Western educational system completely wipes out work of Muslim scholars from the textbooks

So many discoveris and inventions have been taken from their original authors and given to a Europian scholar that came years later.

I'll give some examples whenever I'm free.There are not one or two , but hundreds of them.

Please keep an open mind.Here's one:


Al-Biruni (973-1050 AD)

600 years before Galileo , Al-Biruni discussed the theory of erth revolving around its axis.Using the astrolabe and a mountain near the sea , he calculated , he calculated the earth circumference using highly complex geodesic equations.

Max Heyroff observed that most of Biruni's work in mathematics has not been published yet. (Sourse , Max Meyhroff Science and Medicine , The Legacy of Islam , first edition , Oxford university press , 1931 , pp 311-355 ap p 332) For more info www.muslmheritage.com

Has anyone even heard of this man?

Interesting.

I read through a few "googled" articles on the man.

Didn't find your specific story, but found others, including his observation on the velocity of light versus sound..

He was ahead of his time.

I encourage you to post more information, with some links as well


Here is something to get you started
Al-Biruni


One question though, and don't take this the wrong way..
What happened? Why and when did all these discoveries stop?
Was it a science versus religion problem?


[edit on 4-4-2005 by spacedoubt]

Western education IS very Eurocentric. I'm not normally one to insist that everybody's pet interests need to be in the textbooks, but in this case it is a matter of factual accuracy which can have a profound impact on the way people view the world.
My education in California public schools as far as history goes went something like this:
Sumeria, Indus Valley, Egypt, Greece, Rome, Dark Ages, Renaissance, British Empire, American Independence, American Civil War, America-Centric WWII (I'm serious- they just barely even mentioned WWI), Cold War.

I didn't know diddly squat about the Ottoman Empire, Persia, or anything else remotely relating to civilization in the near east until I took it upon myself to read the Wikipedia articles. (That's what I love about ATS- discussions here have forced me to read and learn more about the world in the last 11 months than I learned in all four years of highschool, and it has covered a much broader range of subjects.)

EDIT to add: You'll never hear a single word about Great Zimbabwe in an America highschool textbook either, which gives rise to a common racist arguement that Sub-Saharan Africa has NEVER accomplished anything of note. Granted that because of their geographic isolation from many of the other great civilizations, Africa missed out on a lot of cultural interaction and got left behind in many ways, but you can hardly say its because they are incapable of it- they were geographically disadvantaged.

[edit on 4-4-2005 by The Vagabond]

This is common for many societies, not just Muslims are ignored. I remember reading about Soviet Russia where in their history books, they invented everything

Also Many minor cultures are not achknowledged as the "first" as the dominant culture writes the history books. For example the first powered flight was made in New Zelaand, not America.

I wouldn't take it personally, just the ethnocentric world view that EVERY culture has. I am sure there are heaps of similar examples in islamic culture.

Originally posted by Mohammad

So many discoveris and inventions have been taken from their original authors and given to a Europian scholar that came years later.

I'll give some examples whenever I'm free.There are not one or two , but hundreds of them.

Please keep an open mind.Here's one:


Al-Biruni (973-1050 AD)

600 years before Galileo , Al-Biruni discussed the theory of erth revolving around its axis.Using the astrolabe and a mountain near the sea , he calculated , he calculated the earth circumference using highly complex geodesic equations.

Max Heyroff observed that most of Biruni's work in mathematics has not been published yet. (Sourse , Max Meyhroff Science and Medicine , The Legacy of Islam , first edition , Oxford university press , 1931 , pp 311-355 ap p 332) For more info www.muslmheritage.com

Has anyone even heard of this man?

I have heard of him, but I am sorry to inform you that he was not the first to calculate the circumference of the earth.
A thousand years before Al-Biruni, Eratosthenes had already done it.
And I am quite sure that before him, the ancient Egyptians knew it too, since it is expressed in the design of the Great Pyramid.
I am amazed how biased all the worlds peoples are. Who cares who was first. Lets just get on with getting together, for pity's sake.

It reminds me of how a person debated with me for days over whether it was more likely Germans or Nubians had a hand in building the pyramids. He kept supporting the Germans, when the possibility of their contributing anything was zero. They lived in mud huts at the time.
The nations of the world are going to have to swallow some pride and just admit we are all equals, or else.............. we're gonna get smacked. My bet is on the smacking.

