ABU ALI HASAN IBN AL-HAITHAM AND HIS CONTRIBUTION IN CAMERA OBSCURA

ABU ALI HASAN IBN AL-HAITHAM (965-1040 C.E.)

Abu Ali Hasan Ibn al-Haitham was one of the most eminent physicists, whose contributions to optics and the scientific methods are outstanding. Known in the West as Alhazen, Ibn al-Haitham was born in 965 C.E. in Basrah, and was educated in Basrah and Baghdad. Thereafter, he went to Egypt, where he was asked to find ways of controlling the flood of the Nile. Being unsuccessful in this, he feigned madness until the death of Caliph al-Hakim. He also travelled to Spain and, during this period, he had ample time for his scientific pursuits, which included optics, mathematics, physics, medicine and development of scientific methods on each of which he has left several outstanding books. He made a thorough examination of the passage of light through various media and discovered the laws of refraction. He also carried out the first experiments on the dispersion of light into its constituent colors. His book Kitab-al-Manadhir was translated into Latin in the middle Ages, as also his book dealing with the colors of sunset. He dealt at length with the theory of various physical phenomena like shadows, eclipses, the rainbow, and speculated on the physical nature of light. He is the first to describe accurately the various parts of the eye and give a scientific explanation of the process of vision. He also attempted to explain binocular vision, and gave a correct explanation of the apparent increase in size of the sun and the moon when near the horizon. He is known for the earliest use of the camera obscura. He contradicted Ptolemy's and Euclid's theory of vision that objects are seen by rays of light emanating from the eyes; according to him the rays originate in the object of vision and not in the eye. Through these extensive researches on optics, he has been considered as the father of modern Optics.

The Latin translation of his main work, Kitab-al-Manadhir, exerted a great influence upon Western science e.g. on the work of Roger Bacon and Kepler. It brought about a great progress in experimental methods. His research in catoptrics centered on spherical and parabolic mirrors and spherical aberration. He made the important observation that the ratio between the angle of incidence and refraction does not remain constant and investigated the magnifying power of a lens. His catoptrics contains the important problem known as Alhazen's problem. It comprises drawing lines from two points in the plane of a circle meeting at a point on the circumference and making equal angles with the normal at that point. This leads to an equation of the fourth degree. In his book Mizan al-Hikmah Ibn alHaitham has discussed the density of the atmosphere and developed a relation between it and the height. He also studied atmospheric refraction. He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the sun is 19 below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis. He has also discussed the theories of attraction between masses, and it seems that he was aware of the magnitude of acceleration due to gravity. His contribution to mathematics and physics was extensive. In mathematics, he developed analytical geometry by establishing linkage between algebra and geometry. He studied the mechanics of motion of a body and was the first to maintain that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This would seem equivalent to the first law of motion. The list of his books runs to 200 or so, very few of which have survived. Even his monumental treatise on optics survived through its Latin translation. During the middle Ages his books on cosmology were translated into Latin, Hebrew and other languages. He has also written on the subject of evolution a book that deserves serious attention even today. In his writing, one can see a clear development of the scientific methods as developed and applied by the Muslims and comprising the systematic observation of physical phenomena and their linking together into a scientific theory. This was a major breakthrough in scientific methodology, as distinct from guess and gesture, and placed scientific pursuits on

a sound foundation comprising systematic relationship between observation, hypothesis and verification. Ibn al-Haitham's influence on physical sciences in general and optics in particular, has been held in high esteem and, in fact, it ushered in a new era in optical research, both in theory and practice. Contribution of abu ali hasan ibn al-haitham in camera obscura The camera is one of the most powerful instruments ever invented. Still photographs and moving pictures have provided man the ability to record and display images of every kind from the first few cells of a human embryo to galaxies, billions of light years away. But did you know that the principles, on which all cameras are based, were laid down around one thousand years ago by the Muslim scientist and philosopher, Ibn Al-Haytham Al-Bayt Al-Muzlim or camera obscura, the Arabic and Latin words, respectively, for a darkroom, was the prototype of the modern photographic camera. It worked on the principle that rays of light, reflected from any illuminated object will pass through a tiny hole in a dark room and project the image of the object upside-down on a wall inside the room. It was a revolutionary invention in the field of optics. The term camera obscura was first used in Western scientific literature by Joseph Kepler (1571 - 1630). In the third chapter of the first volume of Kitab Al-Manazir (The Book of Optics), Ibn AlHaytham examines the moon's capacity to emit light without itself being a polished mirror. This led to the discovery that all colored bodies emit light, and that light and color are virtually identical. In his experiments to prove these theories he constructed the Al-Bayt Al-Muzlim which consisted of a darkened room with a small aperture in one wall, through which an inverted image was projected onto the opposite wall. The viewer was inside the room. This type of device was also used by Ibn Al-Haytham and his students for their astronomical studies on sunspots and other solar and lunar phenomena. 500 years later Geronimo Cardano (1501 -1576), who was influenced by Ibn Al-Haytham, suggested replacing the small aperture with a lens. Credit for the introduction of a lens to the camera obscura goes to Giovanni Batista della Porta (1535 - 1615). Kepler improved it with a

