Part 2 of Lord and Master of the two Easts and the two Wests
Part 2 of :
Lord and Master of the two Easts and the two Wests.
By affirming that the Earth was round and not at the center of the universe, Galileo, in 1612, disrupted the prevailing discourse and beliefs of his time, which led the Church to impose an extreme sentence upon him.
From a historical perspective, it is conceivable that the true beginning of the space voyages and expeditions that humanity is undertaking today actually started in the 3rd century BC, thanks to the work of Greek scholars.
These works were compiled in documents stored in the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt.
The most eminent scholar of this generation was Claudius Ptolemy, who worked in the year 140 BC at the Library of Alexandria, specializing in astronomy and astrology.
Ptolemy published a book in which he presented the universe in a new and innovative way. The book gained significant success and was given the title The Ptolemaic System.
The main feature of this system was placing the Earth at the center of the universe, with everything in existence—such as the Sun, the Moon, the known planets, and even the stars—revolving around it.
Long after the advent of Christianity, this system received the approval and support of the Christian Church, during the period between 476 and 1433 AD, known as the Middle Ages.
The Church’s acceptance of the Ptolemaic system was primarily due to the fact that it granted the Earth a central and significant position in the universe, which suited the Church’s doctrine.
At that time, the Church was very powerful and held extensive authority, even having the right to determine the life or death of its Christian subjects who disagreed with its views or were deemed blasphemous.
When the Arabs, under the banner of Islam, invaded Egypt in the 7th century AD and entered Alexandria in the year 641, they managed to save what remained of the books stored in the city’s library, which had suffered violent uprisings from the local population.
The Arab scholars accompanying the advancing army began by translating these books and studying them, as they covered numerous fields of science and culture.
These efforts continued during the reign of the first Abbasid Caliphate between the years 750 and 846 AD, particularly under the rule of Al-Ma’mun (who lived from 756 to 833), the son of Harun al-Rashid and an Abbasid caliph who ruled from 813 to 833.
Al-Ma’mun was known for establishing Bayt al-Hikma (The House of Wisdom), a kind of academy that began by gathering and translating past knowledge, especially Greek and Indian, into Arabic, while further developing and expanding it into new scientific horizons.
These activities persisted throughout the second Abbasid Caliphate until they abruptly ended in the 13th century, in 1261, following the fall of the Abbasid capital, Baghdad, which was invaded by the Mongol hordes.
Baghdad was considered the nerve center of scientific and intellectual advancement compared to all other capitals.
By thoroughly studying these books, Arab scholars first corrected errors they found through their own research and experiments.
They then focused on observing the stars and studying celestial bodies.
Among these scholars was Thabit ibn Qurra, born in Iraq in the year 832, who translated Ptolemy’s work, The Ptolemaic System.
Thabit ibn Qurra worked at the astronomical observatory built by Caliph Al-Ma’mun in Baghdad in the year 851, which allowed him to develop his theory known as the Theory of the Equinoxes (vernal and autumnal).
This theory explained the phenomenon of the Earth’s axial tilt.
This discovery was entirely new, and no one before him had discussed it.
He also accurately determined the diameter of the Earth, which led him to conclude that the Earth was round. This occurred in the 9th century AD, while Europe was still in the heart of the Middle Ages.
These discoveries later influenced European scholars such as Copernicus and Galileo, when Arab works and many others were translated into Latin.
Other Arab scholars gained fame and renown during the golden age of Islamic civilization, including Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Sinan al-Harrani, known as Al-Battani, who was born in 854 AD.
Al-Battani is still considered one of the greatest astronomers of all time. In his era, he developed new theories that corrected many of the false beliefs and knowledge held by his predecessors.
Most of his research and observations were conducted at the Antioch Observatory in Syria, which became widely known as Al-Battani’s Observatory in recognition of his contributions to astronomy.
Based on Al-Battani’s precise measurements of the Earth’s axial tilt relative to its orbit around the Sun, as well as his accurate calculation of the solar year, he discovered that the Earth completes one full revolution around the Sun per year, not the other way around.
It is also important to highlight that a Muslim scholar named Shams al-Din al-Khalili, who lived in Damascus in the late 14th century, possessed numerous books and planetary calculation tables.
It later emerged that the calculation tables of the Polish scholar Copernicus, who lived in the late 15th century and was considered in Europe the father of modern astronomy, corresponded perfectly with those of Al-Khalili, particularly regarding the planets known at the time.
It is highly probable that this similarity between the two scholars’ tables was not coincidental; it can be explained by Copernicus’ access to Al-Khalili’s works through the translated documents of Muslim scholars available in Europe.
What is beyond doubt is that the work of Muslim scholars paved the way for their European counterparts who came after them, in almost every field.
Mentioning names such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna), Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Battani, and Al-Biruni is crucial to understanding the emergence of Copernicus, Galileo, and Newton among European scholars.
Had it not been for the existence of Muslim scholars and their preservation of the knowledge of those before them, Newton would have been forced to start from where Ibn al-Haytham began, which would have delayed the emergence of European civilization by several decades—assuming he would have made the discoveries at all.
Muslim scholars, who were pioneers in the discovery of most theories in the fields of astronomy, medicine, astrology, mathematics, navigation, etc., not only invented numbers but also demonstrated their nobility and honesty by declaring that their work was inspired by what had been undertaken by Greek scholars long before them.
What about European scholars who came much later—about five centuries for some and even more for others—benefiting from everything achieved by Greek and Arab scholars?
The revelation made by the Messenger of God, Mohammed (PBUH), in verse 17 of Surah Ar-Rahman, could in no way have originated from or been invented by a 7th-century illiterate man, especially since many centuries later, great scholars struggled to demonstrate and develop theories about the functioning of the universe.
It is self-evident in the Quran, as it contains numerous verses confirming that the Earth is round, rotates on its axis, and revolves around the Sun. The genius of Muslim peoples has nothing to envy from that of other nations.
Malek Bennabi said in 1949, during the colonial period:
“We must overcome this pain, and only a religion can allow this by instilling in each person the will for a civilization, as it once did for the Bedouins who followed the first steps of Mohammed (PBUH) in the desolation of the desert.”
The fighters of the National Liberation Army (ALN), despite being destitute, did not they shout “Allah Akbar” as they faced the colonial army with its tanks and planes?
This proves that despite Algeria’s colonization for 130 years, the colonizer could not erase from the minds of Algerian children, who were being born, their belonging to the Muslim nation, because it brought them only famine, ignorance, and injustice.
This nation will rise again from its ashes like a “Phoenix” and will reclaim its place among the nations in a fairer world.
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