Modern age is the age of Science. For the lasttwo centuries, advancements in Science and technology has over-shadowed allother attainments and feats in human civilizations. Such developments havetaken place in parallel to the development of the West, reaching levelsunparalleled in history. This monopolisation of technological and scientificinventions has led to the belief that liberal values are a pre-requisite fordevelopment.
In the modern world, Islam is seen as many things, but rarely is it viewed as a source of inspiration and enlightenment. World media largely portraits Muslims as ignorant, far from the knowledge of Science and barren minded with research attitude. Colonialism, the institution of the Western educational model, along with Euro-centrism often portrays Islam as backwards, incompatible with science and technology and anti-educational. Muslim school children never learn of their glorious past and often the only thing passed on to them is the inferiority complex of the generation before them. Our text books on science are only glorifying the contributions of Einstein, Newton, Darwin, Watson, Crick etc. only but we hardly find name of any Muslim scientist there. Such a narrative omits a number of historical developments that are not Western and shows how the West continues to view its history as the history of the world. Such a narrative also conveniently omits what the West took from previous civilisations and especially the Islamic civilisation. Historically all civilisations have been characterised with some form of technological and scientific development. The West has documented the contributions the Romans made to the discipline whilst the Islamic world in the 8th - 10th century translated the works of the Greeks in the area. It is true that presently Muslim countries are, in general, lagging behind in research, including the research in science and technology, despite their collective material and human potential. However, it is very ironic, noting that Muslim Scientists of the past were the pioneers of scientific and medical research and were the first to employ scientific experimentation. Islam nurtured and preserved the quest for learning. There are several Qur’anic verses and traditions of the Prophet (SAW) to this effect. The first revealed verses of the Qur’an state: “Recite in the name of your Lord, Who created. He created man from a leech-like structure. Recite and your Lord is Most Generous, Who has taught by the pen. He taught Man that what he knew not.”(Al-Alaq-1-5) The Islamic golden age is considered to be theperiod from the 8th century to the 13th century. During this period, engineers,scholars and traders in the Islamic world contributed to the arts, agriculture,economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, andtechnology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and byadding to them. Howard Turner, an expert on medieval history mentioned in hisbook ‘Science in Medieval Islam,': ‘Muslim artists and scientists, princes andlabourers together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectlyinfluenced societies on every continent.' There were a number of specificelements within Islam that were the driving engine which motivated Muslims toexcel in this field.
The worship of Allah was one such factor that ledto a number of inventions. The times of the five daily prayers, the directionfor Qibla and the beginning and ending of Ramadan required accurate readings ofthe positions of the stars and the moon. It was due to this that Muslims beganto invent observational and navigational instruments. This is why mostnavigational stars today have Arabic names such as Acamar, Baham, Baten Kaitos,Caph, Dabih, Furud, Izar, Lesath, Mirak, Nashira, Tarf and Vega.
Muslims made a number of contributions toAstronomy and eventually to the development of the astronomical clock. AMechanical lunisolar calendar with a gear train and gear-wheels was invented byAbū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī in the 10th century. Based on such designs Taqi al-dininvented the mechanical clock in the 15th century. The need to ascertain theQibla led to the development of the compass, which itself was based upon thefindings Muslims astronomers had collated. Muslims developed the compass rosewhich displayed the orientation of the cardinal directions, north, south, eastand west on a map and nautical chart.
Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:"And itis He who ordained the stars for you that you may be guided thereby in thedarkness of the land and the sea." [TMQ 6:97]
This motivated Muslims to begin to find betterobservational and navigational instruments. Such instruments were used toexplore the world, which many Muslim geographers collated into manuals. Theywere driven by the ayah in the Qur'an where Allah says: "And wehave placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake with them and we have placedtherein ravines as roads that happily they may find their way."[TMQ 21:31]
Early Muslims understood that Islam views all thematerial matters which include the sciences, technology and industry, as merelythe study of the reality and a study of how matter can be manipulated toimprove the condition and living standards of humanity. As many lands cameunder the fold of the Islamic civilisation, urbanisation led to a number ofdevelopments. The Arabian Desert had scant water springs making most of theregion uninhabitable. This was overcome by Muslim engineers developing canalsfrom the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The swamps around Baghdad were drained,freeing the city of Malaria. Muslim engineers perfected the waterwheel andconstructed elaborate underground water channels called qanats. This led to thedevelopment of advanced domestic water systems with sewers, public baths,drinking fountains, piped drinking water supplies and widespread private andpublic toilet and bathing facilities.
Muslims thinkers, scientists, engineers andexperts made significant contributions to science as well as many otherdisciplines. Many of these contributions were later used by the West who madefurther contributions to the field. The nature of science as a universalsubject means no single civilisation can lay claim to inventing it but rathermost civilisations have documented their contributions throughout history whichacted as previous information when experimentation was carried out by lattercivilisations. Prior to the emergence of Islam in the Middle East the hostpopulation made no contribution to science. When the very same people acceptedIslam they made contributions which later generations utilised to invent newitems which today still remain with us. Islam rather than being an obstacle to sciencewas the catalyst that drove Muslim's contribution to science.