negative lens behind the positive lens which enlarged the projected image (the principle used in the modern telephoto lens). Robert Boyle (1627 - 1691) was the first to construct a small, portable, box-type camera obscura in 1665. Artists and architects used the device to give a realistic perspective to their work. Two scientific principles had to be combined to make photography possible - one optical, the other chemical. It was 900 years after Ibn AlHaytham's invention that photographic plates were first used to permanently capture the image produced by the camera obscura. The first permanent photograph was taken by Joseph Nicephore Niepce in France in 1827. In 1888, George Eastman developed a convenient, light sensitive film and introduced the Kodak camera which made possible modern day photography. In1855, Roger Fenton used glass plate negatives to take pictures of the British soldiers during the Crimean War. And also He developed the plates in his travelling dark room - a converted wagon. A version of the camera obscura was used in the First World War for aircraft spotting and performance measurement, and in the Second World War for checking the accuracy of radio navigation devices. What an irony it is that a thousand years after Ibn Al-Haytham, his own birth place, Basra, was destroyed using Tomahawk missiles which are camera-guided. Satellites mapped the Iraqi terrain using cameras and then transmitted the information to missiles, fired from the USS Wisconsin, guiding them to their targets. Other contributions Chapters 1516 of the "Book of Optics" covered astronomy. Ibn al-Haytham was the first to discover that thecelestial spheres do not consist of solid matter. He also discovered that the heavens are less dense than the air. These views were later repeated by Witelo and had a significant influence on the Copernican and Tychonic systems of astronomy. [Harv| Rosen|1985|pp=1921]

In philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham is considered a pioneer of phenomenology. He articulated a relationship between the physical and functions. observable world and His that theories of intuition, psychology and mental

regardingknowledge and perception, linking the domains of science and religion, led to a philosophy of existence based on the direct observation of reality from the observer's point of view. [Harv|Dr. Gonzalez|2002] In Islamic psychology, Ibn al-Haytham is considered the founder of experimental psychology by A. I. Sabra, for his pioneering work on the psychology of visual perception and optical illusions. In the "Book of Optics", Ibn al-Haytham was the first scientist to argue that vision occurs in the brain, rather than the eyes. He pointed out that personal experience has an effect on what people see and how they see, and that vision and perception are subjective. He came up with a theory to explain the Moon illusion, which played an important role in the scientific tradition of medieval Europe. It was an attempt to the solve the problem of the Moon appearing larger near the horizon than it does while higher up in the sky. Arguing against Ptolemy's refraction theory, he redefined the problem in terms of perceived, rather than real, enlargement. He said that judging the distance of an object depends on there being an uninterrupted sequence of intervening bodies between the object and the observer. With the Moon however, there are no intervening objects. Therefore, since the size of an object depends on its observed distance, which is in this case inaccurate, the Moon appears larger on the horizon. Through works by Roger Bacon, John Pecham andWitelo based on Ibn al-Haytham's explanation, the Moon illusion gradually came to be accepted as a psychological phenomenon, with Ptolemy's theory being rejected in the 17th century. [Harv|Hershenson|1989| pp=9–10] Omar Khaleefa has argued that Ibn al-Haytham should also be considered the founder of psychophysics, a subdiscipline and precursor to modern psychology. Although Ibn alHaytham made many subjective reports regarding vision, there is no evidence that he used quantitative psychophysical techniques and the claim has been rebuffed.Harv|AaenStockdale|2008]

