By: Salah Al-Shahawi

Despite the lack of recognition by most Western historians of the favor of Arab Islamic civilization on the modern European Renaissance, those who were characterized by justice and fairness among them testify to the influence of this Islamic civilization on the West and directing it in the correct direction, and even awakening it from its deep sleep, and supporting it with the givens and vocabulary of this believing human civilization, based on the balance between the longings of the soul and the demands of the body, without one side being unfair to the other, and no one denies these influences except those who deny sunlight in the middle of the day. The Arabs and Muslims carried the lights of Islam to the world and raised the banner of civilization, science and knowledge for nearly eight centuries between Andalusia in the west and the land of Sindh in the east and left for human knowledge a heritage that no nation left before or after them and there is no dispute that we are in need today to revive the Islamic Arab heritage in science, literature, art, poetry and all walks of life. Western writings that dealt with this period of the history of science have increased; you rarely find any science of the sciences of Arab Islamic civilization that has not been dealt with. There are Western writings on the sciences of Arabs and Muslims in medicine, chemistry, physics, mathematics, astronomy, philosophy, logic, theology, religious sciences, language, jurisprudence, hadith, readings, history, geography, sociology, martial arts, agriculture and travels. And other things. Science historian George Sarton says in his book The Middle East in the Works of Americans: “.. The Arabs and Muslims can return to their past greatness, and to the political and scientific leadership of the world, as they were before, if they returned to understanding the truth of life in Islam and the sciences that Islam urged to take up.” German orientalist and scientific historian Joseph Schacht says in his book Legacy of Islam: “The number of topics that must be included in the calculation of Islam's contributions within human achievements is theoretically an almost unlimited number.”

Fair testimonies in Arab medical science

English historian and writer Hubert Bird says: “A thousand years or more a, the Arabs were messengers of guidance and recognition, and leaders of people in scientific research, and especially in the science of medicine, and they were the only nation that knew the virtue of hospitals and devoted themselves to building their edifices in the world of that era. Hospitals in the true sense, were centers for science and technical research, managed by specialists and attended by proficient students.” Gustave Le Bon says in his book The Civilization of the Arabs: “The most important progress of the Arabs in the world of medicine is what was in the types of medicine and pharmacy, and the appearance of several methods to some of which modern medicine returns after neglecting them for many centuries, such as using cold water in treating typhoid fever. Global medicine is indebted to the Arabs for many drugs such as cassia, senna, rhubarb, tamarind, nux vomica, crimson, camphor, alcohol and so on. It is indebted to them for the art of pharmacy and many preparations that are still used such as syrups, electuaries, plasters, ointments, liniments, distilled waters, etc... Medicine is also indebted to them for novel ways in treatment that medicine returned to as modern discoveries after they were fortten for a long time, including plants absorbing some medicines as Ibn Zuhr did who used to treat patients suffering from constipation by feeding them grapes that had absorbed some laxatives.” Regarding the book Al-Hawi (a comprehensive medical encyclopedia in which Al-Razi collected all Arab, Greek and Indian medical knowledge present in his era, and added many of his experiences and discoveries and wrote it in a distinct way that made the book the most important medical reference in the world until the beginning of the eighteenth century) and the book of medicine for Al-Razi (Abu Bakr Muhammad bin Zakariya Al-Razi, the greatest of Arab and Muslim physicians, he is the professor of medical sciences whose works both the Arab and European worlds continued to study until the beginning of the eighteenth century, and he is also the great philosopher and brilliant chemist who developed the science of chemistry after Jabir ibn Hayyan founded it and reached with it the horizons of modern chemistry and added to it the experimental practical dimension). German orientalist Sigrid Hunke says: “The library of the Faculty of Medicine in Paris five hundred years a did not contain books other than it, and that the King of France Louis XI (1423-1483 AD) paid a huge amount of ld and silver in exchange for borrowing it so his doctors could copy a copy of it to refer to in his treatment and the treatment of members of the royal family. The book Al-Hawi is a miracle of its kind and was published in Europe forty times between 1498-1966 AD. In this book which did not exceed 68 pages of small size, Al-Razi distinguished completely between measles and smallpox. He was thus the first to be able to distinguish between them.” She adds: “... Al-Razi was distinguished by vast comprehensive medical knowledge that no one had ever known since the days of Galen, and he was in a constant quest for knowledge drawing from it all that can be drawn, searching for it in the pages of books and on the beds of patients and in chemical experiments, crossing horizons for its sake. He planted virtue and od morals in the souls of his students, emphasizing to them the sanctity of the medical profession, fighting - in word and deed - all types of quackery wherever it was and in whatever form it appeared. He was interested in treating the poor and gave them money after treatment, while he personally lived in unmatched modesty and simplicity.” Orientalist Gustave von Grunebaum says in his book Medieval Islam: “The major physicians of the ninth and tenth centuries, especially Al-Razi, whose writings had a massive influence on medical thinking in the West, showed great accuracy in observing symptoms and describing them.” French orientalist Leclerc said about Ibn al-Baitar (Abu Abdullah bin Ahmad al-Baitar, chief of herbalists in Egypt during the era of the Ayyubid King Al-Kamil): “He is the greatest Arab botanist and no one of the physicians of the West and East in his craft matches him. Ibn al-Baitar benefited from moving in the mountains of the Levant and was accompanied by an artist who drew the herbs for him. He traveled to the East in 1217 AD and passed through Morocco and recorded various notes about herbs and some names and included in his book what he heard and read in the compositions of simple medicines and adjusted it on the letters of the dictionary. Sultan Al-Kamil appointed him chief of herbalists and he died in Egypt in 1248 AD. His book - Comprehensive Materia Medica - is the most complete and widest of what the Arabs composed in medicine.” Leclerc translated it into French and it includes hundreds of drug recipes. American historian and writer Will Durant says in his encyclopedia (The Story of Civilization): “Muslim physicians such as Al-Razi, Ibn Sina, Ibn Rabban al-Tabari (Abu al-Hassan Ali bin Sahl Rabban al-Tabari, author of the book Paradise of Wisdom in Medicine born in 780 AD), Al-Zahrawi (Abu al-Qasim Khalaf bin Abbas al-Zahrawi, the greatest Arab surgeon died 400 AH) and Ibn Zuhr reached a degree of skill such that they were able to diagnose diseases of the throat and larynx by direct examination with the naked eye, and by putting fingers inside the mouth cavity to feel the throat, larynx and vocal cords and determine their texture and surface characteristics and the nature of movement of their parts, and by this style they were able to diagnose even some rare diseases such as cancerous tumors and paralysis of the vocal cords.”

