al-Madkhal ila Ilm al-Jughrafiya wal-Bia
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al-Madkhal ila Ilm al-Jughrafiya wal-Bia (Introduction to the Science of Geography and the Environment) is an Arabic university textbook on physical, human, and environmental geography and cartography, co-authored by Muhammad Mahmud Muhammadin and Taha al-Farra.
Authorship and Background
Both authors served as faculty members in the Department of Geography at King Saud University in Riyadh, having taught introductory geography courses at various Arab and foreign institutions. The work was the second textbook contributed by the two authors within a university curriculum series. The project emerged from scholarly discussions between the authors and As'ad Sulayman Abdo, who contributed the book's foreword after being unable to co-author it due to other commitments. The preparation of the text spanned more than five years of research prior to its first edition, with the Research Center at the College of Arts at King Saud University assisting in transcribing drafts and drawing maps for that initial release.
Purpose and Scope
The book was designed as a simplified, foundational introduction for undergraduate students and general readers seeking essential geographical knowledge. The authors sought to align the text with the objectives of higher education in Saudi Arabia and the broader Arab and Islamic world by framing human relationships with the earth through Islamic values and drawing illustrative examples from the Arab environment. In addition to traditional branches of geography, the work integrates contemporary topics such as environmental pollution, applied geography, and cartographic analysis.
Structure and Content
The textbook is organized into ten thematic chapters:
- Chapter 1: Geographical Thought and the Environment (al-Fikr al-jughrafi wal-bia), covering the conceptual relationship between geography and ecology, the nature of geographical thought, the historical evolution of geographical knowledge, and modern branches.
- Chapter 2: The Universe (al-Kawn), surveying celestial bodies and the solar system.
- Chapter 3: Planet Earth and its Astronomical Characteristics (Kawkab al-ard wa-khasa’isuhu al-falakiyya), treating latitude and longitude, earth rotation, the four seasons, the magnetic field, and the planetary spheres.
- Chapter 4: Surface Geography (Jughrafiyat al-sath), examining crustal rocks, continental drift, plate tectonics, crustal movements, the geological record, folding, faulting, earthquakes, volcanoes, and thermal springs.
- Chapter 5: Water Geography (Jughrafiyat al-ma’), discussing oceans, seas, water dynamics, lakes, rivers, and glacial zones.
- Chapter 6: Climatological Geography (al-Jughrafiya al-manakhiyya), detailing atmospheric layers, gas characteristics, climatic elements, and controls.
- Chapter 7: Soil and Biogeography (al-Turba wal-jughrafiya al-hayawiyya), covering soil characteristics alongside plant and animal geography.
- Chapter 8: Man and the Environment (al-Insan wal-bia), discussing global population distribution, resource exploitation, atmospheric, aquatic, and nuclear pollution, and urban phenomena.
- Chapter 9: The Role of Geography in the Contemporary World (Dawr al-jughrafiya fil-alam al-muasir), exploring applied geography, environmental issues, and development planning.
- Chapter 10: Maps (al-Khara’it), addressing definitions, daily utility, map requirements, projections, and classifications.
The volume concludes with bibliographic references, a list of figures, and appendices containing basic geographical data regarding the areas, populations, major rivers, and principal cities of the continents, as well as tables of standard measurement units for dimensions, areas, weights, and volumes.
Editions
The work was revised across multiple printings. The fourth edition, completed in Riyadh in 1422 AH (2001 CE), introduced notable modifications over the third edition, abridging earlier coverage of the solar system and map components while adding new sections on the role of geography in the modern world and contemporary environmental crises, alongside updated statistical data and newly designed diagrams.
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