Since the days of my youth, I have enjoyed
looking at the stars. Most nights, you can find me outside, smoking my pipe and
looking up at the tiny points of light shimmering overhead. On a clear moonless
night away from the glowing glare of city lights, approximately three thousand
stars are visible to the unaided eye in the ink-black sky. These stars make up
the constellations used by western astronomers, which hearken back to the
ancient Greeks and Romans who through their enduring mythology, left their
imprint upon the names of the constellations used to explore and navigate the
night sky.
Two-thirds of these stars bear Arabic names
such as Vega, Betelgeuse and Rigel;[1]
all given to them by dedicated Muslim astronomers, adding their own
contribution to an ever growing body of astronomical knowledge which dates back
to the astronomers of ancient Babylon. Most people are unaware of this historical
connection with the Muslim world and the night sky; just as they are unaware of
this same connection with the Arabic numerals used to count those stars as well
as Arabic and Muslim terms and concepts such as algebra, algorithm, the decimal
point and the zero. How then did so many names of the stars as well as
important mathematical tools so crucial for modern technology and discovery
come to be?
When we examine the events of the past, we
see that nations and empires have periods of discovery and growth which sets
them apart from their contemporaries.
The scientific and artistic revolution of 15th century Europe known to
history as the Renaissance, left an
indelible mark upon humanity with the discovery and re-discovery of scientific
and humanistic truths.
This new awakening to prior knowledge
allowed for the improvement and growth of human understanding, as well as
facilitating a new beginning for Europeans in the sciences, philosophy,
architecture and art, founded upon the wisdom and knowledge of the classical
world.
However, those new discoveries of the
European renaissance owe in some measure a debt of gratitude to scholars of the
Muslim world who engaged in their own period of rapid scientific and
philosophical discovery all while preserving and expounding upon the wisdom of
the ancient Greeks.
With the rise of the Abbasid Caliphate in
the mid-8th Century, a new administrative capital for this massive
amalgam of people, places and ideas was needed. The city of Baghdad was founded
as the new centralized capital under the direction of Caliph Al-Mansur around the year 756 A.D.[2] This new city of empire was entirely
cosmopolitan in nature, with people streaming in from across the caliphate from
as far away as Spain, to the burgeoning frontiers of western India.
As a part of this new intellectual openness
came advancements in engineering, biology, medicine, mathematics and astronomy.
The result of this open exchange of
people, trade and ideas, led to immense wealth and prosperity for Baghdad,
which provided a solid financial foundation upon which the new caliphate’s
intellectual inquiry and administration expansion process could flourish and be
sustained.
The process which inspired and encouraged
the caliphate’s scholars was known as the Translation
Movement, whereby wisdom of the ancient Greeks was introduced to the
scientific and theological discourse of Islam through the translation of these
ancient works into Arabic. What made
this extraordinary process possible was due to the wise leadership of Caliph Harun al-Rashid, who desired that
the finest works of literature and learning throughout the new caliphate were
to be obtained at any cost and returned to Bagdad for translation into Arabic. The translations would require scholars of all
stripes to assist in the great task ahead, and many throughout the caliphate
willingly answered the Caliph’s call to assist in the new endeavor.
One such scholar involved in this process of
translation was Al-Kindi,[3]
who oversaw what was known at the time as a translation
circle. The translation circle
worked by using individuals such as Greek speaking Christians, most likely from
Syria, as well as Jews and other learned scholars to aid in the process of
translation. Sometimes the works such as those of Aristotle were translated directly from Greek into Arabic, but most
common to the translation process was the use of another Semitic language,
Syriac. The use of Syriac allowed for a
translation which could be more easily placed into the Arabic vernacular,
allowing for a more accurate representation of the ideas expressed in the
original Greek.
As this new scholarship grew, a centralized
location to hold this new information was established with the library in
Baghdad known as, The House of Wisdom,[4]
which was comprised of a library and a translation circle to further establish
and preserve this growing body of knowledge.
