0

00:00:01,000 --> 00:00:04,000

Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org
1
00:00:09,737 --> 00:00:16,577
My name is Jim Al-Khalili
and I'm a professor of physics
at the University of Surrey.
2
00:00:18,377 --> 00:00:24,697
Studying the innermost secrets of
atoms and their nuclei has been
at the heart of my working life.
3
00:00:26,977 --> 00:00:29,377
But there's another side to me...
4
00:00:40,177 --> 00:00:42,577
I was born and grew up in Baghdad,
5
00:00:42,577 --> 00:00:45,577
to an English mother
and an Iraqi father,
6
00:00:45,577 --> 00:00:48,737
but left Iraq with
my family in the late '70s
7
00:00:48,737 --> 00:00:51,297
when Sadam Hussain came to power.
8
00:00:52,857 --> 00:00:56,897
By then, science was already
my great passion in life.
9
00:00:56,897 --> 00:00:59,537
As I studied it further,
I saw myself fully part
10
00:00:59,537 --> 00:01:05,177
of the Western tradition, inspired
by names like Newton and Einstein.
11
00:01:09,617 --> 00:01:15,777
But buried away was this nagging
feeling that I was ignoring part
of my own scientific heritage.
12
00:01:19,217 --> 00:01:25,977
I still remembered my schooldays
in Iraq and being taught of a
golden age of Islamic scholarship.
13
00:01:25,977 --> 00:01:29,297
That between the 9th and 12th
centuries,
14
00:01:29,297 --> 00:01:31,937
a great leap in scientific knowledge
15
00:01:31,937 --> 00:01:35,537
took place in Baghdad, Damascus,
Cairo and Cordoba.
16
00:01:35,537 --> 00:01:38,457
So, I want to unearth this buried
history
17
00:01:38,457 --> 00:01:40,537
to discover its great figures
18
00:01:40,537 --> 00:01:45,457
and to assess exactly what their
contribution to science really was.
19
00:01:45,457 --> 00:01:49,297
Are there medieval Muslim scientists
who should be spoken of
20
00:01:49,297 --> 00:01:53,137
in the same breath as Galileo,
Newton and Einstein?
21
00:01:53,137 --> 00:01:56,577
And crucially,
what is the relationship
22
00:01:56,577 --> 00:01:58,897
between science and Islam?
23
00:02:22,977 --> 00:02:26,377
My journey into the science
of the medieval Islamic world
24
00:02:26,377 --> 00:02:29,537
will take me through Syria,
Iran and North Africa.
25
00:02:35,857 --> 00:02:40,177
'I started in the backstreets
of the Egyptian capital Cairo,
26
00:02:40,177 --> 00:02:47,737
'with the realisation that that the
language of modern science still has
many references to its Arabic roots.
27
00:02:49,577 --> 00:02:54,857
'Take scientific terms like
algebra, algorithm, alkali.
28
00:02:54,857 --> 00:02:58,537
'I instantly recognise
these words as Arabic.
29
00:02:59,777 --> 00:03:04,017
'And these are at the very
heart of what science does.
30
00:03:04,017 --> 00:03:07,697
'There would be no modern
mathematics or physics without
algebra.
31
00:03:07,697 --> 00:03:14,497
'No computers without algorithms
and no chemistry without alkalis.
32
00:03:20,897 --> 00:03:28,137
'Surprisingly few people in the west
today, even scientists, are aware
of this medieval Islamic legacy.
33
00:03:28,137 --> 00:03:30,577
'But it wasn't always so.
34
00:03:32,057 --> 00:03:34,977
'From the 12th to the 17th century,
35
00:03:34,977 --> 00:03:40,377
'European scholars regularly refer
to earlier Islamic texts.'
36
00:03:40,377 --> 00:03:48,417
I have here copies of some pages
of the book Liber Abacci by
the great Italian mathematician,
37
00:03:48,417 --> 00:03:52,057
Leonardo Pisano,
otherwise known as Fibonacci.
38
00:03:52,057 --> 00:03:58,137
What's fascinating is that on page
406 is a reference to an older text
39
00:03:58,137 --> 00:04:01,657
called "modum algebre
et almuchabale'
40
00:04:01,657 --> 00:04:05,017
and in the margin is the name
Maumeht,
41
00:04:05,017 --> 00:04:08,617
which is the Latinised version
of the Arabic name, Mohammed.
42
00:04:08,617 --> 00:04:14,697
The person he's referring to
is Mohammed ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi.
43
00:04:17,857 --> 00:04:22,737
In fact, Arabic names crop up
in many medieval European texts
44
00:04:22,737 --> 00:04:27,137
on subjects as varied as map-making,
optics and medicine.
45
00:04:31,337 --> 00:04:35,297
But I want to start with
Al-Khwarizmi, because his work
46
00:04:35,297 --> 00:04:39,057
touches on a crucial aspect of
all our lives today.
47
00:04:41,497 --> 00:04:48,417
It's thanks to Al-Khwarizmi
that the European world realised
that their way of doing arithmetic,
48
00:04:48,417 --> 00:04:52,137
which was still essentially
based on Roman numerals,
49
00:04:52,137 --> 00:04:55,657
was hopelessly inefficient
and downright clunky.
50
00:04:56,937 --> 00:05:00,577
If I asked you to multiply
123 by 11,
51
00:05:00,577 --> 00:05:04,657
you may even be able
to do it in your head.
52
00:05:04,657 --> 00:05:08,657
The answer is 1,353.
53
00:05:08,657 --> 00:05:12,417
But try doing it
with Roman numerals,
54
00:05:12,417 --> 00:05:16,097
you'd have to multiply
CXXIII by XI.
55
00:05:16,097 --> 00:05:19,497
It can be done, but trust me,
it's not fun.
56
00:05:24,137 --> 00:05:25,937
Al-Khwarizmi showed Europeans
57
00:05:25,937 --> 00:05:28,537
that there's a better way
of doing arithmetic.
58
00:05:28,537 --> 00:05:35,417
In his book entitled
The Hindu Art Of Reckoning,
he describes a revolutionary idea.
59
00:05:35,417 --> 00:05:39,137
You can represent any number
you like
60
00:05:39,137 --> 00:05:41,057
with just ten simple symbols.
61
00:05:45,137 --> 00:05:49,697
This idea of using just ten symbols,
the digits from one to nine,
62
00:05:49,697 --> 00:05:54,257
plus a symbol for zero to represent
all numbers from one to infinity
63
00:05:54,257 --> 00:05:57,537
was first developed
by Indian mathematicians
64
00:05:57,537 --> 00:06:03,697
around the 6th century and
I can't overstate its importance.
65
00:06:03,697 --> 00:06:07,377
Here are the numbers
in Indian Arabic numerals.
66
00:06:07,377 --> 00:06:11,537
Wahid, ithinin,
thalatha, arba'a,
67
00:06:11,537 --> 00:06:15,937
khamsa, sita, saba'a, thamania,
tisa'a.
68
00:06:15,937 --> 00:06:18,977
And here are the numbers we're more
familiar with in the West.
69
00:06:18,977 --> 00:06:22,217
One, two, three, four, five,
70
00:06:22,217 --> 00:06:25,097
six, seven, eight, nine.
71
00:06:25,097 --> 00:06:28,857
And you can see the similarity
between these numbers
72
00:06:28,857 --> 00:06:31,977
and particularly
between the numbers two and three.
73
00:06:31,977 --> 00:06:34,017
If I tip this sideways,
74
00:06:34,017 --> 00:06:37,857
you can see how they look
like numbers two and three.
75
00:06:37,857 --> 00:06:43,177
And what's powerful about these
digits, this numerical system
76
00:06:43,177 --> 00:06:46,457
is how it simplifies
arithmetic calculations.
77
00:06:46,457 --> 00:06:54,417
'But Al-Khwarizmi and his colleagues
went further than just translating
the Indian system into Arabic.
78
00:06:54,417 --> 00:06:57,297
'They created the decimal point.'
79
00:06:59,377 --> 00:07:02,737
This text, written just a century
after Al-Khwarizmi's,
80
00:07:02,737 --> 00:07:05,137
is by a man we know only as
Al-Uqlidisi.
81
00:07:05,137 --> 00:07:08,417
Here he shows that
the same decimal system
82
00:07:08,417 --> 00:07:13,497
can be extended to describe not just
whole numbers but fractions as well.
83
00:07:13,497 --> 00:07:18,737
The infinity of possibilities
that lie in between the integers.
84
00:07:18,737 --> 00:07:21,217
Here is a copy of
Al-Uqlidisi's manuscript
85
00:07:21,217 --> 00:07:23,417
where he showed
how the decimal point
86
00:07:23,417 --> 00:07:25,377
is used for the very first time.
87
00:07:25,377 --> 00:07:28,017
He describes it by using a dash.
88
00:07:28,017 --> 00:07:30,697
Here are the digits 17968,
89
00:07:30,697 --> 00:07:36,177
and there's a small dash over the
nine indicating the decimal place.
90
00:07:36,177 --> 00:07:41,057
The idea of the decimal point is
so familiar to us,
91
00:07:41,057 --> 00:07:44,497
that it's hard to understand
how people managed without it.
92
00:07:44,497 --> 00:07:46,337
Like all great science,
93
00:07:46,337 --> 00:07:50,297
it's blindingly obvious
after it's been discovered.
94
00:07:59,777 --> 00:08:03,417
'The story of numbers
and the decimal point hints
95
00:08:03,417 --> 00:08:08,657
'that even 1,000 years ago science
was becoming much more global.
96
00:08:09,697 --> 00:08:13,577
'Ideas were spreading, emerging out
of India, Greece or even China
97
00:08:13,577 --> 00:08:15,257
'and cross-fertilising.
