StickyPeas
25-10-02, 10:05 PM
Salaams. Interesting article detailing technological
advancement of Islam and the fabrications of the west.
It is Islam that dragged the kuffar out of the dark
ages into their renaissance period- and it is Islam
that will once again be a shining torch to guide
humanity when the Khilafah returns soon Insha Allah:-
What is Taught: The first mention of man in flight was
by Roger Bacon, who drew a flying apparatus. Leonardo
da Vinci also conceived of airborne transport and drew
several prototypes.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain
invented, constructed and tested a flying machine in
the 800's A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying machines
from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas' machine. The
latter's invention antedates Bacon by 500 years and Da
Vinci by some 700 years.
What is Taught: Glass mirrors were first produced in
1291 in Venice.
What Should be Taught: Glass mirrors were in use in
Islamic Spain as early as the 11th century. The
Venetians learned of the art of fine glass production
from Syrian artisans during the 9th and 10th
centuries.
What is Taught: Until the 14th century, the only type
of clock available was the water clock. In 1335, a
large mechanical clock was erected in Milan, Italy.
This was possibly the first weight-driven clock.
What Should be Taught: A variety of mechanical clocks
were produced by Spanish Muslim engineers, both large
and small, and this knowledge was transmitted to
Europe through Latin translations of Islamic books on
mechanics. These clocks were weight-driven. Designs
and illustrations of epi-cyclic and segmental gears
were provided. One such clock included a mercury
escapement. The latter type was directly copied by
Europeans during the 15th century. In addition, during
the 9th century, Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain,
according to Will Durant, invented a watch-like device
which kept accurate time. The Muslims also constructed
a variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for
use in their observatories.
What is Taught: In the 17th century, the pendulum was
developed by Galileo during his teenage years. He
noticed a chandelier swaying as it was being blown by
the wind. As a result, he went home and invented the
pendulum.
What Should be Taught: The pendulum was discovered by
Ibn Yunus al-Masri during the 10th century, who was
the first to study and document its oscillatory
motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by
Muslim physicists during the 15th century.
What is Taught: Movable type and the printing press
was invented in the West by Johannes Gutenberg of
Germany during the 15th century.
What Should be Taught: In 1454, Gutenberg developed
the most sophisticated printing press of the Middle
Ages. However, movable brass type was in use in
Islamic Spain 100 years prior, and that is where the
West's first printing devices were made.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton's 17th century study of
lenses, light and prisms forms the foundation of the
modern science of optics.
What Should be Taught: In the 1lth century al-Haytham
determined virtually everything that Newton advanced
regarding optics centuries prior and is regarded by
numerous authorities as the "founder of optics. "
There is little doubt that Newton was influenced by
him. Al-Haytham was the most quoted physicist of the
Middle Ages. His works were utilized and quoted by a
greater number of European scholars during the 16th
and 17th centuries than those of Newton and Galileo
combined.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century,
discovered that white light consists of various rays
of colored light.
What Should be Taught: This discovery was made in its
entirety by al-Haytham (1lth century) and Kamal ad-Din
(14th century). Newton did make original discoveries,
but this was not one of them.
What is Taught: The concept of the finite nature of
matter was first introduced by Antione Lavoisier
during the 18th century. He discovered that, although
matter may change its form or shape, its mass always
remains the same. Thus, for instance, if water is
heated to steam, if salt is dissolved in water or if a
piece of wood is burned to ashes, the total mass
remains unchanged.
What Should be Taught: The principles of this
discovery were elaborated centuries before by Islamic
Persia's great scholar, al-Biruni (d. 1050). Lavoisier
was a disciple of the Muslim chemists and physicists
and referred to their books frequently.
What is Taught: The Greeks were the developers of
trigonometry.
What Should be Taught: Trigonometry remained largely a
theoretical science among the Greeks. It was developed
to a level of modern perfection by Muslim scholars,
although the weight of the credit must be given to
al-Battani. The words describing the basic functions
of this science, sine, cosine and tangent, are all
derived from Arabic terms. Thus, original
contributions by the Greeks in trigonometry were
minimal.
What is Taught: The use of decimal fractions in
mathematics was first developed by a Dutchman, Simon
Stevin, in 1589. He helped advance the mathematical
sciences by replacing the cumbersome fractions, for
instance, 1/2, with decimal fractions, for example,
0.5.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians were the
first to utilize decimals instead of fractions on a
large scale. Al-Kashi's book, Key to Arithmetic, was
written at the beginning of the 15th century and was
the stimulus for the systematic application of
decimals to whole numbers and fractions thereof. It is
highly probably that Stevin imported the idea to
Europe from al-Kashi's work.
What is Taught: The first man to utilize algebraic
symbols was the French mathematician, Francois Vieta.
In 1591, he wrote an algebra book describing equations
with letters such as the now familiar x and y's.
Asimov says that this discovery had an impact similar
to the progression from Roman numerals to Arabic
numbers.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians, the
inventors of algebra, introduced the concept of using
letters for unknown variables in equations as early as
the 9th century A.D. Through this system, they solved
a variety of complex equations, including quadratic
and cubic equations. They used symbols to develop and
perfect the binomial theorem.
What is Taught: The difficult cubic equations (x to
the third power) remained unsolved until the 16th
century when Niccolo Tartaglia, an Italian
mathematician, solved them.
What Should be Taught: Cubic equations as well as
numerous equations of even higher degrees were solved
with ease by Muslim mathematicians as early as the
10th century.
