Smotrich, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s nationalist-religious government, said this month that some of the budget funds meant for Arab local councils were a political pay-off by the previous cabinet that could end up in the hands of “criminals and terrorists”.

Arab councils held a strike last week in protest and community leaders demonstrated outside government offices. The National Committee of Arab Local Councils in Israel accused Smotrich of racism.

In a statement on Monday, Smotrich appeared to reverse course and said an oversight mechanism had been created to transfer funds to the Arab communities.

“We are stopping the criminal organisations from taking over the budgets that go to the Arab authorities,” Smotrich said.

Arab citizens of Israel, most descendants of Palestinians who remained in Israel after the 1948 war surrounding its creation, make up about a fifth of the country’s population.

Crime in the Arab sector communities is disproportionately high to their makeup of the overall demographic.

At least 157 Arab citizens in Israel have been murdered since January, more than double the fatalities over the same period last year and the highest toll since 2014.

The website is registered at Iran’s center for regulating Iranian websites, which is linked to the Ministry of Culture and Guidance. It also claims that it will remove any content that goes against Shariah laws, however it mocks and makes fun of the Arabs which also include Iraq Shittes.

The Ahwazi Arab community of Iran, who are Arab-Iranians called the game “racist” and called for its removal.

Erdogan’s bias to Islamists, especially in the past decade, put Turkey in the same category with Iran, which is labeled as an enemy by most countries in the Middle East.

Cairo witnessed a busy week, as the foreign ministers of Arab countries, including Qatar, met, on March 3^rd, at the headquarters of the Arab League to discuss the endless tragedies happening in their region. The dominant topic of the discussions was about foreign interventions in Arab territories, through manipulating domestic politicians, deploying military forces, or sponsoring armed militia. At the conclusion of the meeting, Turkey and Iran were, particularly, condemned by Arab foreign ministers for their heavy military presence in the region.

In response, the Turkish Foreign Ministry issued a statement rejecting all the outcomes of the Arab League ministerial meeting, especially those condemning Ankara’s intervention in Arab affairs. The Turkish statement claimed that the accusations of Turkey threatening the security and stability of the region “are not based on any evidence… and are meant to cover up the destructive activities of some Arab countries, and are not accepted by the friendly and brotherly Arab peoples.”The Turkish Foreign Ministry’s statement, also, asserted that protecting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of the Arab countries is a top priority for Ankara, and thus Turkey is exerting its best efforts to establish security and stability in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region, which the statement describes as the region Turkey belongs to.

There is not a single occasion, in the past five years, wherein the leaders of Arab or Muslim countries meet, without pronouncing utter condemnation and rejection to Turkey’s intervention in the domestic affairs of the Arab countries. On the flip side, Turkey does not waste an opportunity without officially stating its refusal to the Arabs’ rejection of Turkey and confirming that Turkey is part of the Middle East and is not a foreign power. Putting the brakes on this vicious cycle of accusations and rejections between Turks and Arabs is necessary to enable Turkey and Arab countries to cooperate for the good of the ever-boiling MENA, especially on issues related to eliminating national and regional security threats and realizing economic welfare for the people of the wealthy region.

As a first step, Turkey needs to understand where the Arabs’ concerns towards Turkey’s interventions are coming from. It is true that Turkey is an integral part of the Middle East, and thus its role in regional affairs is legitimate. In fact, Turkey’s intervention in MENA has never been rejected by the Arab League, until recently, due to Turkish president Erdogan’s flawed policies that keeps quavering the stability of the region. Erdogan’s unconditional support to Islamist groups, designated as terrorist organizations, like Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood, despite their harmful deeds against Arabs and Israel, is on the top list of these flawed policies that broke the brotherly bond between Turkey and the Arabs. From the perspective of Arab leaders, Erdogan’s bias to Islamists, especially in the past decade, put Turkey in the same category with Iran, which is labeled as an enemy by most countries in the Middle East.

Iran sponsors armed militia groups that has been wreaking havoc all over the Levant region, in Lebanon, Syria, and Iraq, for years. Iran, also, sponsors the Houthis in Yemen, who represent a direct threat to the national security of Saudi Arabia, the biggest country in the Arab Gulf region, and the holy land where Islam emerged. Since, the inauguration of President Biden in the United States, in January, more than twenty drone attacks targeted oil facilities and innocent civilians at the southern territories of Saudi Arabia. Iran-backed Houthis are not only threatening Saudi Arabia, but they also represent a serious threat to the international maritime traffic through the Indian Ocean and the Red Sea.

