Re: the truth

Hi Brendan,

I'm trying to stay on the sidelines during this discussion. But with
all due respect, if it's necessary to go back 500 years to find a
significant muslim contribution to society, that doesn't speak well.

It might very well be that the violent and radical muslims are getting
all of the press, and that the majority are peaceful and caring human
beings. I hope so. But the radicals have shown themselves to be very,
very dangerous because they do not care about the lives of women or
children or other innocent victims as they push their political
agendas.

Dean


On Jun 27, 5:37 pm, Brendan Doyle <b...@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
In article <Ihxgi.22656$C96.9...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Brian Running <brunn...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

It's funny you should mention "nothing." The seminal work of the Arab
mathematician Abu Ja¹far Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi laid the
foundation for the present arabic number system (which you presumably
use every day), the science of algebra, and the introduction of the
concept of zero to the western world. "Western" (and all other) science
today would be very much poorer without this Muslim's work, which laid
the foundation for modern mathematics.

Are you equating "Arab" automatically with "Muslim," or do you know for
a fact that he was a Muslim? I don't mean to argue, I'm just curious.

He was in fact Muslim. Here is an interesting paper about his many
contributions to mathematics, on the University of Maryland web site:

http://www.math.umd.edu/~czorn/hist_algebra.pdf

And if you'd like to see a likeness of al-Khwarizmi, I found this
depiction of him on a Soviet (I believe) postage stamp:

http://members.tripod.com/jeff560/khowar.jpg

As you will see in the paper, al-Khwarizmi didn't invent the Arabic
number system (or zero) out of whole cloth; in the manner of many great
scientists, he built upon the work of the Indian mathematician
Brahmagupta, who also originated the concept of zero. But as the paper
notes:

al-Khwarizmi went further becoming one of the first mathematicians to use
zero as a placeholder in positional base notation.

This was a critical development. Though it took centuries for the
concept and uses of zero to gain acceptance in the Western world, his
work was seminal in introducing the concept to the West. The paper
continues:

If introducing the world to the Arabic number system were the only
accomplishment that al-Khwarizmi would have produced in his life, this would
still be sufficient to rank him as one of the world¹s great mathematicians.

It then goes on to detail his contributions as the father of algebra,
which laid the foundation for modern mathematics and made possible the
many scientific advances based thereon.

In the earlier part of the paper, there is a interesting discussion of
the role that the Islamic caliphate played in the furthering of
scientific research.

Al-Khwarizmi was a member of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, a society
established by the caliph for the study of science (Al-Daffa, 23). According
to Al-Daffa, during al-Khwarizmi¹s life, much of the area between the
Mediterranean and India was ruled by al-Mamun, an Islamic caliph who had
consolidated his position in a protracted civil war. After pacifying the area
under his control, al-Mamun became a patron of the sciences. He instituted
the House of Wisdom to both translate the works of Byzantine and Greek
scientists as well as to conduct research into various realms of science.
Al-Mamun also built a library in Baghdad to house these works; this was the
first large collection of scientific information constructed since the
Library of Alexandria¹s erection several centuries before. Finally, al-Mamun
constructed a lavish astronomical observatory in Baghdad for the use of
Muslim astronomers. Within a short period of time, Baghdad became the new
center for learning in the Mediterranean world (Al-Daffa, 23-34).

It then examines some of the possible reasons for the change in attitude
toward science and mathematics after a period of conquest when zealous
fundamentalism overrode the appreciation of such knowledge. While the
previous attitudes may be seen by some as confirmation of the rejection
of rationalism by what they view as Islamic thought, the flowering of
the sciences during this later period owes just as much to the support
of Islamic rulers. There are in fact many parallels to the history of
assaults upon and later support of the sciences and mathematics and
knowledge in general by Christian rulers.

Of course, those with an axe to grind about the evils of Islam and its
lack of contributions to the cultural and scientific development of the
world won't let mere facts stand in the way of their fixed prejudices.
As always, it is useless to argue with the kind of ignorant zealots who
seem to be ubiquitous on Usenet, and I certainly don't expect to change
their closed minds; despite the typical smug assertions of intellectual
superiority, these types are in fact inaccessible to ideas and new
knowledge that could challenge their rigid worldview. Curiously, this is
in fact a repudiation of the scientific method, which involves
continuously challenging one's beliefs with new information to test
their validity. Ironic, isn't it?

At any rate, I couldn't let some of the ignorant statements in this
thread go unchallenged. In the process, I learned quite a bit more
myself about some of the contributions of Muslims that I've detailed in
my posts. I hope that perhaps a few others have also learned something
that will pique their interest in finding out more for themselves about
the contributions of non-western cultures.

--
Brendan Doyle


.

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