The Arabic language played a major role in the making of the modern world. In fact, the European Renaissance and Geographical discoveries occurred due to the scientific base set up by the Arab and Persian Muslims during the 9th century C.E. to 15th century C.E.
Arabic terms were introduced to the scientific and cultural world after the occupation of Spain by the Arabs in the 8th century C.E. Many Arabic terms are still in use in many non-Arabic speaking countries of the world like India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Malaysia, etc. There are around 5000 Arabic words in the Malayalam language as referred to by Dr. C.K Kareem, one of the famous historians of Kerala. Wherever Arabs went for the purpose of trade and commerce they introduced the Arabic language, and the terms connected with trade were commonly used by the natives who undertook the works entrusted by the Arabs. Gradually those terms became part and parcel of the Malayalam language.
Some of the words commonly used are ‘hajar’ ‘coffee’ ‘ameen’ ‘baki’ ‘chakkath’ and many more. Prof. Erumli Paramerswara Pillai, in his Literary History of Malayalam Language also points out the same thing.
In the English dictionary we can see the origin of English words shown in abbreviation ‘L’ for Latin ‘Fr.’ For French ‘Ar.’ for Arabic. Everyone knows the terms like chemistry, algebra, trigonometry, and alchemy are derived from Arabic roots. Some technical words originated from the names of the scientists who invented the area of knowledge. Few new dictionaries give wrong information by showing the Latin word, actually derived from the Arabic word.
The Arabic language is the mother tongue of fifty crores of people in the world and the official language is 22 countries. Arabic calligraphy is very beautiful, and there are four different types – Kufi, Diwani, Revitari and Sulus.
STANDARD ARABIC
There is no fault in assigning the Arabic language the title of ‘the mother of languages’. History also supports this view. Not only in its tradition but in contribution to world culture and development Arabic played a major role, and from the 8th century to the 17th century C.E. it enjoyed undisputed supremacy over world affairs. Arabic was the official language in the regions of Arab rule, including Spain. Unlike other languages, the Morphology and Syntax of written Arabic are the same in all Arab countries.
In A dictionary of modern written Arabic Hans Wehr opines: “Arabic provides a medium of communication over the vast geographical area whose numerous and widely diverse local dialects it transcends. Indeed, it gives the Arab people of many countries a sense of identity and an awareness of their common cultural heritage.”
The Arabic language played a major role in the history of world civilization. Greek, Latin, Persian, Chinese, Sanskrit and Pali languages, in which cultural output had come to the ancient world, influenced the people only for a short time. On the contrary, the Arabic language not only dominated the world for nearly thousand years from C.E. 632 onwards but it is the root cause for modern civilization displayed in European languages through Latin translations of Arabic books.
First of all, the Holy Qur’ān was revealed in the purest and noblest form of the Arabic language. Unlike the structure of other languages, the Arabic language of the Holy Qur’ān is perfect, as it has come down to us from Almighty Allah, the Custodian of language.
ARABIC LANGUAGE AS LINGUA FRANCA
From the 7th century to the 16th century the Arabic language was the international language of the cultural and civilized world. It played a major role in shaping the cultural standard of human beings through the knowledge it carried along. Knowledge in Greek texts had certain limitations. It is true that ancient Greek texts provide basic information regarding certain branches of knowledge, which, was later developed by Arabs who added their own contributions. It was the Arabs who introduced Greek texts to the world through Arabic translations, even though Christians of the early periods rejected the knowledge as ‘pagan’ or ‘heathen’. Greek knowledge which came into existence in the B.C. era was unknown to the European Christians till they were introduced to them by the Arabs in the 8th century C.E. Moreover, the majority of the knowledge transmitted to the modern world is the original contribution of Arabs through researches.
Henri Sterlin in his The Cultural History of the Arabs writes: “By the twelfth century one could count 300 Arabic works translated into Latin for the benefit of Western scientists of the day. For Arab scientists had furthered the researches of the Greeks and Romans, deepening their methodology and experimental techniques. In the fields of astronomy, physics, mathematics, chemistry, the natural sciences and medicine, the Arab scientists share. They were the creators of Algebraic calculus, of Sine and Cosine tables.” (p.55)
Howard R Turner (Science in Medieval Islam), George E Kirk (A Short History of the Middle East), H. G. Wells (Outline of World History) and many more appraise the achievements of Arabs in the field of knowledge and wisdom. Academies were established by Muslim rulers for translation works. They were known as ‘Bat-al-Hikmah’ (House of Wisdom).
