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Science in the Arab World: Vision of Glories Beyond

Article in Science · July 2005

DOI: 10.1126/science.1114330 · Source: PubMed

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 ESSAY
GLOBAL VOICES OF SCIENCE

Science in the Arab World:

Vision of Glories Beyond
Wasim Maziak

Of all its accomplishments, the West is per- changed the world: the epic intellectual clinical medi-
haps most proud of its scientific revolution, achievement of Arab-Islamic scholars since cine and mathe-
which has been unfolding for the past half- the 8th century. Flourishing libraries in cities matics (the word “algo-
millennium. Only students of history remain like Toledo and Cordoba contained thousands rithm” derives from the name Al Khwarizmi).
consistently mindful of the pivotal and cat- of books on every field of knowledge. Unlike This thirst for knowledge was soon transferred
alytic role that the Arab world the Moguls, who in the 13th cen- to other parts of the Islamic empire, and Al-
played in the early phases of this tury destroyed Baghdad and its Andalus soon competed with Baghdad as the

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revolution. Now, all of us should This yearlong libraries, thereby abruptly ending cultural hub for Arabs and Muslims.
have a vested interest in advancing essay series the golden era of the Arab-Islamic Of equal importance to the influence of
science and technology in the Arab celebrates 125 civilization, the Europeans were the Arab-Islamic scientific discoveries on the
community. Science and technol- years of Science by quick to realize the value of these European Renaissance was the reintroduc-
ogy provide the means to feed peo- inviting researchers windfalls of knowledge. tion of ancient Greece’s natural philosophy to
ple, improve their health, and cre- from around the During the Abbasid reign (750 medieval Europe by way of translations by
ate wealth. They can help to reduce world to provide to 1258), learning in Islam was Islamic scholars. The historian James Burke
societal tensions and build interna- a regional view of encouraged in every field of identifies several knowledge shocks that
tional bridges for badly needed the scientific knowledge, and scholars of every ignited the Renaissance. One was delivered
dialogue and mutual understand- enterprise. color and creed traveled to by Ibn-Sina (Avicenna, 980 to 1037), whose
ing. To usher science and technol- Series editor, Damascus and Baghdad to study Kitab Al-Shifa (“The Book of Healing”)
ogy more thoroughly into Arab Ivan Amato and work. In these tolerant times, introduced medieval Europe to the principles
culture and society, however, the Islam’s leaders encouraged learn- of logic and their use to gain knowledge, and
West needs to acknowledge the ing and the use of reason to under- placed science and religion on equal terms as
Arab world’s historical contributions, and the stand nature. The early Abbasid Caliphs— sources of knowledge and understanding of
Arab world needs to stop dwelling on its most notably Al-Mansur, Harun Al-Rachid, the universe. Another major shock was deliv-
golden past by also embracing lessons about and Al Ma’mun, who reigned from 754 to ered by Ibn-Rushd* (Averroes, 1126 to
science and technology that the West learned 833—embraced science as a state’s defining 1198), whose writings and commentaries
long ago. policy, ushering in a golden era of Arab- reintroduced to medieval Europe the
In medieval Europe, where the Christian Islamic civilization. An avid movement of Aristotelian approach to studying nature by
dogma that the world unfolded according to a translation and studying of ancient books and observation and reasoning.
divinely predetermined plan prevailed, there of advancing new knowledge ensued on an From that point on, the scientific para-
was little space for those willing and eager to unprecedented scale. Arab and Muslim schol- digm of knowledge production advanced
understand nature in order to use it for their ars scored achievements in every field of sci- relentlessly throughout Europe. At the same
own benefit. Beginning in the 11th century, ence: mathematics, astronomy, medicine, time, the Arab-Islamic civilization and its
the ailing Arab provinces in Spain (Al- optics, and philosophy. Al Razi’s (Rhazes) and contributions to science and knowledge
Andalus) were falling to European armies, Al-Khwarizmi’s seminal work in the 9th and started its long decline with Ibn-Khaldun
and with them came priceless spoils that 10th centuries laid the foundation for modern (1332 to 1395), who established in his

Wasim Maziak
Syria
Wasim Maziak is the director of the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies in Aleppo, a pioneer collabo-
rative research and research capacity–building center in the Arab world. He earned an MD in 1984
from the Aleppo School of Medicine, Syria, and in 1990 he received his Ph.D. in allergy immunology
from Kiev Medical Institute, Ukraine. He built his research experience in epidemiology and clinical
medicine at the Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine in Muenster, Germany, and the
National Heart and Lung Institute in London, UK. Much of his research career has been devoted to
the study of asthma as well as tobacco use and addiction, including the emerging public health
threat of waterpipe smoking. Most recently he initiated the Research Assistance Matching (RAM)
CREDIT: WASIM MAZIAK

program aimed at helping researchers in developing countries get specialized assistance in their
research projects. For this essay, he has synthesized his experience and observations as a working
scientist in Syria to analyze the larger context of science in the Arab world.

