The Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaahu alayhi wasallam) said to seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave.
The very first verse came down: ‘Read.’ You are required to try to know something about your creator through meditation, through analysis, experimentation, and observation.”
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.
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 caffé and then English coffee.
“Men who celebrate the praises of Allah, standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and contemplate the (wonders of) creation in the heavens and the earth, (With the thought): "Our Lord! Not for naught Hast Thou created (all) this! Glory to Thee! Give us salvation from the penalty of the Fire. “Qur’an 3:191
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 realization dawned on Galileo.
The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth'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.
'His throne comprises the heavens and earth'
Qur'an, II, 256
For Muslims the Qur'an establishes God's Law and reveals the true nature of reality.
It is said to contain all knowledge and thus the acquisition of knowledge is seen as a religious act.
Muslim scholars did not separate areas of learning such as medicine, mathematics and literature; instead, each was regarded as a single part of a unified whole truth.
To "Write a check" you need a nice pen:-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.
Writing:
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.
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 mathematician’s al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi’s book, Al-Jabber wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim math’s 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-Kind’s discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology.
Eyes:
The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realize 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.
Carpets were introduced
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 Islam's non-representational art. In contrast, Europe'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, harboring 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
Bathing are religious requirements
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 pomade.
But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil.
One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash.
Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mohamed’s Indian Vapor Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.
Gothic cathedrals
The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe'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.
Europe's castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world's - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets.
Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry V's castle architect was a Muslim.
Astronomy
Muslims have always had a special interest in astronomy.
The moon and the sun are of vital importance in the daily life of every Muslim.
By the moon, Muslims determine the beginning and the end of the months in their lunar calendar.
By the sun the Muslims calculate the times for prayer and fasting.
It is also by means of astronomy that Muslims can determine the precise direction of the Qiblah, to face the Ka’ba in Makkah, during prayer.
The most precise solar calendar, superior to the Julian, is the Jilali, devised under the supervision of Umar Khayyam.
The Quran contains many references to astronomy:
"And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming."
[Noble Quran 21:33]
These references, and the injunctions to learn, inspired the early Muslim scholars to study the heavens.
They integrated the earlier works of the Indians, Persians and Greeks into a new synthesis.
Ptolemy's Almagest (the title as we know it today is actually Arabic) was translated, studied and criticized.
Many new stars were discovered, as we see in their Arabic names - Algol, Deneb, Betelgeuse, Rigel, and Aldebaran. Astronomical tables were compiled, among them the Toledan tables, which were used by Copernicus, Tyco Brae and Kepler.
Also compiled were almanacs - another Arabic term. Other terms from Arabic are zenith, nadir, Aledo, azimuth.
Muslim astronomers were the first to establish observatories, like the one built at Mughirah by Hulagu, the son of Genghis Khan, in Persia, and they invented instruments such as the quadrant and astrolabe, which led to advances not only in astronomy but in oceanic navigation, contributing to the European age of exploration.
Geography
Muslim scholars paid great attention to geography. In fact, the Muslims' great concern for geography originated with their religion.
The Quran encourages people to travel throughout the earth to see God's signs and patterns everywhere. Islam also requires each Muslim to have at least enough knowledge of geography to know the direction of the Qiblah (the position of the Ka’ba in Makkah) in order to pray five times a day.
Muslims were also used to taking long journeys to conduct trade as well as to make the Hajj and spread their religion. The far-flung Islamic empire enabled scholar-explorers to compile large amounts of geographical and climatic information from the Atlantic to the Pacific.
Among the most famous names in the field of geography, even in the West, are Ibn Khaldun and Ibn Batuta, renowned for their written accounts of their extensive explorations.
In 1166, Al-Idrisi, the well-known Muslim scholar who served the Sicilian court, produced very accurate maps, including a world map with all the continents and their mountains, rivers and famous cities. Al-Muqdishi was the first geographer to produce accurate maps in color.
Spain was ruled by Muslims under the banner of Islam for over 700 years. By the 15th century of the Gregorian calendar the ruler-ship of Islam had been seated in Spain and Muslims had established centers of learning which commanded respect all over the known world at that time. There were no "Dark Ages" such the rest of Europe experienced for the Muslims in Spain and those who lived there with them. In January of 1492 Muslim Spain capitulated to Catholic Rome under King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella. By July of the same year, Muslims were instrumental in helping navigate Christopher Columbus to the Caribbean South of Florida.
It was, moreover, with the help of Muslim navigators and their inventions that Magellan was able to traverse the Cape of Good Hope and Da -Gamma and Columbus had Muslim navigators on board their ships.
May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) help us to do that which He loves and which pleases Him?
And Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) knows best.
May Allah Subhanahu WA Ta’aala (GOD) make our efforts sincere and keep us all on the straight path...........
Feel free to Share the information here with everyone you know
P.S.: "Have fun praying don’t forget to make dua for me...
No comments:
Post a Comment