American University of Beirut

The project AREB – The Arabic Roots of European Biology explores how Avicenna (Ibn Sīnā, d. 1037) formulated a new paradigm of biological inquiry centered on the concept of the organic body—a multifaceted concept embracing the full spectrum of living forms and processes. Avicenna's framework integrates all aspects of life, encompassing both male and female bodies, as well as mature organisms and embryos. His innovative approach combines a medical, empirical perspective—grounded in observation of bodily properties and functions—with a philosophical framework built on rigorous theoretical principles that engage with, yet transcend, theological considerations.

The project's central hypothesis is that Avicenna developed a genuine philosophy of the organic body through his works on botany and zoology, disciplines he redefined to serve his new scientific agenda. In doing so, he laid the conceptual foundations for the life sciences, whose influence extended well beyond the Middle Ages—reaching the seventeenth century, when scholars such as Descartes continued to study his medical writings. Despite this, the significance and long-term impact of Avicenna's “new biology" within both Eastern and Western traditions have never been systematically examined. AREB addresses this gap in modern scholarship.

Methodologically, the project integrates philological and philosophical approaches. At a specific level, it entails the close reading of primary sources—many of which remain untranslated, unedited, or only partially explored (including Greek and Arabic medical and philosophical texts, as well as Avicenna's Kitāb al-Ḥayawān). At a broader level, AREB challenges Eurocentric narratives that attribute the origins of biology exclusively to the modern West. By highlighting the continuity between medieval Islamic and Renaissance science, the project redefines the history of biology and counters enduring stereotypes portraying Islam as hostile to scientific innovation.​​​

Dr Ahmad El-Hellani sponsored research at the Farouk Jabre Center is related to the corpus of Jabir Ibn Hayyan in an attempt to verify and authenticate the extent of the scientific knowledge and operative content at work in the Jabirian corpus. To do so, El-Hellani will conduct experiments to assess the reproducibility of technical recipes mentioned in practical treatises of the Jābirian corpus, such as those dealing with coloring glass as mentioned for example in The Book of the Hidden Pearl (Kitāb al-Durra al-maknūna). Recently discovered, assessed and published by the late Ahmad Y. Al-Hassan (2012), the Book of the Hidden Pearl is part of the 'One Hundred and Twelve Books' collection (n°39) of the Jābirian corpus. This empirical work aims to continue Al-Hassan's efforts in showing that The Book of the Hidden Pearl (Kitāb al-Durra al-maknūna) represents a scientific operative chemical work responding to the needs of the society of the time. It aims also at challenging the claim of late renowned historian of chemistry Marcellin Bertholet that “one does not encounter in the Arabic works of Jabir precise formulae for the preparation of metals, or salts, or some other substances." If this experimental work proved successful, it will be extended to assess other treatises of the Jābirian corpus, that are still in manuscript format like the Kitāb al-Khawāṣṣ al-kabīr or some treatises of the collection titled “The Book of Seventy" (Kitāb al-Sabʿīn) of which a manuscript copy is available at our very own Jafet library. ​
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