I come from the same region as Dr. Maziak and, by coincidence, I work
in one of the same fields as him: tobacco control and particularly the new
world hookah (narghile) smoking epidemic. I was surprised by Dr. Maziak’s
apocalyptic description of the Arab word, based on the misuse of the
“scientific revolution” concept that he identifies with the recent global
technical and informational changes.
First, I wish to point out that the Arab world is the cradle of
important scientific revolutions that took place mainly between the 9th
and 15th centuries. Unfortunately, a prevalent western official
reductionist history of sciences has considered Arab scientists
as mere ethnographers of the Greek heritage. However, for three decades or
so, a dual historical and epistemological approach has allowed the
emergence of a new conception in this field (1, 2).
It shows, for instance, that Al-Biruni’s black chamber represented a
revolutionary step in optics. Algebra (Arabic for “reduction”) is also an
Arab invention. More, these innovative scientists applied sciences to each
other: excogitating polynomial algebra, algebraic geometry (totally
unknown in the Greek world as well as combinatory algebra), plain
trigonometry, etc. Regarding methodology, they carried on repeated
experiments and numerous observations (astronomy, etc.) with the aim of
testing theoretical demonstrations. More, there was a real community of
scientists, discussing and critiquing the predecessors and each other’s
results, developing scientific correspondence, team work, etc.
In these conditions, even the recent information revolution conjured
by Dr. Maziak would not have come to light without the seminal
contributions of Arab science. Indeed, how would computers work without
the central analysis of Al-Khawarizmi about the zero? Even the
computational “@” symbol might well be of Arab origin :“arobase” from
Spanish “arroba”, from Arabic “ar-rub’, meaning one quarter, a weight unit
used by traders of the 16th century and equivalent to the 12,5 kg “anfora”
(Pr. Stabile, Rome University). So, why would Arabs be afraid of the
supposedly “new” science? Notwithstanding, Dr. Maziak fails to mention two
important points in relation to the New Deal:
1. Language. Arabic has actually been the international language of
science between the 9th and 15th centuries. Today, it is English but
tomorrow it could be another language. Indeed, institutions like the UN
and the European Union face a heavy financial burden: between 1/3 and 1/4
of their budget goes into translation. The work of many scientists is
ignored because of their insufficient knowledge of English. I know an
excellent review on bidi smoking that remains unknown because it is in
Italian. So, Arab scientists are not an exception although those from the
Western part of the Arab world, where the second official language is
French, are greatly handicapped by this situation. So, only God knows if tomorrow international exchange communication will
be performed, let us say, in Esperanto (uea.org), an efficient linguistic
tool with a highly positive 100 year experience.
2. Research Funding. Research funding should not necessarily come from the West. My
personal work experience, including in the field (Middle East), showed me
that the best studies in tobacco control (hookah) were carried on by
researchers of the so-called South with modest material means (3). So, I
think that funding should rather be used to send researchers of the North
to these remote countries like Pakistan and India and be trained there on
the importance of the socio-cultural context and other anthropological
subtleties completely ignored or misunderstood in recent studies from the
North. My work with UNESCO also showed me the serious problems brought
about by the direct importation of prevention models designed in other
sociocultural contexts.
Since Dr Maziak cites the history philosopher and pioneer of
sociology Ibn Khaldun, I am afraid this scientist (4), whose masterpiece
is “Al-muqaddIma” and not “Al-muqaddammah,” would not call today for a
purportedly missing “scientific revolution” in the Arab world. Yet, he
would denounce, on ethical grounds, the huge wastefulness of resources
that deepens the gap between the so-called West and East. In this new
informational deal, the Arabs are neither a cultural nor economic
exception. Their problem is the problem faced by the majority of societies
in the so-called South.
Kamal Chaouachi
Researcher in Socio-Anthropology and Tobaccology (Paris)
References
(1) RASHED Roshdi (Ed.). Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic
Science. Routledge (London/New York) 1996; 3 vol : 1105 pages.
(2) BELLLOSTA Hélène, RASHED Roshdi. Ibrahim Ibn Sinan: Logique et
géométrie au Xème siècle ; Brill (Leiden) 2000.
(3) CHAOUACHI Kamal. Le narguilé : analyse socio-anthropologique.
Culture, convivialité, histoire et tabacologie d’un mode d’usage populaire
du tabac. Doctoral Thesis, Université Paris X (France), 420 pages. [Engl.:
"Narghile (hookah): a Socio-Anthropological Analysis. Culture,
Conviviality, History and Tobaccology of a Popular Tobacco Use Mode”].
(4) IBN KHALDUN (‘Abd-’ar-Rahman) ’AL-MAGRIBY. Al-muqaddima. Beirut,
Dar ’ihya’ et-turath ’al-‘araby
E-Letters: ![[Read E-Letter]](/icons/misc/sectionDOWN.gif){kind=icon}
