In 9th century Spain, Muslim inventor Abbas ibn Firnas designed a flying machine -- hundreds of years before da Vinci drew plans of his own

Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.

But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.

Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today.

The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects — the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales — are the focus of “1001 Inventions,” a book celebrating “the forgotten” history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage.

“There’s a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks,” professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.

“1001 Inventions” is now an exhibition at London’s Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures — like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China — to present day civilization.

Think of the origins of that staple of modern life, the cup of coffee, and Italy often springs to mind.

But in fact, Yemen is where the ubiquitous brew has its true origins.

Along with the first university, and even the toothbrush, it is among surprising Muslim inventions that have shaped the world we live in today.

The origins of these fundamental ideas and objects — the basis of everything from the bicycle to musical scales — are the focus of “1001 Inventions,” a book celebrating “the forgotten” history of 1,000 years of Muslim heritage.

“There’s a hole in our knowledge, we leap frog from the Renaissance to the Greeks,” professor Salim al-Hassani, Chairman of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation, and editor of the book told CNN.

“1001 Inventions” is now an exhibition at London’s Science Museum. Hassani hopes the exhibition will highlight the contributions of non-Western cultures — like the Muslim empire that once covered Spain and Portugal, Southern Italy and stretched as far as parts of China — to present day civilization.

Here Hassani shares his top 10 outstanding Muslim inventions: 

1. Surgery

Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds — beforehand a second surgery had to be performed to remove sutures. He also reportedly performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps.

2. Coffee

Now the Western world’s drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped Sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to Italy by a Venetian trader.

3. Flying machine

“Abbas ibn Firnas was the first person to make a real attempt to construct a flying machine and fly,” said Hassani. In the 9th century he designed a winged apparatus, roughly resembling a bird costume. In his most famous trial near Cordoba in Spain, Firnas flew upward for a few moments, before falling to the ground and partially breaking his back. His designs would undoubtedly have been an inspiration for famed Italian artist and inventor Leonardo da Vinci’s hundreds of years later, said Hassani.

4. University

In 859 a young princess named Fatima al-Firhi founded the first degree-granting university in Fez, Morocco. Her sister Miriam founded an adjacent mosque and together the complex became the al-Qarawiyyin Mosque and University. Still operating almost 1,200 years later, Hassani says he hopes the center will remind people that learning is at the core of the Islamic tradition and that the story of the al-Firhi sisters will inspire young Muslim women around the world today.

5. Algebra

The word algebra comes from the title of a Persian mathematician’s famous 9th century treatise “Kitab al-Jabr Wa l-Mugabala” which translates roughly as “The Book of Reasoning and Balancing.” Built on the roots of Greek and Hindu systems, the new algebraic order was a unifying system for rational numbers, irrational numbers and geometrical magnitudes. The same mathematician, Al-Khwarizmi, was also the first to introduce the concept of raising a number to a power.

6. Optics

“Many of the most important advances in the study of optics come from the Muslim world,” says Hassani. Around the year 1000 Ibn al-Haitham proved that humans see objects by light reflecting off of them and entering the eye, dismissing Euclid and Ptolemy’s theories that light was emitted from the eye itself. This great Muslim physicist also discovered the camera obscura phenomenon, which explains how the eye sees images upright due to the connection between the optic nerve and the brain.

7. Music

Muslim musicians have had a profound impact on Europe, dating back to Charlemagne tried to compete with the music of Baghdad and Cordoba, according to Hassani. Among many instruments that arrived in Europe through the Middle East are the lute and the rahab, an ancestor of the violin. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet.

8. Toothbrush

According to Hassani, the Prophet Mohammed popularized the use of the first toothbrush in around 600. Using a twig from the Meswak tree, he cleaned his teeth and freshened his breath. Substances similar to Meswak are used in modern toothpaste.

9. The crank

Many of the basics of modern automatics were first put to use in the Muslim world, including the revolutionary crank-connecting rod system. By converting rotary motion to linear motion, the crank enables the lifting of heavy objects with relative ease. This technology, discovered by Al-Jazari in the 12th century, exploded across the globe, leading to everything from the bicycle to the internal combustion engine.

