Cup O’ Coffee

THE HISTORY OF coffee began in Africa. It later crossed the Red Sea to Arabia, where things really got cooking…
Coffee, as we know it, kicked off in Arabia around 1000 CE. By the 13th century Muslims were drinking it in abundance. And wherever Islam went, coffee went too: North Africa, the eastern Mediterranean and India.
THE BEANS WERE made infertile and no coffee seed sprouted outside Africa or Arabia until the 1600s. Tradition says that an Indian Muslim Haji (pilgrim) smuggled beans out of Makkah Mukarramah. This industry quickly reached Europe’s colonies.
The Dutch founded a European coffee estate on colonial Java, an island in Muslim Indonesia, in 1696. This invigorating drink then spread like wildfire and is now enjoyed the world over.

A Golden Past: Islamic Government

UMAR (RADHIALLAHU ANHU) WAS THE SECOND CALIPH (RULER) OF THE MUSLIMS. DURING HIS REIGN, THE GOVERNMENT WAS REVOLUTIONISED.
HERE ARE SOME OF HIS ACHIEVEMENTS:

¤ CONSULTATIVE ASSEMBLY
Whenever an important issue cropped up, this assembly was called up. Each person had the right to speak freely and nothing was decided without the consent of the majority.
A citizen had the right to approve or reject officials.

¤ REVENUE DEPARTMENT
Non-Muslims paid land tax, called Khiraaj, annually.
Muslims had to pay Zakaat on their wealth, and Ushr (one tenth) was levied on all crop raised in the year.
The Muslim paid more tax than the non-Muslim.

¤ PUBLIC WORKS
Canals were dug. The most famous was the Ameerul Mu’mineen Canal which connected the Nile to the Red Sea.
Musjids, military camps, guest houses, government residences and prisons were also built.

¤ EDUCATION
Primary schools were set up and children were taught to read and write. The Hijri calendar was introduced for the keeping of records.

Did You Know?

The first monarch in the world to own a motor car was the Muslim Sultan of Morocco, who bought a Daimler in 1892.

Just Look at Road Transport, A Royston

Islamic Calligraphy

CALLIGRAPHY, or the formulating of words into unique forms, is considered the highest art form in Islam, for several reasons.
For one, the Qur'aan was revealed in Arabic and for that reason, Arabic calligraphy has a spiritual meaning for Muslims. Also, using words as artistry avoided the usage of images of animate objects, prohibited in Islam.

CALLIGRAPHY adorns architecture, decorative arts, coins, jewellery, textiles, weapons, tools, paintings, and manuscripts.
The initial task of the calligrapher, and the one that remained the most important, was copying the Qur'aan.
From there, it grew as it was used to decorate almost any surface. Religious architecture almost always featured inscriptions in Arabic calligraphy, usually verses from the Qur'aan.

THE ISLAMIC emphasis on learning and knowledge, as well as prolific book production, led to a much more literate population than in medieval Europe.
But even those who could not read could still appreciate its artistic beauty, without knowing what it said.
It would be impossible to appreciate Arabic calligraphy without understanding what it represents to Muslims. It is not fancy lettering meant to merely be read but is used as the ultimate expression of God’s words and therefore meant to be felt.
Calligraphy was a way to mark a building as distinctly Islamic as well as pay tribute to God. Adding to the depth is the fact that artists found this as the means for their creative expression.
Even more amazing is their ability to compose forms such as stars entirely of words.

CALLIGRAPHY expresses the glory of God’s words as revealed in the Quraan.

Spice up your Food

SOSATIES are a favourite SA dish. The origins are yet another indication of the contribution of Muslims to this country.

The sosatie, or kebab as it is sometimes called, came with Muslim Malay slaves and political prisoners.

The word itself comes from Malay: saté meaning spiced sauce; and sésate meaning meat on a skewer.

Bows of Fire

ARCHERY IS an art practised by the Sahaaba (radhiallahu anhum) as well as all nations prior to the introduction of the gun.

