On 28 April 2012 Professor Dr Ahmad Yusuf al-Hassan Gabarin passed away. He was one of the most important historians of Islamic science and technology. Specialist of the various aspects of Islamic technology, the late A. Y. al-Hassan left a rich corpus of books and articles covering almost all aspects of the contributions made in the classical Islamic era to engineering, technology and industry.

The physician, scientist and philosopher, ‘Ali b. Sahl Rabban al-Tabari was the son of Sahl Sahl Rabban al-Tabari. ‘Ali was born into an educated and intellectual Christian family. He wrote many books on philosophy, medicine and religious matters. In particular, his Firdaws al-hikma is the first ever written medical encyclopaedia which incorporates all the branches of the medical sciences. This article demonstrates the significance of ‘Ali b. Sahl al-Tabari's contribution to Muslim heritage in terms of philosophical, religious and medical works. An extensive bibliography supports the arguments of the article and provides a solid basis for further reading.

The works of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi have always attracted the interest of Ottoman scholars as early as the 14th century. Some of his works were translated into Turkish and various annotations or commentaries were written upon them. They were also introduced in the school curriculum as textbooks, which testify to the wide scope of his impact on Ottoman scholarship. Another aspect of his remarkable influence is represented by the presence of very numerous manuscript copies of al-Tusi's works in many libraries of Turkey, especially Istanbul, and in many countries previously governed by the Ottomans. This article examines al-Tusi's work on scientific fields practiced under the Ottomans such as mathematics, astronomy, scientific instrumentation, and mineralogy and demonstrates how important he was to the scholarship of the Ottoman world.

In this short bio-bibliography of Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, Dr Saira Malik presents succinctly the life and work of one of the most original scientists of the Islamic tradition. The author of Tanqih al-Manazir was indeed a prominent physicist, mathematician, and scientist of the early 14th century, and an original reader and commentator of Ibn al-Haytham's optics.

While there are numerous works on the role of Muslim women in jurisprudence (fiqh) and literature and there are also studies on Muslim women in education and in medicine- although on a much smaller scale-, few sources mention the role of Muslim women in the development of science and technology. There are isolated references that mention some of the famous women who had a role in advancing science and who established charitable, educational and religious institutions. Some examples are: Zubayda who pioneered a most ambitious project of digging wells and building service stations all along the pilgrimage route from Baghdad to Mecca, Sutayta who was a mathematician and an expert witness in courts, Dhayfa Khatun who excelled in management and statesmanship, Fatima al-Fehri who founded the Qarawiyin mosque and university in Fez, and the astrolabe maker Al-'Ijliya, the rulers and queens Sitt al-Mulk, Shajarat al-Durr, Raziya of Delhi, and Amina of Zaria. In view of the growing importance of the subject of gender and women in society, this report presents what is currently known about some famous Muslim women, in the hope of initiating debate and starting the process of unearthing what could be a most significant find.

The Editorial Board

At the beginning of 2010, the Islamic world at large and the Islamic Studies community in particular, lost Dr Salah al-Din al Munajjed, a brilliant and eminent scholar who passed away on 18 January 2010 in Riyadh (KSA) where he had lived for many years. In the following, we present an obituary as a tribute to his memory.

The article of Professor Dr. Bekir Karliga on the horizon of Katip Çelebi's thought is a tremendous analysis of the reformist efforts deployed by the renowned 17^th-century Ottoman scholar Katip Çelebi Mustafa bin Abdallah, known as Haji Khalifa. Striving to show the acute consciousness Katip Çelebi had of the intellectual stagnation that was occuring in the Islamic world, in comparison with the earlier centuries of Islamic civilisation and with the then ongoing growth of science in Europe, the author depicts a faithful picture of Katip Çelebi's warning to his contemporaries. Four centuries later the alert that Katip Celebi sounded still holds good.