10. Hospitals

“Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt,” explained Hassani. The first such medical center was the Ahmad ibn Tulun Hospital, founded in 872 in Cairo. Tulun hospital provided free care for anyone who needed it — a policy based on the Muslim tradition of caring for all who are sick. From Cairo, such hospitals spread around the Muslim world.

Hospitals as we know them today, with wards and teaching centers, come from 9th century Egypt
–professor Salim al-Hassani.

For more information on muslim inventions go to: muslimheritage.com. For more information about the exhibition at London’s Science Museum go to: science museum.org.uk

The Arabian Peninsula the birthplace of Islam is one of the hottest and driest regions in the world, consisting mainly of deserts. Since ancient times tribes of the nomadic race had populated the region. Considered the descendents of Noah’s third son Shem they are called Semites. Over the centuries theses Semitic people have migrated into the Fertile Crescent and were assimilated to into existing civilizations.

In the sixth century AD, north of the Arabian Peninsula two great powers were locked in a seesaw power struggle. The Christian Byzantine kingdom, successors of the Roman Empire was to the Northwest and controlled the Mediterranean Sea, North Africa and the lands of Palestine. In the northeast lay the Zoroastrian Persian kingdom. Both the Byzantine and Persian kingdoms had client Arab tribes allied to their cause of trade and conquest.

The Arabian Peninsula became a land of refuge for those seeking escape from both of these empires. Heretic Christian sects like the Nestorians, and Jewish tribes escaping the oppressive Byzantines found refuge in the protective deserts and cities of the Peninsula.

Arabia was divided into tribes and cities. Each city had gods and goddess. Once a year the tribes and cities of Arabia would meet in the city of Mecca during an event known as the Hajj. In Mecca, the Kaba (Cube), a large cube shaped building housed 360 idols from all the tribes of Arabia. The Kaba was the center of Arabian religious life. Here all the warring tribes would put aside their differences as they circled the Kaba. From the Kaba they would proceed to the other shrines outside of Mecca during this five day religious event. The Hajj was a tradition that Arabs of the peninsula remembered going back hundreds of years.

Mohammed

It was in this world Mohammad Ibn Abdallah was born in the year 570 AD in the city of Mecca. His father died before he was born and his mother Amina died when he was 6 years old. Al-Muttalib his grandfather took charge of the youth and died 2 years later. Abu Talib his uncle adopted young Mohammed into his family and raised him as his own son. At the age of 12, young Mohammed was taken on a caravan-trading venture to Syria and experienced the world outside of Arabia for the first time. Here Islamic tradition informs us that a Christian monk named Buhaira, proclaimed Talib’s young nephew is the last prophet and warns him about the Jews. For the next 13 years little is known of his life except that he was involved in caravan trading in and out of Arabia.

At the age of 25, Mohammed marries a 40 year old wealthy, widow named Khadijah who owns trading caravans. During the next 15 years of his life he interactes with Arabs known as the Hanefites. Hanefites were Arabs who rejected idol worship and were searching for the true religion. They looked to the religion of the Jews and Christians as being close to the goal. The Hanefites abandonded their idols and would retreat to the caves of Mecca in meditation and prayer.

At age 40 Mohammed had his first vision in the year 610 AD. He was in a cave on Mt. Hera and thought he was demon possessed. He went to Khadijah and told her about the event. She consulted with her uncle Waraca, a Hanefite who converted to Christianity, who assured them Mohammed vision was from God. Waraca declared Mohammed was a prophet to the Arab peoples, Waraca died 2 years later never becoming a Muslim.

Mohammed proclaimed Allah as the one true god and rejected the idol worship of Mecca. Khadijah, his wife, was Mohammed first convert to Islam. Few listened to Mohammed’s message and animosity grew against him as he confronted the idol worshippers and preached his religion to Mecca. Abu Talib his uncle and his tribe the Hasims protected him during this early Meccan period. In 619 Khadijah and Abu Talib died. Abu Talib headed the Hasim clan, which Mohammed was a member. The new leader of the Hasim tribe his uncle Abu Lahab refused to protect Mohammed. During the next 3 years Mohammed would fear for his life. He sought refuge and protection in nearby cities from those seeking his life.