98
00:08:17,737 --> 00:08:22,217
'And looking on a map that shows
where people lived 1,000 years ago
99
00:08:22,217 --> 00:08:25,777
'gave me my first insight
into why medieval Islam
100
00:08:25,777 --> 00:08:30,217
'would play such an important role
in the development of science.
101
00:08:32,257 --> 00:08:36,977
'Now look at which city lies at the
centre of the known world,
102
00:08:36,977 --> 00:08:40,937
'a place where the widest range of
peoples and ideas
103
00:08:40,937 --> 00:08:42,697
'were bound to collide.
104
00:08:42,697 --> 00:08:45,617
'It's the city where I was born,
105
00:08:45,617 --> 00:08:48,857
'the capital of the Islamic empire,
Baghdad.
106
00:08:56,257 --> 00:08:59,057
'Recent events mean I can
no longer visit the city,
107
00:08:59,057 --> 00:09:05,457
'but these are the home movies of my
cousin Farris, filmed in the 60s.
108
00:09:05,457 --> 00:09:08,417
'The Baghdad we knew then
looked nothing
109
00:09:08,417 --> 00:09:11,137
'like the bomb-wrecked city
it is now.
110
00:09:11,137 --> 00:09:14,297
'I certainly grew up proud
to be associated
111
00:09:14,297 --> 00:09:17,097
'with one of the world's
greatest cities.
112
00:09:19,777 --> 00:09:26,817
'Baghdad was founded in 762 AD
by the caliph Al-Mansur.
113
00:09:26,817 --> 00:09:31,297
'His aim was to make it the glorious
capital of a brand new empire
114
00:09:31,297 --> 00:09:34,937
'united by Islam,
the rising religion of the time.'
115
00:09:37,857 --> 00:09:41,897
The Abbasid caliphs had claimed
their right to rule by declaring
116
00:09:41,897 --> 00:09:45,417
that they were directly related
to the prophet Mohammed,
117
00:09:45,417 --> 00:09:49,337
who had founded the new religion
over 100 years earlier.
118
00:09:49,337 --> 00:09:51,817
But in that short time,
119
00:09:51,817 --> 00:09:57,297
the armies of Islam
had conquered a vast territory.
120
00:09:59,657 --> 00:10:02,257
Starting in a small area
around Medina,
121
00:10:02,257 --> 00:10:05,297
they moved rapidly
out of the Arabian peninsula
122
00:10:05,297 --> 00:10:09,457
and within a few decades
had taken control of the Levant,
123
00:10:09,457 --> 00:10:11,777
North Africa, Spain and Persia.
124
00:10:13,617 --> 00:10:16,177
I think one must bear in mind
that this is an era
125
00:10:16,177 --> 00:10:18,057
in which people believed in God,
126
00:10:18,057 --> 00:10:20,497
and the dramatic successes
of the Arabs
127
00:10:20,497 --> 00:10:22,777
as they poured out of Arabia
128
00:10:22,777 --> 00:10:25,857
were such that a lot of people
did observe
129
00:10:25,857 --> 00:10:28,857
and say they must have God
on their side.
130
00:10:28,857 --> 00:10:32,257
This must be the true god,
and some people did convert,
131
00:10:32,257 --> 00:10:34,137
or if they didn't convert,
132
00:10:34,137 --> 00:10:38,617
they did submit to Arab-Muslim
political control for that reason.
133
00:10:41,377 --> 00:10:47,377
By the early 8th century, Islamic
caliphs ruled a vast territory.
134
00:10:47,377 --> 00:10:52,177
And like most successful emperors,
from Caesar to Napoleon,
135
00:10:52,177 --> 00:10:55,177
they understood that political power
136
00:10:55,177 --> 00:10:58,297
and scientific know-how go
hand in hand.
137
00:11:03,217 --> 00:11:06,497
There were many reasons for this.
Some were practical.
138
00:11:06,497 --> 00:11:09,017
Medical knowledge could save lives.
139
00:11:09,017 --> 00:11:11,697
Military technology could win wars.
140
00:11:11,697 --> 00:11:15,417
Mathematics could help deal
with the increasing complexities
141
00:11:15,417 --> 00:11:16,937
of the finances of state.
142
00:11:16,937 --> 00:11:20,537
Islam as a religion also
played a pivotal role.
143
00:11:20,537 --> 00:11:23,777
The prophet himself had told
believers to seek knowledge
144
00:11:23,777 --> 00:11:27,377
wherever they could find it, even
if they had to go as far as China.
145
00:11:27,377 --> 00:11:30,817
And many Muslims, I'm sure,
felt that to study
146
00:11:30,817 --> 00:11:36,137
and better understand God's creation
was in itself a religious duty.
147
00:11:36,137 --> 00:11:39,937
But there were other less
edifying motives at play.
148
00:11:39,937 --> 00:11:43,617
To many in the ruling elite
of the Islamic Empire,
149
00:11:43,617 --> 00:11:47,057
knowledge itself
had a self-serving purpose.
150
00:11:47,057 --> 00:11:51,897
Because possessing it was seen as
proof of the new empire's
superiority
151
00:11:51,897 --> 00:11:53,697
over the rest of the world.
152
00:11:58,417 --> 00:12:04,617
But with military and
political success, the Islamic
caliphs faced an inevitable problem.
153
00:12:05,737 --> 00:12:09,937
How do you sensibly govern
a hugely diverse population?
154
00:12:11,657 --> 00:12:14,777
Although some of the empire
had converted to Islam,
155
00:12:14,777 --> 00:12:18,137
they were still separated
by huge distances
156
00:12:18,137 --> 00:12:22,577
and adhered to many
different traditions and languages.
157
00:12:24,137 --> 00:12:29,497
In the 8th century AD, the empire's
leader, Caliph Abdul Malik,
158
00:12:29,497 --> 00:12:34,617
had to find a way of administering
this mish-mash of languages.
159
00:12:34,617 --> 00:12:41,257
Like all the great figures of the
Islamic empire, Al-Malik lived in
a culture without portraiture.
160
00:12:41,257 --> 00:12:45,977
All we have are later impressions
of what he might have looked like.
161
00:12:45,977 --> 00:12:49,137
His solution was sweeping in scale
162
00:12:49,137 --> 00:12:50,577
and, inadvertently,
163
00:12:50,577 --> 00:12:54,017
laid the foundations of
a scientific renaissance.
164
00:12:55,097 --> 00:13:00,217
It was this Abdul Malik who said
this bureaucratic chaos has to stop.
165
00:13:00,217 --> 00:13:04,177
We cannot continue
to run the government
166
00:13:04,177 --> 00:13:10,297
and govern all this span of land
with this tower of Babel languages.
167
00:13:10,297 --> 00:13:13,657
He wanted to govern it
with a uniform language
168
00:13:13,657 --> 00:13:17,377
and that language was one
he wanted to understand,
169
00:13:17,377 --> 00:13:19,337
so he demanded that it be in Arabic.
170
00:13:25,937 --> 00:13:32,257
But the choice of Arabic as the
common language of the Empire went
beyond administrative convenience.
171
00:13:33,817 --> 00:13:37,377
The decision had extra force
and persuasiveness,
172
00:13:37,377 --> 00:13:39,817
because Islam's holy book the Qur'an
173
00:13:39,817 --> 00:13:44,017
is in Arabic, and Muslims
therefore consider Arabic
174
00:13:44,017 --> 00:13:45,977
to be the language of God.
175
00:13:57,457 --> 00:14:00,697
The words of the Qur'an
are so sacred
176
00:14:00,697 --> 00:14:05,137
that its text hasn't changed
in over 1,400 years.
177
00:14:05,137 --> 00:14:10,097
By comparison, English has changed
dramatically in just 700 years.
178
00:14:10,097 --> 00:14:13,817
To our ears,
Chaucer is almost unintelligible,
179
00:14:13,817 --> 00:14:18,777
whereas any Qur'an can be understood
by anyone who reads Arabic.
180
00:14:23,937 --> 00:14:27,657
Making copies of the Qur'an
has always been a specialised
181
00:14:27,657 --> 00:14:32,377
and highly respected job
since the foundation of Islam.
182
00:14:32,377 --> 00:14:38,017
Calligraphy expert Nayef Scaf,
who lives in the Syrian capital
183
00:14:38,017 --> 00:14:42,577
Damascus, writes for mosques and
in madrasahs all over the country.
184
00:14:43,817 --> 00:14:48,057
These are words he's found
himself writing over and over again.
185
00:14:48,057 --> 00:14:51,057
Words of great
significance for Muslims.
186
00:14:51,057 --> 00:14:54,977
They're the opening line
to each chapter in the Qur'an.
187
00:14:54,977 --> 00:15:00,857
So, what it says is,
"Bismi llahi ar-rahman ar-rahim,
188
00:15:00,857 --> 00:15:03,017
which means, "In the name of God
189
00:15:03,017 --> 00:15:05,777
"the most gracious
and the most merciful."
190
00:15:05,777 --> 00:15:08,777
HE SPEAKS ARABIC
191
00:15:13,417 --> 00:15:18,497
He's saying that the complexity
of Arabic calligraphy
192
00:15:18,497 --> 00:15:22,137
was enforced onto them because
of the spread of Islam,
193
00:15:22,137 --> 00:15:25,897
because they were worried
that the meaning of the words
194
00:15:25,897 --> 00:15:27,817
in the Qur'an would be lost.
195
00:15:27,817 --> 00:15:31,777
If it was read by people who don't
speak Arabic not only would they
misinterpret it,
196
00:15:31,777 --> 00:15:34,537
they wouldn't be able to
distinguish between letters.
197
00:15:34,537 --> 00:15:38,177
So, not only did they add
dots on certain letters,
198
00:15:38,177 --> 00:15:40,537
but also lots of squiggly lines
199
00:15:40,537 --> 00:15:43,657
which change the sound
of the vowels.
