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How Islamic Inventors Did Not Change The World
Please note: Paul Vallely, the author of "How Islamic inventors changed the world", has been contacted concerning the claims in his article but we have yet to receive a response.
Introduction
These past few years have seen many inventions claimed and attributed to Islamic inventors, which in fact either existed in pre-Islamic eras, were invented by other cultures, or both. Such claims have even been forced upon the general public in a nationwide tour which opened with an exhibition at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester and the University of Manchester, England.
To celebrate this series of events, an article titled “How Islamic inventors changed the world” was written by Paul Vallely and published in The Independent on the 11th of March 2006. This inaccurate piece of writing has received much praise from Muslims and is still being widely circulated on Islamic websites, forums, blogs, and is even used as a source (to validate false claims of Islamic inventions) in over twenty[1] separate articles on Wikipedia.
Paul Vallely boldly began with the following statement: "From coffee to cheques and the three-course meal, the Muslim world has given us many innovations that we take for granted in daily life. As a new exhibition opens, Paul Vallely nominates 20 of the most influential- and identifies the men of genius behind them."[2] This article lists and examines all twenty of these “Islamic inventions that changed the world”, and in doing so, it will reveal their actual inventors and the true role of Islam/Muslims, if any, behind the inventions.
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