The Islamic tradition's contribution to "sacred mathematics" is twofold and largely *non-
numerological*: a sophisticated **geometric art** (aniconic tiling, girih, arabesque) that
turns geometry into a mode of contemplation, and a central role in the **transmission and
advancement** of mathematics and astronomy — inheriting Greek and Indian work, giving us
algebra and the algorithm, and carrying the decimal zero to Europe. It is also the medium
through which the Hermetica (the Emerald Tablet) first appear.
numerological*: a sophisticated **geometric art** (aniconic tiling, girih, arabesque) that
turns geometry into a mode of contemplation, and a central role in the **transmission and
advancement** of mathematics and astronomy — inheriting Greek and Indian work, giving us
algebra and the algorithm, and carrying the decimal zero to Europe. It is also the medium
through which the Hermetica (the Emerald Tablet) first appear.
Two strands: (1) *Art* — because figural images were avoided in religious contexts, Islamic
craftsmen developed extraordinarily complex geometric ornament, including tilings that
modern physicists recognise as approaching quasi-crystalline (aperiodic) patterns. (2)
*Science* — scholars of the Islamic world preserved Euclid and Ptolemy, developed algebra
(al-Khwārizmī, whose name gives "algorithm"), advanced trigonometry and astronomy, and
transmitted the Indian decimal system (with zero) westward. The early Arabic Hermetica
(incl. the Emerald Tablet) also originate here.
Era (prose)
c. 8th–15th c. CE (the "Islamic Golden Age" and after)
Region (prose)
the Islamic world — from al-Andalus to Central Asia
Key persons
Evidence
Label
Geometric ornament approaching quasi-crystalline order
Body
Some 15th-century Islamic girih tilings use a set of decorated polygons to build patterns
with near-perfect quasi-crystalline (aperiodic, "Penrose-like") structure — centuries before
the mathematics was formalised.
Citation
Peter J. Lu & Paul J. Steinhardt, "Decagonal and Quasi-Crystalline Tilings in
Medieval Islamic Architecture," *Science* 315 (2007): 1106–1110 —
https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1135491
Source tier
Curation status
Label
Transmission of algebra, the algorithm, and the decimal zero
Body
Al-Khwārizmī's *al-jabr* names algebra and his Latinised name gives "algorithm"; the Islamic
world preserved Greek geometry/astronomy and carried the Indian decimal system (with zero)
to Europe.
Citation
standard history of mathematics; see number: 0 (Indian → Arabic → European
transmission), tradition: Vedic (source), tradition: Platonic (Greek source preserved).
Source tier
Import key
fdd60f09c0ef8c0d557fed4c51475490eb45ba0a
Import hash
f22707a44c7ae46879178a31e609b53c83606f7a