Meanwhile, Turkey is expanding its military presence, all over the MENA region, with unprecedented pace. Currently, Turkey troops are operating in Libya, Sudan, Somalia, Iraq, and Syria. Since December 2019, Turkey has been deploying thousands of military personnel, equipment, and affiliated Syrian mercenaries to Libya; despite the UN Security Council resolutions that impose arms embargo on Libya and delegitimize the presence of foreign troops on Libyan soil. For more than five years, Turkish troops has been operating in northern Syria, under the guise of fighting terrorism, despite the will of the majority of the Syrian and the Kurdish people.

This year, the Turkish military started to focus on expanding into Iraq, however without repeating its previous mistakes in Syria. Prior to launching Operation Claw-Eagle-2 against the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK), in February, Turkish Minister of Defense, Hulusi Akar visited the Iraqi central government, in Baghdad, and the Kurdistan regional government, in Erbil, for approval of deploying Turkish troops to northern Iraq. Turkey’s main goal from this operation was legitimate; liberating Turks kept hostage by PKK and protecting Turkey’s borders against terrorist activities. However, tensions aroused between Turkey and Iran after Turkish troops remained in the region after the completion of the mission. Iran, which has a huge political and military influence inside Iraq, saw the presence of Turkish military in this region as a threat to Iran’s militia and Iran’s influence in northwestern Iraq.

If Turkey is truly working for the good of the Middle East, Ankara needs to understand that most of the Arab people, and perhaps most of the Arab regimes, are yearning for restoring good relationship with Turkey. However, this is conditional to Ankara’s ability to prove to the Arab states that Turkey is not the other Iran, in the region. We know that Turkey is one of the most important and influential countries of the Middle East region, especially due to its super military capabilities that successfully challenged foreign powers’ interventions, such as the United States and Russia, in several conflict spots, all over the Middle East, in the past years. However, President Erdogan’s continued support to Islamist groups, whether violent or political, who work against the interests of the region, makes Arabs, and even Israelis, feel threatened by Turkey, rather than viewing Turkey as the big sister of the MENA family.

Piece first appeared on Egypt-based Sada El-Balad.

Israel wants to gain broader Arab support for the new deals…

Working in close quarters, surrounded by maps of the Middle East, a small team based in Israel’s foreign ministry are focusing their sights on the Arab world.

Their mission: using social media to convince Arabs to embrace the Jewish state.

The team is spearheading an Arabic-language campaign via platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Instagram as part of a multi-pronged diplomatic effort to win over popular acceptance in the Middle East.

But overturning decades of hostility is no easy feat, despite Israel in recent months having secured landmark Washington-brokered deals with the governments of the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

The magnitude of the task was underscored by a recent online backlash after photographs of Egyptian actor and rapper Mohamed Ramadan partying with Israeli celebrities at a Dubai bar surfaced on social media in November, along with a video showing guests partying as the Jewish song “Hava Nagila” played.

The Israeli Arabic-language social media team re-posted the photos from its main Facebook and Twitter accounts, including one of Ramadan hanging an arm around the neck of Israeli pop star Omer Adam with the caption “art always brings us together.”

Israeli officials acknowledge the challenges of the task in a region where there is widespread support for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation or as refugees across the Middle East.

Yonatan Gonen, who heads the Arabic-language social media unit, said in an interview that they posted the photos of Ramadan with the Israeli celebrities to show “normalization” between Israelis and Arabs. He acknowledged that the furore was disappointing but said there were also positive responses and that “it takes time, people change their minds over generations.”

Ofir Gendelman, a spokesman for Israel’s prime minister, said increasing numbers of Arabs view Israel as an ally and many publicly show their support on social media. “As regional peace expands further, talking to our neighbours in their own language becomes even more important,” said Gendelman, adding that Israel plans to expand its outreach in Arabic.

Ramadan didn’t respond to requests for comment. He said on social media at the time that he did not ask people taking photographs where they came from. “I salute the brotherly Palestinian people,” he added.

