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8/13/2019 How Arabic Became Language of Science
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How Arabic became
the international
language of scienceby Salah Gala l
CLASSICAL Arabic sc ie nc e w as a
vast and complex enterprise that
was effectively launched by the
early Abbasid cal iphs a t Baghdad shortly
after 750 A.D. Fo r at least 600 years
thereaf ter i t maintained a vigorous existen¬
ce, gradually spreading over a geographi¬
ca l are a that extended f rom Anda lus ia to
the lands beyond the A mu Darya River in
Central Asia.
Arabic rapidly became an international
language of science to, a greater extent
than any other language had ever been.
S ALAH G A LA L, science editor of t he Egyp tian dai ly
AI Ahram since 1959, is also editor of th e Arabic
edition o f the World Health Organization's monthly
World Health. The a uth or o r translator o f many
scientific publicat ions, he is correspondent of the
weekly science journal Nature.
Until t he calip hs o rgan ized the translation
into Arabic of ancient Greek and Syriac
scientific t ex ts , A rabic h ad be en the lan¬
guage of poetry, of the Quran, and of the
recently developed discipl ines concerned
with Islamic religion and with the Arabic
language itself.
By the 11th century t he g reat scientist
Al-Biruni wasdescribing
Arabic asthe
language most suited fo r scientific expres¬
sion. Bu t he was speaking after the
event. The ninth-century decision to tu rn
Arabic into a vehicle fo r sc ienti fic t rad it ion
that had previously been alien to it w as an
ac t of great originality and imagination.
Islamic achievements in optics were
solidly based on the foundations laid by
t he ancient Greeks. Ptolemy's treatise on
optics was translated into Arabic early on,
an d a Latin vers ion was made f rom Arab ic
in Sicily in the 12th century. The treatise
now survives only in the Latin version ,
both the Greek original and the Arabic
translation having been lost.
Some Arabic authors , as a result of th e
translation of their works into Latin,
became w id ely k nown under Latinizednames: Al-Razi as Rhazes, Ibn Sina as
Avicenna, Ibn Rushd as Averroes, and so
on. Their books were widely read and
frequently cited and quoted by writers in
the West.
In the 10th century, Ibn al-Haytham
formulated a theo ry o f vision quite distinct
from an y other that existed the n o r had
existed earl ier. He was a mathematician,
Photo Roland Michaud © Rapho, Paris
46
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Photo Roland Michaud © Rapho, Paris
Left, the great reservoir at Kairouan (which means
encampment in Arabic) in Tunisia, built in 862. A 48-sided
polygon (128 m. in diameter) it is th e mos t impressive of a seriesof hydraulic projects realized by the Emir Abu Ib ra him Ahmed o f
the Aghlabid dynasty. Adjoining it is a smaller (17-sided)
polygonal reservoir with a diameter of 37 metres.
Above, map of Centra l Asia by the 10th-century geographer Ibn
Hawqal. The title, inscribed in Kuf ic scrip t, reads Picture of
wha t lies beyond the river (the Amu Darya). In margin at rightare the words the Maghrib (where the sun sets ) . (See also
capt ion o n p ag e 9).
no t a natural philosopher, bu t he combin¬
ed physical doctrines with mathematical
methods.
From natural philosophers Ibn al-Hay¬
tham der ived the idea that vision occurs
when a form emanating from an object
ente rs t he eye. As a mathematician, he
was impressed by the geometrical approach
taken in the works of Euclid and Ptolemy.
His own contribution ca n be characteriz¬
ed as an attempt to apply the geometrica l
method to the physical doctrine of forms.
He tried to show how a form capable of
representing the visible features of an
ob jec t, whe the r large or small, can enter
through the pup il and make its way to th e
brain, where the process of vision is
completed. To ach ie ve the synthesis he
desired, Ibn a l-Hayt ham was led to alter
important, sometimes essential, compo¬
nents o f earlier theories. A t th e same t ime,
he formulated questions that had never
been conceived before.
Ibn al-Haytham's Optics is a la rge and
comprehensive work that includes, no t
only a new theory of vision, bu t also
important discussions of the propagat ion,
reflection, and refraction of light and
colour. Its superiority to the treatises of
Euclid, Ptolemy, Al-Kindi, and Ibn Sina,
al l o f w hich were translated into Latin,
soon b eca me clear to L atin m ed ie va l
writers. In the 13th century, Roge r Bacon
frequently referred to Ibn al-Haytham as
the author on optics .
