Why Does the Muslim World Lag in Science?

[s90]

lmao guys stick to topic

 

[Vinod2070]

Who the hell said the Taliban follow proper Islam? Who the hell said women are not allowed to learn in Islam? TruthSeeker, in the words of Elvis 'a little less CNN, a little more research please.'

Islam does not directly make you a genius scientist. Islam, however, encourages you, unlike almost any other religion, to search for the 'truth'. That is what science is.

In practical terms, we see almost the opposite of what you mention here. While literally following almost any religion makes one a prisoner of empty rituals, followers of Islam seems to be the ones most into literally following their religion. The statistics that have been published on this thread do point out the Muslim world lags behind every other religion in knowledge, science and progressive attitudes.

The more "Islamic" a country is, the more they seem to be backward and away from any kind of modern knowledge. Taliban and Saudis come to mind as the examples of the most Islamic countries. Also countries like Sudan, Nigeria etc. where Sharia is applicable hardly make news for generating Nobel prize winners in Science!

Vinod, I like how you chose Galileo and Copernicus, who at some point were shunned by the church, as examples and completely ignored scientists/mathematicians such as Newton, Faraday, Einstein, Cantour etc. All deeply spiritual, if not outright religious.

If you are interested in debating religion and science, there are much better people than me. Maybe you should start by visiting your local Masjid.

Galileo and Copernicus were born in a period when the Church was still strong in Europe. The work of all or most of these scientists was in direct conflict with the Bible which talked of the Earth being stationary and the center of the Universe. After the Renaissance, the Church no longer wielded the same power and other Scientists could pursue their work without being declared heretic.

The belief that the great Scientists have in religion and God is a different kind of belief. These guys of course did not believe that all knowledge is contained in some "revealed" book. They thought that knowledge is something that one can strive for and gain.

 

[XYON]

In practical terms, we see almost the opposite of what you mention here. While literally following almost any religion makes one a prisoner of empty rituals, followers of Islam seems to be the ones most into literally following their religion. The statistics that have been published on this thread do point out the Muslim world lags behind every other religion in knowledge, science and progressive attitudes.

The more "Islamic" a country is, the more they seem to be backward and away from any kind of modern knowledge. Taliban and Saudis come to mind as the examples of the most Islamic countries. Also countries like Sudan, Nigeria etc. where Sharia is applicable hardly make news for generating Nobel prize winners in Science!



Galileo and Copernicus were born in a period when the Church was still strong in Europe. The work of all or most of these scientists was in direct conflict with the Bible which talked of the Earth being stationary and the center of the Universe. After the Renaissance, the Church no longer wielded the same power and other Scientists could pursue their work without being declared heretic.

The belief that the great Scientists have in religion and God is a different kind of belief. These guys of course did not believe that all knowledge is contained in some "revealed" book. They thought that knowledge is something that one can strive for and gain.

The IDIOT has blabbered bull$hit again! Lest you forget you MORON that the Muslim mathematicians were INVENTING geometry, astrology and astronomy medical sciences etc while your ancestors were praying to man-made deities!!

Science supremacy has NEVER remained with one race or religion in human history. So Google your homework before you try to open your mouth here!!

 

[paritosh]

Main impetus in the West’s scientific progress took place during the period immediately following the Industrial Revolution in the 19th Century which is also known as the “Century of Enlightenment”. During that period women had very little rights and certainly no vote. First book about women’s rights was written in 1792 and it was not until 1893 that women got the right to vote in New Zealand.

Women emancipation actually took place only after Suffragette movement of the 1920’s. For example in the UK women got a right to vote in 1928, in France in 1944, whereas in Switzerland they had to wait until 1971! Therefore scientific progress and equal rights for women don’t have a “Cause and effect” relationship.

Al Azhar is universally acknowledged as the premier school of Sunni Islam, you will find very few acknowledged Sunni scholars who went to Jamia al Azhar and still follow Salafin Islam. In Iran, most mullahs are educated, but Khomeni was never considered the pinnacle of Shia Islamic scholars and there were many Ayatollahs, such as Ayatollah Khoi and now Sistani who dispute the validity of Vilayat-e Faqih.