200
00:15:43,657 --> 00:15:47,137
It was something they put into
place to ensure that people were
201
00:15:47,137 --> 00:15:50,537
able to have the right pronunciation
when they read the Qur'an.
202
00:15:54,857 --> 00:15:57,577
The consequences
for science were immediate.
203
00:15:57,577 --> 00:16:00,217
Scholars from different lands
204
00:16:00,217 --> 00:16:03,857
who previously had no way
of communicating
205
00:16:03,857 --> 00:16:06,097
now had a common language.
206
00:16:06,097 --> 00:16:10,177
And it was a language that was
specially developed to be precise
207
00:16:10,177 --> 00:16:16,737
and unambiguous, which made it ideal
for scientific and technical terms.
208
00:16:16,737 --> 00:16:20,217
What this meant was the summoning
into existence
209
00:16:20,217 --> 00:16:22,737
of a vast intellectual community,
210
00:16:22,737 --> 00:16:26,657
where scholars from very different
parts of the world
211
00:16:26,657 --> 00:16:30,057
could engage in dialogue,
comparison, debate, argument,
212
00:16:30,057 --> 00:16:32,657
often very fierce argument
with each other.
213
00:16:32,657 --> 00:16:38,377
It was possible for scholars based
in Cordoba in southern Spain
214
00:16:38,377 --> 00:16:41,777
to engage in literary
and scientific debate
215
00:16:41,777 --> 00:16:44,937
with scholars from
Baghdad or from Samarkand.
216
00:16:52,057 --> 00:16:56,297
But I can tell you
that scholars aren't motivated
by the love of knowledge alone.
217
00:16:56,297 --> 00:17:00,657
There's nothing like a large
hunk of cash to focus the mind.
218
00:17:03,217 --> 00:17:07,257
By the early 800s, the ruling
elite of the Islamic empire
219
00:17:07,257 --> 00:17:10,937
were pouring money into
a truly ambitious project,
220
00:17:10,937 --> 00:17:12,817
which was global in scale
221
00:17:12,817 --> 00:17:15,257
and which was to have
a profound impact on science.
222
00:17:17,897 --> 00:17:20,977
It was to scour the libraries
of the world for scientific
223
00:17:20,977 --> 00:17:24,577
and philosophical manuscripts
in any language,
224
00:17:24,577 --> 00:17:27,897
Greek, Syriac, Persian and Sanskrit,
225
00:17:27,897 --> 00:17:32,937
bring them to the empire
and translate them into Arabic.
226
00:17:32,937 --> 00:17:36,377
This became known
as the translation movement.
227
00:17:50,017 --> 00:17:55,457
The effort scholars put into finding
ancient texts was astonishing.
228
00:17:55,457 --> 00:17:59,737
And one key reason for this is
that bringing a book to the caliph,
229
00:17:59,737 --> 00:18:04,457
which he could add to his library,
could be extremely lucrative.
230
00:18:04,457 --> 00:18:08,417
The story goes that the caliph
al-Ma'mun was so obsessed
231
00:18:08,417 --> 00:18:11,537
that he'd send his messengers
out of Baghdad,
232
00:18:11,537 --> 00:18:14,817
far and wide to distant lands,
just to get hold of books
233
00:18:14,817 --> 00:18:18,057
that he didn't possess,
for the translation movement.
234
00:18:18,057 --> 00:18:21,417
And anyone who brought him back
a book that he didn't have,
235
00:18:21,417 --> 00:18:23,417
he'd repay them its weight in gold.
236
00:18:25,177 --> 00:18:30,857
To give some sense of the extent of
the activities between 750 and 950,
237
00:18:30,857 --> 00:18:36,097
somebody called Al Nadim, who wrote
a list of the intelligentsia
238
00:18:36,097 --> 00:18:39,537
of the Abbasid era,
lists 70 translators,
239
00:18:39,537 --> 00:18:43,857
so it was quite a large cohort of
people involved in translations.
240
00:18:43,857 --> 00:18:47,377
And obviously, he only named
the well-known translators.
241
00:18:47,377 --> 00:18:50,697
They could get up to
500 gold dinars a month,
242
00:18:50,697 --> 00:18:53,457
which is probably around $24,000.
243
00:18:53,457 --> 00:18:56,857
Which is a huge sum of money
for what they were doing.
244
00:18:56,857 --> 00:19:01,537
It was a very prestigious,
well-paid, well-patronised activity.
245
00:19:04,377 --> 00:19:08,377
And motivating this global
acquisition of knowledge
246
00:19:08,377 --> 00:19:10,897
was a pressing practical concern,
247
00:19:10,897 --> 00:19:13,337
one that rarely crosses
our minds today.
248
00:19:14,497 --> 00:19:19,177
This is the new Library
at Alexandria, in Egypt.
249
00:19:19,177 --> 00:19:23,377
But fresh in the memory of many
in the empire was the story
250
00:19:23,377 --> 00:19:25,697
of the destruction
of the original library
251
00:19:25,697 --> 00:19:27,697
at Alexandria centuries earlier,
252
00:19:27,697 --> 00:19:31,977
and the shocking loss of thousands
of years of accumulated knowledge.
253
00:19:33,937 --> 00:19:36,657
One of the things that
we tend to forget,
254
00:19:36,657 --> 00:19:39,897
because we live in a age
of massive information storage
255
00:19:39,897 --> 00:19:44,097
and perfect communication
more or less,
256
00:19:44,097 --> 00:19:49,057
is the ever present
possibility of total loss.
257
00:19:49,057 --> 00:19:53,257
That was very important for Islamic
scholars.
258
00:19:53,257 --> 00:19:58,417
They knew extremely well
that writings could be forgotten
259
00:19:58,417 --> 00:20:03,817
or buried or burnt or destroyed,
that cities could pass away.
260
00:20:03,817 --> 00:20:07,217
What we see in Baghdad or Cairo
or Samarkand
261
00:20:07,217 --> 00:20:12,337
is exactly the gathering together
and translation, analysis,
262
00:20:12,337 --> 00:20:16,697
accumulation, storage and
preservation of material
263
00:20:16,697 --> 00:20:20,657
which they were well aware
could be lost forever.
264
00:20:33,577 --> 00:20:39,697
And if there was one branch of
knowledge that everyone from the
mighty caliph to the humble trader
265
00:20:39,697 --> 00:20:42,857
wanted to preserve and enhance,
it was medicine.
266
00:20:46,897 --> 00:20:50,937
These were, after all,
times when few lived to old age.
267
00:20:50,937 --> 00:20:54,377
Writings from the time remind us
that what we might consider
268
00:20:54,377 --> 00:20:59,777
a relatively minor infection today
could be a death sentence.
269
00:20:59,777 --> 00:21:04,537
Religious teachings then
were not just a source of comfort.
270
00:21:04,537 --> 00:21:08,617
They were a constant reminder
that we should never give up.
271
00:21:08,617 --> 00:21:13,417
In the Hadith which is the collected
sayings of the Prophet Mohammed,
272
00:21:13,417 --> 00:21:19,017
it says....
HE READS ARABIC
273
00:21:19,017 --> 00:21:22,457
Which means that God
didn't send down a disease
274
00:21:22,457 --> 00:21:24,857
without also sending down a cure.
275
00:21:27,457 --> 00:21:32,297
It's statements like this that lead
Muslims, even today, to believe
276
00:21:32,297 --> 00:21:36,017
that cures for all diseases
are out there somewhere
277
00:21:36,017 --> 00:21:38,697
and that we need to search
to find them.
278
00:21:40,297 --> 00:21:45,617
'To assess how this optimism
actually affected Islamic medicine,
279
00:21:45,617 --> 00:21:51,017
'I met up with Dr Peter Pormann
in the Syrian capital, Damascus.
280
00:21:51,017 --> 00:21:54,297
'He's a leading expert
on Islamic Medicine,
281
00:21:54,297 --> 00:21:56,417
'who spends much of his time
researching
282
00:21:56,417 --> 00:21:57,817
'here in the Middle East.'
283
00:21:57,817 --> 00:22:00,057
What people don't realise is
that the history
284
00:22:00,057 --> 00:22:03,737
of Islamic medicine is really
the history of our medicine,
285
00:22:03,737 --> 00:22:06,737
because our medicine,
the university medicine,
286
00:22:06,737 --> 00:22:08,977
we used until the 19th century,
287
00:22:08,977 --> 00:22:12,817
it was based to a large extent on the
work of all these Islamic physicians.
288
00:22:17,097 --> 00:22:20,617
Islamic medicine built extensively
on the foundations
289
00:22:20,617 --> 00:22:22,617
laid by the ancient Greeks.
290
00:22:24,737 --> 00:22:29,177
The most highly prized and among the
first to be translated into Arabic
291
00:22:29,177 --> 00:22:35,617
were the medical manuscripts of the
3rd century Greek physician, Galen.
292
00:22:35,617 --> 00:22:39,737
Galen believed that a healthy
body was one in balance.
293
00:22:39,737 --> 00:22:43,297
A balance of four types of fluids
called humours,
294
00:22:43,297 --> 00:22:45,777
which circulate through the body
295
00:22:45,777 --> 00:22:48,417
and any one of which,
if out of balance,
296
00:22:48,417 --> 00:22:51,417
would cause illness
and a change of temperament.
297
00:22:51,417 --> 00:22:55,097
The four humours were yellow bile,
298
00:22:55,097 --> 00:23:01,097
which, if in excess, would cause
the patient to become bilious
299
00:23:01,097 --> 00:23:03,617
or bad-tempered and nauseous.
300
00:23:05,937 --> 00:23:11,897
Blood. Too much of which would cause
the patient to become sanguine,
301
00:23:11,897 --> 00:23:13,937
or cheerful and flushed.