Then in 621 during the Hajj, Arab tribes from the city of Yatrob later to be called Medina, came for the annual pilgrimage. They met Mohammed and thought him to be a prophet and invited him to their city to bring peace and settle disputes between the warring tribes. Yathrob was founded by three Jewish tribes and the idea of monotheism was familiar to its Arab tribesmen. The Arabs of Medina had been told by Jewish tribesmen about the coming Messiah who would one day conquer the world including the Arabs. The Arab tribes hoped to find this individual before the Jews. Meeting Mohammed they thought he was the one.

The Hejira (Flight)

The next year the situation became intolerable for the Muslims and in in June 622 they made what has become known as the Hejira or flight. In small groups the 150 Muslims of Mecca left for the city of Medina 280 miles to the north. When word reached those of Mecca about the escape to Medina they tried to kill Mohammed. Mohammed and Abu Bakr were able to sneak out of the city and escape to Medina by another route in September 622.

In Medina the warring Arab tribes submitted to Mohammed leadership and prophet-hood. The Jewish tribes rejected his claims of prophet and ridiculed his revelations. With most of the new arrivals from Mecca without work they needed to earn a living. Ghazu or caravan raiding was a way tribes would prevent one tribe from becoming to powerful. The Muslims in Medina began to rob the caravans heading toward Mecca. This is where the Muslim doctrine of Jihad was created.

With their caravan business being threatened, Mecca responds with one thousand solders at the battle of Bedr in March 624 the Muslims fielded 300 warriors. The battle went to the Muslims. Mohammed proclaimed his victory was a sign from Allah and his status in Medina was magnified. The lack of enthusiasm by one of the Jewish tribes caused them to be expelled by the victorious Muslim army. The direction of prayer was also changed from Jerusalem to Mecca as the Jews rejected Mohammad’s prophet-hood.

Exactly one year latter Mecca amassed 3000 solders at the battle of Uhud and the Muslims fielded 1000 solders. The battle did not go as planned. The Muslims defeated by Mecca retreated to Medina. Disheartened, Muslims blamed the second Jewish tribe as conspirators against their cause. Their homes and possessions were confiscated, and they are expelled from the city in 626 AD.

The Meccans in the hope of ending the caravan raids by the Muslims assembled 10,000 solders to attack the city of Medina in the year 627. After a two weeks siege in the hot sun they are unable to penetrate the fortress like city. They returned to Mecca. After this unsuccessful attack, Mohammed and the Muslims attacked the last remaining Jewish tribe. The tribe surrendered to the mercy of Mohammed. The men were killed and the women and children were sold into slavery.

The Muslims then begin to consolidate their power with the surrounding Arab tribes and cities.

Mecca began to feel the economic impact of its trading losses and Mohammed’s power grew in the north. They reluctantly signed the 10 year Hudaybiah peace agreement with Mohammed and the Muslims in march 628. Muslims are allowed to return to Mecca and worship at the Kaba once a year. The people of Mecca would leave their city so the Muslim could come and worship.

Two years later, in January 630, Mohammed leads 10,000 warriors to Mecca and nullifies the treaty of Hudaybiah because Muslims have been killed. The city submits to Mohammed and his warriors and accepts him as prophet. Mohammed goes to the Kaba and destroys the 360 idols in the structure. From Mecca, the “Muslims” wage Jihad on the surrounding cities forcing them to accept Islam as their religion and Mohammed as their prophet.

Mohammed made his final Hajj in 632 and died unexpectedly 3 months later in June. His friend and father in law Abu Bakr (Father of Aisha) succeeded him as leader of the Muslims

After Mohammad

Abu Bakr received the title “Caliph” or successor of Mohammed. Their was a struggle for about who would succeed Mohammad, some felt Ali the husband of Fatima, Mohammed’s daughter deserved the position. Under Abu Bakr Islam’s power in Arabian peninsula was completed. In 634 AD Abu Bakr died and was succeeded by Umar (Omar) the 2nd Caliphate.