I have to agree that your observations hold true for certain countries such as Saudi Arabia, Iran, Sudan, Somalia and parts of Pakistan (Baluchistan & most of NWFP). However, it is certainly not true for Turkey, Egypt and pockets in Pakistan. This does have something to do with the Mullah power and the fact that most of the politically active Mullah figures such as Mullah Omer, Osama bin Laden or Fazlullah of Swat are not Islamic scholars, their understanding of Islam is highly biased with medieval tribal culture taken for granted as Islamic. The fault therefore is not in the teachings of religion but how it is actually practiced and preached by the uneducated mullahs to the illiterate public.

The problem in the subcontinent has been the orthodox Deoband School established in 1866 where despite following Hanafi Islam; political activism of the Wahabi doctorine has had strong influence. Ahmad Reza Khan of the Braelvi School didn’t subscribe to Takfir (declaring other Muslims as Kafirs) in the same way that Deobandi scholars proclaimed Sir Syed Ahmad Khan and also Quaid-e- Azam. IMO one of the reasons why Muslims were left behind in the British India is the curriculum taught at Deoband.

I admit having a strong bias against Deobandi scholars because of the opposition of Maulana Madani against the Quaid and Pakistan. Maulana Madani was no doubt a great Islamic scholar, but his and Maulana Abul Kalam Azad’s strong opposition to the creation of Pakistan caused irreparable damage to the interests of Muslims of the subcontinent. I therefore apologize if I have hurt any feelings with my criticism of the Deobandis. Even though I could be very wrong; this is how I feel.

nice informative post.
even in india...all the metropolitan cities have very progressive muslims.
my super boss is a muslim and one of the most gifted people i know.
as might be the case with karachi and islamabad....though there's a pseudo war going on b/w the progressive moderate muslims and the extremists...Egypt used to be open but Saudi influence has hampered the openness of it's social fabric....turkey is a fine example of a modern capable muslim nation.pakistan has all the ingredients...and some problems as well.

 

[junoon25pk]

 

[AjnabiZ]

isnt it ironic, that the greatest nation man to have ever lived, "Prophet Muhammad (sallahu alai wa sallam)" and the greatest generation to have ever lived, " The Sahaba" were able to conquer the entire known world at that time. Especially in the times of Khalifa Rasidha Umar.

Yet, with all the power and glory of Islam in its early days, they were the "lagging" behind the rest of the world in Agriculture, Industries, Wespons and Army, "Science", Education etc."

Isnt it ironic ?

 

[s90]

this is Arabs vs Israel

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/19453-arabs-vs-israel.html


Karl Marx was a Atheist ...also prob with muslims is they are not very tolerant

 

[niaz]

this is Arabs vs Israel

http://www.defence.pk/forums/world-affairs/19453-arabs-vs-israel.html


Karl Marx was a Atheist ...also prob with muslims is they are not very tolerant

Some Muslims are intolerant yes, but so are religious and ethnic bigots in any country. RSS, Bajrang Dal, Shiv Sena of India. Orthodox Jews of Israel and many conservative Amricans (Klu Klux Klan). Nazi Germany and neo Nazi groups such as BNP/Skinheads of UK, Lepin of France etc.

Enlightenment and fortitude to listen to other’s views (not necessarily agreeing with it) comes with a broad based education. The impression that Muslims are intolerant is because a vast majority of Muslim population has not had the benefit of quality education. One comes across quite a few intellectuals in Pakistan, such as Dr Mubarak Ali, Dr Mehdi Hassan, Dr Javed Iqbal, Allama Javed Ghamdi ( Religious Scholar) and even the TV comperes such as Khurshid Nadeem of the programme ‘Alif ‘ who are very tolerant personalities and willing to argue any point without taking offence. No doubt we do have people like have Gen Hamid Gul, a quintessential bigot if there was one.

Historically some Muslim regimes have been very tolerant . When compared with the regimes that followed, specially the period of the Spanish Inquisition, Ummayaad Spain 755-1031 was heaven on earth. In the subcontinent terms, could you find a more tolerant and unbiased ruler that Akbar the Great?

