List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world

File:ChirurgicalOperation15thCentury.JPGs employing a surgical method. From Şerafeddin Sabuncuoğlu's Imperial Surgery (1465).]]

The following is a list of inventions, discoveries and scientific advancements made in the medieval Islamic world, especially during the Islamic Golden Age,p. 45, Islamic & European expansion: the forging of a global order, Michael Adas, ed., Temple University Press, 1993, {{ISBN|1-56639-068-0}}.Max Weber & Islam, Toby E. Huff and Wolfgang Schluchter, eds., Transaction Publishers, 1999, {{ISBN|1-56000-400-2}}, p. 53George Saliba (1994), A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam, pp. 245, 250, 256–57. New York University Press, {{ISBN|0-8147-8023-7}}.{{cite journal | doi = 10.1086/353360 | last1 = King | first1 = David A. | year = 1983 | title = The Astronomy of the Mamluks | journal = Isis | volume = 74 | issue = 4| pages = 531–55 | s2cid = 144315162 }} as well as in later states of the Age of the Islamic Gunpowders such as the Ottoman and Mughal empires.

The Islamic Golden Age was a period of cultural, economic and scientific flourishing in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the eighth century to the fourteenth century, with several contemporary scholars{{Who|date=August 2019}} dating the end of the era to the fifteenth or sixteenth century.{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hassan |first=Ahmad Y |title=Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century |url=http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.html |encyclopedia=Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, Proceedings of the Inaugural Symposium on Islam and the Challenge of Modernity: Historical and Contemporary Contexts, Kuala Lumpur, 1–5 August 1994 |editor=Sharifah Shifa Al-Attas |publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC)|date=1996 |pages=351–99 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150434/http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.html |archive-date=2 April 2015}} This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world's classical knowledge into the Arabic language and subsequently development in various fields of sciences began. Science and technology in the Islamic world adopted and preserved knowledge and technologies from contemporary and earlier civilizations, including Persia, Egypt, India, China, and Greco-Roman antiquity, while making numerous improvements, innovations and inventions.

List of inventions

=Early caliphates=

; 7th century

File:Ljs44.jpgs and rubāʻīyāt, from the University of Pennsylvania library's Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection[http://dla.library.upenn.edu/dla/medren/pageturn.html?q=ljs+44&id=MEDREN_5404714&fq=collection_facet%3A%22Lawrence+J.+Schoenberg+Collection%22&rotation=0¤tpage=40 UPenn LJS 44]]]

Ghazal: A form of Islamic poetry that originated from the Arabian Peninsula in the late 7th century.{{cite web |title=Ghazal {{!}} Islamic literature |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/ghazal |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=13 April 2019}}

;8th century

Arabesque: The distinctive Arabesque style was developed by the 11th century, having begun in the 8th or 9th century in works like the Mshatta Facade.Tabbaa, Yasser, [https://books.google.com/books?id=ph7EdrzSpGoC&pg=PA73 The transformation of Islamic art during the Sunni revival], I.B.Tauris, 2002, {{ISBN|1-85043-392-5}}, {{ISBN|978-1-85043-392-7}}, pp. 75-88Canby, Sheila, [https://books.google.com/books?id=tA9Uuy2cSIcC&pg=PA26 Islamic art in detail], US edn., Harvard University Press, 2005, {{ISBN|0-674-02390-0}}, {{ISBN|978-0-674-02390-1}}, p. 26
Astrolabe with angular scale : The astrolabe, originally invented some time between 200 and 150 BC, was further developed in the medieval Islamic world, where Muslim astronomers introduced angular scales to the design,See p. 289 of {{Citation

| postscript = .|bibcode = 1923TrOS...24..289M }} adding circles indicating azimuths on the horizon.{{citation|title=The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: a Sourcebook|editor-first=Victor J.|editor-last=Katz|first=J. Lennart|last=Berggren|chapter=Mathematics in Medieval Islam|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3ullzl036UEC&pg=PA519|publisher=Princeton University Press|date=2007|isbn=978-0-691-11485-9|page=519}}

