687b) Some important discoveries and inventions of Muslim scientists

Some important discoveries and inventions of Muslim scientists

Every idea is like a seed in any invention. Every discovery, every invention, every revolution, every movement is driven by some idea. An idea is like a nuclear force in an atom, the more powerful the idea, the more formidable the thing born of it. Ideas are born from other ideas. Meeting intellectuals for new ideas, talking, debating, reading books, studying, pondering in solitude, criticizing the ideas of others and accepting criticism with courage, courage to articulate ideas. Being, perceiving and noting every idea as necessary, evaluating ideas, these are all essential factors.

A thousand years before the Wright Brothers of America, Abbas Ibn Farnas, an astronomer, musician and engineer from Andalusia, was the first to attempt to fly in the air. According to one historian, in 852 AD he jumped from the minaret of the Jama Masjid in Córdoba to test his aerial suit. He believed that he would be able to fly like a bird with his glider. In 875 AD he built a machine similar to a glider with which he attempted to fly from a mountain in Cordoba. This aerial machine was made by him from silk and eagle's wings. He flew in the air for ten minutes but got injured while landing because he did not make a bird's tail to land in the glider.

(Dictionary of Scientific Biography, Vol 1, page 5)

The world's first Plinyrium was built by Abbas Ibn Furnas (887 AD) in Cordoba in the ninth century. It was made of glass and projected the sky in such a way that apart from stars, planets, galaxies, lightning and crackling of clouds could also be heard.

Ancient Greek scholars believed that the human eye emits rays (like lasers) through which we see objects. The first person in the world to refute this theory was the great Egyptian mathematician and physicist Ibn al-Haytham of the 10th century. He invented the world's first pinhole camera. He said that the smaller the hole through which the light enters the dark room, the sharper the picture will be. He developed the world's first camera obscura. The word camera is derived from room which means empty or dark room.

The world's first and masterpiece book on visual science was written by Ibn al-Haytham. His research on spherical and colloidal mirrors is also his outstanding achievement. He also explained the magnifying power of the lens. He made fire glasses and spherical mirrors on his lathe. His research and experiments on convex lenses led to the invention of the microscope and telescope in Europe. Ibn al-Haytham invented a method of finding a point on an arched glass, which led to the discovery of spectacle lenses.

Ibn al-Haytham drew diagrams to describe the parts of the eye and invented technical terms such as retina, cataract, cornea that are still in use today. He called the raised part (thin) in the middle of the eye as the lens, which is in the shape of a lentil. In La Tayni, the lentil was called a lentil, which later became a lens.

Ibn al-Haytham discovered the principle of inertia which later became part of Newton's first law of motion. He said that if light was going through a medium, it would take a path that was easier as well as faster. This principle was discovered centuries later by the French scientist Fermat. (Imagination and Reality, p. 283)

The world's first pinwheel was built in Iran in the 7th century. Shahra Afaq historian Al-Masudi wrote in his book that Iran's Sistan province is a region of wind and sand. He further wrote that pumps were driven by pin mills to irrigate gardens by wind power.

Khalifa Haroon al-Rashid was a great brain engineer. He first came up with the idea of ​​digging the Suez Canal to connect the Mediterranean Sea with the Red Sea. He thought of digging a canal at the exact spot where the Suez Canal is now

(The empire of the Arabs, Sir John Glubb, page 287)

Clocks were commonly used in the Islamic world seven hundred years before Europe. Caliph Haroon al-Rashid sent a water clock as a gift to his contemporary Emperor Charlemagne of France. Muhammad Ibn Ali Khorasani (nickname Al-Saati 1185 AD) was an expert in making wall clocks. He built a clock at Bab Jibron in Damascus. Islamic Spanish engineer al-Muradi created a water clock that used mercury for gears and balances. Ibn Yunus of Egypt wrote a treatise on watch construction in which the multiple gear train was explained diagrammatically. Clocks began to be made in Germany in 1525 and in Britain in 1580.