The collection of works held at this repository was so great that it
soon exceeded those of the fabled Library of Alexandria.
One indicator into how important this
translation process was to the caliphate is in how the translators were revered
and compensated for their efforts in bringing these ancient texts into the
caliphate’s growing scholarship.[5] On average, each translator was compensated
with five hundred gold dinars per month, which is the equivalent of twenty four
thousand dollars today.
The Translation Movement lasted for over two
centuries; during this time it brought existing scientific understanding and
ancient wisdom into the new caliphate, leading to significant and lasting
discoveries which have had a great influence upon our modern world. The
effects of these discoveries eventually came full circle, as these ancient
works were brought to the Spanish city of Toledo, where they were translated
from Arabic into Latin by mirroring the actions of the translation circles of
Baghdad, which eventually lead to the dissemination of these works into the
hands of scholars in Western Europe.
Unfortunately however, following two
centuries of scientific and philosophical growth in the caliphate, this process
of rich discovery born of the Translation Movement came to an end, and the
likes of which has not been repeated in the Muslim world since the twelfth
century. This does not mean that
scientific inquiry and discovery ceased at this period in the Muslim world, but
it was significantly curtailed. One of
the causes of this decline was with the scholars themselves and their departure
from these open methods of discovery and inquiry, while at the same time, political
forces in the caliphate, fueled by religious orthodoxy and dogmatism, further
stifled and eventually ended the laudable efforts of the earlier Abbasid
Caliphs.
When I consider the events of this period in
Muslim history, I am pleased that such a grand effort was undertaken to
preserve and expound upon ideas and discoveries which have made a significant
impact upon the world which we all enjoy today. However, I am also saddened
that such a process was discarded in the caliphate in favor of the comforts of
religious certainty and political absolutism. The Abbasid Caliphate was
certainly not the first to eventually stifle the intellectual processes which
enabled it to flourish scientifically and philosophically however. The Byzantines in the east and the Christian
kingdoms and empires of Western Europe spent a great deal of time and political
effort through the centuries contending against the promoters of ideas and
philosophies which countered or disturbed their own comfortable dogmas and
religious orthodoxy. This ultimately led to a chilling effect in hindering the
process of scientific discovery and intellectual inquiry born in antiquity,
which would not be given light again in Western Europe (albeit tentatively)
until the emergence of the renaissance in 15th century Florence.
If we use history as the teacher, we see
that the significance of this period in Muslim history was profound as it laid
the foundation for true scientific and philosophical discovery in the Muslim
world of this era. It also shows that
science and open intellectual inquiry carry with them transformative power and
potential for peoples and societies and as such they are not the provenance of
one culture, region, epoch or civilization alone. In this we also learn that
only through the open synthesis of information, (such as that practiced in the
Abbasid Caliphate’s Baghdad) ideas and intellectual discovery shared between
peoples can truly great things be accomplished.
So the next time you find yourself gazing
and wondering about the names of the stars overhead, or when you’re using your
favorite internet search engine which uses algorithmic equations to generate
results, give a little thought to the scholars and cosmopolitan scholarship of
those gleaming golden days of wisdom, born long ago in Baghdad.
THOSE
GLEAMING GOLDEN DAYS
By
C.
Christopher Spjut
October
24, 2013
History
431 – Islamic Middle East
[1]
Allen, Richard Hinckley. Star names: their lore and meaning. Dover ed. New
York: Dover Publications, 1963.
[2]
Bennison, Amira K.. The great caliphs: the golden age of the 'Abbasid Empire.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
[3]
Adamson, Peter. Al-Kindī. New York: Oxford University Press, 2007
[4]
Lyons, Jonathan. The house of wisdom: how the Arabs transformed Western
civilization. New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2009.
[5]
Bennison, Amira K.. The great caliphs: the golden age of the 'Abbasid Empire.
New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009
No comments:
Post a Comment