RIGHTING THE WRONGS ABOUT MEDIEVAL SCIENCE

BORNEO BULLETIN, 29th April 1994

The world has become increasingly interdependent. Its economy functions as an interconnecting entity. Problems of society, the quality of life and the environment are global in their causes and effects. No individual or a nation can possibly tackle them on its own. Both Islamic and non-Islamic nations share common problems.

            Islam has often been regarded as a threat to the rest of the non-Muslim world. A Muslim of medieval times is seen as a military conqueror. In modern times, he is regarded as a source of intolerance, extremism, and terrorism. The relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims matter more today than ever before, because the need for the two to live and work together has increased. Not only is the nature of Islam generally misunderstood by non-Muslims, there is also much ignorance about the debt the modern world owes to Islamic culture.

The medieval Islamic world, from the Western confines of China to the shores of the Atlantic, was a world where scholars and men of learning flourished. Islamic culture, from the time of Prophet Mohammed (Peace be upon him) to the fall of the Ottoman Empire, has its influence on contemporary civilizations of the world. Muslims have left ineffaceable marks of their achievements on the pages of history, and enriched the world of thought by their discoveries.

It is, therefore, a matter of regret that in the Islamic countries knowledge of their history of science has been more or less confined to specialists. As a consequence, the names of scientists of medieval ages are not commonly known. The situation in non-Islamic countries is worse. There, apart from a few scholars of science, most writers have either excluded the Islamic period (from 750 A.D. to 1500 A.D.) or they have given a distorted and incomplete account of this period of history.

To clear the misunderstandings about Muslims, something more is needed than a bare narration of wars and conquests.  More so especially in the case of a people whose name, unlike the Romans and Greeks, has not been made familiar from childhood. A history of the Muslims should contain not merely a description of their military success, but also tell us something of their inner life, their social and economic development and their contribution to science and other domains of knowledge.

Such a work, by tracing the affinity of modern civilization to theirs, might serve to move many prejudices and some of the bitterness engendered by the conflict and quarrels of centuries. It is only through mutual respect and understanding that ignorance, suspicion and prejudice, which today create so many dangerous attitudes and false perceptions, can be dispelled.

The foundation of modern science on the basis of observation, experimentation and systematization was laid by the Muslim savants beginning in the eighth century. They assimilated whatever was retrieved by their predecessors and not only preserved and disseminated it by translating it into Arabic, but within a short period of time, systematized the knowledge acquired previously, and began making significant advances of such fundamental nature that the phenomenal development of the modern era could not have been possible without their contributions.

The science so developed was not the result of efforts by a few individuals. It was the outcome of organized and sustained activity. The subject matter and the space here do not allow us to go into the details of the motivating force behind this scientific culture. Perhaps it will be sufficient to mention that scholars have reported that "in contrast to 250 verses which are legislative, some 750 verses of the holy Qur'an  - almost one eighth of it - exhort the believers to study nature, to reflect, to make the best use of reason and to make the scientific enterprise an integral part of the community's life.

The scientific method of enquiry is today universally recognized as being essential for scientific achievements and is in common use today. However, its origin has been controversial as different authorities attribute it to different scholars. According to an old English tradition, Francis Bacon was the originator of this method and the history of science was only a history of the adoption and application of this method by all subsequent scientists. Rupert Hall finds this claim exaggerated. Bertrand Russell remarks: "Whatever we may like or dislike about the age in which we live, ... all emanate from Galileo Galilei". Robert Briffault gives this credit to Muslim scientists of medieval times and describes Bacon as a mere preacher of this method in Europe.

At the same time, there is a book by Carl Boyer (History of Mathematics, John Wiley & Sons Inc, New York, 1968) in which he says: "When the Islamic states was expanding, the leaders of the victorious troops, having asked what was to be done with the books in the library, was told to burn them.... However, stories that the baths were long heated by the fires of burning books are undoubtedly exaggerated".

Considering the theme and substance of the book, there is no justification for this paragraph in the first place. Besides, what he writes is not true. As a substantive argument one can pick a quote from Jawaharlal Nehru's Glimpses of World History (Oxford University Press, New Delhi, 1982). He says: "The Muslims were too fond of books to behave in this barbarous manner. This story is now believed to be false".

Then, the famous historian of philosophy, Will Durant, in his Story of Philosophy (Simon and Schuster, New York, 1961) discussed philosophers and their philosophy from Socrates to Devey without mentioning even a single Muslim philosopher. Many other books on the history of science jump from the Greek to the Renaissance as though the centuries in between were devoid of any intellectual achievements. Other authors like J.D.Bernal devotes only 10 pages to 350 years from 750 A.D. to 1100 A.D.-- the longest and continuous span in the history of mankind in which foundations of knowledge were laid.

By comparison, books such as those by George Sarton, D.E.Smith and Fuat Sezgin or by early writers like Gerard of Cremona, Roger Bacon, Jacob Anatoli or Michael Scot, all of which acknowledge the manifold scientific achievements of medieval Muslims, are written by specialists and are meant for specialist readers and professionals, and therefore what is written in these will not be well-known. The general public will hence remain ignorant of the facts of history of science, since it is the popular, widely-read books carrying distorted or wrong impressions which are making the greater impact on the readership. The effects can be devastating.

Undoubtedly, serious rectifications have to be made in all areas of history. Not only does the record has to be set straight, but efforts should be made to let the people of the world be aware of the names of those Muslim scientists who hitherto have been ignored or neglected.

Many writers had until recently, denied any significant contribution by Muslims to science and when faced with no alternative, tried to ascribe the contributions as being merely transmission of Greek knowledge. This attitude was, to some extent, checked by the publication of a number of studies in comparatively recent times both by Muslims and non-Muslims. As a result of the efforts of various scholars, a more balanced view is now emerging. But there is still a long way to come to a stage where the scientific achievements of the medieval Muslim scientist will start appearing in the commonly-read scientific books all over the world.

Many Islamic works and discoveries have been ignored. While the works of Muslim scientists and their tremendous influence on modern science are relatively unknown, many of their achievements in astronomy, physics, biology, medicine, chemistry and mathematics are still being attributed incorrectly to Western scientists, for example, the discovery of planetary motion to Kepler and Copernicus, of the circulation of blood to Harvey, and of gravity and various discoveries in optics to Newton. Therefore, rewriting the history of science has now become a matter of Western intellectual integrity.

            Among the individuals, Fuat Sezgin, a Turkish who teaches history at Frankfurt University, has done a monumental task in this direction. Fuat Sezgen's Geschinchte des Arabischen Schrifttums (History of Arabian Manuscripts) - many out of the planned 20 volumes have already been published - provides ample evidence that the medieval Western world diligently imitated, copied and plagiarized the works of Muslim scientists. Sezgin's research has taken 30 years and includes studies of 1.5 million Arab manuscripts which he has located throughout the world. He shows in his work that the depth and scope of Islamic scientific scholarship is truly staggering.

Now it is for the Muslim writers to examine and write about their past not for self glorification, but for two reasons. Firstly, to establish the fact that Islam and scientific development went hand in hand when the scientific scholarship was at its zenith from 750 A.D. to 1500 A.D. Secondly, to tell contemporary generations that Islamic societies are pragmatic in their attitude towards science. The Muslims had a brilliant past - a past brilliance which today they are capable of repeating. The lesson of success of the early Muslims is a universal one and in no way an anachronism.