302
00:23:17,457 --> 00:23:21,737
Black bile, which in excess
would cause the patient
303
00:23:21,737 --> 00:23:26,217
to become lethargic or
melancholic or even depressed.
304
00:23:26,217 --> 00:23:31,017
And...phlegm, which in excess
305
00:23:31,017 --> 00:23:35,337
would cause the patient to become
phlegmatic or apathetic
306
00:23:35,337 --> 00:23:37,337
and emotionally detached.
307
00:23:39,737 --> 00:23:43,617
Galen argued that illnesses
are caused by an imbalance
308
00:23:43,617 --> 00:23:45,017
in one of the humours,
309
00:23:45,017 --> 00:23:49,577
so the cure lies in draining
the body of some of that humour.
310
00:23:49,577 --> 00:23:54,177
He recommended techniques
like cutting to induce bleeding
311
00:23:54,177 --> 00:23:56,897
or using emetics to induce vomiting.
312
00:23:58,737 --> 00:24:03,817
'But Islamic doctors were acutely
aware that Galen and Greek medicine
313
00:24:03,817 --> 00:24:06,457
'were only one source
of medical knowledge.
314
00:24:10,257 --> 00:24:14,017
'There were other traditions of
medicine that they were equally keen
315
00:24:14,017 --> 00:24:17,857
'to incorporate into
their understanding
of how the body functioned.
316
00:24:20,817 --> 00:24:26,657
'Medieval Arabic texts refer
to wise women, folk healers
who provided medical drugs.
317
00:24:26,657 --> 00:24:31,737
'This tradition continues today,
as I found when I came across one
318
00:24:31,737 --> 00:24:35,897
'for myself in the back
streets of Hammamat in Tunisia.
319
00:24:37,497 --> 00:24:39,737
'This is Arafez Nabil.
320
00:24:39,737 --> 00:24:45,097
'She's been running her shop
selling medicinal herbs
and spices for over 20 years.
321
00:24:45,097 --> 00:24:48,177
'She believes that her remedies
can cure
322
00:24:48,177 --> 00:24:50,937
'a wide range of medical ailments.'
323
00:25:36,217 --> 00:25:39,777
'In the backstreets of Tunisia
this knowledge is still being used.
324
00:25:39,777 --> 00:25:46,577
'But medieval Islamic doctors were
also aware of other traditions
of medicine from China and India.
325
00:25:53,857 --> 00:25:58,657
'And yet another tradition
of medical guidance
came from within Islam itself,
326
00:25:58,657 --> 00:26:01,977
'and takes some of its ideas from
the Qur'an
327
00:26:01,977 --> 00:26:06,017
'and some from the collected sayings
of the Prophet, the Hadith.
328
00:26:07,057 --> 00:26:11,537
'In a bookshop in Monastir
in Tunisia, I found a copy
329
00:26:11,537 --> 00:26:16,137
'of a very popular book available
right across the Islamic world.'
330
00:26:18,897 --> 00:26:21,457
This book is called
The Prophet's Medicine
331
00:26:21,457 --> 00:26:23,137
and you can see how old it is.
332
00:26:23,137 --> 00:26:27,377
The author was born
between 691 and 751 Hijri,
333
00:26:27,377 --> 00:26:30,577
which places him the 14th century.
334
00:26:30,577 --> 00:26:34,257
Here's an interesting bit,
where it deals with the plague.
335
00:26:34,257 --> 00:26:37,257
HE READS ARABIC
336
00:26:44,017 --> 00:26:50,657
It says, "If you come across a land
where the plague has come down,
then do not enter that land.
337
00:26:50,657 --> 00:26:54,537
"And if the plague comes down onto
your land and you are there,
338
00:26:54,537 --> 00:26:57,897
"then do not leave your homes
in the hope of escaping it."
339
00:26:57,897 --> 00:27:00,057
So that sort of
makes a lot of sense.
340
00:27:00,057 --> 00:27:02,897
But here's quite an amusing part.
341
00:27:02,897 --> 00:27:09,097
It deals with epilepsy and it says
that the Greeks or Galen believes
342
00:27:09,097 --> 00:27:14,697
that epilepsy originated in the
brain, however they were ignorant.
343
00:27:14,697 --> 00:27:18,417
They didn't realise the true cause
of epilepsy, which is the possession
344
00:27:18,417 --> 00:27:20,777
of the body by evil spirits.
345
00:27:20,777 --> 00:27:24,737
And it talks about the cure
for epilepsy being exorcism.
346
00:27:25,737 --> 00:27:28,497
'Hardly scientific.
347
00:27:28,497 --> 00:27:31,417
'But Islam's most tangible
contribution to medicine
348
00:27:31,417 --> 00:27:33,897
'is less in its specific remedies
349
00:27:33,897 --> 00:27:36,817
'and more in
its over-arching philosophy.
350
00:27:43,377 --> 00:27:46,577
'It is, after all, a religion
whose central idea
351
00:27:46,577 --> 00:27:50,217
'is that we should feel
compassion for our fellow humans.
352
00:27:54,377 --> 00:27:57,257
'And accompanied
by Dr Peter Pormann,
353
00:27:57,257 --> 00:28:01,377
'I'm going to see a physical,
bricks and mortar manifestation
354
00:28:01,377 --> 00:28:03,617
'of medieval Islamic compassion.
355
00:28:05,177 --> 00:28:07,737
'This is the Nur al-Din hospital,
356
00:28:07,737 --> 00:28:11,017
'the leading hospital
of the Islamic empire,
357
00:28:11,017 --> 00:28:13,977
'built here in Damascus
and now a museum.'
358
00:28:13,977 --> 00:28:18,017
THEY GROAN WITH EXERTION
359
00:28:18,017 --> 00:28:20,897
This was built in the 1150s, 1154,
I believe.
360
00:28:20,897 --> 00:28:23,777
One of the ideas which are stipulated
in Islam
361
00:28:23,777 --> 00:28:28,017
is the idea to be charitable
and charity. Zakat.
362
00:28:28,017 --> 00:28:33,177
Exactly, and it's an obligation
to give alms and stuff like that.
363
00:28:33,177 --> 00:28:36,337
So, if you're a ruler or you have a
lot of money, what you could do is...
364
00:28:36,337 --> 00:28:40,937
You could really be charitable.
..and set up a nice hospital
like this one.
365
00:28:40,937 --> 00:28:45,177
And within the hospital, Islam
actively encouraged
366
00:28:45,177 --> 00:28:47,897
a high degree of religious
tolerance,
367
00:28:47,897 --> 00:28:51,977
something we take for granted
in modern secular society.
368
00:28:51,977 --> 00:28:54,817
The hospital was open
to all communities,
369
00:28:54,817 --> 00:28:58,377
so you'd have Christians and Jews
and Muslims obviously
370
00:28:58,377 --> 00:29:03,337
and maybe other denominations both as
patients and also as practitioners.
371
00:29:03,337 --> 00:29:07,617
Like a Christian studies
with a Muslim, a Muslim says
my best student was a Jew,
372
00:29:07,617 --> 00:29:11,297
and so the medicine which was
practised here transcended religion.
373
00:29:11,297 --> 00:29:14,337
Typically, how many
physicians would there be?
374
00:29:14,337 --> 00:29:17,537
Well, it depends.
For certain hospitals,
375
00:29:17,537 --> 00:29:20,897
we hear figures of 24 or 28
physicians. Wow.
376
00:29:20,897 --> 00:29:23,257
Physicians would do the rounds
in the morning.
377
00:29:23,257 --> 00:29:24,937
Do the prescriptions.
378
00:29:24,937 --> 00:29:27,537
Things haven't changed
over the ages, yeah.
379
00:29:31,297 --> 00:29:33,617
'As a result
of the translation movement
380
00:29:33,617 --> 00:29:37,737
'those physician now became aware
of the latest remedies
381
00:29:37,737 --> 00:29:40,297
'from as far away
as India and China.
382
00:29:41,937 --> 00:29:45,777
'And as the new drugs filtered
in from the rest of the world,
383
00:29:45,777 --> 00:29:50,257
'hospitals started to set up
a new kind of facility
384
00:29:50,257 --> 00:29:53,337
'within their walls - the pharmacy.'
385
00:29:53,337 --> 00:29:57,817
So, this notion of a pharmacy in a
hospital, is that a new innovation?
386
00:29:57,817 --> 00:30:01,377
The whole package, certainly
that's new, and what is interesting,
387
00:30:01,377 --> 00:30:04,697
if you look for innovation
on the level of pharmacy,
388
00:30:04,697 --> 00:30:07,537
if you look at Baghdad
or even Damascus,
389
00:30:07,537 --> 00:30:10,777
it's at this crossroad of cultures.
So loads of new things come in,
390
00:30:10,777 --> 00:30:16,057
like musk, for instance, you have
Indian drugs, there's an Indian pill,
for instance,
391
00:30:16,057 --> 00:30:18,937
which is good for headaches
and bad breath,
392
00:30:18,937 --> 00:30:22,537
but also gives you sexual
appetite, and stuff like that.
393
00:30:22,537 --> 00:30:25,017
Cures your headache,
394
00:30:25,017 --> 00:30:30,297
gives you...fresh breath,
and gives you...
395
00:30:30,297 --> 00:30:33,297
So it's like toothpaste,
Viagra and aspirin.
396
00:30:33,297 --> 00:30:35,417
That's right. All in one. Fantastic.
397
00:30:35,417 --> 00:30:38,217
So, let's walk in here.
398
00:30:38,217 --> 00:30:45,017
'Peter wants to show me perhaps
the most ghoulish aspect of
Islamic medicine, surgery.'
