Al-Risala (English), April 1991

The Emergence of Science

Islam: The Creator of the Modern Age

1991 4 April 15-20 The Emergence of Science (1834)

In the history of Europe the period from the sixth to the tenth century A.D, is known as the Dark Ages. This is a period when Europe was far from civilization. “For Europe it was a period of intellectual darkness and barbarity.” (Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. III p. 380)

The term ‘Dark Ages’ was applicable, however, only to Europe. When Europe was enveloped in the murk of the Dark Ages, the light of civilization shone brightly throughout the world of Islam. As Bertrand Russell puts it in his History of Western Philosophy, “From India to Spain, the brilliant civilization of Islam flourished.” (p. 395).

This Islamic civilization, which entered Europe via Sicily and Spain, exerted a strong influence there, so much so that students from western Europe started coming to receive their education in the Islamic universities of Spain. Many from the Muslim world likewise went to Europe. When Europeans realised that the Muslims had gone far ahead of them in education, they began to render books written by Muslim scholars into Latin. The Encyclopaedia Britannica says: “Most of the classical literature that spurred the European Renaissance was obtained from translations of Arabic manuscripts in Muslim libraries.” (vol. 15, p. 646).

In modern times, a large number of scholars, for instance, Gustav Liban, Robert Briffault, J.M. Robert, Montgomery Watt, and so on, have clearly acknowledged that it was the investigations and discoveries of the Arabs that paved the way for modern science in Europe. It would be correct to say that this is a universally known fact. The only point on which we must differ is that the event recorded as ‘Muslim history’ should come under the heading of ‘Islamic history’. An event thus attributed to a people should have been attributed rather to God.

Some Examples

In ancient times certain things were considered holy according to the polytheistic set of beliefs then prevalent. This mentality had closed the door to independent thinking on the subject of natural phenomena. Then came the revolution brought about by monotheism. For the first time in human history, this produced the right atmosphere for freedom of enquiry. Every thing then began to be studied without any hesitation. The monotheistic revolution thus founded the very first original basis for scientific thinking along systematic lines. Scientific research had, of course, been carried out prior to this, but, due to the unfavourable atmosphere, it had not been welcomed with approval or recognition. Without this, no further advances could be made in this sphere.

Galileo (d. 1442) is generally considered to be the inventor of the telescope. But the truth is that, long before his time, Abu Ishaq ibn Jundub (d. 767) had already made observations of the heavens. He had devised certain rules for observing distant objects and, in accordance with those rules, he had invented a telescopic instrument. It was this initial telescope which was developed by Galileo, and which was the actual forerunner of the now highly perfected electric telescope of modern times.

The basis of modern science is observation. But, in ancient times, several kinds of superstitious beliefs barred the way to such activity. Jabir ibn Hayyan (d. 817), however, understanding the importance of observation, used findings based thereon in his scientific studies, the written accounts of which were transmitted to Europe in translations. Thinking went on developing along these lines until it formed the basis for experimental science as it is known today.

The first person in history to advance the theory of inertia in material bodies was Abu Ali Hasan ibn AI-Hayasam (d. 1021). This discovery reached Europe, where scholars subjected it to further scrutiny. It was formulated, much later, as Newton’s law of motion, namely, that every body continues in its state of rest or uniform motion in a straight line, except in so far as it is compelled by external forces to change that state. Then again it was ibn-Haysam who originally discovered that the path taken by a ray of light or other wave motion in traversing the distance between any two points is such that the time taken is a minimum. This discovery later became known as Fermat’s principle of least time.

The Age of the Earth

Scientists have not been able to agree on the date of man’s emergence on earth. However, they have discovered some human skeleton which they believe to date back to ten thousand years before Christ. The scientists do not, therefore, accept the assertions on this subject made by the Bible. According to the dates for the appearance of the human race given in the book of Genesis, Adam came to the world thirty seven) hundred years before Christ. The Jewish Calendar, which follows the data contained in the old Testament, places the dates very precisely. The second half of the Christian year 1975 corresponds to the beginning of the 5,736th year of the creation of the world. According to modern science, this is wholly unacceptable.

The Christians, as it would appear from Biblical narratives, had condensed the life-span of the earth to within a few thousand years. The error of this calculation, from the scientific point of view, came to light in the eighteenth century when James Hutton, a great geologist, carried out his investigations. He devoted his whole life to studying the construction of the earth and its rocks, which showed that the earth in its present form has evolved over millions of years.

