Islam's holiest city set for 130-skyscraper redevelopment
Taken from The Guardian, UK, Thursday May 29 2008
By Riazat Butt
The holiest city in Islam is to get a £6bn facelift, it was announced yesterday, with homes and hills being flattened to make way for hotels, apartments, shopping malls and transport facilities for pilgrims. Six development projects ordered by the Saudi monarch, King Abdullah, will transform Mecca, which struggles to accommodate the millions of Muslims who pour into the city every year to perform hajj.
The biggest change will be to the courtyards of the Grand Mosque, which can hold at least 100,000 worshippers during prayer times. An ambitious expansion programme has led to the demolition of 1,000 properties in the immediate Shamiya area and Saudi authorities have set aside an estimated £80m to compensate the homeowners.
There will also be a new residential district to the south-west of the mosque. Construction firms have begun to level hills to create a 230,000 square metre area that will include high-rise apartments and air conditioned prayer facilities for up to 120,000.
A new ring road, four kilometres (2.5 miles) long and 80m wide, will ease congestion and link to the Jeddah highway, while a project to the south of the mosque will increase prayer space from 1,170 to 30,000 square metres and provide parking space for more than 1,000 cars.
But Irfan Al Alawi, the founder and former executive director the Islamic Heritage Research Foundation, said: "It's the Manhattanisation of Mecca. The Saudis want to build skyscrapers.
The worry is that as they level hills and mountains they will destroy sites of cultural interest."
A report by the Saudi British Bank, one of the kingdom's biggest lenders, estimates that £15bn will be invested by local and foreign companies in construction and infrastructure in Mecca in the next four years. Up to 130 new skyscrapers are anticipated, including the Abraj Al Bait Towers, a seven-tower project that will be one of the largest buildings in the world, with a 2,000-room hotel, a 1,500-person convention centre, heliports and a four-storey mall that will house hundreds of outlets.
The pilgrims already have the opportunity to stop at Next, TopShop and Starbucks in between their religious rituals.
For developers, Mecca is a concrete business investment, with the guarantee of millions of visitors each year. The world's estimated 1.4 billion Muslims are obliged to complete hajj once in their lifetime if they have the means to do so. Last year up to 4 million people completed hajj, with millions more visiting during the rest of the year.
Next week Mecca - which is strictly off limits to non-Muslims - will host a three-day conference on the importance of dialogue with other religions. The event, to be opened by King Abdullah, will feature scholars and academics from the Islamic world.
For pictures of the redevelopment that is taking place click here
Pictures: Makkah redevelopment project
Further reading (from within this blog)
(1) The Kaba: It's Size and History
(2) The Prophets Mosque in Medina
(3) Masjid al-Aqsa - Palestine
Friday, May 30, 2008
Latina converts look for answers in Islam
Latina converts look for answers in Islam
from greatreporter.com
Written by Pilar Conci, Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Increasing numbers of Latinas are converting to Islam, for love, faith and, some say, a sense of respect. But some find acceptance from family and friends is harder to come by.
When Beatriz Kehdy was growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she felt uncomfortable with the standards of beauty that she says were a part of the culture in which she was raised.
An emphasis on external beauty and the body, she says, became increasingly foreign to her own personal values.
Kehdy moved to New York City almost 10 years ago and eventually discovered a sense of place in Islam and in the hijab, or headscarf worn by women in the faith.
“When I wear the hijab, I feel more respected, people talk to me with respect,” she said.
The now 27-year-old architect converted from Catholicism to Islam four years ago, but didn’t tell her family until a few years later, in a letter.
“When I started wearing the hijab, there was a problem,” she said.
“My father didn’t want me to wear it in public in Brazil.”
Kehdy is one of many Latin American women in the US who have embraced the Islamic faith.
The American Muslim Council, based in Chicago, estimates that there are more than 200,000 Latino Muslims in the United States.
Women make up 60 percent of conversions to Islam, according to experts.
Mosques around the country have begun to offer special classes where women converts can learn about Islam.
The North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, N.J., offers both English and Spanish Language classes.
Mariam Abassi, vice president of the Da’wah (outreach) program at the center, said about 500 members of the center are Latino converts.
There are between 4,000 and 5,000 members in total.
Many Latinas choose to accept Islam because they marry Muslims.
Others convert when they’re single, often because they feel unfulfilled by the religion in which they were raised.
For a large number of Latinas, that faith is Catholicism.
“Some of them really have doubt about the Trinity,” a central belief in Catholicism that says God exists in three beings, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; said Chernor Sa’ad Jallah, assistant Imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, in East Harlem, the largest mosque in New York City.
“They find it really confusing,” In his community of about 1,500 people, between 10 and 15 percent are Latinos.
