How were Western European ideas about music theory used in Arab music theory beginning in the so-called “modern period”?

What will be an ideal response?

• Beginning in 1780 modern theorists presented the Arab modes (maqams - Arab scales with their non-Western intervals/notes) in terms of single-octave scales each with eight tones like the Western major/minor scales. The eight notes of each scale were chosen from twenty-four equidistant quarter-tones that are contained within an octave.
• A maqam can start on any note, but must conform to the proper intervallic structure of the particular maqam. See Transcription 10.7 Several Common Arab Maqams
• Describing certain notes as "half-flat" where previously such quarter-tones were simply considered "normal" notes in Arabic modes showed the influence of Western music theory and the attempt to think of Arabic modes as some special case of the Western chromatic scale that is based on equal temperament.