399
00:30:45,017 --> 00:30:47,457
Here you have
a wonderful illustration.
400
00:30:47,457 --> 00:30:52,577
This appears to be the first
anatomical illustration in history.
401
00:30:52,577 --> 00:30:56,457
You see it says "adala",
which means muscle.
402
00:30:56,457 --> 00:31:00,777
So, these are the different
muscles, which move the eyelids.
403
00:31:00,777 --> 00:31:06,417
So it was understood
that the muscles controlled the lens
and the eye. Absolutely. Yes. Yeah.
404
00:31:06,417 --> 00:31:09,177
Move the eyelid, and stuff like that.
405
00:31:09,177 --> 00:31:12,297
The other thing we have here,
which is really nice,
406
00:31:12,297 --> 00:31:15,577
is we have some ophthalmological
instruments,
407
00:31:15,577 --> 00:31:17,017
for instance it's a hook,
408
00:31:17,017 --> 00:31:22,377
could be used to pull back
your eyelid, that sort of thing.
409
00:31:22,377 --> 00:31:25,497
These instruments were very useful
to the doctor.
410
00:31:25,497 --> 00:31:32,577
Although these tools might look
crude, eye surgery was one of
Islamic medicine's great successes.
411
00:31:32,577 --> 00:31:39,817
One innovation was to improve
an older technique for curing
cataracts called "couching"
412
00:31:39,817 --> 00:31:44,857
which, in their hands,
had a success rate of over 60%.
413
00:31:44,857 --> 00:31:47,177
In a living subject,
the cornea would be clear.
414
00:31:47,177 --> 00:31:52,057
Then you'd be able to see
the pupil clearly, with the cataract
sitting behind the pupil.
415
00:31:52,057 --> 00:31:58,577
'To see how couching stands
the test of time, I'm meeting up
with eye surgeon Mr Vic Sharma.'
416
00:31:58,577 --> 00:32:04,177
The cataract is the lens inside
the eye, which sits behind the pupil.
417
00:32:04,177 --> 00:32:08,297
As with time and age the cataract,
the lens gets cloudier and cloudier,
418
00:32:08,297 --> 00:32:10,817
that's what is referred to
as a cataract.
419
00:32:10,817 --> 00:32:15,217
'I've brought along a replica
of a medieval couching knife
420
00:32:15,217 --> 00:32:19,337
'and a description of the treatment
by Albucasis,
421
00:32:19,337 --> 00:32:24,617
'which is the Latin name
for the great 10th-century
Islamic surgeon Al-Zahrawi.'
422
00:32:25,857 --> 00:32:31,337
He says, "You take the couching
needle in your right hand, if it be
the left eye..." and so on.
423
00:32:31,337 --> 00:32:34,897
"Then thrust the needle firmly in,
at the same time rotating it with
your hand
424
00:32:34,897 --> 00:32:38,937
"till it penetrates the white of
the eye and you feel the needle has
reached something empty."
425
00:32:39,577 --> 00:32:42,177
So, he's talking about
how to dislodge. Exactly.
426
00:32:42,177 --> 00:32:44,897
So, maybe you can show me.
We've got some eyes here.
427
00:32:44,897 --> 00:32:46,977
Yeah. I'll give it a try.
428
00:32:46,977 --> 00:32:49,737
And what they would have done
is attempted to go in
429
00:32:49,737 --> 00:32:53,617
by the white of the eye, at the edge,
430
00:32:53,617 --> 00:32:58,457
where the cornea is, and what they
attempted to do was sweep around,
431
00:32:58,457 --> 00:33:01,297
try to break those ligaments of that
lens
432
00:33:01,297 --> 00:33:04,177
and get the lens to drop away
from the pupil,
433
00:33:04,177 --> 00:33:07,137
to allow more light to enter in
through pupil
434
00:33:07,137 --> 00:33:09,817
and to brighten the subject's vision.
435
00:33:09,817 --> 00:33:15,457
You haven't got the capacity to
focus. Yeah, you have no lens now.
That was a big problem
436
00:33:15,457 --> 00:33:19,017
until people starting compensating
for that with specs later on.
437
00:33:19,017 --> 00:33:23,817
Right. What is your feeling about
how advanced and successful...?
438
00:33:23,817 --> 00:33:28,017
Well, they were in the general
ball park, the right place.
439
00:33:28,017 --> 00:33:32,297
They were trying to remove the
cataract away from the visual axis.
440
00:33:32,297 --> 00:33:35,737
They had some understanding
of the anatomy of the eye
441
00:33:35,737 --> 00:33:38,177
and that the lens was
behind the pupil
442
00:33:38,177 --> 00:33:41,137
and that's what was causing
the visual loss.
443
00:33:41,137 --> 00:33:45,577
And so removing that... That general
principle is still the same.
444
00:33:45,577 --> 00:33:49,937
There are accounts of it still
being used in certain parts
of the world presently.
445
00:33:55,937 --> 00:34:02,297
'Looking back at medieval Islamic
medicine with modern scientific eyes
is frustrating.
446
00:34:02,297 --> 00:34:06,017
'They take as true many things
we know to be nonsense,
447
00:34:06,017 --> 00:34:10,297
'but on the other hand, their desire
to deal with this vast subject
448
00:34:10,297 --> 00:34:12,857
'logically and systematically
is admirable
449
00:34:12,857 --> 00:34:16,577
'and truly marks a break
with the past.
450
00:34:16,577 --> 00:34:20,297
'One Islamic scholar,
more than any other,
451
00:34:20,297 --> 00:34:25,097
'embodies the synthesis
of religion, faith and reason.
452
00:34:25,097 --> 00:34:31,417
'His name was Ibn Sina, or Avicenna,
as he's known in the West.
453
00:34:31,417 --> 00:34:36,937
'He was a polymath who clearly
thrived in intellectual
and courtly circles.
454
00:34:36,937 --> 00:34:40,657
'In 1025, he completed this...
455
00:34:40,657 --> 00:34:45,777
'Al-Qanun fi al-Tibb
or the Canon Of Medicine.
456
00:34:45,777 --> 00:34:48,657
'In it Ibn Sina collated and
expanded on all
457
00:34:48,657 --> 00:34:50,377
'that had gone before him,
458
00:34:50,377 --> 00:34:56,577
'medical ideas from Greece to India,
and turned them into a single work.'
459
00:34:56,577 --> 00:35:00,297
So how would you place this book
in an historical context?
460
00:35:00,297 --> 00:35:01,937
Oh, it's hugely important.
461
00:35:01,937 --> 00:35:05,297
There are few books which are
as important as the Canon,
462
00:35:05,297 --> 00:35:08,977
because what this encyclopaedia does,
it kind of, you know,
463
00:35:08,977 --> 00:35:12,777
sweeps away everything
else, it becomes a text book,
464
00:35:12,777 --> 00:35:15,457
it supersedes a lot of other texts.
465
00:35:15,457 --> 00:35:20,897
People even complain, like, it's so
good, it's so tightly organised,
466
00:35:20,897 --> 00:35:23,057
so easily accessible that, you know,
467
00:35:23,057 --> 00:35:27,137
people forget to read the Greek
sources and the Arabic translations.
468
00:35:27,137 --> 00:35:32,337
This whole first book, this is
the first book, it contains
what we call the general principal,
469
00:35:32,337 --> 00:35:37,817
so it's all about how the human body
works, how diseases work in general.
470
00:35:37,817 --> 00:35:42,577
The second book contains diseases
right from tip to toe,
471
00:35:42,577 --> 00:35:45,217
so he starts with the diseases
of the head
472
00:35:45,217 --> 00:35:51,657
and then he moves down, like the
eyes, the ears, the nose, the mouth.
473
00:35:51,657 --> 00:35:54,337
And he...normally they end up
at the sexual organs.
474
00:35:56,297 --> 00:36:00,777
'At first sight the sheer
ambition of the three volumes
is hugely impressive.
475
00:36:00,777 --> 00:36:06,537
'Here's an attempt at diagnosis
and cure for diseases
476
00:36:06,537 --> 00:36:09,937
'as diverse as depression,
meningitis and small pox,
477
00:36:09,937 --> 00:36:13,777
'and there's even detailed
chapters on more common problems.'
478
00:36:13,777 --> 00:36:17,137
So, for instance, here you have,
like, headaches.
479
00:36:17,137 --> 00:36:20,137
Different kinds of headaches.
480
00:36:20,137 --> 00:36:24,777
HE READS ARABIC
481
00:36:24,777 --> 00:36:29,057
So, headaches caused
by pleasant fragrant smells.
482
00:36:29,057 --> 00:36:32,657
And then he's also got, erm...
HE READS ARABIC
483
00:36:32,657 --> 00:36:35,697
So, hangovers.
DR PORMANN READS ARABIC
484
00:36:35,697 --> 00:36:38,577
Headaches from sex. Is that right?
485
00:36:38,577 --> 00:36:42,577
I mean, it hasn't happened to
me yet, but I mean, you know...
486
00:36:42,577 --> 00:36:48,137
Let's see. So the treatment of
headache caused by sex.
487
00:36:48,137 --> 00:36:52,937
HE READS ARABIC
488
00:36:56,377 --> 00:36:59,657
So if somebody is befallen by,
489
00:36:59,657 --> 00:37:03,377
suffers from a headache after sex
490
00:37:03,377 --> 00:37:08,417
and he also has a repletion, like,
so he has too many superfluidities
or something like that...
491
00:37:08,417 --> 00:37:12,377
HE READS ARABIC
492
00:37:12,377 --> 00:37:15,817
He has to first resort to
venasection, or blood letting.
493
00:37:15,817 --> 00:37:19,177
HE READS ARABIC
Then you should use purging.
494
00:37:19,177 --> 00:37:22,817
In...
