5 Reasons to Be Grateful for the Arabic Language
Outrage over a teacher in rural Virginia deciding to expose her students to the Arabic script is probably based on a lack of knowledge of the gifts European and New World culture received from those who wrote in the Arabic language.
An Arabic book in the collection of the 16th century Renaissance King Francois I. (Informed Content)
An Arabic book in the collection of the 16th century Renaissance King Francois I. (Informed Content)
This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor Juan Cole’s website.
When a teacher in rural Augusta county, Virginia, decided to expose her students to the Arabic script (a piece of calligraphy writing out the Muslim profession of faith), the backlash from some furious parents so hinted at violence that county schools had to be closed for a day.
I am guessing that the Script Rage was based on a lack of knowledge of the gifts European and New World culture received from those who wrote in the Arabic language or the Arabic script. Among them was the great medieval Jewish thinker Maimonides. The prominent Christian theologian Thomas Aquinas was influenced by philosophers writing in Arabic. That Americans are in America has something to do with Christopher Columbus’s dependence on the calculations of al-Farghani, who recognized that the earth is spherical.
Here are some gifts of Arabic-language science and creativity for which we might be a little more grateful.
1. Arabic numerals. Actually these originally come from Sanskrit. The Arabs adapted them and passed them on to Europe. Imagine dividing CLXII by XLIV. The Indians also invented the concept of the zero, but our circular zero comes from the Iranian scholar Muhammed ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, 780 –?850, who wrote in early Abbasid Baghdad.
2. Algebra. Al-Khwarizmi laid the foundations for algebra. The word algorithm is a corruption of his name. So if any children in Augusta county, Virginia, are taught algebra, they are benefiting from breakthroughs originally expressed in Arabic script.
3. Muslim scientists were the first to separate pharmacology from medicine and to professionalize the former.
4. Nasir al-Din Tusi invented trigonometry
5. The modern hospital was invented by Muslims
Your support matters…Independent journalism is under threat and overshadowed by heavily funded mainstream media.
You can help level the playing field. Become a member.
Your tax-deductible contribution keeps us digging beneath the headlines to give you thought-provoking, investigative reporting and analysis that unearths what's really happening- without compromise.
Give today to support our courageous, independent journalists.
The result appears to dash the long-serving leader's hopes for a decisive victory as his trial on corruption charges nears.
For more than a century Zionists and, later, Israelis have pursued a project to seize and ethnically cleanse Palestinian land.
The prime minister is slated to appear in a Jerusalem court as a defendant just two weeks after the March 2 vote.
As the U.S. hurdles toward war with Iran, the Truthdig columnist reminds viewers why it's so important to recognize our shared humanity.
His two terms were marked by partisan rancor, scandal and, for many Americans, betrayal by the president.
You need to be a supporter to comment.
There are currently no responses to this article.
Be the first to respond.