5 important things that were invented by Muslims

With the spike in terrorism, the portrayal of people of the Islamic faith has only gotten worse.

Bearing this in mind, you might be surprised to learn that some of the things that we love so dearly were created by Muslims.

Rather than feeding into the negative narrative, let's focus on the good deeds of these believers.

Here are five important things that you probably didn’t know were invented by Muslims.

1. Modern Surgical Instruments: Anyone who has been under the knife or is a doctor can appreciate these instruments. Bet you didn't know that they were designed by Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), a renowned 10th-century Muslim surgeon.

Reportedly, we have him to thank for over 200 surgical instruments which include scalpels, bone saws, forceps, and fine scissors for eye surgery.

He is regarded as the “father of modern surgery” because of these instruments and the Kitab al-Tasrif, a thirty-volume collection of medical practice.

2. Coffee: The World’s first coffee was discovered by a Muslim. Legend says goat herder Kaldi was the one who stumbled upon a certain berry with special powers. The story says that he noticed his goats got so energetic and could not sleep whenever they ate the berries from a certain tree. He boiled the berries and the first coffee was born.

3. Camera: The first pin-hole camera is attributed to Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham. He was an Arab Muslim scientist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who realized light entered into the eye, not out of the eye like the Greeks initially thought. With this realisation, he invented the first pin-hole camera in the 10th Century.

4. Clocks: Recognising the need to know the time, a Muslim man called al-Jazari from Diyarbakir in South-East Turkey developed the concept of automatic machines. The pious Muslim, who was also a highly skilled engineer, made a lot of clocks of all shapes and sizes by 1206. The fact that Muslims need to know when to pray and announce the call to prayer in mosques probably went a long way in the birth of clocks.

5. Bathing: Go a day or two without bathing and you will certainly appreciate bathing. Reportedly, this practice that many take for granted is attributed to Muslims in Europe. In those times, bathing was considered bad for your health. However, this did not stop them from maintaining their Islamic ritual. Eventually, this led to Arabs making the general recipe for soap: vegetable oils with sodium hydroxide and aromatic oils. This is still being used today.

Knowing these things, can you imagine the world without Muslims?