What is Taught: The concept that numbers could be less
than zero, that is negative numbers, was unknown until
1545 when Geronimo Cardano introduced the idea.
What Should he Taught: Muslim mathematicians
introduced negative numbers for use in a variety of
arithmetic functions at least 400 years prior to
Cardano.
What is Taught: In 1614, John Napier invented
logarithms and logarithmic tables.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians invented
logarithms and produced logarithmic tables several
centuries prior. Such tables were common in the
Islamic world as early as the 13th century.
What is Taught: During the 17th century Rene Descartes
made the discovery that algebra could be used to solve
geometrical problems. By this, he greatly advanced the
science of geometry.
What Should be Taught: Mathematicians of the Islamic
Empire accomplished precisely this as early as the 9th
century A.D. Thabit bin Qurrah was the first to do so,
and he was followed by Abu'l Wafa, whose 10th century
book utilized algebra to advance geometry into an
exact and simplified science.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century,
developed the binomial theorem, which is a crucial
component for the study of algebra.
What Should be Taught: Hundreds of Muslim
mathematicians utilized and perfected the binomial
theorem. They initiated its use for the systematic
solution of algebraic problems during the 10th century
(or prior).
What is Taught: No improvement had been made in the
astronomy of the ancients during the Middle Ages
regarding the motion of planets until the 13th
century. Then Alphonso the Wise of Castile (Middle
Spain) invented the Aphonsine Tables, which were more
accurate than Ptolemy's.
What Should be Taught: Muslim astronomers made
numerous improvements upon Ptolemy's findings as early
as the 9th century. They were the first astronomers to
dispute his archaic ideas. In their critic of the
Greeks, they synthesized proof that the sun is the
center of the solar system and that the orbits of the
earth and other planets might be elliptical. They
produced hundreds of highly accurate astronomical
tables and star charts. Many of their calculations are
so precise that they are regarded as contemporary. The
AlphonsineTables are little more than copies of works
on astronomy transmitted to Europe via Islamic Spain,
i.e. the Toledo Tables.
What is Taught: The English scholar Roger Bacon (d.
1292) first mentioned glass lenses for improving
vision. At nearly the same time, eyeglasses could be
found in use both in China and Europe.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain
invented eyeglasses during the 9th century, and they
were manufactured and sold throughout Spain for over
two centuries. Any mention of eyeglasses by Roger
Bacon was simply a regurgitation of the work of
al-Haytham (d. 1039), whose research Bacon frequently
referred to.
What is Taught: Gunpowder was developed in the Western
world as a result of Roger Bacon's work in 1242. The
first usage of gunpowder in weapons was when the
Chinese fired it from bamboo shoots in attempt to
frighten Mongol conquerors. They produced it by adding
sulfur and charcoal to saltpeter.
What Should be Taught: The Chinese developed saltpeter
for use in fireworks and knew of no tactical military
use for gunpowder, nor did they invent its formula.
Research by Reinuad and Fave have clearly shown that
gunpowder was formulated initially by Muslim chemists.
Further, these historians claim that the Muslims
developed the first fire-arms. Notably, Muslim armies
used grenades and other weapons in their defence of
Algericus against the Franks during the 14th century.
Jean Mathes indicates that the Muslim rulers had
stock-piles of grenades, rifles, crude cannons,
incendiary devices, sulfur bombs and pistols decades
before such devices were used in Europe. The first
mention of a cannon was in an Arabic text around 1300
A.D. Roger Bacon learned of the formula for gunpowder
from Latin translations of Arabic books. He brought
forth nothing original in this regard.
What is Taught: The compass was invented by the
Chinese who may have been the first to use it for
navigational purposes sometime between 1000 and 1100
A.D. The earliest reference to its use in navigation
was by the Englishman, Alexander Neckam (1157-1217).
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers and
navigators learned of the magnetic needle, possibly
from the Chinese, and were the first to use magnetic
needles in navigation. They invented the compass and
passed the knowledge of its use in navigation to the
West. European navigators relied on Muslim pilots and
their instruments when exploring unknown territories.
Gustav Le Bon claims that the magnetic needle and
compass were entirely invented by the Muslims and that
the Chinese had little to do with it. Neckam, as well
as the Chinese, probably learned of it from Muslim
traders. It is noteworthy that the Chinese improved
their navigational expertise after they began
interacting with the Muslims during the 8th century.
What is Taught: The first man to classify the races
was the German Johann F. Blumenbach, who divided
mankind into white, yellow, brown, black and red
peoples.
What Should be Taught: Muslim scholars of the 9th
through 14th centuries invented the science of
ethnography. A number of Muslim geographers classified
the races, writing detailed explanations of their
unique cultural habits and physical appearances. They
wrote thousands of pages on this subject. Blumenbach's
works were insignificant in comparison.
What is Taught: The science of geography was revived
during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries when the
ancient works of Ptolemy were discovered. The Crusades
and the Portuguese/Spanish expeditions also
contributed to this reawakening. The first
scientifically-based treatise on geography were
produced during this period by Europe's scholars.
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers produced
untold volumes of books on the geography of Africa,
Asia, India, China and the Indies during the 8th
through 15th centuries. These writings included the
world's first geographical encyclopedias, almanacs and
road maps. Ibn Battutah's 14th century masterpieces
provide a detailed view of the geography of the
ancient world. The Muslim geographers of the 10th
through 15th centuries far exceeded the output by
Europeans regarding the geography of these regions
well into the 18th century. The Crusades led to the
destruction of educational institutions, their
scholars and books. They brought nothing substantive
regarding geography to the Western world.
