Persia on the Caspian Sea....
29. Meyerhof. M.. 2012-04-24. Ibn al-Tilmīd̲h̲. Encyclopaedia of Islam, Second Edition. en.
30. 2016 . Alexander Treiger . New Works by Theodore Abū Qurra Preserved under the name of Thaddeus of Edessa . Journal of Eastern Christian Studies . 68 . 1 . 1–51 . 10.2143/JECS.68.1.3164936.
31. Book: Shahid, Irfan. Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century, Part 2. 2010. Harvard University Press. 978-0884023470. 179–181.
32. Book: Bonner. Michael David. Ener. Mine. Singer. Amy. Poverty and charity in Middle Eastern contexts. 26 May 2013. 2003. SUNY Press. 978-0-7914-8676-4. 97.
33. Hamid Naseem Rafiabad, ed. World Religions and Islam: A Critical Study, Part 1 :149.
34. Ira M. Lapidus, Islamic Societies to the Nineteenth Century: A Global History, (Cambridge University Press, 2012), 200.