In the modern world, Islam is seen as many things, but rarely is it viewed as a source of inspiration and enlightenment. World media largely portraits Muslims as ignorant, far from the knowledge of Science and barren minded with research attitude. Colonialism, the institution of the Western educational model, along with Euro-centrism often portrays Islam as backwards, incompatible with science and technology and anti-educational. Muslim school children never learn of their glorious past and often the only thing passed on to them is the inferiority complex of the generation before them. Our text books on science are only glorifying the contributions of Einstein, Newton, Darwin, Watson, Crick etc. only but we hardly find name of any Muslim scientist there. Such a narrative omits a number of historical developments that are not Western and shows how the West continues to view its history as the history of the world. Such a narrative also conveniently omits what the West took from previous civilisations and especially the Islamic civilisation. Historically all civilisations have been characterised with some form of technological and scientific development. The West has documented the contributions the Romans made to the discipline whilst the Islamic world in the 8th - 10th century translated the works of the Greeks in the area. It is true that presently Muslim countries are, in general, lagging behind in research, including the research in science and technology, despite their collective material and human potential. However, it is very ironic, noting that Muslim Scientists of the past were the pioneers of scientific and medical research and were the first to employ scientific experimentation. Islam nurtured and preserved the quest for learning. There are several Qur’anic verses and traditions of the Prophet (SAW) to this effect. The first revealed verses of the Qur’an state: “Recite in the name of your Lord, Who created. He created man from a leech-like structure. Recite and your Lord is Most Generous, Who has taught by the pen. He taught Man that what he knew not.”(Al-Alaq-1-5) The Islamic golden age is considered to be theperiod from the 8th century to the 13th century. During this period, engineers,scholars and traders in the Islamic world contributed to the arts, agriculture,economics, industry, law, literature, navigation, philosophy, sciences, andtechnology, both by preserving and building upon earlier traditions and byadding to them. Howard Turner, an expert on medieval history mentioned in hisbook ‘Science in Medieval Islam,': ‘Muslim artists and scientists, princes andlabourers together created a unique culture that has directly and indirectlyinfluenced societies on every continent.' There were a number of specificelements within Islam that were the driving engine which motivated Muslims toexcel in this field.
The worship of Allah was one such factor that ledto a number of inventions. The times of the five daily prayers, the directionfor Qibla and the beginning and ending of Ramadan required accurate readings ofthe positions of the stars and the moon. It was due to this that Muslims beganto invent observational and navigational instruments. This is why mostnavigational stars today have Arabic names such as Acamar, Baham, Baten Kaitos,Caph, Dabih, Furud, Izar, Lesath, Mirak, Nashira, Tarf and Vega.
Muslims made a number of contributions toAstronomy and eventually to the development of the astronomical clock. AMechanical lunisolar calendar with a gear train and gear-wheels was invented byAbū Rayhān al-Bīrūnī in the 10th century. Based on such designs Taqi al-dininvented the mechanical clock in the 15th century. The need to ascertain theQibla led to the development of the compass, which itself was based upon thefindings Muslims astronomers had collated. Muslims developed the compass rosewhich displayed the orientation of the cardinal directions, north, south, eastand west on a map and nautical chart.
Allah says in the Holy Qur'an:"And itis He who ordained the stars for you that you may be guided thereby in thedarkness of the land and the sea." [TMQ 6:97]
This motivated Muslims to begin to find betterobservational and navigational instruments. Such instruments were used toexplore the world, which many Muslim geographers collated into manuals. Theywere driven by the ayah in the Qur'an where Allah says: "And wehave placed in the earth firm hills lest it quake with them and we have placedtherein ravines as roads that happily they may find their way."[TMQ 21:31]
Early Muslims understood that Islam views all thematerial matters which include the sciences, technology and industry, as merelythe study of the reality and a study of how matter can be manipulated toimprove the condition and living standards of humanity. As many lands cameunder the fold of the Islamic civilisation, urbanisation led to a number ofdevelopments. The Arabian Desert had scant water springs making most of theregion uninhabitable. This was overcome by Muslim engineers developing canalsfrom the Euphrates and Tigris rivers. The swamps around Baghdad were drained,freeing the city of Malaria. Muslim engineers perfected the waterwheel andconstructed elaborate underground water channels called qanats. This led to thedevelopment of advanced domestic water systems with sewers, public baths,drinking fountains, piped drinking water supplies and widespread private andpublic toilet and bathing facilities.
Muslims thinkers, scientists, engineers andexperts made significant contributions to science as well as many otherdisciplines. Many of these contributions were later used by the West who madefurther contributions to the field. The nature of science as a universalsubject means no single civilisation can lay claim to inventing it but rathermost civilisations have documented their contributions throughout history whichacted as previous information when experimentation was carried out by lattercivilisations. Prior to the emergence of Islam in the Middle East the hostpopulation made no contribution to science. When the very same people acceptedIslam they made contributions which later generations utilised to invent newitems which today still remain with us. Islam rather than being an obstacle to sciencewas the catalyst that drove Muslim's contribution to science.