Arab-Islamic science & Scientists

Starting around 750 AD, s
Introduction

Starting around 750 AD, science flourished under the Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad, gradually spreading its influence as far west as Spain and eastwards into Central Asia, over a period of more than 600 years. By drawing on a variety of texts - Greek, Indian and Persian - and translating them into Arabic, the early scholars accumulated the greatest body of scientific knowledge in the world … and built on it through their own discoveries. Often, there was a practical Islamic relevance. Astronomy could be used to work out the direction of prayer. Mathematics was needed for dividing property according to the Islamic law of inheritance. Although science flourished under Arab-Islamic patronage, by no means all the important figures in science were Muslims, or even Arabs. The common factor, however, was the Arabic language, which for a time became the international language of science. It was only later, in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the Arabic works began to be translated into Latin, that such knowledge passed to the west.

Abu Simbel: Temples of Ramesses II

Built on the west bank of the Nile River, between the first and second cataracts of the Nile, the site of Abu Simbel is one of the most recognizable ancient sites in Egypt.
It contains two temples, carved into a mountainside, that were built by pharaoh Ramesses II (1303-1213 B.C).
The larger of the two temples contains four colossal statues of a seated Ramesses II at its entrance, each about 69 feet (21 meters) tall. The entranceway to the temple was built in such a way that on two days of the year, October 22 and February 22, the light would shine into the inner sanctuary and light up three statues seated on a bench, including one of the pharaoh. It’s been hypothesized that these dates may celebrate his coronation and birth.
In addition Abu Simbel has a second, smaller, temple that may have been built for queen Nefertari. Its front includes two statues of the queen and four of the pharaoh, each about 33 feet (10 meters) in height. Each is set between buttresses carved with hieroglyphs.
While the site was built by an Egyptian ruler, and is located within modern-day Egypt, in ancient times the place it was located in was considered part of Nubia, a territory that was at times independent of ancient Egypt.
“The waxing and waning of Egypt’s strength can be traced through its relations with Nubia. When strong kings ruled a united land, Egyptian influence extended into Nubia; when Egypt was weak, its southern border stopped at Aswan,” writes Egyptologist Zahi Hawass in his book "The Mysteries of Abu Simbel" (American University in Cairo Press, 2000).

Moving the temple
Abu Simbel today is no longer in the same location as it was in ancient times. “Following the decision to build a new High Dam at Aswan in the early 1960s, the temples were dismantled and relocated in 1968 on the desert plateau 64 meters (about 200 feet) above and 180 meters (600 feet) west of their original site,” writes Robert Morkot in an article in the "Oxford Encyclopedia of Ancient Egypt"(2001, Oxford University Press). The area where they were originally located is now flooded.
Hawass notes that moving the temples was a massive job, one that involved cutting it into pieces between 3 to 20 tons in weight and re-assembling them precisely as they were. It took almost five years, involved about 3,000 workers and cost (in the 1960s) about $42 million. He notes in his book that it was a great success, one reporter present at its completion wrote that “everything looks just as it did before; it is enough to make one doubt that the temples were moved at all.”

Ramesses II
Ramesses II, sometimes called “the great”, was a warrior king who tried to expand Egypt’s territory far into the Levant. He battled another empire called the Hittites at the Battle of Qadesh (also spelled Kadesh) in Syria and also launched campaigns into Nubia.
He bragged about his accomplishments, embellishing Abu Simbel with scenes from the Battle of Qadesh. One image carved in the great temple at Abu Simbel shows the king firing arrows from his war chariot and supposedly winning the battle for the Egyptians. It was a blustery display for a battle that modern-day historians agree ended in a draw. Later, Ramesses II would make a peace treaty with the Hittites and cement it by marrying a Hittite princess, an event marked in a stela at Abu Simbel.
“Ramesses II is the most famous of the pharaohs, and there is no doubt that he intended this to be so,” writes University of Cambridge Egyptologist John Ray in a 2011 BBC article. “Ramesses II, or at least the version of him which he chose to feature in his inscriptions, is the hieroglyphic equivalent of hot air.”
But while Ramesses II may have been full of “hot air,” he did build some magnificent monuments, launching a major building program. “Ramesses II consolidated his godly state by building numerous temples in which he was worshipped in the image of the different gods,” writes Hawass in his book. And two of the finest temples he built were at Abu Simbel.

The Great Temple
Egyptologist Marco Zecchi writes in his book "Abu Simbel, Aswan and the Nubian Temples" (White Star Publishers, 2004) that the larger of the two Abu Simbel temples, the Great Temple, was known in ancient times as “the temple of Ramesses-Meryamun” which means “Ramesses, beloved by Amun” (Amun being an important deity in Ramesses II’s time).
Zecchi notes that the four seated statues of the pharaoh, at the entrance, show the ruler wearing a short kilt, nemes headdress, double crown with cobra and false beard. “Next to the legs of the four colossi are several smaller standing statues that represent the pharaoh’s relatives,” he writes, these include his wife Nefertari, the pharaoh’s mother Mut-Tuy, and his sons and daughters. Zecchi notes that at the top of the temple facade is “a row of 22 squatting baboon statues. The baboon’s cry was believed to welcome the rising sun.”
The interior of the temple stretches into the mountain for about 210 feet (64 meters). The first room is an atrium made up of eight pillars, four on each side, that Zecchi notes depicts Ramesses II in the guise of the god Osiris. The atrium area includes images and hieroglyphs describing Ramesses II’s supposed victory at the Battle of Qadesh. The atrium also has now empty storerooms on its sides.
Moving deeper into the temple there is a second atrium with four decorated pillars that Zecchi said shows the king “embracing various divinities as a sign of his spiritual union and predilection” and, at the very back, is a bench where a statue of Ramesses II is seated with three other gods, Ra-Harakhty, Amun and Ptah. Researchers have noted that on two days of the year (October 22 and February 22) all these statues, except for Ptah (who is associated with the underworld), are bathed in sunlight.