Some said they were uncomfortable making confessions to a priest and feeling as though they had no direct relationship with God.
“I was raised as a Catholic but I didn’t like it.
I felt this emptiness,” said Mayeline Turbides, a 21-year-old Dominican student who lives in West New York, N.J.” I was never convinced.” She took the name Leila after she became a Muslim.
Before discovering Islam, Turbides had explored evangelical Christianity and Mormonism, which failed to draw her in.
About two years ago, her Muslim boss started talking to her about Islam.
“I used to go out, to drink.
I got drunk 500 times,” Turbides said in Spanish.
“But nothing made sense.
I wanted rules.”
When it comes to assimilating to a new faith, Islam appeals to Catholic Latinas for several reasons.
“There are many similarities between Catholicism and Islam,” said Ibrahim Hooper, Communications Director and spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, D.C.
“Both have principles that need to be followed, regarding how you conduct yourself as person, how you operate in a community.”
Others find a new religion to be an escape from the confines of machismo, or chauvinism.
“I feel more protected,” Turbides said.
“Men used to shout things at me when I was walking down the street.
They would honk their horns.
When I wear the hijab, nobody says anything.”
For New Yorker Yuri Lara, the 23-year-old daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, understanding the role of women in Islam, and dispelling what she considers to be stereotypes, was one of her biggest concerns when she was studying the religion.
“We have rights, we have a voice, it’s all in the Quran,” said Lara, who studied psychology at SUNY Albany.
But for many Latina converts to Islam, conversion brings with it the challenge of gaining acceptance from their own families and other non-Muslims, a process that takes time.
“At first my family was unhappy,” said Demaris Tapanes, 32, who was born and raised in Union City, N.J., to a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father.
“'Why do you have to cover?'" she said of her family’s objection to the hijab.
“One of my brothers told me he didn’t want me to cover because after 9/11, people resented Muslims,” she said “He was concerned for my security.”
Wearing the hijab presents other challenges, as Turbides found out when she wore the head covering to the grocery store where she works.
“People would ignore me,” Turbides said.
“My boss is a Muslim, but they’re nice to him because he is an Arab.
Since I am Latina, they tell me that I’m pulling away from my religion.
I felt very bad that day.”
Despite the obstacles they face to practice their adopted faith, many women converts say Islam changed their lives.
“I’m a better version of myself now,” said Lara.
“I’m closer to my family than I ever was.
I think more about others, as opposed to me, me, me.
I think about what I’m going to eat before I take the last bite left.”
Estela Ramon, who attends the class at the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, became interested in Islam after her husband, Delfino, who was born in Mexico, converted to Islam four years ago.
“At first I asked him if he was crazy,” said Ramon, who is also from Mexico and was raised a Catholic.
Ramon, 34, says that her husband changed for the better when he turned to Islam.
“He used to drink and get angry,” she said.
“Now he is more confident in himself, he is more responsible.
And he doesn’t drink anymore.”
Ramon is reading a Spanish translation of the Quran and is thinking of converting too.
Although she says she is drawn to the lifestyle that Islam proscribes, Ramon says she is not ready to accept the faith.
“My time to say yes has not come," she said.
“When God wants me to, I will accept it.”
Read stories from other Reverts (from within this blog)
(1) Mum, I've decided to follow Allah
(2) Why British women turn to Islam
(3) A woman on a mission
(4) Women converts to Islam after 911
(5) Turning Muslim in Texas, USA
(6) Turning Muslim in Australia!
(7) The boys call me beardo - I'll live with it!
from greatreporter.com
Written by Pilar Conci, Tuesday, 27 May 2008
Increasing numbers of Latinas are converting to Islam, for love, faith and, some say, a sense of respect. But some find acceptance from family and friends is harder to come by.
When Beatriz Kehdy was growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, she felt uncomfortable with the standards of beauty that she says were a part of the culture in which she was raised.
An emphasis on external beauty and the body, she says, became increasingly foreign to her own personal values.
Kehdy moved to New York City almost 10 years ago and eventually discovered a sense of place in Islam and in the hijab, or headscarf worn by women in the faith.
“When I wear the hijab, I feel more respected, people talk to me with respect,” she said.
The now 27-year-old architect converted from Catholicism to Islam four years ago, but didn’t tell her family until a few years later, in a letter.
“When I started wearing the hijab, there was a problem,” she said.
“My father didn’t want me to wear it in public in Brazil.”
Kehdy is one of many Latin American women in the US who have embraced the Islamic faith.
The American Muslim Council, based in Chicago, estimates that there are more than 200,000 Latino Muslims in the United States.
Women make up 60 percent of conversions to Islam, according to experts.