Umar advanced the Muslim armies against Syria and Palestine. In 637 A D, the armies of Byzantium lost control of Jerusalem to Islam. Uthman the 3rd Caliph succeeded Umar. Uthman ordered a complete revision of the Quran, this would cause a mutiny. He was killed and his death was considered justified because the mutineers claimed he ceased to be a Muslim. Following Uthman’s There was a struggle between rival factions of Islam about who was the rightful successor to lead Islam.

Ali the 4th Caliph, Mohammad’s son-in-law and husband of Fatima, succeeded Uthman everybody did not accept him as rightful Caliphate. War broke out between the rival groups, his succession was short lived, 2 years later he was killed, the Shi’a (Party of Ali) mourned the death of Ali, and his two sons (Grandsons of Mohammed). Ali is revered as a saint by the Shi’a who are dominate in Iran and Iraq. The Shi’a feel Ali was the rightful successor to Mohammed and don’t recognize the three earlier Caliphs. The Sunnis accept Ali and the first three Caliphate as legitimate.

After the defeat the Byzantines and Persian kingdoms in successive battles, the armies of Islam advanced on Europe. Within 100 years of Mohammad’s death the armies of Islam reached the city of Tours, in France. In Tours the Muslim advance was stopped.

In the Battle of Tours Charles Martel the grandfather of Charlemagne defeated the advancing Muslim armies. From Tours Muslim power in Europe retreated and in the 1489 Fredinand and Isabella of Spain defeated the last remaining forces in Spain. Later, the Ottoman Empire would retreat from the rest of Europe.

In the East, Islam was also expanding by the 13th century; Islam had reached the Pacific Ocean. The Islamic faith now spanned from the Atlantic to the Pacific. Ferdinand Magellan, in his attempt to bypass Muslim controlled areas in the Indian Ocean, found the passageway to Asia via the Atlantic Ocean. His desire was to bring Christianity to Asia, before Islam. Magellan was successful in introducing Christianity to the Philippines (Named after King Philip of Spain) Islam and Christianity met in the Philippines as the Northern Islands were converted to Christianity and the Southern parts of the Philippines and Indonesia were converted to Islam. Islam and Christianity became the two major rival religions in the world.

Islam Today

Islam today is in conflict, between western secular culture and traditional Islamic culture. The growth of Islamic Fundamentalism is an attempt to reach back to the glories of Islamic history. Many Fundamentalist (Muslim) ask themselves the question, If Islam is the religion of Allah, why are we being defeated by the West (United States) and Israel. The fundamentalist sees the problem with the failure of Islamic nations to live as the Quran commands. This view of not living the life required by Allah, as specified in the Quran and traditions and therefore being defeated by the West, is the spark of fundamentalism. Today in Islam there is a struggle between moderate and fundamentalist ideology. Understanding the books of the Islamic faith is just as important to understanding its history. The books of Islam shape both the culture and philosophy of the Muslim world

The Books of Islam

History of the Quran:

The Qur’an:
“Reading” The Quran is the “Word of God” to Islam. About 4/5 the length of the New Testament. Muslims believe the identical book is in Heaven and Allah sent the angel Gabriel to Mohammed to reveal his “Word”. The Quran is divided into 114 chapters or Surahs. The Surahs are revelations given to Mohammed during his 23 years of “Prophethood” from 610 AD to 632 AD.

The Quran, composed during Mohammed’s lifetime corresponds to the time and circumstances of his life. The Surahs or chapters can be divided into three time periods.
The earliest Surahs are the shortest and known as Early Meccan, and date from 610 to 622 AD. Composed in Mecca, prior to Hejira where Mohammed fled to Medina in September 622 AD.

The Median Surahs were composed during the time Muslims controlled the city of Medina. They date from 622 to 630 AD. The doctrine of Jihad was introduced as war was waged against Mecca and its idol worshipers. Animosity toward the Jews and Christians increased as they rejected Mohammed as a prophet from God.