Isn't borrowing (plagiarizing?) other's work one of the specialities of western academia. I think this trend continues, today. Look at how many 'new' theories there are in academia.

Nearly all of the new ideas are just rehashing the old ideas undera new name. With sciences, they are at least applying someone's old idea to some new technology, which no else has gotten access to yet.

They even have a cute slogan about passing stuff off as their own, "Publish or Perish". Those, who are able to publish in the 'right' journals, get credit, and the others die in obscurity.

Mohammad, you are correct that the American educational institution is self-centered. Columbus is still looked upon with reverence, and he was a sonuvabitch, as evidenced by his own journals.

The contributions made by Middle Eastern peoples cannot be denied. I, for one, would not like to have to balance my checkbook using Roman numerals. Many theories and discoveries made by scientists in the western world would not have been possible without algebra. And so on, ad infinitum.

Unfortunately, American society is geared toward the self. I don't understand why people would think that the Ancient Egyptians would need European "help" to design and build the pyramids.

There is hope, though. My darlin' daughter, who is 15 and attends public school, related the following to me with indignation. Her school recently did a government-sponsored "survey." One question asked race and offered the usual categories. My daughter checked off "other" and wrote in "human."

Here's another one :

Al-Khawarizmi (780 - 850 AD)

Khawarizmi was a mathematician, astronomer and geographer. He was perhaps one of the greatest mathematicians who ever lived, as, in fact, he was the founder of several branches and basic concepts of mathematics. In the words of Phillip Hitti, he influenced mathematical thought to a greater extent than any other mediaeval writer.

His work on algebra was outstanding, as he not only initiated the subject in a systematic form but he also developed it to the extent of giving analytical solutions of linear and quadratic equations, which established him as the founder of Algebra. The very name Algebra has been derived from his famous book Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah. His arithmetic synthesised Greek and Hindu knowledge and also contained his own contribution of fundamental importance to mathematics and science. Thus, he explained the use of zero, a numeral of fundamental importance developed by the Arabs. Similarly, he developed the decimal system so that the overall system of numerals, 'algorithm' or 'algorizm' is named after him.


In addition to introducting the Indian system of numerals (now generally known as Arabic numerals), he developed at length several arithmetical procedures, including operations on fractions. It was through his work that the system of numerals was first introduced to Arabs and later to Europe, through its translations in European languages. He developed in detail trigonometric tables containing the sine functions, which were probably extrapolated to tangent functions by Maslama. He also perfected the geometric representa- tion of conic sections and developed the calculus of two errors, which practically led him to the concept of differentiation. He is also reported to have collaborated in the degree measurements ordered by Mamun al-Rashid were aimed at measuring of volume and circumference of the earth.

Al-Khawarizmi emphasised that he wronte his algebra book to serve the practical needs of people concerning matters of inheritance, legacies,partition , lawsuits and commerce.He considers his work as a worship to God.

From:

www.muslimheritage.com...


and members.tripod.com...

Netchicken , actually Muslims always acknowledged what was translated and what was theirs. In against the religion of islam to claim that something that's not yours, and most of these scholars were God fearing people who wouldn't do something like that. Ofcourse , you might find some exceptions here and there. But that's not the general rule.

But I must admit I had never heard of Eratosthenes before.I was surprised when i just read about him.
But anyway , what differs Muslims in this is that many people think that they are backwards,primitive people. This is what the media portrays. There are people that think muslims still ride camels.The reason Muslims they are the way to day is because they (a lot of them) don't abide by Qur'anic teachings anymore. The Quran actually tells us to seek knowledge and our prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) told us that the way of knowledge leads to paradise. Islam fights ignorance.

I think this is a useful story the shows this , a bit off topic I know:We've been told that when the son of the prophet died , an eclipse occurred on the same night. And the prophet actually went out and told people that the eclipse had NOTHING to do with his son's death. If he wasn't a real prophet , he would have taken that into his advantage.But he fought superstitions and spread knowledge which is an imporatant part of Islam.

Originally posted by Mohammad
Al-Biruni (973-1050 AD)

600 years before Galileo , Al-Biruni discussed the theory of erth revolving around its axis.Using the astrolabe and a mountain near the sea , he calculated , he calculated the earth circumference using highly complex geodesic equations.