I therefore beg to disagree with your assertion.

 

[acer]

I found this un other forum..After reading this there is no need to search for any other answer I think..

why are Muslims powerless?
Here's another reason. We have lost the capacity to produce knowledge.

o In the entire Muslim World (57 Muslim Countries) there are only 500 universities.
o In USA alone, 5,758 universities
o In India alone, 8,407 universities
o Not one university in the entire Islamic World features in the Top 500 Ranking Universities of the World
o Literacy in the Christian World 90%
o Literacy in the Muslim World 40%
o 15 Christian majority-countries, literacy rate 100%
o Muslim majority - countries , None
o 98% in Christian countries completed primary
o Only 50% in Muslim countries completed primary.
o 40% in Christian countries attended university
o In Muslim countries a dismal 2% attended.
o Muslim majority countries have 230 scientists per one million Muslims
o The USA has 5000 per million
o The Christian world 1000 technicians per million.
o Entire Arab World only 50 technicians per million.
o Muslim World spends on research/developmen t 0.2% of GDP
o Christian World spends 5 % of GDP

Conclusion.
o The Muslim World lacks the capacity to produce knowledge.

Another way of testing the degree of knowledge is the degree of diffusing knowledge.

o Pakistan 23 daily newspapers per 1000 citizens
o Singapore 460 per 1000 citizens.
o In UK book titles per million is 2000
o In Egypt book titles per million is only 17

Conclusion.
o Muslim World is failing to diffuse knowledge

Applying Knowledge is another such test.
o Exports of high tech products from Pakistan is 0.9% of its exports.
o In Saudi Arabia is 0.2%
o Kuwait , Morocco and Algeria 0.3%
o Singapore alone is 68%

Conclusion.
o Muslim World is failing to apply knowledge.

What do you conclude? no need to tell the figures are speaking themselves very loudly we are unable to listen
Advice:
Please educate yourself and your children. always promote education, don't compromise on it, don't ignore your children's slightest misguidance from education (and please, for God's Sake, don't use your personal contacts or sources to promote your children in their education; if they fail, let them and make them learn to pass; b/c if they can't do it now, they can't ever).
We are World's biggest and strongest nation, all we need is to identify and explore our ownselves. Our victory is with our knowledge, our creativity, our literacy...And nothing else.

 

[muse]

Roopesh

Can some one descrie the what madrasa will teach??? how much religious stuff and how much science is allowed?

Remember the word "Madressah" simply means "School" - and remember, all education used to be imparted by religious institutions, whether we are talking about Islamic, Christian or Jewish - and recall the intellectual foundations of the European Renaissance --- So what explain the current state of Madaress?

Epistemology -- Madaress have been influenced for long and now unquestioningly accept that the development of knowledge is not a human enterprise. Exactly how ridiculous this idea is understood by those of us who question in order to understand.

 

[roadrunner]

You're obviously totally oblivious of the facts. Your so-called Muhgal empire was largely driven by Turkic, Mongol and Persian descent. It wasn't something that you Hindu's achieved as you like to boast about. In fact, you contributed close to zilch. The likes of Babur, Timurid and Aurangzeb are the real successors. This is actually what Turkic Babur had to say about you Hindu's:

"Hindustan is a place of little charm, but a lot of ricky corn. There is no beauty in its people, no graceful social intercourse, no poetic talent or understanding, no etiquette, nobility or manliness. The arts and crafts have no harmony or symmetry. There are no good horses, meat, grapes, melons or other fruit. There is no ice, cold water, good food or bread in the markets. There are no baths and no madrasas. There are no candles, torches or candlesticks."

Before you start getting cocky you should know your place. These people taught you the meaning of life.

Now, coming back to the endless list of contributions:

1) Coffee


The story goes that an Arab named Khalid was tending his goats in the Kaffa region of southern Ethiopia, when he noticed his animals became livelier after eating a certain berry. He boiled the berries to make the first coffee. Certainly the first record of the drink is of beans exported from Ethiopia to Yemen where Sufis drank it to stay awake all night to pray on special occasions. By the late 15th century it had arrived in Mecca and Turkey from where it made its way to Venice in 1645. It was brought to England in 1650 by a Turk named Pasqua Rosee who opened the first coffee house in Lombard Street in the City of London.

