An Untold Story: The Important Contributions of Muslim Scholars for the Discovery of Human Anatomy and the History of Evolutionary Thinking

Abstract

Evolutionary and anatomical textbooks tend to completely neglect, or include just a few pages about, the contributions of Muslim scholars for the discovery of human anatomy and particularly for the history of evolutionary thinking. This negligence is the result of complex historical biases, has profound implications, creates several misconceptions, and does not allow the general public and teachers, students and researchers to fully understand the true history of anatomical and evolutionary discovery. In an original project done at one of the most historical US universities ‐ Howard ‐ involving graduate students, faculty members, and their colleagues from other institutions, we did an extensive literature review of ancient texts written in various languages, particularly before Vesalius (about human anatomy) and Darwin (about evolutionary thinking), as well as of the few more recent reviews on the subject. Here we present, for the first time, the outcome of this review and discuss some of the Muslim scholars who made relevant contributions to these fields of science, which were unfortunately often forgotten in time, particularly in the West. This American Association of Anatomists meeting is the ideal place to unfold this untold story, both symbolically and pragmatically, due to the relevance of this story to students and professionals involved in evolutionary biology and anatomy, and to the broader public.