Readings in the history of medicine and ideas, with their fact-checks.
Thirty-one essays and nineteen books in one register. Every essay is published with an independent, neutral check of the facts in it.
Essays
31 — newest firstHealing Through Reading
الاستشفاء بالقراءةWhat does science say about what books do to our minds?
History of science & medicine 30A Wake for Knowledge
مأتم العلمHow salaried teaching was born a thousand years ago, and what we lost the day we forgot why we learn
History & civilisation 29Except Those on Whom Your Lord Has Mercy
إلا من رحم ربكHow the mind is freed from its moulds — the completion of “And They Will Not Cease to Differ”
Method & thinking 28And They Will Not Cease to Differ
ولا يزالون مختلفينThe moulds we see through: one idea from al-Ghazali to the psychology laboratory
Method & thinking 27A Verb, Not an Organ
أفلا يعقلونReason in the Qur'an — a count and a second look
Qur'an & language 26Mankind Was One Community — Part Two
كان الناس أمة واحدة — الجزء الثانيA series on the philosophy of being — the last six essays
Philosophy & belief 25Mankind Was One Community
كان الناس أمة واحدةA series on the philosophy of being — the first six essays
Philosophy & belief 24Thinking vs. Tafakkur
ما بين التفكير والتفكُّرDid the machine rise to our level — or did we settle at the lowest form of thinking?
Qur'an & language 23A View of the History of Science among the Arabs
رأيٌ في تاريخ العلوم عند العربFrom a physician's failing shop in Baghdad to a chapter of the Muqaddima brandished against the Arabs
History of science & medicine 22The Discovery Buried in a Book of Theology
الكشف المدفون في كتاب لاهوتMichael Servetus: how the pulmonary circulation burned along with its author in 1553
History of science & medicine 21The Psychology of Money
سيكولوجية المالAn expanded reading of Morgan Housel's The Psychology of Money
Book readings 20The Sultan and the Queen
السلطان والملكةA reading of Jerry Brotton's The Sultan and the Queen
Book readings 19A Glossary of the Eloquent Idiom
معجم النَّفَس الفصيحClassical Arabic alternatives to the borrowed, the coined, and the literally translated — free to use.
Qur'an & language 18They Imitate the Saying of Those Before Them
يضاهئون قول الذين كفروا من قبلFrom Deir el-Bahari to the Andes: three patterns of divine sonship, and an answer in four words
Philosophy & belief 17The End of Atheism
نهاية الإلحادTwo questions, not one: atheism has ended as an argument, and refusal remains as long as desire does
Philosophy & belief 16What Did Isaac Newton Discover, and Fear to Share?
ماذا اكتشف إسحق نيوتن وخاف من مشاركته؟The story of two letters written by the greatest scientist of his age, who then ordered the printing stopped
History of science & medicine 15How the Sciences Develop
كيف تتطور العلومThe logic of inference, and how knowledge is actually made.
Method & thinking 14The Arians and the Unitarian Christians
الأريوسيّون والنصارى الموحِّدونA historical reading of the Christian creed between oneness and Trinity
Philosophy & belief 13The Cycle of History
دورة التاريخMiddle powers in the age of machine intelligence.
History & civilisation 12The Missing Evidence
الدليل الغائبThe life of one idea across twenty-five centuries — from a temple on the Aegean to the clinical-trial registries.
Method & thinkingLibrary
19 — by shelfThe History of the Conquest of al-Andalus
تاريخ افتتاح الأندلسThe oldest surviving history of al-Andalus, by a Cordoban grammarian descended from its last Gothic kings — an analytical reading in four parts, with the full text alongside.
Analytical summary Ibn al-KhatibThe Comprehensive Account of Granada's History
الإحاطة في أخبار غرناطةIbn al-Khatib's history of Granada — an analytical summary in five parts: the author, the history, the biographies, the places, and the poetry.
Analytical summary al-MaqqariThe Breath of Perfume
نفح الطيبal-Maqqari on the history of al-Andalus, its civilisation, and its vizier Lisan al-Din ibn al-Khatib.
Analytical summary George SartonA History of Science
تاريخ العلمSarton's history of science — from the science of antiquity to the end of the Hellenistic age.
Analytical summary Duchess of Medina SidoniaAfrica versus America
من إفريقيا إلى أمريكاThe Duchess of Medina Sidonia's archival reappraisal of the "discovery" of America — a complete Arabic translation in six parts.
Translation Fakhr al-Din al-RaziThe Great Logic
المنطق الكبير — مختصرٌ للدراسةal-Razi's Great Logic — a study digest of all four parts on a single repeating shape: a definition, an example, then a practical test for telling cases apart.
Study digestما في هذا الموقع قراءاتي، والآراءُ فيها آرائي. وقد استعنتُ في إخراج هذه الأعمال بالذكاء الاصطناعي وأفدتُ من قدرته؛ فأشرفتُ عليها، وراجعتُها، وحرَّرتُها، وأجزتُ ما تقرؤه. ومع ذلك أتواضعُ عن أن أزعُمَ هذا العملَ لي وحدي؛ ولعلّ الأيّامَ تُبيّن لنا ما هو من صنعنا وما ليس منه. وإلى أن يتبيّن ذلك — إن كنتَ مثلي محبًّا للتاريخ: فاقرأ واستمتع.
What you read here are my readings, and the opinions in them are mine. I made use of the power of AI to generate this content; I supervised, edited, and approved it. Even so, I am too humble to claim this work as mine alone — and I trust the future will teach us more about what is ours and what is not. Until then: if you are interested in history, as I am, read and enjoy.