Dum Spiro, Spero

A detailed Arabic copy of a Persian treatise on phases of the moon, accurately portraying the phenomena of hemisphere termination. 10th century.

For those of you who would have it that Arab and Muslim culture are intellectually underdeveloped. In point of fact, much of Greek philosophy was preserved throughout the Middle Ages by the Muslim intellectual community, peppered across the Muslim world in Umayyad Spain, Damascus, Baghdad, and Egypt. The city of Cordoba in Muslim Spain had closed sewer systems and streetlights while London and Paris were little more than motley villages.

This is all rather a forgone conclusion to many, but in light of the efforts to culturally assassinate Islam coming from American nationalists these days, I feel that it’s prudent to resist with these compelling little tidbits.