What is Taught: Robert Boyle, in the 17th century,
originated the science of chemistry.
What Should be Taught: A variety of Muslim chemists,
including ar-Razi, al-Jabr, al-Biruni and al-Kindi,
performed scientific experiments in chemistry some 700
years prior to Boyle. Durant writes that the Muslims
introduced the experimental method to this science.
Humboldt regards the Muslims as the founders of
chemistry.
What is Taught: Leonardo da Vinci (16th century)
fathered the science of geology when he noted that
fossils found on mountains indicated a watery origin
of the earth.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (1lth century) made
precisely this observation and added much to it,
including a huge book on geology, hundreds of years
before Da Vinci was born. Ibn Sina noted this as well
(see pages 100-101). it is probable that Da Vinci
first learned of this concept from Latin translations
of Islamic books. He added nothing original to their
findings.
What is Taught: The first mention of the geological
formation of valleys was in 1756, when Nicolas
Desmarest proposed that they were formed over a long
periods of time by streams.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Sina and al-Biruni made
precisely this discovery during the 11th century (see
pages 102 and 103), fully 700 years prior to
Desmarest.
What is Taught: Galileo (17th century) was the world's
first great experimenter.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (d. 1050) was the
world's first great experimenter. He wrote over 200
books, many of which discuss his precise experiments.
His literary output in the sciences amounts to some
13,000 pages, far exceeding that written by Galileo
or, for that matter, Galileo and Newton combined.
What is Taught: The Italian Giovanni Morgagni is
regarded as the father of pathology because he was the
first to correctly describe the nature of disease.
What Should be Taught: Islam's surgeons were the first
pathologists. They fully realized the nature of
disease and described a variety of diseases to modern
detail. Ibn Zuhr correctly described the nature of
pleurisy, tuberculosis and pericarditis. Az-Zahrawi
accurately documented the pathology of hydrocephalus
(water on the brain) and other congenital diseases.
Ibn al-Quff and Ibn an-Nafs gave perfect descriptions
of the diseases of circulation. Other Muslim surgeons
gave the first accurate descriptions of certain
malignancies, including cancer of the stomach, bowel
and esophagus. These surgeons were the originators of
pathology, not Giovanni Morgagni.
What is Taught: Paul Ehrlich (19th century) is the
originator of drug chemotherapy, that is the use of
specific drugs to kill microbes.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians used a
variety of specific substances to destroy microbes.
They applied sulfur topically specifically to kill the
scabies mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial
compounds as topical antiseptics.
What is Taught: Purified alcohol, made through
distillation, was first produced by Arnau de
Villanova, a Spanish alchemist, in 1300 A.D.
What Should be Taught: Numerous Muslim chemists
produced medicinal-grade alcohol through distillation
as early as the 10th century and manufactured on a
large scale the first distillation devices for use in
chemistry. They used alcohol as a solvent and
antiseptic.[/COLOR]
What is Taught: The first surgery performed under
inhalation anesthesia was conducted by C.W. Long, an
American, in 1845.
What Should be Taught: Six hundred years prior to
Long, Islamic Spain's Az-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr, among
other Muslim surgeons, performed hundreds of surgeries
under inhalation anesthesia with the use of
narcotic-soaked sponges which were placed over the
face.
What is Taught: During the 16th century Paracelsus
invented the use of opium extracts for anesthesia.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians introduced
the anesthetic value of opium derivatives during the
Middle Ages. Opium was originally used as an
anesthetic agent by the Greeks. Paracelus was a
student of Ibn Sina's works from which it is almost
assured that he derived this idea.
What is Taught: Modern anesthesia was invented in the
19th century by Humphrey Davy and Horace Wells.
What Should be Taught: Modern anesthesia was
discovered, mastered and perfected by Muslim
anesthetists 900 years before the advent of Davy and
Wells. They utilized oral as well as inhalant
anesthetics.
What is Taught: The concept of quarantine was first
developed in 1403. In Venice, a law was passed
preventing strangers from entering the city until a
certain waiting period had passed. If, by then, no
sign of illness could be found, they were allowed in.
What Should be Taught: The concept of quarantine was
first introduced in the 7th century A.D. by the
prophet Muhammad, who wisely warned against entering
or leaving a region suffering from plague. As early as
the 10th century, Muslim physicians innovated the use
of isolation wards for individuals suffering with
communicable diseases.
What is Taught: The scientific use of antiseptics in
surgery was discovered by the British surgeon Joseph
Lister in 1865.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 10th century,
Muslim physicians and surgeons were applying purified
alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent. Surgeons in
Islamic Spain utilized special methods for maintaining
antisepsis prior to and during surgery. They also
originated specific protocols for maintaining hygiene
during the post-operative period. Their success rate
was so high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to
Cordova, Spain, to be treated at what was comparably
the "Mayo Clinic" of the Middle Ages.
What is Taught: In 1545, the scientific use of surgery
was advanced by the French surgeon Ambroise Pare.
Prior to him, surgeons attempted to stop bleeding
through the gruesome procedure of searing the wound
with boiling oil. Pare stopped the use of boiling oils
and began ligating arteries. He is considered the
"father of rational surgery." Pare was also one of the
first Europeans to condemn such grotesque "surgical"
procedures as trepanning.
