My student told me
The primary educational stage that I passed through during my childhood, specifically elementary and secondary school, shaped an abstract knowledge about my identity as an Arab Palestinian through the history of Arabic culture and science introduced in the curriculum. This knowledge could not be grasped not because it was introduced to me in a language that I could not understand, it was in my mother tongue, Arabic though, but I could not understand the fact that how this knowledge was produced by genius Arab and Muslim scientists in different fields who lived in the Middle East long centuries ago. Therefore, looking at this history, it is found to be mainly Islamic-dominated as it came into being within the Middle Eastern frontiers, which is the area that witnessed the birth of Islam in the Arab Peninsula, precisely where our prophet Mohammed (PBUH) set out on his journey of calling for Islamic message to be spread out not only in the place of birth but also wherever possible in this world. Later, in the following era, some Muslim scientists showed up mostly around Mesopotamia, delineating the pillars of science as they produced a unique scientific constellation, proved through their theories. That educational phase showed me this scientific constellation of Arab-Muslim, including Persian scientists who generated unique science and theories in medicine, chemistry, physics, optics, space, math, gravity, etc. So, the accomplishments of those prolific scientists centuries ago became part of our identity, indicating the illuminating era of Arab Muslim scientific achievements that characterized a specific period called the Islamic Golden Age that traditionally dates back from the 8th to the 14th century. They left us as a legacy to cherish and build on.
I remember in history materials at the school, as mentioned earlier, texts written about those scientists, what they came up with, and how narrating their biographies, but without indicating any fact that their accomplishments have been developed later on by their ancestors within the frontiers were those genius scientists lived or outside. Therefore, it turned out to be a mere task of informing ourselves about those scientists without tangible evidence that we have tirelessly worked on developing this legacy to cope with the modern scientific movement. Indeed, the following epoch until the Industrial Revolution in Europe in the 18th century and during the contemporary epoch, later on, Arabs had not significantly contributed to developing science to almost nothing worth cherishing or even mentioning. Since then, the science development has been characterizing the Western scientific scene. In Europe, for instance, people had managed to overthrow the church’s hegemony that had controlled the wheel of socio-cultural development during the medieval and then set off on the journey of developing science after the European mind had been liberated from the church’s control.
Therefore, as instructed, modern science was developed in the West and is still being developed there to the degree humankind conceives science as European American or Canadian, ignoring the fact that Arab Muslim scientists and scholars have also accomplished this modern science. They had to leave their homelands, seeking better opportunities to invest in their scientific capabilities and develop the scientific movement in the West, where they found a suitable sanctuary. It might not be easy to spread the belief that European science was originally European. It might not be easy to convince the general public that the sophisticated scientific infrastructure in Europe, for instance, is diverse, consisting of scientists from different nations who have contributed to developing it, or it might be unbelievable to explain to people in Europe that Arab or Muslim scientists have made their part in this scientific modernity.
Of course, it might not be possible as long as the growth of this science is taking place within the Western frontiers or if it extends out of these frontiers, it is still Western branded, not Arab or Muslim whose groups turned out to be consumers of this modern science. I do not want to dig deeper into how this modern science came into being after it had passed through long processes of circulating premises until it came out in its modern shape. But I want to highlight the fact that why Arabs or Muslims have not been contributing to science since the ascendance of the first cohort of Middle Eastern Muslim scientists during the Golden Age long centuries ago. Why have they not built on the theories or the premises they shaped to generate new science that copes with modernity?
Such inquiries did not come over my head the first time I learned about those scientists in the curriculum or inquired about the reason why we are being instructed about the fact that science is Western while being encountered by the fact that Arabs and Muslims indeed created science. I do remember at school a patriotic teacher who began the class not teaching English but showing us how Arab nations are at the lowest rank after they had a chance to staunchly prosper and build on what our genius scientist predecessors of the ancient times left to us, and then he reprimanded all of us including himself saying “we are a backward nation, when would we achieve something to make the other modern nations proud of us?! Our science is in our hands, so why can we not develop anything? Because we are a backward and ignorant nation, we gave in to its ignorance and backwardness and did not want to develop and do anything! When will we make a new Renaissance?” The same is true with the other history teacher who used to start the class by making such comments. At the time, I did not understand what was happening until I realized what those teachers were talking about. Their provocative statements are still inscribed in my mind even though they were said to me more than 16 years ago. I am, therefore, quite aware of this reality as an Arab and Muslim.
In the last Arabic class, my student from the UK told me in Arabic, “Muslims have not been contributing to science because they believe that modern science is secular, so they avoid getting involved. The other reason is that colonization prevented Muslims from pursuing higher education and developing science.”
I answered in Arabic, saying the first claim was complete nonsense! I cannot believe that there are still Muslims who think so; it is a mere pretext that some people pretend that secularism does not fit into Islamic values or that Western scientists created it violates their beliefs. That is an unacceptable argument if it is indeed still believable and an indicator of why Muslims have not been contributing to modern science. For the second claim, I said, yes, there is conclusive evidence that colonizers destroyed the educational infrastructure of the colonized, and so the occupiers did so to the occupied. I, however, claimed that it should not be a reason to pretend that Muslims or Arabs have not been contributing to modernity, specifically in the 21st because of colonization or occupation at all!
Why? In the current era, the physical presence of colonization has vanished; Arabs have lots of capabilities to develop science; France or the UK will not come to them asking for shutting down their universities or labs, etc., and command them, “You Arabs do not contribute to science! It is our business.” Not at all! There are many Arabs and Muslims developing science in the West who can freely do whatever is possible for that purpose in their homelands, too.
That opinion stirred up my feelings in a way that I felt that Arabs have not immensely been doing things for science, so they are just consumers. In the office where I am doing my internship, there are many shelves on which lots of books whose titles are published under mostly Western names. I did not find any books or publications written by Arab or Muslim authors, but later on, I found very few as the center cooperates with Arabic universities. That reflects that Arabs do not enrich the scientific platforms with their creativity.
This is probably the reason why people across Western societies do not believe that Arabs have magnificent contributions to science, even though many intelligent Arab scholars and researchers are contributing to science in their homelands or the West. I can see that people will not spend time searching whether Arab scientists are doing great jobs for modern science in the 21st century. They want to see tangible things on the ground: discoveries, innovations, inspiring projects, and so on, so that they can judge differently and change the anachronistic thoughts towards Arabs or Muslims. Otherwise, if Arabs, either scientists or policy-makers, do not unify their efforts for developing science and enriching libraries in all sorts of scientific fields, that dark image will keep branding us as consuming, unproductive nations.
