Balfour Declaration: A Case of Missed Opportunity

best partners the Arabs could hope for regarding the progress and development of Palestine. But in their welter of emotion, the Arab leaders failed to understand this positive aspect of the matter. There were excellent examples in the history of Islam of this collaboration between the Jews and the Muslims. When Muslim empires were being established, Muslims undertook the task of translating into Arabic ancient books available in Greek and other languages, which they found in different countries. Translation bureaus were set up, and a significant number of ancient texts were translated under the auspices of institutes such as Bait alHikmah, which was established in Baghdad in AD 832, and Dar al-Hikmah, which was set up in Cairo in AD 1005, both under direct state patronage. Later, when the Arabs entered Spain and brought it under their control, they established great academic and educational institutions in Cordoba and Granada, where these Arabic translations were rendered into Latin. These Latin translations were again rendered into different European languages. Not only were translations undertaken, but also, side by side, different kinds of research and investigations were carried out on a large scale. These academic activities led directly to the Renaissance in Europe. In this way, the Muslims of those times acted as a bridge between the ancient traditional age and the modern scientific age.