Mosques around the country have begun to offer special classes where women converts can learn about Islam.
The North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, N.J., offers both English and Spanish Language classes.
Mariam Abassi, vice president of the Da’wah (outreach) program at the center, said about 500 members of the center are Latino converts.
There are between 4,000 and 5,000 members in total.
Many Latinas choose to accept Islam because they marry Muslims.
Others convert when they’re single, often because they feel unfulfilled by the religion in which they were raised.
For a large number of Latinas, that faith is Catholicism.
“Some of them really have doubt about the Trinity,” a central belief in Catholicism that says God exists in three beings, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit; said Chernor Sa’ad Jallah, assistant Imam at the Islamic Cultural Center, in East Harlem, the largest mosque in New York City.
“They find it really confusing,” In his community of about 1,500 people, between 10 and 15 percent are Latinos.
Some said they were uncomfortable making confessions to a priest and feeling as though they had no direct relationship with God.
“I was raised as a Catholic but I didn’t like it.
I felt this emptiness,” said Mayeline Turbides, a 21-year-old Dominican student who lives in West New York, N.J.” I was never convinced.” She took the name Leila after she became a Muslim.
Before discovering Islam, Turbides had explored evangelical Christianity and Mormonism, which failed to draw her in.
About two years ago, her Muslim boss started talking to her about Islam.
“I used to go out, to drink.
I got drunk 500 times,” Turbides said in Spanish.
“But nothing made sense.
I wanted rules.”
When it comes to assimilating to a new faith, Islam appeals to Catholic Latinas for several reasons.
“There are many similarities between Catholicism and Islam,” said Ibrahim Hooper, Communications Director and spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington, D.C.
“Both have principles that need to be followed, regarding how you conduct yourself as person, how you operate in a community.”
Others find a new religion to be an escape from the confines of machismo, or chauvinism.
“I feel more protected,” Turbides said.
“Men used to shout things at me when I was walking down the street.
They would honk their horns.
When I wear the hijab, nobody says anything.”
For New Yorker Yuri Lara, the 23-year-old daughter of Ecuadorian immigrants, understanding the role of women in Islam, and dispelling what she considers to be stereotypes, was one of her biggest concerns when she was studying the religion.
“We have rights, we have a voice, it’s all in the Quran,” said Lara, who studied psychology at SUNY Albany.
But for many Latina converts to Islam, conversion brings with it the challenge of gaining acceptance from their own families and other non-Muslims, a process that takes time.
“At first my family was unhappy,” said Demaris Tapanes, 32, who was born and raised in Union City, N.J., to a Puerto Rican mother and a Cuban father.
“'Why do you have to cover?'" she said of her family’s objection to the hijab.
“One of my brothers told me he didn’t want me to cover because after 9/11, people resented Muslims,” she said “He was concerned for my security.”
Wearing the hijab presents other challenges, as Turbides found out when she wore the head covering to the grocery store where she works.
“People would ignore me,” Turbides said.
“My boss is a Muslim, but they’re nice to him because he is an Arab.
Since I am Latina, they tell me that I’m pulling away from my religion.
I felt very bad that day.”
Despite the obstacles they face to practice their adopted faith, many women converts say Islam changed their lives.
“I’m a better version of myself now,” said Lara.
“I’m closer to my family than I ever was.
I think more about others, as opposed to me, me, me.
I think about what I’m going to eat before I take the last bite left.”
Estela Ramon, who attends the class at the North Hudson Islamic Educational Center, in Union City, became interested in Islam after her husband, Delfino, who was born in Mexico, converted to Islam four years ago.
“At first I asked him if he was crazy,” said Ramon, who is also from Mexico and was raised a Catholic.
Ramon, 34, says that her husband changed for the better when he turned to Islam.
“He used to drink and get angry,” she said.
“Now he is more confident in himself, he is more responsible.
And he doesn’t drink anymore.”
Ramon is reading a Spanish translation of the Quran and is thinking of converting too.
Although she says she is drawn to the lifestyle that Islam proscribes, Ramon says she is not ready to accept the faith.
“My time to say yes has not come," she said.
“When God wants me to, I will accept it.”
Read stories from other Reverts (from within this blog)
(1) Mum, I've decided to follow Allah
(2) Why British women turn to Islam
(3) A woman on a mission
(4) Women converts to Islam after 911
(5) Turning Muslim in Texas, USA
(6) Turning Muslim in Australia!
(7) The boys call me beardo - I'll live with it!
Monday, May 26, 2008
A' Is For Allah (alif Is For Allah)
A' Is For Allah
This is a beautiful song written for children by Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens). The musician used the song as a vehicle to teach his daughter, Hasanah, the 28-letter Arabic alphabet. For more info about the artist and where to buy his albums visit yusufislam.com.