Late Meccan Surahs were between 630 and 632 AD. The last 2 years of Mohammed’s life after Mecca surrendered to his authority.

Surahs were at this time not collected in one book but were memorized and collected on various items. In the battle of Yamamah in 633 AD many of the Hafiz died. The Hafiz were Muslims who had committed much of the Quran to memory. With the urging of Umar, Zayd ibn Thabit, one of Mohammed most trusted secretaries was appointed to the task of collecting the Quran into one book. Still later after different versions of the quran began to appear Zayd was put in charge of collecting all the Qurans throughout the Muslim world and issuing an authorized copy in the place of ones collected.

The Quran makes the appeal to its beauty and consistency with previous scriptures as proof of its inspiration.

23 And if ye are in doubt as to what We have revealed from time to time to Our servant, then produce a Surah like thereunto; and call your witnesses or helpers (if there are any) besides Allah, if your (doubts) are true.
24 But if ye cannot – and of a surety ye cannot – then fear the Fire whose fuel is Men and Stones – which is prepared for those who reject Faith. Surah 2:23-24

The Hadith:
“Tradition” After the death of Mohammed, his followers collected his sayings and actions in books to guide and direct their beliefs. They give additional meaning behind the Surahs and help interpret their meanings. The most respected Hadith are Bukari, and Muslim. Muslims do not feel the Hadith is the “Word of God”. They would compare the Hadith, to the Gospels, which reports what Jesus said. The Quran is the Word of God from Heaven via Gabriel.

Who is a Muslim: A Muslim is someone who has submitted to Allah. One submits to Allah by confession of the Shahada or the 5 pillars of faith. Besides the five major beliefs or doctrines in Islam, there are these are observances in Islam which are foundational practices or duties every Muslim must observe.

The Five Pillars of Faith
1. “The Confession” “La ilaha illa llah” “There is no God but God.” The Shahada, (Testimoney)
Kalima There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is the Prophet of Allah.
2. Salat Prayer 5 times a day facing Mecca
3. Zakat Almsgiving
4. Fasting during the month of Ramadan, from sun-up till sundown.
5. Hajj Pilgrimage to Mecca once a lifetime

The Beliefs of Islam

The Five Articles of Faith

1. God: There is only one true God and his name is Allah. Allah is all knowing, all-powerful and sovereign judge. Yet Allah is not a personal God, for he is so far above man in every way that he is not personally knowable. The emphasis of the God of Islam is on judgment and power, not grace and mercy. To the Muslim mind, calling God father means God connotes sexual relationship.

255 Allah! there is no god but He, the living, the self subsisting, eternal. No slumber can seize him nor heavens and on earth. Who is there can intercede in his presence except as he permitteth? he knoweth what (appeareth to his creatures as) before or after or behind them. Nor shall they compass aught of his knowledge except as he willeth. His throne doth extend over the heavens and the earth, and he feeleth no fatigue in guarding and preserving them for he is the most high, the supreme (in glory).Surah 2:255

2. Angels: Angels in Islam serve Allah’s will such as Gabriel delivering the Koran to Mohammed. Angels do not perform any bodily functions (sexual, eating., etc) as they are created of light. Angels serve different purposes; each person has two recording angels who record his/her good or bad deeds.

Jinn : Are spiritual beings created out of fire….who are ranked between angels and men and can be either good or bad. Satan was a Jinn and not a fallen angel according to Islam.

27 And the Jinn race, we had created before, from the fire of a scorching wind.
Surah15:27

Satan: A Jinn who refused to fall prostrate before Adam after he was created. He is the leader of evil ones in the world.

