The Arab nation and indigenous acquisition of scientific knowledge (tawṭīn al-‛ilm)

In this article, the author deals with the factors he considers to be essential for the genuine acquisition of knowledge and, specifically, scientific knowledge – the Arabic term al-‛ilm being a referent to either or both. The phrase tawṭīn al-‛ilm used in the title and throughout could be translated literally as the ‘nationalization of science/knowledge’, however, the import is wider in scope and is intended to connote the process of making knowledge, science and scientific culture indigenous in and endemic to the Arab nation. In the view of the author, among the chief factors in such an initiative is to Arabize the language of scientific discourse in order to render original scientific thought and research innate and to facilitate its dissemination to a wider society that also must, of a necessity, become scientific and oriented towards the output of nationally-funded scientific research institutions.