The Video:
The Lyrics:
A' is for Allah, nothing but Allah;
Ba is the beginning of Bismillah;
Ta is for Taqwa, bewaring of Allah;
and Tha is for Thawab, a reward;
Ja is for Janna, the Garden of Paradise;
Ha is for Hajj, the blessed pilgrimage;
Kha is for Khaatem, the seal of the prophethood given to the Prophet, Muhammed (SAW);
Da is for Deen, Al-Islam, religion with Allah since time began;
Dha is for dhikr, remembering Allah;
and Ra is for the month of Ramadhan, ohh Ramadhan;
Za is for Zakat to pure our greed, when we give our money to those in need;
Sa is for Salamu alaikum, peace be with you wa'alaikum assalam;
Sha is for shams, the shining sun, which Allah placed for everyone;
and Sua is for salat, for when we pray facing him, everyday, facing him, till we meet ourlord;
Allah there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Dua is for duha, the morning light, the sun has turned from red to white;
Tua is for tareeq, the path to walk upon;
and Dhua is for dhil, a shadow;
and Aa is for ilm, the thing to know, to make our knowledge grow, in Islam;
Gha is for ghaib, a world unseen and that we know is not a dream;
Fa is for, the Opening, Al-Fatiha;
and Qua for the Qur'an, the book of God;
and Ka is for kalima, a word we're taught to teach us what is good and what is not;
and La is for the beginning of La ilaha illa'allah;
Ma is for the Messenger Muhammed-ur-Rasoolillah.
La ilaha illa'allah, Muhammed-ur-Rasulilllah;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, la ilaha illa'allah;
Na is for nawm, the sleep God gave to give us rest after the day;
Ha is for the Hijra, the journey that, the Prophet made;
and Wa for wudu before we pray to help us wash our sins away;
and Ya for Yawm-mid-Deen;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Jesus was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Moses was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Abraham was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Noah was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and he created Adam, and we are the children of Adam.
Allah,La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah.
This is a beautiful song written for children by Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens). The musician used the song as a vehicle to teach his daughter, Hasanah, the 28-letter Arabic alphabet. For more info about the artist and where to buy his albums visit yusufislam.com.
The Video:
The Lyrics:
A' is for Allah, nothing but Allah;
Ba is the beginning of Bismillah;
Ta is for Taqwa, bewaring of Allah;
and Tha is for Thawab, a reward;
Ja is for Janna, the Garden of Paradise;
Ha is for Hajj, the blessed pilgrimage;
Kha is for Khaatem, the seal of the prophethood given to the Prophet, Muhammed (SAW);
Da is for Deen, Al-Islam, religion with Allah since time began;
Dha is for dhikr, remembering Allah;
and Ra is for the month of Ramadhan, ohh Ramadhan;
Za is for Zakat to pure our greed, when we give our money to those in need;
Sa is for Salamu alaikum, peace be with you wa'alaikum assalam;
Sha is for shams, the shining sun, which Allah placed for everyone;
and Sua is for salat, for when we pray facing him, everyday, facing him, till we meet ourlord;
Allah there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Dua is for duha, the morning light, the sun has turned from red to white;
Tua is for tareeq, the path to walk upon;
and Dhua is for dhil, a shadow;
and Aa is for ilm, the thing to know, to make our knowledge grow, in Islam;
Gha is for ghaib, a world unseen and that we know is not a dream;
Fa is for, the Opening, Al-Fatiha;
and Qua for the Qur'an, the book of God;
and Ka is for kalima, a word we're taught to teach us what is good and what is not;
and La is for the beginning of La ilaha illa'allah;
Ma is for the Messenger Muhammed-ur-Rasoolillah.
La ilaha illa'allah, Muhammed-ur-Rasulilllah;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, la ilaha illa'allah;
Na is for nawm, the sleep God gave to give us rest after the day;
Ha is for the Hijra, the journey that, the Prophet made;
and Wa for wudu before we pray to help us wash our sins away;
and Ya for Yawm-mid-Deen;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Jesus was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Moses was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Abraham was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Noah was his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and he created Adam, and we are the children of Adam.
Allah,La ilaha illa'allah;
Allah, there's only one God and Muhammed is his Messenger.
Allah, La ilaha illa'allah.
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Law and Procedures for Handling Bodies - According to al-Qur'an and As-Sunnah
Among the rights of people who are sick of the Muslims is to visit her brother and gave him joy. if the situation is getting critical, so people can visit to remind her to repent, pay debts and give testament. He can do it with meekness, not make her feel scared because was near death. People need to be strong out of sakitpun kezhaliman, begging forgiveness from all the tyranny and kind thought to God.