50. And (remember) when We said unto the angels: Fall prostrate before Adam,
and they fell prostrate, all save Iblis. He was of the Jinn, so he
rebelled against his Lord’s command. Will ye choose him and his seed for
your protecting friends instead of Me, when they are an enemy unto you?
Calamitous is the exchange for evil doers!
Sura 18:50

3. Scripture: There are four inspired books in Islam: Quran, Torah, Ingil and Zabur. The Torah, Ingil and Zabur: “Books of Moses, The Gospel of Jesus, and Psalms of David” These are books mentioned in the Koran as God’s Word but most Moslems feel the current books are corrupt. For this reason Allah gave Mohammed the “Quran”. Many Muslims try to find Mohammed in the Bible and feel he is referred to in Deuteronomy 18:16, John 14:6.

4. Prophets: In Islam God has spoken through numerous prophets down through the centuries, including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The greatest prophet and the last prophet is Muhammmad, he is the seal of the prophets.

163 We have sent thee inspiration, as We sent it to Noah and the Messengers after him: We sent inspiration to Abraham, ismail Ismaÿil, Isaac, Jacob and the Tribes, to Jesus, Job, Jonah, Aaron, and Solomon, and to David We gave the Psalms.
164 Of some messengers We have already told thee the story; of others We have not- and to Moses Allah spoke direct-
Surah 4:163-164

5. Last Days: The last days will be a time of Ressurrection and judgment.:

Resurrection: Everybody will be resurrected to stand before Allah to be judged in the Last Day. Those who follow Allah and Mohammed will go to Paradise others will go to Hell. Everybody will pass through Hell and even some Muslim will spend time in Hell till their sins are burned away and Mohammad intercedes for them.

Hell: Hell is a place of Allah judgment where Muslims will spend sometime before entering paradise, unbelievers will have no escape. Muslim’s believe Mohammed will intercede for them and deliver them from Hell.

AbuSa’id al-Khudri

SAHIH MUSLIM

The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: The (permanent) inhabitants of the Fire are those who are doomed to it, and verily they would neither die nor live in it (quran al-QurŸan, xx.47; liiixii.13). But the people whom the Fire would afflict (temporarily) on account of their sins, or so said (the narrator) “on account of their misdeeds,” He would cause them to die till they would be turned into charcoal. Then they would be granted intercession and would be brought in groups and would be spread on the rivers of Paradise and then it would be said: O inhabitants of Paradise, pour water over them; then they would sprout forth like the sprouting of seed in the silt carried by flood. A man among the people said: (It appears) as if the Messenger of Allah lived in the steppe.

AL-MUWATTA of Imam Malik (Hadith)
Abdullah ibn Abbas
Then I saw the Fire – and I have never seen anything more hideous than what I saw today – and I saw that most of its people were women.’
They said, ‘Why, Messenger of Allah?’
He said, ‘Because of their ungratefulness (kufr),’
Someone said, ‘Are they ungrateful to Allah?’
He said, ‘They are ungrateful to their husbands and they are ungrateful for good behaviour (towards them). Even if you were to behave well towards one of them for a whole lifetime and then she were to see you do something (that she did not like) she would say that she had never seen anything good from you.’”

Paradise: Described in the Quaran as place underneath the Earth that flows with rivers of wine and “wide eyed” virgins of beauty.
And round about them will (serve) youths of perpetual (freshness): If thou seest them, thou wouldst think them scattered Pearls.

20 And when thou lookest, it is there thou wilt see a Bliss and a Realm Magnificent.
21 Upon them will be green Garments of fine silk and heavy brocade, and they will be adorned with bracelets of silver; and their Lord will give to them to drink of a Wine Pure and Holy.
22 Verily this is a Reward for you, and your Endeavour is accepted and recognized.
Surah 76:19-22 See Also Surah 2:25,

Omayyad mosque in Damascus

Afghan-American writer, lecturer, and teacher Tamim Ansary is man ideally placed to help Westerners see the history of our world through another set of eyes.  Growing up in Afghanistan as a young history buff, Ansary had an opportunity to read and learn about the world from dual perspectives.  A decade ago, when he was working as a textbook editor, a publisher in Texas hired him to develop a new world history textbook for high school students.

