History of Islamicate SMT in Modern Times

7/30/2019 History of Islamicate SMT in Modern Times

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Azizul Islam

Topics in Islamic HistoryProf. 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 14

th

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


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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


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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


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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.


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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. .

Marino, Michael. Society for History Education. N.p., May 2011. Web. 26 Sep 2012.

.

Mcneil, Ian.An Encyclopaedia of the History of Technology. Taylor & Francis, 1990. Web. 26

Sep 2012.

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History of Islamicate SMT in Modern Times