ACHIEVEMENTS OF THE SARACENS.
INTELLECTUAL STAGNATION--SARACENS AND JEWS REVIVE LEARNING--UNIVERSITY
OF BAGDAD--PUBLIC SCHOOLS--MEDICAL COLLEGE OF CAIRO--CIRCULATING
LIBRARY--MODERN FORM OF BOOKS--ARABIC NOTATION--DISCOVERIES IN
CHEMISTRY--ROTUNDITY OF THE EARTH--MARINER'S COMPASS--DISCOVERIES OF
ALHAZIN--ASTRONOMICAL OBSERVATORIES--GOLDEN AGE OF JUDAISM--CITIES OF
ANDALUSIA--SARACEN DWELLINGS--CONDITION OF WOMEN--FEMALE PHYSICIANS.
The civilized world is dotted over with theological seminaries, the
teachers in which are considered to be men well educated in the
learning of ancient and modern times. The avowed purpose of these
institutions is to teach the facts, philosophy and history of the
so-called Christian religion, yet not a teacher in these institutions
can be found who dares to assert the stupendous fact that from the time
of the apostles to the ninth century science, literature and philosophy
were well nigh extinct. During all this time, with the exception
{35} of Jewish and Saracen writers, scarcely a work can be found of
sufficient merit to rescue the name of the author from oblivion. Let
the skeptic answer this question: Why was it that when the voice of
inspiration was hushed and the gospel and its ordinances taken from
the earth, there fell upon it an intellectual stagnation, an invisible
atmosphere of oppression, ready to crash down morally and physically
whatever provoked its weight? Thus the dreary and weary centuries
rolled on, until a nation, hitherto considered barbarous, yet of the
seed of Abraham, and heirs of the promises made to Ishmael and Esau,
aroused society from the hideous fanaticism, ignorance and superstition
into which apostasy had plunged it.
If it be true that the Saracens burned the Alexandrian library, it
must be considered that this was the act of an uneducated general and
the vengeance of the soldiery after a terrible siege, rather than the
deliberate policy of the government. Within twenty-five years from the
death of Mahomet the Caliphs had become famous for their patronage of
learning. Ali, the fourth Caliph and son-in-law of Mahomet, used to
say, "The world is sustained by four things only: the prayers of the
good, the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, and the valor
of the brave." This sentiment was echoed and re-echoed until it became
an honored maxim in the minds of millions.
Under the influence of Jewish, Nestorian and Saracen teachers the
manners of the Saracens became more polished and their thoughts more
elevated. They made conquests in the realms of science, literature and
the arts as quickly as in the provinces of the Roman empire.
For example, Almansor, who reigned as Caliph from A. D. 753 to 775,
established the University of Bagdad, and endowed it with two hundred
thousand pieces of gold, and an annual revenue of fifteen thousand
dinars, equal in commercial value to one hundred and twenty thousand
dollars of our money. He invited thither learned men from every land,
irrespective of their religious opinions. By these men were founded
celebrated schools of mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, medicine, law
and languages.
{36} His grand-son, Haroun-al-Raschid, ordered in A. D. 786, that a
public school should be attached to every mosque in his dominions.
This was more than seven hundred years before the establishment of the
famous parish schools of Scotland.
The Caliph-al-Mamun, in A. D. 813, founded the great medical college
of Cairo, which required students to pass a rigid examination before
receiving authority to enter on the practice of their profession. At
this college we have the first account of dissecting human bodies for
the purpose of ascertaining the nature and locality of diseases, and
the first circulating library for students. These books were bound
according to the modern form, which then began to be used among the
Saracens in place of the ancient form of the scroll.
By the means just mentioned, the ancient sciences were greatly extended
and new ones introduced. To the Saracens we are indebted for our
present system of arithmetical notation. If, for example, we wish
to multiply 1882 by 125 and then attempt it by the ancient method
MDCCCLXXXII., multiplied by CXXV., we shall soon perceive the vast
superiority of the Arabic system over that formerly in use. No wonder,
then that under the ancient system those who were engaged in solving
difficult mathematical problems were frequently styled "sweating
calculators."
In this case as in many others the Arab has left his impress on this
science. For instance, our word cipher, and kindred words, such as
decipher, ciphering, etc., are derived from the word _tsaphara, or
ciphra_, the name for the 0 in the Arabic language.
In experimental sciences, they originated chemistry and discovered
the nature and properties of sulphuric acid, nitric acid, alcohol and
many other chemical agents. From their schools of medicine may be
traced such words as julep, syrup, elixir, alchemy, etc. To them we
are indebted for algebra, or universal arithmetic, and in astronomy
they made such advances that many constellations and stars of the first
magnitude still retain the Arabic names.
In geography, the Saracens made important discoveries. Hitherto mankind
had been taught that the earth was a vast {37} plain, surmounted by an
immense vault commonly called the sky. They were the first to prove
that the earth is a vast globe, or ball; and in order to determine its
size, they first ascertained on the level shore of the Red sea the
exact position of the North Star. Then traveling directly north until
it had attained another degree of elevation, they measured the distance
between these points, and multiplying the result by three hundred and
sixty (the number of degrees in a circle), they found the earth to be
nearly twenty-five thousand miles in circumference. So accurate were
their observations and measurements that the best calculators of recent
times differ from them less than one-third of a mile.
