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