All essays and interactive features appearing in this series can be found at www.sciencemag.org/sciext/globalvoices/

1416 3 JUNE 2005 VOL 308 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org

Published by AAAS
 GLOBAL VOICES OF SCIENCE

“Muqaddamah” the basic Even as most poor Arab that the arrival of innovations brings with it,
tenets of modern sociology, states viewed science as a directly or indirectly, the lifestyle and socio-
being the last prominent luxury that they could not cultural values of their innovators. Wealth, it
Arab thinker of the era. afford, wealthy Arab states seems, is powerless against the culture of
Moreover, this descent was perpetrated an illusory those who create and own the technology. For
accompanied by a major adoption of science and most Arab societies today, the tides of inputs
shift in the dominant technology. Rich Arabs coming from all directions—from their con-
thought paradigms in Arab- believed that oil money plus flict-ridden present, from the unjust distribu-
Islamic contexts, from the Western technology was a tion of wealth, and from their tyrant-con-
rational and tolerant to a simple formula for industri- trolled regimes that tolerate no dissent—have
more conservative school of alization and moderniza- been confusing, relentless, and exhausting.
thinking that denounced tion. Thus, acquiring the lat- The resulting frustration has been channeled
philosophy and rationalism. est technological products outward toward the West in the form of dis-
Arab seed of science. Ibn-Rushd
This conservative, indoctri- or shares in hi-tech indus- dain and hostility, and inward in the form of
(Averroes, 1126 to 1198) helped to
nated view of the world con- open new ways of thinking by tries became synonymous an antagonistic view of the world.
tinues to be influential today attempting to overcome the con- with being partners in the In this conflicted sociological and emo-
with no real challenge to it tradictions between Aristotelian technological revolution of tional context, there has been little space in

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other than that of the philosophy and revealed religion the modern world. After all, the Arab mind to distinguish between market
reformists of the 19th and by distinguishing between two most Arabs view science as dynamics, politics, and nations, to perceive
early 20th centuries, such as separate systems of truth—a sci- a commodity that can be the valuable discourse and diversity within
Jamal Eddin Al-Afghani entific body of truths based on separated from the thought Western societies, or to appreciate the moral
and Muhammed Abduh.† reason and a religious body of processes and sociocultural values and work ethics of Western culture.
Both scholars explicitly truths based on revelation. attributes of its producers. Instead, the entirety of the West has been
opposed Western colonial- This perspective makes it gradually demonized. And by linking modern
ism, but they embraced rationalism and hard to appreciate the differences in culture Western culture to the period of the Crusades,
sought to reconcile Islamic principles with and values between technology-producing many Arab opinion-makers forged a histori-
those of modernism. and technology-consuming societies. cal basis for this vilification as an uninter-
At the same time, the “West” was doing its rupted continuation of the evils of the past
The Decline of Science in the Arab World part to solidify this schism by treating Arabs (arguably many people in the West, especially
Currently, the scientific output of Arabs is dis- as a mere market sector rife with insatiable after 9/11, have adopted a similar mind-set
proportionate to their human and economic consumers that it had to appease, but without toward Arabs and Muslims). From a psycho-
capacities. Taking biomedical research as an any commitment to developing this sector’s logical standpoint, such an attitude is under-
example, Arab countries currently produce less own science and technology capacities. This standable. As a proud people, Arabs turned to
than 1% of citations in the world and contribute view resulted in a business-type alliance with their golden past for a refuge, and as a threat-
less than 0.5% of papers appearing in the 200 contractual commerce, but no real dialogue ened culture, they turned to their native
leading medical journals.‡ Annual spending on beyond that. For a while, this state of affairs thought system (Islam) for answers. More
research and development in Arab countries is seemed to suit both sides, but the rapidly than that, however, this reaction has pro-
estimated at 0.15% of their gross domestic advancing information-communication tech- ceeded to the point where the past has become
product (GDP), compared to a world average nology disrupted the quietude. But
of 1.4%.§ Lack of funding, poor institutional who among us could have foreseen the
support, and meager integration within the profound impact of these technologi-
international scientific community are among cal developments on nearly all aspects
the many reasons that analysts have cited to of life of nearly every society a decade
explain the current status of science in Arab or two ago?
states. More general factors, such as wars, con- Perhaps more than anyone, those in
flicts, and international political and economic traditional Islamic societies felt the
sanctions, also have been implicated. shock: The proliferation and expan-
These undoubtedly are important factors, sion of information technologies
but they do not include the more fundamental brought a ruthless invasion of Western
roots of science’s current situation in the Arab culture into virtually every sphere of
world. For example, countries enjoying rela- life. With satellite TV, the Internet, and
tively long periods of stability and affluence electronic communication, Western
(most of the Gulf States) do not fare better in lifestyles, fashion, behavior, and val-
CREDITS: © ARCHIVO ICONOGRAFICO, S.A./CORBIS