Charles Lyell’s observations subsequently confirmed Hutton’s theory. The first volume of his renowned book, Principles of Geology was first published in 1830. This book was to a great extent responsible for the disappearance of the Biblical time-scale from all serious discussion. “Indeed, Lyell’s books were largely responsible for convincing the world at large that the Bible could be wrong, at any rate in some respects – a hitherto unthinkable thought.” (Fred Hoyle, The Intelligent Universe, p. 29)

Concepts of the kind enshrined in the Bible acted as barriers to the scientific progress of Europe. Anyone who dared to present any theory other than those approved of by the Church risked being severely chastised on the grounds that his theory was sac-religious. But, in Islam, such unreal concepts had never gained currency. That is why no religious opposition presented itself when scientific research began in Islamic Spain.

Greek Sciences

The modern age of progress began in Europe between the fourteenth and sixteenth centuries. This age is generally referred to as the Renaissance, which means revival, or rebirth. The Europeans associate this age of renaissance with Greece, a European country. They present the modern age of Europe as being, in fact, a revival of the ideas of Greek antiquity. But the truth is that Europe went through a period of awakening, rather than of rebirth or revival. And this was the first time in the history of Europe that this had happened. Now scholars have accepted that the Renaissance of the West is a direct gift from the Arabs. Briffault writes:

“The debt of our science to that of the Arabs does not consist in startling discoveries of revolutionary theories. Science owes a great deal more to Arab culture, it owes its existence” (Making of Humanity, p. 190). He goes on to say:

“It is highly probable that but for the Arabs, modern industrial civilization would never have arisen at all” (p.202)

The Encyclopaedia Britannica (1984) says that libraries formed important features of Islamic society. There were a number of institutions which possessed more than one lakh books. ‘Most of the classical literature that spurred the European Renaissance was obtained from translations of Arabic manuscripts in Muslim libraries. (15/646).

To some the achievement of the Arabs is at best their transmission of the Greek sciences to Europe through translations. As Professor Hitti puts it in his book, History of the Arabs:

“This stream (of Greek culture) was redirected into Europe by the Arabs in Spain and Sicily, whence it helped create the Renaissance of Europe.” (p. 307)

Such an assertion is not, however, correct, for what the Arabs had received from Greek philosophers was not experimental knowledge but theoretical argument. In other words, what they received from the Greeks was not science but philosophy. Science, as we now understand it, had never existed in Greece. Science, or knowledge based on experimentation, is the invention of the Muslims. It was the Muslims who first attained to knowledge through observation, and then communicated it to other nations, particularly those situated in Europe.

Bertrand Russell has rightly said: Science, ever since the time of the Arabs, has had two functions: (1) to enable us to know things, and (2) to enable us to do things. The Greeks, with the exception of Archimedes, were only interested in the first of these ... Interest in the practical uses of science came first through superstition and magic.”

He goes on to say: “To modern educated people, it seems obvious that matters of fact are to be ascertained by observation, not by consulting ancient authorities. But this is an entirely modern conception, which hardly existed before the seventeenth century. Aristotle maintained that women have fewer teeth than men; although he was twice married, it never occurred to him to verify this statement by examining his wives’ mouths.”

Citing further examples of this nature, Russell observes that Aristotle made many assertions about things without ever observing them, and that his adherents continued to repeat them without putting them to the test of observation.

It is essential for scientists to observe and experiment on things in depth to have a correct knowledge of their nature. But an atmosphere conducive to such procedures did not exist among the Greeks or in other ancient nations. Because objects other than God had sacredness attributed to them, they developed an aura of mystery and became sacrosanct in the eyes of the peoples. With the result that magic, superstition and the worship of non-gods became widely prevalent.

These grave misconceptions stood in the way of scientific enquiry into the nature of things. When people believe that events take place by magic, or that natural phenomena have divine properties of a mystical nature, no thinking can develop which will lead to research on the nature of these things. In such an atmosphere, it is but natural that such a mentality will develop as will grovel to magic and superstition.

The Arabs of ancient times had similarly been held in thrall by superstition. For them too, as in other nations, it had become a mental block. But when an intellectual revolution was brought about amongst them by Islam, this mental block very soon evaporated. Now they began to look at things as they were. whereas prior to this revolution they had viewed the same objects as sacred and mysterious. It is this intellectual revolution which produced among Arabs scientific thinking for the first time in human history. By developing this line of thought, they became the giver people; they gave to the whole world what in modern times, is called Science.