The Arabic qahwa became the Turkish kahve then the Italian caffé and then English coffee.

2) Pin-Hole Camera

The ancient Greeks thought our eyes emitted rays, like a laser, which enabled us to see. The first person to realise that light enters the eye, rather than leaving it, was the 10th-century Muslim mathematician, astronomer and physicist Ibn al-Haitham. He invented the first pin-hole camera after noticing the way light came through a hole in window shutters. The smaller the hole, the better the picture, he worked out, and set up the first Camera Obscura (from the Arab word qamara for a dark or private room). He is also credited with being the first man to shift physics from a philosophical activity to an experimental one.

3) Chess

A form of chess was played in ancient India but the game was developed into the form we know it today in Persia. From there it spread westward to Europe - where it was introduced by the Moors in Spain in the 10th century - and eastward as far as Japan. The word rook comes from the Persian rukh, which means chariot.

4) Parachute

A thousand years before the Wright brothers a Muslim poet, astronomer, musician and engineer named Abbas ibn Firnas made several attempts to construct a flying machine. In 852 he jumped from the minaret of the Grand Mosque in Cordoba using a loose cloak stiffened with wooden struts. He hoped to glide like a bird. He didn't. But the cloak slowed his fall, creating what is thought to be the first parachute, and leaving him with only minor injuries. In 875, aged 70, having perfected a machine of silk and eagles' feathers he tried again, jumping from a mountain. He flew to a significant height and stayed aloft for ten minutes but crashed on landing - concluding, correctly, that it was because he had not given his device a tail so it would stall on landing.

Baghdad international airport and a crater on the Moon are named after him.

5) Shampoo

Washing and bathing are religious requirements for Muslims, which is perhaps why they perfected the recipe for soap which we still use today. The ancient Egyptians had soap of a kind, as did the Romans who used it more as a pomade. But it was the Arabs who combined vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatics such as thyme oil. One of the Crusaders' most striking characteristics, to Arab nostrils, was that they did not wash. Shampoo was introduced to England by a Muslim who opened Mahomed's Indian Vapour Baths on Brighton seafront in 1759 and was appointed Shampooing Surgeon to Kings George IV and William IV.

6) Refinement

Distillation, the means of separating liquids through differences in their boiling points, was invented around the year 800 by Islam's foremost scientist, Jabir ibn Hayyan, who transformed alchemy into chemistry, inventing many of the basic processes and apparatus still in use today - liquefaction, crystallisation, distillation, purification, oxidisation, evaporation and filtration. As well as discovering sulphuric and nitric acid, he invented the alembic still, giving the world intense rosewater and other perfumes and alcoholic spirits (although drinking them is haram, or forbidden, in Islam). Ibn Hayyan emphasised systematic experimentation and was the founder of modern chemistry.

7) Shaft

The crank-shaft is a device which translates rotary into linear motion and is central to much of the machinery in the modern world, not least the internal combustion engine. One of the most important mechanical inventions in the history of humankind, it was created by an ingenious Muslim engineer called al-Jazari to raise water for irrigation. His 1206 Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices shows he also invented or refined the use of valves and pistons, devised some of the first mechanical clocks driven by water and weights, and was the father of robotics. Among his 50 other inventions was the combination lock.

8) Metal Armor

Quilting is a method of sewing or tying two layers of cloth with a layer of insulating material in between. It is not clear whether it was invented in the Muslim world or whether it was imported there from India or China. But it certainly came to the West via the Crusaders. They saw it used by Saracen warriors, who wore straw-filled quilted canvas shirts instead of armour. As well as a form of protection, it proved an effective guard against the chafing of the Crusaders' metal armour and was an effective form of insulation - so much so that it became a cottage industry back home in colder climates such as Britain and Holland.