It was an important and essential part of the make-up of any army and the Muslims excelled in that as well.

Ottoman Sultan Selim shot an arrow 888 metres in front of reliable witnesses in 1798, a record which stood for nearly two centuries.

This record was broken only in 1979 by an American who shot one 1410.87 metres.

Muslims set the pace for the rest of the world in all fields.

Pharmacies

Pharmacy as a profession separate from medicine was recognized in the ninth century in the Muslim world. Baghdad saw a rapid expansion of privately owned pharmacy shops, a trend that spread to other Muslim cities.
The traditional style of pharmacy was modelled after the pharmacies of the Arab World. The style of modern pharmacy has not changed much from then.
Pharmacists who managed these shops were skilled in apothecary and knowledgeable in the compounding and preserving of drugs. State-sponsored hospitals had their own dispensaries attached to manufacturing labs where syrups, ointments and other pharmaceutical preparations were made. A state official, al-Muhtasib, and his aides periodically inspected the pharmacists, ensuring hygienic standards and high quality.
The development of professional pharmacy in Islam occurred four centuries before Europe. Muslim scholars learnt, mastered and expanded the science of pharmacy.
Scholarly works on medicines, diet and curing diseases sprang up. In his work, Ibn Masawayh recommended the use of medicinal plants to build up natural resistance to diseases.
Wisdom and mastery in worldly sciences are the domain of Muslims when they make Islam no.1 priority.

Sheikh Zayed Great Mosque, Abu Dhabi

Sheikh Zayed Great Mosque in Abu Dhabi, UAE, was opened in Dec 2007 and is one of the world’s ten biggest Musjids with a total capacity of 40,000 worshippers. The project took 12 years to complete at a cost of 2.167 billion UAE dirhams.

It has 3 entries into the Guinness Book of World Records with the largest carpet, the biggest chandelier and the largest dome of its kind in the world. The Musjid was built on a platform 9 meters above ground level at the main entrance of Abu Dhabi. The general plan is modelled from Moroccan Musjids, combined with domed Ottoman Musjid architecture. It has a large prayer hall and 2 small prayer rooms, one for females. The halls open into a courtyard surrounded by arcaded galleries of pointed horse-shoe North African arches.

The total building area is 22,412m², the size of 5 football fields. The entire structure is clad in marble. The prayer hall can hold 7,000 worshippers. There are 82 domes crowning the roof of the Musjid. The largest is 85m high, the biggest of its kind in the world. The dome carries the largest chandelier in the world made of thousands of crystals arranged in 24 carat gold plated stainless steel frame.

The floor of the prayer hall is covered with one of the largest carpets ever made. It has a total area of 7,119m², made from 2,268,000 knots, weighing 47 tons: 35 tons wool, and 12 tons cotton. The courtyard of the Musjid covers 17,000m² and can hold 30,000 worshippers. There are over 1,000 columns and four minarets, 107m high. A series of reflective water ponds and lakes which cover an area of 7874m² surrounding the Musjid.

Chemistry

Chemistry as a science is the invention of Muslims and one they developed to such perfection that they were authorities until the 18th century.
Jabir Ibn Hayyan who lived about 776 CE is the father of modern chemistry and, with Zakariya Razi, the greatest name in chemical science in mediaeval times. He discovered several chemical compounds and his influence was felt throughout European chemistry. He wrote 100 works which were the most influential chemical treatises in Europe and Asia.
He explained scientifically the two principal operations of chemistry and improved methods of evaporation, filtration, distillation and crystallization.
Jabir corrected Aristotle's theory of the constituents of metal and explained the preparation of chemical substances like sulphide of mercury and arsenic oxide. Several technical scientific terms invented by him have been adopted in modern chemistry and he showed practical applications of chemistry like preparation of steel and dyeing of cloth and leather, varnishing of waterproof cloth and colouring glass.
Zakariya Razi is the second great name in mediaeval chemical science. He is one of the greatest physicians of all time and wrote Kitab al Asrar in chemistry dealing with the preparation of chemical substances and their application. High class sugar and glass were manufactured in Islamic countries and Arabs were expert in manufacturing ink, cements and imitation pearls.