terms of biomedical research, especially when ues infiltrated Arab homes with no
the large number of foreign scientists working real way to keep this influx in check. I
there is taken into consideration. On the other suspect that this unsolicited invasion
hand, countries like Lebanon and Jordan, of Western culture and values has been Renaissance maker. In this manuscript illumination, the
which suffered from long internal strife and felt more directly by Arabs today than Arab scientist and philosopher Ibn-Sina (Avicenna, 980 to
poverty, fare better than other Arab states when by their grandfathers in the 19th 1037) converses with others in a pharmacy. His “Al Qanun
their scientific production is weighed against and early 20th centuries, who faced of Medicine” served as the standard medical text in
=

their GDP. This suggests that less obvious fac- European armies occupying their Europe for seven centuries, and he also laid some ground-
tors are playing decisive roles in the valuation homelands. work for the European Renaissance by advocating the use
of science in Arab societies. Arabs were awakened to the fact of reason and logic as the way to gain knowledge.

www.sciencemag.org SCIENCE VOL 308 3 JUNE 2005 1417

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 GLOBAL VOICES OF SCIENCE

distilled and purified, and Islamic teachings in place, functional democratic institutions role in the cross-national cultural arena. This is
have been selectively used to embrace and also would make it more difficult for rulers to not to say that there is a master Western mind
abet the emerging anti-Western sentiment. spend most of the national income on arms at the controls in some global information-
With little reason for pride or celebration, while other areas, including science, suffer communication headquarters. The global
Arabs leaned toward trivializing mortal earthly greatly from the lack of funding. arena is open to everybody, and the more a
life, choosing instead to reassess the main pur- Most higher scientific institutions in Arab nation is advanced technologically and open
pose of existence as ensuring heavenly immor- countries are run by governments, which, in to new ideas, the more it is likely to contribute
tality. A logical extension of this existential undemocratic systems, means that their goals to, and influence, this emerging global culture.
reevaluation has been to view the West’s interest actually are more political than scientific. This The dilemma for Arabs today comes down to
in science as an improper indulgence in mate- mode of governance reflects unfavorably on choosing between self-exile from the global
rial trivialities. For decades, these changes were many aspects of academic life, rendering sci- community for the sake of preserving cultural
proliferating and festering under the
surface, creating an atmosphere inim-
ical to science and one effectively The same information revolution that has been
closed to the possibility of learning
from the Western experience. also presents an
perceived by so many Arabs as threatening
Science was caught in the cross-
unprecedented opportunity for every nation in the