Other works on physics Optical treatises Besides the "Book of Optics", Ibn al-Haytham wrote several other treatises on optics. His "Risala fi l-Daw" ("Treatise on Light") is a supplement to his "Kitab al-Manazir" ("Book of Optics"). The text contained further investigations on the properties of luminance and its radiant dispersion through various transparent and translucentmedia. He also carried out further examinations into anatomy of the eye and illusions in visual perception. He analyzed the camera obscura and pinhole camera, and investigated the meteorology of the rainbow and thedensity of the atmosphere. Various celestial phenomena (including the eclipse, twilight, and moonlight) were also examined by him. He also made investigations and magnifying lenses. In his treatise, "Mizan al-Hikmah" ("Balance of Wisdom"), Ibn al-Haytham discussed the density of theatmosphere and related it to altitude. He also studied atmospheric refraction. He discovered that the twilight only ceases or begins when the Sun is 19 below the horizon and attempted to measure the height of the atmosphere on that basis.Harv|Dr. Al Deek|2004] Astrophysics In astrophysics and the celestial mechanics field of physics, Ibn al-Haytham, in his "Epitome of Astronomy", discovered that the heavenly bodies "were accountable to the laws of physics". [Harv|Duhem|1969|p=28] Ibn al-Haytham's "Mizan al-Hikmah" ("Balance of Wisdom") covered statics, astrophysics, and celestial mechanics. He discussed the theory of attraction between masses, and it seems that he was also aware of the magnitude ofacceleration due to gravity at a distance. His "Maqala fi'l-qarastun" is a treatise on centres of gravity. Little is known about the work, except for what is known through the later works of al-Khazini in the 12th century. In this treatise, Ibn al-Haytham formulated the theory that the heaviness of bodies varies with their distance from the centre of the Earth. [Harv|Professor Abattouy|2002] into refraction, catoptrics, dioptrics, spherical and parabolicmirrors,

Another treatise, "Maqala fi daw al-qamar" ("On the Light of the Moon"), which he wrote some time before his famous "Book of Optics", was the first successful attempt at combining mathematical astronomy with physics, and the earliest attempt at applying the experimental method to astronomy and astrophysics. He disproved the universally held opinion that the Moon reflects sunlight like a mirror and correctly concluded that it "emits lightfrom those portions of its surface which the sun's light strikes." To prove that "light is emitted from every point of the Moon's illuminated surface," he built an "ingenious experimental device." According to Matthias Schramm, Ibn al-Haytham had formulated a clear conception of the relationship between an ideal mathematical model and the complex of observable phenomena; in particular, he was the first to make a systematic use of the method of varying the experimental conditions in a constant and uniform manner, in an experiment showing that the intensity of the light-spot formed by the projection of the moonlight through two small apertures onto a screen diminishes constantly as one of the apertures is gradually blocked up.Harv|Toomer|1964|pp=4634] Mechanics In the dynamics and kinematics fields of mechanics, Ibn al-Haytham's "Risala fil-makan" ("Treatise on Place") discussed theories on the motion of a body. He maintained that a body moves perpetually unless an external force stops it or changes its direction of motion. This was similar to the concept of inertia, but was largely a hypotheses that was not verified by experimentation. The key breakthrough in classical mechanics, the introduction of frictional force, was eventually made centuries later by Galileo Galilei, and then formulated as Newton's first law of motion. Also in his "Treatise on Place", Ibn al-Haytham disagreed with Aristotle's view that nature abhors a void, and he thus used geometry to demonstrate that place ("al-makan") is the imagined three-dimensional void between the inner surfaces of a containing body. Ibn al-Haytham also discovered the concept of momentum (now part of Newton's second law of motion) around the same time as his contemporary, Avicenna (Ibn Sina).Harv|Nasr| 2003]