9) Pointed Arch

The pointed arch so characteristic of Europe's Gothic cathedrals was an invention borrowed from Islamic architecture. It was much stronger than the rounded arch used by the Romans and Normans, thus allowing the building of bigger, higher, more complex and grander buildings. Other borrowings from Muslim genius included ribbed vaulting, rose windows and dome-building techniques. Europe's castles were also adapted to copy the Islamic world's - with arrow slits, battlements, a barbican and parapets. Square towers and keeps gave way to more easily defended round ones. Henry V's castle architect was a Muslim.

10) Surgery

Many modern surgical instruments are of exactly the same design as those devised in the 10th century by a Muslim surgeon called al-Zahrawi. His scalpels, bone saws, forceps, fine scissors for eye surgery and many of the 200 instruments he devised are recognisable to a modern surgeon. It was he who discovered that catgut used for internal stitches dissolves away naturally (a discovery he made when his monkey ate his lute strings) and that it can be also used to make medicine capsules. In the 13th century, another Muslim medic named Ibn Nafis described the circulation of the blood, 300 years before William Harvey discovered it. Muslims doctors also invented anaesthetics of opium and alcohol mixes and developed hollow needles to suck cataracts from eyes in a technique still used today.

11) Windmill

The windmill was invented in 634 for a Persian caliph and was used to grind corn and draw up water for irrigation. In the vast deserts of Arabia, when the seasonal streams ran dry, the only source of power was the wind which blew steadily from one direction for months. Mills had six or 12 sails covered in fabric or palm leaves. It was 500 years before the first windmill was seen in Europe.

12) Vaccination

The technique of inoculation was not invented by Jenner and Pasteur but was devised in the Muslim world and brought to Europe from Turkey by the wife of the English ambassador to Istanbul in 1724. Children in Turkey were vaccinated with cowpox to fight the deadly smallpox at least 50 years before the West discovered it.

13) Fountain Pen

The fountain pen was invented for the Sultan of Egypt in 953 after he demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes. It held ink in a reservoir and, as with modern pens, fed ink to the nib by a combination of gravity and capillary action.

14) Numerical Numbering

The system of numbering in use all round the world is probably Indian in origin but the style of the numerals is Arabic and first appears in print in the work of the Muslim mathematicians al-Khwarizmi and al-Kindi around 825. Algebra was named after al-Khwarizmi's book, Al-Jabr wa-al-Muqabilah, much of whose contents are still in use. The work of Muslim maths scholars was imported into Europe 300 years later by the Italian mathematician Fibonacci. Algorithms and much of the theory of trigonometry came from the Muslim world. And Al-Kindi's discovery of frequency analysis rendered all the codes of the ancient world soluble and created the basis of modern cryptology.

15) Soup

Ali ibn Nafi, known by his nickname of Ziryab (Blackbird) came from Iraq to Cordoba in the 9th century and brought with him the concept of the three-course meal - soup, followed by fish or meat, then fruit and nuts. He also introduced crystal glasses (which had been invented after experiments with rock crystal by Abbas ibn Firnas - see No 4).

16) Carpets

Carpets were regarded as part of Paradise by medieval Muslims, thanks to their advanced weaving techniques, new tinctures from Islamic chemistry and highly developed sense of pattern and arabesque which were the basis of Islam's non-representational art. In contrast, Europe's floors were distinctly earthly, not to say earthy, until Arabian and Persian carpets were introduced. In England, as Erasmus recorded, floors were "covered in rushes, occasionally renewed, but so imperfectly that the bottom layer is left undisturbed, sometimes for 20 years, harbouring expectoration, vomiting, the leakage of dogs and men, ale droppings, scraps of fish, and other abominations not fit to be mentioned". Carpets, unsurprisingly, caught on quickly.

17) Pay Cheques

The modern cheque comes from the Arabic saqq, a written vow to pay for goods when they were delivered, to avoid money having to be transported across dangerous terrain. In the 9th century, a Muslim businessman could cash a cheque in China drawn on his bank in Baghdad.

