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



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

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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



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

how arabic became language of science

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