Ghareebah
Bint Abdulkadir
:salam2:
muslims in the past have made many discoveries in science and other fields of dunya studies...such as in chemistry, physics, maths (did you know algebra was discovered by a muslim man hence the word algebra is derived form his name), many discoveries made by muslims opened the gateway of knowledge for westerners who were in the dark ages where the muslims where in the peak of islamic and worldy knowledge.
here read this article and you will know what i mean in detail..and show it to your christian friend!!!
The predicament of the contemporary Muslim world does not in any way
reflect the kind of civilization Islam has successfully brought to the face of this earth
for not less than eight centuries. The Muslims are not only divided into more than
fifty nation states but have largely been in disarray ever since World War One when
the last Islamic Caliphate was destroyed.
Attempts towards forming a common front among Muslim nations have been
underway for two and half decades, through the formation of the Organisation of
Islamic Conference (OIC). Although numerous meetings of Muslim heads of states
have taken place under the auspices of the OIC, the number of issues that have
received their attention and ultimately resolved and adopted were very few in
number. This is a fact that is difficult to rationalise especially if one clearly
understands what Islam demands of them. Yet the whole Islamic belief system is
based on unity or Tawhid.
One obvious conclusion is that the Muslims have themselves to blame. They
have been dependent on foreign powers for economic, political and military aid.
They do not seem to have confidence in themselves. Yet, there are indications that
some of them have been grossly manipulated for the donors' advantage. This is not
too far from the truth if we examine the manner the West have belittled the
contributions the Muslims have made to Europe in the past.
The West in particular, and humanity at large, has immensely benefitted from
the contributions made by the Muslims whose civilization was the most prominent in
the world. Their golden era alone lasted for not less than five centuries, from the
middle of the eight to the end of the fifteenth centuries.
As Professor Jamal Badawi has pointed out in his paper on Muslim
Contribution to Civilization: Its Roots and its Historical Manifestation, which was
presented in the Seminar on Islamic Civilization: Present and Future Challenges,
organised by IKIM on 29-30 August 1994 although Islamic heritage can still be seen
today in the forms of arts and architecture, numerous other contributions have been
consistently suppressed in various ways by many western writers. The very
expression, "The Dark Ages" which was clearly referred to Europe alone has been
based on the subtle assumption that the history of Europe was the history of the
world. Yet we know that The Dark Ages coincided with the emergence of Islamic
civilization.
The notion that the Muslim scholars merely restored the Greek Classics
clearly reveals another attempt by the West to belittle the original contributions by
the Muslims. Whilst both the Greek and Roman civilizations did contribute to
philosophy and science, it was the Muslims who carved the prerequisite to modern
scientific inquiry based on experimentation.
The assumption that the European renaissance was based on a newly restored
Greek and Roman heritage simply implied that there was no scientific progress for
several centuries between the fall of Roman empire and European renaissance which
restored the ancient heritage.
The same assumption also concealed the inevitable fact that the renaissance
was based on the then established and flourishing Islamic civilization. For several
centuries, the language of the Qur'an (Arabic) was the international vehicle for
scientific research and advancement as English is today.
Europeans flocked to Muslim Universities, especially in Muslim Spain, to
study physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy or medicine. Those among them
who tried to popularise "Muslim science" in Europe were even accused of being
"Mohammedans", an accusation that was made against Roger Bacon for which he
was imprisoned for fourteen years.
George Sarton, a science historian, in his massive work, An Introduction to
the History of Science indicates that Muslim science reached Europe as early as the
12th Century, well before the beginning of the renaissance in the 14th Century. The
establishment of European universities was at least partially motivated by the
massive knowledge learned from the Muslims and the need for its systematic study.
Often times Muslim discoveries were translated by Europeans who attributed
such discoveries to themselves or incorporated them in their works without proper
acknowledgement to the original discoverers. For example, Kepler took the idea of
atmospheric refraction from the earlier work of Ibn Al-Haytham. Isaac Newton
derived the notion of gravity, not from a falling apple, but from the earlier work of
Muhammad Ben Mousa who spoke about the force of attraction between the
heavenly bodies.
3
The Muslims were attracted to astronomy, one of the earliest sciences as early
as the 3rd Century. They discovered the sun's epogee, i.e. the points farthest from the
earth in the orbit of the moon, drew catalogue maps of visible stars and gave them
Arabic names, corrected the sun and the moon tables and fixed the length of the year.
They were the first to use the pendulum to measure time and the first to build
observatories.
Ibn Younus (11th Century) invented the sun dial which according to John
Draper was the most valuable of all chronometric improvements. They predicted
sunspots, eclipses and appearance of comets. Abul-Wafa discovered a major aspect
of astronomy known as the 3rd Lunar inequality (irregularity of the moon's highest
latitudes), the same discovery that was attributed nearly 1000 years later to the
Danish Astronomer Tycho-Braho.