18) Earth is in sphere shape

By the 9th century, many Muslim scholars took it for granted that the Earth was a sphere. The proof, said astronomer Ibn Hazm, "is that the Sun is always vertical to a particular spot on Earth". It was 500 years before that realisation dawned on Galileo. The calculations of Muslim astronomers were so accurate that in the 9th century they reckoned the Earth's circumference to be 40, 253.4km - less than 200km out. The scholar al-Idrisi took a globe depicting the world to the court of King Roger of Sicily in 1139.

19) Rocket and Torpedo

Though the Chinese invented saltpetre gunpowder, and used it in their fireworks, it was the Arabs who worked out that it could be purified using potassium nitrate for military use. Muslim incendiary devices terrified the Crusaders. By the 15th century they had invented both a rocket, which they called a "self-moving and combusting egg", and a torpedo - a self-propelled pear-shaped bomb with a spear at the front which impaled itself in enemy ships and then blew up.

20) Gardens

Medieval Europe had kitchen and herb gardens, but it was the Arabs who developed the idea of the garden as a place of beauty and meditation. The first royal pleasure gardens in Europe were opened in 11th-century Muslim Spain. Flowers which originated in Muslim gardens include the carnation and the tulip.

This is just a tiny list of inventions? You want more?

Maximus,

this list is fine. However I'd like to raise some points.

Some of these origins are taking away the real credit from Pakistan.

An example (just one), is that Chess is pretty likely to have originated in Ancient Pakistan, rather than Persia.

Muslims did a great job of preserving science in the Al Andalus universities, and advancing it, but the contribution of Ancient Pakistan should not be overlooked by you.

Chess originated in the Indus Valley in India in the 6th century AD. Originally known as Chaturanga (the "army game"), it spread rapidly along the routes of commerce and conquest, first to Persia, then to the Byzantine Empire, then throughout the rest of Asia. The Muslim world, on the threshold of its greatest scientific and cultural accomplishments, welcomed chess with unbounded delight.
http://library.thinkquest.org/28135/InterHistory.htm

Note : It says the Indus Valley in "India" - This should be "Pakistan". It's something you should also point out if you see it. Pakistan is a separate country to India - and India is not even historical India. Signficant confusion has been and is being created for ulterior motives.

 

[niaz]

Flowering of the intellectual activity in the Muslim world took place mainly in the three centuries; ninth, tenth & eleventh. Main reason was three very enlightened regimes, Abbasids under Al Mumun (813-833) and Al Mutasem (833-842), Umayyad Spain under Abdur Rahman III ( 788-852) and Fatimids under the Al Hakim (996 -1027). Al Mumun constructed a ‘Bait ul Hikma’ or House of Wisdom where ancient Geek Texts were translated into Arabic and many scholars of note such as Al-Khawarizmi (780-850). Al Kindi ( 800-873) were to be found. Al Hakim was responsible for the Dar ul Hikma where great Ibne Al Haytham (965- 1039) was attracted. Al Haytham is rated by some as being equal to Newton; he was trying to control the flow of Nile in the 11th century! Most of European scientists were benefiting from the scientific knowledge taught at schools in the Umayyad Spain.

Infusion of Greek knowledge in the Islamic world caused birth of the rationalist movement, the Mu’tazalites and Rhetoric known as Kalaam. Mu’tazalites accepted that Quran was word of Allah; they however argued that manner in which Quran was revealed suggested that it was created as and when it was deemed necessary. Traditionalists led by Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal believed that Quran was uncreate word of God (it always existed) and was only revealed as and when the need arose.
Rationalists however proved as intolerant and during ‘Mihna ’Imam Hanbal was persecuted and even tortured.

I have no doubt that intentions of Imam Hanbal were most honorable, he was defending the principle he believed in. One would think that as long as one believes that Quran is undisupted Allah’s word, it hardly matters if it was created or uncreate. At the beginning of 9th Century AD, this was considered matter of life and death. Traditionalists won when Al Mutwakkal became Caliph, thus the school of thought that believed in the literal interpretation eventually prevailed. Soon after a movement started which proselytized rational thinking altogether, insisting that such knowledge goes against the religious beliefs. This process eventually succeeded in completely choking off scientific progress from 14th Century onwards.