Astronomical works "Doubts Concerning Ptolemy" In his "Al-Shukk al Batlamys", variously translated as "Doubts Concerning Ptolemy" or "Aporias against Ptolemy", published at some time between 1025 and 1028, Ibn alHaytham criticized many of Ptolemy's works, including the "Almagest", "Planetary Hypotheses", and "Optics", pointing out various contradictions he found in these works. He considered that some of the mathematical devices Ptolemy introduced into astronomy, especially the equant, failed to satisfy the physical requirement of uniform circular motion, and wrote a scathing critique of the physical reality of Ptolemy's astronomical system, noting the absurdity of relating actual physical motions to imaginary mathematical points, lines and circles: [Harv|Langerman|1990|pp=810] Ibn al-Haytham further criticized Ptolemy's model on other empirical, observational and experimental grounds, [Harv|Sabra|1998|p=300] theories in order to such "save as Ptolemy's appearances" use of of conjectural undemonstrated

certain phenomena, which Ibn al-Haytham did not approve of due to his insistence on scientific demonstration. Unlike some later astronomers who criticized the Ptolemaic model on the grounds of being incompatible with Aristotelian natural philosophy, Ibn alHaytham was mainly concerned with empirical observation and the internal contradictions in Ptolemy's works. [Harv|Pines|1986|pp=4389] In his "Aporias against Ptolemy", Ibn al-Haytham commented on the difficulty of attaining scientific knowledge: He held that the criticism of existing theorieswhich dominated this bookholds a special place in the growth of scientific knowledge: "On the Configuration of the World" In his "On the Configuration of the World", despite his criticisms directed towards Ptolemy, Ibn al-Haytham continued to accept the physical reality of the geocentric

model of the universe, [Some writers, however, argue that Alhazen's critique constituted a form of heliocentricity (see Harv|Qadir|1989|p=56 & 10).] presenting a detailed description of the physical structure of the celestial spheres in his "On the Configuration of the World": While he attempted to discover the physical reality behind Ptolemy's mathematical model, he developed the concept of a single orb ("falak") for each component of Ptolemy's planetary motions. This work was eventually translated into Hebrew and Latin in the 13th and 14th centuries and subsequently had an influence on astronomers such as Georg von Peuerbach during the European Middle Ages and Renaissance. [Harv|Langerman|1990| pp=3441] [Harv|Gondhalekar|2001|p=21] "Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets" Ibn al-Haytham's "The Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets", written in 1038, was a book on astronomy. The surviving manuscript of this work has only recently been discovered, with much of it still missing, hence the work has not yet been published in modern times. Following on from his "Doubts on Ptolemy" and "The Resolution of Doubts", Ibn al-Haytham described the first non-Ptolemaic model in "The Model of the Motions". His reform was not concerned with cosmology, as he developed a systematic study of celestial kinematics that was completely geometric. This in turn led to innovative developments in infinitesimal geometry. [Harv|Rashed|2007] His reformed empirical model was the first to reject the equant [Harv|Rashed|2007|p=20 & 53] and eccentrics, [Harv|Rashed|2007|pp=334] separate natural philosophy from astronomy, free celestial kinematics from cosmology, and reduce physical entities to geometric entities. The model also propounded the Earth's rotation about its axis, [Harv| Rashed|2007|pp=20 & 3233] and the centres of motion were geometric points without any physical significance, like Johannes Kepler's model centuries later. [Harv|Rashed| 2007|pp=512] In the text, Ibn al-Haytham also describes an early version of Occam's razor, where he employs only minimal hypotheses regarding the properties that characterize astronomical

motions, as he attempts to eliminate from his planetary model the cosmological hypotheses that cannot be observed from the Earth. [Harv|Rashed|2007|pp=356] Other astronomical works Ibn al-Haytham distinguished astrology from astronomy, and he refuted the study of astrology, due to the methods used by astrologers being conjectural rather than empirical, and also due to the views of astrologers conflicting with that of orthodox Islam. [Harv|Saliba|1994|pp=60 & 6769] Ibn al-Haytham also wrote a treatise entitled "On the Milky Way", in which he solved problems regarding the Milky Way galaxy and parallax. [Harv|Rashed|2007] In antiquity, Aristotle believed the Milky Way to be caused by "the ignition of the fiery exhalation of some stars which were large, numerous and close together" and that the "ignition takes place in the upper part of the atmosphere, in the region of the world which is continuous with the heavenly motions." [Harv|Montada|2007] Ibn al-Haytham refuted this and "determined that because the Milky Way had no parallax, it was very remote from the earth and did not belong to the atmosphere." [Harv|Bouali|Zghal|Lakhdar|2005] He wrote that if the Milky Way was located around the Earth's atmosphere, "one must find a difference in position relative to the fixed stars." He described two methods to determine the Milky Way's parallax: "either when one observes the Milky Way on two different occasions from the same spot of the earth; or when one looks at it simultaneously from two distant places from the surface of the earth." He made the first attempt at observing and measuring the Milky Way's parallax, and determined that since the Milky Way had no parallax, then it does not belong to the atmosphere. [Harv|Mohamed|2000|pp=49-50] In 1858, Muhammad Wali ibn Muhammad Ja'far, in his "Shigarf-nama", claimed that Ibn al-Haytham wrote a treatise "Maratib al-sama" in which he conceived of a planetary model similar to the Tychonic system where the planets orbit the Sun which in turn orbits the Earth. However, the "verification of this claim seems to be impossible," since the treatise is not listed among the known bibliography of Ibn al-Haytham. [Harv|Arjomand|1997|pp=5 24]

