Propagation of intellectual

sciences during the Umayyad rule

As we said, the propagation of the beliefs of Jahmiya etc. and the continuation of the Umayyad rule and the disintegration of the Islamic beliefs and inclination towards infidelity, were incidences in which the Christian and Jews played a crucial role.

          The Umayyad dynasty did not consider them sufficient for the strengthening of their rule and the implementation of their ideologies, therefore, apart from promoting these misguiding thoughts, they translated a few intellectual sciences into the Arabic language in order to drive the minds of the common people towards it.

          The first person to have indulged in this process was Khalid bin Yazid who brought these intellectual sciences into the Arab nations with the help of a Christian astrologer named ‘Miryanoos’. This act although did not become widespread at the time of the Umayyad dynasty, but in the governance of the Abbasid dynasty, Mamoon propagated it on a large scale.

          It is written in the book ‘Tareekh e siyaasi e Islam’: ‘The intellectual sciences were not popular in the era of the Umayyad rule, only a few people had interest in Chemistry, and it is not far-fetched that they might have learned it from the Greek – who were aware of these sciences since two thousand years.

          It cannot be said that the Arabs learned medical sciences from the Greeks after the attack of Alexander on the east; because the Arabs did not have the knowledge of medical sciences until the Umayyad reign and Khalid bin Yazid bin Mu’awiyah was the first person to introduce the sciences like Medicine, Astronomy and Chemistry in the Arab nations.

          Chemical industries were common in the Alexandrian school. Therefore, Khalid invited the Christian astrologer ‘Miryanoos’ and asked him to teach Medicine and Chemistry. When he learned these sciences, he ordered for the translation of the related books from Greek and Qibti into Arabic, and this was the first step taken by the Arabs towards the transmission of foreign sciences.

          Khalid also showed inclination towards Astronomy and spend a large sum of money for learning this science and acquiring the instruments related to it. Possibly a few books on Astronomy were translated for him but we do not possess any information related to it.

          Jahiz writes in the book ‘Al Bayaan wat Tibyaan’: Khalid bin Yazid bin Mu’awiyah was an orator and a distinguished poet and renowned scholar and the first person to have translated Astronomy, Medicine and Chemistry. Although, the common Arab mass began to show interest in the sciences like Medicine, Chemistry, Physics, History and the likes of these only in the initial stage of the Abbasid reign, specifically during the reign of Mamoon.

          In these days, large number of books were translated from Persian, Greek and Hindi to Arabic and these sciences gained popularity amongst the Arab nation.’’[1]