Fair testimonies for Arab chemical science

Regarding Arab chemistry and its precedence and mastery of global chemistry, Gustave Le Bon says in his book Civilization of the Arabs: “Were it not for what the Arabs reached of results and discoveries, Lavoisier (Antoine-Laurent de Lavoisier, one of the greatest scientists of the era and often called the father of modern chemistry) would not have achieved the victory he achieved in discovering the elements of water and air.” He also described Jabir ibn Hayyan (Jabir ibn Hayyan bin Abdullah al-Azdi, described by Ibn Khaldun in his introduction while speaking about chemistry: “The leader of those who recorded it is Jabir ibn Hayyan, until they specifically attribute it to him and call it ‘the science of Jabir’”) as one of the great philosophers of science, Roger Bacon: “The science of the world, the genius of his age, founder of the science of chemistry.”

Fair testimonies in technology and mechanics

Science historian George Sarton says: “Arab technological givens reached us directly or indirectly because the old Arab engineers and craftsmen for one reason or another some of them did not care to record the results of their experiments and works, but most were transferred from one person to another and from generation to generation either by oral guidance or by imitation. Therefore, it is not always easy to determine the path these achievements took in transitioning from the Arabs. But it is certain that the historians of heritage and Arab science recognize that these achievements were not Western innovations but rather moved to Europe from the Arabs directly or indirectly.” Dr. Donald Hill, the engineer, historical author and English orientalist says: “The Islamic society was distinguished since its first beginning by building large cities such as Baghdad, Basra, Cordoba, Cairo and Kairouan, and others. The prosperity of these cities required a parallel activity in agriculture and industry and in the lands surrounding them, to ensure food, clothing and shelter for the people of these cities and provide them with a source of livelihood in the form of popular trade. The burden of achieving that fell on those we call these days engineers. I.e., those assigned to build bridges and dams for irrigation and building machines for raising water, water mills and norias.” Donald Hill regrets that the Arabs did not leave in this field - the field of engineering machines with practical application in industries and irrigation - from their achievements recorded books except three: The book of Ingenious Devices for the three sons of Musa bin Shakir, and the book - The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices - by Ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari (Badi' al-Zaman Abu al-'Izz Isma'il ibn al-Razzaz al-Jazari 1136–1206 AD) and the book - The Sublime Methods in Spiritual Machines - for Taqi al-Din al-Rasid. The reason for this is that Arab scientists considered these achievements and inventions ordinary matters not worthy of mention.