Mathematical works In mathematics, Ibn al-Haytham built on the mathematical works of Euclid and Thabit ibn Qurra. He systemizedconic sections and number theory, carried out some early work on analytic geometry, and worked on "the beginnings of the link between algebra and geometry." This in turn had an influence on the development of Ren Descartes's geometric analysis and Isaac Newton's calculus. Geometry In geometry, Ibn al-Haytham developed analytical geometry and established a link between algebra and geometry.Ibn al-Haytham also discovered a formula for adding the first 100 natural numbers (which may later have been intuited by Carl Friedrich Gauss as a youth). Ibn al-Haytham used a geometric proof to prove the formula. [Harv|Rottman|2000, Chapter 1] Ibn al-Haytham made the first attempt at proving the Euclidean parallel postulate, the fifth postulate in Euclid's "Elements", using a proof by contradiction, [Harv|Eder|2000] where he introduced the concept of motion andtransformation into geometry. [Harv|Katz| 1998|p=269: quote|In effect, this method characterized parallel lines as lines always equidisant from one another and also introduced the concept of motion into geometry.] He formulated the Lambert quadrilateral, which Boris Abramovich Rozenfeld names the "Ibn al-HaythamLambert quadrilateral",Harv|Rozenfeld|1988|p=65] and his attempted proof also shows similarities to Playfair's axiom. His theorems on quadrilaterals, including the Lambert quadrilateral, were the first theorems on elliptical geometry and hyperbolic geometry. These theorems, along with his alternative postulates, such as Playfair's axiom, can be seen as marking the beginning of non-Euclidean geometry. His work had a considerable influence on its development among the later Persian geometersOmar Khayym and Nasr al-Dn al-Ts, and the European geometers Witelo, Gersonides, Alfonso, John Wallis,Giovanni Girolamo SaccheriHarv| Rozenfeld|Youschkevitch|1996|p=470: quote|Three scientists, Ibn al-Haytham, Khayyam and al-Tusi, had made the most considerable contribution to this branch of geometry whose

importance came to be completely recognized only in the nineteenth century. In essence their propositions concerning the properties of quadrangles which they considered assuming that some of the angles of these figures were acute of obtuse, embodied the first few theorems of the hyperbolic and the elliptic geometries. Their other proposals showed that various geometric statements were equivalent to the Euclidean postulate V. It is extremely important that these scholars established the mutual connection between tthis postulate and the sum of the angles of a triangle and a quadrangle. By their works on the theory of parallel lines Arab mathematicians directly influenced the relevant investigations of their European counterparts. The first European attempt to prove the postulate on parallel lines - made by Witelo, the Polish scientists of the thirteenth century, while revising Ibn al-Haytham's "Book of Optics" ("Kitab al-Manazir") - was undoubtedly prompted by Arabic sources. The proofs put forward in the fourteenth century by the Jewish scholar Gersonides, who lived in southern France, and by the above-mentioned Alfonso from Spain directly border on Ibn al-Haytham's demonstration. Above, we have demonstrated that "Pseudo-Tusi's Exposition of Euclid" had stimulated borth J. Wallis's and G. Saccheri's studies of the theory of parallel lines.] and Christopher Clavius. [Harv| Rozenfeld|Youschkevitch|1996|p=93] In elementary geometry, Ibn al-Haytham attempted to solve the problem of squaring the circle using the area oflunes (crescent shapes), but later gave up on the impossible task. Ibn al-Haytham also tackled other problems in elementary (Euclidean) and advanced (Apollonian and Archimedean) geometry, some of which he was the first to solve. Number theory His contributions to number theory includes his work on perfect numbers. In his "Analysis and Synthesis", Ibn al-Haytham was the first to realize that every even perfect number is of the form 2"n"1(2"n" 1) where 2"n" 1 isprime, but he was not able to prove this result successfully (Euler later proved it in the 18th century). Ibn al-Haytham solved problems involving congruences using what is now called Wilson's theorem. In his "Opuscula", Ibn al-Haytham considers the solution of a system of

