Dear members of the list, Assalamu Alaikum. The following article might be of some interest to you.
Shah Abdul Hannan > > How Islamic inventors changed the world > > http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/ > article350594.ece > > Article from The Independent - UK > > >> From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has > given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a > new > exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential- > and > identifies the men of genius behind them > > > Published: 11 March 2006 > > 1 The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the > Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became > livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make > the > first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans > exported > from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to > pray > on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca > and > Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to > England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first > coffee > house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became > the > Turkish kahve then the Italian caffÃ(c) and then English coffee. > > > 2 The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which > enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the > eye, > rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, > astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole > camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window > shutters. > The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set > up the > first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private > room). > He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a > philosophical activity to an experimental one. > > > 3 A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was > developed > into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread > westward to > Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th > century - > and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian > rukh, > which means chariot. > > > 4 A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, > astronomer, > musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to > construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the > Grand > Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He > hoped > to glide like a bird. He didnâEUR~t. But the cloak slowed his fall, > creating > what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only > minor > injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and > eaglesâEUR~ feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew > to a > significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on > landing - > concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device > a > tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a > crater on the Moon are named after him. > > > 5 Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is > perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use > today. The > ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it > more as > a pomade. > But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide > and > aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the CrusadersâEUR~ most striking > characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo > was > introduced to England by a Muslim who opened MahomedâEUR~s Indian > Vapour > Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing > Surgeon to > Kings George IV and William IV. > > > 6 Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in > their > boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by IslamâEUR~s > foremost > scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, > inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today > - > liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, > evaporation and filtration. > As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the > alembic > still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and > alcoholic > spirits (although drinking them is haram, or forbidden, in Islam). Ibn > Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of > modern > chemistry. > > > 7 The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear > motion and > is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the > internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical > inventions > in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim > engineer > called al- Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His 1206 Book of > Knowledge > of Ingenious Mechanical Devices shows he also invented or refined the > use of > valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven > by > water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other > inventions was the combination lock. > > > 8 Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a > layer > of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was > invented > in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or > China. > But it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used > by > Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead > of > armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard > against the chafing of the CrusadersâEUR~ metal armour and was an > effective > form of insulation - so much so that it became a cottage industry back > home > in colder climates such as Britain and Holland. > > > 9 The pointed arch so characteristic of EuropeâEUR~s Gothic cathedrals > was > an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger > than > the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the > building > of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other > borrowings from > Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building > techniques. EuropeâEUR~s castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic > worldâEUR~s - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. > Square > towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry > VâEUR~s > castle architect was a Muslim. > > > 10 Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as > those > devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His > scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many > of the > 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It > was he > who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away > naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute > strings) and that it can be also > used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim > medic > named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years > before > William Harvey discovered it. Muslims doctors also invented > anaesthetics of > opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts > from > eyes in a technique still used today. > > > 11 The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used > to > grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of > Arabia, > when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the > wind > which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 > sails > covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first > windmill > was seen in Europe. > > > 12 The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur > but > was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by > the > wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey > were > vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years > before > the West discovered it. > > > 13 The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after > he > demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink > in a > reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a > combination of > gravity and capillary action. > > > 14 The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably > Indian in > origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in > print in > the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around > 825. > Algebra was named after al-KhwarizmiâEUR~s book, Al-Jabr > wa-al-Muqabilah, > much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths > scholars > was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician > Fibonacci. > Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim > world. And Al-KindiâEUR~s discovery of frequency analysis rendered all > the > codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern > cryptology. > > > 15 Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab > (Blackbird) came from Iraq to > Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the > three- > course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He > also > introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments > with > rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas - see No 4). > > > 16 Carpets were regarded as part of Paradise by medieval Muslims, > thanks to > their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic > chemistry and > highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of > IslamâEUR~s non-representational art. In contrast, EuropeâEUR~s floors > were > distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian > carpets > were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were "covered > in > rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer > is > left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, > vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, > and > other abominations not fit to be mentioned". Carpets, unsurprisingly, > caught > on quickly. > > > 17 The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay > for > goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported > across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman > could > cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad. > > > 18 By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that > the > Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the > Sun is > always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500 years > before that > realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers > were > so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the EarthâEUR~s > circumference to be 40,253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar > al-Idrisi > took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily > in > 1139. > > > 19 Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in > their > fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified > using > potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices > terrified the > Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which > they > called a "self-moving and combusting egg", and a torpedo - a > self-propelled > pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in > enemy > ships and then blew up. > > > 20 Medieval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs > who > developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. > The > first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century > Muslim > Spain. > Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and > the > tulip. > *************************************************************************** {Invite (mankind, O Muhammad ) to the Way of your Lord (i.e. Islam) with wisdom (i.e. with the Divine Inspiration and the Qur'an) and fair preaching, and argue with them in a way that is better. Truly, your Lord knows best who has gone astray from His Path, and He is the Best Aware of those who are guided.} (Holy Quran-16:125) {And who is better in speech than he who [says: "My Lord is Allah (believes in His Oneness)," and then stands straight (acts upon His Order), and] invites (men) to Allah's (Islamic Monotheism), and does righteous deeds, and says: "I am one of the Muslims."} (Holy Quran-41:33) The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: "By Allah, if Allah guides one person by you, it is better for you than the best types of camels." [al-Bukhaaree, Muslim] The prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) also said, "Whoever calls to guidance will have a reward similar to the reward of the one who follows him, without the reward of either of them being lessened at all." [Muslim, Ahmad, Aboo Daawood, an-Nasaa'ee, at-Tirmidhee, Ibn Maajah] -------------------------------------------------------------------------- All views expressed herein belong to the individuals concerned and do not in any way reflect the official views of IslamCity unless sanctioned or approved otherwise. If your mailbox clogged with mails from IslamCity, you may wish to get a daily digest of emails by logging-on to http://www.yahoogroups.com to change your mail delivery settings or email the moderators at [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the title "change to daily digest". Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/islamcity/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
