Having gone through the American school system, there are many topics which were never covered in the classroom. Islam in general was never covered to any substantial degree. To be fair, religion in general simply wasn’t covered much at all. You would think, in the supposed desire for inclusion and understanding, that it would be a subjected worth covering.
To give an idea of how shallow our learning was in regards to Islam, my world history teacher asked a simple question. “Who’s the best friend of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him)?” To which a student answered, “Abu.” The teacher replied, “Close enough!”
For those of you on this website who perhaps aren’t Muslim, or are new Muslims, Abu means father of. It’s also used as a nickname, regardless if you have children or not. My eldest son’s name is Ali. So I could be called “Abu Ali.” A companion of the prophet was called “Abu Hurayrah” which means father of the kittens, because he liked kittens.
The point is literally all the men are or could be called “Abu” something. So his answer of “Abu” is pretty pointless, and either the teacher knew that and didn’t care, or herself was clueless. That same student happened to be a Jewish boy, who also thought the Muslim “God” was Muhammad PBUH 🤦.
Most Americans are clueless as to the scientific impact Islam had on the modern world. A quick Google search gives millions of results. If only our teachers could do that much. But to be fair it’s just not part of the curriculum (what is deemed important, although it shapes your understanding of 2 billion people but who cares right?), and thus they didn’t bother teaching it. Here’s a good article on it, one of the top Google search results. Below is an interesting quote from the article
With the exception of a few scholars, the contributions of Muslims scientists have been “ and remain “ poorly understood in the West. Western literature on Muslims presents them as mere torch-bearers of Greek science. This view is a product of Orientalism, which treats the Orient and Orientals as an ˜object’ of study inscribed by Otherness.(17) This typology is based on a real specificity but detached from history, and thus conceived as intangible and essential,(18) which, according to Ziauddin Sardar, the European man, from Greek antiquity onwards, becomes the measure of all men everywhere.(19) Accordingly, Muslim contributions to science were deliberately ignored or suppressed, and the view that Muslim scientists produced nothing original remained the orthodox belief until the mid-twentieth century.
https://fountainmagazine.com/2003/issue-42-april-june-2003/modern-sciences-debt-to-islamic-civilization
Seeing the lack of appreciation for the contribution of the Muslim world in the realm of science, the National Geographic has published an amazing book called:
Below follows a quick overview of just 5 of the inventions mentioned in this wonderful book!
1. Muslims Discovered Coffee
For many people, they can’t start their day without their daily fix of coffee. It wakes them up and keeps them going throughout the busy day. But did you know that Muslims are the ones who discovered this addicting drink?
Coffee was discovered by an Arab named Khalid more than 1,200 years ago. His goats were grazing on the Ethiopian slopes and he noticed they were getting lively after eating a peculiar berry. Instead of eating the berries they boiled the berries, and called it al-qahwa.
In the 1600s coffee was brought to England by Turkish merchants, and by 1700 there were about 3,000 coffee shops in all of England.
So the next time you’re starting your day with a cup of coffee, recognize the inventor was a Muslim, and realize Muslims have made many contributions to society, including many people’s favorite drink.
2. Modern Day Optics
The 9th century polymath Al-Kindi, called “one of the 12 giant minds of history” by Geronimo Cardano, a 16th entury Italian physician and mathematician, proved that light rays enter the eyes. He also proved light rays travel in a straight line and distance and angle have an effect on them.
A later Islamic scientist named Al Hasan Ibn Al-Haytham, in the 10th century, explained that vision was possible due to the refraction of light rays. He did many experiments to provide “the scientific explanation that vision was caused by light reflecting off an object and entering the eye.” It was unusual at his time, to prove theories via experimentation. Physics was more philosophical, at his time, being wholly theoretical. “He was the first to introduce experimental evidence as a requirement for accepting a theory.”
Without optics, we couldn’t have cameras, videos, TVs, computers and more! Hundreds of millions of people around the world spend their afternoon and evenings watching movies and tv series. Many surf the web, scroll social media, and watch YouTube. None of this would be possible without optics. None of this would be possible without the Muslim scientists!
3. Algebra
“There are quite a few mathematical ideas that were thought to have been brilliant conceptions of 16th-, 17th-, and 18th-century Europeans. From the studying and unearthing of manuscripts we now know that Muslim mathematicians, about 1,000 years earlier, were calculating with great intensity.”
Al-Khwarrizmi introduced algebra to the world. Algebra was a paradigm shift away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was based on Geometry. Algebra allowed the use of rational and irrational numbers sending math down a new developmental path.
“Mathematics is the door and key of the sciences and things of this world… It is evident that if we want to come to certitude without doubt and to truth without error, we must place the foundations of knowledge in mathematics.” – Roger Bacon
Our world without Algebra would be totally different. You can’t have higher order math or statistics without Algebra. So again having something like a computer, cars, and planes would be impossible without Algebra.
4. Words
You would be shocked to find the huge amount of words we use in everyday life that actually originate from Arabic.
For example admiral is from “amir-al which means ‘commander of…’ Like amir al-bahr, or ‘commander of the seas.'”
Ghoul is from ghul meaning demon. Giraffe is from Zarafa.
Hazard is from yasara, which means “play at dice.”
Jar is from jarrah.
Mafia is from mahiyah, meaning “boasting” or “flashy.”
Mattress from the old French materas, which was taken from matrah, a “place where something is thrown.”
Orange is from the Persian word naranj.
Sugar is from the Arabic word sukkar, meaning “sugar.”
So long from Arabaic salaam meaning “peace.”
5. Windmills
Today much of our energy comes from coal, steam and oil, but thousands of years ago the use of water mills and windmills were used in the Muslim world.
“Most historians believe that it was the Crusaders were introduced windmills to Europe in the 12th century.”
Caliph Umar reigned between 634 and 644. It was during this time period that a Persian claimed he could build a mill operating on wind power. Soon after windmills were constructed all over Persia and Arabia. The windmills were used for grinding corn and draw water for irrigation.
“The introduction of the windmill had a great effect on the science of mechanical engineering and meant that new trades were born.”
I hope you enjoyed this brief glance at 5 inventions produced by Muslims thousands of years ago. Islam encourages the seeking of knowledge for the betterment of society. Islam’s primary aim is to aid humans with living prosperous lives following the guidelines of the Creator.
Many people see religion as a detriment to science, but Muslims believe the Quran does not contradict reality. Instead, Islam encourages finding scientific observations to bring believers closer to their Lord.
If you loved this post then you’ll love my books! Check out my books for Muslim children! Jazaka Allahu khayran!
A fun moral comic for kids