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fire. Subconsciously for many
Arabs, modern science’s ties to the
West, to rationalism, and to natural world to close the science and technology gap.
materialism gave it the flavor of
enmity. And because science cannot be entific merit and research of little importance identity, or contributing one’s own identity to a
practiced nowadays without close collabo- for career advancement and precluding any global culture with no specific or chosen
ration with Western academic institutions, genuine evaluation of the scientific perform- color, religion, or ideology. Were Arabs to take
research has become, in the minds of many ance of these institutions. Lack of high-quality the leap into this new global context, it may
Arabs, a suspicious activity and yet another research by faculty members, in turn, limits not be a farfetched prediction that the center of
potential gateway for Western incursion. training opportunities for students and hinders influence of this culture might start to shift to
As a result, the pathway to the future shifted the development of the very organizational the East within a few decades.
from one involving science to one based on the structures that would support the growth of A moment of opportunity is at hand. The
return to true Islam. Left unanswered in this research capacity. This has turned most Arab Arab world needs to reopen its collective mind
choice was what a shunning of science would universities merely into centers for knowledge to the West, by acknowledging the West’s con-
entail and how to face the challenges of the dissemination, not for questioning, criticism, tribution of modern science to the world. At
inevitable technology gap that would come and an authentic search for new knowledge. the same time, the West should recognize the
with the choice. On the other side of the equa- To allow research and science to take off Arabic contribution to the scientific revolu-
tion, the main competing view to the Islamic once again in Arabic countries, universities tion without downplaying the role that Islam
one in Arab countries today, the liberal-demo- and academic institutions need to be redefined has played. Real pride of the golden past of
cratic paradigm, focuses mainly on political as centers for both the dissemination and gen- Arabs means extracting the right lessons from
structure and is equally ambivalent about the eration of knowledge, and research funding it: adoption of science by the state, encourage-
centrality of science as a driving force for needs to be allotted according to proper evalu- ment of free scientific inquiry, promotion of
development. With the scientific community ation mechanisms. science among the masses, and most impor-
being all but mute, science in the Arab world But what are the prospects for Arabs in tantly, embracing the scientific accomplish-
has currently no one to speak on its behalf, and today’s science landscape? The same informa- ments of other cultures without fear or preju-
it occupies an insignificant niche. Moreover, tion revolution that has been perceived by so dice. Certainly, the highest standard of piety
its approach to understanding and investigat- many Arabs as threatening also presents an should become once again the individual’s
ing nature, as well as its own history, attracts unprecedented opportunity for every nation in contribution to the welfare of his society, and
virtually zero interest. the world to close the science and technology the greatest sin, the acceptance of a continuing
gap. Every society now has the means to build and avoidable backwardness and dependence.
Reawakening of Arab Science its own science and technology capacities and
Science thrives on freedom of inquiry and in ways that do not necessarily follow the path References and Notes
*During the Renaissance, Ibn-Rushd was often referred to as
unfettered flow of information. Most Arab of the West’s scientific revolution. Such a the “The Commentator,” in comparison to Aristotle “The
societies are run by dictatorships that practice prospect should make it easier for Eastern cul- Philosopher,” signifying his status and contribution.
different levels of censorship on their citizens, tures to build their science base, and indeed, †On his return from a journey to Europe, Sheikh Muhammad
Abduh, signifying the precedence of deeds over rituals in
leading to a weakening of democratic institu- many nations in Asia are doing just that with- the Islamic context, said,“In Europe I found Islam but not
tions. Such institutions are vital for the devel- out much concern about the loss of their cul- Muslims. Here in the East, I find Muslims but not Islam.”
opment of science by unlocking the diversity tural identity or moral values. ‡A. A. Al-Khader, Saudi Med. J. 25, 1323 (2004).
§E. Massod, Nature 416, 120 (2002).
within the society, making it less prone to qui- But for Arabs, there is a sizable price to pay
=

G. O.Tadmouri, N. Bissar-Tadmouri, Lancet 362, 1766 (2003).

etly adopt rigid dogmas and doctrines, advo- for being able to instantly know the weather ¶W. Maziak, T. Asfar, Health Care Women Int. 24, 313
cating the importance of science and freedom forecast in remote areas or to gather 100 opin- (2003).
of inquiry, and shielding scientists from social ions on any topic with little more than a few
The author is at the Syrian Center for Tobacco Studies, Post
and political pressures against research deal- keystrokes. After all, this technology is forg- Office Box 16542,Aleppo, Syria. He is also affiliated with the
ing with sensitive social and cultural issues, ing its own global culture with mainly Western Institute of Epidemiology and Social Medicine in Muenster,
such as the influence of polygamy on the phys- influences. To buy into it as a non-Westerner, Germany. E-mail:maziak@net.sy
ical and mental health of women.¶ If they were therefore, is to personally accept a nonleading 10.1126/science.1114330

1418 3 JUNE 2005 VOL 308 SCIENCE www.sciencemag.org

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