Comments on: Science & Islam on BBC4

By: djbarney

djbarney — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 22:25:46 +0000

I’ve just watched the third episode (3 of 3). Jim Al-Khalili does move on to, if briefly, looking at modern day Science. He visited a bio research lab in Iran. I was heartened by the program. Those in Western and Eastern academia are obviously very much in the know. Hopefully this program will spread the message to the public that it is neither “us” or “them”, but that West and East had been working productively together for thousands of years.

By: Andrew Furlow

Andrew Furlow — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 14:14:40 +0000

You may be interested to read the official tie-in book, Science and Islam: A History by Ehsan Masood:

http://www.iconbooks.co.uk/book.cfm?isbn=978-184831040-7

It’s also available now on Amazon:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Science-Islam-History-Ehsan-Masood/dp/1848310404/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231164669&sr=1-1

By: Qas

Qas — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 18:33:43 +0000

Blame everything on the maulvis, Imran.

By: Imran

Imran — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 15:55:57 +0000

Just have a look at List of recognized polymaths….

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polymath

You will find that form 8AD to late 16AD it was dominated my by Muslims. That’s why they were successful. Form 17AD the tide turned and with it came the demise of Muslims, But a Maulvi/Imam will tell you the reason for this demise was that Muslims were far from their religion. As they say in Urdu, Maulvi ki dur majsid tak. (An Imam can race up to the masjid).

One lesson I take away from this list of people, is that if it was possible for these people to excel in more then one field and practice their deen (Ibn Khaldoun) then its possible in our time too.

By: iMuslim

iMuslim — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 14:30:02 +0000

Anon & MUSLIM 4 lyf. Thank you both for your comments.

Anon has a point: it is well known that the Muslim Arabs of the period discussed above preserved, transmitted, and built upon much of the knowledge of the Classical Greek period, which the modern world now depends upon. Hence the Arabic origins of several scientific words.

We should be careful about what we, as a nation, take credit for. Remember, stealing is prohibited, even intellectual theft. For example, the invention of ‘zero’ is often mistakenly attributed to the Arabs. Rather, they adopted the principle from the ancients of India, and exported it to the rest of the world. At least, that is the present theory – Allah knows best what really happened.

The documentary will hopefully be more specific about the role of Muslims and Islam in the history of Science, insha’Allah.

By: MUSLIM 4 lyf

MUSLIM 4 lyf — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 13:38:53 +0000

‘Anon’
“”"”Just because a word translated into English comes from Arabic, doesnt mean that the science originated from the Arabs. For instance, Algebra came long before the Arabs or Islam ever came onto the scene. Individuals like Euclid and Diophantus were using advanced forms of Algebra in the Classical Greek period.”"”"”

Just because the media and the non-muslim world is actually finding out the scientific side of Islam and now you feel provoked that now you and the rest of the world are finally finding out the truth.

PS: Why are you anonymous, cant you make a strong point without hiding. Is it because Islam is truly the foundation of science? Can’t you handle the truth?

By: anon

anon — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 10:22:18 +0000

Just because a word translated into English comes from Arabic, doesnt mean that the science originated from the Arabs. For instance, Algebra came long before the Arabs or Islam ever came onto the scene. Individuals like Euclid and Diophantus were using advanced forms of Algebra in the Classical Greek period.

By: Tauqeer

Tauqeer — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 08:53:08 +0000

Thank you for the post!

“The real message should be: wherever and whenever Islam exists, there is progress.”

True said!

By: Serendipitouslife

Serendipitouslife — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 05:16:18 +0000

You are correct. We continue to clutch on to the badges of past glory, & seem to have adopted a complacent attitude towards progression. And, like you said, the worst thing is that we do it to impress non muslims, rather than taking is as inspiration & stepping stones to further ourselves in all fields.

We have come to a point where, muslim scientists promote & market their inventions/creations using anglicized names for better public reception.

By: muslim

muslim — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 01:29:24 +0000

Thank you for making this post