The Golden Age of Islam, which saw a flourishing of science, notably mathematics and astronomy, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, had a notable Indian influence. During this era, Baghdad stood as the Islamic world's foremost hub of intellectual activity. The Abbasid leaders in Baghdad quickly recognized their populace's limited understanding in fields like astronomy, mathematics, and medicine. They turned their attention to India and Persia for advanced knowledge. Possession of Sind provided the Abbasids with a crucial pathway to access Indian expertise. This period saw the visit of an Indian astronomer-mathematician and diplomat from Sind, Kanaka, to Caliph Al-Mansur's court (754–775). Intrigued by Indian astronomy and mathematics, the caliph instructed Ibrahim al-Fazari and Yaqub ibn Tariq to translate Brahmagupta's significant texts, Brahmasphutasiddhanta and Khandakhadyaka. These translations, named Sindhind and Arkand, introduced the concept of Indian numerals to the Islamic world. Similarly, Persian astronomical tables influenced by Indian astronomy, Zig-I shahriyarr, were translated into Arabic as Zijashshahriyar. The ninth-century scholar al-Khwarizmi, who learned Sanskrit, played a pivotal role in disseminating the Indian numeral system globally. Another contemporary scholar, al-Kindi, authored four books on Indian numerals. Indian medical practices and pharmaceuticals were also highly sought after in the Islamic world. Numerous Sanskrit medical texts were translated into Arabic, sponsored by Khalid ibn Barmak, Al-Mansur's vizier. Khalid, originally from a Buddhist family in Balkh, converted to Islam after the Arab conquest. His family, known as the Barmakis of Baghdad, showed a keen interest in Indian innovations. Under Caliph Harun al-Rashid (788–809), the translation of Susruta Samhita into Arabic was commissioned. Furthermore, the notable Arabic medical work Kitab Al-Hawi, later translated into Latin as Liber continens in the 13th century, was penned by al-Razi, or Rhazes (865–925), incorporating substantial Indian medical knowledge.
History For the best part of a millennium, from the Seleucid era and through to the Sassanid period, there had been an exchange of scholarship between the Greek, Persian and Indian cultural spheres. The origin of the number zero and the place-value system notably falls into this period; its early use originates in Indian mathematics of the 5th century (Lokavibhaga), influencing Sassanid era Persian scholars during the 6th century. The sudden Islamic conquest of Persia in the 640s drove a wedge between the Mediterranean and Indian traditions, but scholarly transfer soon resumed, with translations of both Greek and Sanskrit works into Arabic during the 8th century. This triggered the flourishing of Abbasid-era scholarship centered in Baghdad in the 9th century, and the eventual resumption of transmission to the west via Muslim Spain and Sicily by the 10th century. There was continuing contact between Indian and Perso-Arabic scholarship during the 9th to 11th centuries while the Muslim conquest of India was temporarily halted. Al Biruni in the early 11th century traveled widely in India and became an important source of knowledge about India in the Islamic world during that time. With the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate in the 13th century, northern India fell under Perso-Arabic dominance and the native Sanskrit tradition fell into decline, while at about the same time the "Golden Age of Islam" of the Arab caliphates gave way to Turko-Mongol dominance, leading to the flourishing of a secondary "Golden Age" of Turko-Persian literary tradition during the 13th to 16th centuries, exemplified on either side of Timurid Persia by the Ottoman Empire in the west and the Mughal Empire in the east.
Astronomy The mathematical astronomy text Brahmasiddhanta of Brahmagupta (598-668) was received in the court of Al-Mansur (753–774). It was translated by Alfazari into Arabic as Az-Zīj ‛alā Sinī al-‛Arab, popularly called Sindhind. This translation was the means by which the Hindu numerals were transmitted from the Sanskrit to the Arabic tradition. According to Al-Biruni,
As Sindh was under the actual rule of the Khalif Mansur (AD 753–774), there came embassies from that part of India to Bagdad and among them scholars, who brought with them two books. With the help of these Pandits Alfazari, perhaps also Yaqūb ibn Tāriq, translated them. Both works have been largely used, and have exercised a great influence. It was on this occasion that the Arabs first became acquainted with a scientific system of astronomy. They learned from Brahmagupta earlier than Ptolemy. Alberuni's translator and editor Edward Sachau wrote: "It is Brahmagupta who taught Arabs mathematics before they got acquainted with Greek science." Al-Fazari also translated the Khandakhadyaka (Arakand) of Brahmagupta. Through the resulting Arabic translations of Sindhind and Arakand, the use of Indian numerals became established in the Islamic world.
Mathematics The etymology of the word "sine" comes from the Latin mistranslation of the word jiba, which is an Arabic transliteration of the Sanskrit word for half the chord, jya-ardha.
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