What Should be Taught: Islamic Spain's illustrious
surgeon, az-Zahrawi (d. 1013), began ligating arteries
with fine sutures over 500 years prior to Pare. He
perfected the use of Catgut, that is suture made from
animal intestines. Additionally, he instituted the use
of cotton plus wax to plug bleeding wounds. The full
details of his works were made available to Europeans
through Latin translations.
Despite this, barbers and herdsmen continued be the
primary individuals practicing the "art" of surgery
for nearly six centuries after az-Zahrawi's death.
Pare himself was a barber, albeit more skilled and
conscientious than the average ones.
Included in az-Zahrawi's legacy are dozens of books.
His most famous work is a 30 volume treatise on
medicine and surgery. His books contain sections on
preventive medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, drug
therapy, surgical technique, anesthesia, pre and
post-operative care as well as drawings of some 200
surgical devices, many of which he invented. The
refined and scholarly az-Zahrawi must be regarded as
the father and founder of rational surgery, not the
uneducated Pare. [/COLOR]
What is Taught: William Harvey, during the early 17th
century, discovered that blood circulates. He was the
first to correctly describe the function of the heart,
arteries and veins. Rome's Galen had presented
erroneous ideas regarding the circulatory system, and
Harvey was the first to determine that blood is pumped
throughout the body via the action of the heart and
the venous valves. Therefore, he is regarded as the
founder of human physiology.
What Should be Taught: In the 10th century, Islam's
ar-Razi wrote an in-depth treatise on the venous
system, accurately describing the function of the
veins and their valves. Ibn an-Nafs and Ibn al-Quff
(13th century) provided full documentation that the
blood circulates and correctly described the
physiology of the heart and the function of its valves
300 years before Harvey. William Harvey was a graduate
of Italy's famous Padua University at a time when the
majority of its curriculum was based upon Ibn Sina's
and ar-Razi's textbooks.
What is Taught: The first pharmacopeia (book of
medicines) was published by a German scholar in 1542.
According to World Book Encyclopedia, the science of
pharmacology was begun in the 1900's as an off-shoot
of chemistry due to the analysis of crude plant
materials. Chemists, after isolating the active
ingredients from plants, realized their medicinal
value.
What Should be Taught: According to the eminent
scholar of Arab history, Phillip Hitti, the Muslims,
not the Greeks or Europeans, wrote the first "modern"
pharmacopeia. The science of pharmacology was
originated by Muslim physicians during the 9th
century. They developed it into a highly refined and
exact science. Muslim chemists, pharmacists and
physicians produced thousands of drugs and/or crude
herbal extracts one thousand years prior to the
supposed birth of pharmacology. During the 14th
century Ibn Baytar wrote a monumental pharmacopeia
listing some 1400 different drugs. Hundreds of other
pharmacopeias were published during the Islamic Era.
It is likely that the German work is an offshoot of
that by Ibn Baytar, which was widely circulated in
Europe.
What is Taught: The discovery of the scientific use of
drugs in the treatment of specific diseases was made
by Paracelsus, the Swiss-born physician, during the
16th century. He is also credited with being the first
to use practical experience as a determining factor in
the treatment of patients rather than relying
exclusively on the works of the ancients.
What Should be Taught: Ar-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Kindi,
Ibn Rushd, az-Zahrawi, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Baytar, Ibn
al-Jazzar, Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Quff, Ibn an-Nafs,
al-Biruni, Ibn Sahl and hundreds of other Muslim
physicians mastered the science of drug therapy for
the treatment of specific symptoms and diseases. In
fact, this concept was entirely their invention. The
word "drug" is derived from Arabic. Their use of
practical experience and careful observation was
extensive.
Muslim physicians were the first to criticize ancient
medical theories and practices. Ar-Razi devoted an
entire book as a critique of Galen's anatomy. The
works of Paracelsus are insignificant compared to the
vast volumes of medical writings and original findings
accomplished by the medical giants of Islam.
What is Taught: The first sound approach to the
treatment of disease was made by a German, Johann
Weger, in the 1500's.
What Should be Taught: Harvard's George Sarton says
that modern medicine is entirely an Islamic
development and that Setting the Record Straight the
Muslim physicians of the 9th through 12th centuries
were precise, scientific, rational and sound in their
approach. Johann Weger was among thousands of
Europeans physicians during the 15th through 17th
centuries who were taught the medicine of ar-Razi and
Ibn Sina. He contributed nothing original.
What is Taught: Medical treatment for the insane was
modernized by Philippe Pinel when in 1793 he operated
France's first insane asylum.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 1lth century,
Islamic hospitals maintained special wards for the
insane. They treated them kindly and presumed their
disease was real at a time when the insane were
routinely burned alive in Europe as witches and
sorcerers. A curative approach was taken for mental
illness and, for the first time in history, the
mentally ill were treated with supportive care, drugs
and psychotherapy. Every major Islamic city maintained
an insane asylum where patients were treated at no
charge. In fact, the Islamic system for the treatment
of the insane excels in comparison to the current
model, as it was more humane and was highly effective
as well.
What is Taught: Kerosine was first produced by the an
Englishman, Abraham Gesner, in 1853. He distilled it
from asphalt.
What Should be Taught: Muslim chemists produced
kerosine as a distillate from petroleum products over
1,000 years prior to Gesner.
:)
gosh lol hope u appreciate this!!! im knackered!! spent ages to do all the colour stuff!!!
:D;)
advancement of Islam and the fabrications of the west.
