How did the Arab influence on science disappear from our history books?

“Baghdad in the ninth century was similar to Athens in the fourth and fifth centuries B.C. and later Rome. It was a place where literature and power met,” says Debeuff. But when we think about the development of science, Baghdad is not the city that immediately comes to mind. Dubiov thinks this is unfair. “You could say that Baghdad was a precursor to the Renaissance. In the ninth century, the city was the most important translation center in the world, where algebra was invented.”

But it didn’t stop there. Debov continues: “Not only were the classical texts translated, but scholars in Baghdad transferred this knowledge to a higher level. For the first time, Aristotle’s logic and scientific thinking were in contact with monotheism, making the city an important place, which contributed to the modern knowledge that We still use it a lot to this day.”

great importance

The fact that the Iraqi capital had a great influence on the European Renaissance was not known to Debeouf for a long time. “It only became apparent to me when I went to live in Cairo and began delving into the history of the Arab world. I found it surprising that I knew so little about this part of history, which was so important to Europe.”

So Debeouf decided to investigate why Baghdad’s influence was so weak in our history books. He soon discovered that it wasn’t always this way. “Until the seventeenth century, the role of Baghdad was not known at all, but that changed in the eighteenth century. In Germany, people believed that science and philosophy should be Christian. This idea gradually spread throughout Europe, so the influence of the Arab-Muslim world He writes slowly from our books.”

Christian thing

It’s a process that, according to Debeouf, is still in progress. “This is no longer consciously happening and people sometimes try to correct it, but all the knowledge has been written from the story. Our view of science has been determined historically and ideologically for us by the idea that science is a Christian thing.”