We can go on listing the contributions of Muslim scientists in the fields of
chemistry, mathematics, physics, medicine, geography, agriculture, industry,
commerce, art and architecture, sociology, political science, etc., but for the lack of
space. Suffice it to mention that the Muslims have made such an impact on the
various fields of science and arts, but have not been fully acknowledged by the
Europeans.
Indeed much more could have been learned from the Muslims if not for the
fact that most of the rich and voluminous works of Muslim scholars were lost or
ruined during the assaults on the Muslim world. The Mongols cast in the River Tigris
in Baghdad, enough books to make a bridge on which they crossed. The ink from
such destroyed books blackened the river for a long time.
During the crusades in Syria, nearly 3 million books were destroyed. When
Muslims were defeated in Granada, one million books were burnt by religious
fanatics in one day. Cardinal Zimones of Sicily (15th Century) burned more than
80,000 Arabic volumes in the main square of his city of Franda.
No excuse, however, can be granted to some historians and writers who tried
to deliberately hide Muslim contributions and in some cases attributed them to
European scientists who were born many centuries later. Among the more fair
Western writers is John Draper who states: "I have to deplore the systematic manner
in which the literature of Europe has contrived to put out of sight our scientific
obligations to the Mohammedans. Surely they cannot be much hidden. Injustice
founded on religious rancour and national deceit cannot be perpetuated forever."
4
The achievements of the Islamic civilization cannot be wiped out of human
history. Its strength has been firmly founded on the divine guidance which provides
the incentive, framework, sense of direction and ethical orientation. It has also been
characterized by sincere and honest hardwork, creativity and dynamism.
Apart from original discoveries that the Muslims have contributed in the
various fields of science, they have undoubtedly provided the right approach to
systematically pursue knowledge by carving the appropriate methodology of
scientific research which is the hallmark of their contribution. In other words they
have given us both the knowledge itself as well as the key to pursue more
knowledge. It is like teaching someone how to fish rather than giving him some fish.
Allah knows best.
http://vlib.unitarklj1.edu.my/staff-publications/datuk/Nst3sept.pdf
:tti_sister: :blackhijab:
muslims in the past have made many discoveries in science and other fields of dunya studies...such as in chemistry, physics, maths (did you know algebra was discovered by a muslim man hence the word algebra is derived form his name), many discoveries made by muslims opened the gateway of knowledge for westerners who were in the dark ages where the muslims where in the peak of islamic and worldy knowledge.
here read this article and you will know what i mean in detail..and show it to your christian friend!!!
BISMILLAHIRRAHMANIRRAHIM
MUSLIMS' CONTRIBUTIONS
TO KNOWLEDGE SUPPRESSED BY WEST
by
Datuk Dr. Syed Othman Alhabshi
Deputy Director-General
Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia
(IKIM)
MUSLIMS' CONTRIBUTIONS
TO KNOWLEDGE SUPPRESSED BY WEST
by
Datuk Dr. Syed Othman Alhabshi
Deputy Director-General
Institute of Islamic Understanding Malaysia
(IKIM)
The predicament of the contemporary Muslim world does not in any way
reflect the kind of civilization Islam has successfully brought to the face of this earth
for not less than eight centuries. The Muslims are not only divided into more than
fifty nation states but have largely been in disarray ever since World War One when
the last Islamic Caliphate was destroyed.
Attempts towards forming a common front among Muslim nations have been
underway for two and half decades, through the formation of the Organisation of
Islamic Conference (OIC). Although numerous meetings of Muslim heads of states
have taken place under the auspices of the OIC, the number of issues that have
received their attention and ultimately resolved and adopted were very few in
number. This is a fact that is difficult to rationalise especially if one clearly
understands what Islam demands of them. Yet the whole Islamic belief system is
based on unity or Tawhid.
One obvious conclusion is that the Muslims have themselves to blame. They
have been dependent on foreign powers for economic, political and military aid.
They do not seem to have confidence in themselves. Yet, there are indications that
some of them have been grossly manipulated for the donors' advantage. This is not
too far from the truth if we examine the manner the West have belittled the
contributions the Muslims have made to Europe in the past.
The West in particular, and humanity at large, has immensely benefitted from
the contributions made by the Muslims whose civilization was the most prominent in
the world. Their golden era alone lasted for not less than five centuries, from the
middle of the eight to the end of the fifteenth centuries.
As Professor Jamal Badawi has pointed out in his paper on Muslim
Contribution to Civilization: Its Roots and its Historical Manifestation, which was
presented in the Seminar on Islamic Civilization: Present and Future Challenges,
organised by IKIM on 29-30 August 1994 although Islamic heritage can still be seen
today in the forms of arts and architecture, numerous other contributions have been
consistently suppressed in various ways by many western writers. The very
expression, "The Dark Ages" which was clearly referred to Europe alone has been
based on the subtle assumption that the history of Europe was the history of the
world. Yet we know that The Dark Ages coincided with the emergence of Islamic
civilization.