Some of the Arabic scientific books which influenced the world of knowledge are:
1. Kitab-al- Jabr wal Muqabal (the book of restitution and comparison) by Al- Khawarismi
2. Frastun or Qarastun by Abu Jafar Muhammad (the third brother of Al- Khawarismi)
3. Kitab-al- Akham (book on astrological judgements) by Naubakht (PERSIAN)
4. Rasm-al- Mamurmin-al- Bilad (the description of the inhabited lands) by Muhammad ibnu Musa Al- Khawarismi
5. Suwar-al-Aqalim (figures of climates) by Abu Ishaq-al Istakhri
6. Masalik-al-Masalik, by Al-Istakhri
7. Mujam-al-Buldan (dictionary of countries) by Al-Yaquth (history)
8. Kitab-al-Masalik wal-Mamaluk (891-92) byAhmad Ibn Abi Yaqub
9. Kitab-al Masalilk wal Mamalik by Ibn Khurdhadbih (geography)
10. Nuzhat-al-Mushtaq fi Ikhtiraq al-Afaq or Mushtaq fi Iqtiraq al Afaq or Kitab al- Rajum by
Al-Idrisi
11. Kitab Bast al Ard fil – Tul wal Ard (Kitab al Jughrafiyah) by Ali Ibn Musa
12. Kitab-al-Qanun by Ibn Sina
13. Kitab al Manazir by Ibn al Haitham
14. Kitab al Tasrif by al Zahrawi
15. Al Urjuzah-fil-Tib by Ibn Sina
16. Qawanin or ‘The Laws’ by Ibn Sina
17. Hudud-al-Tibb (limitations of medical science) by Ibn Sina
18. Rasail-al-Misrriyyah by Abul Salt Ummayyah
19. Kitab-al- Nuzat-al-Tibbiyyah (main principles of medicine) Abul Ala Zuhr
20. Kitab al Iqtisasad fi Islah al-Anfus wal- Ajsad by Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar)
21. Kitab al Taisir fil Mudawat wal Tadhir (book of simplification concerning therapeutics and treatment) Ibn Zuhr
22. Kitab al Aghdhiyyah (book of food stuffs)
23. Kitab al Mukhtar min al Aghdiyyah by Ibn al Nafis
24. Kitab al Mujiz al Qanun (commentary on Qanun) by Ibn al Nafis
25. Kitab al Jami fil Adwiyyah al Mufrah (book on drugs) by Ibn al Bastar
26. Al-Rahilat al Mashriqiyyah (book on drugs) by Ibn al Rumiyyah
27. Kitab al Falahab (agriculture) Awwam al Ashbili
28. Jami-faraid al Mahlah fi Jawami Fawaid al Falahab (agriculture) by Shaik Radial- Dinal Qarshi
29. Kitab al Buldan (geography) by al- Yaquti
30. Kitab al Jami li Sifat Ashtat al Nabat by Al- Idrisi
31. Kashif al Rumy fi Sharsh al Aquaquir wal Ashab (botony) by Al- Jazairi
32. Kitab fi- Marat al Ziyarat (geography) by Al-Harawi
33. Il-Ital (Comprehensive work) by Al- Razi (Rhazes)
34. al-Turif liman ajaz an-il-talif (an aid to him who lacks the capacity to read by books) – Medical Encyclopedia- by Al-Zahrawi
35. Kitab-al- Manzir- by Al-Haitham (Medical)
36. Majam Buldan by Hamani (geography)
37. A-budat, Al Mahariyyat fi –Zabt-i- Uloom-il-Bahriyyah (geography) by Sulaiman Al- Mahni.
Hayat-al- Haywan-Al-Damiri (1405 C.E) (Animal life)
It was Muslims who founded analytical geometry as well as plane and spherical trigonometry. Al-Baruni ascertained the specific gravity of a number of substances. Two Arab scientists, Hamid and Ali ibnu Isa were compared to Galen and Ptolemy. Arab scientists were considered makers of good instruments. Ibn al Baitar’s work consisting of the description of 1400 plants has been considered by Meyer to be a monument of industry. Ibn Yunus made use of pendulum for the measurement of time. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) used air thermometer to find out air temperature.
Ibn Ishaq, popularly known as al-Kindi wrote 270 works, including mathematics. The writings of al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi were the main channel through which the numerical system became known to the West.
INFLUENCE ON THE WESTERN WORLD
Almost all scientific knowledge came to the world from the writings of the Arab scientists of Spain and Bagdad. M. Saud in his Islam and Evolution of Science points out: ‘The investigation were carried out, and until the end of the fifth century A.H. investigations were carried out, and until end of the fifth century A.H. / the 11th Century C.E. nearly all the original and creative works were done by Muslims, and even the non-Muslims wrote all the works of mathematics in Arabic.