The world's first book on Algebra was written by al-Khwarizmi (850 AD) from the city of Iraq. He presented the numbers 1-9 and zero in 825 AH in his masterpiece Kitab Al-Jabr wa Al-Muqabala. Before that people used letters. The word algebra is derived from the name of this book. Three hundred years later, Italian mathematician Fabio Nacchi introduced algebra to Europe. Al-Khwarizmi's name also derives the word Algorithm, meaning a science in which calculations are made from 9 digits and 0 zeros.

Al-Khwarizmi is the world's first inventor of thesis writing. What happened was that he wrote a research paper on mathematics and sent it to the Baghdad Science Academy. A board of academic scientists sat down to question him about the paper. He was then made a member of the Academy. This method of thesis writing is still prevalent in universities.

Egyptian scientist Ibn Yu Nas (1009 AD) invented the pendulum in the 10th century. With this invention, time was measured by the swing of a pendulum. His great invention led to the discovery of the mechanical clock. 

(Science and civilization is Islam, Dr. S.H. Nasr, page 1

The Iranian researcher Zakaria al-Razi (925 AD) was the first chemist in the world to produce sulfuric acid, which is considered the basic building block of modern chemistry. He also invented ethanol and used it in medicine. He also classified chemical substances (inorganic and inorganic).

Zakaria al-Razi was the first optometrist to conclude from a combination of vision and research that the eye reacts to light. Al-Razi in his scholarly masterpiece Kitab Al-Hawi has also described the details of Gulau Koma. He wrote the world's first book on smallpox, Al-Jadri Wal-Hasbah, in which he explained the difference between smallpox and measles. He was the first to issue a method of first aid. He made a lancet, an instrument used in surgery. He invented a physical balance for accurate weighing of medicine. It is a scale that can be used to determine the smallest weight. It is still used in the science room. Alcohol was also invented by Razi. Zakaria Al-Razi is the first person to discover the connection between germs and disease, which is a milestone in medical history. When he was asked where a hospital should be built in Baghdad, he suggested that a hospital should be built where the meat hanging in the air is slow to spoil. It was al-Razi who introduced the use of alcohol in medicine. He sensibility and prohibition

 (allergy & immunology) 

He wrote the first magazine in the world. He discovered sensitivity. He is the one who discovered hay fever.

Abu Bakr Razi stated in the book Hayt al-Alam that the shape of the earth was given. After that, Al-Biruni in his works Tahlid Nahayat al-Amakan and Kitab al-Hind in his discussion on the shape of the earth presented the theory that the earth is absolutely spherical in shape and that Being round is a physical necessity. In the 6th century Hijri, Idrisi presented his famous creations based on the roundness of the earth. After him, Zakaria bin Muhammad al-Qarwini also revealed on a scientific basis that the earth is round. People were unaware of the reason for the tides in the ocean, the famous Muslim scientist Abu Mushar Balkhi (died 273 AH/886 AD) first revealed that it is related to the attraction of the moon.

Abu Bakr Razi proposed the theory of gravitation several hundred years before Newton. He wrote a work titled Subb Waqf al-Arz fi al-Samaa, in which he stated that the earth is suspended in the atmosphere with the help of gravity. After Abu Mushar Balkhi, after studying Mud and Jaz, he said that its main cause is the attraction of the moon. He also revealed that the planets move around the Sun due to its attraction. Muslim scholars were aware of the fact that the speed of falling bodies is not related to their mass, and they were also aware that the force of attraction between two bodies increases at that time. When their mutual distance is less.

Centuries before Copernicus, the Syrian scientist Aladdin Ibn Shatir in the 13th century revealed the scientific observation that even though the sun disappears from the eye, the earth still revolves around the sun. Many of Ibn Shatir's discoveries in science are attributed to Western scientists, such as Ibn Shatir's first claim about the rotation of the planets, but Kepler is credited.

Although the astrolabe was invented in Greece, it was mostly used and improved by Muslims. Muslims created dozens of types of astrolabes which are still preserved in museums in Great Britain, America and other western countries despite the passage of a thousand years. An astrolabe is an instrument for finding and locating the stars. People used it to find their way in the desert or the sea and also to know the time of sunrise and sunset. Shahra Afaq Strano Murabdur Rahman Sufi enumerated a thousand benefits of Astrolabe in the 10th century.