“What that meant was that I had to select and arrange the most consequential events to reveal the arc of history, not a chronological list of every damn thing that ever happened,” Ansary said.   What emerged was a narrative of civilization that included both “the West” and “Islam.”  From his textbook, Ansary went on to write another book, this time for adults – Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World through Islamic Eyes.  That book is about to be re-published in paperback edition.

Ancient Times – Mesopotamia and Persia

Ansary begins with two lists of the pivotal periods in human history – as seen both through Western eyes and through Islamic eyes.  For both, it is the year 3500 BC (before Christ in the Western calendar) – or 3500 BCE (before the Common Era, as it’s known in both Muslim and Jewish traditions).   “The first traces of what you might call ‘civilization’ emerged along the Tigris and Euphrates River and a little later in Egypt,” Ansary said.  “Writing is part of it; cities are part of it; irrigation systems and inventions like the wheel.”

In the Middle East, a pattern recurred again and again, Ansary explains.  “A city would be built up; the nomads would take over that city and become the civilized people.  They would expand the empire the city had once ruled; then, new nomads would come and expand the empire again.  That process came to a climax with the Persian Empire, which ruled a realm stretching from the Indus River to Egypt.”  In the Mediterranean region, Ansary notes, this period roughly overlaps the Western civilization of Greece and Rome.

Birth of Islam

In terms of cultural identity, the most critical historical period for Muslims is the birth of Islam – specifically the Hijra, the flight of the Prophet Mohammed from Mecca to Medina in 622 CE.  “About 610,” Ansary recounts, “the Prophet went to a cave and meditated.  And he felt he had been visited by the angel Gabriel, who told him he was the messenger of Allah. That message was that there is only one God.  You shouldn’t worship idols.  This one God has given humanity freedom of choice, but will hold them responsible for their choices.  Time will end and there will be a day of judgment, and people will be sorted into those who have done good, who will go to heaven, and those who have done evil, who will go to hell – for eternity.”

“When the Prophet fled to Medina because he was being persecuted in Mecca,” Ansary said, “he became not only a preacher but also the leader of a political community, the Muslim community, and that marks the turning point of history.”

Caliphate – Quest for Unity

About the same time as the rise of Christianity in the West and its subsequent “Dark Ages,” Ansary noted, Islam was experiencing a quest for unity, represented by the Caliphate.  “At that time, the Muslim empire was the civilized empire that was in its Golden Age,” he said.

The core of the religious conflict, Ansary explains, was the division between Sunni Islam and Shi’a Islam.   “Many different ethnic groups had come under the umbrella of Islam, and a question arose as to how they should all be integrated into  one community whose fundamental premise was the brotherhood and equality of all.”

Age of the Sultanates – Fragmentation

By the end of the 11th century of the Common Era, the dream of a universal Muslim community at the political level had failed, according to Ansary.  “It crumbled because the Caliphate got too big.  The technology of the time was not sufficient to have one capital administering a realm that stretched from India to Spain,” he said.

As the Caliphate fragmented, a similar thing that had happened to the Roman Empire in the West, happened to the Muslim world, Ansary suggests.  “The Seljuk Turks were the first of the nomadic tribes from the north to enter the Muslim realm,” he explained.  “They were very mobile, and they set up something different from the Caliphate,” he said.   “But, most important, the culture of the Islamic world changed after that invasion,” Ansary noted.

Catastrophe – Crusaders from the West and Mongols from the East

Then came a period of about three centuries in which the Islamic world was attacked by Crusaders from the west and by Mongols from the east, Ansary said.  The Crusaders came to the eastern Mediterranean and set up three small Crusader kingdoms.  “Although the Crusader destruction was not so widespread, within that area the destruction was at times horrifying.  For example, the conquest of Jerusalem was quite a slaughter,” Ansary said.

“But by far the greater catastrophe was when the Mongols came and destroyed whole cities, such as the ancient Afghan city of Balkh and the city of Baghdad [in present-day Iraq] – with its libraries and archives,” Ansary notes.  
 
