Renan explained away Muslim scientific achievement by attributing it to Persians and Greeks

Evidence

When challenged to explain the flourishing of science in Islamic empires in the Middle Ages, Renan replied that the Arabs, like other “Semites,” were incapable of science; Arab science was a continuation of Greek science conducted not by Arabs but Persians and converted Greeks. Thus, it was the “Aryans” who were responsible for this flowering of science, he argued. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 347 (#expands, via linked claim)

Renan made sweeping generalizations about the “narrow minds” of people who live in the East and in Africa, who because of their adherence to Islam are an intellectually barren race. What we see here are not only racist assertions about Muslims but also the idea that Islam has stunted scientific growth. When challenged to explain the flourishing of science in Islamic empires in the Middle Ages, Renan replied that the Arabs, like other “Semites,” were incapable of science. The Abbasid caliphate, he added, was essentially Greek and Persian, even if it used Arabic. Thus, it was the “Aryans” who were responsible for this flowering of science. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 179 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Muhammad is not the only adversary of Saint Isidore. Lucas’s hero is the intellectual superior of the most illustrious of the Muslim sages, Avicenna (Ibn Sînâ). After glorifying Isidore’s piety and learning, Lucas explains that his successor, a shifty Greek named Teodistus, “a wolf in sheep’s clothing,” stole several manuscripts of Isidore’s as-yet-unknown works in medicine and other sciences, then “out of hatred of the Faith, excising the truth and inserting errors, had them translated from Latin into Arabic by a certain Arab named Avicenna,” who pretended the works were his own. … Faced with the impressive edifice of Arabic science, Lucas responds that the Arabs stole it all from the good Isidore. — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940 (#corroborates, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Renan attributed medieval Islamic science to Aryans, not Arabs, to preserve his racial hierarchy. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of…, 347; Nineteenth-century racial theorist Renan attributed Islamic science to Aryans, not Arabs. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 179; Medieval Christian apologists explained Arab scientific achievement as stolen Latin learning — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940

Broader Connections

• Renan attributed medieval Islamic science to Aryans, not Arabs, to preserve his racial hierarchy. #expands (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 347
• Nineteenth-century racial theorist Renan attributed Islamic science to Aryans, not Arabs. #corroborates (0.95) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 179
• Medieval Christian apologists explained Arab scientific achievement as stolen Latin learning #corroborates (0.80) — John V. Tolan, Saracens, 940