The registration of doctors was started by Sinan Ibn Thabit (943 AD) in Baghdad. He ordered that all the doctors in the country be counted and then tested. The 800 successful doctors were registered by the government and issued official certificates to practice. He also started the system of issuing licenses for running the Mutab. Soon, the process of giving diplomas and registration started all over the world which is still going on.

Muhammad bin Jabar al-Batani (929 AD), a comprehensive astronomer, found the duration of a year to be 365 days, 5 hours, and 24 seconds. He also discovered the orbit of the sun.

Abdul al-Haman al-Sufi (903-986 AD, Iran) was the world's first astronomer who discovered the Andromeda Galaxy in 964 AD. This was the first written evidence of the existence of another star system outside our solar system, which he mentioned in his book Kitab al-Kawaqb al-Tabat al-Masour. The same galaxy was discovered seven hundred years later by the German scientist Simon in December 1612 with the help of a telescope.

Sheikh Bu Ali Sina (1037 A.D.) was the first to discover the contagious nature of tuberculosis. Sheikh al-Rais also mentioned the spread of disease through water. He revealed in the well-known work "Al-Qunun" that there are tiny microbes in the water that make people sick. He prescribed opium to make the patients unconscious. It was he who diagnosed the edema of the lung membrane. He revealed that tuberculosis is contagious. He introduced psychology into the art of medicine and treated patients psychologically without drugs. He said that the urine of diabetic patients is sweet. He was the first to mention alcohol as an antiseptic. He described the method of hernia operation. He mentioned brain tumors and stomach ulcers. He revealed that the digestive system begins with salivation.

Ibn Sina is the first person in physics who considered empirical knowledge to be the most reliable. He was the first physicist to say that the speed of light is not infinite but has a definite speed. He saw the planet Venus with his own eye without any instrument. He was the first to describe the physiology, anatomy, and theory of vision of the eye. He described in detail all the veins and muscles inside the eye. He explained how stones are formed in the sea, how mountains are formed, how the bones of dead animals in the sea are formed into stones.

The process of distillation was discovered by the great alchemist of the 9th century, Jabir Ibn Hayyan, in Kufa. Jabur also invented many basic instruments and factors of alchemy such as

 oxidisation, evaporation, filtration, liquefaction, crystallisation & distillation

He invented sulfuric acid and nitric acid. He is considered the father of modern chemistry. He was the inventor of the Qara Anbiq device with which he made nitric acid. He invented Naushadar, Sulfuric Acid with the help of Shure. The process of distillation and the filter method are his inventions.

The surgical instruments in the hospitals of Western countries are exactly the ones invented by Jalil-ul-Qadr Andalusian surgeon Abu al-Qasim Zahrawi (1013 AD) in the tenth century. He made more than 200 surgical instruments to name a few 

scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery.

. He was the first surgeon to state that sutures made from horse intestines dissolve naturally in the body. He made this discovery when the string of his oud was eaten by a monkey. He also made medicinal capsules from such intestines. (Scientific Achievements of Muslims, Zakaria Work 2005, Aligarh, page 47)

Muslim doctors used opium and alcohol as anesthetics. Muslims invented hollow needles for cataract surgery which are still used today.

The pinwheel, which is so popular in Europe and America at the moment, and by which electricity is generated naturally, was first built in Iran in 634 AD. Through it corn was ground and water was extracted for irrigation. In Arabia, when the rivers dried up, all that was left was the wind, which continued to blow in one direction for many months. An Iranian pin mill consisted of six or twelve cloth pins. The pinwheel appeared in Europe five hundred years later.

Ishaq al-Kindi (866 AD) was the first to use Yagana Rozgar 

Frequency analysis

, which laid the foundations of modern cryptology. He started a regular observatory system.

Ali Ibn Nafi (Zariab 857 AD) migrated from Iraq to Islamic Spain in the ninth century. Coming here, he introduced many new things like he introduced three dishes in food i.e. soup first, followed by fish or meat and finally fruit or dry fruits. It was he who started using crystal glass for drinks. He introduced tablecloths on the dining table. He started playing chess and polo in Spain. He popularized leather furniture. He popularized the manners of eating. It also popularized perfumes, cosmetics, toothbrushes, and toothpaste. He popularized the fashion of short hair. He opened the world's first beauty center (beauty salon) in Cordoba. He asked to wear white clothes in summer and dark clothes in winter and fixed a date for it.

