When the neo-cons write about the Muslim world and how we can expect to interact with it there's always the implication that the Islamic world is both primitive and intellectually powerless. We see this particularly in relation to military matters, where there's terrible arrogance and ignorance. However, the Muslim world is responsible for an astounding number of inventions and ideas which influence our life today, ranging from coffee - glorious coffee - to the system of numbers we use.
Try, for example, explaining to a wingnut that writing was invented in Iraq, that the Iraqis know this, and that their angry response to our occupation of a school in Fallujah was therefore entirely predictable. I can promise you an unpleasant experience.
Fortunately, there is an antidote...
...and you can find it both online and in the real world if you're lucky enough to live in the UK, where the Science Museum in Manchester is currently hosting an exhibition titled, "1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in Our World."
The Guardian reports:
"The project, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage of Our World, supported by the Home Office and the Department for Trade and Industry, uncovers the Islamic civilisation's overlooked contribution to science, technology and art during the dark ages in European history.
It lifts the veil on hundreds of innovations - from kiosks and chess through to windmills and cryptography - that are often popularly associated with the western world but originate from Muslim scholarship and science.
Based on more than 3,000 peer-reviewed academic studies, the exhibition charts Islamic innovations during ten decades of "missing history" spanning from the 6th to the 16th century and covering an area stretching from China to southern Spain.
Tailored to appeal to school children and their teachers, and accompanied by a book and online resource, the project was launched at Manchester's Museum of Science and Industry and will tour the country."
In the US we're unfortunately limited to the exhibition's website. It's not as detailed as I'd like it to be, but it gives a huge number of examples that could lead to further study, or to some nice cites in your next online argument.
If you don't have time for the full web tour, The Independent Online is currently featuring their take on the top twenty Muslim inventions here.
Update BTW, I'm aware that writing was not a "Muslim" invention, it's just that this issue figured in my latest argument with a winger.