HE READS ARABIC
495
00:37:22,817 --> 00:37:27,297
For both of them, blood letting
and purging are necessary.
496
00:37:27,297 --> 00:37:30,017
A lot of the stuff in here
sounds like nonsense,
497
00:37:30,017 --> 00:37:34,177
because this is not modern medicine.
No, it's not.
498
00:37:34,177 --> 00:37:38,097
How long was this taken seriously?
499
00:37:38,097 --> 00:37:43,337
Well, the fundamental ideas
contained here about how
the body works, I mean...
500
00:37:43,337 --> 00:37:46,617
they hadn't changed
until the early 19th century.
501
00:37:46,617 --> 00:37:50,217
There was progress on certain levels,
502
00:37:50,217 --> 00:37:52,937
but the essence was the same.
503
00:37:52,937 --> 00:37:59,177
And then came the big break,
with the discovery of bacteria
and viruses and things like that.
504
00:37:59,177 --> 00:38:01,697
From the second half
of the 19th century onwards,
505
00:38:01,697 --> 00:38:03,657
medicine was totally revolutionised.
506
00:38:04,657 --> 00:38:10,497
'Ibn Sina's Canon of Medicine
is a landmark in the history
of the subject.
507
00:38:10,497 --> 00:38:16,737
'Although much of the medical
science it espouses we know now to
be terribly misguided,
508
00:38:16,737 --> 00:38:21,177
'its value lies in accumulating
the best knowledge in the world
509
00:38:21,177 --> 00:38:24,737
'at the time into one accessible,
organised text.
510
00:38:24,737 --> 00:38:29,177
'The Canon would give future
generations something to rewrite.'
511
00:38:46,737 --> 00:38:51,577
Cataloguing the world's
medical knowledge has
clear and obvious benefits.
512
00:38:51,577 --> 00:38:53,937
But the Islamic empire's obsession
513
00:38:53,937 --> 00:38:56,537
to uncover the knowledge
of the ancients
514
00:38:56,537 --> 00:38:59,657
went beyond practical matters,
like medicine.
515
00:38:59,657 --> 00:39:02,257
Many, like the Caliph Al-Mamun,
516
00:39:02,257 --> 00:39:05,177
believed that the people of
antiquity
517
00:39:05,177 --> 00:39:08,257
possessed dark, even magical powers.
518
00:39:08,257 --> 00:39:12,697
And, what's more, new evidence is
coming to light to show just
519
00:39:12,697 --> 00:39:16,777
how hard Islamic scientists worked
to rediscover them.
520
00:39:26,457 --> 00:39:31,577
'To find out about that story, I
have to visit the harsh burnt yellow
521
00:39:31,577 --> 00:39:33,857
'of the Sahara desert in Egypt.
522
00:39:33,857 --> 00:39:36,017
'There I am to meet an academic
523
00:39:36,017 --> 00:39:40,137
'who wants to show me
how the translation movement
524
00:39:40,137 --> 00:39:44,217
'took the Arabs to Egypt
on a quest to break a code,
525
00:39:44,217 --> 00:39:49,257
'which they thought hid the secret
of the dark art of alchemy.
526
00:39:57,457 --> 00:40:02,457
'This is Saqqara, a necropolis, or
graveyard, of the ancient pharaohs.
527
00:40:03,537 --> 00:40:07,257
'Over a ten-acre site,
it's a collection of burial chambers
528
00:40:07,257 --> 00:40:10,257
'and step pyramids that were built
529
00:40:10,257 --> 00:40:12,577
'in the third millennium
before Christ.
530
00:40:13,657 --> 00:40:17,897
'These are said to be among the
oldest stone buildings in the world.
531
00:40:20,177 --> 00:40:24,297
'Archaeologist Dr Okasha
El-Daly is my guide.
532
00:40:24,297 --> 00:40:29,577
'He was about to reveal the most
astonishing story of my journey
so far.'
533
00:40:29,577 --> 00:40:34,817
Oh! Ho ho. Look at that.
534
00:40:37,657 --> 00:40:40,657
'Like most people,
I believed that Egyptian hieroglyphs
535
00:40:40,657 --> 00:40:45,377
'had remained completely
undeciphered until the 19th century.
536
00:40:45,377 --> 00:40:49,897
'Then came the chance discovery
of the famous Rosetta Stone.
537
00:40:49,897 --> 00:40:52,377
'This stone had the same inscription
538
00:40:52,377 --> 00:40:55,017
'written in both
hieroglyphs and Greek.
539
00:40:55,017 --> 00:40:57,177
'It provided the crucial clues,
540
00:40:57,177 --> 00:41:00,537
'which British and French scholars
used to decipher
541
00:41:00,537 --> 00:41:02,577
'the writings of ancient Egypt.
542
00:41:04,817 --> 00:41:07,417
'That's the usual story one hears.
543
00:41:07,417 --> 00:41:12,337
'But Dr El-Daly has made a discovery
that dramatically alters it.
544
00:41:13,377 --> 00:41:16,657
'He has recently unearthed a number
of rare works
545
00:41:16,657 --> 00:41:19,257
'by the Islamic scholar
Ibn Wahshiyah.
546
00:41:19,257 --> 00:41:22,817
'What he did was to figure
out a correspondence
547
00:41:22,817 --> 00:41:27,057
'between hieroglyphs like these
and letters in the Arabic alphabet.'
548
00:41:27,057 --> 00:41:34,577
If you look here, for example, at Ibn
Wahshiyah's manuscript, he's giving
us the Egyptian hieroglyphic signs...
549
00:41:34,577 --> 00:41:36,817
And Arabic letters underneath.
550
00:41:36,817 --> 00:41:40,537
Yes. And the phonetic
value in Arabic underneath.
551
00:41:40,537 --> 00:41:43,857
Look very carefully at this one,
says "seen" underneath that seat.
552
00:41:43,857 --> 00:41:46,297
Yes. Now, look at this seat here.
553
00:41:46,297 --> 00:41:52,977
That seat in Egyptian hieroglyphic
is used for the sign "S", "seen",
which is what you see here, "seen".
554
00:41:52,977 --> 00:41:55,177
That is the name of the god Osiris.
555
00:41:55,177 --> 00:41:57,257
Osiris. Oh, with an "S".
556
00:41:59,457 --> 00:42:01,537
This is the letter "H".
557
00:42:01,537 --> 00:42:04,377
This one here... This is the "hah".
558
00:42:04,377 --> 00:42:09,537
The water wave is the letter "N",
or "noon" in Arabic.
559
00:42:09,537 --> 00:42:14,617
"T" and the letter "F"... These are
all letters? These are all letters.
560
00:42:14,617 --> 00:42:18,097
'But how did
he decipher the hieroglyphs?'
561
00:42:18,097 --> 00:42:21,937
The one good thing about the early
Arabic scholars is their ability
562
00:42:21,937 --> 00:42:25,417
to link ancient Egyptian language,
we call hieroglyphics,
563
00:42:25,417 --> 00:42:28,097
to link it with
their own contemporary Coptic.
564
00:42:28,097 --> 00:42:30,457
They realised that Coptic is nothing
565
00:42:30,457 --> 00:42:33,577
but the later stage
of ancient Egyptian language.
566
00:42:35,097 --> 00:42:37,857
'They realised this
because the translation movement
567
00:42:37,857 --> 00:42:43,297
'had literally placed hundreds
of Coptic texts into their hands.
568
00:42:43,297 --> 00:42:47,177
'The scholars could now see
a direct link
569
00:42:47,177 --> 00:42:50,657
'between hieroglyphs and Arabic.'
570
00:42:50,657 --> 00:42:56,017
What fraction of these symbols would
have been correctly deciphered?
571
00:42:56,017 --> 00:43:00,417
They got about 14 letters.
They cracked more than
half of Egyptian hieroglyphics.
572
00:43:00,417 --> 00:43:04,497
So, that was a remarkable achievement
for people of the 10th century.
573
00:43:10,297 --> 00:43:16,097
Well, that's probably the biggest
revelation for me so far
on my travels,
574
00:43:16,097 --> 00:43:20,137
that Egyptology didn't begin
in the 19th century.
575
00:43:20,137 --> 00:43:22,977
Yet again,
it seems that Islamic scholars
576
00:43:22,977 --> 00:43:28,417
actually cracked hieroglyphics and
they cracked it for strange reasons.
577
00:43:28,417 --> 00:43:32,537
They cracked it because they were
interested in astrology and alchemy.
578
00:43:32,537 --> 00:43:37,537
But here is another example of this
amazing translation movement.
579
00:43:37,537 --> 00:43:42,097
They weren't just translating Greek
and Indian and Persian texts,
580
00:43:42,097 --> 00:43:45,297
they were translating
Egyptian hieroglyphics as well.
581
00:43:45,297 --> 00:43:46,937
Absolutely incredible.
582
00:43:51,017 --> 00:43:54,457
'Unfortunately
for the Caliph Al-Mamun,
583
00:43:54,457 --> 00:43:58,697
'the hieroglyphs
contained no alchemical secrets.
584
00:43:58,697 --> 00:44:03,737
'But what this story reveals to me
is the insatiable curiosity
585
00:44:03,737 --> 00:44:06,857
'Islamic scholars had
about the world.
586
00:44:06,857 --> 00:44:09,137
'They were desperate
to absorb knowledge
587
00:44:09,137 --> 00:44:11,697
'from all cultures purely on merit,
588
00:44:11,697 --> 00:44:16,537
'with no qualms about the places
or religions from which it came.'
589
00:44:16,537 --> 00:44:21,537
Most intellectual traditions,
including, if I may say so, our own,
590
00:44:21,537 --> 00:44:25,297
tend to work very hard
to keep everybody else out.
