What has Islam ever done for me?

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Algebraic approaches to mathematics has been documented in Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Indian and Chinese documents all pre-dating Islam but it is true that from the 9th to 13th centuries muslim mathematicians did add to the existing body of knowledge.

This does fall foul of rule 3 though, if a debt of gratitude is owed by me for millennia old inventions then the USA should also bail out Greece as thanks for inventing democracy.

Any Americans willing to go without so that Greeks can carry on evading tax?

Didn't think so.

Alcohol distillation pre-dates Islam as well, Egyptians, Greeks & Mongolians did it, sorry Islam can't claim that.



Sacha Baron Cohen is Jewish I believe not a muslim. It is easy to get the two mixed up but I hear they both get quite offended when you do...




There are three restaurants near me, one of them is a 'fusion' place that offers food from around the world and the other two are pizza places that also offer doner kebabs.

Doner kebabs I give you as a genuine invention coming from Islam (kebabs pre-date islam, doner kebabs don't) but their improvement of my life is rather questionable, bit like saying the best thing that has ever come out of the USA is McDonalds.



Not my cup of tea but I'll give you that, worth noting that the only reason poetry thrives so much in Islam is that Islam ruthless forbids any form of visual representational art.



Cannabis is Chinese not Islamic.

I don't agree with your 3rd rule, In recent history there aren't any inventions, just innovations.

I have a hard time thinking of anything (not just arabic or muslim) that would fit that criteria that couldn't be said to have a predecessor.
iphone is a type of cellphone, Alexander graham bell with the phone.

I know you didn't say that it couldn't have a predecessor but it seems like if I were to say "muslims created cellphones" you could say it doesn't really matter because we already had phones so it was only a matter of time until some other group made cellphones

Last edited by Delphiki on 30 May 2012, 11:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.

True invention and creation is in the realm of ideas.

Examples: The Greeks invented axiomatic mathematics starting with Thales
The quantum of energy, right out of the head of Max Planck
Calculus -- first invented by Archimedes, then lost, then re invented by Leibniz and Newton
Gravity as geometry. Right out of the head of Albert Einstein. Had Riemann lived longer it might have been him, but he died all too young.
Concepts of symmetries as members of a group. Right out of the head of Evriste Galloise. He died way too young in a stupid duel. He showed the quintic is unsolvable using his invention - group theory.


To innovate, one must first invent. And it is ideas that are created ex nihilo (as it were) with the help of the Muses.

ruveyn

If you live in a Christian-majority country, and you make a mathematical or scientific discovery, how would you like it if people in a few hundred years started claiming that Christianity was responsible for your discovery?

The Muslims gave the French language one of its most unlikely etymological link : douane, "customs office" (cf. dogana in Italian), and divan, "couch". Here, we have to thank as well the Italian merchants in Egypt.

You mean there were Christian mathematicians? In Europe 300 years ago just about everyone was Christian. If one take Christianity and the Bible literally then pi = 3 which is nonsense.

ruveyn

i do not understand islamic principles. i have not taken much time to research them, and my knowledge of them is scant. arabs seem (as far as i can determine) to be easily irritated. in my general speculation, it seems that they are overly endowed with religious fervor and are irrascible when they encounter anything that is counter to their ideals of purity (maybe it is a polluted purity (meaning purely polluted)).

but i can associate with islamic people, and on a personal level, i have no problem. i have no theistic or antitheistic (which is what most self described "atheists" really are) opinions, and so i have no interest beyond the simple transactions i have with them. they like me and i like them and there is never any problem (the islamic people i know are customers of mine, not personal friends, so my knowledge of the true quality of their lives is scant).

i can not tell myths from facts often (not very often, but just often), and i am astounded that they think that they will have access to 72 virgins (from memory) if they die in an act of martyrdom. who worked that out?
mahommed (sp?) for some other "visionary"?

if it is known who worked it out, then the entire writings of that person should be analyzed to assess the accuracy of the claim. if it is not known who worked it out, then it is an irrelevant doctrine

the fact that they have to pray 5 times a day is another curious fact in my mind. it seems to me that god does not just exist in temples and citadels and mosques and churches.

i think that (my concept of) god exists everywhere. i do not need to go anywhere to meet god and i also do not have to perform rituals (that are not instinctive) in order to be worthy of good fortune. i do not think often about what my fundamental beliefs are because they exist whether i speculate about them introspectively or not. they guide me subconsciously in thinking about most things i guess.

no one else can tell me who God is. i will either find god myself or i maybe not.

Islam has given me a exuse to fight in the name of my faith also they have made me a target for being a christian. Yet we are both brothers ans sisters of Abraham.

I had a really good physics tutor who I'm pretty sure was Muslim...OR Indian..

I think the Iraq-Iran war and the whole ordeal in the middle east is very fascinating to read about. Love middle eastern (is it proper to call it -Islam-?) food too, very delicious.

The Palestian HAMAS run children's show "Pioneers of Tomorrow" has offered me more entertainment than most television has in the past years. Very funny program, too bad the studio was bombed.

That's all I can think up, sorry.

DC wrote:

The last hash I had was Turkish and it was f*cking awesome.

Unless you're a Muslim, nothing.

Giving credit to Islam because some followers of it made some scientific advances is like giving credit to atheism/agnostism/nonreligion for creating Microsoft.

It's very possible to be both. There are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan.

well for a fairly long period the arab world was the only intellectually free alternative for many europeans,
not that that in tiself has anything to do with islam.

That Palestinian version of Bert and Erny discuss ways of killing the Jewish crusaders on T.V.

Please see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antisemiti ... Arab_world

ruveyn

is it "lam" or isn't it "lam"?
that is the crux of the question.
if it is "lam", and it isn't "isn't lam",
there's no philosophical indigestion.

first off:
b9: suggesting arabs get easily irritated and muslims are prone to fanatisism made me irritated. the quran doesnt actually say virgins. i was told by a muslim woman that the correct translation is actually pure women.

ryuven: have you ever wondered why there is antisemitism among arabs? israel constantly commits crimes against arabs and muslims in the name of judaism, trying to pass off apartheid and violence against an entire people as jewish. if it keeps repeating this then people will not associate these actions with zionists but with jews. that being said i am happy to say that antisemitism in the arab community is relatively low and most people do not bear any grudge against jews. though it varies with which parts and generally mirrors that of society around them- western society is just as antisemitic. also how often do zionists call out "death to arabs"?

islam has contributed much to art, past and present. their religious teachings around portraying gods image means that there is much symbolism and use of geometry in their art and they have the most gorgeous calligraphy. everytime i go to a lebanese restaurant i spend ages looking at the walls and the framed calligraphy in enamel.

also comics- the 99. (im a comic nerd, i cant not mention that).