574)Institute Of Ismaili Studies Scholar Dr Nader El-Bizri Advises On Science Museum Exhibition In London, United Kingdom; Quotes Of Aga Khan IV

"....AND SHOULD'NT IB SCIENCE STUDENTS not learn about Ibn al-Haytham, the Muslim scholar who developed modern optics, as well as his predecessors Euclid and Ptolemy, whose ideas he challenged.....The legacy which I am describing actually goes back more than a thousand years, to the time when our forefathers, the Fatimid Imam-Caliphs of Egypt, founded Al-Azhar University and the Academy of Knowledge in Cairo. For many centuries, a commitment to learning was a central element in far-flung Islamic cultures. That commitment has continued in my own Imamat through the founding of the Aga Khan University and the University of Central Asia and through the recent establishment of a new Aga Khan Academies Program."(Aga Khan IV, "The Peterson Lecture" on the International Baccalaureate, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 18 April 2008)

"The second great historical lesson to be learnt is that the Muslim world has always been wide open to every aspect of human existence. The sciences, society, art, the oceans, the environment and the cosmos have all contributed to the great moments in the history of Muslim civilisations. The Qur’an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God’s creation"(Closing Address by His Highness Aga Khan IV at the "Musée-Musées" Round Table Louvre Museum, Paris, France, October 17th 2007)

"From the seventh century to the thirteenth century, the Muslim civilizations dominated world culture, accepting, adopting, using and preserving all preceding study of mathematics, philosophy, medicine and astronomy, among other areas of learning. The Islamic field of thought and knowledge included and added to much of the information on which all civilisations are founded. And yet this fact is seldom acknowledged today, be it in the West or in the Muslim world, and this amnesia has left a six hundred year gap in the history of human thought"(Aga Khan IV, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA, 1996)

"God has given us the miracle of life with all its attributes: the extraordinary manifestations of sunrise and sunset, of sickness and recovery, of birth and death, but surely if He has given us the means with which to remove ourselves from this world so as to go to other parts of the Universe, we can but accept as further manifestations the creation and destructions of stars, the birth and death of atomic particles, the flighting new sound and light waves. I am afraid that the torch of intellectual discovery, the attraction of the unknown, the desire for intellectual self-perfection have left us"(Aga Khan IV,Speech, 1963, Mindanao, Phillipines)

http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/09/400blogpost-four-hundred-knowledge.html



IIS scholar Advises on Science Museum Exhibition

February 2010

Dr Nader El-Bizri acted as an external academic consultant for London’s Science Museum to support the launch of the temporary exhibition, 1001 Inventions: Discover the Muslim Heritage in our World. The free exhibition runs from 21 January to 25 April 2010, (temporary closure between 25 February and 12 March). This ‘blockbuster’ exhibition attracted over 15,000 visitors in its first week of opening.

The exhibition launch ceremony and press preview took place on 21 January 2010; Dr El-Bizri attended the event. The preview included presentations by Professor Chris Rapley, Director of the Science Museum, and Professor Salim T. S. Al-Hassani, Chair of the ‘1001 Inventions’ initiative and President of the Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation (FSTC). The launch ceremony was covered by national and international media.

Dr. Susan Mossman was the Project Director at the Science Museum for the '1001 Inventions' project, and Ms. Yasmin Khan curated the Science Museum display of related objects. The exhibition was produced by the FSTC, in association with the Al-Jameel Foundation.

The exhibition stems from a global educational project, managed by the FSTC, in association with the Al-Jameel Foundation. The project is also supported by the UK Home Office and the Foreign & Commonwealth Office. Working with international leading academics, this project engages with the public through educational media and interactive global exhibitions, in order to highlight the collective scientific and technological inheritance of humanity.

The Science Museum exhibition 1001 Inventions traces the story of a thousand years of science from the Muslim world; from the 7th century CE onwards, as well as celebrating the shared and universal scientific heritage of other cultures. The exhibition looks at the social, scientific and technical achievements that are credited to the Muslim world; showing how many modern inventions, spanning fields such as engineering, medicine and design, can trace their roots back to Muslim civilisations and their material cultures.

The exhibition space is designed in seven thematic zones: home, school, market, hospital, town, world and universe. These feature a diverse range of more than sixty displays, electronic interactive pods and dramatisation. Also included in the exhibition are valuable historical artefacts from the Science Museum collection, many of which have never been on public display.

The reproduction of a 9th century flying device is also shown, together with a six-metre high replica of the iconic and visually striking ‘Elephant Clock’, designed by the celebrated mechanics scholar and polymath, Ibn al-Razaz al-Jazari (1136 - 1206 CE). A short film, starring Oscar-winning actor Ben Kingsley as al-Jazari, educates visitors through means of historical drama about science in Muslim civilisations.

After leaving the Science Museum, the exhibition will tour some of the world’s most respected museums and centres of learning over a period of four years, bringing the exhibition to a worldwide audience.

Further information is available via the following websites:Science Museum, London
http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/visitmuseum/galleries/1001_inventions.aspx

Foundation for Science, Technology and Civilisation
http://www.1001inventions.com/
http://www.1001inventions.com/node/99
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/8472111.stm

Please note that the images of the exhibition objects are copyright of 1001 Inventions.

http://iis.ac.uk/view_article.asp?ContentID=111233
http://ismailimail.wordpress.com/2010/02/27/institute-of-ismaili-studies-scholar-advises-on-science-museum-exhibition/



Related Posts On This Blog:

"1001 Inventions:Discover the Muslim Heritage in our World";Quotes of Noble Quran, Prophet Muhammad, Aga Khan IV, Aga Khan III and Nasir Khusraw.
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/07/3851001-inventions-discover-muslim.html

Book Recommendation: "1001 Inventions Book: Muslim Heritage in Our World"
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2008/06/370book-recommendation-1001-inventions.html



Easy Nash
http://apps.facebook.com/blognetworks/blog/science_and_religion_in_islam_the_link/
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/08/500blogpost-five-hundred-is-blogpost.html
http://gonashgo.blogspot.com/2009/03/453a-blog-constructed-within.html

In Shia Islam, intellect is a key component of faith. Intellect allows us to understand the creation of God: Aga Khan IV(2008)
The Qur'an itself repeatedly recommends Muslims to become better educated in order better to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
The Quran tells us that signs of Allah's Sovereignty are found in the contemplation of His Creation: Aga Khan IV(2007)
This notion of the capacity of the human intellect to understand and to admire the creation of Allah will bring you happiness in your everyday lives: Aga Khan IV(2007)
Islam, eminently logical, placing the greatest emphasis on knowledge, purports to understand God's creation: Aga Khan IV(2006)
he Holy Qu'ran's encouragement to study nature and the physical world around us gave the original impetus to scientific enquiry among Muslims: Aga Khan IV(1985)
The first and only thing created by God was the Intellect(Aql): Prophet Muhammad(circa 632CE)