Re-writing the History of Science in the Islamic Civilization****
Report of George Saliba’s visit to Lahore, November 2007
Dr Muhammad Sabieh Anwar
**Prof. George Saliba is a Professor of Arabic and Islamic Science at Columbia University, New York. **He is one of the leading historians of science and is credited with the presentation of a logically consistent and historically coherent appraisal of the origins, flowering and eventual decline of the scientific tradition in the Islamic civilization. His most recent publication on this thesis is the book “Islamic Science and the Making of the European Renaissance” published by the MIT Press earlier this year (2007). Dr. Saliba’s viewpoint challenges the classical perspective described in most textbooks and popular accounts of the history of science. It will be useful to first recount how the **“classical narrative” **reads.
The classical narrative reflects apathy to the cultural, ideological and religious context of the Islamic civilization that historically accommodated a formidable scientific enterprise. The narrative aims at creating a phantasmagoria that even though scientists that were a part of the Islamic civilization transcended in major fields of scientific inquiry, their role remained, at best, one of an intelligent postman. They took the classic Greek sources and engaged in a massive translation and commentary movement, mostly under the patronage of the Abbasid Caliph Mamun-ur Rashid in his bait-ul-hikmah (House of Wisdom). As a result, Muslims inherited Greek logic and Greek sciences and employed these newly learnt skills in producing an impressive repertoire of scientific knowledge, but only adding to and complementing Greek sciences. After this re-enactment and re-packaging, the end product was bequeathed to the West at the time of the so-called first Renaissance, around the 12th century. Muslim science then became irrelevant. It is this classical narrative Dr. Saliba critiques.
In** early November, the Khwarizmic Science Society (KSS), Pakistan’s most active popular-science organization, invited Dr. Saliba for a visit to Pakistan, thanks to a generous sponsorship by Engro Chemical Pakistan**. Planning for Dr. Saliba’s visit started as early as 2006. From the initial communication to the conclusion of his visit in** Lahore on November 5**,2007… a substantive organizational and intellectual exercise was in place. Headed by the President of the Society, Dr. Saadat Anwar Siddiqi, Professor of Solid State Physics at the Punjab University and Dr. Sabieh Anwar, Joint Secretary of the KSS, a team of dedicated students and teachers took up the task of organizing a public symposium and laying out the schedule of Prof. Saliba’s visit. This tested the meager resources of the KSS, but thanks and praise to Allah, the Society could be proud of its achievement.
When the KSS announced Dr. Saliba’s coming to Pakistan and the organization of the public symposium, it started receiving discouraging responses from critics inside the country. It was soon realized how emotionally charged individuals can become when it comes to a joint mentioning of religion, in our case, “Islam”, with “science”–especially embodied in Dr. Saliba’s usage of terms like “Islamic science”. The names and titles of the presentations by our worthy speakers were announced and individuals came up with responses like:
Some of the Muslims may derive motivation to seek knowledge by listening to the accounts of their ancestors’ works. But then that’s only a political gimmick, nothing more than a bait.
And also,
The good thing about such is that you can get plenty of speakers who will be experts in this philosophical debate, but no real men or women of science.
And many more like these.
All of this criticism completely ignored the Society’s motivation in organizing this whole affair. The motivation was to unravel certain aspects of the debate in the history of science, paying special attention to the unique cultural, social, political and economic contexts of science in the Islamic civilization –
a civilization that at least we claim to be a part of. There is little doubt that these debates are of extremely relevant interest to the modern practitioners and historians of science, especially when we live as knowledge-starved nations. A historical account of the relationship between religion, culture and science will help us understand our scientifically impoverished present and whether we would like to continue living as a scientifically dependent civilization in the years to come.
Furthermore, many of these debates have always remained confined to specialist circles. In keeping with the objectives and the major strengths of the Khwarizmic Science Society, there was the growing need to teleport these ideas and discussions to the level of the public and to students, be they students of science, history, philosophy, religion, social sciences or the languages and literary arts. It is this role the KSS has effectively played.
See the complete report..pictures at **Government College…LUMS..and Jamia Ashfria..and Wazir Khan Mosque..Kashmiri Bazar.. Lahore..**here…