If the end was near, disunnahkan to people who attended nearby to guide him to say 'Laa Ilaa ha IlaLlah "and confronted slowly towards the Qiblah. If it dies, let his eyes dipejamkan, joints and accelerate pengurusannya dilemaskan while there is no benefit to postpone it. At the time when the Prophet of Islam through clues to determine the laws relating to it, such as bathing procedures, mengkafani, mensholati, and buried as well as take care of things associated with it. Even Islam has set the requirements that must be done by people who are sick until death comes, provision for the relatives of the deceased, as well as pilgrimage ta'ziyah grave.
To facilitate the Muslims who want to refer to the proper guidelines on how the management of the body so as to obtain rajih explanation about that problem, we thank God by Allah Almighty that we can publish a new and comprehensive treatise on the management body peeling, entitled "Law and Order How to Deal with Bodies According to the Qur'an and as-Sunna. " This treatise we have translated the Book of Janaa Ahkaam al-wa-iz Bida'uha, works great scholar Imam Muhammad Nasir al-Albani mercy on him.
Thursday, May 22, 2008
How Islam changed medicine
How Islam changed medicine
Taken from British Medical Journal, 24 December, 2005
By Azeem Majeed, professor of primary care, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London
Arab physicians and scholars laid the basis for medical practice in Europe
Islamic civilisation once extended from India in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Buildings in Andalusia such as the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in Cordoba, and the Giralda in Seville are reminders of the architectural imprint this civilisation left on western Europe. Less well remembered, however, is the impact of Islamic civilisation on Western science, technology, and medicine between the years 800 and 1450.1 As was argued this month at the Royal Institution, today's Western world might look very different without the legacy of Muslim scholars in Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and elsewhere.2
As Islam spread out of the Arabian Peninsula into Syria, Egypt, and Iran it met long established civilisations and centres of learning. Arab scholars translated philosophical and scientific works from Greek, Syriac (the language of eastern Christian scholars), Pahlavi (the scholarly language of pre-Islamic Iran), and Sanskrit into Arabic. The process of translation reached its peak with the establishment of the "House of Wisdom" (Bait-ul-Hikma) by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun in Baghdad in 830. It made Arabic the most important scientific language of the world for many centuries and preserved knowledge that might otherwise have been lost forever.
As well as assimilating and disseminating the knowledge of other cultures, Arab scholars made numerous important scientific and technological advances in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy, architecture, textiles, and agriculture. Techniques they developed—such as distillation, crystallisation, and the use of alcohol as an antiseptic—are still used.
Arab physicians and scholars also laid the basis for medical practice in Europe. Before the Islamic era, medical care was largely provided by priests in sanatoriums and annexes to temples. The main Arabian hospitals were centres of medical education and introduced many of the concepts and structures that we see in modern hospitals, such as separate wards for men and women, personal and institutional hygiene, medical records, and pharmacies.
Ibn Al-Nafis, a 13th century Arab physician, described the pulmonary circulation more than 300 years before William Harvey.3 Surgeon Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi wrote the Tasrif which, translated into Latin, became the leading medical text in European universities during the later Middle Ages. Al-Zahrawi was also a noted pathologist, describing hydrocephalus and other congenital diseases as well as developing new surgical technologies such as catgut sutures.4 5
Some describe Al-Razi (Rhazes), born in 865, as the greatest physician of the Islamic world. He wrote Kitab Al-Mansuri (Liber Almartsoris in Latin), a 10 volume treatise on Greek medicine,6 and also published on smallpox and measles: his texts continued to be reprinted well into the 19th century. The medical texts of Ibn Rushd (Averroes) were also widely used in European universities.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was known in the West as "the prince of physicians." His synthesis of Islamic medicine, al-Qanun fi'l tibb (The Canon of Medicine), was the final authority on medical matters in Europe for several centuries. Although Ibn Sina made advances in pharmacology and in clinical practice, his greatest contribution was probably in the philosophy of medicine. He created a system of medicine that today we would call holistic and in which physical and psychological factors, drugs, and diet were combined in treating patients.7
Eventually, the Islamic civilisation constructed by the Arabs went into decline. In the east, new powers rose: first the Mongols, who in 1258 devastated Baghdad, the greatest Arab city of its day, and later the Ottoman Turks, who brought large parts of the Arab world into their new empire from the 14th century onwards. Weakened by internal strife and civil conflict, most of the Islamic cities of Spain had been conquered by Christian armies by the 14th century. The last Islamic state in Spain, Granada, surrendered to the Spanish in 1492 and its ruler, Boabdil, was exiled to North Africa.8
The flow of technology and ideas from the Islamic world to the West slowed and, in the past 600 years, has reversed. Academics and politicians still debate the reasons for and consequences of this decline in Islamic science and technology. The legacy of Islamic civilisation, though, remains with us in making possible Europe's own scientific and cultural renaissance.9
References
1. HRH Prince of Wales. Islam and the West: speech at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, 1993. www.princeofwales.gov.uk/speeches/religion_27101993.html (accessed 3 Dec 2005).