congruences, and gives two general methods of solution. His first method, the canonical method, involved Wilson's theorem, while his second method involved a version of the Chinese remainder theorem. Other works "Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals" In psychology and musicology, Ibn al-Haytham's "Treatise on the Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals" was the earliest treatise dealing with the effects of music on animals. In the treatise, he demonstrates how a camel's pace could be hastened or retarded with the use of music, and shows other examples of how music can affect animal behaviour and animal psychology, experimenting with horses, birds and reptiles. Through to the 19th century, a majority of scholars in the Western world continued to believe that music was a distinctly human phenomenon, but experiments since then have vindicated Ibn al-Haytham's view that music does indeed have an effect on animals.Harv|Plott|2000| p=461] Engineering In engineering, one account of his career as a civil engineer has him summoned to Egypt by the Fatimid Caliph,Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, to regulate the flooding of the Nile River. He carried out a detailed scientific study of the annual inundation of the Nile River, and he drew plans for building a dam, at the site of the modern-day Aswan Dam. His field work, however, later made him aware of the impracticality of this scheme, and he soon feigned madness so he could avoid punishment from the Caliph. [Harv|Plott|2000, Pt. II, p. 459] According to Al-Khazini, Ibn al-Haytham also wrote a treatise providing a description on the construction of a water clock. [Harv|Hassan|2007] Philosophy In early Islamic philosophy, Ibn al-Haytham's "Risala fil-makan" ("Treatise on Place") presents a critique ofAristotle's concept of place (topos). Aristotle's "Physics" stated that

the place of something is the two-dimensional boundary of the containing body that is at rest and is in contact with what it contains. Ibn al-Haytham disagreed and demonstrated that place (al-makan) is the imagined three-dimensional void between the inner surfaces of the containing body. He showed that place was akin to space, foreshadowing Ren Descartes's concept of place in the "Extensio" in the 17th century. Following on from his "Treatise on Place", Ibn al-Haytham's "Qawl fi al-Makan" ("Discourse on Place") was a treatise which presents geometric demonstrations for his geometrization of place, in opposition to Aristotle's philosophical concept of place, which Ibn al-Haytham rejected on mathematical grounds.Abd-el-latif, a supporter of Aristotle's philosophical view of place, later criticized the work in "Fi al-Radd ala Ibn al-Haytham fi al-makan" ("A refutation of Ibn al-Haythams place") for its geometrization of place.Harv|El-Bizri|2007] Ibn al-Haytham also discussed space perception and its epistemological implications in his "Book of Optics". Hisexperimental proof of the intromission model of vision led to changes in the way the visual perception of space was understood, contrary to the previous emission theory of vision supported by Euclid and Ptolemy. In "tying the visual perception of space to prior bodily experience, Alhacen unequivocally rejected theintuitiveness of spatial perception and, therefore, the autonomy of vision. Without tangible notions of distance and size forcorrelation, sight can tell us next to nothing about such things." [Harv|Smith|2005|pp=21940] Theology Ibn al-Haytham was a devout Muslim, who was a follower of Shi'ite Islamic theology [Harv|Sabra|1978a|p=54] . Ibn al-Haytham wrote a work on Islamic theology, in which he discussed prophethood and developed a system of philosophical criteria to discern its false claimants in his time. [Harv|Plott|2000, Pt. II, p. 464] He also wrote a treatise entitled "Finding the Direction of Qibla by Calculation", in which he discussed finding the Qibla, where Salahprayers are directed towards, mathematically.