Super Soap

Soap is a unique Arab invention, used first by Muslims hundreds of years before Europe. Ancient Egyptians bathed regularly and combined animal and vegetable oils with alkaline salts to create a soap-like substance. The ancient Romans were generally ignorant of soap's detergent properties.
The Arabs made soap from vegetable oil such as olive oil and some aromatic oils such as thyme oil. Lye was used for the first time, and the formula hasn't changed from the current soap sold today. From the beginning of the 7th century, soap was produced in Nablus (Palestine), Kufa (Iraq) and Basra (Iraq). Soaps, as we know them today, are descendants of historical Arabian soaps.

Arabian soap was perfumed and colored, some of the soaps were liquid and others were hard. They also had special soap for shaving. It was commercially sold for 3 Dirhams a piece in 981 CE.

Al-Razi’s manuscript contains recipes for soap. Manufactured bar soaps first became available only in the late nineteenth century in Europe. Only by the 1950s, had soap gained public acceptance as an instrument of personal hygiene in Europe and America.

First Flight

By Prof Arslan Terzioglu

Leonardo da Vinci is mentioned as the first inventor of flying machines. However, it is known that he was under the influence of Islamic scholars, and was particularly inspired by the work of al-Hazen.

Muslim attempts at flight, and development of rocket technology took place many years before Europe. These advances could have had an influence on later European inventions in this field:
In Muslim Spain, Ibn Firnaas flew for a while with wings in 880 CE.

Ismail ibn Hammad al Javhari, the Turkish scholar, in 1003 tied two wooden wings with rope to himself and launched himself from a Musjid roof in Nijapur. After flying for a while, he crashed and died.

An early Turkish scholar Ispidjap researched the relationship between the wing surfaces of birds and their weights, to find the physical causes for flight. This work set new horizons in aerodynamics.

Hazarfan Celebi in 1630, flew with eagle wings from a tower and landed in a square while Ottoman Sultan Murad IV was watching. He was rewarded with gold coins.

Lagari Hasan flew in 1632 with a seven-winged rocket fuelled with gunpowder. He splashed into the sea when the gunpowder ran out. The Sultan gave him silver coins as a reward.

Lagari Hasan Celebi went to the Crimea after this and the first Russian rocket technology studies in Ukraine coinciding with his arrival support the opinion that studies in the field of Russian rocket technology could have been influenced by Turkish engineer Lagari and his students.

First Explorers

HISTORY BOOKS tell us that Portuguese explorer Diaz was the first seafarer to round the Cape in 1488. But… some things don’t fit.
For instance, how did yams and bananas, originally from Indonesia, end up in West Africa by the 1st millennium? There is no disputing the fact that Indonesians migrated to Madagascar and brought their spices to Africa.
8th century reliefs show ocean-going craft that are capable of the journey. Philip Beale constructed one using ancient methods and it left Indonesia in Aug 2003 and reached Cape Town in Jan 2004.
Proof that the first explorers were from Indonesia rather than Europe.

(Popular Mechanics, Mar 2004)

Tariq’s Mountain

GIBRALTAR near Spain is named after the 1st Muslim general to lead an army into Spain, Tariq bin Ziyad. He landed at the spot which was named Jabal Tariq in Arabic meaning Mount Tariq. The Arabic was changed to Gibraltar.

This is but one of the many influences of Muslims on Spain, Portugal, Italy and France in particular and from there on Europe in general. Is it a coincidence that Portuguese and Spanish explorers became famous when Christians reconquered Spain after 700-years of Muslim rule?
From then, the advanced Muslim culture crept into other parts of Europe and took them from the dark ages into light.