2. Drabu R, Nanji A, Greenfield S. Science and learning in Islam—a shared legacy. Royal Institution of Great Britian, London, 1 December 2005.
3. Soubani AO, Khan FA. The discovery of the pulmonary circulation revisited. www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/152/mh9422ar.html (accessed 3 Dec 2005).
4. Aschoff A, Kremer P, Hashemi B, Kunze S. The scientific history of hydrocephalus and its treatment Neurosurg Rev 1999;22: 67-93.[Medline]
5. Al-Hassani STS. Thousand years of missing history. Manchester: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, 2004.
6. Van Alphen J, Aris A. Oriental medicine: an illustrated guide to the Asian arts of healing. London: Serindia, 2003.
7. Wear A, Geyer-Kordesch J, French R. Doctors and ethics: the historical setting of professional ethics. Rodopi: Amsterdam, 1993.
8. Fletcher R. Moorish Spain. London: Phoenix, 2001.
9. Bulliet R. The case for Islamo-Christian civilization. Irvington, NY: Columbia University Press, 2004.
Taken from British Medical Journal, 24 December, 2005
By Azeem Majeed, professor of primary care, Imperial College Faculty of Medicine, London
Arab physicians and scholars laid the basis for medical practice in Europe
Islamic civilisation once extended from India in the east to the Atlantic Ocean in the west. Buildings in Andalusia such as the Alhambra in Granada, the Mezquita in Cordoba, and the Giralda in Seville are reminders of the architectural imprint this civilisation left on western Europe. Less well remembered, however, is the impact of Islamic civilisation on Western science, technology, and medicine between the years 800 and 1450.1 As was argued this month at the Royal Institution, today's Western world might look very different without the legacy of Muslim scholars in Baghdad, Cairo, Cordoba, and elsewhere.2
As Islam spread out of the Arabian Peninsula into Syria, Egypt, and Iran it met long established civilisations and centres of learning. Arab scholars translated philosophical and scientific works from Greek, Syriac (the language of eastern Christian scholars), Pahlavi (the scholarly language of pre-Islamic Iran), and Sanskrit into Arabic. The process of translation reached its peak with the establishment of the "House of Wisdom" (Bait-ul-Hikma) by the Abbasid Caliph Al-Mamun in Baghdad in 830. It made Arabic the most important scientific language of the world for many centuries and preserved knowledge that might otherwise have been lost forever.
As well as assimilating and disseminating the knowledge of other cultures, Arab scholars made numerous important scientific and technological advances in mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy, architecture, textiles, and agriculture. Techniques they developed—such as distillation, crystallisation, and the use of alcohol as an antiseptic—are still used.
Arab physicians and scholars also laid the basis for medical practice in Europe. Before the Islamic era, medical care was largely provided by priests in sanatoriums and annexes to temples. The main Arabian hospitals were centres of medical education and introduced many of the concepts and structures that we see in modern hospitals, such as separate wards for men and women, personal and institutional hygiene, medical records, and pharmacies.
Ibn Al-Nafis, a 13th century Arab physician, described the pulmonary circulation more than 300 years before William Harvey.3 Surgeon Abu Al-Qasim Al-Zahrawi wrote the Tasrif which, translated into Latin, became the leading medical text in European universities during the later Middle Ages. Al-Zahrawi was also a noted pathologist, describing hydrocephalus and other congenital diseases as well as developing new surgical technologies such as catgut sutures.4 5
Some describe Al-Razi (Rhazes), born in 865, as the greatest physician of the Islamic world. He wrote Kitab Al-Mansuri (Liber Almartsoris in Latin), a 10 volume treatise on Greek medicine,6 and also published on smallpox and measles: his texts continued to be reprinted well into the 19th century. The medical texts of Ibn Rushd (Averroes) were also widely used in European universities.
