What Stopped Middle Eastern or Islamic Scientific Progress

5:33

29 Jan 2013

History of Science

Neil deGrasse Tyson

In this undated video clip, an audience member asks Neil deGrasse Tyson about statements he made in a 2006 lecture about what stopped Middle Eastern scientific progress, and asks him to compare it to the efforts in Texas to revise science textbooks according to religious ideas, during the question and answer section.  Tyson responds by praising a period of scientific discovery in Baghdad from 800-1100 CE, suggesting this was due to an attitude of openness to ideas from many perspectives.  He first seems to suggest thatthis ended because of the Mongol invasion of Baghdad (which, although he doesn’t say it, occurred in 1258 CE).  He then seems to suggest that Imām Muḥammad Abu Ḥāmid al-Ghazālī (d.1111 CE), who he compares to St. Augustine (d. 430 CE), suggested that “mathematics is the work of the devil” and thereby caused science to cease in the Middle East, as mathematics would no longer be considered appropriate for Muslims.

Tyson then uses this to suggest that anything that would inhibit the United States from having similarly free and open discussions about science will cause it to lose its leadership position in discovery and invention.

Topics and people mentioned:  Johnson Space Center, Texas, Baghdad, al-Ghazālī (d. 1111), mathematics, astronomy, engineering, navigation, physiology, Nobel prizes.

Evaluation:

There is relatively little material here on Islam, although Tyson conflates “Middle East” and “Islam”.  The suggestion that al-Ghazālī’s influence reached all Muslims is an overstatement.  The comparison of al-Ghazālī to Augustine of Hippo is problematic.

The science — or the presentation on the lack of science — after the 12th century is not accepted by historians of science in the Muslim world. See, for instance, another video in the Portal, in which Asad Ahmed discusses science.  We have not be able to find any textual basis for al-Ghazālī suggesting that “mathematics is the work of the devil”.

Only some of the historical material is accurate.  The timeline that Tyson develops in his answer is skewed, as one can see from the dates provided in the Portal’s description of the video.  The information about the Nobel prizes is no longer accurate, and is a rather simplistic comparison.  The point he is trying to make, that closing oneself off from science inhibits a culture’s growth, might be better made with other evidence.