Fair testimonies in Arab astronomy

German orientalist Sigrid Hunke says in her book The Sun of Allah Shines over the West: “The term sine entered the mathematics of all peoples of the world after the translation of Al-Battani's book and he is the one who found the term cosine- and Al-Battani (Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Jabir ibn Sinan al-Battani born in 858 AD) is considered one of the most famous astronomers in Islamic history, and the history of astronomy in general. Astronomers even today still owe him much. He was the first to introduce the term sine, and those knowledgeable in trinometry realize well the importance of the achievement and see in it an innovation that contributed much to understanding trinometry. He was the first to use the tangent lines for arcs and cotangents, secants and cosecants and introduced them into the calculation of solar quarters and in measuring angles and triangles and found the relations among them and organized important tables with these relations. Al-Battani is the one who derived the basic law for extracting the area of spherical triangles and the genius of this scientist was able to solve some arithmetic operations and some theories in algebraic ways and not in geometric ways as scientists before him from Arabs and Greeks solved them such as determining angle in algebraic ways. This innovation was added to the many additions the Arabs introduced in trinometry; for to them returns the foundation of this important science and Western scientists agreed that Al-Battani was in his science of a higher status than the Greek astronomer Ptolemy.” French astronomer Joseph Jérôme de Lalande said of him: “Al-Battani is among the twenty leading astronomers who appeared in the whole world.” The famous astronomer Edmond Halley recognized the accuracy of Al-Battani's observations. History historian Cajori also recognized that in his book on the history of mathematics. Also, science historian George Sarton pointed to Al-Battani with great admiration as the greatest of Arab astronomers. Italian orientalist Carlo Alfonso Nallino recognized that Al-Battani's observations in the Sabian Tables had the greatest impact on the development of spherical trinometry in Europe. Joseph Schacht said of him in his book Legacy of Islam: “Al-Battani is considered prominent among all Arab astronomers; he set the Sabian Tables and carried out numerous observations of great accuracy to the extent that he was able to prove the occurrence of the annular solar eclipse.”

Fair testimonies in botany and agriculture

H. G. Wells says in his book (The Outline of History): “... The Arabs practiced agriculture in a scientific way, and they had new methods for irrigation, and they knew the value of fertilizers, and adapted their crops according to the type of soil. They excelled in garden cultivation, and knew how to graft plants and how to produce new types of fruits and flowers. They introduced to the West many trees and various plants they brought from the East, and wrote scientific treatises in agriculture.” British orientalist and archaeologist Stanley Lane-Poole says in his book The Moors in Spain: “... We feel the favor of the Arabs and the great traces of their glory, when we see in Spain the abandoned barren lands which were in the days of the Muslims gardens under which rivers flow, prospering with vineyards, olives and lden wheat ears, and when we remember those countries which were in the ages of the Arabs teeming with science and scientists, and when we feel the general stagnation after elevation and prosperity.” Charles Seignobos says in his book History of Civilization: “Arab princes followed the principles of watering the land by opening canals so they dug wells and rewarded with money many of those who found new springs and set terminology for distributing water among neighbors and moved to Spain the style of norias to give water and waterwheels that distribute it and that the plain of Valencia which came as if it were a single garden is of the remains of Arab work and their care for irrigation just as the Arabs used all types of agriculture they found in their kingdom and carried many plants to Sicily and Spain and raised them in Europe so they raised them well until you think they are native such as rice, watermelon, hemp, apricot, orange, capers, palms, asparagus, saffron, yellow watermelon, grapes, perfume, blue and yellow roses and jasmine and even cotton and cane.” German physiologist Otto Meyerhof says in his book Ancient Arab Heritage in the Field of Botany: "Ibn Bassal (Abu Abdullah Ibrahim al-Tulaytuli known as Ibn Bassal, one of the most famous agricultural scientists in the fifth century AH / twelfth century AD) author of the book of agriculture was knowledgeable in agriculture in science and practice because he was an expert practitioner in agriculture and brilliant in it, specialized in methods of preparing land for agriculture and distinguished in landscaping which was a major element of the product of Arab Islamic civilization in the East and West."