Cleanliness is half of faith for Muslims. Soap was invented by Muslims for which they prepared soap by mixing vegetable oil with sodium hydroxide. When the European Crusaders came to Jerusalem, the local Arabs smelled strongly of them because today's civilized Farangi did not bathe. Shampoo was introduced to Britain by a Muslim Turk when he found it on the coast of Brighton in 1759. 

Mahomed’s Indian vapour bath

 Opened a shop in the name of He was later appointed shampoo surgeon to the Muslims, King George V and William V. Queen Victoria was reluctant to take a bath, so she used a lot of perfume.

Carpets were first made by Muslims. The carpet making technique of the Muslims was very advanced. Muslims used these carpets on the floor, while in Europe, people's homes had mud floors. The arrival of these carpets in Europe changed the atmosphere of the house.

The word check is derived from the Arabic word suk. Which means a written promise that the money will be paid on receipt of the goods. Instead of the merchant withdrawing the money. In the Middle Ages goods could be bought anywhere with a cheque. In the 9th century, a Muslim merchant could cash a check in China issued by a bank in Baghdad.

Al-Biruni believed in a solar system according to which the earth revolves around the sun and also on its own axis. The roundness of the earth was so satisfied with other scientific observations and laws that it needed no further argument.

 (Age of Faith,by Will Durant, page 244)

 Ibn Hazm, the astronomer of Islamic Spain, argued that the earth was round

 Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth.

Galileo understood this after five years. Al-Biruni (1048 AD) first discovered the circumference of the earth in 1018 AD from a mountain 1795 feet high at Dhariala Jalop, a place 42 miles from Jhelum (Punjab), which according to his research was 24779 miles. According to today's research it is 24858 miles i.e. a difference of only 78 miles.

Abu Ishaq al-Zarkali was a renowned astronomical observer of Andalusia. Al-Zarkali built a special astrolabe called al-Sufiha, which could be used to observe the movement of the sun. He wrote an operating manual on the astrolabe in which he revealed the scientific fact that celestial bodies move in elliptical orbits. This discovery was made centuries later by Kepler.

Although the magnetic needle was invented in China, its proper use was discovered by the Muslims. Muslims invented a device like a pole for sailors. Similarly, theodolite, the instrument used for surveying, was also invented by Muslims. Umayya Abu Salat, a scientist from Andalus, invented a wonderful machine in 1134, with the help of which sunken ships could be brought to the surface of the water.

When the Islamic era was at its height in the world, Hatim Esfrazi of Iran started using two units to weigh different metals namely dirham and ozyah. When the knowledge treasures of Muslims moved to Europe, these weights also reached there. Gradually the dirham became the gram and then the ounce became the ounce.

Abu Abdullah Muhammad bin Ahmad (980 AD) compiled the world's first encyclopedia 'Mufa Tah Uloom'. He adopted a new method of arrangement of subjects and arranged his voluminous book on the principle of alphabet. This principle is still used in modern encyclopedias.

The first cataract operation was performed by the physician Haziq and ophthalmologist Abul Qasim Ammar Mosuli (1005 AD). A German translation of his book on ophthalmology, Rial al-Ain, was published in 1905. He invented a special type of delicate instrument for operation, laid down the principles and rules of operation and explained the method of treatment.

The axis of the earth appears to be stationary like a pole star, but in reality it is not stationary but rotates slowly in a circle at a slow speed. As this movement is very slight, we do not feel it. This discovery was made by Egyptian scientist Abdul Rahman Ibn Yunus (1009 AD). This measurement is so small that it was the perfection of Ibn Yunus's philosophy to find it. (Muslim supporters and their services by Ibrahim Amadi Nadwi page 92)

The world's first fountain pen was made for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 AD. A pen that does not stain Sultan's hands or clothes while signing. The light was stored inside the pan and flowed by gravity to the nib.