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) was known in the West as "the prince of physicians." His synthesis of Islamic medicine, al-Qanun fi'l tibb (The Canon of Medicine), was the final authority on medical matters in Europe for several centuries. Although Ibn Sina made advances in pharmacology and in clinical practice, his greatest contribution was probably in the philosophy of medicine. He created a system of medicine that today we would call holistic and in which physical and psychological factors, drugs, and diet were combined in treating patients.7
Eventually, the Islamic civilisation constructed by the Arabs went into decline. In the east, new powers rose: first the Mongols, who in 1258 devastated Baghdad, the greatest Arab city of its day, and later the Ottoman Turks, who brought large parts of the Arab world into their new empire from the 14th century onwards. Weakened by internal strife and civil conflict, most of the Islamic cities of Spain had been conquered by Christian armies by the 14th century. The last Islamic state in Spain, Granada, surrendered to the Spanish in 1492 and its ruler, Boabdil, was exiled to North Africa.8
The flow of technology and ideas from the Islamic world to the West slowed and, in the past 600 years, has reversed. Academics and politicians still debate the reasons for and consequences of this decline in Islamic science and technology. The legacy of Islamic civilisation, though, remains with us in making possible Europe's own scientific and cultural renaissance.9
References
1. HRH Prince of Wales. Islam and the West: speech at Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, 1993. www.princeofwales.gov.uk/speeches/religion_27101993.html (accessed 3 Dec 2005).
2. Drabu R, Nanji A, Greenfield S. Science and learning in Islam—a shared legacy. Royal Institution of Great Britian, London, 1 December 2005.
3. Soubani AO, Khan FA. The discovery of the pulmonary circulation revisited. www.kfshrc.edu.sa/annals/152/mh9422ar.html (accessed 3 Dec 2005).
4. Aschoff A, Kremer P, Hashemi B, Kunze S. The scientific history of hydrocephalus and its treatment Neurosurg Rev 1999;22: 67-93.[Medline]
5. Al-Hassani STS. Thousand years of missing history. Manchester: Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, 2004.
6. Van Alphen J, Aris A. Oriental medicine: an illustrated guide to the Asian arts of healing. London: Serindia, 2003.
7. Wear A, Geyer-Kordesch J, French R. Doctors and ethics: the historical setting of professional ethics. Rodopi: Amsterdam, 1993.
8. Fletcher R. Moorish Spain. London: Phoenix, 2001.
9. Bulliet R. The case for Islamo-Christian civilization. Irvington, NY: Columbia University Press, 2004.
How Islamic inventors changed the world
How Islamic inventors changed the world
Taken from askmuslims.com
Original Source: independent.co.uk, Published: 11 March 2006
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.
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 caffé 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 didn'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 eagles' 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 Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed'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 Islam'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 Crusaders' 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 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.
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-Khwarizmi'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-Kindi'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 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, 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 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.
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.
"1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World" is a new exhibition which began a nationwide tour this week. It is currently at the Science Museum in Manchester. For more information, go to www.1001inventions.com.
Further reading (from within the blog)
What Islam Did For The West
Taken from askmuslims.com
Original Source: independent.co.uk, Published: 11 March 2006
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.
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 caffé 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 didn'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 eagles' 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 Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed'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 Islam'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 Crusaders' 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 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.
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-Khwarizmi'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-Kindi'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 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, 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 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.
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.
"1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World" is a new exhibition which began a nationwide tour this week. It is currently at the Science Museum in Manchester. For more information, go to www.1001inventions.com.
Further reading (from within the blog)
What Islam Did For The West
Friday, May 16, 2008
A Pond full of Milk
A Pond full of Milk
Taken from everymuslim.net
Once there was a king who told some of his workers to dig a pond. Once the pond was dug, the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household has to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond. So, the pond should be full of milk by the morning.
After receiving the order, everyone went home. One man prepared to take the milk during the night. He thought that since everyone will bring milk, he could just hide a glass of water and pour inside the pond. Because it will be dark at night, no one will notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and came back.
In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his surprise the pond was only filled with water! What has happened is that everyone was thinking like the other man that "I don't have to put the milk, someone else will do it."
Dear friends, when it comes to help the Religion of Allah, do not think that others will take care of it. Rather, it starts from you, if you don't do it, no one else will do it. So, change yourself to the way of Allah to serve Him and that will make the difference.
Taken from everymuslim.net
Once there was a king who told some of his workers to dig a pond. Once the pond was dug, the king made an announcement to his people saying that one person from each household has to bring a glass of milk during the night and pour it into the pond. So, the pond should be full of milk by the morning.
After receiving the order, everyone went home. One man prepared to take the milk during the night. He thought that since everyone will bring milk, he could just hide a glass of water and pour inside the pond. Because it will be dark at night, no one will notice. So he quickly went and poured the water in the pond and came back.
In the morning, the king came to visit the pond and to his surprise the pond was only filled with water! What has happened is that everyone was thinking like the other man that "I don't have to put the milk, someone else will do it."
Dear friends, when it comes to help the Religion of Allah, do not think that others will take care of it. Rather, it starts from you, if you don't do it, no one else will do it. So, change yourself to the way of Allah to serve Him and that will make the difference.