Classification of chemical substances: The works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan (written c. 850–950),{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=9783487091150}} vol. I, pp. xvii–lxv. and those of Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (c. 865–925), contain the earliest known classifications of chemical substances.{{Cite book|last1=RASHED|first1=ROSHDI|last2=collaboration|first2=in|last3=MORELON|first3=RÉGIS|date=1996|title=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science|doi=10.4324/9780203329030|isbn=978-0-203-32903-0}}{{Dead link|date=August 2019}}{{Page needed|date=June 2024}}
Damascus steel: Damascus blades were first manufactured in the Near East from ingots of Wootz steel that were imported from India.{{cite book |last=Pacey |first=Arnold |title=Technology in World Civilization: A Thousand-year History |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=X7e8rHL1lf4C&pg=PA80 |year=1991 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-66072-3 |page=80}}
Modern Oud: Although string instruments existed before Islam, the oud was developed in Islamic music and was the ancestor of the European lute.{{cite web |title=ʿūd {{!}} musical instrument |url=https://www.britannica.com/art/ud |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |access-date=6 April 2019}}
Sulfur-mercury theory of metals: First attested in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's Sirr al-khalīqa ("The Secret of Creation", c. 750–850) and in the works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan (written c. 850–950),{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=9783487091150}} vol. II, p. 1, note 1; {{Cite book|last=Weisser|first=Ursula|editor1-first=Otto|editor1-last=Spies|url=https://www.degruyter.com/doi/10.1515/9783110866933|title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana|publisher=De Gruyter|year=1980|isbn=978-3-11-086693-3|location=Berlin|doi=10.1515/9783110866933}} p. 199. On the dating and historical background of the Sirr al-khalīqa, see Kraus 1942−1943, vol. II, pp. 270–303; Weisser 1980, pp. 39–72. On the dating of the writings attributed to Jābir, see Kraus 1942−1943, vol. I, pp. xvii–lxv. the sulfur-mercury theory of metals would remain the basis of all theories of metallic composition until the eighteenth century.{{Cite journal|last=Norris|first=John|year=2006|title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science|journal=Ambix|volume=53|issue=1|pages=43–65|doi=10.1179/174582306X93183|s2cid=97109455}}
Tin-glazing: The earliest tin-glazed pottery appears to have been made in Abbasid Iraq/Mesopotamia in the 8th-century.{{Citation | last=Mason | first=Robert B. | title=New Looks at Old Pots: Results of Recent Multidisciplinary Studies of Glazed Ceramics from the Islamic World | journal=Muqarnas: Annual on Islamic Art and Architecture | year=1995 | volume=XII | pages=1–10 | publisher=Brill Academic Publishers | isbn=90-04-10314-7 | postscript=. | doi=10.2307/1523219| jstor=1523219 }} The oldest fragments found to-date were excavated from the palace of Samarra about {{convert|80|km|mi|abbr=off}} north of Baghdad.Caiger-Smith, 1973, p.23
Panemone windmill: The earliest recorded windmill design found was Persian in origin, and was invented around the 7th-9th centuries.{{cite book|last1=Eldridge|first1=Frank|title=Wind Machines|date=1980|publisher=Litton Educational Publishing, Inc.|location=New York|isbn=0-442-26134-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/windmachines00fran/page/15 15]|edition=2nd|url=https://archive.org/details/windmachines00fran/page/15}}{{cite book|last1=Shepherd|first1=William|title=Electricity Generation Using Wind Power|date=2011|publisher=World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd.|location=Singapore|isbn=978-981-4304-13-9|page=4|edition=1}}

