Academics and Credit

The National Geographic Society has published a book entitled "1001 Inventions: The Enduring Legacy of Muslim Civilization." I believe we must be forthright about giving credit to other societies for advances and inventions. It is intelligent, morally right, and truthful to do so. It also gives us insight into the capabilities and history of our neighbors, competitors, and opponents.

But this book is full of garbage. Among the wonders credited to Islam: Chess; Running Water; Surgery; Tents; Observatories; Paper; and the ever-popular algebra (they must have invented it, it's an Arabic word)

Now, remember Muhammad lived from 570 to 632 AD, and the Islamic faith dates from 622 AD, so Muslims clearly invented nothing before the 7th century.

Chess was played in India before 600 AD.

The Greeks and Romans had running water systems - aquaducts, baths, plumbing. And they did surgeries - but surgery goes back into ancient Egypt and India.

Tents? I'm guessing the first cavemen who realized that some animal skins on sticks planted in the ground would keep you dry might have invented the tent. The Bible describes the Apostle Paul as a tentmaker (Acts 18:3). Paul died 500 years before Muhammad was born.

Observatories? I could mention Stonehenge, but clearly Hipparchus in Greece and Chinese astronomers had observatories hundreds of years before the birth of Christ.

Muslims didn't invent paper - the Chinese did that before the birth of Christ.

And the so-called Muslim advances in mathematics? The Babylonians and Greeks were doing algebra a thousand years before Muhammad was born. Even the numbers we call "Arabic numerals" are actually Indian. You'll recall from your travels in the Middle East that they still don't use Arabic numerals, but their own system. It's as if we went to Italy and found Roman numerals in common use today.

We should always give credit where due, even if we don't like it. But when we try to credit civilizations and cultures with accomplishments beyond their actual achievements, we devalue the contributions of those who did the real advancements. The Soviets claimed credit for inventing everything from the telegraph to the airplane to baseball. We laughed at those outrageous lies. Now we promote such stories in some warped attempt at feel-good kumbaya harmony. To say Muslims invented a bunch of stuff they did not is to lie. And we need to call the liars on their lies.