Five hundred years later the Roman pontiffs were excommunicating and
torturing those who taught the rotundity of the earth. While Catholic
monks were teaching, in all its absurdity, the flatness of the earth,
and how it rested on a vast rock, and that rock on another and so on
all the way down to the bottom(?), the Saracens were teaching geography
from globes in their common schools. It cost a long struggle through
several centuries, "with spiritual wickedness in high places," before
the truth finally triumphed.
European historians have generally given great credit to Pope Gregory
for the invention and adoption of the Gregorian calendar and a more
accurate method of measuring the exact length of the civil year.
Yet, Gregory only adopted what had been discovered and taught by
Thebit-Ben-Corrah, the Saracen astronomer, more than five hundred years
before, and what Gregory himself had learned in youth while attending a
Saracen university.
The mariner's compass was well known to the Arabs, who probably brought
it from China and introduced it to the nations of Europe. From this we
may correctly infer that they were a maritime people. In fact, long
before the time of Mahomet, Arabian merchants were acquainted with the
Indies, and even China and the eastern coast of Africa as far south as
Madagascar.
Alhazin, who wrote about A. D. 1080, made the great discovery of
atmospheric refraction--that a ray of light when it touches the
atmosphere is bent from a straight line; and {38} consequently we see
the sun before it rises and after it sets, in the same manner that
an object lying at the bottom of a bucket filled with water appears
in quite a different position from that in which it really is. He
was the first to give that beautiful and scientific explanation of
twilight, viz., the refraction of light, which is still regarded by
modern scientists as the true one. He even attempted to ascertain the
height of the atmosphere, which he estimated to be about fifty-eight
and a half miles. This philosopher also wrote a treatise on weights and
measures, and introduced that excellent system of weighing by means
of a small, movable weight attached to the longer arm of a lever, as
in our modern scales or steelyards. The Arabian astronomer, Ebn-Junis,
was the first who made use of the pendulum in the machinery of clocks
for the accurate measurement of the hours.
In the golden age of the Saracen empire, there were colleges in every
part of its vast dominions. So numerous were these institutions, that
more than six thousand students received instructions in them annually.
In the far east were the college and astronomical observatory of
Samercand; while in the western province of Andalusia were the famous
school and observatory of Giralda.
The first medical college established in Europe was that founded by the
Saracens at Salerno, in Italy; the first famous school of mathematics
and astronomy was that established by them at Seville, in Spain.
Among them, learning was not confined to the rich, but every class
received its benefits. The teachers of their colleges were paid liberal
salaries for their services, and an allowance was made for indigent
scholars, so that the son of the mechanic could graduate from the same
class as the heirs of the Caliphs.
At first glance it seems remarkable that the wild ferocity of the Arabs
should so suddenly change into a passion for intellectual pursuits; yet
it should not be forgotten that this ferocity was to a great extent
caused by religious enthusiasm. Thus, when the General Akbah had
conquered his way from Egypt to the Atlantic ocean, opposite the Canary
Islands, he rode his horse into the sea and drew his sword, exclaiming,
{39} "Great Allah! if my course were not stopped by this sea, I would
still go on to the unknown regions of the West, preaching the unity
of thy holy name, and putting to the sword the rebellious nations who
worship any other gods than thee."
Again, when we consider that a large majority of their teachers and
philosophers were of the Jewish nation, we see a beautiful Providence
in all this. The remnants of God's chosen people, though exiles and
wanderers, despised and down-trodden by the Gentiles, were yet the
instruments in God's hands for the execution of His purposes and the
elevation of the race.
Surely there is a broader, higher, grander meaning in the promise
given to Abraham, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth
be blessed," than many are willing to admit! And this is all the
more remarkable, that, at the very time when mankind so much needed
instruction, should occur what Milman so aptly terms, "The golden
age of Judaism." Not an age of royal pomp and political power--that
passed away with David and Solomon--but an age of intellectual culture,
scientific research and practical discovery.
Strange it would appear to the casual student, if upon further
research he should find that all great religious teachers have been of
Israelitish origin, as well as a large proportion of those who have
achieved distinction in the arts and sciences. But it was in Spain,
southern France and Sicily that the Saracens attained their greatest
power and influence; for there they came in contact with the nations of
western Europe, and so influenced European manners, customs and modes
of thought that through them that influence has been transmitted to our
times.
To the ingenuity of the Saracens we are indebted for the origin of
many articles of clothing and personal comfort. Their religion taught
them to be clean in person. They did not therefore clothe themselves,
according to prevailing customs in that age, in an under-garment made
from the skins of wild beasts--a garment which remained unwashed and
unchanged until it dropped to pieces of itself, a loathsome mass of
vermin, stench and rags. They taught us the use of that often-changed
and often-washed garment commonly called a shirt, {40} which still is
known among the ladies under its old Arabic name, _chemise_.
