"History of the intellectual development of Europe"

John William Draper'in (1811-1882) 1876 senesinde 2 cild olarak neşredilen History of the intellectual development of Europe adlı kitabında, Avrupa'nın Müslümanlara ilmen borçlu olduklarını görmezlikten gelmelerini şu sözlerle tenkid etmektedir [1]:

I have to deplore the systematic manner in which the literature of Europe has contrived to put out of sight our scientific obligations to the Mohammedans. Surely they cannot be much longer hidden. Injustice founded on religious rancour and national conceit cannot be perpetuated for ever. What should the modern astronomer say when, remembering the contemporary barbarism of Europe, he finds the Arab Abul Hassan speaking of tubes, to the extremities of which ocular and object diopters, perhaps sights, were attached, as used at Meragha? what when he reads of the attempts of Abderrahman Sufi at improving the photometry of the stars? Are the astronomical tables of Ebn Junis (A.D. 1008), called the Hakemite tables, or the Ilkanic tables of Nasser Eddin Tasi, constructed at the great observatory just mentioned, Meragha, near Tauris, A.D. 1259, or the measurement of time by pendulum oscillations, and the methods of correcting astronomical tables by systematic observations—are such things worthless indications of the mental state? The Arab has left his intellectual impress on Europe, as, before long, Christendom will have to confess; he has indelibly written it on the heavens, as any one may see who reads the names of the stars on a common celestial globe.

Avrupa bu gibi tenkidlere kulak vererek, İslam Medeniyetinin insanlığa yaptıklarını takdir etmeye başlamıştır. Son yıllarda artan İslam bilim ve medeniyeti ile alakalı çalışmalar - bunların önemli bir kısmı yabancı ilim adamlarınca yürütülmektedir- Türkiye'de de yankı bulmaktadır. Belki birgün bizler de Avrupa'nın Klasiklerine ulaştıkları gibi kendi Klasiklerimize ulaşabiliriz.

Referanslar

[1] John William Draper, History of the intellectual development of Europe, New York, 1876, cild II, s. 42. Kitabın  pdf halini buradan  (cild-I ve cild-II) indirebilirsiniz.