;9th century

Algebra discipline: Al-Khwarizmi is considered the father of the algebra discipline. The word Algebra comes from the Arabic الجبر (al-jabr) in the title of his book Ilm al-jabr wa'l-muḳābala. He was the first to treat algebra as an independent discipline in its own right.{{citation |last= Gandz |first= S. |title= The Sources of Al-Khowārizmī's Algebra |journal= Osiris |volume= 1 |year= 1936 |pages= 263–277|doi= 10.1086/368426 |s2cid= 60770737 }}, page 263–277: "In a sense, al-Khwarizmi is more entitled to be called "the father of algebra" than Diophantus because al-Khwarizmi is the first to teach algebra in an elementary form and for its own sake, Diophantus is primarily concerned with the theory of numbers".
Algebraic reduction and balancing, cancellation, and like terms: Al-Khwarizmi introduced reduction and balancing in algebra. It refers to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation, that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation, which the term al-jabr (algebra) originally referred to.{{citation |last= Boyer |first= Carl B. |author-link= Carl Benjamin Boyer |title= A History of Mathematics |edition= 2nd |publisher= John Wiley & Sons, Inc. |year= 1991 |isbn= 978-0-471-54397-8 |url= https://archive.org/details/historyofmathema00boye }}, The Arabic Hegemony, p. 229: "It is not certain just what the terms al-jabr and muqabalah mean, but the usual interpretation is similar to that implied in the translation above. The word al-jabr presumably meant something like "restoration" or "completion" and seems to refer to the transposition of subtracted terms to the other side of an equation; the word muqabalah is said to refer to "reduction" or "balancing" – that is, the cancellation of like terms on opposite sides of the equation".
Automatic controls: "Although the Banu Musa took Greek models as their starting point, they went well beyond anything achieved by Hero or Philo. In particular, it is their preoccupation with automatic controls that distinguishes them not only from their Greek predecessors but from their Islamic successors."{{citation|title=The book of ingenious devices (Kitāb al-ḥiyal)|author=Banu Musa|translator=Donald Routledge Hill|publisher=Springer|year=1979|isbn=90-277-0833-9}}{{rp|page=23}}
Chemical synthesis of a naturally occurring compound: The oldest known instructions for deriving an inorganic compound (sal ammoniac or ammonium chloride) from organic substances (such as plants, blood, and hair) by chemical means appear in the works attributed to Jabir ibn Hayyan (written c. 850–950).{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=9783487091150}} Vol. II, pp. 41–42. On the dating of the writings attributed to Jābir, see Kraus 1942−1943, vol. I, pp. xvii–lxv.
Chess manual: The oldest known chess manual was in Arabic and dates to 840–850, written by Al-Adli ar-Rumi (800–870), a renowned Arab chess player, titled Kitab ash-shatranj (Book of Chess). During the Islamic Golden Age, many works on shatranj were written, recording for the first time the analysis of opening moves, game problems, the knight's tour, and many more subjects common in modern chess books.{{cite book |last=Murray |first=H. J. R. |author-link=H. J. R. Murray |title=A History of Chess |edition=Reissued |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1913 |isbn=0-19-827403-3|title-link=A History of Chess|page=169|quote=The beginnings of the vast literature of chess are to be found in the Golden Age of Arabic }}
Automatic crank: The non-manual crank appears in several of the hydraulic devices described by the Banū Mūsā brothers in their Book of Ingenious Devices.{{citation|title=The Cambridge History of Arabic Literature|last=A. F. L. Beeston, M. J. L. Young|first=J. D. Latham, Robert Bertram Serjeant|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=1990|isbn=0-521-32763-6|page=266}} These automatically operated cranks appear in several devices, two of which contain an action which approximates to that of a crankshaft, anticipating Al-Jazari's invention by several centuries and its first appearance in Europe by over five centuries. However, the automatic crank described by the Banu Musa would not have allowed a full rotation, but only a small modification was required to convert it to a crankshaft.{{rp|pages=23–24}}
Conical valve: A mechanism developed by the Banu Musa, of particular importance for future developments, was the conical valve, which was used in a variety of different applications.{{rp|page=23}}
Cryptanalysis and frequency analysis: In cryptology, the first known recorded explanation of cryptanalysis was given by Al-Kindi (also known as "Alkindus" in Europe), in A Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages. This treatise includes the first description of the method of frequency analysis.{{cite journal|last=Broemeling|first=Lyle D.|title=An Account of Early Statistical Inference in Arab Cryptology|journal=The American Statistician|date=1 November 2011|volume=65|issue=4|pages=255–257|doi=10.1198/tas.2011.10191|s2cid=123537702}}{{cite journal | last1 = Al-Kadi | first1 = Ibrahim A. | year = 1992 | title = The origins of cryptology: The Arab contributions | journal = Cryptologia | volume = 16 | issue = 2| pages = 97–126 | doi=10.1080/0161-119291866801}}