Dr Ala’a Shehabi, a London-based academic researcher with dual Bahraini and British nationality, said public sentiment in Arab countries remains pro-Palestinian. Of Israel’s social-media campaign, she added: “It is not a success if it hasn’t changed popular opinion.”

Digital Diplomacy

Israel wants to gain broader Arab support for the new deals than it has with formal peace treaties it signed with Egypt and Jordan, in 1979 and 1994, respectively. Those treaties are upheld by the countries’ leaders but are regarded with little enthusiasm by many Egyptians and Jordanians.

An October report by Israel’s Ministry of Strategic Affairs found that during August and September more than 90% of Arabic social media commentary regarding the “normalization” deals was negative.

“Israel must prepare to commence a protracted campaign online to win hearts and minds in favor of creating stronger ties with Israel,” according to a detailed summary of the report shared with Reuters by the ministry. A ministry official said that by January the level of negative commentary had fallen to 75%.

That foreign ministry’s ten-member Arabic-language team includes both Jews and Arabs.

With messages such as “Salam, Shalom” – the Arabic and Hebrew words for peace – the campaign heavily features what Gonen refers to as “soft content,” such as music, food and sport. The team also posts about Israel’s adversaries such as Iran, Hamas and Hezbollah.

Established in 2011, the Arabic-language unit has significantly ramped up activity since late summer when news of the first accord was made public. The team currently publishes up to 700 or so social media posts a month, about 15% to 20% more than before the deals, Gonen said.

During a recent visit to Dubai, team member Lorena Khateeb posted to Twitter a photo of herself outdoors with the Israeli flag draped over her back. “Never imagined that I would raise the Israeli flag in an Arab country,” she said in the Nov. 21 post in both Arabic and English. Days later, one Israel’s official accounts – called @IsraelintheGulf and which she operates – tweeted a similar flag-draped photo of her.

Khateeb told Reuters that responses to her posts are mostly positive but some are negative.

Gauging Success

Gonen says the aim is to create “engagement, interactions and dialogue” with Arab audiences. He said his team reaches 100 million people monthly via its social media accounts, which is double what it was a year ago.

It’s main Twitter account, which uses the handle @IsraelArabic and posted the Ramadan photos, has more than 425,000 followers.

Still, the Jewish state still faces widespread opposition to its reconciliation efforts across the region, which is home to more than 400 million Arabic speakers.

Michael Robbins of the Arab Barometer, a non-partisan research network that studies attitudes across the Arab world, said a post-normalisation survey by his group in Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Jordan and Lebanon suggested that the efforts of Israel and its regional allies “have had little if any effect on the views of ordinary citizens.”

He said they lacked data from Gulf countries, which did not permit them to ask questions that name Israel, but that attitudes in the countries they did conduct surveys had changed little from previous years.

“Overall, these results suggest that Israel’s strategy to win hearts and minds is failing. Few Arab citizens regardless of age or geography have positive views toward Israel,” Robbins said.

Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, which will usher in the Jewish year of 5781, begins on the evening of Friday, Sept. 18, and commemorates the anniversary of the creation of the universe. As is appropriate for a holiday commemorating what Jews consider to be the penultimate divine act, its canvas is the entire world, all of humanity.

For Jews, Rosh Hashanah is a time of introspection and self-examination, during which we reflect on the good and the bad that each of us have done over the past 12 months and resolve to do better in the coming year. Specifically, we resolve to be just and compassionate to people of all faiths and nationalities, according to the aphorism of Rabbi Hillel, a first-century sage: “What is hateful to thee, do not do unto your fellow man. This is the whole law; the rest is mere commentary.”

For the growing Jewish communities of the Gulf, this is a joyous time to reflect on the blossoming of Jewish life with the support of enlightened governments in this region. As the “Rabbi to the Gulf” who worked hard for more than a decade to bring about this blessed result, I share in the euphoria. However, this Rosh Hashanah, I respectfully urge the Jews of the Gulf to look beyond the Jewish community to the challenge of coexisting positively with the overwhelmingly Muslim populations among whom they are living.

