AL JARIDA AL MAGHRIBIA
NOVEMBER 1997
Voltaire and Ibn Khaldoun
TO QUOTE and NOT TO QUOTE, that is the dilemma! the one faced by many educated Moroccans who find it much easier to quote European authors or being versed with Western culture while seeming oblivious about Arab sources and Arabic history and culture. This is more true for Moroccan than it is for the Arabs of the Mashrek. Though this is an important topic faced by many Moroccan expatriates, it is also very sensitive. On an individual level, everyone should be free to use a language of one's choice and read the authors of one's preference. Not only that but it should be applauded. Personally, I rejoice at seeing other Moroccans who have mastered a foreign language or a particular discipline or speciality. The more knowledge the better. But there is a larger question here which can be raised and
discussed without the dilemma of intruding on one's personal
linguistic and literary choices. The question can be asked at
least in two ways: 1. To what extend our (seemingly) negligence of our own culture (in aspects of literature, philosophy, theologoy, sciences, poetry and others) adds to our feeling culturally dependent on the West. 2. To what extend this negligence contribute to the perpetuation of stereotypes and disdain the Arabic and Islamic culture continue to receive while its contributions to history and world civilization are either belittled or ignored. The simple answer to both, in my opinion, is a LOT. A more elaborate answer must begin with the recent history...
We are all very familiar with the immediate and overriding cause: our inadequate education in Arabic culture and liberal arts in post- independence Morocco. My purpose is not to lay blame on "les responsables" but rather to present my historical reading on why so. Long after the independence much of the education was still handled by the French. Morocco simply didn't have enough educated teachers to meet national needs. Following independence, Morocco like all newly independent countries, sought to modernise itself, and in the process the "Europeanization" or "westernization" of our society continued. We didn't only take science and technology to pursue our development needs we also we also adopted everything that came our way from Europe and that we could afford. We took
European literature, arts and a whole Western value system and tried to make it our own. Certainly they were nationalistic tendencies which reminded us of our Arabic and Islamic heritage, but these were largely ineffectual (at least until the mid-seventies). Everything that was French and European was worth pursuing, emulating, imitating, and anything that was associated with Arabic and Islam was reactionary, anti-modern, and therefore could be neglected. To a great extend our one-sided education was the result of these conditions.
That's for the immediate history. As for the deep history, another
reason why we seem disconnected from our heritage can be traced to a perception that much of what we can be proud of happened a long time ago; The pre-eminence of theArabo-Islamic civilization occurred between the 8th and the 14th centuries A.D. But since the 15th century this same civilization seem to have run out of breath and the creative period seem to have stopped (for whatever reasons) except in
some places like the Mughal dynasty in India and the Sassanid in Iran. The last great Islamic scholar of world stature was Ibn
Khaldoun in the 14th century. Doubtless that this discountinuity has contributed to the attitute espoused by Europeans and many educated Moroccans that this Arabo-Islamic heritage, is not relevant to the modern times and at any rates was largely superseeded by European scientific, technical and literary output during the last five hundred years and counting.
But this last argument is a false one. The question is not whether the mathematics of Al Khawarizmi or the optics of Ibn Alhaytham are relevant for today's complex math and physics. The real issue is to whether we fully appreciate the contributions of non-Western civilizations including ours and the extensive and fertile cultural exchanges from the Arabo-Islamic civilization to the European-Western one which took place over many centuries. It is very disheartening to know that Arabo-Persian-Islamic contributions to history are either belittled by Europeans ("Arabs simply preserved the Greek knoweldge") or totally ignored. There is a great need to correct and modify the entranched and distorted euro- centric perception of history which we also received, and we stand to gain a lot if we do so.
Would it not make agreat difference if the Europeans and Americans learned about:
- Descartes's predecessors Ibn Alhaytam, Omar Khayyam, and Al-Khawarizmi and their original math contributions...
- Dante's direct inspiration for "Divine Comedy" from the
Arabic stories on Muhammed's ascent to Heaven...
- Roger Bacon, the presumed father of experimental science, who simply learned it directly from the Arabs...
- the direct influence of Andalusian romantic poetry on the
emergence of Romance poetry in Southern French (troubadours)...
When the Europeans and Americans speak of Sheakspeare and Dante as summits in poetry should we not introduce them to the towering figures of Rumi, Saadi, and Hafiz, Al Moutanabbi...
Should we not learn, write and talk about the influences of:
Al-Ghazali and Ibn Rushd on Thomas Aquinas,
Hafiz on Goethe,
Ibn Arabi on Spinoza and Dante;
and Arabic/Persian poetry on Montesquieu and Victor Hugo.
Should we not remind everyone that:
"Thousands and One night" was the second largest reprinted book in the history of Europe up to the 18th century (after the bible).
Ibn Nafis was the first to discover the blood circulation and not
William Harvey.
The first European university in Salerno in Southern Italy was
built in 9th century for the purpose of studying the Arabic books of medicine.
The first European hospitals were imitation of Islamic hospitals
by the returning crusaders...
etc etc....
If you can imagine the powerful effects such an awakening of the Western public to this vast cultural exchanges, and the
debt that Western civilization owes to the Arabo-Persian-Islamic one:
...how much would that melt the thick layers of negative stereotypes and misleading images
...what would that do to soften the ratial attitudes towards Arabs
and "orientals" in general
...how much easier a life of an Arab in Suburban Paris or Washington DC or Detroit would be knowing that the surrounding community is educated in and respectful of his/her culture and heritage.
I am not talking about private lives. For it is true that at least
in America, most Arab-Americans (and Moroccan-Americans) are doing well financially and economically and have good education, what they most yearn for is a cultural respect. This will only happen if we pay more attention to our much neglected heritage (without forgetting other intellectual and educational pursuits of course).
I am in no way inferring that all Moroccan expatriates must be
literate in history and Arabic language. Each to their interests,
preferences and their passions. There are many Arab intellectuals who devoted their professional lives to build bridges between the West and the East. To name but a few, I can mention Amin Maaloof in France, Edward Said in America and Albert Hourani in England. We can certainly benefit from their works and we need more of them. A lot more.
Aziz Elbehri
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Created :02/07/97.
Last updated :01/11/97.
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