It is Islam that dragged the kuffar out of the dark
ages into their renaissance period- and it is Islam
that will once again be a shining torch to guide
humanity when the Khilafah returns soon Insha Allah:-
What is Taught: The first mention of man in flight was
by Roger Bacon, who drew a flying apparatus. Leonardo
da Vinci also conceived of airborne transport and drew
several prototypes.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain
invented, constructed and tested a flying machine in
the 800's A.D. Roger Bacon learned of flying machines
from Arabic references to Ibn Firnas' machine. The
latter's invention antedates Bacon by 500 years and Da
Vinci by some 700 years.
What is Taught: Glass mirrors were first produced in
1291 in Venice.
What Should be Taught: Glass mirrors were in use in
Islamic Spain as early as the 11th century. The
Venetians learned of the art of fine glass production
from Syrian artisans during the 9th and 10th
centuries.
What is Taught: Until the 14th century, the only type
of clock available was the water clock. In 1335, a
large mechanical clock was erected in Milan, Italy.
This was possibly the first weight-driven clock.
What Should be Taught: A variety of mechanical clocks
were produced by Spanish Muslim engineers, both large
and small, and this knowledge was transmitted to
Europe through Latin translations of Islamic books on
mechanics. These clocks were weight-driven. Designs
and illustrations of epi-cyclic and segmental gears
were provided. One such clock included a mercury
escapement. The latter type was directly copied by
Europeans during the 15th century. In addition, during
the 9th century, Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain,
according to Will Durant, invented a watch-like device
which kept accurate time. The Muslims also constructed
a variety of highly accurate astronomical clocks for
use in their observatories.
What is Taught: In the 17th century, the pendulum was
developed by Galileo during his teenage years. He
noticed a chandelier swaying as it was being blown by
the wind. As a result, he went home and invented the
pendulum.
What Should be Taught: The pendulum was discovered by
Ibn Yunus al-Masri during the 10th century, who was
the first to study and document its oscillatory
motion. Its value for use in clocks was introduced by
Muslim physicists during the 15th century.
What is Taught: Movable type and the printing press
was invented in the West by Johannes Gutenberg of
Germany during the 15th century.
What Should be Taught: In 1454, Gutenberg developed
the most sophisticated printing press of the Middle
Ages. However, movable brass type was in use in
Islamic Spain 100 years prior, and that is where the
West's first printing devices were made.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton's 17th century study of
lenses, light and prisms forms the foundation of the
modern science of optics.
What Should be Taught: In the 1lth century al-Haytham
determined virtually everything that Newton advanced
regarding optics centuries prior and is regarded by
numerous authorities as the "founder of optics. "
There is little doubt that Newton was influenced by
him. Al-Haytham was the most quoted physicist of the
Middle Ages. His works were utilized and quoted by a
greater number of European scholars during the 16th
and 17th centuries than those of Newton and Galileo
combined.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century,
discovered that white light consists of various rays
of colored light.
What Should be Taught: This discovery was made in its
entirety by al-Haytham (1lth century) and Kamal ad-Din
(14th century). Newton did make original discoveries,
but this was not one of them.
What is Taught: The concept of the finite nature of
matter was first introduced by Antione Lavoisier
during the 18th century. He discovered that, although
matter may change its form or shape, its mass always
remains the same. Thus, for instance, if water is
heated to steam, if salt is dissolved in water or if a
piece of wood is burned to ashes, the total mass
remains unchanged.
What Should be Taught: The principles of this
discovery were elaborated centuries before by Islamic
Persia's great scholar, al-Biruni (d. 1050). Lavoisier
was a disciple of the Muslim chemists and physicists
and referred to their books frequently.
What is Taught: The Greeks were the developers of
trigonometry.
What Should be Taught: Trigonometry remained largely a
theoretical science among the Greeks. It was developed
to a level of modern perfection by Muslim scholars,
although the weight of the credit must be given to
al-Battani. The words describing the basic functions
of this science, sine, cosine and tangent, are all
derived from Arabic terms. Thus, original
contributions by the Greeks in trigonometry were
minimal.
What is Taught: The use of decimal fractions in
mathematics was first developed by a Dutchman, Simon
Stevin, in 1589. He helped advance the mathematical
sciences by replacing the cumbersome fractions, for
instance, 1/2, with decimal fractions, for example,
0.5.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians were the
first to utilize decimals instead of fractions on a
large scale. Al-Kashi's book, Key to Arithmetic, was
written at the beginning of the 15th century and was
the stimulus for the systematic application of
decimals to whole numbers and fractions thereof. It is
highly probably that Stevin imported the idea to
Europe from al-Kashi's work.
What is Taught: The first man to utilize algebraic
symbols was the French mathematician, Francois Vieta.
In 1591, he wrote an algebra book describing equations
with letters such as the now familiar x and y's.
Asimov says that this discovery had an impact similar
to the progression from Roman numerals to Arabic
numbers.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians, the
inventors of algebra, introduced the concept of using
letters for unknown variables in equations as early as
the 9th century A.D. Through this system, they solved
a variety of complex equations, including quadratic
and cubic equations. They used symbols to develop and
perfect the binomial theorem.
What is Taught: The difficult cubic equations (x to
the third power) remained unsolved until the 16th
century when Niccolo Tartaglia, an Italian
mathematician, solved them.
What Should be Taught: Cubic equations as well as
numerous equations of even higher degrees were solved
with ease by Muslim mathematicians as early as the
10th century.
What is Taught: The concept that numbers could be less
than zero, that is negative numbers, was unknown until
1545 when Geronimo Cardano introduced the idea.
What Should he Taught: Muslim mathematicians
introduced negative numbers for use in a variety of
arithmetic functions at least 400 years prior to
Cardano.