591
00:44:25,297 --> 00:44:30,937
Whereas here we have an example of
an enterprise which is desperate,
592
00:44:30,937 --> 00:44:37,297
curious, to turn itself into a net
importer of intellectual product.
593
00:44:37,297 --> 00:44:41,137
And that's a very important lesson
for the history of the sciences.
594
00:44:43,937 --> 00:44:46,737
'I was soon to see
just how dramatically
595
00:44:46,737 --> 00:44:49,457
'this fuelled scientific innovation,
596
00:44:49,457 --> 00:44:54,257
'but it's worth remembering
that the translation movement
597
00:44:54,257 --> 00:44:56,817
'wasn't just
about science and medicine.
598
00:44:56,817 --> 00:45:01,897
'As the capital Baghdad sat in the
centre of a vast successful empire,
599
00:45:01,897 --> 00:45:07,057
'it became home to an extraordinary
flourishing of all kinds of culture.
600
00:45:16,457 --> 00:45:21,377
'For this is the time described
by One Thousand And One Nights,
601
00:45:21,377 --> 00:45:26,897
'of great and generous caliphs,
magic carpets, great journeys,
602
00:45:26,897 --> 00:45:31,497
'but also ambitious buildings,
music, dance,
603
00:45:31,497 --> 00:45:35,457
'storytellers, and the arts.'
HE CHANTS IN ARABIC
604
00:45:37,057 --> 00:45:39,897
CHEERING AND CLAPPING
605
00:45:43,977 --> 00:45:48,377
Baghdad was such a cultured and
vibrant city that one traveller
606
00:45:48,377 --> 00:45:53,217
of the time wrote, "There is none
more learned than their scholars,
607
00:45:53,217 --> 00:45:56,177
"more cogent than their theologians,
608
00:45:56,177 --> 00:46:01,297
"more poetic than their poets,
or more reckless than their rakes!"
609
00:46:08,097 --> 00:46:11,297
It really must have felt
like Baghdad and the Arabic Empire
610
00:46:11,297 --> 00:46:15,017
were the world leaders
in civilisation and culture.
611
00:46:15,017 --> 00:46:21,257
To be part of that city's growing
intellectual elite must have
been as exciting as it gets.
612
00:46:24,537 --> 00:46:26,097
It was a new Muslim city.
613
00:46:26,097 --> 00:46:29,417
It only started to be built in 756
614
00:46:29,417 --> 00:46:36,977
so it has that sense of being on the
frontier of being new and different.
615
00:46:36,977 --> 00:46:41,257
It was full of courtiers
and nouveau riche individuals
616
00:46:41,257 --> 00:46:44,257
who were trying to
make their way at the Abbasid court
617
00:46:44,257 --> 00:46:46,817
and it is the sort of place
618
00:46:46,817 --> 00:46:51,177
where innovation is valued and
appreciated.
619
00:46:53,297 --> 00:46:56,897
At the heart of the city's
intellectual life
620
00:46:56,897 --> 00:46:59,497
was a system called the majlis.
621
00:46:59,497 --> 00:47:02,497
The word "majlis" could perhaps
be best translated
622
00:47:02,497 --> 00:47:04,337
as "salon" or "talking house".
623
00:47:06,817 --> 00:47:11,377
In 9th century Baghdad what this
meant was that city's ruling elite,
624
00:47:11,377 --> 00:47:15,217
the Caliph, his courtiers,
the generals and the aristocracy,
625
00:47:15,217 --> 00:47:17,137
would hold regular meetings,
626
00:47:17,137 --> 00:47:20,017
you might call them seminars
or discussions,
627
00:47:20,017 --> 00:47:24,617
during which the city's cleverest
men, the philosophers, theologians,
628
00:47:24,617 --> 00:47:26,817
astronomers and magicians,
629
00:47:26,817 --> 00:47:30,577
would gather to discuss
and debate their ideas.
630
00:47:30,577 --> 00:47:34,017
It was not the case that people
were expected to adhere
631
00:47:34,017 --> 00:47:37,457
to a particular line
or adopt a particular religion.
632
00:47:37,457 --> 00:47:38,937
They were allowed to express
633
00:47:38,937 --> 00:47:41,297
their own views and sentiments
very freely.
634
00:47:41,297 --> 00:47:44,977
The point was that they should
do so in elegant Arabic
635
00:47:44,977 --> 00:47:47,377
and with good logical reasoning.
636
00:47:47,377 --> 00:47:49,617
The effect of the majlis
637
00:47:49,617 --> 00:47:53,657
was to create a heady mix
of money and brains,
638
00:47:53,657 --> 00:47:57,137
with the best minds in the empire
swapping ideas
639
00:47:57,137 --> 00:48:01,337
while simultaneously engaged in
fierce competition for patronage.
640
00:48:02,297 --> 00:48:07,137
'It's at this point my investigation
into the first wave
of Islamic science
641
00:48:07,137 --> 00:48:11,257
'returns me to the man we first met
at the beginning of this story
642
00:48:11,257 --> 00:48:14,857
'in the back streets of Cairo,
the great mathematician
643
00:48:14,857 --> 00:48:17,377
'who brought the West
the decimal system.'
644
00:48:17,377 --> 00:48:21,097
Out of the very heart of this
intellectual whirlwind
645
00:48:21,097 --> 00:48:25,377
came Al-Khwarizmi, mathematician,
astronomer, courtier
646
00:48:25,377 --> 00:48:28,257
and favourite
of the Caliph al-Mam'un.
647
00:48:28,257 --> 00:48:32,497
He was a product of a his age,
an emigre from Eastern Persia
648
00:48:32,497 --> 00:48:35,137
into Baghdad, surrounded by books,
649
00:48:35,137 --> 00:48:39,977
well-versed in learning from Greece,
Persia, India and China,
650
00:48:39,977 --> 00:48:42,137
and fearless in his thinking.
651
00:48:44,177 --> 00:48:47,977
'Al-Khwarizmi brought together
two very different mathematical
652
00:48:47,977 --> 00:48:52,817
'traditions and synthesised them
into something new.'
653
00:48:52,817 --> 00:48:58,097
The capacity to
have on your desk simultaneously
654
00:48:58,097 --> 00:49:02,177
two very different kinds
of mathematics
655
00:49:02,177 --> 00:49:07,017
presses on models
of what counts as calculation,
656
00:49:07,017 --> 00:49:09,377
what counts as measurement,
657
00:49:09,377 --> 00:49:12,977
and I think accelerates
the process of intellectual change.
658
00:49:15,577 --> 00:49:21,017
The first of these traditions
came from the Greek-speaking world.
659
00:49:21,017 --> 00:49:24,977
Greek mathematics dealt mainly
with geometry,
660
00:49:24,977 --> 00:49:29,897
the science of shapes like
triangles, circles and polygons,
661
00:49:29,897 --> 00:49:33,017
and how to calculate
area and volume.
662
00:49:33,017 --> 00:49:36,097
The other great mathematical
tradition
663
00:49:36,097 --> 00:49:39,257
Al-Khwarizmi inherited
came from India.
664
00:49:39,257 --> 00:49:42,937
They'd invented
the ten-symbol decimal system
665
00:49:42,937 --> 00:49:45,817
which made calculating much simpler.
666
00:49:45,817 --> 00:49:48,177
Thanks to the translation movement,
667
00:49:48,177 --> 00:49:51,697
Al-Khwarizmi was in the
astonishingly lucky position
668
00:49:51,697 --> 00:49:57,377
of having access to both Greek
and Indian mathematical traditions.
669
00:49:57,377 --> 00:50:00,377
He combined geometrical intuition
670
00:50:00,377 --> 00:50:02,817
with arithmetic precision,
671
00:50:02,817 --> 00:50:05,937
Greek pictures and Indian symbols,
672
00:50:05,937 --> 00:50:12,017
inspiring a new form of mathematical
thinking that today we call algebra.
673
00:50:16,377 --> 00:50:20,777
'As a physicist, I've spent
much my life doing algebra
674
00:50:20,777 --> 00:50:24,817
'and I can't overstate
its importance in science.
675
00:50:24,817 --> 00:50:27,057
'But it is a strange idea.
676
00:50:27,057 --> 00:50:30,897
'I remember being perplexed when my
maths teacher first started talking
677
00:50:30,897 --> 00:50:35,977
'about mathematics not using numbers
but with symbols like x and y.
678
00:50:38,977 --> 00:50:41,497
'It's an incredibly liberating idea,
679
00:50:41,497 --> 00:50:46,057
'because it allows you to solve
problems without getting bogged down
680
00:50:46,057 --> 00:50:48,457
'in messy numerical calculations.'
681
00:50:48,457 --> 00:50:52,657
So we have here
this priceless manuscript,
682
00:50:52,657 --> 00:50:56,057
HE READS ARABIC
Al-Khwarizmi's book.
683
00:50:56,057 --> 00:50:59,337
'Professor Ian Stewart has studied
algebra
684
00:50:59,337 --> 00:51:01,537
'for much of his working life.
685
00:51:01,537 --> 00:51:04,897
'Together we looked at an early copy
of the book
686
00:51:04,897 --> 00:51:07,577
'in which the idea
really took form.'
687
00:51:07,577 --> 00:51:11,457
I see here, although it's written in
the margins, the title of the book.
688
00:51:11,457 --> 00:51:17,657
Al-Jabr w'al-Muqabala, so that's the
first time the word Al-Jabr appears.
689
00:51:17,657 --> 00:51:20,897
Algebra. That's where
our world algebra comes from.
690
00:51:20,897 --> 00:51:24,537
Now, what I found very early on
is that he said,
691
00:51:24,537 --> 00:51:29,217
"I discovered that people require
three kinds of numbers,"
692
00:51:29,217 --> 00:51:33,337
HE READS ARABIC
So, roots, squares and numbers.
