How the Arab influence on science faded from our history books

“The 9th century Baghdad was comparable to Athens in the 4th and 5th centuries BC. But when you think of the development of science, Baghdad is not the city that immediately comes to mind. Debeuf finds that unfair.” One could. say that Baghdad was a forerunner of the Renaissance. In the 9th century, the city was the most important translation center in the world, where algebra was invented. “

But it didn’t stop there. Debeuf continues: “Not only have the classical texts been translated, but the scientists in Baghdad have also taken this knowledge to the next level. For the first time, Aristotle’s logic and scientific thought came into contact with monotheism. This makes the city an important place, which has contributed to the modern knowledge that we still often use to this day. “

Great importance

The fact that the Iraqi capital had a major influence on the European Renaissance was also long unknown to Debeuf. “It only occurred to me when I moved to Cairo and began to delve into the history of the Arab world. I found it surprising to know so little about this piece of history, which has been of great importance to Europe. “

This is how Debeuf decided to investigate why Baghdad’s influence is so underexposed in our history books. He soon discovered that it hadn’t always been so. “Until the 17th century, Baghdad’s role was not that unknown at all, but that changed in the 18th century. In Germany, people thought that science and philosophy had to be something Christian. ‘is gradually spreading throughout Europe and therefore the influence of the Arab-Muslim world is slowly fading from our books. “

something christian

It is a process which, according to Debeuf, is still ongoing. “It no longer happens consciously and people sometimes try to correct it, but all knowledge has been removed from history. Our view of science is historically and ideologically determined for us by the idea that science is something. Christian.”