Double-seat valve: It was invented by the Banu Musa, and has a modern appearance in their Book of Ingenious Devices.{{cite book |last1=Mayr |first1=Otto |title=The Origins of Feedback Control |date=1970 |publisher=MIT Press |pages=[https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr/page/n49 42]–43 |url=https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr}}
Lusterware: Lustre glazes were applied to pottery in Mesopotamia in the 9th century; the technique soon became popular in Persia and Syria.Ten thousand years of pottery, Emmanuel Cooper, University of Pennsylvania Press, 4th ed., 2000, {{ISBN|0-8122-3554-1}}, pp. 86–88. Earlier uses of lustre are known.
Hard soap: Hard toilet soap with a pleasant smell was produced in the Middle East during the Islamic Golden Age, when soap-making became an established industry. Recipes for soap-making are described by Muhammad ibn Zakariya al-Razi (c. 865–925), who also gave a recipe for producing glycerine from olive oil. In the Middle East, soap was produced from the interaction of fatty oils and fats with alkali. In Syria, soap was produced using olive oil together with alkali and lime. Soap was exported from Syria to other parts of the Muslim world and to Europe.Ahmad Y. al-Hassan (2001), [https://books.google.com/books?id=h2g1qte4iegC&pg=PA73 Science and Technology in Islam: Technology and applied sciences, pages 73-74] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171209061203/https://books.google.com/books?id=h2g1qte4iegC&pg=PA73 |date=2017-12-09 }}, UNESCO
Mental institute: In 872, Ahmad ibn Tulun built a hospital in Cairo that provided care to the insane, which included music therapy.{{cite book|last=Koenig|first=Harold George|title=Faith and mental health: religious resources for healing|year=2005|publisher=Templeton Foundation Press|isbn=1-932031-91-X}}
Kerosene distillation: Although the Chinese made use of kerosene through extracting and purifying petroleum, the process of distilling crude oil/petroleum into kerosene, as well as other hydrocarbon compounds, was first written about in the 9th century by the Persian scholar Rāzi (or Rhazes). In his Kitab al-Asrar (Book of Secrets), the physician and chemist Razi described two methods for the production of kerosene, termed naft abyad ("white naphtha"), using an apparatus called an alembic.{{cite journal| last = Bilkadi | first = Zayn| title = The Oil Weapons| journal = Saudi Aramco World| volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 20–27| url = http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/199501/the.oil.weapons.htm}}{{cite book |last1=Kent |first1=James A. |last2=Bommaraju |first2=Tilak V. |last3=Barnicki |first3=Scott D. |title=Handbook of Industrial Chemistry and Biotechnology |date=2017 |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |isbn=9783319522876 |page=18 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Jx8vDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA18}}
Kerosene lamp: The first description of a simple lamp using crude mineral oil was provided by Persian alchemist al-Razi (Rhazes) in 9th century Baghdad, who referred to it as the "naffatah" in his Kitab al-Asrar (Book of Secrets).Zayn Bilkadi (University of California, Berkeley), "The Oil Weapons", Saudi Aramco World, January–February 1995, pp. 20–27.
Minaret: The first known minarets appeared in the early 9th century under Abbasid rule.{{Cite book|title=The minaret|last=Bloom|first=Jonathan M.|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|year=2013|isbn=978-0748637256|location=Edinburgh|oclc=856037134}}
Music sequencer and mechanical musical instrument: The origin of automatic musical instruments dates back to the 9th century, when Persian inventors Banū Mūsā brothers invented a hydropowered organ using exchangeable cylinders with pins,{{cite journal | first = Charles B. |last = Fowler | date = October 1967 | title = The Museum of Music: A History of Mechanical Instruments | journal = Music Educators Journal | volume = 54 | issue = 2 | pages = 45–49 | doi = 10.2307/3391092 |jstor = 3391092 |s2cid = 190524140 }} and also an automatic flute playing machine using steam power.{{rp|pages=76–77}} These were the earliest mechanical musical instruments, and the first programmable music sequencers.{{cite journal |last1=Kapur |first1=Ajay |last2=Carnegie |first2=Dale |last3=Murphy |first3=Jim |last4=Long |first4=Jason |title=Loudspeakers Optional: A history of non-loudspeaker-based electroacoustic music |journal=Organised Sound |date=2017 |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=195–205 |doi=10.1017/S1355771817000103 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |issn=1355-7718|doi-access=free }}
