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Vol. 11 No. 4 (2026)
Special Issue: Sociology of the Islamic Golden Age

Special Issue: Sociology of the Islamic Golden Age

Ibn Mājid’s Kitāb Al-Fawā’id and the Concepts of ‘Trial and Error’ and ‘Methodological Doubt’ II: Analysis

https://doi.org/10.55831/ajis.v11i4.1477

Published 18.09.2026

  • Andreas Eckart
    • ,
  • Mesut Idriz
Andreas Eckart
University of Cologne

Mesut Idriz
University of Sharjah

Abstract

The concepts of ‘trial and error’ and ‘methodological doubt’ are given in the context of the book of navigation Kitāb al-Fawā’id by the great Arabian navigator and writer Aḥmad Ibn Mājid. In a preceding paper (I) we summarised and commented on the text sections in his book that are essential for the analysis. While these concepts were developed in the 19th century by Conwy Lloyd Morgan and in the 17th century by René Descartes, respectively, we show that comparable concepts were also developed and applied more than 200 years earlier by Ibn Mājid. We highlight the emergence of these concepts in recent history as they are closely linked to the development of evolutionary theory and epistemology. We also place our findings into the scientific and philosophical context of Ibn Mājid’s time. Finally, we discuss our results in the framework of the transfer of knowledge from Arabic sources.

Keywords

Ibn Mājid, Ibn al-Haytham, René Descartes, Conwy Morgan, Arabic astronomy, time keeping and navigation, trial and error, methodological doubt

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