The Small Temple
As mentioned earlier, the smaller temple at Abu Simbel has, outside its entrance, four statues of pharaoh and two of his bride, Nefertari. Each statue is about 33 feet (10 meters) tall, a buttress in between each of them. Zecchi notes that the facade also contains smaller statues of the children, “oddly the statues of the princesses are taller than those of the princes,” a sign, perhaps, that this temple pays tribute to Nefertari and the women of Ramesses II’s household.
The interior of the temple is simpler than that of the great temple. It contains six pillars that show depictions of the goddess Hathor. Zecchi notes that on the “back wall of the room” are reliefs showing “Nefertari in the act of being crowned by the goddesses Hathor and Isis,” the queen wearing a head covering that shows “the solar disc with feathers between cow horns” the same head covering the goddesses are wearing.
Rediscovery
At some point the temples were abandoned and, in the period afterwards, were covered with sand, the great colossi gradually disappearing into the desert. Hawass notes that Johann Ludwig Burckhardt noted the existence of the site in 1813. Then, in 1817, a circus strongman named Giovanni Belzoni uncovered the buried entrance to the great temple.
This entrance, which was precisely aligned with the sun so as to light up three of the statues within for two days of the year, now saw light once again.

The Sun falls on king Ramsis Face on Abu Simbel

                           
One of the wonders that is famous for the Pharaohs and still amaze the world until now, where cosmic creativity which make the sun rays go inside the mountain corridor and perpendicular on the face of King Ramses II, in a phenomenon make people come to see it from all over the world.

On this occasion every year, teams of Folk Art in Alexandria, Aswan and Luxor, Minia, Toshka,sharkya and Qena participate to celebrate the occasion

the sun perpendicular on the face of the statue of King Ramses II inside the temple in the city of Abu Simbel, south of Aswan in the phenomenon is repeated twice each year. on February 22, which is the coronation day of Ramses II and on his birthday on 22 October, according to the common concept in Egypt go against a number of scientists. 

Latifa Alnady - Second Female Pilot in the World

 

Latifa Alnady - 1933

 in the Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al-Yowm on the occasion of Amilia Earheart’s 115^th birthday – a brief article comparing Earhart’s career to Egypt’s pioneering aviatrix, Latifa al-Nady. I can’t come across any source material other than a few newspaper articles, but evidently al-Nady was born in 1909 in Cairo. Her father worked in a print shop, and the family was well-off enough that she was able to attend the American College (later the American University of Cairo) seemingly on the encouragement of her mother. In 1932, while in college, she came across an advertisement calling for women to enter the newly established flight school in Cairo, and was welcomed by flight instructor Kamel Alawy.

Though her family was less than supportive of the idea, she was able to pay her own way for flight lessons by working as a secretary for the newly-founded EgyptAir in her spare time, saving up to earn what was only the 34^thpilot license issued in Egypt. She participated in a number of air races, including a celebrated run from Cairo to Alexandria which she lost only on a technicality (which some chalked up to bias of the British-led judges’ council). In the process, she came into contact with early Egyptian feminist Hoda Shaarawi, who led an attempt to purchase a plane for her, as well as Amelia Earhart herself. The two pilots never met but exchanged a series of letters before Earhart’s disappearance in 1937. Sadly, al-Nady never received much recognition in Egypt at the time, and eventually emigrated to Switzerland, attaining Swiss citizenship shortly thereafter. She passed away in 1995, while a documentary film entitled “Takeoff from the Sand” (Arabic) was released shortly thereafter, although it since seems to have vanished from the face of the earth.
 

source :  Al-Masry Al-Yowm

cr: to the translator

[ VIDEO ] Cairo Citadel & Muhammad Ali Mosque .

Cairo Citadel .

Cairo Citadel Facts

The Cairo Citadel is located on Mokattam Hill in Cairo, Egypt. Originally it was built as a royal home and also as military barracks by the ruler Saladin. He decided that Cairo needed to be able to protect itself from any threat. By the time it was completed in 1182, Saladin was no longer the ruler of Egypt. When it was complete, Al Malek El Kamel was the ruler of Egypt and he was the first king to live in it. In the 1860s, Egypt's ruler Khedive Ismail moved out of the Citadel of Cairo into his own new castle. From then on the Citadel of Cairo was no longer used as the seat of government.

Interesting Cairo Citadel Facts:
The Citadel of Cairo was the home for the rulers of Egypt for 700 years.
The Citadel is a medieval Islamic fortification. It was built during the Ayyubid Dynasty.
The Citadel was built on hill to make it easy to see attackers and to make it more difficult for them to attack.
Construction of the Citadel began in 1176-1183 and it was completed in 1184.
The Citadel was supposed to be the centerpiece of a wall that was to be built to protect Cairo and Fustat from the Crusaders.
Saladin was the ruler of Egypt when construction of the Citadel began but when it was finished he was no longer king. The first king to live in the Citadel was Al Malek El Kamel.

Egypt June 30th 2013