693
00:51:33,337 --> 00:51:35,377
So, what is he trying to do here?
694
00:51:35,377 --> 00:51:38,377
This is what we would now
call x and x squared.
695
00:51:38,377 --> 00:51:40,297
This is quadratic equations.
696
00:51:40,297 --> 00:51:41,857
This really is algebra.
697
00:51:41,857 --> 00:51:43,897
So, he's setting you up for a book
698
00:51:43,897 --> 00:51:47,257
about how to solve
equations by algebraic methods.
699
00:51:47,257 --> 00:51:51,177
Now, quadratic equations, I thought
were around and being solved
700
00:51:51,177 --> 00:51:54,377
long before Al-Khwarizmi back
in Babylonian times.
701
00:51:54,377 --> 00:51:56,737
So what's
the big deal about this book?
702
00:51:56,737 --> 00:51:58,577
It's the point of view.
703
00:51:58,577 --> 00:52:03,897
He treats root and square as if
they were objects in their own right.
704
00:52:03,897 --> 00:52:06,177
They're not just some number
705
00:52:06,177 --> 00:52:08,617
that we are trying to find out,
706
00:52:08,617 --> 00:52:11,017
they are a process you apply.
707
00:52:11,017 --> 00:52:13,537
What Al-Khwarizmi is thinking of
708
00:52:13,537 --> 00:52:17,577
is square means take the root
and multiply it by itself.
709
00:52:17,577 --> 00:52:20,417
And that recipe is true,
whatever the root might be.
710
00:52:20,417 --> 00:52:22,577
If it's five, it's five times five,
it's 25.
711
00:52:22,577 --> 00:52:24,537
If it's three,
it's three times three.
712
00:52:24,537 --> 00:52:28,937
He's giving you a general recipe,
now called an algorithm.
713
00:52:28,937 --> 00:52:30,417
After him.
714
00:52:30,417 --> 00:52:33,497
R...r...right, algorithm comes
from...
715
00:52:33,497 --> 00:52:36,297
Its another world that comes
from Al-Khwarizmi.
716
00:52:36,297 --> 00:52:40,057
Now, he talks about this
procedure on the next page.
717
00:52:40,057 --> 00:52:43,577
You take the number multiplying
the root and then you halve it,
718
00:52:43,577 --> 00:52:45,577
and then you multiply it by itself
719
00:52:45,577 --> 00:52:49,977
Then you add it to the other number
and take the square root.
That's the algorithm, is it?
720
00:52:49,977 --> 00:52:53,737
That's right and this is
where you see the difference,
721
00:52:53,737 --> 00:52:56,617
because previous writers
on the subject
722
00:52:56,617 --> 00:52:58,817
would have said things like,
723
00:52:58,817 --> 00:53:03,217
"Take half of 10, which is 5,
square that, which is 25."
724
00:53:03,217 --> 00:53:05,377
And then they'd do another problem,
725
00:53:05,377 --> 00:53:08,777
take half of 12, which is 6,
and square that, which is 36.
726
00:53:08,777 --> 00:53:13,297
And they'd run you through
the same process over and over
again with different numbers.
727
00:53:13,297 --> 00:53:17,097
And it would be up to you to infer
how to do it on the next problem.
728
00:53:17,097 --> 00:53:19,137
But he doesn't do that.
He doesn't do that.
729
00:53:19,137 --> 00:53:20,817
He says, "Take half the root,
730
00:53:20,817 --> 00:53:23,137
"whatever the root is,
take half the root."
731
00:53:23,137 --> 00:53:25,017
So half the root is an object.
732
00:53:25,017 --> 00:53:27,737
If the root is an object,
so is half the root.
733
00:53:27,737 --> 00:53:30,937
So you don't have to have in your
mind what that root stands for.
734
00:53:30,937 --> 00:53:33,137
You can forget about
what it stands for.
735
00:53:33,137 --> 00:53:37,817
When you come to square it, you
just know to square the thing,
I don't care what the thing is.
736
00:53:37,817 --> 00:53:43,657
So, you abandon temporarily
this link with specific numbers,
737
00:53:43,657 --> 00:53:48,897
manipulate the new objects according
to the rules his book is explaining.
738
00:53:48,897 --> 00:53:52,657
And then the numbers that these
objects are represent
739
00:53:52,657 --> 00:53:57,017
in your particular problem will
miraculously appear at the end
740
00:53:57,017 --> 00:54:00,137
and you'll end up with x = 3
or whatever it is.
741
00:54:00,137 --> 00:54:04,297
So, how revolutionary do you regard
Al-Khwarizmi's work?
742
00:54:04,297 --> 00:54:10,497
He made it possible for algebra to
exist as a subject in its own right,
743
00:54:10,497 --> 00:54:12,977
rather than as a technique
for finding numbers.
744
00:54:12,977 --> 00:54:18,857
The least interesting bit of an
algebraic calculation is when you get
to the end and discover that x = 3.
745
00:54:18,857 --> 00:54:21,457
It's the route you take to get there.
746
00:54:21,457 --> 00:54:24,737
But if it was a special route and
a different route for each problem,
747
00:54:24,737 --> 00:54:27,977
that wouldn't be interesting either,
it would just be a big mess.
748
00:54:27,977 --> 00:54:31,817
There's a beautiful general series
of principles,
749
00:54:31,817 --> 00:54:35,937
and if you understand those,
then you understand algebra.
750
00:54:57,657 --> 00:55:01,417
What is the true global
importance of algebra?
751
00:55:01,417 --> 00:55:05,377
It's been used throughout the ages
to solve all sorts of problems.
752
00:55:05,377 --> 00:55:09,977
Let the mass of a cannon ball
be 'm', let the distance
it has to travel be 'd'.
753
00:55:09,977 --> 00:55:13,337
You use algebra to work out
the optimum angle
754
00:55:13,337 --> 00:55:15,657
you have to point your cannon.
755
00:55:15,657 --> 00:55:18,257
That sort of knowledge wins wars.
756
00:55:19,097 --> 00:55:21,817
'Or let's call the speed of light
'c',
757
00:55:21,817 --> 00:55:25,337
'the change in the mass of an atomic
nucleus 'm',
758
00:55:25,337 --> 00:55:28,617
'and then calculate the energy
released
759
00:55:28,617 --> 00:55:32,617
'with the following algebraic
formula, E=mc2.
760
00:55:34,777 --> 00:55:38,977
'Mastery of that information
truly is power.
761
00:55:50,857 --> 00:55:53,977
'Algebra has helped
create the modern world.
762
00:55:53,977 --> 00:55:57,737
'Our science is
unimaginable without it.
763
00:55:57,737 --> 00:56:00,417
'It sums up so much
that was remarkable
764
00:56:00,417 --> 00:56:03,217
'about medieval Islamic science,
765
00:56:03,217 --> 00:56:08,537
'taking ideas from Greece and India,
combining and enhancing them.
766
00:56:08,537 --> 00:56:12,177
'Similarly, modern medicine
owes a considerable debt
767
00:56:12,177 --> 00:56:14,817
'to the work of the Islamic
physicians.
768
00:56:14,817 --> 00:56:18,657
'But I think the real story of what
happened to science
769
00:56:18,657 --> 00:56:21,737
'in the Islamic world in 8th and 9th
centuries
770
00:56:21,737 --> 00:56:24,537
'tells us more than any single
discovery.
771
00:56:24,537 --> 00:56:26,657
'What it really tells us
772
00:56:26,657 --> 00:56:30,817
'is about the universal truth
of science itself.'
773
00:56:34,137 --> 00:56:36,937
I believe that the first great
achievement
774
00:56:36,937 --> 00:56:40,137
of the medieval Islamic scientists
was to prove
775
00:56:40,137 --> 00:56:43,697
that science isn't Islamic,
or Hindu or Hellenistic,
776
00:56:43,697 --> 00:56:45,897
or Jewish, Buddhist or Christian.
777
00:56:45,897 --> 00:56:49,337
It cannot be claimed
by any one culture.
778
00:56:49,337 --> 00:56:53,097
Before Islam,
science was spread across the world.
779
00:56:53,097 --> 00:56:55,177
But the scholars of medieval Islam
780
00:56:55,177 --> 00:56:58,177
pieced together this giant
scientific jigsaw,
781
00:56:58,177 --> 00:56:59,697
by absorbing knowledge
782
00:56:59,697 --> 00:57:03,777
that had originated from far beyond
their own empire's borders.
783
00:57:03,777 --> 00:57:07,217
This great synthesis produced
not just new science,
784
00:57:07,217 --> 00:57:09,217
but showed for the first time
785
00:57:09,217 --> 00:57:11,297
that science as an enterprise
786
00:57:11,297 --> 00:57:15,537
transcends political
borders and religious affiliations.
787
00:57:15,537 --> 00:57:19,417
It's a body of knowledge
that benefits all humans.
788
00:57:19,417 --> 00:57:24,057
That's an idea that's as relevant
and as inspiring as ever.
789
00:57:38,417 --> 00:57:43,377
'In the next episode, I investigate
how one of the most important ideas
790
00:57:43,377 --> 00:57:46,017
'in the world arose
in the Islamic empire.
791
00:57:46,017 --> 00:57:50,897
'I discover how mathematics and
experimentation fused together
792
00:57:50,897 --> 00:57:55,177
'as the empire embraced
a medieval industrial revolution.
793
00:57:55,177 --> 00:58:00,177
'And in Cairo, I find out
how these ideas
794
00:58:00,177 --> 00:58:03,977
'led directly to today's
world of science and technology.'
795
00:58:21,457 --> 00:58:24,537
Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd
796
00:58:24,537 --> 00:58:27,537
E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk
797
00:58:28,537 --> 00:58:38,537
Downloaded From www.AllSubs.org