What is Taught: In 1614, John Napier invented
logarithms and logarithmic tables.
What Should be Taught: Muslim mathematicians invented
logarithms and produced logarithmic tables several
centuries prior. Such tables were common in the
Islamic world as early as the 13th century.
What is Taught: During the 17th century Rene Descartes
made the discovery that algebra could be used to solve
geometrical problems. By this, he greatly advanced the
science of geometry.
What Should be Taught: Mathematicians of the Islamic
Empire accomplished precisely this as early as the 9th
century A.D. Thabit bin Qurrah was the first to do so,
and he was followed by Abu'l Wafa, whose 10th century
book utilized algebra to advance geometry into an
exact and simplified science.
What is Taught: Isaac Newton, during the 17th century,
developed the binomial theorem, which is a crucial
component for the study of algebra.
What Should be Taught: Hundreds of Muslim
mathematicians utilized and perfected the binomial
theorem. They initiated its use for the systematic
solution of algebraic problems during the 10th century
(or prior).
What is Taught: No improvement had been made in the
astronomy of the ancients during the Middle Ages
regarding the motion of planets until the 13th
century. Then Alphonso the Wise of Castile (Middle
Spain) invented the Aphonsine Tables, which were more
accurate than Ptolemy's.
What Should be Taught: Muslim astronomers made
numerous improvements upon Ptolemy's findings as early
as the 9th century. They were the first astronomers to
dispute his archaic ideas. In their critic of the
Greeks, they synthesized proof that the sun is the
center of the solar system and that the orbits of the
earth and other planets might be elliptical. They
produced hundreds of highly accurate astronomical
tables and star charts. Many of their calculations are
so precise that they are regarded as contemporary. The
AlphonsineTables are little more than copies of works
on astronomy transmitted to Europe via Islamic Spain,
i.e. the Toledo Tables.
What is Taught: The English scholar Roger Bacon (d.
1292) first mentioned glass lenses for improving
vision. At nearly the same time, eyeglasses could be
found in use both in China and Europe.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Firnas of Islamic Spain
invented eyeglasses during the 9th century, and they
were manufactured and sold throughout Spain for over
two centuries. Any mention of eyeglasses by Roger
Bacon was simply a regurgitation of the work of
al-Haytham (d. 1039), whose research Bacon frequently
referred to.
What is Taught: Gunpowder was developed in the Western
world as a result of Roger Bacon's work in 1242. The
first usage of gunpowder in weapons was when the
Chinese fired it from bamboo shoots in attempt to
frighten Mongol conquerors. They produced it by adding
sulfur and charcoal to saltpeter.
What Should be Taught: The Chinese developed saltpeter
for use in fireworks and knew of no tactical military
use for gunpowder, nor did they invent its formula.
Research by Reinuad and Fave have clearly shown that
gunpowder was formulated initially by Muslim chemists.
Further, these historians claim that the Muslims
developed the first fire-arms. Notably, Muslim armies
used grenades and other weapons in their defence of
Algericus against the Franks during the 14th century.
Jean Mathes indicates that the Muslim rulers had
stock-piles of grenades, rifles, crude cannons,
incendiary devices, sulfur bombs and pistols decades
before such devices were used in Europe. The first
mention of a cannon was in an Arabic text around 1300
A.D. Roger Bacon learned of the formula for gunpowder
from Latin translations of Arabic books. He brought
forth nothing original in this regard.
What is Taught: The compass was invented by the
Chinese who may have been the first to use it for
navigational purposes sometime between 1000 and 1100
A.D. The earliest reference to its use in navigation
was by the Englishman, Alexander Neckam (1157-1217).
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers and
navigators learned of the magnetic needle, possibly
from the Chinese, and were the first to use magnetic
needles in navigation. They invented the compass and
passed the knowledge of its use in navigation to the
West. European navigators relied on Muslim pilots and
their instruments when exploring unknown territories.
Gustav Le Bon claims that the magnetic needle and
compass were entirely invented by the Muslims and that
the Chinese had little to do with it. Neckam, as well
as the Chinese, probably learned of it from Muslim
traders. It is noteworthy that the Chinese improved
their navigational expertise after they began
interacting with the Muslims during the 8th century.
What is Taught: The first man to classify the races
was the German Johann F. Blumenbach, who divided
mankind into white, yellow, brown, black and red
peoples.
What Should be Taught: Muslim scholars of the 9th
through 14th centuries invented the science of
ethnography. A number of Muslim geographers classified
the races, writing detailed explanations of their
unique cultural habits and physical appearances. They
wrote thousands of pages on this subject. Blumenbach's
works were insignificant in comparison.
What is Taught: The science of geography was revived
during the 15th, 16th and 17th centuries when the
ancient works of Ptolemy were discovered. The Crusades
and the Portuguese/Spanish expeditions also
contributed to this reawakening. The first
scientifically-based treatise on geography were
produced during this period by Europe's scholars.
What Should be Taught: Muslim geographers produced
untold volumes of books on the geography of Africa,
Asia, India, China and the Indies during the 8th
through 15th centuries. These writings included the
world's first geographical encyclopedias, almanacs and
road maps. Ibn Battutah's 14th century masterpieces
provide a detailed view of the geography of the
ancient world. The Muslim geographers of the 10th
through 15th centuries far exceeded the output by
Europeans regarding the geography of these regions
well into the 18th century. The Crusades led to the
destruction of educational institutions, their
scholars and books. They brought nothing substantive
regarding geography to the Western world.