Kamal: The kamal originated with Arab navigators of the late 9th century.{{Citation |last=McGrail |first=Sean |year=2004 |title=Boats of the World |journal=Journal of Navigation |volume=55 |issue=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-927186-0 |pages=85–6|bibcode=2002JNav...55..507M |doi=10.1017/S0373463302222018 |s2cid=129318544 }} The invention of the kamal allowed for the earliest known latitude sailing, and was thus the earliest step towards the use of quantitative methods in navigation.{{Citation |last=McGrail |first=Sean |year=2004 |title=Boats of the World |journal=Journal of Navigation |volume=55 |issue=3 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=0-19-927186-0 |pages=316 & 393|bibcode=2002JNav...55..507M |doi=10.1017/S0373463302222018 |s2cid=129318544 }}
Programmable machine and automatic flute player: The Banū Mūsā brothers invented a programmable automatic flute player and which they described in their Book of Ingenious Devices. It was the earliest programmable machine.{{cite journal |last1=Koetsier |first1=Teun |year=2001 |title=On the prehistory of programmable machines: musical automata, looms, calculators |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=589–603 |publisher=Elsevier |doi=10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2}}
Sharbat and soft drink: In the medieval Middle East, a variety of fruit-flavoured soft drinks were widely drunk, such as sharbat, and were often sweetened with ingredients such as sugar, syrup and honey. Other common ingredients included lemon, apple, pomegranate, tamarind, jujube, sumac, musk, mint and ice. Middle Eastern drinks later became popular in medieval Europe, where the word "syrup" was derived from Arabic.{{cite book|last=Meri|first=Josef W.|title=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia|date=2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=1135455961|page=106|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c1ZsBgAAQBAJ&pg=PA106}}
Sine quadrant: A type of quadrant used by medieval Arabic astronomers, it was described by Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī in 9th century Baghdad.David A. King, "Islamic Astronomy", in Christopher Walker (1999), ed., Astronomy before the telescope, p. 167-168. British Museum Press. {{ISBN|0-7141-2733-7}}.
Scimitar: The curved sword or "scimitar" was widespread throughout the Middle East from at least the Ottoman period, with early examples dating to Abbasid era (9th century) Khurasan.{{Cite book|title=Daily life in the medieval Islamic world|author=James E. Lindsay|publisher=Greenwood Publishing Group|year=2005|isbn=978-0-313-32270-9|page=[https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/64 64]|url=https://archive.org/details/dailylifeinmedie00lind/page/64}}
Sugar mill: Sugar mills first appeared in the medieval Islamic world.Adam Robert Lucas (2005), "Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe", Technology and Culture 46 (1): 1-30 [10-1 & 27] They were first driven by watermills, and then windmills from the 9th and 10th centuries in what are today Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.Adam Lucas (2006), Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology, p. 65, Brill Publishers, {{ISBN|9004146490}}
Systemic algebraic solution and completing the square: Al-Khwarizmi's popularizing treatise on algebra (The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, c. 813–833 CE{{cite journal | last1 = Oaks | first1 = J | year = 2009 | title = Polynomials and equations in Arabic algebra | journal = Archive for History of Exact Sciences | volume = 63 | issue = 2| pages = 169–203 | doi = 10.1007/s00407-008-0037-7 | s2cid = 121234840 }}{{rp|171}}) presented the first systematic solution of linear and quadratic equations. One of his principal achievements in algebra was his demonstration of how to solve quadratic equations by completing the square, for which he provided geometric justifications.{{cite journal | last1 = Maher | first1 = P | year = 1998 | title = From Al-Jabr to Algebra | journal = Mathematics in School | volume = 27 | issue = 4| pages = 14–15 }}{{rp|14}}
Thabit numbers: Named after Thabit ibn Qurra
Throttling valve: It appears for the first time in the Banu Musa's Book of Ingenious Devices.{{cite book |last1=Mayr |first1=Otto |title=The Origins of Feedback Control |date=1970 |publisher=MIT Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr/page/n49 42] |url=https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr}}
Variable structure control: Two-step level controls for fluids, a form of discontinuous variable structure controls, was developed by the Banu Musa brothers.{{citation|title=Soft variable-structure controls: a survey|author=J. Adamy & A. Flemming|journal=Automatica|volume=40|issue=11|date=November 2004|pages=1821–1844|doi=10.1016/j.automatica.2004.05.017|url=https://www1.rmr.tu-darmstadt.de/pdf/flemming2004.pdf|access-date=28 August 2019|archive-date=8 March 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210308124345/https://www1.rmr.tu-darmstadt.de/pdf/flemming2004.pdf|url-status=dead}}
Wind-powered gristmill: The first wind-powered gristmills were built in the 9th and 10th centuries in what are now Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran.
Windpump: Windpumps were used to pump water since at least the 9th century in what is now Afghanistan, Iran and Pakistan.{{citation |first=Adam |last=Lucas |year=2006 |title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology |publisher=Brill Publishers |isbn=90-04-14649-0 |page=65}}

