Azizul Islam Topics in Islamic History Prof.

Varlik 9/26/12

History of Islamicate SMT in Modern Times Science, medicine and technology are three of the most influential fields that shape our world today. Throughout classrooms in the modern world, students are not only taught about these specific fields, but they are also taught the origins and history. The most popular history books used in todays classrooms greatly consist of European and American history starting from the 14th century to modern day times. This Eurocentric textbook structure leaves out a plethora of information from other civilizations, especially from that of the Islamic world. For example, in the study of the history of technology or the history of medicine, many works that have been vital to both fields have been very briefly mentioned, if not completely left out from the books specific to those fields. Unfortunately, the mainstream narrative of the history of science, medicine and technology has come to a point where books lack thorough and unbiased information on these subjects due to social and economic reasons. Through further study of modern day society and the economic powers of the modern world, the reasons as to why his mainstream narrative has become popular will become clear. Modern day countries in the eastern world undoubtedly look up to the culture and mainstream media of the west, namely America. Societies in the east have been rapidly changing from their cultural traditions to that of modern western society. This great influence that the west has on the east may be one of the reasons why the mainstream narrative of the history of science, medicine and technology (SMT) has become what it is today. Social media, technology and medical innovations that are popularly used throughout the world today have all

Islam 2 been innovated in the western world. Because of this widespread use that seemingly originated in the west, it gives easterners another reason to look up to western, American society. By having such an influence on the rest of the world, the history textbooks in American classrooms have also been geared to be Eurocentric, as some critics say. (Marino 1). Research has shown that many of the textbook are audience based, meaning they focus on the audience itself. Since the western world has an influence on the rest of the world, and most of the audience in the west are either European or American, the content in the textbooks have also been written to conform to the general public. The general public in this case, all have one thing in common, and that is the inclination to the modern society of the western world (Marino 2). Because of the societal changes, a lot of historical information has been left out from the Islamic world, just to satisfy the type of audience base. In An Encyclopedia of the History of Technology, which consists of over 1000 pages, there are only a few that talk about the contributions of the Islamic world to technology. All that was mentioned was the development of lusterware and a book by the famous alchemist, Jabir (192). Throughout all the centuries where technological innovations flourished, there were only a couple of mentions of the contributions of the Islamic world in the encyclopedia. But leaving out so much information in an encyclopedia was due to the audience base. This shows how societal influences throughout the world have affected the content in these textbooks. People are more inclined to learn about the west than they are their own culture. One must also look at the economic powers of the modern times, to understand why the mainstream narrative of Islamicate SMT is the way it is today. History has shown that the economic powers have a great influence on education. Typically, much of the information taught will relate back to the economic power in some way, shape or form. Consequently, one

Islam 3 can say that the economic powers since 14th century have been based in the western part of the world. All those years of influence have had a tremendous impact on the perspective of the outcomes in history, specifically in the fields of science, medicine and technology. This economic influence, coupled with the societal influence on the rest of the world, has effected educational learning to be somewhat biased. In the book History of Medicine: A Scandalously Short Introduction, many medicinal contributions have been left out. Such major contributions include surgical methods, and alchemy. Mentions of contributions from the Islamic world are limited to Ibn al-Nafis refutation to the Galenic theories and the invasions of the Islamic empire in which knowledge of medicine was spread. The book has a few pages mentioning the Islamicate contributions but does not go in to detail such as is done for Galileos work, in which there are over 50 pages worth of information. What is obvious in this book that the detailed sections of medical innovations are only about western scientists. Although western scientists have a significant impact on medical procedures today, the most important aspect of it is the foundations on which these achievements were founded upon. Most of modern day medicine traces its foundations back to the ancient world and the Islamic world. Furthermore, none of the early works of the ancient civilization could have been known if it were not translated during the Abbasid Dynasty (Science: The Islamic Legacy). The economic power of the western world since the 14th century is still somewhat in place today, and that is why a lot of the books are focused on modern research. Through the study of several history books in the fields of science, medicine and technology, one can conclude that social culture and a long history of economic influence has made the mainstream narrative of Islamicate SMT what it is today. Global shifts towards

Islam 4 western culture allow authors to write about western history to conform to the shift of the general public. Economic influence of the western world has also played a big part. Many of the writers of these books consist of people from either Europe or America. The education standards of both these continents have spread throughout the world, and therefore, have had a great influence of the content in history textbooks. Despite all of this, the missing content in these books give an unfair representation and do not appreciate the works of early Islamicate SMT scholars who have many achievement that the modern world would not be able to live without today.

Islam 5 Works Cited Duffin, Jacalyn. History of Medicine, Second Edition: A Scandalously Short Introduction. 2nd. Toronto: University of Toronto Press Inc., 2012. 495. Print. Lunde, Paul. "Science:The Islamic Legacy." Saudi Aramco World. June 1982: n. page. Web. 26 Sep. 2012. <http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/198203/science.the.islamic.legacyscience.in.the.golden.age.htm>. Marino, Michael. Society for History Education. N.p., May 2011. Web. 26 Sep 2012. <http://www.societyforhistoryeducation.org/pdfs/Marino.pdf>. Mcneil, Ian. An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology. Taylor & Francis, 1990. Web. 26 Sep 2012.