We must appreciate the positive steps forward that we are seeing in the Gulf when it comes to their embracing our religion. For example, I appreciate how Arab News is breaking taboos by publishing articles from Jewish leaders. Personally, I was honored to be asked to write an op-ed that was published on the front page of the paper the day after the UAE-Israel announcement and then again last week after Bahrain and Israel announced their deal. They also published a special “Deep Dive” report on the Jews of Lebanon last week on Sept. 12.

Indeed, the Jews of the Gulf have a unique role: To be ambassadors from our people to the larger Muslim world. They must endeavor to reach out to their Muslim brothers and sisters and build lasting ties of communication and cooperation. Together, the Muslims and Jews of the Gulf can set an inspiring example to our brethren around the world, showing them that interfaith communities can truly live together in friendship and trust. Let us accomplish this together in the spirit of Rosh Hashanah, which celebrates our common humanity, and of the recently observed Muharram, the Islamic New Year.

During this season of reflection and repentance, the rabbis eulogize human beings’ ability to cast off obsolete ways of thinking and fundamentally change their actions for the better. In that context, let us reflect on the many positive changes we have witnessed in the Gulf over the past 12 months. Just think about the amazing things Muslims and Jews can accomplish together in the years ahead, such as overcoming the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and other serious illnesses in the Middle East and beyond, or applying advanced irrigation techniques to green the desert and increase food production for the benefit of all of humanity. The possibilities are limitless.

Rabbi Marc Schneier is President of the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.

Article first published on Arab News.

Even Arabs are plotting and praying for destruction upon another…

A massive segment of Palestinians insult Saudi everyday. They belittle us, spend time and effort to degrade our image before the world.

They insult Arab-hood. Some get into governmental positions and journalist agencies in the countries they migrate to. Such as the case of Rashida Tlaib, in the U.S. and most of Al-Jazeera anchors in Qatar and western countries. Only to use those assets against Saudi Arabia.

The country which hosts million of them, funds the all of their governmental expenses, U.N. convoys. They make insulting drawings depicting Saudis and Arabs in the most mean terms.

They rant on social media about how Saudi and Alsaud are the cancer of Islam and through it’s destruction will Muslims unite and achieve prosperity.

They curse the day Saudi discovered it’s wealth and daydream about the day we run out of oil so we go back to live in the desert and ride camels. As if we would hate those humble days. Where we never knew about the cruelty an brainwashing which befell our neighbors and brothers after their colonization.

We came out of the deserts to see Arabic speaking people wearing western cloths, insulting Arabs and Arabic countries at every opportunity.

I read this on daily basis, I used to have hope for brotherhood and unity among us Muslims. But that is far fetched that even Arabs are plotting and praying for destruction upon one another.

Until, I realized that maybe I was looking at it from the wrong angle. After all, my wishful thinking is the reason I felt let down in the first place.

In the most brutally realist of terms, maybe they were conquered for a reason. Palestine never existed as an independent state, and although the cause of Palestine is being sold as an Islamic cause, that might never be the case!

Think about it, are they calling to establish a Sharia law abiding state? I beg to differ and laugh hysterically. For I have videos which I cannot post because of Ramadan, of Palestinian women, dancing with Israelis.

Someone might jump at me and claim that they are Drooz, Christian or whatever element of the ethnic milkshake which composes the Palestinian population, but I hate to break it to you, some were wearing a Hijab.

Disclaimer: Views expressed by writers in this section are their own and do not reflect Milli Chronicle’s point-of-view.

He is blind just because he is a Christian; and he lacks human dignity just because he is a Christian…

With the dust settling from a multitude of conflicts In the Balkans, Italian-Ottoman war, and the rise of the New Saudi state that started in 1902 and successfully gained more lands and support in the Arabian peninsula further aggravating the Turkish nationalist leading to internal turmoil the 1913 Treaty of London, signed between the victorious Balkan League nations and the Ottoman Empire, the Turks lost not only the Balkans, but also the Christians and Arabs living in the Middle East as well.

These factions had not been successfully assimilated to that of the Ottoman Empire for centuries, and following the successes of the new nation states, it was almost impossible for these Middle Eastern counterparts to the Balkan League to acquiesce the sultanate anymore.

The Young Turks were especially wary of Hellenism spreading from western Anatolia and the Black Sea regions to central Anatolia since the Greeks at the time were both economically stronger and more literate than the Turks.

