Saadia's Column

Obsessed with the West (December 2003)

Abu Abdullah Muhammad Ibn Jabir Ibn Sinan al-Battan al-Harrani was born around 858 A.D., and is credited for first determining the solar year as 365 days, five hours, 46 minutes, and 24 seconds, which is extremely close to the latest estimates.

I wouldn’t have known this, if I hadn’t skimmed through Personalities Noble-Glimpses of Renowned Scientist and Thinkers of Muslim Era, (ed. Hakim Mohammed Said), the other day. It brought home how ignorant I am about Muslim contributions to modern knowledge. There’s no excuse for my ignorance about al-Battani, just as there’s no excuse for not knowing that Ibn Al-Nafis was the first to correctly describe the constitution of the lungs, and that Abul Wafa was the first to show the generality of the sine theorem relative to spherical triangles.

With the exception of a few exceptionally broad-minded writers, Western education makes little effort to acknowledge the role of Islam’s golden era, when Muslim scientists, philosophers, mathematicians, poets, and other thinkers made invaluable contributions to the various branches of knowledge. In college, I heard almost nothing about them, even the hugely important such as Ibn Sina, who wrote al-Qanun, the bible of medical schools up to the sixteenth century, or Al-Khawarzmi, the founder of algebra and other branches of mathematics. Ibn Al-Haitham was the first to accurately describe the various parts of the eye, to scientifically explain the process of vision, and the first to use the camera obscura-today these accomplishments are attributed to Kepler and Da Vinci. And Jabir Ibn Haiyan discovered mineral and other acids, and also perfected the scientific techniques of crystallization, distillation, calcinations, sublimation and evaporation. There is plenty more to expound regarding the discoveries of Muslim scientists of the past, but for the sake of brevity I will stop here.

On the other hand, no educated person in any part of the world, I’m sure, can avoid learning about Socrates, Aristotle, Plato, Archimedes, etc. Granted, the Greeks were vital in laying the foundations for modern knowledge. But to ignore the role of the Muslims is to leave a huge, gaping chasm in history books.

In The Road to Mecca, Mohammed Asad writes: "Ever since Greek and Roman times, European thinkers and historians have been prone to contemplate the history of the world from the standpoint and in terms of European history and Western cultural experiences alone."

Asad continues, "Naturally, such a narrowed angle of vision is bound to produce a distorted perspective. Accustomed as he is to writings which depict the culture or discuss the problems of his own civilization in great detail and in vivid colors, with little more than side glances here and there at the rest of the world, the average European or American easily succumbs to the illusion that the cultural experiences of the West are not merely superior but out of all proportion to those of the rest of the world; and thus, that the Western way of life is the only valid norm by which other ways of life could be adjudged-implying, of course, that every intellectual concept, social institution or ethical valuation that disagrees with the Western ‘norm’ belongs es ipso to a lower grade of existence."

Well, the Western world has its reasons, however unfounded they may be. But what about the Muslim world? What’s our excuse? In all my years of schooling in Pakistan, I learned far more about Newton, Darwin, and Aristotle, than I did about Ibn al-Haitham or Omar Khayyam. Is this another remnant of colonialist tyranny? It wasn’t enough that they plundered and exploited. Their ghosts linger on, dominating our educational systems. How to break away from this invisible autocracy?

In Personalities Noble, Dr. M. A. Kazi writes, "The injunctions of the Qur’an and the teachings of the Holy Prophet (PBUH) laid great stress on the acquisition of knowledge and developing the spirit of enquiry. The Muslims strictly followed these precepts and spared no pains to acquire, preserve and spread knowledge..... But unfortunately, the achievements of these luminaries have faded into oblivion due to our indifference and apathy."

Apart from Muslim contributions to science, math, and other fields, I also learned very little about modern Islamic history. My knowledge of Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, Turkey before the Ottomans, the origins of the wahabis, or Libyan history, for example, is only hazy. While Pakistani schools focus single-mindedly on Pakistani history, even drawing-room discussions on world history are limited to local or western politics. But the history of the Muslim world as a whole is still largely arcane.

Yet, we were told ad nauseum that as Muslims, we must be proud of our past. After which mantra, more particulars about the world wars, Winston Churchill, and Napoleon and Abraham Lincoln, were shoved down our throats. We are proud. But obviously not proud enough. I think the test will be when pride manifests itself as emulation. And we can only begin to emulate our predecessors when we truly know and understand the hugeness of their accomplishments.