What do Muslims believe about basic astronomy and other scientific facts Westerners take for granted?

Question

I am a Christian living with Muslims in Africa, and they are quite nice people. I would expect that they should give their children special coaching, so as not to be ignorant concerning the beliefs, events, and programmes of "The Infidels," but this is not the case.

I gave the landlady's grandsons a computer of their own, hoping to see them make something of it. But in the past couple of years, all they can do is Hunt & Peck typing (erm, like ME!), play Unreal Tournament- poorly- and watch the abysmally intellectually void local videos. I have lent them some of my western videos, hoping they might learn something, or take an interest. The eldest boys are maybe 16 and 13 respectively, and there are about three girls, the oldest about 15, and others under 10. A couple of the younger kids 8 and 9 seem relatively bright. However, education in our country is severely dumbed down. The former military dictators did not want students who knew how to make arms and ammunition. (A asked a University-trained medical doctor a pharmacist, and an old, experienced, semi-illiterate HUNTER-used muskets and shotguns- whether they knew the composition of gunpowder: THEY DID NOT. Not a clue!)

Last week, I caught out the elder grandchild in a simple error of comprehension, that, upon investigation, escalated into a quagmire of ignorance: he, a senior secondary school student, did not know that the prefix "kilo-" denoted "thousand." I probed further, and found that he did not know any of the other S.I. unit prefixes "mega," "centi-" "milli," and so on. Nor could he tell me the difference between a centimeter, a metre, and a kilometre, nor define units of length or weight. I turned to the other kids, and found that they did not know, either! Aghast, I asked their fathers how this was possible. They replied to the effect, that, "That's just the way it is. That is how they are taught in school." That was last week.

I was considering the problem of dubbing the new Star Trek movie into local vernacular, when a horrible suspicion hit me. I buttonholed the elder boy: "Which is bigger," I asked him, ""The Earth, the Moon, or the Sun?" He thought about it- this mighty strange question! "The Earth," he said seriously. I asked his cousin, "The MOON," he answered knowingly.

Something has been at the back of my mind for years about Islam.
Bothering me. According to an Islamic booklet I read- claiming that Neil Armstrong had converted to Islam, because he heard the *Muezzin* Call to Prayer when he was on the Moon, and thought it was just some malfunction of the comm device, then on Earth, he heard the same yodelling sound when he was walking in Cairo, so, when he learned what it was, he immediately became Muslim.

The booklet said that Saudi Arabia was the only other nation to deny the Moon landing was a fact, back in 1969. It sounded silly. But now, I am not so sure. What do they THINK the Americans claim to have done?

I asked the younger boy how far away he thought the Moon was- and he thought hard for a minute, and said that he could not even guess.

Answer 1

Ironically, the middle easterners were world leaders in mathematics and astronomy prior islam taking over their culture.



Mesopotamia and Persia were epicenters of knowledge once upon a time.

Answer 2

What do Muslims believe about basic astronomy and other scientific facts Westerners take for granted?



we accept any scientific fact proved by science and we even confirm it from Quran



for ex.



when it was discovered that the universe is expanding we said we have this in quran 1400 years ago





051.047

And the heaven We constructed with strength, and indeed, We are [its] expander.



the theory of big bang and even predicting that life has quadratic origin

is mentioned in the following verses



21.30

Have those who disbelieved not considered that the heavens and the earth were a joined entity, and We separated them and made from water every living thing? Then will they not believe?



orbits??



021.033

And it is He who created the night and the day and the sun and the moon; all [heavenly bodies] in an orbit are swimming.





Professor Alfred Kroner who is one of the world's most famous geologists. He is a Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Professor Alfred said:



"Thinking about many of these questions and thinking where Muhammad came from, he was after all a Bedouin. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case."



He also said: "Somebody who did not know something about nuclear physics 1400 years ago could not, I think, be in a position to find out from his own mind for instance that the earth and the heavens had the same origin, or many others of the questions that we have discussed here."



there is many more verses .you can check them at



http://www.scienceislam.com/

Answer 3

Those r kids in poor africa - what does muslims/islam have to do with them not knowing abt astronomy ?



u urself said they donno anything of S.I. units so if they didnt know abt astronomy does this mean muslims dont??





i sugest u read this abt muslims contribution to science:





http://www.islamicweb.com/history/hist_legacy.htm



http://www.islamicweb.com/history/hist_golden.htm







Furthrmore; u can read this also





Few miracles Of Quran



Big Bang

When describing the creation of the "heavens and the earth," the Qur'an states the theory of the "Big Bang" explosion at the start of it . the Qur'an says that "the heavens and the earth were joined together as one unit, before they were aparted:

Quran (21:30) {Have not those who disbelieve see that the heavens and the earth were joined together as one united piece, then We cloved them asunder} [cloved them asunder means separated them].

and this was 1400 years before the discovery of the big bang theory.



Expansion of Universe

this amazing theory was discovered in the 20th century that the universe is continuing to expand after the big bang explosion,,

this idea ; that the universe is continuing to expand. was mentioned in quran 1430 years ago : {and The heavens, We have built them with power. And verily, We are still expanding it} (51:47).



Someone 1400 years ago could not know the heavens and the earth had the same origin:



Professor Alfred Kroner who is one of the world's most famous geologists. He is a Professor of Geology and the Chairman of the Department of Geology at the Institute of Geosciences, Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany. Professor Alfred said:



"Thinking about many of these questions and thinking where Muhammad came from, he was after all a Bedouin. I think it is almost impossible that he could have known about things like the common origin of the universe, because scientists have only found out within the last few years with very complicated and advanced technological methods that this is the case."



@@@

Answer 4

The person above me does not know what he is talking about.



After Islam, was when "middle-easterners" aka Muslims started to expand their minds and ponder on God's creation.

They were the inventors of astronomy, algebra, chemistry, physics. (a lot of these names are of Arabic origin)

It was only after Islam that they had leaders in science, the most famous doctor in history was a Muslim, also the certificate or doctorate was invented by Muslims, to show one had attained a higher level of education.

Did you know Colombus' navigators were Muslims? And he also used items invented by Muslims to help navigate?



Research on Islam - you will find much of science and technology came from them in the so called 'dark ages'



Fun fact - the art of writing history and recording history was introduced to Europeans in the Middle ages by a historian, among other things, ibn Khaldun.



You have no idea how much Muslims have done in the past, but it just does not get to you.



But I would start first and foremost with reading the Quran.

quran.islamicnetwork.com

it has different translations



Hope that helps.