Almost all branches of the healing arts
in Islam were indebted more to th e indefat¬
igable efforts of Hunayn ibn Ishaq Al Ibadi
(809-873) an d his team of translators than
to any o ther n in th -c en tu ry author oreducator . Together with his students and
associates, Hunayn made th e mos t impor¬
tant medical writings of the Greeks availa¬
ble in Arabic, and estab lished a solid
foundation fo r the development of Arabic
medicine by devising a distinctive metho¬
dology, which was followed, modified,
and perfected during the following century.
The phys ic ian Ibn Butlan e labo ra ted on
the six non-natural principles that had
been identified earlier b y H un ayn : clean
air, moderate d ie t and drink, rest and
work, wakefulness and slumber, evacua¬
tio n of superfluities, and emotional reac¬
tions and involvement.
If these six principles are kept in equili¬
brium, he maintained, health results; if
abused or imbalanced, sickness occurs.
Ib n Butlan also recommended th e utiliza¬
t ion o f f ine music to lift th e morale of
patients and help speed their recovery.
The development of Arabic clinical
medicine and therapeutics reached its peak
in Andalusia, in the works of the physic ian-
statesman Ibn Waf id and in th e medica l
writing, teaching, and practice of Ibn
Zuhr (known in Latin as Avenzoar). In his
famous Book Facilitating the Study o f
Therapy and Diet, he dealt with thediagnosis and treatment of diseases,
describing, possibly fo r the first time in
medical history, certain chest abcesses and
pericardial diseases. He also emphasized
medical experimentation, as well as clinical
observation, treatment and pathology.
It w as u nde r the patronage of th e A ra b
caliphs that hospitals were f irst estab¬
lis he d a nd f lourished in th e Muslim world.
The early Arab concept of th e hospital
became the prototype fo r t he deve lopment
of th e modern hospital an institution
ope ra ted by priva te owners or by govern¬
ment.
The great 10th-century philosopher and
phys ic ian Al-Raz i considered hospitals of
primary importance in providing practical k
training in the medical profession and in Y
47
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Hercules the celestial dancer
In hi s Book of Fixed Stars , the 10th-century as tr onomer As-Sufi fol lowed the ancien t
practice o f representing the conste l la t ions by animal o r h uma n f igures or objects. Above,
representation of the northern constellation Hercules is from a 13th-century manuscr ipt
version o f As-Sufi 's work. Accord ing to t radit ion, Hercules is depicted as a dancer, but
al though he is elsewhere shown as a youth with a scimitar , here he is bear ded and
weapon less . Th is vers ion of The Book of Fixed Stars, produced in t he No rth African c ity
of Ceuta, is the only known western Islamic manuscr ip t to mention its place of origin.
An eye on the heavens
Th e i l lustrations produced in 1237 by the art ist Al-Wasit i fo r Al-Hariri 's c lass ic ta les known
as the Maqamat a re a n ou ts tand ing example o f medieval Arabi c art . (See also pages 6and 25). These miniatures and their surrounding t ext , wh ich describes th e adventures
of a witty and resourceful figure named Abu Zaid, are today preserved in the Bib lio thèqueNationale, in Paris. Below, a scene with a scientific flavour: Abu Za id meas ur es the
h e ig h t o f th e celestia l bodies with an astrolabe.
> disseminating health information. The
Adudi hospital in Baghdad was a striking
example of an insti tut ion which performed
such a role. It had 24 doctors on its staf f
an d was equ ipped with lecture halls an d
an ample library. In the late 10th century,
its fame spread fa r and wide.
Among Arab ic au tho rs who wrote on
ophthalmology an d eye diseases, a branch
of medicine that received special attention
in th e M uslim world, Hunayn ibn Ishaq
was perhaps the first to write a systematic
manual on ophthalmology, complete with
diagrams. His work was dev elo pe d b y
later authors and has surv ived unt il today.
In te n t reat ises written be tween 84 0 and
860 and co mp le te d by his student an d
nephew , Hubaysh , Hunayn discussed the
anatomy of the eye, brain, and optical
nerves, as well as the physiology, diseases,
an d treatment of the eye. Although he
copied extensive ly from Greek works, he
a dd ed m an y new, personal observations.
