A History of Information Technology and Systems

 A History of Information Technology and Systems

Four basic periods
Characterized by a principal technology used to solve the input, processing, output and communication problems of the time:
Premechanical,
Mechanical,
Electromechanical, and
Electronic
A. The Premechanical Age: 3000 B.C. - 1450 A.D.
Writing and Alphabets--communication.
First humans communicated only through speaking and picture drawings.
3000 B.C., the Sumerians in Mesopotamia (what is today southern Iraq) devised cuniform
Around 2000 B.C., Phoenicians created symbols
The Greeks later adopted the Phoenician alphabet and added vowels; the Romans gave the letters Latin names to create the alphabet we use today.
Paper and Pens--input technologies.
Sumerians' input technology was a stylus that could scratch marks in wet clay.
About 2600 B.C., the Egyptians write on the papyrus plant
around 100 A.D., the Chinese made paper from rags, on which modern-day papermaking is based.
Books and Libraries: Permanent Storage Devices.
Religious leaders in Mesopotamia kept the earliest "books"
The Egyptians kept scrolls
Around 600 B.C., the Greeks began to fold sheets of papyrus vertically into leaves and bind them together.
The First Numbering Systems.
Egyptian system:
The numbers 1-9 as vertical lines, the number 10 as a U or circle, the number 100 as a coiled rope, and the number 1,000 as a lotus blossom.
The first numbering systems similar to those in use today were invented between 100 and 200 A.D. by Hindus in India who created a nine-digit numbering system.
Around 875 A.D., the concept of zero was developed.
The First Calculators: The Abacus

B. The Mechanical Age: 1450 - 1840
The First Information Explosion.
Johann Gutenberg (Mainz, Germany)
Invented the movable metal-type printing process in 1450.
The development of book indexes and the widespread use of page numbers.
The first general purpose "computers"
Actually people who held the job title "computer: one who works with numbers."
Slide Rules, the Pascaline and Leibniz's Machine.
Slide Rule 

.
Early 1600s, William Oughtred, an English clergyman, invented the slide rule
Early example of an analog computer.
The Pascaline. Invented by Blaise Pascal (1623-62).
 

Diagram of interior

 One of the first mechanical computing machines, around 1642.
Leibniz's Machine.
Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz (1646-1716), German mathematician and philosopher

 
.

The Reckoner (reconstruction)

 

Babbage's Engines
Charles Babbage (1792-1871), eccentric English mathematician

The Difference Engine

.Working model created in 1822.
The "method of differences".
The Analytical Engine

Joseph Marie Jacquard's loom.

.

Designed during the 1830s
Parts remarkably similar to modern-day computers.
The "store"
The "mill"
Punch cards.
Punch card idea picked up by Babbage from Joseph Marie Jacquard's (1752-1834) loom.
Introduced in 1801.
Binary logic
Fixed program that would operate in real time.
Augusta Ada Byron (1815-52

The first programmer
C. The Electromechanical Age: 1840 - 1940.
The discovery of ways to harness electricity was the key advance made during this period. Knowledge and information could now be converted into electrical impulses.
The Beginnings of Telecommunication.
Voltaic Battery.
Late 18th century.
Telegraph.
Early 1800s.
Morse Code.
Developed in1835 by Samuel Morse
Dots and dashes.
Telephone and Radio.

Alexander Graham Bell.
1876
Followed by the discovery that electrical waves travel through space and can produce an effect far from the point at which they originated.
These two events led to the invention of the radio
Guglielmo Marconi
1894
Electromechanical Computing
Herman Hollerith and IBM.
Herman Hollerith (1860-1929) in 1880

Census Machine.

Early punch cards.

Punch card workers.

By 1890
The International Business Machines Corporation (IBM).
Its first logo

 

Mark 1.

.
Paper tape stored data and program instructions.

Howard Aiken, a Ph.D. student at Harvard University
Built the Mark I
Completed January 1942
8 feet tall, 51 feet long, 2 feet thick, weighed 5 tons, used about 750,000 parts
D. The Electronic Age: 1940 - Present.
First Tries.
Early 1940s
Electronic vacuum tubes.
Eckert and Mauchly.
The First High-Speed, General-Purpose Computer Using Vacuum Tubes:
Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
The ENIAC team (Feb 14, 1946). Left to right: J. Presper Eckert, Jr.; John Grist Brainerd; Sam Feltman; Herman H. Goldstine; John W. Mauchly; Harold Pender; Major General G. L. Barnes; Colonel Paul N. Gillon.
 

 Rear view (note vacuum tubes).

Electronic Numerical Integrator and Computer (ENIAC)
1946.
Used vacuum tubes (not mechanical devices) to do its calculations.
Hence, first electronic computer.
Developers John Mauchly, a physicist, and J. Prosper Eckert, an electrical engineer
The Moore School of Electrical Engineering at the University of Pennsylvania
Funded by the U.S. Army.
But it could not store its programs (its set of instructions)
The First Stored-Program Computer(s)

 The Manchester University Mark I (prototype).

 Early 1940s, Mauchly and Eckert began to design the EDVAC - the Electronic Discreet Variable Computer.
John von Neumann's influential report in June 1945:
"The Report on the EDVAC"
British scientists used this report and outpaced the Americans.
Max Newman headed up the effort at Manchester University
Where the Manchester Mark I went into operation in June 1948--becoming the first stored-program computer.
Maurice Wilkes, a British scientist at Cambridge University, completed the EDSAC (Electronic Delay Storage Automatic Calculator) in 1949--two years before EDVAC was finished.
Thus, EDSAC became the first stored-program computer in general use (i.e., not a prototype).
The First General-Purpose Computer for Commercial Use: Universal Automatic Computer (UNIVAC).

