Louis Pierre, Eugène (1808-1875)

Louis Pierre, Eugène/Amèlie Sèdillot was a French Orientalist. His birth and death was in Paris and he taught history in the University of Bourbon. He is the author of Histoire des Arabes and the publisher of Jâmi‘ al-Mabâdi Wal-Ghâyât Fee al-âlât al-Falakiyyah (Compendium of Principles and Ends in Astronomical Instruments) by Abul-Hasan ‘Ali al-Marâkishi with a French translation.

From Histoire des Arabes:

Forbearing and humble

“Muhammad was forbearing and moderate. He always brought the poor into his house to share food with them, kindly and nicely received all those who liked to ask him and fascinated his attendants with his delightful serene countenance. He never got tired of the long talk of others nor spoke but a little and never did his speech reveal arrogance or haughtiness.”[1]

Do they not remember?

“It is a crime against historical realities to ascribe harshness and cowardice to Muhammad, as do some writers. They forgot that Muhammad spared no effort to exterminate the hateful inherited tradition of retaliation which had a high position among the Arabs like that of sword fights in Europe in the past. These writers did not read the Qur’anic verses in which Muhammad put an end to the hideous practice of burying girls alive nor did they even think of the generous pardon he granted to his most contentious enemies after the conquest of Makkah. They did not take into consideration the mercy he bestowed upon many tribes when practicing the rules of troublesome war or the regret he showed for some harsh nations. They did not seem to see that the nation, the mother of all Arab tribes, regarded vengeance as something binding and that it was due on every faithful person to kill, without legal punishment, anyone who would pose a danger some day. They did not know that Muhammad did not misuse the great authority he gained merely as a fulfillment of the desire for sordid harshness and that he spared no effort to rectify anyone who committed injustice among his companions. It is well-known that he rejected the opinion of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattâb about killing their prisoners of war and, when it was time to punish Banu Quraythah, he entrusted the judgment of their destiny to their old ally, Sa‘d ibn Mu‘âth. He also forgave the killer of Hamzah, his paternal uncle, and never failed to be nice and tolerant.”[2]

Founders

“Physics developed with the Arabs, just like mathematics. They should be, according to Humboldt, regarded as the real founders of physics in the modern sense.”[3]

And also inventors

“The Arabs founded chemical pharmacy; and both pharmacology and medicine upon which treatment is based led to the study of botany and chemistry altogether from two different ways. By virtue of the Arabs, a new era of that science began.”[4]

Matchless activity

According to Humboldt, “The activity of the Arabs was matchless. This activity is always a sign of the excellent role played in history. Unlike the chauvinistic and intolerant Children of Israel, the Arabs were desirous for intermarriage with other conquered nations, not ungrateful of their national manners and native memoirs.”[5]

The Arabs are our misters

After touring the different aspects of Islamic civilization, Louis Pierre Eugène says: “The influence of the Arabs was visible in all fields of civilization of modern Europe and, between the 9th and 15th centuries, the arts which emerged were the greatest to be known in history. The variety of important products and inventions attest to what extent the Arabs of that time had of wonderful activity and great influence on Christian Europe, what makes acceptable the opinion that the Arabs were our misters. The priceless materials brought by the Arabs throughout the history of the medieval centuries, books of journeys and histories on one hand and unparalleled manufacturing and architecture which reveal the greatness of design and implementation and important discoveries of different arts on the other hand – all this should raise in our sight the affair of the Arab nation which we despised for a long time.”[6]

Victory of civilizational authority

Louis Pierre Eugène observes that the political disorder of the Arabs did not influence their scientific procession, since the Arabs’ weakness and submission to other’s who were invested with authority over them show us how the conqueror enters into the culture of the conquered. He says: “The East started to burn, ceaselessly, from the beginning of the 11th century. The conquests of Mahmûd al-Ghaznawi, the raids of the Seljuk Turks, the Crusades, the extermination of the Fatimid caliphate in Egypt at the hands of Saladin in 1171 and the sacking of the caliphate of Baghdad by the Mongol, Hulagu, in 1258 led to drastic changes in the political condition in Asia. But regardless, science did not cease to proceed and its carriers continued to keep its trust. Whilst the eastern caliphate was losing the most beautiful of its territories in succession, the conquerors submitted to the cultural excellence of the conquered, studyed their books and sought guidance through their light. In reality, it is wonderful to see the victory of the civilizational authority of the Arabs over the savage barbarianism of the northern conquerors that attacked West and South Asia.”[7]

https://en.islamstory.com/index.php/en/artical/25657