A l-Razi was possibly th e f ir st t o describe
pupillary reflexes.
Arabic progress in ophthalmology reach¬
ed a peak a ro un d th e year 1000 in thew ork of A li ibn Isa, an oculist of Baghdad.
His book A Treasury fo r Ophthalmologists
was a comprehensive summary of all the
achievements o f th e past. His contempo¬
rary Ammat ibn Al i A l-Mawsil i was th e first
to in tro du ce th e te ch niq ue of suction
r emova l of cataracts. He d ev is ed a nd
used a hollow needle fo r the purpose, a
technique revived in 1846 by a French
doctor, Blanchet.
This high level of per fo rmance was
continued by Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)
an d in a guide fo r oculists written by
M uh am m ad a l-G ha fiq i of Andalusia.
Al-Ghafiqi i l lustrated his manual with
pictures of the surgical instruments he
used in performing eye operations.
Th e physician-philosopher Ibn Rushd k
once stated that whosoever becomes fully Y
Stalactite fantasy
in a royal chape l
T h e r oy al c ha p el built in Palermo around
1140 by Roger II, ruler o f th e No rma n
kingdom o f S i ci ly , is famed for it s richly
painted wooden ce il ing (detai l at right)
with stalactite vaults arranged in a
honeycomb design. The paint ings,
depict ing scenes f rom princely l i fe, were
executed by Muslim artists an d constitute
th e largest surviv ing ensemble o f Mu s lim
paint ing. Special ists believe that they
were probably produced by artists
following Mesopotamian traditions and
in f luenced by th e p i c to r ia l a r t o f F a tim idEgypt (11th century) or o f Tunis.
Photo Miche l Desjardins © Top Réalités, Paris
48
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8/13/2019 How Arabic Became Language of Science
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8/13/2019 How Arabic Became Language of Science
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Anatomy of a thoroughbred
Knowledge o f th e animal wor ld was highly valued in Islamic civi l izat ion, fo r
an ima l s, a long with plants and minerals, were regarded as essential to the
cosmic equ il ib r ium. An ima ls such as th e horse were f requently depicted in
w o rk s o f art an d l i terature, an d were also studied scientifically. This
anatomical study is f rom a 15th-century Egyptian manuscr ip t now
p reserved i n th e universi ty of Istambul.
Photo Roland Michaud © Rapho, Paris. University of Istambul Library, Turkey
familiar with human anatomy and physio¬
logy, his faith in God will i nc rease . This
statement explains why surgery was
accep ted by the A rabs from th e early days
of Islam (1) . It also explains why Muslim
surgeons were am ong the first to use
narcotic and sedative drugs in operations:
Islam teaches that God has provided man
with a great var ie ty of natural remedies to
cure his ills. It is man's ob liga tion to
i den ti fy them and to use them with skill
an d compassion.
Th e greatest achievements in medieval
surgery, however, are attributed to Az-
Zahrawi of Moorish Spain. An important
part of his medical encyclopaedia, The
Book of Concessions, deals with obstetrics,
paediatrics, and midwifery, as well as with
general human anatomy. The surg ical
part of the encyclopaedia contains a
discussion of cauterization, the treatment
o f wounds, the extracting of arrows, oral
hygiene, and the setting of bones in simple
and compound fractures.
He used antiseptics in the treatment of
wounds and s kin injuries; devised sutures
from animal in te stines , s ilk , wool, an d
other substances; and developed tech¬
niques to widen urinary passages and ex¬
plore body cavities surgically. His surgery
con ta ined abou t 200 surgical instruments
that he himself designed and depicted in
his writings. Such in struments, with
modifications, were later used by many
surgeons in Christendom as well as in
Is lam.
Donkey-dr iven
irrigator
Most Arab countries are arid,
and water management ha s
a lways been a ma j or c once rn in
Arab civi l izat ion. One problem
faced by Arab eng inee rs was
how to raise water from
streams and canals for irr igationor domestic use. In his
celebrated Treatise on
Mechanical Devices ; t he g re a t
13th-century i nventor Al-Jazari
described in detail the
construction of an array of
mechanical devices, including
water-raising mach in e s su ch
as th e donkey-powered irr igation
system shown at r ight . The
don ke y t ur ns an upr ight pole
connected to a series of toothed
wheels. The wheels are linked
to four water scoops (here
submerged), which rise in
succession and empty their
contents into a canal.