The famous scholar Abu Ulufa Bozjani (1011 AD) proved that the sun has gravity and the moon rotates. Under this theory, he discovered that the Moon's rotation around the Earth is disturbed by the gravitational pull of the Sun, and hence the difference between the two sides is at most one degree and fifteen minutes. In science, this is called eviction, i.e. the moon's knee increases. This view was confirmed by the 16th century European historian Tycho Brachy.

The important discovery of Abul Hasan Ali Ahmad Naswi (1030 AD) is the invention of a new method for dividing time into divisions called Hasab Satin. He divided an hour or zawiya (hour) of time into 60, this sixtieth part he called minute, which literally means slight. He further divided this minute which he called Sania, thus dividing the hour into minute and second. For minute, the word minute was coined in English, which means slight or subtle. Second became the English word for seconds. The numbers engraved on the dial of the watch and which are divided into minutes (minutes) and seconds (seconds) remind us of the charisma and intelligence of Abu al-Hasan.

At the same time, Omar bin Khayyam (1123 AD) was not only a great poet, but also a perfect expert in mathematics and physics. He introduced a new Jalali calendar in Iran which is a thousand degrees better than the Julian and Gregorian calendars. According to this calendar, there is a difference of one day in 3770 years. He was the first to propose the concept of leap year. Iranians call them Duzdeeda (stolen days). This solar calendar of Omar Khayyam is still in use all over the world today.

Abd Allah al-Idrisi (1166 AD) was a scientific advisor to King Roger II of Sicily (1154 AD). The name of his famous work on geography is "Nuzhta Al-Mushtaq fi Kamshas al-Afaq". Al-Idrisi created a silver model of the world that he made round based on speculation and experience. It was the first model in the world. In his book he also gave more than seventy maps of the countries of the world which were in use in Europe for three hundred years. A diagram of this model is on page 145 of the book Scientific Achievements of Muslims.

Born in the country of Syria, the excellent physician Ala-ud-Din Ibn Al-Nafis Al-Qurashi (1289 AD) is the first person who said that blood circulates in the human body. He made this discovery four years before William Harvey (1687 AD). He said that the blood passes through the venous artery and then reaches the lungs where it meets the fresh air, after which it is purified and travels throughout the body. In this way the blood continues to reach every part of the body. Pulmonary circulation of blood to this theory 

is called.

Lisan al-Din Ibn al-Khatib (1374 AD) was the first prominent physician and researcher in the world who proposed the theory of the spread of plague through germs. He said that there are two types of diseases: communicable and non-communicable diseases. The reason for the spread of infectious diseases are very small insects that are not visible, but they are disease-causing insects. In the fourteenth century Europe was ruled by the Church. There was a plague in Europe at that time. Under the influence of Christianity, the people considered the plague as a punishment from God and said that there was no cure for it. But the great physician Ibn al-Khatib researched this disease and told people not to use the patient's clothes, dishes or ear-rings. Those who do not meet the sick do not get sick, this proves that it is not a punishment of God but an infectious disease.

Qalam, the tower of humanity, Zubar Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (1013 Cordoba) was the greatest surgeon of the Middle Ages. His book on the subject of surgery is "Al-Tasrif Liman Ujja-in-Al-Talif". It contains diagrams of over 200 surgical instruments, many of which are still used in the operating room. In this book he described the cataract operation in detail. He used silk thread to bind the wounds. He made fake teeth out of cow bone. Seven hundred years later, US President George Washington wore wooden dentures. Thus he laid the foundation of Ortho-Denistry. He introduced several products in cosmetics such as deodorant, hair remover, hand lotion, hair bleach, sun tan lotion, for bad breath he said to chew cardamom and coriander leaves. He developed a mixture of camphor, musk, and honey (called Viforb in America) to relieve colds.

Jalil al-Qadr of Islamic Spain, physician and philosopher, Ibn Rushd (1198 AD) is the first physician in the world who described the correct scientific process of the retina, the membrane of the eye that contains the sense of vision.