What is Taught: Robert Boyle, in the 17th century,
originated the science of chemistry.
What Should be Taught: A variety of Muslim chemists,
including ar-Razi, al-Jabr, al-Biruni and al-Kindi,
performed scientific experiments in chemistry some 700
years prior to Boyle. Durant writes that the Muslims
introduced the experimental method to this science.
Humboldt regards the Muslims as the founders of
chemistry.
What is Taught: Leonardo da Vinci (16th century)
fathered the science of geology when he noted that
fossils found on mountains indicated a watery origin
of the earth.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (1lth century) made
precisely this observation and added much to it,
including a huge book on geology, hundreds of years
before Da Vinci was born. Ibn Sina noted this as well
(see pages 100-101). it is probable that Da Vinci
first learned of this concept from Latin translations
of Islamic books. He added nothing original to their
findings.
What is Taught: The first mention of the geological
formation of valleys was in 1756, when Nicolas
Desmarest proposed that they were formed over a long
periods of time by streams.
What Should be Taught: Ibn Sina and al-Biruni made
precisely this discovery during the 11th century (see
pages 102 and 103), fully 700 years prior to
Desmarest.
What is Taught: Galileo (17th century) was the world's
first great experimenter.
What Should be Taught: Al-Biruni (d. 1050) was the
world's first great experimenter. He wrote over 200
books, many of which discuss his precise experiments.
His literary output in the sciences amounts to some
13,000 pages, far exceeding that written by Galileo
or, for that matter, Galileo and Newton combined.
What is Taught: The Italian Giovanni Morgagni is
regarded as the father of pathology because he was the
first to correctly describe the nature of disease.
What Should be Taught: Islam's surgeons were the first
pathologists. They fully realized the nature of
disease and described a variety of diseases to modern
detail. Ibn Zuhr correctly described the nature of
pleurisy, tuberculosis and pericarditis. Az-Zahrawi
accurately documented the pathology of hydrocephalus
(water on the brain) and other congenital diseases.
Ibn al-Quff and Ibn an-Nafs gave perfect descriptions
of the diseases of circulation. Other Muslim surgeons
gave the first accurate descriptions of certain
malignancies, including cancer of the stomach, bowel
and esophagus. These surgeons were the originators of
pathology, not Giovanni Morgagni.
What is Taught: Paul Ehrlich (19th century) is the
originator of drug chemotherapy, that is the use of
specific drugs to kill microbes.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians used a
variety of specific substances to destroy microbes.
They applied sulfur topically specifically to kill the
scabies mite. Ar-Razi (10th century) used mercurial
compounds as topical antiseptics.
What is Taught: Purified alcohol, made through
distillation, was first produced by Arnau de
Villanova, a Spanish alchemist, in 1300 A.D.
What Should be Taught: Numerous Muslim chemists
produced medicinal-grade alcohol through distillation
as early as the 10th century and manufactured on a
large scale the first distillation devices for use in
chemistry. They used alcohol as a solvent and
antiseptic.[/COLOR]
What is Taught: The first surgery performed under
inhalation anesthesia was conducted by C.W. Long, an
American, in 1845.
What Should be Taught: Six hundred years prior to
Long, Islamic Spain's Az-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr, among
other Muslim surgeons, performed hundreds of surgeries
under inhalation anesthesia with the use of
narcotic-soaked sponges which were placed over the
face.
What is Taught: During the 16th century Paracelsus
invented the use of opium extracts for anesthesia.
What Should be Taught: Muslim physicians introduced
the anesthetic value of opium derivatives during the
Middle Ages. Opium was originally used as an
anesthetic agent by the Greeks. Paracelus was a
student of Ibn Sina's works from which it is almost
assured that he derived this idea.
What is Taught: Modern anesthesia was invented in the
19th century by Humphrey Davy and Horace Wells.
What Should be Taught: Modern anesthesia was
discovered, mastered and perfected by Muslim
anesthetists 900 years before the advent of Davy and
Wells. They utilized oral as well as inhalant
anesthetics.
What is Taught: The concept of quarantine was first
developed in 1403. In Venice, a law was passed
preventing strangers from entering the city until a
certain waiting period had passed. If, by then, no
sign of illness could be found, they were allowed in.
What Should be Taught: The concept of quarantine was
first introduced in the 7th century A.D. by the
prophet Muhammad, who wisely warned against entering
or leaving a region suffering from plague. As early as
the 10th century, Muslim physicians innovated the use
of isolation wards for individuals suffering with
communicable diseases.
What is Taught: The scientific use of antiseptics in
surgery was discovered by the British surgeon Joseph
Lister in 1865.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 10th century,
Muslim physicians and surgeons were applying purified
alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent. Surgeons in
Islamic Spain utilized special methods for maintaining
antisepsis prior to and during surgery. They also
originated specific protocols for maintaining hygiene
during the post-operative period. Their success rate
was so high that dignitaries throughout Europe came to
Cordova, Spain, to be treated at what was comparably
the "Mayo Clinic" of the Middle Ages.
What is Taught: In 1545, the scientific use of surgery
was advanced by the French surgeon Ambroise Pare.
Prior to him, surgeons attempted to stop bleeding
through the gruesome procedure of searing the wound
with boiling oil. Pare stopped the use of boiling oils
and began ligating arteries. He is considered the
"father of rational surgery." Pare was also one of the
first Europeans to condemn such grotesque "surgical"
procedures as trepanning.
