Cosmopolitan knowledge

Only a minority of high schoolers enjoy solving complex math problems. I was not one of them. Usually, the best I could do was tinker with different variables and plug them into formulas on a trial and error basis in the hope of reaching a solution. Over time I became competent enough to use quadratic equations for calculating curves and accelerations of falling objects, but my real passion resided with subjects such as history and language.

I recently discovered Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī, the man behind my high school mathematics. A multitalented scholar who worked in Baghdad in the early ninth century, his work on mathematics gave us the word al-jibr – the root for algebra. Although his explorations did not extend far beyond quadratic equations, he was the first to produce a mathematical system based on general procedures instead of individual examples or numbers. Latin translators referred to him as Algoritmus, which eventually evolved into the common term algorithm.

Muhammad al-Khwārizmī is an excellent example of cosmopolitan learning. He functioned in a scholarly culture dominated by Arabic and Islamic influences. His achievements include introducing the Arab world to the Indian decimal number system, but he also made contributions to the advancement of geography and cartography. Over time, the body of knowledge he helped develop led to a flowering of Islamic philosophical and mystical thought, both of which shaped Jewish and Christian thinking and pushed it to higher levels. St. Thomas Aquinas (d. 1274) could not have developed his Catholic Aristotelian system without the Arabs.

Historical ties

I believe it is important to be aware of the strong historical continuity between Greek, Arabic-Islamic, medieval and renaissance scholarly culture at this time in history. When 9/11 was still fresh and the “clash of civilizations” paradigm was dominant, books written about the Arab golden age asked what went wrong with learning and scholarship in “that part of the world.” One such book, House of Wisdom by Jim al-Khalili, is engaging and mostly reliable, but it is tone-deaf on religion and philosophy. It assumes a cultural decline around the year 1100 even though some of the biggest religious personalities in Islamic culture were still to appear on the scene.

As of 2026, books are exploring what went wrong in Western civilization. I do not have space in this article to explore this further, so I will only note that the Middle East and the Western world have always been tied together – sometimes as competitors or adversaries, sometimes even as colonizers, but also frequently as models for each other. What insights lie buried in our common history that we can still retrieve?

Human connections

In the face of modern technology, we are in need of a profound rethinking of what knowledge is, how it serves ordinary people and how it relates to the places and communities that have need for it. There is now so much accessible knowledge that we risk either drowning in it or ending up knowing absolutely nothing.

If I had to think of an algorithm to produce reliable knowledge, I would suggest looking where the people are and what perspective they have to offer in their unique circumstances. Knowledge needs to be cosmopolitan, interdisciplinary, personal and communal. And yes, there needs to be space for religion.

I am thankful for the math-lovers in my life. But I am especially thankful for the people, both past and present, who keep me aware of global realities, even if they are hard to bear. They enlarge my world and help me feel at home in it.