The Study of Arabic in the West
3
At first, some scholars refused to give up their Arabic connections. In his
Defensio medicorum principis Avicennae, ad Germaniae medicos
(
Defence of the Prince of
the Medical Scholars, Avicenna, to the Doctors of Germany
, Strasbourg 1530), the Dutch
physician Laurentius Frisius states that the study of Arabic is indispensable for
those who wish to study medicine. To his opponents, who extolled the virtues
of the Greek medical scholars, he concedes that the Arabic language is primitive
compared with the Greek language, but he insists that the quality of the language
does not matter in the transmission of knowledge. The Arabs, he says, have trans
-
lated all the essential works of Greek scholars on medicine and philosophy, and
added their own invaluable commentaries. Frisius’ example confirms that at this
time some scholars in Western Europe still regarded Arabic as an important corol-
lary to the study of medicine. But when the Greek sources became known in the
West, the Arabic texts were no longer needed, and, what is worse, the comparison
between the Greek originals and the Arabic translations (most of which had been
made after Syriac translations and had themselves become known in the West
through Latin translations) did not work out to the Arabs’ advantage. Henceforth,
they came to be regarded as defilers of the Greek heritage instead of its guardians.
It looked as if the study of Arabic science had become completely unnecessary.
With the change of attitude towards Arabic medicine, the study of Arabic
in Western universities took a new direction. Throughout the period of the
Crusades, and in spite of their admiration for the knowledge and wisdom of the
Arab doctors, most Christians regarded Islam as the arch-enemy of Christianity
and thus of Europe. Now that the scholarly motive for studies of Arabic had
disappeared, the main impetus for such studies became the missionary fervour
of the new Europe. Some Christian missionaries, especially those belonging to
the Dominican order, believed that the only way to convert Muslims to Christi
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anity was to convince them by rational arguments in their own language. As early
as 1250, the Dominicans established a language school of Arabic in Toledo, and
some of them became extremely well read in Arabic theology. Scholars wishing
to dedicate themselves to a polemic with the enemy felt the need for didactic
materials on the language so that they could understand the original Arabic texts,
in the first place, of course, the text of the Islamic revelation, the
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