Another significant minority within the Ottoman Empire with financial means were the Armenians.

The Young Turks believed these two Christian factions threatened the existence and power of the state, and their presence was a direct result of the tolerance of the previous Ottoman governments.

The Young Turks maintained that, with the influence of the Germans, the Christian minorities that were slowly becoming an economic and political power would eventually seize control of the state.

After the Second Balkan War, ended in 1913 a decision to destroy all Christian elements in Ottoman society and to seize and confiscate their wealth was made. A systematic plan to achieve this goal was implemented. Towards the autumn of 1913, local militias started to form.

While the militias were gearing up for possible clashes, the local inhabitants were subjected to intense propaganda against the Christian minorities. Journalists wrote inflammatory articles to radicalize the public.

Huseyin Kazim, a member of the pan-Islamist association, wrote:

“The existence of such infidels among us is an abscess for us and is a curse for our religion. Every relationship with them is a stain for us, and every connection is spiritual calamity.’

“Regardless of the standing of any Christian, for us, he is blind just because he is a Christian; and he lacks human dignity just because he is a Christian.”

Every possible method was employed to incite hatred against Christians, especially the Greeks. The state spread propaganda that as long as these Christian elements remained, Turkish people were destined to be poor. Muslims were doomed to live without safety or dignity, and the Turkish state was under tremendous danger.

The counties that seceded were coloured black on maps, and those maps were hung on school walls marked with the word “revenge”. The clergy and government mouthpieces spread vengeful and hateful rhetoric across the country.

The attacks launched against the Greeks in 1914 would target the Armenians a year later.

For the armed forces, Pan-Turanism almost became a new denomination; lower-ranking officers were taught Pan-Turanist theories.

For the Turkish Unionists, it was clear as day that the Arabs, who had resisted assimilation for centuries, could not be spared either. According to this mindset, Arabs, who evidently could not be Turkified, had to be humiliated with a huge blow to stop them from seceding.

The Arabs had never accepted Turkish rule and always demanded autonomy. They considered themselves as a noble race, being the proprietors of Islam and proud of the fact that the Quran was revealed in their language.

The abuses of Turkish officials who did not know Arabic or Arab culture angered many Arabs. Security forces suppressed all Arab protests with extreme force.

Among the Arabic-speaking regions, Syria stuck out like a sore thumb for the Turks. Syria had a wealthy class that was in correspondence with the politicians and business people of European countries.

Christians and Muslims living in Syria wanted to build and maintain a harmonious system for themselves in line with their multicultural past. The Turkish Unionists were bitter and annoyed of these attempts to secede and were waiting for an opportunity to implement their anti-Christian and anti-Arab policies in Syria.

The unionists had no intention of granting autonomy to the Arabs even at the expense of losing the hearts and minds of Arabs altogether. Lebanon, which had gained autonomous status with the support of the French, was the first target of the Turkish Unionists.

Lebanon’s autonomous status was abolished on Nov. 1, 1916, and the Christian administrator Ohannes Kuyumcuyan was removed to be replaced by Pan-Turkist Ali Munif. Istanbul deputy Salih Cimgöz said: “Lebanon become a part Turkey instead of being a cyst on (the Empire’s) body.”

The seizure of animals in Lebanon accompanied with a shortage of seed, resulted in mass starvation.

On March 10, 1917, during a congressional meeting, Lebanon deputy Emir Adil, speaking of the deaths of thousands, said: “We consider no difference between dynamite or bread when it comes to Lebanon and Beirut. For example, it is forbidden to transfer even one okka (about 1280 grams) of flour.”

The Ottoman government also seized camels in Syria, making it impossible to transfer trade goods to Lebanon.

Cemal Pasha, who played the leading role in the oppression of the Arabs, threatened bankers and merchants to keep the paper money and gold on par. When he rejected U.S. aid to the region, a large part of the population quickly vanished.

Cemal Pasha persecuted leaders in Syria, especially those holding higher positions in local governments and the educated.

Abdulhamit Zohravi, a member of the delegation of Ayan, and former deputy, Sefik al-Mawyid, was among 36 people executed on the orders of Cemal Pasha during this period. The families and relatives of those convicted were exiled from Syria to Anatolia, hence, wiping out the local leaders of the Syrian people.

