When Egyptian-French author Gilbert Sinoue walked through the gates of Manarat Al Saadiyat and witnessed the dynamic discussions on arts, policy and technology at the Culture Summit Abu Dhabi, he thought of the vibrant intellectual gatherings that defined the Golden Age of Islamic civilisation.
From the hallowed halls of Baghdad's Bayt Al Hikmah under the Abbasid Caliphs to Morocco’s University of Al Qarawiyyin during the reign of the Almoravids and Almohads, such gatherings from the 8th to the 13th century brought together scholars and experts from across disciplines to exchange knowledge and cultures.
“I do feel that what is happening here in Abu Dhabi is in the spirit of those exchanges,” Sinoue tells The National at the summit. “And that’s because there is a curiosity here to know and understand from others.
“While these exchanges can be done in various ways, from big investments to smaller events, that curiosity is the key – and it is what really laid the foundations of what became the Islamic Golden Age all those centuries ago.”
Sinoue lays out some of these examples in The Golden Age of Arab Civilisation, published in April in Arabic and French. The accessible work explores key figures from the era and makes a case for the Arab world’s significant contributions to culture and science.
It is a project Sinoue felt compelled to undertake in response to the divisive commentary about the region emanating from certain European thinkers.
“There were some astonishing assertions made by certain western historians in books claiming that the West owes nothing to Arab civilisation and that we are completely wrong to believe Arabs had any influence on the shaping of European history,” he says.
“Arabic, as a Semitic language, was even described as being incapable of expressing the complex ideas of ancient Greek philosophy. That’s why it became so easy for some to claim that Christian Europe was the true and only successor to Greek philosophy and science.”
Sinoue ascribes these arguments, which he describes as both “ridiculous and an oversimplification”, to a combative understanding of culture and civilisations.
“Why is there this need to place one civilisation against another, and why must one culture be diminished for another to shine?” he says. “These kinds of assertions are aimed at minimising Europe’s intellectual debt to the Arabs – because when there is no debt, there is no need to give credit.”
The book is divided into chapters exploring the important people and achievements that marked the era Sinoue says Europe once regarded as the Dark Ages. Among those featured are Ibn Khaldun, considered the father of sociology; Avicenna, a pioneering figure in medicine; and Al Khwarizmi, regarded as the founder of algebra and algorithms.
Sinoue notes that many of these achievements built on concepts first developed in other parts of the world.
The book notes how Al Khwarizmi played an important role in popularising the mathematical concept of zero, which initially came from India through 7th-century mathematicians such as Brahmagupta. The modern hypodermic syringe traces some of its roots to the 9th-century Arab physician Ammar ibn Ali Al-Mawsili. He is credited with inventing a practical syringe for use in surgical operations.
“These achievements go against the arguments that Arabs were merely caretakers who simply translated ancient texts into their own language without truly understanding, shaping or adding anything to them,” Sinoue says.
“In reality, cities like Baghdad, Damascus and Cairo were alive with scholars, scientists and translators who were deeply engaged with Greek and Latin texts – translating them into Arabic, studying them and expanding upon them with original ideas of their own.”
This points to a deeper characteristic responsible for some of the Arab world’s historic successes, he adds, which could only be achieved through a spirit of coexistence and intellectual tolerance.
“History clearly shows that the Arab Islamic world went through a golden age because it was a time full of knowledge, creativity and intellectual openness,” he says. “The ability to think, to question, to seek knowledge is not owned by one culture or one religion.”
With advances in artificial intelligence potentially leading to another golden age of science, Sinoue says they should not come at the expense of culture, as they complement each other.
“One is the brother of the other and they need to work together,” he says. “While technology can make us more free, we should also provide the same liberty of writing and thinking, and not put up walls against knowledge. The history of our region shows that all great things have begun with knowledge and curiosity.”
