thought-provoking column from pakistani paper.
i wonder if farrukh saleem is alive after writing this.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: G
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/jan2006-daily/01-01-2006/oped/o3.htm
Muslim contribution to civilisation
Dr Farrukh Saleem
Al-Khwarizmi, the Persian mathematician, astrologer and astronomer is considered the 'father of Algebra' (the word 'Algebra' is derived from the title of one his books 'Al-Jar wa-al-Muqabilah'). Al-Khwarizmi, greatly influenced by the work of Hindu mathematicians, taught the world how to solve linear and quadratic equations.
Al-Farghani measured the Earth's diameter and gave the world 'Elements of astronomy on the celestial motions' (the Alfraganus crater on the Moon was named after Al-Farghani). Ibn Sina -- greatly influenced by the Ismaili branch of Islam -- was a physician, scientist and philosopher. He authored 450 books, presented the human civilisation 'The Canon of Medicine' and became the 'father of modern medicine'.
Omar al-Khayyam was a mathematician, astronomer, sceptic, writer and poet. Omar Khayyam discovered binominal expansion, measured the length of the year to within six decimal points (as 365.242195), mapped the stars in the sky and showed the world how to solve cubic equations.
Omar al-Khayyam's philosophy on religion was very different from the officially held tenets of Islam. He vociferously "objected to the notion that every particular event and phenomenon was the result of divine intervention; nor did he believe in any Judgment Day or rewards and punishments after life. Instead he supported the view that laws of nature explained all phenomena of observed life." In 1970, a lunar crater was named after him. In 1980, an asteroid was named after him.
Al-Farghani died in 833; Al-Khwarizmi in 850, Ibn Sina in 1,037 and Omar al-Khayyam in 1,123. Question: What have Muslims contributed to the human civilisation over the past 833 years? Answer: Next to zilch.
Twenty-two per cent of humanity is Muslim, at least 1.4 billion followers of Islam. Omar al-Khayyam has been dead for 833 years, and since then Muslims have contributed next to nothing to physics, chemistry, medicine, literature or economics. The Nobel Foundation has been awarding Nobel Prizes for more than a hundred years, and out of the 1.4 billion Muslims we have produced three: Nejib Mahfooz (Literature), Ahmed Zewail (Chemistry) and Abdus Salam (Physics).
Look closer: Ahmed Zewail pursued his scientific work in America; Abdus Salam in Italy and the UK. In 1997, Nejib Mahfooz was stabbed in the back by an Egyptian Muslim fundamentalist and Abdus Salam is not considered a Muslim in Pakistan.
Two out of every ten human beings are Muslim but what really has been the intellectual output of Muslim lands over the past 833 years? Consider this: The population of Rawalpindi is 1.4 million, and that's the exact number of Jews the world over. As a matter of fact, Jews are 0.2 percent of the world population but have so far won at least 166 Nobel Prizes -- three Nobel Laureates among 1.4 billion Muslims (Peace Prizes not included) and 166 among 14 million Jews.
Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Farghani and Ibn Sina were all products of the Muslim culture that was tolerant and encouraged scholarship (including learning from non-Muslims). Omar al-Khayyam was a product of Muslim culture that accepted dissent. Muslim culture not only produced knowledge it also consumed knowledge produced by non-Muslims.
Al-Khwarizmi, Al-Farghani, Ibn Sina and Omar al-Khayyam all believed in the same Qu'ran that we do. What has changed is the ulema and their interpretation of the same scripture.
We are now 22 per cent of the world population but a mere one percent of scientists are Muslim. Why? Forces that preach hatred and sermonise intolerance have hijacked Muslim culture. Muslim culture no longer encourages scholarship and penalizes dissent from officially held Islamic dogmas by capital punishment. We insist on the 'revealed truth' and block the 'quest for truth'. We haven't produced knowledge in the past 833 years and now equate the consumption of knowledge produced by non-Muslims as sinful.
The writer is an Islamabad-based freelance columnist
Email: farrukh15@hotmail.com
3 comments:
total BS,
Khwarzimi was call Al-Magus by the Arabs which means "The Zoroastrian". Khwarzimi was NOT a Muslim.
If you hang around on Iranian web sites they will tell you that most of those Islamic "greats" were actually Zoroastrians. Several were probably "converted" to Islam after they died like Malaysis did recently as seen here
http://ia.rediff.com/news/2005/dec/29mal.htm?q=np&file=.htm
Several of the so-called Muslim greats are actually Zoroastrians, Tajiks and Berbers.
Here is a web page written by a Tajik (who I believe speak a dialect of Farsi) where he points out that Avicenna, Biruni, Rumi were Tajiks - I do not know how far this is true.
Here is an Assyrian pointing out that the Arabs stole Assyrian ideas and intellectuals and called them Arabic - (again not sure how much this is true)
What Arab Civilization?
http://www.ninevehsoft.com/fiorina.htm
Sorry I forgot the Tajik link I mentioned above - it is here http://members.tripod.com/~khorasan/Miscellaneous/why.html
"...how did someone (AL farghani) calculate diameter of the earth if the common belief was that earth is flat at that time?"
The notion that the flat earth was a common belief is one of the most widely circulated errors in academe and out.
Google Eratosthenes. With what is widely regarded as one of the most elegant experiments in human history, he determined, in 240 BC, the circumference of the earth with an astonishing degree of accuracy. (Less than 1% error depending on who's account you read, but accuracy of the measurements aside, the earth's roundness certainly would be moot were one measuring its circumference.)
Consider also two other phenomena, witnessed often throughout antiquity, that confirm(ed) the earth's non-flatness (if not its roundness): the earth's shadow on the moon *always* appearing curved during lunar eclipses, and the experience of those watching tall ships arrive from beyond the horizon: Crows nest first, then mast and sails, then gunwales, etc. (Were the earth flat, the entire ship would be visible from the moment it was a speck on the horizon until it it arrived in port.)
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