Their crime, according to the military courts, was “forming an underground organisation”. The activity of the organisation was determined to be establishing relations with British and French diplomats in order to gain autonomy for Syria.

Military courts were closed to the public, they did not allow defendants to bring their own counsel, and verdicts were immediately carried out.

When Mecca’s Amir Hussain Pasha’s son, Faisal, made a plea to Cemal Pasha on behalf of prisoners, Cemal Pasha not only declined the request, but also ordered the arrest of Faisal for constituting a danger to the state.

Following these events, Mecca’s Amir Hussein, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, declared his independence in July 1916 and occupied a large part of the Hijaz region. Hussein afterward restated his commitment to the Caliphate and the Sultanate. His rebellion was against the Turkish Unionists and he cited Cemal Pasha’s atrocities, including the persecution of the Christians.

Because of the oppressive security policies and the atrocities of Ottoman Empire officials, Arab nationalists (Pan Arabs) ended up cooperating with the British in Syria and Mesopotamia. Thus, the empire lost control two of the Ibrahimic sacred cities, slashing the clout of the caliphate in the region and denying the Sultans the status of God representative on earth.

400 years of strict centralized, racist, nationalist and oppressive policies cost the empire the hearts and minds of the people before the lands, even when fading into obscurity the Ottomans adapted a policy of genocide against the Christians and Arabs (Arminian Genocide, Safr Burlik, Great Famine of Mount Lebanon and The Greek genocide).

History, tends to keep repeating itself. As the Neo Ottoman aimed to hide the horrors that plagued the Ottoman empire’s history employing Islamists and pan Arabs who find themselves pawns in the game of Neo Ottomans ambitious plans to dominate and control the region and restore the Empire.

Khaled Homoud Alshareef holds PhD in Business and he earned Masters in Philosophy. He regularly tweets under @0khalodi0.

Muslims were far more ahead when Europe was in dark ages.

Ever since Islam was born, Muslims have been leading the way. When we look at the history, we come to know about the richness of it.

When we study it we will know that Muslims were the one who were always busy in seeking knowledge.

Today when we look at West or Europe we tend to think that how advanced they are in different fields.

Muslims were far more ahead when Europe was in dark ages. They were kept in confusion and ignorance by their priests and Churches and were made to think that Muslims are ignorant and these arrogant people used to consider us as infidels.

The learning and knowledge capitals of the world were cities governed by Muslims for example Baghdad, Cairo, Damascus, Cordova (Andalusia) etc.

Today when we talk about universities and look at Oxford, Stanford or Yale like universities where we dream of studying but we should know it were the Muslims who introduced university to the world.

The oldest and still functional university is in Fez, Morocco known by the name of University of Quarouiyine (Karueein) founded in 859 C.E. by Fatima al Fihri.

Camera

We see the extensive use of cameras in today’s world, we see cameras on the street, in our homes, in our pockets on our Smartphone.

We talk about megapixels. But this camera was invented by Ibn al Haytham who refused the Greek concept that an invisible beam of light comes out of our eyes and with its help we can see.

Instead he used a pinhole to demonstrate his point that is the light reflects of an object and enters our eyes and we see. He also discovered the camera obscure phenomenon that is how we see images upright due to the connection between optic nerve and brain.

Surgery and Surgical Tools

Surgery and surgical tools were also invented by Muslims in 10th century. It was Abul Qasim Khalaf ibn al-Abbad al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis), in his medical encyclopedia al-Tadrif, there is a monograph on Surgery. He also staged over 200 surgical tools which later became a revolutionary concept. It was also the first ever monograph on surgical tools.

Flying Machine

About Flying machine, Wright Brothers comes to our mind. But we should know that it was a Muslim by the name of Abbas ibn Firnas who was the one who first attempted to fly.

He jumped from a minaret of the grand mosque with a loose cloak stiffed with wooden struts but was not able to fly but his fall was slowed by it. Hence it is said that it was the first parachute. But he did not give up and in 875 C.E. he tried again and this time with the structure of silk and eagle feather he jumped from a mountain and flew for some time before crash landing.