Biryani: King’s Food

There are over 26 varieties of biryani in India. Biryani comes from the Persian 'birian' which means 'fried before cooking'. It was a royal dish of the Muslim Nizams and Nawabs. Biryani is believed to have been brought to India by Taimur Lang.
One branch of biryani comes from the Mughals (Muslim rulers of India), who got it from Persia and during their reign biryani entrenched itself in India.
The other branch of biryani is supposed to have been brought by Arab traders. The Mughals left their imprint with biryani on the entire India.
The Moghuls looked to Persia for their culture. Mughal is Persian for Mongol and Moghul is the Indianised version of it. Persian and Indian culinary styles united to set Moghul cooking apart from other Indian cuisines. Today when people speak of the classical style of Indian cooking, they are referring to the legacy left by the Moghul (Muslim) dynasty – the Moghul or Moghlai style.
Muslims invented this dish which is eaten by Indian and Malay Muslims in South Africa and others in various parts of the world and regarded as the King of Foods by many.

Turkish Delight

Turkish Delight is a sweet made from starch and sugar. It is often flavored with rosewater or lemon, the former giving it a pale pink color. It has a soft, sticky consistency, and is often packaged in small cubes dusted with sugar to prevent sticking. Some recipes include small nut pieces, usually pistachio, hazelnut or walnuts.
Here’s one version of its origin: In the late 1700s Ali Muhiddin Haci Bekir, confectioner to the imperial court in Istanbul, heard the Sultan complain about hard candy. He mixed water, sugar, corn starch, cream of tartar and rosewater, cooked it up, poured the mixture into a flat pan slicked with almond oil, and let it cool. Then he sprinkled it with powdered sugar, cut it into bite-sized chunks and soft candy was born. It was called rahat lokum (comfortable morsel), now called lokum, or Turkish Delight, and was an instant hit, especially at the palace. Ali Muhiddin became a celebrity overnight as royalty came to buy boxes of Turkish Delight. Over the centuries Ali Muhiddin's descendants (the shop is still owned and run by the family) fiddled with the recipe, adding things like walnuts, pistachios, oranges, almonds, clotted cream, and chocolate. The plain rosewater original is still a favorite. Lokum was introduced to the west in the 19th century; An unknown Briton became fond of it during his travels to Istanbul, and purchased cases to be shipped back to Britain under the name Turkish Delight. It became a major delicacy throughout Europe.
It is one of the oldest sweet dishes in the world, dating back over 200 years.

Carpets and Rugs

In the East and Muslim countries, carpets and rugs have been widely used for centuries. They have been sent as diplomatic gifts. Oriental carpets have long been recognised as the finest examples of works of art in their own right.
Millions of Muslims have carried prayer rugs with them wherever they have gone and still do. The West remained backward in the use and making of carpets until after the Middle Ages when they conquered Spain from the Muslims and with it the advanced knowledge and art of the Muslims. From first to last Oriental carpets have been in a class of their own. They are highly prized by the West and only the very rich could posses them until now. It is a craft that is an expression of Islamic culture. Typical of Islamic arts are the brilliant colours and intricate patterns.
Muslims from the Caucasus to Turkistan have produced thousands of these practical art pieces. Islamic culture had a profound influence on the history of the carpet. Therefore, geometric designs replace images of living creatures, the depiction of which are banned in Islam. Ceaseless demand for prayer rugs did much to keep the craft of carpet-making alive through the centuries.

Food Flair

We recount Muslim influence on various aspects of life around the globe. Maths, science, medicine … and food!

MUSLIMS from western Asia brought their rich gastronomic culture to India. This influence lasted for more than 400 years and is now part of the fabric of Indian culinary culture. They produced a magnificent cuisine called Muglai Cuisine.

INDIA was introduced to leavened breads by Muslims. At this time the tandoor, the conical earthen oven from which emerged a delectable array of kebabs and rotis, was created by Muslim royal chefs. Indian rotis and the leavened breads were merged into Tandoori Naans. The idea of concluding a meal with sweetmeats was introduced as the Persian Muslim rulers loved sweets.

