0.6 The end of the west  (Page 3/19)

The expanse of the realm gave the polity access to the scientific and technological legacy of the Mesopotamian, Egyptian and Hellenic civilisations and allowed it to draw on the learning of China and India. This shaped the scientific capacity of Islamic world and the Abbasid Caliphs Harun ar-Rashid (786–809 CE) and al-Ma’mun (813­–833 CE) enabled an explosion of learning. The outcome was a unique Islamic civilisation which developed the intellectual and technological legacy of humanity, dominated the Mediterranean until the 15th century and unintentionally sparked the European renaissance.

The Umayyads and later the Abbasids drew on the Qur’an, sunna (the practices of the Prophet) and hadith (descriptions of how he lived and behaved) in encouraging scientific enquiry. They provided intellectual patronage by establishing large libraries and facilities for research and academic exchange. A culture of learning was forged in Baghdad, Shiraz and Cordoba; caravans brought manuscripts and botanical specimens from Bukhara to Tigris and Egypt to Andalusia. Embassies were sent to Constantinople and India to acquire books and teachers. Caliph al-Ma’mun established the Khizanatul Hikmah (the Treasure of Wisdom) and bayt al-Hikmah (the House of Wisdom) in Baghdad, to encourage the translation of foreign texts. Scholars of many nations and religions translated Greek, Persian and Indian works on mathematics, logic, astronomy, philosophy and the exact sciences into Arabic, wrote commentaries on them, and produced original works. In 1005 CE, the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim was continuing the tradition in Cairo with the dar al-Hikmah, which was open to all without distinction of rank. Caliph al-Hakam II of Andalus assembled a library of 400 000 books.

Arabic was the lingua franca from Bukhara to Cordoba; Jewish and Christian scholars in Andalus and Syrians in Egypt were proficient in Arabic. In 711CE, Christian decrees against the Jews in Spain were reversed by the Umayyads and Jews joined in expanding the culture. Syrian scholars in Damascus, proficient in Greek, converted the corpus of Greek science into Arabic, focusing on Plato and Aristotle (philosophy), Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius (geometry), Galen, Hippocrates, Dioscorides (medicine), and Hipparchos and Ptolemy (astronomy). A single language of science and technology across the realm made knowledge accessible to all. The legacy of the Muslim scientists underpinned the European renaissance and the scientific and industrial revolutions that followed the Reformation. Farabi, Ibn Sina [Avicenna], Al-Biruni, Ibn Shatir, Ibn Rushd [Avarroes]and Ibn Khaldun are names to conjure with in the history of science.

The Islamic period consolidated modern scientific method by launching coordinated research in different centres and encouraging experimentation to test hypotheses. Modern science emerged from these new methods of observation, experimentation and measurement. Ironically, given our concern about the anti-secularism in parts of the Muslim world today, the Islamic ‘golden age’ of science occurred while Catholic Europe was steeped in darkness because of the clergy’s opposition to science and secular thought. Five elements enabled the transmission of new learning and the transfer of technology: enlightened patronage by the rulers; translation into Arabic of Greek and Indian scientific, astronomical and mathematical works; encouragement of centres of excellence in all branches of science; coordination of research and active dissemination of knowledge; and religious tolerance and support to both Muslims and non-Muslims in their academic pursuits.