Ibn al-Haytham attributed his experimental scientific method and scientific skepticism to his Islamic faith. The Islamic holy book the Qur'an, for example, placed a strong emphasis on empiricism. [Harv|Qadir|1990|pp=24-5:quote|"Muslims are inspired in the first instance by the numerous verses of the Quran which invite believers to observe nature and reflect over it." (cf. Harv|Bettany|1995|p=247)] [cite quran|17|36|quote=You shall not accept any information, unless you verify it for yourself. I have given you the hearing, the eyesight, and the brain, and you are responsible for using them.] [cite quran|2|164| quote=Behold! In the creation of the heavens and the earth; in the alternation of the night and the day; in the sailing of the ships through the ocean for the benefit of mankind; in the rain which Allah sends down from the skies, and the life which He gives therewith to an earth that is dead; in the beasts of all kinds that He scatters through the earth; in the change of the winds, and the clouds which they trail like their slaves between the sky and the earth (Here) indeed are signs for a people that are wise.] He also believed that human beings are inherently flawed and that only God is perfect. He reasoned that to discover thetruth about nature, it is necessary to eliminate human opinion and error, and allow the universe to speak for itself.He wrote in his "Doubts Concerning Ptolemy": In "The Winding Motion", Ibn al-Haytham further wrote that faith (or "taqlid" "imitation") should only apply toprophets of Islam and not to any other authorities, in the following comparison between the Islamic prophetic tradition and the demonstrative sciences: Ibn al-Haytham described his search for truth and knowledge as a way of leading him closer to God: Works Ibn al-Haytham was a pioneer in many areas of science, making significant contributions in varying disciplines. His optical writings influenced many Western intellectuals such as Roger Bacon, John Pecham, Witelo, Johannes Kepler. [Harv|Lindberg|1967] His pioneering work on number theory, analytic geometry, and the link between algebraand geometry, also had an influence on Ren Descartes's geometric analysis and Isaac Newton'scalculus.Harv|Faruqi|2006|pp=3956:quote|In seventeenth

century Europe the problems formulated by Ibn al-Haytham (9651041) became known as 'Alhazen's problem'. [] Al-Haythams contributions to geometry and number theory went well beyond the Archimedean tradition. Al-Haytham also worked on analytical geometry and the beginnings of the link between algebra and geometry. Subsequently, this work led in pure mathematics to the harmonious fusion of algebra and geometry that was epitomised by Descartes in geometric analysis and by Newton in the calculus. Al-Haytham was a scientist who made major contributions to the fields of mathematics, physics and astronomy during the latter half of the tenth century.] According to medieval biographers, Ibn al-Haytham wrote more than 200 works on a wide range of subjects,Harv|Steffens|2006 (cf. Citation|first=Bradley|last=Steffens|title=Who Was the First Scientist?|publisher=Ezine Articles)] of which at least 96 of his scientific works are known. Most of his works are now lost, but more than 50 of them have survived to some extent. Nearly half of his surviving works are on mathematics, 23 of them are on astronomy, and 14 of them are on optics, with a few on other subjects.Harv|Rashed|2002a| p=773] Not all his surviving works have yet been studied, but some of the ones that have are given below.Harv|Topdemir|2007b] [Harv|Rashed|2007|pp=8-9] *"Book of Optics" *"Analysis and Synthesis" *"Balance of Wisdom" *"Corrections to the Almagest" *"Discourse on Place" *"Exact Determination of the Pole" *"Exact Determination of the Meridian" *"Finding the Direction of Qibla by Calculation" *"Horizontal Sundials" *"Hour Lines" *"Doubts Concerning Ptolemy" *"Maqala fi'l-Qarastun" *"On Completion of the Conics" *"On Seeing the Stars"

*"On Squaring the Circle" *"On the Burning Sphere" *"On the Configuration of the World" *"On the Form of Eclipse" *"On the Light of Stars" *"On the Light of the Moon" *"On the Milky Way" *"On the Nature of Shadows" *"On the Rainbow and Halo" *"Opuscula" *"Resolution of Doubts Concerning the Almagest" *"Resolution of Doubts Concerning the Winding Motion" *"The Correction of the Operations in Astronomy" *"The Different Heights of the Planets" *"The Direction of Mecca" *"The Model of the Motions of Each of the Seven Planets" *"The Model of the Universe" *"The Motion of the Moon" *"The Ratios of Hourly Arcs to their Heights" *"The Winding Motion" *"Treatise on Light" *"Treatise on Place" *"Treatise on the Influence of Melodies on the Souls of Animals"