(The retina and not the lens in the eye is the photoـreceptor)

. Another alarming medical discovery he made was that a person who gets smallpox once does not get it again. Sunspots in the sun were first discovered by Ibn Rushd. (Biography of Ibn Rushd by Zakaria Work Aligarh Muslim University 2006)

It is written in European books that these spots were first seen by the telescope of Galileo, who opened his eyes 366 years after Ibn Rushd's eyes were closed.

According to Ibn al-Khatib, infectious diseases are caused by invisible microscopic organisms called germs. He said that these germs can be transmitted to other people by sitting with the patient, eating and drinking, and using the items used by him. can. This man laid the foundation of microbiology.

The first observatory in Europe was the 300 feet tall minaret of the Jama Masjid of Seville (Islamic Spain), the Giralda Tower, where Jabir Ibn Aflah (1240 AD) made astronomical observations.

Abu Marwan Ibn Zahr (1162 AD), a resident of the city of Ashbelia in Andalusia, was the first paracytologist in the world. He described scabies. In addition, five of his discoveries in medicine are worth mentioning: Tumors, inflammation of the middle ear, inflammation of the pericardium, paralysis of the larynx, surgery of the kidney.

In 1206, the famous Muslim engineer Bad Yaz-Zaman Al-Jazari built a machine by which water was taken to a height. The crankshaft is fundamental in modern machines. He built a crank connecting rod system to move water up (i.e. for irrigation). This invention left a lasting impact on technology and revolutionized the field of engineering. This system is also used in bicycles. He also mentioned a water-driven piston pump with two cylinders and a suction pipe. In 1206, Al-Jaziri wrote a dictionary on ``Ilm al-Hayal, i.e., engineering (Al-Jama'i bin al-'Ilam wa al-Amal al-Naf'i fi Sanat al-Hayal), in which he also mentioned valves and pistons. He built a mechanical clock that was powered by weights. He is also called the Father of Robotics. He was the inventor of more than 50 machines. The combination lock is also his invention.The World of Islam Festival at the Science Museum, London, held in 1976, re-created Al-Jaziri's water clock according to his diagram. Al-Jaziri's book has been translated into English by Daniel Hill.

The Syrian researcher and inventor Hasan al-Ramah wrote a wonderful book on military technology in 1280 AD that presented a diagram of a rocket. Its model is housed in the US National Air and Space Museum, Washington. The recipe for making gunpowder is given in the book. It should be remembered that gunpowder was invented by Mir Fatehullah. In the fifteenth century, the Muslims also made a torpedo, which had a spear and gunpowder in front of it. It used to blow up the hulls of enemy ships.

The reading system for the blind (Braille) was invented in 1824 by Louis Braille in France. Its alphabet consists of 63 letters. Blind people can make words by placing their fingers on these letters and read books. But six hundred years before this system, Ali Ibn Ahmad Al-Amidi of Syria (died 1314 AD) could read books even though he was also blind. Al-Amidi's fingers had super sensitivities. He used to touch the books on the shelf and tell them the names, but also the total pages of the book. From the space between the lines, he used to tell its selling price. In fact, he was the inventor of the Braille system.

Before Columbus, America had been discovered by Zeng, a Chinese Muslim navigator. Zheng He was China's greatest admiral. In 1405, he was appointed as the head of this naval expedition which visited 37 countries with seven fleets of ships in the next 28 years (1405-33 AD). At that time, China had the largest ships. Zheng He's fleet consisted of 27,000 soldiers and 317 ships. Columbus's ship was 85 feet long while Zheng He's ship was 400 feet long. Allahu Akbar is inscribed above his tomb in China.

Many musical instruments in Europe are actually imitations of Arab and Iranian instruments. Like Oud made a guitar, Law made a harp, Raab made a fiddle, Nee made a flute. A bagpipe is made from a goatskin cloth.

The science of anthropology was started by Imam al-Urakhin Abdul Rahman Ibn Khaldun (1406 AD).

To protect against a disease, the practice of inoculating with the germs of that disease first started in Turkey in the Islamic world. The wife of England's ambassador to Turkey brought this method from Istanbul to London in 1724. In Turkey, children were vaccinated with cow virus to protect them from smallpox.

By Muhammad Zakaria Wark, Aligarh Muslim University, India