Wednesday, May 7, 2008
Muslim Aid Appeal for $2 Million for Cyclone Nargis Crisis
Muslim Aid Appeal for $2 Million for Cyclone Nargis Crisis
Muslim Aid is responding to the current crisis in Myanmar (formally known as Burma) after the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country this Saturday 4th May. The death toll (at this moment in time) has risen to over 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, resulting from a massive storm surge that swept into the vast Irrawaddy delta, southwest of Rangoon.
The storm gathered momentum in the Bay of Bengal for several days and resulted in a wave that reached approximately 12 feet (3.5 metres) high, sweeping away low lying villages, leaving villagers with nowhere to find shelter.
According to Reuters sources, the government has called for international assistance as food and clean water supplies are running low. Prices of fuel and construction materials have also risen dramatically in the wake of the storm.
Muslim Aid is appealing for $2 million worth of funds to help the thousands of surviors left homeless by the disaster. $200,000 has already been allocated as Muslim Aid prepares its relief work on the ground. Muslim Aid will be working with their partners Global Medic providing clean water, medicine and emergency healthcare.
Please support them.
CALL NOW +44 (0) 20 7377 4200
or donate online http://www.muslimaid.org/
Muslim Aid is responding to the current crisis in Myanmar (formally known as Burma) after the devastating Cyclone Nargis hit the country this Saturday 4th May. The death toll (at this moment in time) has risen to over 22,500 with a further 41,000 missing, resulting from a massive storm surge that swept into the vast Irrawaddy delta, southwest of Rangoon.
The storm gathered momentum in the Bay of Bengal for several days and resulted in a wave that reached approximately 12 feet (3.5 metres) high, sweeping away low lying villages, leaving villagers with nowhere to find shelter.
According to Reuters sources, the government has called for international assistance as food and clean water supplies are running low. Prices of fuel and construction materials have also risen dramatically in the wake of the storm.
Muslim Aid is appealing for $2 million worth of funds to help the thousands of surviors left homeless by the disaster. $200,000 has already been allocated as Muslim Aid prepares its relief work on the ground. Muslim Aid will be working with their partners Global Medic providing clean water, medicine and emergency healthcare.
Please support them.
CALL NOW +44 (0) 20 7377 4200
or donate online http://www.muslimaid.org/
Friday, May 2, 2008
Harvard study shows positive impacts of Muslim hajj
Harvard study shows positive impacts of Muslim hajj
Entitled ‘Estimating the Impact of the Haj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering’, the study also found that the hajj experience promotes peaceful coexistence.
“Increased unity within the Islamic world is not accompanied by antipathy toward non-Muslims,” stressed the Harvard study, adding that “Hajjis show increased belief in peace, and in equality and harmony among adherents of different religions.”
The study, which was based on data from over 1,600 applicants to Pakistan’s hajj visa allocation lottery in 2006, can be downloaded here.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that Muslims are expected to perform at least once in their lives if they have the means to do so.
Further reading (within this blog)
(1) Hajj - a brief introduction
(2) Short history of Hajj . In Qur'an
(3) When Hajj becomes Fard and the different types of Hajj
Taken from middle-east-online.com
Study finds that Muslim pilgrimage experience promotes peace, harmony, women’s rights.
HARVARD, Massachusetts – A study on the longer-term effect of participating in the Islamic pilgrimage found that Muslims communities have become more open in many ways after the Hajj experience.
HARVARD, Massachusetts – A study on the longer-term effect of participating in the Islamic pilgrimage found that Muslims communities have become more open in many ways after the Hajj experience.
The study, published by Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, says that hajj – Muslim pilgrimage - urges equality and harmony.
“It increases belief in equality and harmony among ethnic groups and Islamic sects and leads to more favorable attitudes toward women, including greater acceptance of female education and employment,” the study found.
Entitled ‘Estimating the Impact of the Haj: Religion and Tolerance in Islam’s Global Gathering’, the study also found that the hajj experience promotes peaceful coexistence.
“Increased unity within the Islamic world is not accompanied by antipathy toward non-Muslims,” stressed the Harvard study, adding that “Hajjis show increased belief in peace, and in equality and harmony among adherents of different religions.”
The study, which was based on data from over 1,600 applicants to Pakistan’s hajj visa allocation lottery in 2006, can be downloaded here.
The hajj is one of the five pillars of Islam that Muslims are expected to perform at least once in their lives if they have the means to do so.
Further reading (within this blog)
(1) Hajj - a brief introduction
(2) Short history of Hajj . In Qur'an
(3) When Hajj becomes Fard and the different types of Hajj
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