SOME dishes retain their Muslim names - kebabs, kofta, pulao, biryani. The Muslim community has also had a large influence on the cooking of South Africa. Cape Malay and Indian cuisine form an indelible part of the food landscape here.

IN MORE WAYS THAN ONE, MUSLIMS INFLUENCED THE WORLD

What We Speak

The influence of the language of Islam, Arabic is felt in the English language. Some words are borrowed directly from Arabic; but most come from via Spanish, Italian, French, Turkish, Persian, Urdu, Hebrew or Latin. This produces a lot of change.

The following is a brief list; the Oxford English Dictionary lists over 900.

admiral - ami:r-al-bahr 'ruler of the seas' - amara command
alcohol - al-koh''l
algebra - al-jebr 'reintegration'
apricot - al-burquq - from Greek
camel - jamal
candy - from qand 'cane sugar' - from a Dravidian language
carat - qi:ra:t 'small weight' - from Greek
coffee - قهوة qahwah (via Turkish kahve)
giraffe - zara:fa
jar - jarrah 'large earthen vase'
lemon - laymu:n - from Persian
magazine - makha:zin 'storehouses' - khazana store
mask - perhaps maskhara 'buffoon' - sakhira ridicule
mattress - matrah 'place where something is thrown, mat, cushion' - tarah'a throw
monsoon - mausim 'season' - wasama mark
mosque - مسجد masjid (via Italian)
orange - نرنجة na:ranj - from Sanskrit
safari - سفر safar "travel" via Swahili
sofa - s,uffah 'raised platform with cushions’
zero - s,ifr 'empty'

The Paper Trail

Paper was invented in China 2000 years ago. But it was Muslims who developed it and introduced it to Europe. With paper came a revolution in nearly every art and profession. How did it happen?
From China, paper went to Muslim Central Asia in the 8th century. From then till the 14th century the Muslim world took paper from Asia to Persia, Baghdad, Damascus, Egypt, North Africa and finally to Muslim Spain. From here it entered the West.
Papermaking in Muslim lands brought enormous changes in literature, maths, science, medicine, astronomy, and commerce as Muslim professionals put pen to paper. Fez in North Africa had 400 paper mills in the 12th century. Europe was still in the Dark Ages.
Paper spread to Europe via Muslim Spain and the areas of Italy ruled by Muslims. Printing developed in Europe and not in Muslim lands as Arabic needed 600 sorts to make a font while a European language needed 275.
Muslims were vitally instrumental in bringing paper and with it advancement to Europe, as well as the expert knowledge on innumerable subjects that Muslims committed to paper. u

Did You Know: More Interesting Facts

1. Columbus admitted that on October 21, 1492 CE while his ship was sailing near Gibara on the north-east coast of Cuba, he saw a mosque (he knew Mosques because he’d seen them in Spain) on top of a mountain. The ruins of mosques and minarets with inscriptions of Quranic verses have been discovered in Cuba, Mexico, Texas and Nevada proving that Muslims were in America before the Europeans. [OBREGON, M The Columbus Papers, The Barcelona Letter of 1493, The Landfall Controversy, and the Indian Guides, McMillan Co. 1991]
2. There are 565 names of places (villages, mountains, rivers, etc.) in U.S.A. (484) and Canada (81) which are derived from Islamic and Arabic roots. These were originally named by the natives in pre-Columbian period. E.g. Mecca (Indiana), Makkah Indian tribe, Medina (Idaho), Mahomet (Illinois).
3. Makkah has some of the highest land prices in the world: Land around the Haram sells at around $70 000 (+-R420 000) per square meter.
4. The Haram of Makkah exceeds the capacity of the world’s largest stadium by 5 times.
5. There were 6 226 daily flights arriving in Jeddah with Haj pilgrims in 2002.
6. 24 million litres of ZamZam water was distributed at Haj 2005. (Billions of litres have been taken from this one well for over 1000 years, yet it does not dry.)
7. 14 Hospitals in Makkah, Mina and Arafaat are used ONLY during Haj. 9 600 people work there.