The greeks calculated the circumfrence of the earth long before the muslims who preserved their work repeated it.

How much of western history do school texts in islamic countries leave out?....

Originally posted by Nygdan
(973-1050 AD)

How much of western history do school texts in islamic countries leave out?....

They barely teach any of it.But that doesn't mean they wipe it out.If a western sceintists has a theory , they attribute it to him. I remember my math and science textbooks were full of names of both western and Arabc scholars.

But the point of this post isnt to turn it into a back and forth argument.My aim was to shed light on something that may have escaped alot of people.

There are vast amounts of knowledge that have been lost from the past. Its very unfortunate that Muslims don't get due credit for discoveries, which if had been known to more people at the time would have changed the world. The best example i can think of is Archimedes, who developed the basic ideas of integral calculus 2000 years before Newton, can you imagine what the world would be like now if we had that knowledge for 2000 years already

Originally posted by Netchicken
This is common for many societies, not just Muslims are ignored. I remember reading about Soviet Russia where in their history books, they invented everything

Also Many minor cultures are not achknowledged as the "first" as the dominant culture writes the history books. For example the first powered flight was made in New Zelaand, not America.

I wouldn't take it personally, just the ethnocentric world view that EVERY culture has. I am sure there are heaps of similar examples in islamic culture.

I agree with the above statement, with the exception of the first paragraph. The Soviets didn't really claim they had invented everything. One notable claim is the invention of radio, and there is contradictory evidence whether Mr.Popov, a Russian engineer, "borrowed" this idea form Mr. Marconi. He might have, but maybe he didn't. The discovery was made at about same date.

I agree there is a degree of cultural isolationism in many parts of the world. How many Americans know that Spain for a long time used to be a part of Morocco, until it was re-conquered by the Spaniards?

An interesting book to read is:

"The Walking Drum" by Louis L'amour
A really good historical novel.

It lists several authors and works from the islamic spain periosd.
Some more people to look into but not sure of thier spelling
I will get more names later. (
Avicenna:Known as one of the greatest physcians
Averroes (ibn Rushd)
these are ones i know of but I did find this from the National Library of Medicine.

nlm.nih.gov/hmd/arabic/bioA.html

Here's where you can find lots of info

www.muslimheritage.com...

Mohammad, it is true, thousand of years ago, people in the middle east are really smart people, and not bloody like today but when the Europians came they become more much more bloody.

the invention of radio

I believe Nikola Tesla (Croatian) has the strongest counter claim to Marconi?

Originally posted by cmdrpaddy

the invention of radio

I believe Nikola Tesla (Croatian) has the strongest counter claim to Marconi?

Yes it was Tesla who invented it. He was a brilliant inventer, just not a very good business man. He actually took Marconi to the supreme court to get the patents Marconi had on the radio removed.


Oh muhamed thats nothing. I once read in a history text book that Croats and Serbs immagrated from RussiaThose American history books

No offence or anything but Tesla was a looney! He had a terrible fear of pearls and wouldn't sleep on the third floor of buildings

But he was a prolific inventor and he held hundreds of patents for all sorts of things, he did die in abject poverty though which is a pity

Originally posted by Mohammad

S
Al-Biruni (973-1050 AD)

600 years before Galileo , Al-Biruni discussed the theory of erth revolving around its axis.Using the astrolabe and a mountain near the sea , he calculated , he calculated the earth circumference using highly complex geodesic equations.

Max Heyroff observed that most of Biruni's work in mathematics has not been published yet. (Sourse , Max Meyhroff Science and Medicine , The Legacy of Islam , first edition , Oxford university press , 1931 , pp 311-355 ap p 332) For more info www.muslmheritage.com

Has anyone even heard of this man?

I've never heard of him, but I always thought the idea of the earth revolving on it's axis and the math that gives the circumference of the Earth was much older than Al-Biruni.

I think you are right about Muslim Scholars kept from the textbooks and schools of SOME of the western education system. Many school boards are just plain ignorant, just look at how many people want evolution tossed from the textbooks in place with the English Bible's story of creation, I am sure that schools who have this problem do not mention any Muslim scholars in their curriculim. This problem is not everywhere and many educators here want nothing more than to give the students a quality if not world class education.