Three Great Empires – Rebirth

The next major period from an Islamic perspective was that of the three great empires.  Of these, the Ottoman Empire was the largest.  “It encompassed North Africa, Asia Minor to the edge of what is now Iran, and it spilled over into Eastern Europe,” Ansary said.   The Persian Safavid Empire in Central Asia was a bit larger than modern-day Iran.  And the Moghul Empire in South Asia included what are now India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and part of Afghanistan.

“If you take these empires together, you have a span of civilization that would have seemed pretty familiar to a traveler who could start in Morocco, moving through North Africa and Egypt, across Asia Minor and Iran, all the way to the eastern parts of India,” Ansary explains.  Travelers, for example, would find calligraphy, mosques with domes, minarets, and mosaics, and people who were familiar with the foundational stories of Islam.  “It was somewhat similar to the continuity of Western civilization now – traveling from the United States, to Britain, to France, to Germany, and onward – where people will share your most basic premises,” he notes.

Permeation of the East by the West

Meanwhile, the Western world was also experiencing a rebirth – a renaissance in the arts and a reformation in religion.  This period involved considerable interaction between the Muslim and Christian worlds, especially in trade.  “The West was dominant by sea, and the Islamic people were dominant on land,” Ansary observes.

“When the West came to the East, the East was at the peak of its power, in terms of how it felt about itself, so the Muslims didn’t perceive the Western traders as a threat,” Ansary said. Throughout this period, when the West was becoming dominant in the East, he suggests, that domination was not primarily in terms of military conflict.  “In fact, the wars that were going on were generally those between different Muslim powers,” he explains.

Islamic Reform Movements

From the early 18th century CE through the end of World War I, a number of reform movements arose in the Muslim world – for example, the Wahhabis in the Arabian Peninsula and the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  “This major era of reform movements occurred in the context of Muslims becoming aware of the fact that they had come to be dominated by another culture, so the movements of religious reform also had to address imperialism,” Ansary notes.

“Wahhabism was one of the reform movements whose answer to the decline of Muslim power was, we must go back to the way of life that was practiced in the original community,” Ansary said.  In some ways, it was similar to the Protestant Reformation in Christendom, he said.  However, at the other extreme were reform movements in Islam that said, “The West may really have something, and maybe we should think of Islam as an ethical system and eliminate the supernatural elements in it.”
 
Yet another Islamic reform movement suggested that “The West has something important in the realm of science, but it is completely wrong in terms of its social system,” Ansary said.  “And this movement ended up being the ancestor of the Muslim Brotherhood, and it became a nationalistic, pan-Islamic idea,” according to Ansary.

Secular Modernists

The rise of secular modernists in the Islamic world – such as Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in Turkey, Mohammed Ali Jinnah in Pakistan, and Gamal Abdul Nasser in Egypt – is a 20th century phenomenon.   Ansary describes Ataturk as a “radical extremist” in the Islamic context.  “In many ways he overthrew the idea of a traditional Islamic society in favor of a secular Western idea. He said that Turks could practice Islam as a religion, but it had nothing to do with the government,” Ansary explained.  And in Turkey, he noted, it became the job of the army to guarantee the secularism of the government.
 
Political Islam – Reaction

Some modern-day examples of political Islam include the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Justice and Development Party in Turkey.  “But I think political Islam is still in a very ambiguous state in terms of whether it will succeed in governing the societies it has taken over,” Ansary cautioned.  “Taliban-ism in Afghanistan is a powerful movement so long as it is in opposition to a foreign force that is seen as occupying the country.”  

However, administering a country involves a “whole new set of problems,” Ansary said.  For example, the Revolutionary Guard in Iran is a military organization.  “It has the power to rally people to battle, but whether it has the ability to govern a society is still open to question,” Ansary said.

Other Histories

 “I’m not suggesting that books like mine should be part of the curriculum in the schools of the West,” Ansary said.  “But I do think it is supplementary reading, and that could also encompass Indian and Chinese and other histories,” Ansary suggested.

“If we take the premise that history is the story of how we got to here and now, and if that means moving towards a universal civilization, then the history that leads to this here and now will differ from all these particular histories,” Ansary said.   “But our situation right now demands an understanding of world history from an Islamic perspective,” he urges.