From a report by Sonja Pace in VOANews.com, we are informed that the London’s Science Museum holds an exhibit featuring the scientific inventions the world has inherited from the ancient Muslim world. There is no ‘clash of civilizations’ with this one, as Islam and non-Islam are now pitted against each other in most of the Western world. Coffee, computers, and piston engines are just some of these inventions and discoveries.
The world owes coffee to the Muslim heritage. ‘Kawha,’ the precursor of modern-day coffee, is said to have been first developed somewhere in today’s violent Yemen.
Professor Salim al Hassani of the University of Manchester states that ‘coffee was invented in the very early years of Islam’ by a shepherd named Khaled who hailed from Ethiopia. His sheep developed a taste for the coffee beans and he, thus, brought the produce to Yemen. The drink was developed soon after.
The concept of the university giving degrees is also an early Muslim discovery and development, circa 850. The honor goes to Fatima al-Firhi from the city of Fez in Morocco.
The exhibit at the London Science Museum is dubbed “1001 inventions: the Muslim Heritage.” It presents interesting information on scientific, technological, mechanical, and medical inventions that changed the world, courtesy of the Muslim heritage.
Photo Courtesy S. Pace -VOA