(1) Editor 's note: in some parts o f the Western wor ld ,
the dissection o f human bodies wa s prohibited fo r reli¬
gious reasons.
Herbs for heal ing
A Book of Antidotes attributed
to th e Greek physician Galen
was translated into Arabic and
widely u se d in medicine. Detai l
a t r ight is f rom an i l luminated
manuscript ve rs io n p rodu ced
in 1199, probably in Iraq. It
shows two medicinal herbs
used for t reat ing poisonousbites. The name of each herb is
annotated in Arabic.
:>'-,1:KP
New theories of vision
Ophthalmology was a branch o f medicine
which rece ived special attent ion
throughout the Islamic wor ld. Scient ists
such as Ali ib n Isa, author of a famous
Arabic Treasury for Ophtha lmo log is ts ,
added new theories and experience to
th e know ledge they inheri ted f rom th eGreeks. Left , d iagram show ing t he
interconnect ion of th e opt ic nerves is from
a treatise on ophthalmology in th e
Egyptian Nat iona l Library, Cairo.
51
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Az-Zahrawi's discussion of mother and
child hea lth and the profession of midwifery
is of part icu lar interest in t he h is to ry of
nursing. His text imples the existence of
a flourishing profession of nurses and
midwives in general practice, which
explains the reluctance of many conserva¬
tive Musl im fam il ies to seek the assistance
of male doctors in normal childbirth. Ski l led
physicians an d obstetricians such as Az-
Zahrawi instructed an d t ra in ed m id w iv e s
so that they cou ld car ry out the ir dut ies
with competence.
Pharmacy, as a recognized profession,
is an Arab-Is lamic inst i tut ion. It became
an independent science separate f rom,
ye t co-opera ting with medic ine, and it
was practised b y s kille d a nd trained spe¬
cialists. It ach ieved this status around the
year 800, under the patronage of the
Abbasid calip hs . The first privately owned
and managed pharmac ies were opened in
the early 9th century in Baghdad , th e
A bb asid ca pitl, w here drug s and s pic es
from Asia and Africa were readily available.
Within a sho rt time , pharmacies sprang
up in other large cities of the Islamicworld.
In Arab mechanical technology tw o main
categories of machines were produced:
firstly those designed fo r use, such as
mills, water-raising devices, and war
machines; and secondly, devices designed
to cause wonder and aesthetic pleasure
within courtly circles.
The inventors of ingenious devices, or
automata , such as Ibn al-R azzaz al-
Jazari, a ls o des igned useful machines.
T hey w ere thoroughly familiar with th e
work of carpenters and millwrights, from
w ho m th ey der ived much o f t he ir vocabu¬
lary and many of their techniques, tools
and mechan isms .
The most impress ive array of automata
were displayed in Al-Jazari 's monumenta l
clocks. Circles representing the Zodiac,
the s un , a nd th e moon r ota te d a t c on sta nt
speed ; b irds discharged pellets fr om the ir
beaks onto cymbals to sound the hour; .
doors opened to reveal small figurines. At
regular interva ls musicians such as drunv
mers, trumpeters and tambourine players
performed on their instruments.
These automata were usually actuated
by a f loat s in king a t a constant rate in a
water reservoir. Their mechanism invo lv¬
ed the use of comp lex hyd raul ic sys temswhich later reappeared in Europe during
the Industrial Revolution, and incorporated
a type of conical valve which was f irst
mentioned in th e West b y Leona rd o da
Vinci and which came into general use in
Europe dur ing the 16th century. A great
dea l of research still remains to be done
before the sources of Leonardo s ideas
can be fully established, bu t it seems
likely that he had access to some of the
translations from Arabic made in Toledo
in the 12th century.
Arab technology was essentially based
upon the use of the e ffec ts of water pres¬
sure and ai r pressure. M ost o f the mathe¬
matical relationships that underlie these
physical phenomena had no t then been
identified, and so eng in ee rs had to draw
upon a large fund of practical experience.