In the 12th century the Christians and Jews started the work of translations from Arabic into Latin and Hebrew. And also began to conduct research in this field. But until the end of the 13th century no mathematical work comparable to that of Muslims could be done by the Christians or Jews. Not only mathematical books but all branches of knowledge available today are from Latin translation of original Arabic texts.
According to De Lacy O’ Leary, “The Greek material received by the Arabs was not simply passed on by them to others who came after. It had a very real life and alert in its Arabic surroundings. The Arabs not only extended what they had received from the Greeks but checked and corrected older records…” (Cited in Muslim Contributions to Science, P.5 Adam Publications, 2005).
George Sarton in his Introduction to the History of Science reveals the excellence of Arab scientists in the world of scientific knowledge. It was Leonardo of Pisa after studying the Arabic system of numerals introduced new mathematical system in Europe. Ibn Sina surpassed both Aristotle and Galen in dialectical subtlety, and his way of reasoning appealed to the scholastics of Middle Ages, opines M. Saud.
Archbishop Raymond set up early in the 12th century a college for the translation of Arabic philosophy and science, which flourished for 150 years and attracted scholars from all parts of Europe, including Britain. The following century, the 13th, was the great period of translations from Arabic into Latin. It was encouraged notably by Alfonso the wise of Castile, who had two Jews translate an Arabic record of planetary movements which was still authoritative enough to be consulted by Galileo and Kepler in the 17th century. It was through such translations that in the following centuries the cream of Arabic scholarship, the legacy of their Greek and Oriental Muslim contributors, was passed onto the rising universities of the West. (A Short History of the Middle East, p.40, Surjeet Publications, Delhi, 2005).
Kitab al Qanun (by Ibn Sina) was translated into many languages including Hebru in 1270. It is known as Canon in the West. Kitab al Manazr (book of optics) was translated into Latin under the title ‘Opticae Thesaurus Alhazani’. George Sarton points out that ‘this book exerted great influence on European Scientists’. Kitab al Tasrif is an encyclopaedic work comprising medicine and surgery. Gerard of Cremona (12th century) translated this book into Arabic. From 12th century to 15th century direct translations of Arabic scientific books were used in the universities of Europe, including Oxford and Cambridge. But, later, when Europeans conducted researches based on Arab writings only European names came into existence, avoiding the names of the original Arab scientists.
Dr. Arnold Campbell (Arabian Medicine) states that Western scholars like Roger Bacon (1214-49) gained the knowledge of medicine and surgery from the book of al Zahrani and Ibn Rushd. Dr. Robert Braffault is of opinion that science arose in Europe as a result of new spirit of enquiry, of new methods of investigation, of the method of experiment observation, measurement, of the development of mathematics in a form unknown to Greeks, and that spirit and those methods were introduced into the European world by the Arabs (The Making of Humanity). Ibn Sina wrote 200 major books and the most famous is Al-Qanun fil Tibb. The final part of this book is Materia Medica. He also wrote many Persian books, one of them is Dunish Nama- e-Alai.
The term ‘Algorithm’ came from the name Al Khawarismi, a distinguished mathematician, astronomer and geographer of the 9th century C.E. Even Arabic names of famous Arab Muslim scientists are known by names which have Western accent. Ibn Sina as Avicenna, Al-Fadle Ibn Hakim al Nairizi (Anaritiys), al-Kindi (Al-Kindus), Al-Batani (Albetinius) , al-Zahrawi (Albucasis), Al-Razi (Razhes), Ibnu Rushd (Averroes) Al- Haitham (Alhazen), Al-Qabisi (Alcabitius), Al Zuhr (Avenzoor), etc.
Regarding the Muslim contribution to literature, George E Kirk writes: “This material prosperity has become legendary through the popularity of Arabian nights…. Of the immense cultural superiority of the Muslim East to Western Europe at this time there can be absolute no question” (Ibid, p.28). Many classical books were translated into Arabic languages like Kaleela wa Dimna (Panchatanta stories).
M. Saud rightly points out, “Ibn Sina was called the ‘Prince of Physicians’ and Shaikh al Rais (the great Teacher). Roger Bacon, John T Chaning and other scholars remarked that al- Zuharawi’s work helped in laying the foundation of surgery in Europe. For centuries the Western scholars made references to this work on their books. It has influenced Muslim scholars also, and it is still being referred to and taught at the centres of Arabian Medicine in the East.’
(to be concluded)