To them we are indebted for some of our most valuable fruits, such as
the apricot and peach.
Remembering the cooling effects of water in their own hot climate, they
spared no pains in constructing artificial lakes and fountains and
streams for the irrigation of their gardens.
Andalusia became the paradise of the world. The capital was Cordova,
which they greatly embellished as well as the rival cities Toledo,
Seville and Granada. A person might walk for miles through their cities
after night-fall by the light of their public lamps. Seven hundred
years afterwards, not a single public lamp could be found in the city
of London. The streets of these cities were solidly paved, through
which rolled magnificent carriages, drawn by horses, the fame of which
has descended to our times. Five hundred years later the sovereigns of
Great Britain and Germany were still traveling in uncouth wagons, drawn
by oxen, goaded on by pedestrian drivers.
The sidewalks of Cordova, Toledo, Seville and Granada were paved with
flagstones; while at a corresponding period the inhabitant of London or
Paris who ventured beyond his threshold on a rainy day sank ankle-deep
in filth and mud. Their residences were frequently in the midst of
orchards or embosomed in shady groves. They had cool and spacious
porches for rest in the heat of the day. Often these porches had roofs
of stained glass, on which fell in soothing cadences the glittering
pearl-drops of water from elevated fountains.
Their houses were usually built of brick or stone, and contained
many apartments, such as sleeping rooms, baths, libraries, parlors
and dining halls. In the best class of dwellings, the ceilings were
frescoed and the walls covered with paintings, representing scenes of
paradise, groves and fruits, lawns and fountains. Yet, delineations of
the human form, either nude or partly so, were religiously forbidden,
as it was considered that such representations were promotive of
licentiousness.
{41} Some of these apartments were furnished with musical instruments,
where the young of both sexes were wont to join in mirth and festivity,
and dancing to the music of the lute and mandolin. In others, the
sedate and reflecting, could engage in scientific research or
philosophical discussion. The {42} dwellings of the rich were carpeted,
and sometimes warmed by furnaces in winter and cooled in summer with
perfumed air, brought by under-ground pipes from distant flower
gardens. The use of wine was prohibited. The feasts of the Saracens
were marked with sobriety, and furnished a pleasing contrast to the
drunken revelries of their northern neighbors.
[Image: Interior of a Saracen Palace.]
The enchanting moonlight evenings of Andalusia were frequently spent
by the devout in sequestered gardens, consoling themselves for
the disappointments of this life by the hope of immortality, and
reconciling themselves to their daily toil by the expectation of the
joys of paradise, where flowers never fade nor fruits decay, where
sickness, and sorrow, and death are known no more.
Under Saracen government, religious persecution was unknown. Students
from Great Britain, Ireland, France and Germany came to study at
Saracen universities. There, among distinguished characters, whose
names and influence have descended to our times, was Frederick,
afterwards Frederick II., king of Italy; Gerbert, afterwards famous as
Pope Sylvester II.; Peter the Venerable, Abelard, the poet, and Arnold
of Brescia.
No wonder then that the Saracens looked with contempt upon the
barbarism of the native races of Europe, who could scarcely be said to
have emerged from the savage state--unclean in person, benighted in
mind, inhabiting huts in which it was a mark of wealth if there were
bulrushes on the floor and straw mats against the wall; subsisting on
barley, beans, cabbages, herbs and even the bark of trees; clothed
in rudely-tanned skins of wild animals, which were famous indeed for
durability, but not very conducive to personal cleanliness.
But the arts, sciences and general culture were not confined to the
Saracen men alone. Among the women there were many who, like Valada,
Ayesha, Labana and Algasania, achieved a national reputation. Some
of these were daughters of Caliphs, who considered it not beneath
their dignity to devote their lives to science and the elevation of
their sex. Where shall we find their equals at that time in so-called
Christian countries? Albucasis, a celebrated physician of Cordova,
{43} in his medical works, makes mention of several female physicians,
and recommends the employment of such in certain cases. No doubt the
condition of women was superior and their duties and position better
understood among polygamous Saracens than in monogamous Christendom.
The foregoing will indicate to some extent the condition of Saracen
society in the tenth and eleventh centuries. Shall we compare it with
the contemporary barbarism of the other portions of Europe?
Were we to pursue this subject further it would not be difficult to
show that Venice owed her commercial greatness to Saracen fleets
and Jewish merchants; that Marco Polo only traveled over countries
already well delineated on maps, and well described by Abulfeda and
other Arabian geographers; that Columbus himself first received
scientific proof of the rotundity of the earth while corresponding with
Torricelli, the great Florentine astronomer, who in turn had received
his education at the Saracen university of Seville, and modelled his
globes, maps and charts from those in its possession.
The careful student of history must deplore the attempts made by many
historians to ignore our indebtedness to the Saracens, who in the
providence of God have left their impress on the religions, arts and
sciences of the world. Surely prejudice founded on national conceit and
sectarian bigotry cannot last forever.
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