Subject: World Acknowledges Muslim
Heritage
Muslim
inventions that shaped the modern world
By Olivia Sterns for CNN
January 29, 2010 --
Updated 1253 GMT (2053 HKT)
In
9th century Spain ,
Muslim inventor Abbas ibn Firnas designed a flying machine -- hundreds of years
before da Vinci drew plans of his own.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Exhibition
celebrates 1,000 years of "forgotten" Muslim heritage
>From coffee to cranks, items we couldn't live
without today are Muslim inventions
Modern hospitals and universities both began in
9th century North Africa
London, England (CNN)-- Think of the origins of that staple
of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.
But in fact, Yemen
is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins. Along with the first
university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions
that have shaped the world we live in today. The origins of these
fundamental ideas and objects -- the basis of everything from the bicycle to
musical scales -- are the focus of "1001 Inventions," a book
celebrating "the forgotten" history of 1,000 years of Muslim
heritage.
"There's a hole in our knowledge, we
leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks," professor Salim al-Hassani,
Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor
of the book told CNN.. "1001 Inventions" is now an exhibition at London 's
Science Museum . Hassani hopes the
exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures -- like the
Muslim empire that once covered Spain
and Portugal , Southern Italy
and stretched as far as parts of China -- to present day
civilization. Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and
teaching centres, come from 9th century Egypt .
Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions
1. Surgery
Around the year 1,000, the celebrated
doctor Al Zahrawipublished a 1,500 page illustrated
encyclopaedia of surgery that was used in Europe
as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions,
Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds -- beforehand
a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly
performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.
2. Coffee
Now the Western world's drink du jour,
coffee was first brewed in Yemen
around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up
during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students,
the coffee buzz
soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey , but
not until the 16th century did the
beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.
3. Flying machine
"Abbas ibn Firnas was the first
person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly," said
Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling
a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba
in Spain ,
Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and
partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an
inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci's hundreds
of years later, said Hassani.
4. University
In 859 a young princess named Fatima
al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez , Morocco .
Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became
the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years
later, Hassani says he hopes the centre will remind people that learning is at
the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters
will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.
5. Algebra
The word algebra comes from the title of
a Persian mathematician's famous 9th century treatise "Kitab al-Jabr Wa
l-Mugabala" which translates roughly as "The Book of Reasoning and
Balancing." Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new
algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers
and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the
first to introduce the
concept of raising a number to a power.
6. Optics
"Many of the most important advances
in the study of optics come from the Muslim world," says Hassani.. Around
the year 1000 Ibn al-Haithamproved that humans see objects by
light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and
Ptolemy's theories that light was
emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the
camera obscure phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due
to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.
7. Music
Muslim musicians have had a profound
impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of
Baghdad and Cordoba , according to Hassani. Among many
instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East
are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scalesare
also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.
8. Toothbrush
According to Hassani, the Prophet
Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a
twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath.
Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.
9.. The crank
Many of the basics of modern automatics
were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary
crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the
crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology,
discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading
to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.
10. Hospitals
"Hospitals as we know them today,
with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt ,"
explained Hassani. The first such medical centre was the Ahmad ibn Tulun
Hospital,
founded in 872 in Cairo .
Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it -- a policy based on
the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo , such
hospitals spread around the
Muslim world.
For more information on
Muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com.For more information about the
exhibition at London 's Science Museum
go to: science museum.org.uk
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