Islamic Acquisition of the Foreign Sciences

Abstract

The study of the transmission and transformation of ancient science ismore than a study of which texts were translated, when, and by whom. It wasa complex process, better seen as beginning rather than ending with the translationof relevant books, for the heart of the process is the assimilation ratherthan the simple reception of the material. Scientific ideas move because peoplestudy books, compute with tables, and use instruments, not simply becausethey translate books, transcribe tables, or buy pretty artifacts. It sufficesto recall that the scholars of the Byzantine Empire, despite their status as thedirect heirs of the classical Greek scientific tradition and their direct accessto whatever classical Greek manuscripts the Islamic world eventually cameto possess-indeed to more of them and from an earlier date-were largelyuninterested in this knowleldge. Hence no account of the transmission of scientificknowledge can be complete if it does not recognize that it is, at root,an account of the activities of what Dupree has called "homo sapiens in asocial context."Two CaveatsAt the outset of this paper, two points mu5t be taken into consideration.First, although we may wish to study the whole process of the Islamic acquisitionof the foreign sciences as it took place over several centuries and overan area extending from Spain to Afghanistan, it must be realized that theexamples given refer to specific events that took place at specific times andin specific places. As a result, eminent Islamic thinkers and writers are quotedwithout any accompanying claim that each one is representative of all Islamicthinkers at all times and in all places. It is sufficient that when a person suchwithout any accompanying claim that each one is representative of all Islamic ...