It is said that if he would have given his apparatus a tail he would have become successful. He became the inspiration for the Italian artist Leonardo da Vinci 600 years later.

Coffee

Coffee has an interesting background story. An Arab named Khalid was with his goats on the southern Ethiopian slopes where he found out that his goats became lively after eating a particular berry.

He took the berries and boiled them and gave it the name of “al-qahwa”. Then it was exported to Yemen where Sufis started drinking it to remain awake all night for their rituals. Then in 15th century it reached Makkah and then Turkey and from where in 1645 it made its way to Venice. It arrived in England and was brought by Pasqua Rosee, who was a Turk in 1650. He was the one who opened the first coffee shop in London at Lombard Street and the English called it Coffee.

Chemistry

Jabir Ibn Hayyan is one of the names famous in the domain of Chemistry. He converted alchemy into Chemistry. He was the founder of modern Chemistry.

He was the one who emphasized on systematic experimentation. He invented the method of distillation that is separating the liquids through differences in their boiling points. He also invented different processes and apparatus that are still used today and they are liquefaction, crystallization, distillation, purification, oxidization, evaporation and filtration.

He is also the inventor of alembic still which is used in the creation of perfumes and alcoholic sprits. Discovery of sulphuric and nitric acid is credited to him.

Earth’s Sphericity

Earth’s Sphericity, it was Ibn Hazm in the 9th Century against all odds said that the sun is always vertical to a particular spot on earth and found his proof for the earth being sphere. He and his colleagues during Caliph Mamun’s reign predicted so accurately the earth’s circumference, that their calculations turned out to be less than 200 Km off. And later it was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al Qurtibi al Hasani al Sabti (al-Idrisi) who introduced it to the west.

Algebra

Algebra was derived from the title of a monograph Kitab al-Jabr Wa’l Mugabala by Muhammad ibn Musa Al- Khwarizmi in 9th century. It was a different perspective than of Greek’s which was based on geometry. He was the one to introduce the concepts of Algebraic Reduction and Balancing, Cancellation and Like Terms and raising a number to a power.

Calendar

Omar al Khayam developed a calendar which is more exact than Gregorian according to Sedillot who is the authority on the subject. He measured the length of the year as 365.24219858156 days while today it is 365.242190 days.

Blood Circulation

Blood circulatory system was discovered by Ibn al-Nafis Damishqi al-Misri 300 years before William Harvey re-discovered it.

It was he who gave a description of bronchi and interaction between human body’s vessels for air and blood. He also elaborated the function of the coronary arteries as feeding the cardiac muscle.

Abu Ali al-Husayn ibn Abdullah ibn Sina’s Book Al-Qanun fi al-tabib (Canon of Medicine) is the most famous single book in the history of medicine used by Medical Schools in East and West for 500 years.

“It was the first book dealing with evidence based medicine, experimental medicine, clinical trials, randomized controlled trials, efficacy tests, risk factor analysis and the idea of the syndrome in the diagnosis of specific disease”, said Toby Huff.

Chemical Equivalents

Chemical elements and equivalents is found in the work of Jabir Ibn Hayyan who gave the seeds of modern classification of elements into metals and non metals. The concept of chemical equivalents might be traced back to ibn Hayyan. He is also credited with the discovery of Hydrochloric Acid (HCl).

Algorithms

Now a days, we talk about computers, smartphones but have you ever wondered, what is the basic of all this, Algorithms. It comes from Muhammad ibn Musa Al- Khwarizmi’s Latin name ‘algoritmi’. As we know without algorithm there wouldn’t be any computers.

Other Inventions

These are only some of the discoveries and inventions made by Muslims , the list goes on and on like:
• Ethanol, Nitric Acid, Aqua Regia, Petroleum Distillation (Muhammad ibn Zakariya al Razi)
• Food Chains (Al-Jahiz)
• Hard Soap, Glycerin from Olive Oil (Al-Jahiz)
• Observatory and Research Institute (Al-Shammisiyya Observatory in Baghdad)
• Syringe was invented by Ammar ibn Ali-Mawsili in 9th century. He used a hallow glass tube, which he used as a suction to remove cataracts from patients eyes.
• Binomial Theorem (1st formulation by Al Karaji quoted by Al-Samaw’al)
• Magnifying Glass and Convex Lenses (Ibn al-Haytham)
• Blood Measurement Device (Al-Jazari)
• Glass manufacturing (Abbas ibn Firnas)
• Mental institute (Ahmad ibn Tulun )
• Metabolism (Ibn al-Nafees)
• Inhalation anasthesia (Al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr)

Conclusion

Muslims have been asked to ponder and contemplate on the surroundings in the Holy Book Quran, so that spirit of enquiry led to the investigation of scientific methods and ultimately the evolution of modern science.

And it were the Arabs who introduced this spirit and methods of investigation, experiment, observation, measurement, the development of mathematics to Europe.

Unfortunately, modern Muslims have disgraced their ancestors. Look at the cities which were once the hubs of knowledge to the world, now spoiled to ruins.

Muslims should introspect and contemplate that who they are, what were their contributions, what is their image as Muslims, indeed they are the followers of the religion which is complete and that religion is based on knowledge.

So, Muslims should be leading the way. It is just a matter of taking the first step. They must change their attitude and involve in attaining knowledge.

Muqqadas Firdous holds Master’s Degree in Business and PG Diploma in Education Management. He tweets under @muqqadasfirdous.

Featured Image taken from 1001Inventions.com.

The first issue is that religiosity is understood quite differently by an Arab (and indeed a Muslim) than by your average secular western European. 

A recent poll of twenty-five thousand Arabs was published last week by Arab Barometer, a “…nonpartisan research network that provides insight into the social, political, and economic attitudes and values of ordinary citizens across the Arab world” (Arab Barometer). It was one of five major surveys conducted by the organization and provides significant and relevant information about the region. The data is also interesting reading for those concerned with Arab attitudes and opinions.

Spanning eleven MENA countries and commissioned by the BBC, the survey included multiple choice questions on the religious attitudes and practices of Arabs. This most recent poll found that the percentage of Arabs interviewed that identified as non-religious had grown from 8% to 13% since 2013.

Prominent British newspapers such as The Guardian and The Sun jumped to the conclusion that the Arab world was “turning its back on religion”. 

The Arab world is by any measure, in deep crisis. Politically, economically, socially and even religiously (the survey showed a dramatic increase in those reporting a lack of trust of religious leadership). That said, to claim that Arabs were abandoning their religion is – at best – a gross exaggeration. There are a number of important reasons why.

The question posed to participants in the poll was “In general, you would describe yourself as religious, somewhat religious, or not religious?” Basing your argument that Arabs are losing their religion solely on the answers to this question, while ostensibly straightforward, is somewhat problematic.

The first issue is that religiosity is understood quite differently by an Arab (and indeed a Muslim) than by your average secular western European. 

For example, I asked a family member whether they considered themselves religious. “Not really. But I hope, one day” she replied. This response came from someone who prayed five times a day, fasted Ramadan, wore the hijab, and paid zakat. By any western, secular measure, this person would be considered a religious, practicing Muslim. Yet, she did not consider herself as such. This is because for many Muslims, to be religious means to be engaged in many supererogatory acts of worship, not only those which are obligatory. Indeed many practicing Muslims would be loathe to make the claim that they were pious individuals out of modesty.

While the data for the 2018-2019 survey is not yet available on the Arab Barometer site (at the date of writing), this thesis is supported by the data of the previous 2016-2017 poll. Out of the 9,000 participants, around 10.4% said they were not religious. Of the 10.4% that said they were not religious, 18% of them said that they always prayed five times a day and another 11% on top of that said that prayed five times daily most of the time. To suggest that the 29% had “turned their backs on their religion” as these outlets have reported is quite the overstatement. It will be interesting to see how many of those in the 2018-2019 survey who said they weren’t religious are actually practicing Muslims.

I was recently in a popular mall in western Amman, one of the more secularised parts of the Jordan. Maghrib call to prayer had just sounded and I headed to the large prayer hall which could fit around a hundred people. I arrived early and managed to pray in what became a completely packed space. When I finished, I turned around to find people, young and old, waiting outside for their turn to pray. This does not look like a people who have turned their backs on religion. Quite the contrary.

Dr. Moamer Khalili is a doctoral candidate of religious and theological studies at Cardiff University. His area of research is modern atheism and Islamic theology.