The Islamic contribution to Western development – 1

 

Do you know that the Muslim Ummah constitutes one-fifth of mankind, larger than the combined populations of the USA, Western Europe and Japan? If this is so, why do the Muslims contribute so little to the scientific and social progress of the world today. There must be something wrong with the Muslim community, that it has fallen into intellectual decline and under foreign domination. This is even more strange when we consider that so far as the sciences are concerned, the Muslim Ummah has a brilliant history.

For many centuries the Muslims enjoyed absolute world ascendancy in the sciences, and this has been verified by various western sources, including the Encyclopedia Britannica. For over seven centuries (710-1442 AD) Islam ruled Spain, and for over 500 years Islam dominated the known world by its superior civilization, knowledge, and military power. Heir to the scientific and philosophical treasures of the Ancients, Islam passed on this treasure, after enriching it, to Western Europe. Thus it was able to widen the intellectual horizon of the Middle Ages and make a profound impression on European thought.

This was a result of the Islamic concept of Divine wisdom that goes hand in hand with an all-embracing sense of worship that treats the entire universe as a God-given book, to be unfolded and understood. In Surah Al-Jaathiyah, v.13 it is said: "And He has made subservient to you whatever is in the Heavens and whatever is in the Earth, all, from HIMSELF. Surely there are signs in this for a people who reflect." From this, and other verses, and, also from the sayings of the Holy Prophet (SAWS), Muslims were exhorted to seek knowledge in order to better understand the Creator and HIS Works. As a result of this, there grew a large circle of Muslim scholars who studied in the many branches of science, that they soon dominated the intellectual world of their time, and as such, Cordoba and Baghdad, those two great cities, were the centers of civilization which illuminated the known world with the light of their brilliance.

The scientific renown of the Muslims had spread far and wide, and attracted the intellectual elite of Western Europe, to Andalusia (Spain), Sicily, and Southern Italy. For example, one of the most remarkable men of the 10th. century, Gerbert d'Aurillac, who became the first French Pope, under the title Sylvester II, spent three years at Toledo with the Muslim scholars studying mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, and other subjects. Several French, German, English and Italian prelates, and men of learning, also studied at various times at the Universities of Muslim Spain. The Spaniards and other Europeans of that time regarded Arabic as the only medium for science and literature. Christian Spain recognized the superiority of the Muslims, and as a result, around 830 AD, Alphonse the Great, king of the Asturias, had sent for two Muslim scholars to act as tutors to his son and heir. Two other rulers, Alphonse VI - who married the daughter of the Muslim ruler of Seville - and Alphonse the Wise, contributed greatly towards the intellectual rapprochement between Christians and Muslims. Even the Jews in Muslim Spain contributed to this intellectual awakening of Europe, and their own people. The Middle Ages saw the birth of a whole new literature in theology and philosophy, written in Arabic by Jews. There were such great men as MAIMONEDES (1135-1204), a Jewish Rabbi, Talmudic scholar, and philosopher; SA'ADIA FAYYUNI; YEHUDA HALEVY; BAHYA IBN PAQUDA; IBN GABIROL and others. This also highlights the intellectual and religious tolerance of Muslim Spain.

Do you know that the word "algebra" was first used by that great Muslim mathematician, MUHAMMAD IBN MUSA IBN AL-KHWARIZIMI? The word was taken from his treatise on algebra entitled "Al-Gbr Wa'l Maakalala" (Calculation by Symbols), and from his name we get the word "algorithm". The expressions "sine" and "cosine" was first used in mathematics by another Muslim scholar, AL-BATANI. Many students of chemistry do not realize that they are greatly indebted to the Muslim scholars of that time. Words like "alkali", "alembric", etc., are all of Arab origin. Distillation, one of the basic processes of chemistry, was an Arab invention.

Their greatest contribution was in the field of medicine and astronomy. ABDUL QASIM KHALAF BEN ABBAS of Cordoba, was the leading surgeon of his time, and the most famous among the Europeans of that era. ABU BAKR IBN ZAKARIYA AR-RAZI, was another, and is still quoted as one of the founders of modern medicine.

In the field of geography, the Muslim contribution was enormous. Their passion for travel is one of the striking traits of the Muslim scholars, and one of those which helped them to make their deepest mark on the history of civilization. Up to the time of the great impetus of Spanish and Portuguese navigation in the 15th. and 16th. centuries, no people has contributed as much as the Muslims to broadening man's conception of the universe and to giving him an exact idea of the planet on which he lives.

As early as the 9th. Century, Arab merchants visited China, Africa, Northern Europe, and the far North of what we now know as Russia. HASSAN ALI AL-MASUDI, whose great merit was recognized by the scientific world at the end of the 18th. Century, travelled in the 10th. Century throughout the immense empire of the Khalifs, from one end to the other. He visited, in addition, Ceylon (Sri Lanka), Madagascar and Zanzibar. In his famous work "Golden Pastures", he describes the nature of the countries he had seen, their mountains, their seas, their realms and their dynasties, as well as the beliefs and customs of their inhabitants. IBN HAYKAL AL-BIRUNI; IDRISSI and IBN BATUTA, also travelled widely, and are authors of invaluable geographical works, who opened up to the West, horizons they little dreamed of. Idrissi, who was born at Ceuta in 1099, and had lived at the Court of Palermo in Sicily, wrote a treatise on geography for Roger II, king of Sicily. For 300 years European map-makers did nothing but copy this treatise, with negligible variations.

Let us make special mention of the general map of the world, of ULUG BEG, the grandson of TIMUR, and the author of the famous astronomical tables bearing his name. When drawing it up, he based himself principally on the writings of NASR UD-DEEN THUSI, and on the observations of AL-KOSHADJI. The latter undertook, on the orders of Ulug Beg, a voyage to China, and verified the measurements of one degree of the Meridian, and the size of the Earth. We may also note that the European explorers made liberal use of the sea charts prepared by Muslims. It is reported that Vasco Da Gama saw one in 1497, belonging to Malem Cana, a moor of Gujurat, which he took as a Guide on his voyages.

It may well be that the work of the Muslim scholars contributed to the rediscovery of America. In a letter from Haiti and dated October 1498, Christopher Columbus names IBN RUSHD (Averroes) as one of the authors who led him to guess the existence of the New World. This is not strange when we see that historical evidence shows that many explorers, including Muslims, reached the so-called New World before Columbus. ABU ABDULLAH MUHAMMAD IBN BAUTAH (1304-1368) was the greatest of the Muslim travellers, whose journeys extended from the Niger basin to China from 1325 to 1355. He covered 75,000 miles during his travels. Considering the modes of transportation at that time, it was surely a great feat. He is remembered even by the National Geographic, which did an article on his travels.

My brothers and Sisters, there is much more on this topic, but space does not permit. In the next publication we shall continue to look at the Islamic contribution to world civilization.

AS-SALAAMU ALAIKUM WA RAHMATULLAHI WA BARAKAATUHU

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