1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World – pt 2

1. 1001 Inventions: Muslim Heritage in Our World – pt 2 Chief Editor - Professor Salim TS Al-Hassani

2. Realms of discovery • Home – cleanliness, fine dining, three course menu, fashion and style • School – Schools, libraries, chemistry, word power, translating knowledge • Market – farming manuals and ecological balance, raising water, commercial chemistry, paper • Hospital – teaching, blood circulation, vaccination, pharmacy

3. Realms of discovery • Town – town planning, the dome, arches, vaults, bookshops, gardens • World – Maps, code breaking, castles and keeps, social science and economy • Universe – astronomy, observatories

4. Arabic words • Admiral – amir al ... ‘ad’miral via the romans • Arsenal – dar al sina’ah = house of making • Barbican – bab al baqarah = gate with holes • Crimson – qirmizi – insect making red dye is the qirmiz • Ghoul – from ghul= demon • Hazard – from yasara= play at dicer • Mafia – mahiyah = showy

5. Town planning

6. Town planning • High civilisation in 9th and 10th century Cordoba/Baghdad • Free education/health. Baths, bookshops, libraries, streetlights • Regular donkey cart waste disposal, underground sewage systems • Fountains and gardens • Domes, arches and minarets along skyline

7. Town planning • Muslim towns planned around: • Weather and landscape – narrow covered streets to shade in hot weather, inner courtyards, gardens • Religious/cultural beliefs – mosque central position, trading only in public areas, outer defensive wall • Sharia law – enabled privacy – wall set above eyeline of camel rider, inward looking

8. Town planning “There is no difference between an Arab and a non Arab except by the extent of their righteousness” Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) • Social/ethnic groupings – Clusters of arabs, moors, jews – with shared social order, practices – voluntary not exclusive • High societal cohesion due to hadith such as this

9. Residential areas • Each area had its own mosque – houses could not be further than muezzin’s call • Own school, bakery, shops • Close community ties • Own gates closed after last prayers and opened at fajr

10. Architecture

11. Architecture • Domes, rose windows of cathedrals, arches train stations and vaults of churches – devpd and perfected by Muslims • Flowed into Europe via Southern Spain and Sicily • Taken home by crusaders and Scholars

12. Arches • Strong and flexible, span large spaces but bear large loads • Egyptians and Greeks used lintels • Romans and Byzantines built semi-circular arches • Muslims took these and developed the horseshoe, multi-foil, pointed and ogee arch – strong and lengthy and enabled fewer materials to be used

13. Arches • Horseshoe – Umayyad great mosque of Damascus – 706-715CE • Known in Britain as Moorish arch • Popular in Victorian times – railway station entrances in Liverpool/Manchester

14. Arches • Pointed arch – concentrates thrust of vault on narrow vertical area – can then be supported by flying buttress hence thinner walls • Basis of gothic architecture • Came to Europe from Cairo via Sicily – not an invention of European architects

15. Arches • Multifoil arch – 1st used in Samarra – 848-849 • Then Cordoba mosque which inspired the Europeans to use the trefoil form to represent the Trinity • Ogee arch – a.k.a. The Gothic arch • Began Muslim India 14th century and reached Europe – v prominent in Gothic 16th C architecture in Venice, England and France

16. Vaults • Used by Romans but Muslims refined them so could build bigger and higher • Europeans saw these and became typical of Romanesque period – 10th to 12th C in Europe • Gothic rib vaulting first appeared Toledo + Cordoba – see illustrations

17. Bookshops • Ibn al Nadim -10th C bookseller – upper storey of building • People would examine manuscripts, enjoy refreshments incl. coffee and exchange ideas • Average bookshop – hundred of titles • Warraq – paper dealers, writers, copiers etc • Kutubiyyin = Moroccan name for bookbinders of 12th C Marrakech

18. Gardens “Gardens under which rivers flow to dwell therein and beautiful mansions in gardens of everlasting bliss” Qur’an 9:72 • Middle ages gardens limited to courts of nobles/monasteries and were functional – herb growing only • From 8th C muslim world recreated gardens in contemplation of Qur’an

19. Gardens • 9th C – Abbasids innovated designs with geometrical flowerbeds and fountains e.g. Alhambra/Taj Mahal • Tulip, carnation and iris brought from East to West

20. Maps • Muslims were travelling from 7th C for trade and pilgrimage – this enabled gathering of knowledge and sights • When paper introduced first maps and travel guides made • Abbasid Caliphs commissioned reports called the ‘Book of routes’ which enabled postmasters to deliver messages within their empire

21. Maps • Logged commercial activities, physical landscape and production capabilities of lands • Enabled the European explorers of 15th and 16th C to set off • Piri Re’is and Ali Macar (1567)

22. Maps “ Columbus studied Arabic maps...without Jewish or Muslim expertise Spain would not have become the greatest colonial power in 16th C Europe” Rageh Omar – an Islamic history of Europe

23. Code breaking/cryptography • Famous during WWII and the Enigma machine which played military messages on the radio • 6th C – Greeks used a ‘scytale’ for codes • Al-Kindi 9th C began tradition – A manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic messages • Described frequency analysis – deducing a code from the frequency of letter usage in the language

24. Scytale of the Greeks

25. Castles and keeps • Round towers, arrow slits, barbicans, machiolations, parapets, battlements – all features of Muslim castles that enabled success during Crusades • Before 12th C Christian military towers had square keeps – Saladin’s round towers preferred as they prevented flanking fire • Saone 1120 1st example of round tower

26. Castles and keeps • Loopholes/arrow slits 1st used 200BCE to protect Syracuse – used in 8th C Iraqi palace of Ukhaydar, 1st used in London 1130 • Barbican – walled passage at entrance of Castle which delays enemy entrance and forces enemy into small space – built into castles in 12th C by Muslim Masons

27. Castles and keeps • Machiolations – holes through which defenders could fire arrows/drop things on enemy – 1st in Qasr al-Hayr 729 then Chateau Gaillaird 12th C, then Norwich and Winchester • Battlements – 10th C at Al-Azhar mosque then came to Europe in 12th C

28. Terminology Machiolations Parapets

29. Terminology Battlements Barbican – Warwick Castle

30. Astronomy

31. Astronomy • Necessary for Muslims to understand astronomy to calculate times of daily prayers – by sun’s position in the sky • To calculate direction of Makkah by sun’s relation to Moon • To make a calendar in order to fast – lunar months

32. Astronomy • Copernicus refers in his book de Revolutionibus to al-Zarqali and al-Battani – 10th and 11th C astronomers • Toledo was centre of world astronomy for 300 hundred years – Europe used its astronomical tables for 200yrs

33. Astronomy • Al-Battani (died 929CE) – Calculated length of solar year, predicted eclipses etc • Al-Biruni (973-1048) – Calculated Earth’s circumference, stated Earth rotated around own axis, fixed direction of Makkah from any pt on globe • Ibn Rushd (12th C) – discovered sunspots

34. Astronomy • Observatories, astrolabes and armillary spheres = models of planetary motions • Lunar calendar – set in place by Umar ibn al Khattab • Multiple other discoveries and names to read about!

35. Conclusion • These presentations are just a drop in the ocean of all discoveries made during these times – much more to discover e.g. Social sciences, linguistics, islamic knowledge, psychology • Let your journey of discovery start here...

36. The Path Ahead Where will it take you?