1001 Inventions and The Library of Secrets
Friday 5 March 2010
Oscar-winning actor and screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley has taken the starring role in a short feature film about the scientific heritage of Muslim civilisation.
FILM ► 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets
Oscar-winning actor and screen legend Sir Ben Kingsley has taken the starring role in a short feature film about the scientific heritage of Muslim civilisation. The mini-movie, entitled 1001 Inventions and the Library of Secrets, accompanies a global touring exhibition that this currently open to the public at the Science Museum in London. The exhibition runs till 30th June 2010 and then goes on an international tour.
In the movie, Sir Ben takes on the role of a mysterious and cantankerous librarian who takes a group of school children on an enlightening journey to meet pioneering scientists and engineers from the history of Muslim civilization. The librarian is then revealed to be 12th century engineering genius Al-Jazari.
Yearning for learning
Did you know that the Arabic word for mosque is Jami’ and the Arabic for university is Jami’a? A thousand years ago the first universities emerged within mosques where religion and science sat comfortably side by side.
Building on knowledge from Babylonian, Egyptian, Greek, Chinese and Indian Civilisations, Muslims developed a learning culture where enquiring minds searched for truths based on scientific rigour and experimentation. In almost every field of knowledge, Muslims made new inventions and discoveries with practical outcomes that helped develop society.
Muslim charitable institutions provided the first scholarships to support students.Courses were difficult and medicine was particularly gruelling, and just like in universities today, examinations were long and difficult.