 UNIVAC publicity photo.

Late 1940s, Eckert and Mauchly began the development of a computer called UNIVAC (Universal Automatic Computer)
Remington Rand.
First UNIVAC delivered to Census Bureau in 1951.
But, a machine called LEO (Lyons Electronic Office) went into action a few months before UNIVAC and became the world's first commercial computer.
The Four Generations of Digital Computing.

The First Generation (1951-1958).
Vacuum tubes as their main logic elements.
Punch cards to input and externally store data.
Rotating magnetic drums for internal storage of data and programs
Programs written in
Machine language
Assembly language
Requires a compiler.

The Second Generation (1959-1963).
Vacuum tubes replaced by transistors as main logic element.
AT&T's Bell Laboratories, in the 1940s
Crystalline mineral materials called semiconductors could be used in the design of a device called a transistor
Magnetic tape and disks began to replace punched cards as external storage devices.
Magnetic cores (very small donut-shaped magnets that could be polarized in one of two directions to represent data) strung on wire within the computer became the primary internal storage technology.
High-level programming languages
E.g., FORTRAN and COBOL
The Third Generation (1964-1979).

Individual transistors were replaced by integrated circuits.
Magnetic tape and disks completely replace punch cards as external storage devices.
Magnetic core internal memories began to give way to a new form, metal oxide semiconductor (MOS) memory, which, like integrated circuits, used silicon-backed chips.
Operating systems
Advanced programming languages like BASIC developed.
Which is where Bill Gates and Microsoft got their start in 1975.
The Fourth Generation (1979- Present).
Large-scale and very large-scale integrated circuits (LSIs and VLSICs)
Microprocessors that contained memory, logic, and control circuits (an entire CPU = Central Processing Unit) on a single chip.
Which allowed for home-use personal computers or PCs, like the Apple (II and Mac) and IBM PC.
Apple II released to public in 1977, by Stephen Wozniak and Steven Jobs.
Initially sold for $1,195 (without a monitor); had 16k RAM.
First Apple Mac released in 1984.
IBM PC introduced in 1981.
Debuts with MS-DOS (Microsoft Disk Operating System)
Fourth generation language software products
E.g., Visicalc, Lotus 1-2-3, dBase, Microsoft Word, and many others.
Graphical User Interfaces (GUI) for PCs arrive in early 1980s

 

MS Windows debuts in 1983, but is quite a clunker.
Windows wouldn't take off until version 3 was released in 1990 

Apple's GUI (on the first Mac) debuts in 1984.
Bibliography
Kenneth C. Laudon, Carol Guercio Traver, Jane P. Laudon, Information Technology and Systems, Cambridge, MA: Course Technology, 1996.
Stan Augarten, BIT By BIT: An Illustrated History of Computers (New York: Ticknor & Fields, 1984).
R. Moreau, The Computer Comes of Age: The People, the Hardware, and the Software, translated by J. Howlett (Cambridge: MIT Press, 1984).
Telephone History Web Site. http://www.cybercomm.net/~chuck/phones.html, accessed 1998.
Microsoft Museum. http://www.microsoft.com/mscorp/museum/home.asp, accessed 1998.

 

Seize the Day, Tomorrow is not Yours

Upon hearing about the death of a fellow Muslim, it suddenly struck me how
very fleeting life is, and that I was only a twinkling of an eye away from
where he is now.

Death is the reality from which none of us can escape. It draws nearer every
day, every hour, every minute. So I had to ask myself, if I were to die
today, would I have done all that I could to ensure Allah's Favor, and to
evade His Wrath? Unfortunately for me, the answer was a resounding NOOO.

At the end of the day, I ask myself, what good have I sent ahead for the
benefit of my soul? And again, the answers usually, very little. Time, it
seems, is moving by so quickly. It seems just like yesterday that we started
the "New Year," yet we're already almost a third of the way through it. A
month seems like a week, a week seems like an hour and an hour feels like
just minutes. This is why I've resolved to try my utmost, with the aid of
Allah to take advantage of every opportunity to do good deeds, and not to put
off until later, what I can do now. Death is coming, are you ready?

Allah says, "Every soul shall have a taste of death, and only on the Day of
Judgement shall you be paid your full recompense. Only those who are saved
far from the Fire, and admitted to the Garden will have succeeded. For the
life of this world is but goods and chattels of deception." [3:185]

It is so easy for us to get caught up in the comings and goings of our
everyday lives, that we tend to forget that we don't have forever in this
worldly life, and get distracted away from our true aim and purpose. We tend
to forget that we are here to worship Allah and to avail ourselves of the
various opportunities He gives us to store up for ourselves treasures in
Heaven. For He, subhanahu wa taala, also says,

"O you who believe! Revere Allah, and let every person look to what he has
sent forth for the morrow; and revere Allah. Allah is well Aware of what you
do. And be not like those who forgot (disobeyed) Allah, and He caused them to
forget themselves. Those are the disobedient. Not equal are the dwellers of
the Fire and the dwellers of Jannah. It is the dwellers of Jannah who will be
successful." [59:18-20]

He also tells us that we do not know the hour of our own deaths, or in what
land we will die. But He through His unending Mercy toward us, has given us
ways to prepare for the inevitable now, because once we've passed from this
life to the next, there is no coming back to do the things we should have
done. For Allah says,

"Until death comes to one of them, he says, 'My Lord, send me back. Perhaps I
may do good in that which I have left behind.' No, it is but a word that he
speaks, and behind them is a barzakh until the day when they are raised up."
[23:99-100]

Allah has given us ways to protect ourselves from the punishment of the
grave. One of these ways is by fighting in the Cause of Allah. It is reported
that a man asked the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, "O Messenger of
Allah, why are all the believers tested in the graves except a martyr?" He,
sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said, "The flashing of swords over his head was
a sufficient test for him." (An-Nasai)

This may be difficult for most of us to do in this day and age, but Allah has
provided us with many other ways to earn ease in the next life. These include
reciting Surat ul-Mulk, because the Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam,
said, "Surat Tabarak is the protector from the torment of the grave."
(Al-Hakim) He, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, also said, "When a human being
dies, all of his deeds are terminated except for three types: an ongoing
sadaqh, a knowledge of Islam from which others benefit, and a righteous child
who makes du'a for him." (Muslim)

Another way to earn a continuing reward is by reviving a lost Sunnah of the
Prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam. He, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, said,
"He who initiates in Islam a good way gets his reward for it, as well as
rewards similar to those who follow him into it, without reducing any of
their rewards." (Muslim) For those of us who know of fellow Muslims who have
already begun their journey, or who are about to enter, into the next life,
there are things we can do to make the transition easier, insha'Allah. These
include performing the Janazah prayer for the deceased, fulfilling the
deceased's vows, payment of the deceased's debts and the supplications of the
Muslims.

This life is fleeting. Death is coming. Let us get ready

Life After Death

The question whether there is a life after death does not fall under the jurisdiction of science, as science is concerned only with classification and analysis of data. Moreover, man has been busy with scientific inquiries and research, in the modern sense of the term, only for the last few centuries, while he has been familiar with the concept of life after death since times immemorial. All the prophets of God called their people to worship God and to believe in life after death. They laid so much emphasis on the belief in life after death that even a slight doubt in it meant denying God and made all other beliefs meaningless. The very fact that all the prophets of God have dealt with this metaphysical question of life after death so confidently and so uniformly - the gap between their ages being thousands of years - goes to prove that the source of their knowledge of life after death as proclaimed by them all, was the same, i.e., Divine revelation.

We also know that these prophets of God were greatly opposed by their people, mainly on the issue of life after death, as their people thought it impossible. But in spite of opposition, the prophets won many sincere followers. The question arises: what made those followers forsake the established beliefs, traditions and customs of their forefathers, notwithstanding the risk of being totally alienated from their own community? The simple answer is: they made use of their faculties of mind and heart and realized the truth. Did they realize the truth through perceptual consciousness? Not so, as perceptual experience of life after death is impossible. Actually, God has given man, besides perceptual consciousness, rational, aesthetic and moral consciousness too. It is this consciousness that guides man regarding realities that cannot be verified through sensory data. That is why all the prophets of God while calling people to believe in God and life after death, appeal to the aesthetic, moral and rational consciousness of man. For example, when the idolaters of Makkah denied even the possibility of life after death, the Quran exposed the weakness of their stand by advancing very logical and rational arguments in support of it:


"And he has coined for us a similitude, and has forgotten the fact of his creation, saying: who will revive these bones when they have rotted away? Say: He will revive them Who produced them at first, for He is the Knower of every creation, Who has appointed for you fire from the green tree, and behold! you kindle from it. Is not He Who created the heavens and the earth, able to create the like of them? Yes, and He is indeed the Supreme Creator, the All-Knowing." (36:78-81)



At another occasion, the Quran very clearly says that the disbelievers have no sound basis for their denial of life after death. It is based on pure conjecture:

"They say, 'There is nothing but our present life; we die, and we live, and nothing but Time destroys us.' Of that they have no knowledge; they merely conjecture. And when our revelations are recited to them, their only argument is that they say, 'Bring us our fathers, if you speak truly.' (45:24-25)


Surely God will raise all the dead. But God has His own plan of things. A day will come when the whole universe will be destroyed and then again the dead will be resurrected to stand before God. That day will be the beginning of the life that will never end, and that Day every person will be rewarded by God according to his or her good or evil deed. The explanation that the Quran gives about the necessity of life after death is what the moral consciousness of man demands. Actually, if there is no life after death, the very belief in God becomes irrelevant, or even if one believes in God, that would be an unjust and indifferent God: having once created man and not concerned with his fate. Surely, God is just. He will punish the tyrants whose crimes are beyond count: having killed hundreds of innocent persons, created great corruptions in the society, enslaved numerous persons to serve their whims, etc. Man's having a very short span of life in this world, and this physical world's too being not eternal, punishments or rewards equal to the evil or noble deeds of persons are not possible here.

The Quran very emphatically states that the Day of Judgment must come and God will decide about the fate of each soul according to his or her record of deeds:

"Those who disbelieve say: The Hour will never come unto us. Say: Nay, by my Lord, but it is coming unto you surely. (He is) the Knower of the Unseen. Not an atom's weight, or less than that or greater, escapes Him in the heavens or in the earth, but it is in a clear Record. That He may reward those who believe and do good words. For them is pardon and a rich provision. But those who strive against our revelations, challenging (Us), theirs will be a painful doom of wrath." (34:3-5)



The Day of Resurrection will be the Day when God's attributes of Justice and Mercy will be in full manifestation. God will shower His Mercy on those who suffered for His sake in the worldly life, believing that an eternal bliss was awaiting them. But those who abused the bounties of God, caring nothing for the life to come, will be in the most miserable state. Drawing a comparison between them, the Quran says:

"Is he, then, to whom We have promised a goodly promise the fulfillment of which he will meet, like the one whom We have provided with the good things of this life, and then on the Day of Resurrection he will be of those who will be brought arraigned before God?" (28:61)


The Quran also states that this worldly life is a preparation for the eternal life after death. But those who deny it become slaves of their passions and desires, make fun of virtuous and God-conscious persons. Such persons realize their folly only at the time of their death and wish to be given a further chance in the world but in vain. Their miserable state at the time of death, and the horror of the Day of Judgment, and the eternal bliss guaranteed to the sincere believers are very beautifully mentioned in the following verses of the Holy Quran:

"Until, when death comes unto one of them, he says, 'My Lord send me back, that I may do right in that which I have left behind! But nay! It is but a word that he speaks; and behind them is a barrier until the day when they are raised. And when the Trumpet is blown there will be no kinship among them that day, nor will they ask of one another. Then those whose scales are heavy, they are successful. And those whose scales are light are those who lose their souls, in hell abiding, the fire burns their faces and they are glum therein." (23:99-104)



The belief in life after death not only guarantees success in the Hereafter but also makes this world full of peace and happiness by making individuals most responsible and dutiful in their activities. Think of the people of Arabia. Gambling, wine, tribal feuds, plundering and murdering were their main traits when they had no belief in life after death. But as soon as they accepted the belief in One God and life after death they became the most disciplined nation of the world. They gave up their vices, helped each other in hours of need, and settled all their disputes on the basis of justice and equality. Similarly the denial of life after death has its consequences not only in the Hereafter but also in this world. When a nation as a whole denies it, all kinds of evils and corruptions become rampant in that society and ultimately it is destroyed. The Quran mentions the terrible end of 'Aad, Thamud and the Pharaoh in some detail:


"(The tribes of) Thamud and 'Aad disbelieved in the judgment to come. As for Thamud, they were destroyed by the lightning, and as for 'Aad, they were destroyed by a fierce roaring wind, which He imposed on them for seven long nights and eight long days so that you might see the people laid prostrate in it as if they were the stumps of fallen down palm trees. "Now do you see remnant of them? Pharaoh likewise and those before him and the subverted cities. They committed errors and those before him, and they rebelled against the Messenger of their Lord, and He seized them with a surpassing grip. Lo, when the waters rose, We bore you in the running ship that We might make it a reminder for you and for heeding ears to hold. So when the Trumpet is blown with a single blast and the earth and the mountains are lifted up and crushed with a single blow, then on that day, the Terror shall come to pass, and the heaven shall be split for upon that day it will be very frail. Then as for him who is given his book in his right hand, he shall say, 'Here take and read my book! Certainly I thought I should encounter my reckoning.' So he shall be in a pleasing life in a lofty garden, its clusters nigh to gather. "'Eat and drink with wholesome appetite for that you did long ago, in the days gone by.'

"But as for him who is given his book in his left hand, he shall say: 'Would that I had not been given my book and not known my reckoning! Would that it had been the end! My wealth has not availed me, my authority is gone from me.'" (69:4-29)



Thus, there are very convincing reasons to believe in life after death. First, all the prophets of God have called their people to believe in it. Secondly, whenever a human society is built on the basis of this belief, it has been the most ideal and peaceful society, free of social and moral evils. Thirdly, history bears witness that whenever this belief is rejected collectively by a group of people in spite of the repeated warning of the Prophet, the group as a whole has been punished by God even in this world. Fourthly, moral, aesthetic and rational faculties of man endorse the possibility of life after death. Fifthly, God's attributes of Justice and Mercy have no meaning if there is no life after death.

waht it the technology ?

Technology is the process by which humans modify nature to meet their needs and wants. Most people, however, think of technology in terms of its artifacts: computers and software, aircraft, pesticides, water-treatment plants, birth-control pills, and microwave ovens, to name a few. But technology is more than these tangible products.

Technology includes all of the infrastructure necessary for the design, manufacture, operation, and repair of technological artifacts, from corporate headquarters and engineering schools to manufacturing plants and maintenance facilities. The knowledge and processes used to create and to operate technological artifacts -- engineering know-how, manufacturing expertise, and various technical skills -- are equally important part of technology.

Technology is a product of engineering and science, the study of the natural world. Science has two parts: (1) a body of knowledge that has been accumulated over time and (2) a process-scientific inquiry-that generates knowledge about the natural world. Engineering, too, consists of a body of knowledge-in this case knowledge of the design and creation of human-made products-and a process for solving problems. Science aims to understand the "why" and "how" of nature, engineering seeks to shape the natural world to meet human needs and wants. Engineering, therefore, could be called "design under constraint," with science-the laws of nature-being one of a number of limiting factors engineers must take into account. Other constraints include cost, reliability, safety, environmental impact, ease of use, available human and material resources, manufacturability, government regulations, laws, and even politics. In short, technology necessarily involves science and engineering.

50 Questions And Answers On Islamic Monotheism

Q1 Who is your Rubb? (the Lord,the Creator etc).
A. My Rubb is Allah Who has created me and all that exists. He nourishes me
 and all creatures by His Bounties.

Q.2. What is your religion?
A. My religion is Islam, which is submission and obedience to the Order oF Allah
and His Messenger with love, hope and fear.

Q.3. How did you know Allah?
I know Him by His signs and creation like the day and night; the sun and the
moon; the heaven and the earth, and all that is there in and between them.

Q.4. Where is Allah?
A. Allah is above the heavens raised over the Throne and separated from His
creatures.

Q.5. Is Allah with us (in person)?
A. Allah is settled over His Mighty Throne, but He is with us by His Knowledge,
hearing ,seeing and other attributes. As He said: "Fear not verily! I am with you
both hearing and seeing (V,20. :46)

Q.6. Who are the friends of Allah
A. Those people are the friends of Allah who are pious and righteous, fear Him
much abstain from all kinds of sins and perform all kinds of goods, and holdfast
to the Qur`an and Sunnah.

Q. 7. How do you worship Allah?
A. I worship Allah in a manner in which all my ibadah is dedicated to Him Alone. I
do not ascribe anyone with Him in worship.

Q-8. Why did Allah send Messengers?
A. Allah has sent Messengers so that they call the people to worship Him Alone,
not ascribing any partner with Him, and in order that mankind should have no
plea against Allah.

Q-9 What is the meaning of Islam ?
A. Islam means i.e. submission to Allah with Tawhid .

Q-10 What are the pillars of Istam?
A. 1. Testimony of Faith (There is no true God except Allah and Muhammad
is the Messenger of Allah )
2. To establish Salat (prayers).
3. To pay Zakat.
4. To observe Saum (fasting) in Ramadan.
5. Hajj (pilgrimage to the Sacred House) if one can afford the journey.

Q-11 What is Iman?
A. Iman (Faith) means to believe in the heart, to confess by the tongue and to act
with the parts of the body.

Q-12 Can there be any variation in Iman?
A. By some words and deeds it may increase and by some words and deeds it
may decrease.

Q-13 What do you mean by increase and decrease in Iman?
A- Iman (Faith) increases by obedience to Allah and good deeds while it
decreases by sins and evil acts.

Q-14 What are the pillars of Iman (Faith)
A. The pillars of Iman are six i.e. to believe in:
1. Allah.
2. His Angels.
3. His Messengers.
4. His Books.
5. The Last Day
6. Divine Preordainments good or bad.

Q-15 What is Belief in Allah?
A. The Belief in Allahi is that you should believe that Allah is the Sole Creator
Sustainer Provider and the One in Whose Hand is the disposal of all affairs.
Everything stands in need of Him, but He stands in need of none. He is the Only
One Who is worthy of being worshipped. He has the Best Names and Perfect
Attributes.

0-16 Who are the angels?
A. The angels are creatures of light. They are Allah's obedient slaves, they do
that which they are commanded and are incapable of disobedience.

Q-17 What do you mean by Belief in the Book and the Messengers?
A. It means that Allah sent the Messengers like Moses, Jesus,Abraham. Noah
etc. and sent down the books like the Torah, Injeel, Zaboor (Psalms) etc. to call
the people to worship Allah Alone, associating nothing with Him. He sealed
(finalized) the Messengers with Prophet Muhammed and abrogated all
previous books with the Qur'an. Therefore the worship should be done according
to the Qur'an and the Sunnah of the Prophet .

Q-I8 What is meant by Belief in the Last Day?
A. The Belief in the Last Day means to believe that Allah has ordained a fixed
term for everything, and a term for this world. He will assuredly raise the dead
from their graves and will account for everyone their deeds in this world. On that
Day of Resurrection, rewards and punishments will be assigned. Every one will
be justly rewarded or punished.

Q-19 What is meant by Belief Preordainment (Qadar)?
A. The Belief in Preordainment (Qadar) means to believe that everything — good
or bad — happens or takes place according to what Allah has ordained for it. He
has created everything in due proportion.

Q-20 What is the cleaning of "There is no God but Allah"?
A. It means there is no true deity except Allah Alone, Negating all false gods and
affirming that Allah is the only true God.

Q-21 What is the meaning of ^Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah"?
A. It means total submission to him in whatever he ordered, and avoiding what
he forbade and believing in all those matters he informed us about.

Q-22 What are the conditions of the testimony of Faith?
A. There are seven conditions of the testimony of Faith:
1- Knowledge whick negates ignorance.
2- Certainty which negates doubt.
3- Sincerity and purity of intent which negates Shirk.
4- Truthfulness which negates hypocrisy.
5- Love and devotion which negates disdain of Allah`s religion.
6- Submission which negates disobedince.
7- Acceptance which negates rejection or denial.

Q-23 What is the greatest thing that Allah has enjoined?
A. The greatest thing Allah has enjoined is Tauhid (Monotheism).

Q-24 What is Tauhid (Islamic Monotheism)?
A. Tauhid means declaring Allah to be the only God who deserves to be
worshipped in truth and confirming all attributes with which He has qualified
Himself or that are attributed to Him by His Messenger .

Q-25 What are the aspects of Tauhid?
A. There are three aspects of Tauhid:
1- Tauhid-ar-Rububiyah.
2- Tauhid-al-Uluhiyah.
3-Tauhid-al-Asma was-Sifat.

Q- 26 What isTauhid-ar-Rububiyah?
A. It is declaring Allah to be One and Unique in His work, Iike creation,
sustenance, bringing to life and causing death etc.

Q-27 What is Tauhid-al-Uluhiyah?
A. It is declaring Allah as the Only God to whom all acts worship must be
dedicated such salat (prayers), Zakat, Sawm(fasting), supplications vowing etc.

Q-28 What isTauhid-al-Asma was-Sifat?
A. It is an affirmation of all the Divien Names and Attributes of Allah in a manner
that
suits His Majesty, as mentioned in the Qur'an and the Sunnah.

Q-29 How would you describe Ibadah?
A. It is a comprehensive word comprising deeds and words that Allah loves and
is pleased with whether manifested or hidden,

Q-30 What are the conditions of Ibadah?
A. There are two conditions of Ibadah:
1. Sincerity to Allah.
2. Submission to Allah's Messenger i.e. to act according to his Sunnah.

Q-31 Write some types of Ibadah.
A. Some types of Ibadah are the prayers, the obligatory charity,
fasting, the pilgrimage, fear of Allah, hope in His Mercy, Seeking His aid. and
other acts of worship which Allah has commanded and enjoined.

Q-32 What is the greatest thing Allah has forbidden?
A. The greatest thing Allah has forbidden is Shirk (polytheism).

Q-33 What is polytheism?
A. It means to believe that there is one who shares Allah in His acts i.e. ascribing
partners or setting up rivals to Allah in His rights.

Q-34 What are the types of polytheism?
A. There are three types of polytheism:
1. The greater polytheism (Shirk Akbar).
2. The lesser polytheism (Shirk Asghar).
3. The inconspicuous polytheism (Shirk Khafi).

Q-35 What is greater polytheism?
A. The greater polytheism is to devote any form of worship to other than Allah
Allah will never forgive one who dies upon Shirk,nor accept his good deeds, and
he would be cast out from the folds of Islam.

Q-36 What are the types of greater polytheism?
A. There are four types of greater polytheism:
1- The polytheism in invocation i.e. involving supplications to other than Allah.
2. The polytheism in intentions i.e. purpose and intentions not for the sake of
Allah but directed towards other deities.
3, The polytheism in obedience i.e. rendering obedience to any authority against
the Order of Allah.
4. The potytheism in love i.e showing love to others which is due to Allah Alone.

Q-37 What is lesser polytheism?
A. The lesser polytheism is Ar-Riya, that means the acts of worship done to gain
praise or fame rather than to please Allah, this type of polytheism, however, does
not cast the person committing it out of the fold of Islam.

Q-38 What is inconspicuous polytheism?
A. The inconspicuous polytheism implies being dissatisfied with the conditions
ordained by Allah.

Q-39 What is the proof of the inconspicuous polytheism?
A.The proof of the above Shirk is the saying of the Prophet "The
inconspicuous polytheism is more hidden among this nation than the track of a
black ant over a black stone on a dark night" (Musnad Ahmad)

Q-40 What are the types of Kufr (disbelief)?
A. There are two types of Kufr :
1. The majorKufr which cast its people out of Islam,
2. The lessor cr minor Kufr which does not cast the one who commits it out of
Islam. It is Kufr of ungratefulness.

Q-41 What are the types of major Kufr?
A. There are five types of major Kufr :
1. The Kufr of denial.
2. The Kufr of arrogance associated with recognition of the truth.
3. The Kufr of doubt.
4-. The Kufr of disregard,
5. The Kufr of hypocrisy.

Q-42 What are the categories of hypocrisy ?
A. There are two categories of hypocrisy:
1. Hypocrisy in Belief.
2. Hypocrisy in deeds and actions.

Q-43 What is the hypocrisy in Belief?
A. Hypocrisy in Belief is of six types:
1. Denial of the Messenger .
2. Denial of the thing with which the Messenger is sent.
3. Hating the Messenger
4.Hating the thing with which the Messenger is sent.
5. Rejoicing at the disgrace of Islam.
6. Disliking the prevalence of Islam.

Q-44 What is the hypocrisy in deeds and actions?
A. The hypocrisy in deeds and actions is of five types:
1- When he speaks, he lies.
2- When he promises., he breaks it.
3. When he is entrusted, he betrays.
4. When he disputes, he acts immorally.
5. When he makes a pact, he makes acts treacherously.

Q-45 Are good deeds accepted (by Allah) with the polytheism?
A. Never! None of the deeds are accepted when mixed with polytheism.
Allah says: " If they had joined in worship others with Allah all that they used to
do would have been of no benefit to them" (V.6: 88)
"Verily! Allah forgives not setting up partners in worship with Him, but He forgives
whom He pleases sins other than that" '(V.4:116)

Q-46 What are the nullifiers of Islam?

 
A. The nullifiers of Islam are ten:
1. Polytheism of worship.
2. He who does not believe that the polytheists are disbelievers, or doubts their
infidelity or holds their belief to be valid.
3. He who sets up intermediaries between one's self and Allah, supplicating
them, trusting them and asking them to intercede on his behalf.
4. He who believes that the guidance of others is more perfect than the Prophet
.
5. He who hates anything that the Prophet was sent with.
6. He who denies the religion of the Prophet or ridicules its reward or
punishment.
7. Sorcery.
8. Supporting the polytheists against the Muslims.
9. He who believes that some people are exempted from abiding by the Shari`ah
as Khidr was exempted by the laws of Musa.
10. Turning away from the religion of Allah by neither learning nor applying it.

Q- 47 What are the three fundamentals that every Muslim must learn?
A. The three fundamentals are:
I, Knowing Your Rubb (the Lord, the Creator, the Sustainer, and the One in
Whose Hand is the disposal of all affairs).
2. Knowing your religion (Islam).
3. Knowing your Prophet Muhammad

Q-48 What is Taghut?
A. Everything that is worshipped. or followed or obeyed other than Allah is
Taghut.

Q-49 How many Taghut are there and who are their leaders?
A. They are many but their leaders are Five:

Q. 50-Who are the leaders of Taghut ?
A. They are:
1. Satan, may Allah curse him,
2. Anyone who is worshipped with his consent.
3. A person who calls the people to be worshipped instead of Allah.
4. A person who claims the knowledge of Ghaib (unseen, hidden, invisible,
absent etc).
5.The ruler who rules by laws other than the law sent down by Allah.

ISLAMIC ENGINEERING

Medieval Islam was a prosperous and dynamic civilization, and much of its prosperity was

due to an engineering technology that assisted in increasing the production of raw materials and finished products. In addition, the demand for scientific instruments, and the need to cater for the amusements and aesthetic pleasures of the leisured classes, was reflected in a tradition of fine technology based upon delicate and sensitive control mechanisms. This is a very wide subject indeed, and the Islamic contribution to the development of modern engineering will be indicated by means of citing individual cases of technology transfer.

Civil Engineering
Irrigation and Water Supply

 
With the spread of the Islamic Empire westward, agricultural and irrigation methods and techniques were introduced into the western regions of Islam. The rulers of al-Andalus and many of their followers were of Syrian origin, and the climate, terrain and hydraulic conditions in parts of southern Spain resemble those of Syria. It is hardly surprising, therefore, that the irrigation methods - technical and administrative - in Valencia closely resemble the methods applied in the Ghuta of Damascus.[2]

There is a unanimous opinion among historians that the present Spanish irrigation systems of Valencia and Andalusia are of Muslim origin. In 1960 a celebration was held in Valencia commemorating the ‘Millennium of the Waters’. It expressed public recognition of the establishment of the irrigation system, and specifically of the Tribunal of Waters during the reign of 'Abd al-Rahman III'.

The irrigation system that had been instituted in the days of the caliphs in Valencia was perpetuated and confirmed under the succeeding dynasties, until, when the Christian conquerors appeared in the thirteenth century, it recommended itself for adoption, backed by the experienced benefits of several centuries. The Arabic names used in the irrigation systems give distinct proofs of the Moorish origin of the irrigation systems in eastern Spain.

There is some difference between eastern Spain (Valencia and Murcia) and the kingdom of Granada. The chief object of the Granada water supply system was not the irrigation of crops only but the distribution of water to the fountains and baths of the capital. In Granada the system is still "to an exceptional degree" the same as it was in the time of the Arabs, and we find undisturbed the institutions practiced by the Arabs themselves.

An acequia flowing toward Granada from the spring in the village of Alfucar in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada, was first built in the 13th century and is still flowing today

The Arabic systems in irrigations were diffused from al-Andalus to Christian Spain. This accounts for the Aragonese traditions of irrigation.

These systems of irrigation had migrated from Spain to America where we find them still practiced in San Antonio in Texas. The story begins properly in the Canary Islands where in the late fifteenth century; settlers from Spain introduced Islamic institutions of water distribution. They brought with them to the American southwest both the technology and institutional framework for irrigation and the distribution of water.

The Qanat

The qanat system was an efficient method for irrigation and water supply. It originated in pre-Islamic Iran. The qanat technology spread westward to North Africa, Spain, and Sicily. The Andalusi agronomical writers provide practical advice on well-digging and qanat construction.

From Spain the qanat technology was transferred to the New World and qanats have been found in Mexico, Peru, and Chile. In the 1970s a qanat system 2.3 kilometers long was located in the La Venta area, just 10 km northwest of Guadalajara, Mexico.

In Palermo, Italy, a qanat system from the Arab days was used to bring fresh water to the city and to irrigate its beautiful gardens. There are current plans to revive and reconstruct the Arabic qanat and utilize it to solve the acute needs of the modern city of Palermo for potable water. The project in hand is of great historical, archaeological, geological and hydro-geological importance. It is already of great interest for tourists.

Dams

There are many Muslim dams in Spain, a large number of which were built during the tenth century AD, the golden age of Umayyad power in the peninsula. In this period, for example, many small dams, or azuds, were built on the 150-mile-long River Turia, which flows into the Mediterranean at Valencia. (In passing it is important to note the Spanish word azud, from Arabic al-sadd, one of many modern irrigation terms taken directly from Arabic and certain proof of Muslim influence on Spanish technology.) Eight of these dams are spread over six miles of river in Valencia, and serve the local irrigation system. Some of the canals carry water much further, particularly to the Valencian rice fields. These, of course, were established by the Muslims, and continue to be one of the most important rice-producing centres in Europe. Because of their safe design and method of construction, and because they were provided with deep and very firm foundations, the Turia dams have been able to survive the dangerous flood conditions for 1000 years.[3]

Mechanical Engineering

Water-Raising Machines

The saqiya was widely used in the Muslim world from the earliest days onwards. It was introduced to the Iberian Peninsula by the Muslims, where it was massively exploited. Its Maximum expansion in the Valencian Country took place throughout the eighteenth century. In 1921 their number amounted to 6000 installed in the Orchards of Valencia, which supplied water to 17866 hectares. Throughout the twentieth century they have been replaced by hydraulic pumps.




A saqiva in Ma'arrat al-Nu'man near Aleppo

Today, this ancient water raising machine is seen in a few farming areas in the northern Mexican states. It also survives in the Yucatan Peninsula. It is reported that one group of farmers in Veracruz, Mexico is reverting back to using the traditional technology of the saqiya.

The na'ura (noria) is also a very significant machine in the history of engineering. It consists of a large wheel made of timber and provided with paddles. The large-scale use of norias was introduced to Spain by Syrian engineers. An installation similar to that at Hama was in operation at Toledo in the twelfth century.

The Na'ura (Noria) of Albolafia in Cordoba also known as Kulaib, which stands until now, served to elevate the water of the river until the Palace of the Caliphs. Its construction was commissioned by Abd al-Rahman I, and has been reconstructed several times.

The Noria of Cordoba

The noria was heavily exploited all over Muslim Spain. It was diffused to other parts of Europe, and, like the Saqiya, has shown remarkable powers of survival into modern times.
Five water-raising machines are described in al-Jazari's great book on machines, composed in Diyar Bakr in 1206. One of these is a water-driven saqiya, Three of the others are modifications to the shaduf. These are important for the ideas they embody, ideas which are of importance in the development of mechanical engineering as we shall mention below. The fifth machine is the most significant. This is a water-driven twin-cylinder pump. The important features embodied in this pump are the double-acting principle, the conversion of rotary into reciprocating motion, and the use of true suction pipes. The hand-driven pumps of classical and Hellenistic times had vertical cylinders which stood directly in the water which entered them through plate-valves in the bottoms of the cylinders on the suction strokes. The pumps could not, therefore, be positioned above the water level. This pump of al-Jazari could be considered as the origin of the suction pump. The assumption that Taccola (c. 1450) was the first to describe a suction pump is not substantiated. The only explanation for the sudden appearance of the suction pump in the writings of the Renaissance engineers in Europe is that the idea was inherited from Islam whose engineers were familiar with piston pumps for a long time throughout the Middle Ages.

Twin Cylinder Suction Pump of Al-Jazari

Evidence for the continuation of a tradition of mechanical engineering is provided by a book on machines written by Taqi al-Din about the year 1552. A number of machines are described, including a pump similar to al-Jazari's, but the most interesting device is a six-cylinder 'Monobloc' pump. The cylinders are bored in-line in a block of wood which stands in the water - one-way valves admit water into each cylinder on the suction stroke. The delivery pipes, each of which is also provided with a one-way clack-valve, are led out from the side of each cylinder and brought together into a single delivery outlet. It is worthy of note that Taqi al-Din's book antedates the famous book on machines written by Agostino Ramelli in 1588. It is therefore quite possible that there was some Islamic influence on European machine technology even as late as the sixteenth century as we have alluded above (See Part I).

Power from Water and Wind

The Muslim geographers and travelers leave us in no doubt as to the importance of corn-milling in the Muslim world. This importance is reflected by the widespread occurrence of mills from Iran to the Iberian Peninsula. Arab geographers were rating streams at so much 'mill-power'. Large urban communities were provided with flour by factory milling installations.

The ship-mill was one of the methods used to increase the output of mills, taking advantage of the faster current in midstream and avoiding the problems caused by the lowering of the water level in the dry season. Another method was to fix the water-wheels to the piers of bridges in order to utilize the increased flow caused by the partial damming of the river. Dams were also constructed to provide additional power for mills (and water-raising machines) In the twelfth century al-Idrisi described the dam at Cordoba in Spain, in which there were three mill houses each containing four mills. Until quite recently its three mill houses still functioned.

Existing Mill Houses on a Dam Near Cordoba Were Described by al-Idrisi

Evidence of the Muslims' eagerness to harness every available source of water power is provided by their use of tidal mills in the tenth century in the Basra area where there were mills that were operated by the ebb-tide. Tidal mills did not appear in Europe until about a century after this.
Water power was also used in Islam for other industrial purposes. In the year 751 the industry of paper-making was established in the city of Samarqand. The paper was made from linen, flax or hemp rags. Soon afterwards paper mills on the pattern of those in Samarqand were erected in Baghdad and spread until they reached Muslim Spain. The raw materials in these mills were prepared by pounding them with water-powered trip-hammers. Writing about the year 1044, al-Biruni tells us that gold ores were pulverized by this method "as is the case in Samarqand with the pounding of flax for paper". Water power was also used in the Muslim world for fulling cloth, sawing timber and processing sugarcane. It is yet to be established to what extent industrial milling in Europe was influenced by Muslim practices. A likely area of transfer is the Iberian Peninsula, where the Christians took over, in working order, many Muslim installations, including the paper mills at Jativa.

Fine Technology

The expression 'fine technology', embraces a whole range of devices and machines, with a multiplicity of purposes: water clocks, fountains, toys and automata and astronomical instruments What they have in common is the considerable degree of engineering skill required for their manufacture, and the use of delicate mechanisms and sensitive control systems. Many of the ideas employed in the construction of ingenious devices were useful in the later development of mechanical technology.

The tradition of pre-Islamic fine technology continued uninterrupted under Islam and was developed to a higher degree of sophistication. Monumental water clocks in Syria and Mesopotamia continued to be installed in public places. The Abbasid Caliphs were interested in clocks and ingenious devices. The story of the clock that was presented by Harun al-Rashid (786-809), to Charlemagne in 807 AD is well known.[4]

The Monumental Water Clock of Al-Jazari