What Should be Taught: Islamic Spain's illustrious
surgeon, az-Zahrawi (d. 1013), began ligating arteries
with fine sutures over 500 years prior to Pare. He
perfected the use of Catgut, that is suture made from
animal intestines. Additionally, he instituted the use
of cotton plus wax to plug bleeding wounds. The full
details of his works were made available to Europeans
through Latin translations.
Despite this, barbers and herdsmen continued be the
primary individuals practicing the "art" of surgery
for nearly six centuries after az-Zahrawi's death.
Pare himself was a barber, albeit more skilled and
conscientious than the average ones.
Included in az-Zahrawi's legacy are dozens of books.
His most famous work is a 30 volume treatise on
medicine and surgery. His books contain sections on
preventive medicine, nutrition, cosmetics, drug
therapy, surgical technique, anesthesia, pre and
post-operative care as well as drawings of some 200
surgical devices, many of which he invented. The
refined and scholarly az-Zahrawi must be regarded as
the father and founder of rational surgery, not the
uneducated Pare. [/COLOR]
What is Taught: William Harvey, during the early 17th
century, discovered that blood circulates. He was the
first to correctly describe the function of the heart,
arteries and veins. Rome's Galen had presented
erroneous ideas regarding the circulatory system, and
Harvey was the first to determine that blood is pumped
throughout the body via the action of the heart and
the venous valves. Therefore, he is regarded as the
founder of human physiology.
What Should be Taught: In the 10th century, Islam's
ar-Razi wrote an in-depth treatise on the venous
system, accurately describing the function of the
veins and their valves. Ibn an-Nafs and Ibn al-Quff
(13th century) provided full documentation that the
blood circulates and correctly described the
physiology of the heart and the function of its valves
300 years before Harvey. William Harvey was a graduate
of Italy's famous Padua University at a time when the
majority of its curriculum was based upon Ibn Sina's
and ar-Razi's textbooks.
What is Taught: The first pharmacopeia (book of
medicines) was published by a German scholar in 1542.
According to World Book Encyclopedia, the science of
pharmacology was begun in the 1900's as an off-shoot
of chemistry due to the analysis of crude plant
materials. Chemists, after isolating the active
ingredients from plants, realized their medicinal
value.
What Should be Taught: According to the eminent
scholar of Arab history, Phillip Hitti, the Muslims,
not the Greeks or Europeans, wrote the first "modern"
pharmacopeia. The science of pharmacology was
originated by Muslim physicians during the 9th
century. They developed it into a highly refined and
exact science. Muslim chemists, pharmacists and
physicians produced thousands of drugs and/or crude
herbal extracts one thousand years prior to the
supposed birth of pharmacology. During the 14th
century Ibn Baytar wrote a monumental pharmacopeia
listing some 1400 different drugs. Hundreds of other
pharmacopeias were published during the Islamic Era.
It is likely that the German work is an offshoot of
that by Ibn Baytar, which was widely circulated in
Europe.
What is Taught: The discovery of the scientific use of
drugs in the treatment of specific diseases was made
by Paracelsus, the Swiss-born physician, during the
16th century. He is also credited with being the first
to use practical experience as a determining factor in
the treatment of patients rather than relying
exclusively on the works of the ancients.
What Should be Taught: Ar-Razi, Ibn Sina, al-Kindi,
Ibn Rushd, az-Zahrawi, Ibn Zuhr, Ibn Baytar, Ibn
al-Jazzar, Ibn Juljul, Ibn al-Quff, Ibn an-Nafs,
al-Biruni, Ibn Sahl and hundreds of other Muslim
physicians mastered the science of drug therapy for
the treatment of specific symptoms and diseases. In
fact, this concept was entirely their invention. The
word "drug" is derived from Arabic. Their use of
practical experience and careful observation was
extensive.
Muslim physicians were the first to criticize ancient
medical theories and practices. Ar-Razi devoted an
entire book as a critique of Galen's anatomy. The
works of Paracelsus are insignificant compared to the
vast volumes of medical writings and original findings
accomplished by the medical giants of Islam.
What is Taught: The first sound approach to the
treatment of disease was made by a German, Johann
Weger, in the 1500's.
What Should be Taught: Harvard's George Sarton says
that modern medicine is entirely an Islamic
development and that Setting the Record Straight the
Muslim physicians of the 9th through 12th centuries
were precise, scientific, rational and sound in their
approach. Johann Weger was among thousands of
Europeans physicians during the 15th through 17th
centuries who were taught the medicine of ar-Razi and
Ibn Sina. He contributed nothing original.
What is Taught: Medical treatment for the insane was
modernized by Philippe Pinel when in 1793 he operated
France's first insane asylum.
What Should be Taught: As early as the 1lth century,
Islamic hospitals maintained special wards for the
insane. They treated them kindly and presumed their
disease was real at a time when the insane were
routinely burned alive in Europe as witches and
sorcerers. A curative approach was taken for mental
illness and, for the first time in history, the
mentally ill were treated with supportive care, drugs
and psychotherapy. Every major Islamic city maintained
an insane asylum where patients were treated at no
charge. In fact, the Islamic system for the treatment
of the insane excels in comparison to the current
model, as it was more humane and was highly effective
as well.
What is Taught: Kerosine was first produced by the an
Englishman, Abraham Gesner, in 1853. He distilled it
from asphalt.
What Should be Taught: Muslim chemists produced
kerosine as a distillate from petroleum products over
1,000 years prior to Gesner.
:)
gosh lol hope u appreciate this!!! im knackered!! spent ages to do all the colour stuff!!!
:D;)