BBC: Science and Islam - Part 1

Physicist Jim Al-Khalili travels through Syria, Iran, Tunisia and Spain to tell the story of the great leap in scientific knowledge that took place in the Islamic world between the 8th and 14th centuries.

Its legacy is tangible, with terms like algebra, algorithm and alkali all being Arabic in origin and at the very heart of modern science - there would be no modern mathematics or physics without algebra, no computers without algorithms and no chemistry without alkalis.

For Baghdad-born Al-Khalili this is also a personal journey and on his travels he uncovers a diverse and outward-looking culture, fascinated by learning and obsessed with science. From the great mathematician Al-Khwarizmi, who did much to establish the mathematical tradition we now know as algebra, to Ibn Sina, a pioneer of early medicine whose Canon of Medicine was still in use as recently as the 19th century, he pieces together a remarkable story of the often-overlooked achievements of the early medieval Islamic scientists.

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[holleridio]

What has the world come to that everywhere where Islam is mentioned a hate fest breaks loose?

Here's news for everybody: PEOPLE advanced science. White people, brown peole, yellow people, purple people with orange dots. Who cares what any of them believed, where they lived or even who got it first? This is the century of the fruitbat... one should think we are past such stupid labels. A stmulating environment for bright minds can be created no matter what is going on around it.

[SlideMaster2007]

LOL it is know fact... everybody should know that without the arabs we wont be counting so easily..... well we i mean European .. Asians had a better system than Rome thing.. besides that arab also brought 0 to europe....

[theangryteddybear1]

@lars008 are you always this racist or do you work on it?

[Kfurqasem]

@laars800 you clearly no nothing about Islam and is just jealous of Islam go learn somthink then talk

[AbercrombieQT88]

i guess im the only no biased one here??

[1tabligh]

What is called science by the *science-worshippers* of the present age and regarded by them as equivalent to the sum total of *reality*, is simply a collection of laws applicable to a single dimension of the world. The result of all human effort and experimentation is a body of knowledge concerning a minute bright dot comparable to the dim light of a candle-surrounded by a dark night enveloping a huge desert of indefinite extent.

All praise is due to ALLAH, the Lord of the Universe.

[cosmicx100]

“....And He sends down from the sky, mountains [of

clouds] within which is hail, and He strikes with it whom

He wills, and averts it from whom He wills. The flash of its

lightning almost takes away the eyesight.”

(Qur`an 24, 43)

[cosmicx100]

Smaller cumulus clouds are pushed together by winds

to an area where they start to join together to form into

larger cumulonimbus clouds. They are then stacked one

on top of each other where updrafts within the larger

clouds cause the body to grow vertically in size. The

cloud stretches into cooler regions of the atmosphere

causing drops of water and hail to formulate – and

begin to grow larger and larger. After the weight of

these reaches a certain point, they fall to the earth.

[cosmicx100]

After the modern day study of clouds, scientists have

deduced that rain clouds are formed and shaped

according to certain systems. An example of this is the

cumulonimbus cloud and how they produce rain, hail

and lightening taking the following steps:

[cosmicx100]

“Every soul will taste death, and you will only be given

your [full] compensation on the Day of Resurrection.

So he who is drawn away from the Fire and admitted

to Paradise has attained [his desire]. And what is the

life of this world except the enjoyment of delusion.”

(Qur`an 3, 185)