Imam Ghazali tried to explain phenomenon such as burning by stipulating it is done by the angels thru will of Allah, but this is not science.

I have no way of judging whether the traditionalists or the rationalists were in the right. However IMO, victory of the traditionalist, while keeping the Islamic beliefs pure, had the undesirable effect of killing off the scientific research and a glorious period of enlightenment came to end. It is said that that road to disaster is paved with good intentions.

An Hon Member has pointed out that Mongol invasion in the 14th century killed off one third of the population of Iran (centre of Islamic culture at that time) and this was cause of the decline in Islamic science. No doubt this catastrophe was partially responsible, but at least half of the Muslim world, Arabian peninsula, Syria, all of North Africa and Andalusia were unaffected by the Mongols, still we don’t see any scientists of note in the Muslim world beyond 14th century.

Would also like to add that my praise of the three simultaneous Caliphates nurturing the growth of scientific and philosophical thought was not due to the success of the system of khilafat. All of the three regimes were absolute monarchies. Instead of Kings, rulers just called themselves Khalifas. (How can there be three of Allah’s representatives at the same time is also beyond me) What made the difference was exceptional quality of the rulers who patronized learning.

I rest my case.

 

[Musalman]

Muslims lag behind in science coz they are pre-occupied with the conspiracy theories and are thinking that only Mehdi will come and help them

 

[rubyjackass]

The IDIOT has blabbered bull again! Lest you forget you MORON that the Muslim mathematicians were INVENTING geometry, astrology and astronomy medical sciences etc while your ancestors were praying to man-made deities!!

Science supremacy has NEVER remained with one race or religion in human history. So Google your homework before you try to open your mouth here!!

If at all, it would be our ancestors...

 

[Flintlock]

Note : It says the Indus Valley in "India" - This should be "Pakistan". It's something you should also point out if you see it. Pakistan is a separate country to India - and India is not even historical India. Signficant confusion has been and is being created for ulterior motives.

6th Cent. AD You say? That's the Gupta Empire my friend. The game of chess, known then as Chaturanga, was invented in the royal courts of the Gupta kings.

Chaturanga meaning "4 arms or 4 divisons", as those who have studied sanskrit would understand Chatuhu (four) + Anga (arms).


Chess originated in Gupta India,[8] where its early form in the 6th century was known as caturaṅga, which translates as "four divisions [of the military]" – infantry, cavalry, elephants, and chariotry,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gupta_Empire#cite_note-7
Source:
# ^ Murray, H.J.R. (1913). A History of Chess. Benjamin Press (originally published by Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-936317-01-9. OCLC 13472872.

An early reference to an ancient Indian board-game is sometimes attributed to Subandhu in his Vasavadatta (c. AD 450):
Chaturanga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Subandhu is the name of a Gupta period author (fl. in the mid 5th century), at the court of Kumaragupta I (414-455) and his son Skandagupta (AD 455-467)
Subandhu - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Kumaragupta I (Mahendraditya) was ruler of the Gupta Empire from 415-455 CE.
Kumaragupta I - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


Banabhatta's Harsha Charitha (c. 625) contains the earliest reference to the name Chaturanga:
Chaturanga - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Harshacharita (IAST:Harṣacarita, Sanskrit: हर्षचरि&#2340, "The Deeds of Harṣa", is the biography of Indian Emperor Harsha by Banabhatta, also known as Bana, who was a Sanskrit writer of 7th century in India. He was the 'Asthana Kavi' meaning 'Court Poet' of King Harsha. 'Harsha Charita' was the first composition of Bana and can be treated as the beginning of writing of historical poetic works in Sanskrit language.
Harshacharita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Harsha or Harshavardhana (हर्षवर्ध&#2344 or "Harsha vardhan" (590–657) was an Indian emperor who ruled Northern India for fifty seven years. He was the son of Prabhakar Vardhan and younger brother of Rajyavardhan, a king of Thanesar. At the height of his power his kingdom spanned the Punjab, Bengal, Orissa and the entire Indo-Gangetic plain North of the Narmada River.
Harsha - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia