What Muslim technologies influenced other civilizations?

Chemical industriesJabir ibn Hayyan (Geber), the "father of chemistry", invented the alembic still and many chemicals, including distilled alcohol, and established the perfume industry.

Muhammad ibn Zakariya ar-Razi (Rhazes) isolated many chemical substances, produced many medications, and described many laboratory apparatus.

Laboratory setup for steam distillation, invented by Avicenna in the 11th century.

Aqua regia was first isolated by Geber.

Hydrochloric acid, a mineral acid, was first isolated by Geber.

Nitric acid, a mineral acid, was first isolated by Geber.

Sulfuric acid, a mineral acid, was first isolated by Geber.

Arsenic, a chemical element, was first isolated by Geber in the 8th century.

Coloured stained glass Windows in the Nasir al-Mulk mosque in Shiraz, Iran.

See also: Alchemy and chemistry in Islam

Early forms of distillation were known to the Babylonians, Greeks and Egyptians since ancient times, but it was Muslim chemists who first invented pure distillation processes which could fully purify chemical substances. They also developed several different variations of distillation (such as dry distillation, destructive distillation and steam distillation) and introduced new distillation aparatus (such as the alembic, still, and retort), and invented a variety of new chemical processes and over 9,000 chemical substances.[2]

Will Durant wrote in The Story of Civilization IV: The Age of Faith:"Chemistry as a science was almost created by the Moslems; for in this field, where the Greeks (so far as we know) were confined to industrial experience and vague hypothesis, the Saracens introduced precise observation, controlled experiment, and careful records. They invented and named the alembic (al-anbiq), chemically analyzed innumerable substances, composed lapidaries, distinguished alkalis and acids, investigated their affinities, studied and manufactured hundreds of drugs. Alchemy, which the Moslems inherited from Egypt, contributed to chemistry by a thousand incidental discoveries, and by its method, which was the most scientific of all medieval operations."[3]

Robert Briffault wrote in The Making of Humanity:"Chemistry, the rudiments of which arose in the processes employed by Egyptian metallurgists and jewellers combining metals into various alloys and 'tinting' them to resemble gold, processes long preserved as a secret monopoly of the priestly colleges, and clad in the usual mystic formulas, developed in the hands of the Arabs into a widespread, organized passion for research which led them to the invention of distillation, sublimation, filtration, to the discovery of alcohol, of nitric and sulphuric acids (the only acid known to the ancients was vinegar), of the alkalis, of the salts of mercury, of antimony and bismuth, and laid the basis of all subsequent chemistry and physical research."[4]

[edit] Chemical processesThe following chemical processes were invented by Muslim chemists:

• Assation (or roasting), cocotion (or digestion), ceration, lavage, solution, mixture, and fixation.[5]

• Calcination (al-tashwiya): Invented by Geber.[6][7]

• Crystallization (al-tabalwur): Invented by Geber.[8]

• Distillation, pure (al-taqtir): Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan) was the first to fully purify chemical substances through distillation, using the alembic, in the 8th century.[4]

• Destructive distillation: Invented by Muslim chemists in the 8th century to produce tar from petroleum.[9]

• Dry distillation

• Filtration (al-tarshih): Invented by Geber.[4]

• Liquefaction, purification, oxidisation, and evaporation (tabkhir): Invented by Geber.[10]

• Solution (al-tahlil), sublimation(al-tas'id), amalgamation (al-talghim), ceration (al-tashmi), and a method of converting a substance into a thick paste or fusible solid.[6]

• Steam distillation: Invented by Avicenna in the early 11th century for the purpose of producing essential oils.[11][citation needed]

• Water purification

[edit] Chemical substances

• Arsenic, alkali, alkali salt, borax, and pure sal ammoniac: Isolated by Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan) in the 8th century.[7]

• Cheese glue and plated mail: Invented by Geber.[12]

• Derivative and artificial chemical substances: In the 10th century, Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi wrote that he and his Muslim predecessors (Calid, Geber and al-Kindi) invented the following derivative and artificial substances: lead(II) oxide (PbO), red lead (Pb3O4), tin(II) oxide(Isfidaj), copper acetate (Zaniar), copper(II) oxide (CuO), lead sulfide, zinc oxide, bismuth oxide, antimony oxide, iron rust, iron acetate, Daws (a contituent of steel), cinnabar (HgS), arsenic trioxide (As2O3), alkali (al-Qili), sodium hydroxide (caustic soda), and Qalimiya (anything that separates from metals during their purification).[13]

• Ethanol and pure ammonia: Isolated by Arabic chemists.[14]

• Lead carbonatic: Isolated by Geber.[15]

• Medicinal substances: Muslim chemists discovered 2,000 medicinal substances.[2]

• Potassium nitrate, pure: Isolated by Hasan al-Ramah in the 1270s.[7]

• Rose water: First produced by Muslim chemists in the medieval Islamic world through the distillation of roses, for use in the drinking and perfumery industries.[7]

• Sal nitrum: Isolated by Geber.[7]

Acids

• Aqua regia: Isolated by Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan) in the 8th century.[7]

• Carboxylic acids: Geber isolated Acetic acid from vinegar.[8][16] He is also credited with the discovery and isolation of Citric acid, the sour component of lemons and other unripe fruits.[8]

• Mineral acids: The mineral acids-nitric acid, sulfuric acid, and hydrochloric acid-were first isolated by Geber.[17] He originally referred to sulfuric acid as the oil of vitriol.[7][14][18]

• Organic acids: Geber isolated Uric acid.[10] He also isolated Tartaric acid from wine-making residues.[8]

Elements

• Arsenic: Isolated by Geber in the 8th century.[15]

• Antimony: Isolated by Geber.[4][15]

[edit] Food and drink

• Coffee: Produced by Khalid in Kaffa, Ethiopia, in the 9th century.[10]

• Confectionery: Due to advances in sugar production and the invention of sugar refineries, this led to the production of early confectioneries by the Arabs.[19]

• Distilled water and water purification: Purified by Muslim chemists.[14]

• Pure distilled alcohol and ethanol: First isolated by Al-Kindi (Alkindus) in the 9th century.[7][20] Ahmad Y Hassan wrote: "The distillation of wine and the properties of alcohol were known to Islamic chemists from the eighth century. The prohibition of wine in Islam did not mean that wine was not produced or consumed or that Arab alchemists did not subject it to their distillation processes. Jabir ibn Hayyan described a cooling technique which can be applied to the distillation of alcohol."[21]

• Restaurant and three-course meal: The earliest restaurants came into existence throughout the Islamic world from the 10th century, shortly before restaurants appeared in China in the 11th century. The Islamic world had "restaurants where one could purchase all sorts of prepared dishes." These restaurants were mentioned by Al-Muqaddasi (born 945) in the late 10th century.[22] Restaurants in medieval Islamic Spain served three-course meals, which was earlier introduced in the 9th century by Ziryab, who insisted that meals should be served in three separate courses consisting of soup, the main course, and dessert.[23]

• Rose water: See Chemical substances above.

• Sugar refinery: See Industrial milling below.

[edit] Glass industry

• Artificial gemstone: Geber (d. 815) first described the production of high-quality coloured glass cut into artificial gemstones.[24][25]

• Artificial pearl and purification of pearls: In his Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (The Book of the Hidden Pearl), Jabir described the first recipes for the manufacture of artificial pearls and for the purification of pearls that were discoloured from the sea or from grease.[26]

• Coloured stained glass Windows: Muslim architects in Southwest Asia were the first to produce stained glass Windows using coloured glass rather than stone producing a stained glass-like effect, as was the case in early churches. In the 8th century, the Arab chemist Geber scientifically described 46 original recipes for producing high-purity coloured glass in Kitab al-Durra al-Maknuna (The Book of the Hidden Pearl), in addition to 12 recipes inserted by al-Marrakishi in a later edition of the book.[24][25]

• Concave, convex and spherical mirrors: Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) gave the earliest accurate descriptions of concave and convex mirrors in both cylindrical and spherical geometries,[27] and he also gave the earliest accurate description of spherical mirrors.[28]

• Dying and artificial colouring of gemstones and pearls: In The Book of the Hidden Pearl, Geber described the first recipes for the dying and artificial colouring of gemstones and pearls.[26]

• Glass factory: The first industrial complex for glass and pottery production was built in Ar-Raqqah, Syria, in the 8th century. Extensive experimentation was carried out at the complex, which was two kilometres in length, and a variety of innovative high-purity glass were developed there. Two other similar complexes have also been discovered, and nearly three hundred new chemical recipes for glass are known to have been produced at all three sites.[29] The first glass factories were thus built by Muslim craftsmen in the Islamic world. The first glass factories in Europe were later built in the 11th century by Egyptian craftsmen in Corinth, Greece.[17]

• Quartz glass and Silica glass: The production of glass from stone (including quartz) and sand, was pioneered by Abbas Ibn Firnas in the 9th century.[30]

• Parabolic mirror: Invented by Ibn Sahl in the 10th century.[31] These observations were repeated by Ibn al-Haytham in his Book of Optics (1021).[28]

[edit] Military technologySee also: Alchemy and chemistry in Islam

A picture of a 15th century Granadian siege cannon from the book Al-izz wal rifa'a.

The Ottoman Janissary corps were using matchlock muskets since the 1440s. They are depicted battling the Knights Hospitaller in this 1522 painting.

• Damascus steel: One of the most famous steels produced in the medieval Near East was Damascus steel used for sWordmaking, and mostly produced in Damascus, Syria, in the period from 900 to 1750. This was produced using the crucible steel method, based on the earlier Indian wootz steel. This process was further refined in the Middle East using locally produced steels. The process allowed carbides to precipitate out as micro particles arranged in sheets or bands within the body of a blade. The carbides are far harder than the surrounding low carbon steel, allowing the sWordsmith to make an edge which would cut hard materials with the precipitated carbides, while the bands of softer steel allowed the sWord as a whole to remain tough and flexible. A team of researchers based at the Technical University of Dresden that uses x-rays and electron microscopy to examine Damascus steel discovered the presence of cementite nanowires[32] and carbon nanotubes.[33] Peter Paufler, a member of the Dresden team, says that these nanostructures give Damascus steel its distinctive properties[34] and are a result of the forging process.[34][35]

• Dissolved talc: Egyptian soldiers at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 were the first to smear dissolved talc (from Arabic talq) on their hands, as forms of fire protection from gunpowder.[36]

• Fireproof clothing: Asbestos may have possibly been used as a form of fire protection by the ancient Chinese and Greeks. However, it was Egyptian soldiers at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260 who were the first to wear fireproof clothing to protect themselves from gunpowder fires as well as chemicals in gunpowder warfare. Their fireroof protective clothing consisted of a silk tunic (still worn by Formula 1 drivers underneath their Nomex fire suits), aketon (from the Arabic al-qutn "the cotton"), and mainly a woolen overtunic that protects against fires and chemical weapons], similar to the clothing worn by modern soldiers for protection against biological, chemical and nuclear weapons. Due to the effectiveness of their fireproof clothing, the Egyptian soldiers were able to attach gunpowder cartridges and incendiary devices to their clothing.

• Gunpowder cartridge: Gunpowder cartridges were first employed by the Egyptians, for use in their fire lances and hand cannons against the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.[36]

• Hand cannon, handgun, and small arms: The first portable hand cannons (midfa) loaded with explosive gunpowder, the first example of a handgun and portable firearm, were used by the Egyptians to repel the Mongols at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260, and again in 1304. The gunpowder compositions used for the cannons at these battles were later described in several manuscripts in the early 14th century. According to Shams al-Din Muhammad (d. 1327), the cannons had an explosive gunpowder composition (74% saltpetre, 11% sulfur, 15% carbon) almost identical to the ideal compositions for explosive gunpowder used in modern times (75% saltpetre, 10% sulfur, 15% carbon).[36]

• Matchlock: The Janissary corps of the Ottoman army were using matchlock muskets as early as the 1440s.[37] The first dated illustration of a matchlock mechanism in Europe dates to 1475.

• Purified potassium nitrate: Muslim chemists were the first to purify potassium nitrate (saltpetre; natrun or barud in Arabic) to the weapons-grade purity for use in gunpowder, as potassium nitrate needs to be purified to be used effectively. This purification process was first described by Ibn Bakhtawayh in his al-Muqaddimat in 1029. The first complete purification process for potassium nitrate is described in 1270 by the Arab chemist and engineer Hasan al-Rammah of Syria in his book al-Furusiyya WA al-Manasib al-Harbiyya ('The Book of Military Horsemanship and Ingenious War Devices', a.k.a. the Treatise on Horsemanship and Stratagems of War). He first described the use of potassium carbonate (in the form of wood ashes) to remove calcium and magnesium salts from the potassium nitrate.[36][38] Hasan al-Rammah also describes the purifying of saltpetre using the chemical processes of solution and crystallization, and this was the first clear method for the purification of saltpetre.[39] Bert S. Hall,[40] however, disputes the efficacy of al-Rammah's formula for the purification of potassium nitrate.

[edit] Oil industry

• Essential oil: Invented by Abū Alī ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) in the 11th century.[11]

• Kerosene and kerosene lamp: Invented by Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi in the 9th century.[41]

• Oil field, petroleum industry, naphtha, and tar: An early petroleum industry was established in the 8th century, when the streets of Baghdad were paved with tar, derived from petroleum through destructive distillation. In the 9th century, oil fields were first exploited in the area around modern Baku, Azerbaijan, to produce naphtha. These fields were described by al-Masudi in the 10th century, and by Marco Polo in the 13th century, who described the output of its oil wells as hundreds of shiploads.[9]

• Petrol: Muslim chemists were the first to produce petrol from crude oil.[42]

[edit] PotteryMain article: Islamic pottery

Tin-glazed Hispano-Moresque ware with lusterware decoration, from Spain circa 1475.

• Albarello: An albarello is a type of maiolica earthenware jar originally designed to hold apothecaries' ointments and dry drugs. The development of this type of pharmacy jar had its roots in the Islamic Middle East. Brought to Italy by Hispano-Moresque traders, the earliest Italian examples were produced in Florence in the 15th century.

• Hispano-Moresque ware: This was a style of Islamic pottery created in Islamic Spain, after the Moors had introduced two ceramic techniques to Europe: glazing with an opaque white tin-glaze, and painting in metallic lusters. Hispano-Moresque ware was distinguished from the pottery of Christendom by the Islamic character of it decoration.[43]

• Lusterware: Invented by Geber, who applied it to ceramic glazes in the 8th century.[44] The technique soon became popular in Persia from the 9th century, and lusterware was later produced in Egypt during the Fatimid caliphate in the 10th-12th centuries. While the production of lusterware continued in the Middle East, it spread to Europe-first to Al-Andalus, notably at Malaga, and then to Italy, where it was used to enhance maiolica.

• Pottery factory: The first industrial complex for glass and pottery production was built in Ar-Raqqah, Syria, in the 8th century. Extensive experimentation was carried out at the complex, which was two kilometres in length. Two other similar complexes have also been discovered.[29]

• Stonepaste ceramic: Invented in 9th-century Iraq,[45] it was a vitreous or semivitreous ceramic ware of fine texture, made primarily from non-refactory fire clay.[46]

• Tin-glazing: The tin-glazing of ceramics was invented by Muslim potters in 8th-century Basra, Iraq. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first examples of this technique can be found as blue-painted ware in 8th-century Basra.[47]

• Tin-glazed pottery: The earliest tin-glazed pottery appears to have been made in Iraq in the 9th century, the oldest fragments having been excavated during the First World War from the palace of Samarra about fifty miles north of Baghdad.[48] From there, it spread to Egypt, Persia and Spain, before reaching Italy in the Renaissance, Holland in the 16th century, and England, France and other European countries shortly after.

[edit] Civil engineeringThe interiors of the Alhambra in Spain are decorated with arabesque designs.

The minaret is a distinct feature of Islamic architecture. The spiralling minaret located at the Great Mosque of Samarra, Iraq built in 852, is one of the oldest.

At 72.5 meters, the Qutab Minar was the tallest minaret until the 20th century, and remains the tallest brick and stone minaret in the world.

The tallest minaret is currently the one at Hassan II Mosque, at 210 metres (689 ft) tall, pictured above.

An illustration of patterned Girih tiles, found in Islamic architecture dating back over five centuries ago. These featured the first quasicrystal patterns and self-similar fractal quasicrystalline tilings.

The norias in Hama on the Orontes River in Syria. The flywheel was first employed in a noria by Ibn Bassal in the 11th century.

The first windmills were built in the Islamic world and introduced to Europe through Spain.

During the Muslim Agricultural Revolution, the early Muslim Arab Empire was ahead of its time regarding domestic water systems such as water cleaning systems and advanced water transportation systems resulting in better agriculture, something that helped in issues related to Islamic hygienical jurisprudence.[49] Al-Jazari invented a variety of machines for raising water in 1206,[50] as well as water mills and water wheels with cams on their axle used to operate automata in the late 12th century.[51]

• Kerosene lamp, and litter collection facilities: Cordoba had the first facilities and waste containers for litter collection.[52] The first kerosene lamp was invented by Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi in the 9th century.[41]

• Surveying instruments: Muslim engineers invented a variety of surveying instruments for accurate levelling, including a wooden board with a plumb line and two hooks, an equilateral triangle with a plumb line and two hooks, and a "reed level". They also invented a rotating alidade used for accurate alignment, and a surveying astrolabe used for alignment, measuring angles, triangulation, finding the width of a river, and the distance between two points separated by an impassable obstruction.[53]

• Tar roads and pavements: Tar was a vital component of the first sealed tarmac roads. The streets of Baghdad were the first to be paved with tar from the 8th century AD. Tar was derived from petroleum, accessed from oil fields in the region, through the chemical process of destructive distillation.[9]

• Ventillator: The first ventillators were invented in Islamic Egypt and were widely used in many houses throughout Cairo during the Middle Ages. These ventillators were later described in detail by Abd al-Latif al-Baghdadi in 1200, who reported that almost every house in Cairo has a ventillator, and that they cost anywhere from 1 to 500 dinars depending on their sizes and shapes. Most ventillators in the city were oriented towards the Qibla (the direction of Mecca), as was the city in general.[54]

[edit] Architecture

• Acequia: A community operated waterway used in Spain and former Spanish colonies in the Americas for irrigation, they were first introduced by the Moors in Al-Andalus before the 13th century.[17]

• Arabesque: An elaborative application of repeating geometric forms often found decorating the walls of mosques. Geometric artwork in the form of the Arabesque was not used in the Middle East or Mediterranean Basin until the Islamic Golden Age. Euclidean geometry as expounded on by Al-Abbās ibn Said al-Jawharī (ca. 800-860) in his Commentary on Euclid's Elements, the trigonometry of Aryabhata and Brahmagupta as elaborated on by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī (ca. 780-850), and the development of spherical geometry[55] by Abū al-Wafā' al-Būzjānī (940-998) and spherical trigonometry by Al-Jayyani (989-1079)[56] for determining the Qibla (direction to Mecca) and times of Salah prayers and Ramadan,[55] all served as an impetus for the art form that was to become the Arabesque.

• Bridge dam: The bridge dam was used to power a water wheel working a water-raising mechanism. The first was built in Dezful, Iran, which could raise 50 cubits of water for the water supply to all houses in the town. Similar bridge dams later appeared in other parts of the Islamic world.[57]

• Central heating through underfloor pipes: The hypocaust heating system used by the Romans continued to be in use around the Mediterranean region during late Antiquity and by the Umayyad caliphate. By the 12th century, Muslim engineers in Syria introduced an improved central heating system, where heat travelled through underfloor pipes from the furnace room, rather than through a hypocaust. This central heating system was widely used in bath-houses throughout the medieval Islamic world.[58]

• Cobwork: The earliest appearance of cobwork (tabya) dates back to the Maghreb and Al-Andalus in the 11th century, and was first described in detail by Ibn Khaldun in the 14th century, who regarded it as a characteristically Muslim practice. Cobwork later spread to other parts of Europe from the 12th century onwards.[59]

• Geared and hydropowered water supply system: Al-Jazari developed the earliest water supply system to be driven by gears and hydropower, which was built in 13th century Damascus to supply water to its mosques and Bimaristan hospitals. The system had water from a lake turn a scoop-wheel and a system of gears which transported jars of water up to a water channel that led to mosques and hospitals in the city.[60]

• Girih tiles, quasicrystal pattern, and self-similar fractal quasicrystalline tiling: Geometrical quasicrystal patterns were first employed in the girih tiles found in medieval Islamic architecture dating back over five centuries ago. In 2007, Professor Peter Lu of Harvard University and Professor Paul Steinhardt of Princeton University published a paper in the journal Science suggesting that girih tilings possessed properties consistent with self-similar fractal quasicrystalline tilings such as the Penrose tilings, predating them by five centuries.[61][62]

• High-rise roof garden: The medieval Egyptian city of Fustat had a number of high-rise buildings which Nasir Khusraw in the early 11th century described as rising up to 14 stories, with roof gardens on the top storey complete with ox-drawn water wheels for irrigating them.[63]

• Minaret: The minaret is a distinctive architectural feature of Islamic architecture, especially mosques, dating back to the early centuries of Islam. Minarets are generally tall spires with onion-shaped crowns, usually either free standing or much taller than any surrounding support structure. The tallest minaret in pre-modern times was the Qutub Minar, which was 72.5 meters (237.9 ft) tall and was built in the 12th century, and it remains the tallest brick and stone minaret in the world. The tallest minaret in modern times is the one at Hassan II Mosque, which is 210 metres (689 ft) tall and was built in 1986.

[edit] Industrial millingSee also: Muslim Agricultural Revolution

A variety of industrial mills were active in the medieval Islamic world, including fulling mills, gristmills, hullers, paper mills, sawmills, stamp mills, steel mills, sugar mills, and windmills, many of which were original inventions by Muslim engineers. By the 11th century, every province throughout the Islamic world had these industrial mills in operation, from Al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.[64] These advances made it possible for many industrial operations that were previously driven by manual labour in ancient times to be driven by machinery instead in the Islamic world. The transfer of these technologies to medieval Europe later laid the foundations for the Industrial Revolution in 18th century Europe.[65]

• Bridge mill: The bridge mill was a unique type of water mill that was built as part of the superstructure of a bridge. The earliest record of a bridge mill is from Cordoba, Spain in the 12th century.[66]

• Factory milling installation: The first factory milling installations were built by Muslim engineers throughout every city and urban community in the Islamic world. For example, the factory milling complex in 10th century Baghdad could produce 10 tonnes of flour] every day.[67] The first large milling installations in Europe were built in 12th century Islamic Spain.[68]

• Flywheel-driven noria: See Mechanical technology below.

• Fulling mill: The first references to fulling mills are reported in Persia from the 10th century. By the time of the Crusades in the 11th century, fulling mills were active throughout the Islamic world, from Islamic Spain and North Africa to Central Asia.[64]

• Geared and wind powered gristmills with trip hammers: The first geared gristmills[69] were invented by Muslim engineers in the Islamic world, and were used for grinding corn and other seeds to produce meals, and many other industrial uses such as fulling cloth, husking rice, papermaking, pulping sugarcane, and crushing metallic ores before extraction. Gristmills in the Islamic world were often made from both watermills and windmills. In order to adapt water wheels for gristmilling purposes, cams were used for raising and releasing trip hammers to fall on a material.[70] The first wind-powered gristmills driven by windmills were built in what are now Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries.[68]

• Hydropowered forge and finery forge: The first forge to be driven by a hydropowered water mill rather than manual labour, also known as a finery forge, was invented in 12th century Islamic Spain.[68]

• Paper mill: Paper was introduced into the Muslim world by Chinese prisoners after the Battle of Talas. Muslims made several improvements to papermaking, mainly the use of hydropower rather than manual labour to produce paper, and they built the first paper mills in Baghdad, Iraq, as early as 794. Papermaking was transformed from an art into a major industry as a result.[71][72]

• Stamp mill: Stamp mills were first used by miners in Samarkand from as early as 973. They were used in medieval Persia for the purpose of crushing ore. By the 11th century, stamp mills were in widespread use throughout the Islamic world, from Islamic Spain and North Africa to Central Asia.[64]

• Sugar refinery: The first sugar refineries were built by Muslim engineers.[64] They were first driven by water mills, and then windmills from the 9th and 10th centuries in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran.[68]

• Underground watermill: Other innovations that were unique to the Islamic world include the situation of watermills in the underground irrigation tunnels of a qanat and on the main canals of valley-floor irrigation systems.[68]

• Windmill: The first windmills were built in Sistan, Afghanistan, sometime between the 7th century and 9th century, as described by Muslim geographers. These were vertical axle windmills, which had long vertical driveshafts with rectangle shaped blades.[73] The first windmill may have been constructed as early as the time of the second Rashidun caliph Umar (634-644 AD), though some argue that this account may have been a 10th century amendment.[74] Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind corn and draw up water, and used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries.[70] The first horizontal windmills were built in what are now Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran in the 9th and 10th centuries. They had a variety of uses, such as grinding grain, pumping water, and crushing sugar-cane.[68] A small primitive wind wheel operating an organ is described as early as the 1st century AD by Hero of Alexandria, marking probably the first instance of a wind powering machine in history.[75][76] Horizontal axle windmills of the type generally used today were developed in Northwestern Europe in the 1180s.[77]

[edit] CosmeticsA number of hygienic cosmetics were invented by Muslim chemists, cosmetologists and physicians.[78]

• Cosmetic dentistry and tooth bleaching: In his Al-Tasrif (c. 1000), Abulcasis described methods for strengthening the gums and introduced the method of tooth bleaching using tooth whiteners.[79]

• Bangs: In the 9th century, Ziryab introduced a new hairstyle for women in Al-Andalus: a "shorter, shaped cut, with bangs on the forehead and the ears uncovered."[80]

• Beauty parlour and cosmetology school: In the 9th century, Ziryab opened the first beauty parlour and "cosmetology school" for women near Alcázar, Al-Andalus."[80]

• Chemical depilatory for hair removal: In the 9th century, Ziryab taught women in Al-Andalus "the shaping of eyebrows and the use of depilatories for removing body hair".[80]

• Hair care and hair dye: In his Al-Tasrif (c. 1000), Abulcasis first described hair dyes for changing human hair color to blond or black hair, and hair care for correcting kinky or curly hair.[79] Dyestuff was also created by earlier Muslim chemists.[81]

• Lipstick, solid: In 1000 CE, the Andalusian Arab cosmetologist Abu al-Qasim al-Zahrawi (Abulcasis) invented solid lipsticks, which were perfumed stocks rolled and pressed in special molds, and he described them in his Al-Tasrif.[79]

• Pomade: Produced by Arabs.[14]

[edit] Hygiene

• Hand cream and lotion, and suntan lotion[disambiguation needed]: In his Al-Tasrif (c. 1000), Abulcasis described the first hand creams and lotions, and the first early suntan lotions, describing their ingredients and benefits in depth.[79]

• Toothpaste, functional and pleasant: In the 9th century, the Persian musician and fashion designer Ziryab is known to have invented a type of toothpaste, which he popularized throughout Islamic Spain.[82] The exact ingredients of this toothpaste are not currently known,[80] but unlike the earlier Egyptian and Roman toothpastes, Ziryab's toothpaste was reported to have been both "functional and pleasant to taste."[82] In circa 1000, Abulcasis recommended a toothpaste made from cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and coriander leaves, as a remedy for bad breath resulting from eating garlic or onions.[79]

[edit] PerfumeryPerfume usage was recorded in the Arabian Peninsula since the 7th century, and Muslims made many advances in perfumery in the proceeding centuries. This included the extraction of numerous fragrances, as well as the cheap mass-production of incenses. Muslim scientists such as Al-Kindi elaborated a vast number of recipes for a wide range of perfumes, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals.

• Perfume industry: Established by Geber (Jabir) (b. 722, Iraq) and Al-Kindi (b. 801, Iraq).[83] Jabir developed many techniques, including distillation, evaporation and filtration, which enabled the collection of the odour of plants into a vapour that could be collected in the form of water or oil.[83] Al-Kindi carried out extensive research and experiments in combining various plants and other sources to produce a variety of scent products.

• Camphor: In the 9th century, the Arab chemist Al-Kindi (Alkindus) provided the earliest recipe for the production of camphor in his Kitab Kimiya' al-'Itr (Book of the Chemistry of Perfume).[84]

• Deodorants, under-arm and roll-on: In the 9th century, Ziryab invented under-arm deodorants in Al-Andalus.[23] In circa 1000, another under-arm deodorant was described in Al-Andalus by Abulcasis,[79] who also invented perfumed stocks, rolled and pressed in special moulds, similar to modern roll-on deodorants.[85]

• Extraction of fragrances through steam distillation: Introduced by Abū Alī ibn Sīnā (Avicenna) in the 11th century.

• Ghaliya: The preparation of a perfume called ghaliya, which contained musk, amber and other ingredients, and the use of various drugs and apparatus], was produced by al-Kindi.

• Musk and floral perfumes: Produced in the 11th-12th centuries in the Arabian Peninsula.[81]

• Jasmine and citrus perfumes: Muslims introduced new raw ingredients in perfumery, which were produced from different spices, herbals, and other fragrance materials, which are still used in modern perfumery. These included jasmine from South and Southeast Asia, and citrus fruits from East Asia.

• Rose water: See Chemical substances above.

[edit] InstitutionsA number of important economic, educational, legal and scientific institutions previously unknown in the ancient world have their origins in the medieval Islamic world.

• Academic degree-granting university:[86] If the definition of a university is assumed to mean an institution of higher education and research which issues academic degrees at all levels (bachelor, master and doctorate) like in the modern sense of the Word, then the medieval Madrasahs known as Jami'ah("university" in Arabic) founded in the 9th century would be the first examples of such an institution.[87][88] The University of Al Karaouine in Fez, Morocco is thus recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest degree-granting university in the world with its founding in 859 by Fatima al-Fihri.[89] Also in the 9th century, Bimaristan medical schools were founded in the medieval Islamic world, where medical degrees and diplomas were issued to students of Islamic medicine who were qualified to be a practicing Doctor of Medicine.[88][90] Al-Azhar University, founded in Cairo, Egypt in 975, was a Jami'ah university which offered a variety of post-graduate degrees (Ijazah),[88] and had individual faculties[91] for a theological seminary, Islamic law and jurisprudence, Arabic grammar, Islamic astronomy, early Islamic philosophy, and logic in Islamic philosophy.[88] The modern academic robe worn by graduates was also adapted from the robe worn by the Alim (alumni).[92]

• Agency and Aval: The first agencies were the Hawala, mentioned in texts of Islamic jurisprudence as early as the 8th century. Hawala itself later influenced the development of the agency in common law and in civil laws such as the Aval in French law and the Avallo in Italian law. The Words Aval and Avallo were themselves derived from Hawala. The transfer of debt, which was "not permissible under Roman law but became widely practiced in medieval Europe, especially in commercial transactions", was due to the large extent of the "trade conducted by the Italian cities with the Muslim world in the Middle Ages." The agency was also "an institution unknown to Roman law" as no "individual could conclude a binding contract on behalf of another as his agent." In Roman law, the "contractor himself was considered the party to the contract and it took a second contract between the person who acted on behalf of a principal and the latter in order to transfer the rights and the obligations deriving from the contract to him." On the other hand, Islamic law and the later common law "had no difficulty in accepting agency as one of its institutions in the field of contracts and of obligations in general."[93]

• Assize of novel disseisin and contract protected by the action of debt: According to Professor John Makdisi, the "royal English contract protected by the action of debt" has origins in "the Islamic Aqd", and "the English assize of novel disseisin" has origins in "the Islamic Istihqaq", in classical Maliki jurisprudence.[94]

• College: The origins of the college lie in the medieval Islamic world. The madrasah was a medieval Islamic college of law and theology, usually affiliated with a mosque, and was funded by early charitable trusts known as Waqf, the origins of the trust law.[87][95]

• Jury and jury trial: The closest predecessor to the English jury trial was the Lafif in the Maliki school of classical Islamic law and jurisprudence, which was developed between the 8th and 11th centuries. Like the English jury, the Islamic Lafif was a body of twelve members drawn from the neighborhood and sworn to tell the truth, who were bound to give a unanimous verdict, about matters "which they had personally seen or heard, binding on the judge, to settle the truth concerning facts in a case, between ordinary people, and obtained as of right by the plaintiff." According to John Makdisi, "no other institution in any legal institution studied to date shares all of these characteristics with the English jury."[94]

The first observatories to serve as research institutes were built by Muslim astronomers. The most famous was the Maragheh observatory, the current status of which is pictured here.

• Observatory as a research institute: As opposed to a private observation post as was the case in ancient times,[96] the astronomical observatories in the Islamic world were the first true observatories, in the sense that they functioned as early research institutes, like modern observatories.[86] The Islamic observatory was the first specialized astronomical institution with its own scientific staff,[97] director, astronomical program,[96] large astronomical instruments, and building where astronomical research and observations are carried out. Islamic observatories were also the first to employ enormously large astronomical instruments in order to improve the accuracy of their observations.[97] Famous examples include the observatories at Baghdad and Ray, Iran, the Maragheh observatory, Ulugh Beg's observatory at Samarqand, and the Istanbul observatory of al-Din.

• Public library and lending library:[86] A number of distinct features of the modern library were introduced in the Islamic world, where libraries not only served as a collection of manuscripts as was the case in ancient libraries, but also as a public library and lending library, a centre for the instruction and spread of sciences and ideas, a place for meetings and discussions, and sometimes as a lodging for scholars or boarding school for pupils. The concept of the library catalogue was also introduced in medieval Islamic libraries, where books were organized into specific genres and categories.[98]

• Restaurant: See Food and drink above.

• Trust institution and charitable trust: The Waqfin Islamic law, which developed in the Islamic world from the 7th to 9th centuries, were the first charitable trust.[99] Every waqf was required to have a waqif (founder), mutawillis (trustee), qadi (judge) and beneficiaries.[100] Under both a waqf and a trust, "property is reserved, and its usufruct appropriated, for the benefit of specific individuals, or for a general charitable purpose; the corpus becomes inalienable; estates for life in favor of successive beneficiaries can be created" and "without regard to the law of inheritance or the rights of the heirs; and continuity is secured by the successive appointment of trustees or mutawillis."[101]

[edit] Medical institutionsSee also: Bimaristan, Islamic medicine, and Islamic psychology

• Apothecary, Drugstore, and Pharmacy: The first drugstores and pharmacies were opened by Muslim pharmacists in Baghdad in 754,[2] while the first apothecary shops were also founded by Muslim practitioners at the time.[102]

• Medical school: The Islamic Bimaristans were not only hospitals, but also the first medical schools and universities to issue diplomas. The first of these institutions was opened in Baghdad during the time of Harun al-Rashid. They then appeared in Egypt from 872 and then in Islamic Spain, Persia and the Maghreb thereafter. Physicians and surgeons at Islamic hospital-universities gave lectures to medical students and diplomas were issued to students who completed their education and were qualified to be doctors of medicine.[103]

• Psychiatric hospital: The first psychiatric hospitals were built in the medieval Islamic world. The first of these were built built in Baghdad in 705, Fes in the early 8th century, and Cairo in 800.[104]

• Public hospital: The Islamic Bimaristans were the first free public hospitals, and replaced the healing temples and sleep temples found in ancient times.[86] They were hospital in the modern sense, an establishment where the ill were welcomed and cared for by qualified staff. In this way, Muslim physicians were the first to make a distinction between a hospital and other different forms of sleep and healing temples, hospices, assylums, lazarets and leper-houses, all of which in ancient times were more concerned with isolating the sick and the mad from society "rather than to offer them any way to a true cure." The medieval Bimaristan hospitals are thus considered "the first hospitals" in the modern sense of the Word.[105]

• Quarantine: The discovery of the contagious nature of Infectious Diseases and the use of quarantine to limit the spread of contagious diseases was introduced by Avicenna in The Canon of Medicine (1025).[106]

• Geriatric medicine: Arabs were the first to write books on Geriatric medicine.

[edit] Mechanical technologyAl-Jazari invented the bayonet fitting, camshaft, bolted lock, laminate, paper model, calibrated orifice, sand casting, gate operator, linkage, water level, crank-driven and hydropowered saqiya chain pumps, double-action reciprocating piston suction pump, programmable humanoid robot band, programmable analog computer, flush mechanism, and automated servants.

Al-Jazari's candle clock employed a bayonet fitting for the first time in 1206.

Drawing of the self-trimming lamp in Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir's 9th century Arabic treatise on mechanical devices, the Book of Ingenious Devices.

Diagram of a hydropowered water-raising machine from The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices by Al-Jazari in 1206.

The double-action reciprocating suction piston pump with a valve and crankshaft-connecting rod mechanism, from a manuscript of Al-Jazari, considered to be a "father of modern day engineering".

The programmable humanoid robot band of Al-Jazari, considered to be a "father of robotics".

The programmable humanoid robot band designed by Al-Jazari in 1206.

The hand washing automaton with a flush mechanism designed by Al-Jazari in 1206.

• Artificial thunder, lightning and weather simulation: Abbas Ibn Firnas invented an artificial weather simulation room, in which spectators saw stars and clouds, and were astonished by artificial thunder and lightning, which were produced by mechanisms hidden in his basement laboratory.[107][108]

• Bayonet fitting: Al-Jazari's candle clock in 1206 employed, for the first time, a bayonet fitting, a fastener mechanism still used in modern times.[109]

• Camshaft: The first known use of cams on a camshaft were invented in Iraq by Al-Jazari in 1206.[110] His camshaft was attached to a water wheel and was used to operate levers moving robotic musicians in his castle clock (see Analog computers below).[111]

• Bolted lock, and mechanical controls: According to Donald Routledge Hill, Al-Jazari first described several early mechanical controls, including "a large metal door...and a lock with four bolts."[70]

• Complex segmental and epicyclic gearing: Segmental gears ("a piece for receiving or communicating reciprocating motion from or to a cogwheel, consisting of a sector of a circular gear, or ring, having cogs on the periphery, or face."[112]) and epicyclic gears were both first invented by the 11th century Arab engineer Ibn Khalaf al-Muradi from Islamic Spain. He employed both these types of gears in the gear trains of his mechanical clocks. Simple gears have been known before him, but this was the the first known case of complex gears used to transmit high torque.[17] Segmental gears were also later employed by Al-Jazari in 1206. Professor Lynn Townsend White, Jr. wrote: "Segmental gears first clearly appear in Al-Jazari, in the West they emerge in Giovanni de Dondi's astronomical clock finished in 1364, and only with the great Sienese engineer Francesco di Giorgio (1501) did they enter the general vocabulary of European machine design."[113]

• Design and construction methods: According to Donald Routledge Hill, "We see for the first time in Al-Jazari's work several concepts important for both design and construction: the lamination of timber to minimize warping, the static balancing of wheels, the use of wooden templates (a kind of pattern), the use of paper models to establish designs, the calibration of orifices, the grinding of the seats and plugs of valves together with emery powder to obtain a watertight fit, and the casting of metals in closed mold boxes with sand."[70]

• Escapement mechanism in rotating wheel: Al-Jazari invented a method for controlling the speed of rotation of a wheel using an escapement mechanism in 1206.[114]

• Fountain pen: The earliest historical record of a reservoir fountain pen dates back to the 10th century. In 953, Al-Muizz Lideenillah, the caliph of Egypt, demanded a pen which would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen which held ink in a reservoir and delivered it to the nib via gravity and capillary action. As recorded by Qadi al-Nu'man al-Tamimi (d. 974) in his Kitdb al-Majalis WA 'l-musayardt, al-Mu'izz instructed and commissioned the construction of a fountain reservoir pen.[115][116]

• Gate operator: The first automatic doors were created by Hero of Alexandria and Chinese engineers under Emperor Yang of Sui prior to Islam. This was followed by the first hydraulics-powered automatic gate operators, invented by Al-Jazari in 1206.[117] Al-Jazari also created automatic doors as part of one of his elaborate water clocks.[70]

• Intermittent working: The concept of minimizing intermittent working is first implied in one of al-Jazari's saqiya chain pumps, which was for the purpose of maximising the efficiency of the saqiya chain pump.[118]

• Metal block printing and printed amulet: Printing was known as tarsh in Arabic. After woodblock printing appeared in the Islamic world, which may have been adopted from China, a unique type of block printing was invented in Islamic Egypt during the 9th-10th centuries: print blocks made from metals such as tin, lead and cast iron, as well as stone, glass and clay. The first printed amulets were invented in the Islamic world, and were printed with Arabic calligraphy using metal block printing. This technique, however, appears to have had very little influence outside of the Muslim world, since metal and other non-wooden forms of block printing were unknown in China or Korea, which later developed metal movable type printing instead. Block printing later went out of use in Islamic Central Asia after movable type printing was introduced from China at least 100 years ago.[119]

• Metronome: According to Lynn Townsend White, Jr., the Andalusian polymath Abbas Ibn Firnas was the inventor of an early metronome in the 9th century.[30]

• On/off switch: The on/off switch, an important feedback control principle, was invented by Muslim engineers between the 9th and 12th centuries, and it was employed in a variety of automata and water clocks. The mechanism later had an influence on the development of the electric on/off switch which appeared in the 1950s.[120]

In the 9th century, the Banū Mūsā brothers invented a number of automata (automatic machines) and mechanical devices, and they described a hundred such devices in their Book of Ingenious Devices. Some of their original inventions include:

• Automatic control[17]

• Feedback controller[121]

• Differential pressure[122]

• Fail-safe system[70]

• Float chamber[17]

• Hurricane lamp[70]

• Gas mask[70]

• Grab and Clamshell grab[70]

• Self-feeding lamp and self-trimming lamp: Invented by the eldest brother Ahmad ibn Mūsā ibn Shākir.[70]

• Trick drinking vessels[70]

• Valve, plug valve,[70][121] and float valve.[121]

In 1206, Al-Jazari also described over fifty mechanical devices in six different categories in The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, most of which he invented himself, along with construction drawings. Along with his other mechanical inventions described above, some of the other mechanical devices he first described include: phlebotomy measures, linkage, water level, and devices able to elevate water from shallow wells or flowing rivers.[50][51][123][124]

[edit] AutomataMark E. Rosheim summarizes the advances in robotics made by Arab engineers as follows:"Unlike the Greek designs, these Arab examples reveal an interest, not only in dramatic illusion, but in manipulating the environment for human comfort. Thus, the greatest contribution the Arabs made, besides preserving, disseminating and building on the work of the Greeks, was the concept of practical application. This was the key element that was missing in Greek robotic science."[125]

"The Arabs, on the other hand, displayed an interest in creating human-like machines for practical purposes but lacked, like other preindustrial societies, any real impetus to pursue their robotic science."[126]

• Mechanical singing bird automata: Caliph al-Mamun had a silver and golden tree in his palace in Baghdad in 827, which had the features of an automatic machine. There were metal birds that sang automatically on the swinging branches of this tree built by Muslim engineers at the time.[127][128] The Abbasid Caliph al-Muktadir also had a golden tree in his palace in Baghdad in 915, with birds on it flapping their wings and singing.[127][129]

• Programmable automatic flute player: The Banū Mūsā invented an automatic flute player which appears to have been the first programmable machine, and which they described in their Book of Ingenious Devices.[130]

• Programmable analog computer: See Analog computers below.

• Programmable humanoid robot band: Al-Jazari (1136-1206) created the first recorded designs of a programmable humanoid robot in 1206, as opposed to the non-programmable automata in ancient times. Al-Jazari's robot was originally a boat with four automatic musicians that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties. His mechanism had a programmable drum machine with pegs (cams) that bump into little levers that operate the percussion. The drummer could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.[131] According to Charles B. Fowler, the automata were a "robot band" which performed "more than fifty facial and body actions during each musical selection."[132]

• Hand washing automaton with flush mechanism: Al-Jazari invented a hand washing automaton first employing the flush mechanism now used in modern flush toilets. It features a female humanoid automaton standing by a basin filled with water. When the user pulls the lever, the water drains and the female automaton refills the basin.[133]

• Peacock fountain with automated humanoid servants: Al-Jazari's "peacock fountain" was a sophisticated hand washing device featuring humanoid automata as servants which offer soap and towels. Mark E. Rosheim describes it as follows: "Pulling a plug on the peacock's tail releases water out of the beak; as the dirty water from the basin fills the hollow base a float rises and actuates a linkage which makes a servant figure appear from behind a door under the peacock and offer soap. When more water is used, a second float at a higher level trips and causes the appearance of a second servant figure - with a towel!"[125]

[edit] Pumps

• Crankshaft-driven and hydropowered saqiya chain pumps: The first known use of a crankshaft in a chain pump was in one of Al-Jazari's saqiya machines described in 1206.[118] Al-Jazari also constructed a water-raising saqiya chain pump which was run by hydropower rather than manual labour, though the Chinese were also using hydropower for other chain pumps prior to him. Saqiya machines like the ones he described have been supplying water in Damascus since the 13th century up until modern times,[134] and were in everyday use throughout the medieval Islamic world.[118]

• Crankshaft-driven screw and screwpump: In ancient times, the screw and screwpump were driven by a treadwheel, but from the 12th and 13th centuries, Muslim engineers operated them using the crankshaft.[135]

• Double-action piston suction pump with reciprocating motion: In 1206, al-Jazari demonstrates the first suction pipes and suction piston pump, the first use of double-action, and one of the earliest valve operations, when he invented a twin-cylinder double-action reciprocating suction piston pump, which seems to have had a direct significance in the development of modern engineering. This pump is driven by a water wheel, which drives, through a system of gears, an oscillating slot-rod to which the rods of two pistons are attached. The pistons work in horizontally opposed cylinders, each provided with valve-operated suction and delivery pipes. The delivery pipes are joined above the centre of the machine to form a single outlet into the irrigation system. This pump is remarkable for being the earliest known use of a true suction pipe in a pump.[136]

• Flywheel-driven chain pump and noria: A flywheel is used to smooth out the delivery of power from a driving device to a driven machine. The mechanical flywheel was first invented by Ibn Bassal (fl. 1038-1075) of Islamic Spain, who pioneered the use of the flywheel in the chain pump (saqiya) and noria.[137]

• Weight-driven pump: Most ancient and medieval pumps were either driven by manual labour or hydraulics. The first weight-driven pump was described as part of a perpetual motion water-raising machine in a medieval Arabic manuscript written some time after Al-Jazari. It featured a mercury-powered clockwork escapement mechanism and had two out gear-wheels driven by lead weights which mesh with a large central gear-wheel.[138]

[edit] Medical productsSee also: Islamic medicine [edit] Drugs and medicationsMuslim physicians pioneered a number of drugs and medications for use in medicine, including:Avicenna, considered the "father of modern medicine", pioneered clinical pharmacology, and described inhalational anesthetics and various drugs and medications, in The Canon of Medicine (1025).

• Alcohol as an antiseptic: The application of pure alcohol to wounds as an antiseptic agent, and the use of alcohol as a solvent and antiseptic, was introduced by Muslim physicians and surgeons in the 10th century.[9]

• Cancer therapy, pharmacotherapy, and Hindiba: Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine (1025) attempted the earliest known treatments for cancer. One method he discovered was the "Hindiba", a herbal compound drug which Ibn al-Baitar later identified as having "anticancer" properties and which could also treat other tumors and neoplastic disorders. Avicenna wrote a separate supplement treatise dedicated to the pharmacotherapy of Hindiba, giving details on the drug's properties and uses, and he then gives instructions on its preparation as medication.[139] After recognizing its usefulness in treating neoplastic disorders, Hindiba was patented in 1997 by Nil Sari, Hanzade Dogan and John K. Snyder.[140]

• Chemotherapeutic drugs: Pioneered by Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi (Rhazes), who introduced the use of chemical substances such as vitriol, copper, mercuric and arsenic salts, sal ammoniac, gold scoria, chalk, clay, coral, pearl, tar, bitumen and alcohol for medical purposes.[141]

• Clinical pharmacology, clinical trial, randomized controlled trial, and efficacy test: The origins of clinical pharmacology date back to Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine in 1025.[142] His emphasis on tested medicines laid the foundations for an experimental approach to pharmacology.[143] The Canon laid out the rules and principles for testing the effectiveness of new drugs and medications, which still form the basis of clinical pharmacology[144] and modern clinical trials,[145] randomized controlled trials[146][147] and efficacy tests.[148][149]

• Cough medicine and syrup: The use of syrups for treating coughs originates from medieval Arabic physicians.[14][150]

• Drugs, foods, herbs, plants and chemical substances: In antiquity, DiOScorides listed about 500 plants in the 1st century. Muslim botanists, chemists and pharmacists dicovered many more during the Middle Ages. For example, Al-Dinawari described more than 637 plant drugs in the 9th century,[151] and Ibn al-Baitar described at least 1,400 different plants, foods and drugs, 300 of which were his own original discoveries, in the 13th century.[152] In total, at least 2,000 medicinal substances were discovered by Muslim botanists, chemists and pharmacists.[2]

• Epilepsy and seizure medications: Abulcasis, in his Al-Tasrif (c. 1000), invented medications called Ghawali and Lafayfe for the treatment of epilepsy and seizure.[79]

• Medicinal-grade alcohol: Produced through distillation. These distillation devices for use in chemistry and medicine were manufactured on a large scale in the 10th century.

• Parasitology: Parasites were first discovered by Ibn Zuhr (Avenzoar), when he discovered the cause