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1001 Inventions:
As usual, this exhibition is packed with discoveries and inventions made in Muslim civilization for a thousand years. Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World traces the forgotten story of a thousand years of science from the Muslim world, from the 7th century onwards. The exhibition looks at the social, scientific and technological achievements that are credited to the Muslim world, whilst celebrating the shared scientific heritage of other cultures. Here are a few interesting stories: |
1) The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London. The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.
2) The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing |
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the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.
3) A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe – where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century – and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.
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4) A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing – concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing. Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.
5) Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.
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Braille Quran: The Qur’an for the Non-Sighted
Do you know how the Braille Qur’an looks ? Have you seen or touched one? Do you know that the Qur’an in braille comes in 30 volumes, printed with special machines on specialised papers for the visually handicapped persons to be able to read?
What do you think is the major difference between the Qur’anic Braille and the Arabic or English version? All these and more at the Braille Qur’an section of the exhibition area. |
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Exhibition Islam:
Exhibition Islam showcases alternative educational resources that are delivered through professional 'museum style' exhibitions. By creating a modern setting that allows visitors to discover the richness and intensity of the Islamic faith, this exhibition creates an environment that is thoroughly educational and enjoyable for visitors from all backgrounds.
Discover Islam:
This section is aimed at improving the knowledge and understanding of Islam among the people and elevate the image of Islam and Muslims among non Muslims in general, and eliminate the misinformation and misrepresentation of Islam and Muslims in general.
These and many more at the MPAC Convention. |