Two types of mill have been known
since classical times, on e with a vertical
waterwheel that dr ives th e mil lstones
through a pair of gear whee ls , th e other
with a horizontal-vaned water-wheel with
direct drive to th e m ills to ne s. It has been
computed that the second type could
reach an output of 10 horsepower with an
efficiency of 75 per cent. From th e ac¬
counts of geographers and travellers, we
know that both types of mill were widely
used in the Islamic lands fo r grinding grain
and fo r industrial purposes.
The f ive f ull- sc a le machin e s de sc rib ed
by Al-Jazari were all designed to raise
water, and four of them incorporate
features that are of great significance in
the history of machine technology.
There is ample evidence that knowledge
of Arabic science, medicine, mathematics,
and philosophy was transmitted to Europe
in written form , but very little evidence
that engineering ideas were disseminated
in this w ay. T echn olog ica l ideas have
frequently been carried from one culture
to another by travelle rs ' reports, by the
observations of commercial agents , and
by d irec t c on ta ct s between craftsmen.
Unti l modern times, such cross-fertiliza¬
tion was probably more f requent and
more fruitful than wri t ten communica t ions .
Arabic culture, including its contributions
to the life sciences, reached its h ighest
stage of development between the 9t h
and the 11th centuries, and experienced
a number of major revivals during the 12th
and 13th cen tu ries . During this period the
West was just beginning to awaken from
th e Dark Ages.
From the 12th century to th e Renais¬
sance, v ia translation and copying activities
in Spa in , S ic il y, and Syria, the bulk ofArabic writings in all fie ld s was made
available in Latin. Despite the poor quali ty
of translation and scholarship that prevail¬
ed in the West at that time, these Latin
versions revived the spirit of learning in
Western Europe du rin g th e late Middle
Ages.
In t he life s ciences , A ra bic a uth ors n ot
only preserved the classical achievements
o f th e ancients bu t also added new an d
original data. to the fun d of human know¬
ledge, thereby contributing to the well-
being of all men everywhere.
Salah Galal
THE 3 Rs
IN THE MOSQUE
(Continued from page 34)
course o f tim e th e writings p roduced by
th e g re at early masters became textbooks
for their su cce sso rs and their s tudents . In
many cases teachers simply read ou t and
commented on these ancien t te xts ,, a
method which led to the s tagna tion of
Mus l im educa ti on for several centuries.
Discussion and questioning were tw o
other features of education in the mosques.
Students often engaged in heated debate
with their teachers and professed opinions
which were at odds with theirs. At the
same time they remained highly respectful
of their teachers views. An art of dial¬
ogue and discussion regulated by clearly
defined rules thus developed in Muslim
academic life.
In th e early days of Islam, Muslim
scho la r s t rave l led far an d wide to collect
hadi ths which certain elders had commit t¬
ed to memory, but which had never been
written down. Later scholars journeyed in
search of unusual Arabic expressions an d
syntax, and e ve ntu ally th e p ra ctice of
travelling in search of knowledge expand¬
ed to include a ll other fields of academic
l i fe.
A ll knowledge is ultimately religious
and is acquired in God's name . This prin¬
ciple underlies the transmission and acqui¬
sition of knowledge in the Muslim world.
Any secular calling must be placed in a
.divine setting, and in the last analysis the
purpose of education is to serve God.
Hisham Nashab i
A majo r contribution to scientific progress
The Arabs w ere not only responsible fo r majo r innovat ions in science and tech¬
nology. Through their translations of Greek and other scienti fic works of Ant iqui tythey also ensured the transmiss ion of knowledge that cont ribu ted to the sub¬
sequent f lowe ri ng o f Western science.
Arab scholars played a key role in the development of such scientific disciplines
as astronomy and mathematics, as well as medicine, natura l history, geography
and agronomy. One outstanding example is the 9 th -century mathemat ic ian A l-
Khawarizmi, the creator of algebra (from the Arabic al-jabp, who also gave his
name to th e word algor i thm , today used in arithmetic. This g rea t scho la r,
who has been called one of the g reatest ma themat ic ians of all t imes , also
elaborated a method of finding square roots and m ade important advan ce s in
t r igonomet ry.
The developmen t o f Arab scient if ic thought and it s impac t on medieval Europe
and world scientific progress have been discussed in several articles in the Unesco
Courier (especia l ly the June 1974 issue). More recent ly , Unesco's international
scientific quarterly Impact o f Science on Society also devoted a special issue to
Science and t he I sl am ic World (May-September 1976).
52