The notion that the Muslim scholars merely restored the Greek Classics
clearly reveals another attempt by the West to belittle the original contributions by
the Muslims. Whilst both the Greek and Roman civilizations did contribute to
philosophy and science, it was the Muslims who carved the prerequisite to modern
scientific inquiry based on experimentation.
The assumption that the European renaissance was based on a newly restored
Greek and Roman heritage simply implied that there was no scientific progress for
several centuries between the fall of Roman empire and European renaissance which
restored the ancient heritage.
The same assumption also concealed the inevitable fact that the renaissance
was based on the then established and flourishing Islamic civilization. For several
centuries, the language of the Qur'an (Arabic) was the international vehicle for
scientific research and advancement as English is today.
Europeans flocked to Muslim Universities, especially in Muslim Spain, to
study physics, chemistry, mathematics, astronomy or medicine. Those among them
who tried to popularise "Muslim science" in Europe were even accused of being
"Mohammedans", an accusation that was made against Roger Bacon for which he
was imprisoned for fourteen years.
George Sarton, a science historian, in his massive work, An Introduction to
the History of Science indicates that Muslim science reached Europe as early as the
12th Century, well before the beginning of the renaissance in the 14th Century. The
establishment of European universities was at least partially motivated by the
massive knowledge learned from the Muslims and the need for its systematic study.
Often times Muslim discoveries were translated by Europeans who attributed
such discoveries to themselves or incorporated them in their works without proper
acknowledgement to the original discoverers. For example, Kepler took the idea of
atmospheric refraction from the earlier work of Ibn Al-Haytham. Isaac Newton
derived the notion of gravity, not from a falling apple, but from the earlier work of
Muhammad Ben Mousa who spoke about the force of attraction between the
heavenly bodies.
3
The Muslims were attracted to astronomy, one of the earliest sciences as early
as the 3rd Century. They discovered the sun's epogee, i.e. the points farthest from the
earth in the orbit of the moon, drew catalogue maps of visible stars and gave them
Arabic names, corrected the sun and the moon tables and fixed the length of the year.
They were the first to use the pendulum to measure time and the first to build
observatories.
Ibn Younus (11th Century) invented the sun dial which according to John
Draper was the most valuable of all chronometric improvements. They predicted
sunspots, eclipses and appearance of comets. Abul-Wafa discovered a major aspect
of astronomy known as the 3rd Lunar inequality (irregularity of the moon's highest
latitudes), the same discovery that was attributed nearly 1000 years later to the
Danish Astronomer Tycho-Braho.
We can go on listing the contributions of Muslim scientists in the fields of
chemistry, mathematics, physics, medicine, geography, agriculture, industry,
commerce, art and architecture, sociology, political science, etc., but for the lack of
space. Suffice it to mention that the Muslims have made such an impact on the
various fields of science and arts, but have not been fully acknowledged by the
Europeans.
Indeed much more could have been learned from the Muslims if not for the
fact that most of the rich and voluminous works of Muslim scholars were lost or
ruined during the assaults on the Muslim world. The Mongols cast in the River Tigris
in Baghdad, enough books to make a bridge on which they crossed. The ink from
such destroyed books blackened the river for a long time.
During the crusades in Syria, nearly 3 million books were destroyed. When
Muslims were defeated in Granada, one million books were burnt by religious
fanatics in one day. Cardinal Zimones of Sicily (15th Century) burned more than
80,000 Arabic volumes in the main square of his city of Franda.
No excuse, however, can be granted to some historians and writers who tried
to deliberately hide Muslim contributions and in some cases attributed them to
European scientists who were born many centuries later. Among the more fair
Western writers is John Draper who states: "I have to deplore the systematic manner
in which the literature of Europe has contrived to put out of sight our scientific
obligations to the Mohammedans. Surely they cannot be much hidden. Injustice
founded on religious rancour and national deceit cannot be perpetuated forever."
4
The achievements of the Islamic civilization cannot be wiped out of human
history. Its strength has been firmly founded on the divine guidance which provides
the incentive, framework, sense of direction and ethical orientation. It has also been
characterized by sincere and honest hardwork, creativity and dynamism.
Apart from original discoveries that the Muslims have contributed in the
various fields of science, they have undoubtedly provided the right approach to
systematically pursue knowledge by carving the appropriate methodology of
scientific research which is the hallmark of their contribution. In other words they
have given us both the knowledge itself as well as the key to pursue more
knowledge. It is like teaching someone how to fish rather than giving him some fish.
Allah knows best.
http://vlib.unitarklj1.edu.my/staff-publications/datuk/Nst3sept.pdf
:tti_sister: :blackhijab:
