Author: Obaidullah Noorzahi
Islam in Europe (Part Three)
Muslim Cultural and Scientific Services to Europeans
In an era when Europe was engulfed in savagery and darkness, with any dissenting thought suppressed by the Inquisition, Muslims were at the peak of their scientific and cultural prosperity, transferring many of their new ideas and scientific experiences to Europeans. At that time, the number of literate individuals in Europe was very small. From the year 800 AD, the glorious Islamic civilization had a profound impact on European society, and Muslims contributed significant achievements to the marketplace of knowledge.
John Bernal writes in his book Science in History: “A new breeze of science blew and found a magnificent combination under the banner of Islam, through which science and technology entered medieval Europe.”
Voltaire, the Christian scholar, admits: “In the barbaric and ignorant period following the fall of the Roman Empire, Christians learned everything from the Muslims, including geometry, chemistry, medicine, mathematics, and other sciences, and turned to them for the knowledge of the day.”
The Western philosopher Bertrand Russell confirms: “The Muslims were instrumental in bringing the West out of its barbarism.”
George Sarton states in the first volume of Introduction to the History of Science: “The intellectual stagnation felt in the second half of the seventh and first half of the eighth centuries, at least in Europe and the Near East, was followed by an era of renewed activity, largely due to the pioneering work of the Muslims.”
Hermann Randell notes in The Evolution of the Modern Mind: “In the Middle Ages, the Muslims represented scientific thought and industrial life, just as we know Germany to represent such thought today.”
Will Durant, in his book History of Civilization, points out some interesting facts: “The first papermaking workshop in the Islamic realm was opened in 794 AD (178 AH) in Baghdad by Fadl ibn Yahya, the minister of Harun al-Rashid. Muslims then took this industry to Sicily and Spain, from where it reached Italy and France.” He also writes: “Some great men of Islam, such as Sahib ibn Ibad, had libraries as large as entire libraries of Europe.”
The Bait al-Hikmah library in Baghdad alone contained four million volumes, and in Spain, 80,000 volumes were produced and compiled annually. Students from England, France, and other European countries traveled to Muslim academic centers to study. The influence of Islamic civilization on the West was so great that the phrase “La ilaha illallah Muhammad rasulullah” was inscribed on the door of the Saint-Pierre Church in Rome.
Professor Gustave Le Bon writes in his book Islamic and Arab Civilization: “For 500 years, European schools were based on Muslim books and writings. They educated Europe in terms of science, practice, and morality and led it on the path of civilization.”
“Professor Gape,” an English scholar and professor of Arabic at Oxford University, states: “When we look back, we see that the sciences and literature of the East have acted like leaven for the West, so that the influence of Eastern spirits and ideas has enlightened the dark soul of the past centuries of the West and guided them to a wider world.”
Will Durant acknowledges in the eleventh volume of The History of Civilization: “The Islamic world had various influences on the Christian world. Europe learned from the Islamic lands about foods, drinks, medicines, industrial tools, maritime laws, and many customs.”
Dr. Max Meyerhoff believes: “By translating the books of Muslim scholars, Eastern sciences fell like rain on the dry soil of Europe and made it fertile.”
While Islam produced great scientists and introduced them to the world, European darkness and church ignorance overshadowed the populace. At the same time as scientific progress and freedom of thought flourished in the Islamic world, the Inquisition in Europe suppressed any new thinking.
Marcel Kasch writes: “During this period, 5 million people were executed for free thought or for violating the orders of the church. Between 1481 and 1499 alone, thousands were burned alive, tortured, or torn apart.”
However, Islam played an important role in the scientific and intellectual progress of Europe during the Dark Ages by fostering its own brilliant civilization.
Continues…
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