;10th century

Alhazen's problem: A theorem by ibn al-Haytham solved only in 1997 by Neumann.
Arabic numerals: The modern Arabic numeral symbols originate from Islamic North Africa in the 10th century. A distinctive Western Arabic variant of the Eastern Arabic numerals began to emerge around the 10th century in the Maghreb and Al-Andalus (sometimes called ghubar numerals, though the term is not always accepted), which are the direct ancestor of the modern Arabic numerals used throughout the world.{{citation |first=Paul |last= Kunitzsch |chapter=The Transmission of Hindu-Arabic Numerals Reconsidered |editor1=J. P. Hogendijk |editor2=A. I. Sabra |title=The Enterprise of Science in Islam: New Perspectives |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_AUtLNtg3nsC&pg=PA3 |year=2003 |publisher=MIT Press |isbn=978-0-262-19482-2 |pages=3–22 (12–13)}}
Binomial theorem: The first formulation of the binomial theorem and the table of binomial coefficient can be found in a work by Al-Karaji, quoted by Al-Samaw'al in his "al-Bahir".{{Cite web|url=https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/82000184.pdf|title=THE BINOMIAL THEOREM : A WIDESPREAD CONCEPT IN MEDIEVAL ISLAMIC MATHEMATICS|website=core.ac.uk|page=401|access-date=2019-01-08}}{{Cite journal|title=Taming the unknown. A history of algebra from antiquity to the early ttwentieth century|url=https://www.ams.org/journals/bull/2015-52-04/S0273-0979-2015-01491-6/S0273-0979-2015-01491-6.pdf|journal=Bulletin of the American Mathematical Society|page=727|quote=However, algebra advanced in other respects. Around 1000, al-Karaji stated the binomial theorem}}{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vSkClSvU_9AC&pg=PA62|title=The Development of Arabic Mathematics: Between Arithmetic and Algebra|last=Rashed|first=R.|date=1994-06-30|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9780792325659|page=63}}
Cauchy-Riemann Integral: Ibn al-Haytham gave a simple form of this.
Decimal fractions: Decimal fractions were first used by Abu'l-Hasan al-Uqlidisi in the 10th century.{{cite book | first=J. Lennart | last=Berggren | title=The Mathematics of Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, India, and Islam: A Sourcebook | chapter=Mathematics in Medieval Islam | publisher=Princeton University Press | year=2007 | isbn=978-0-691-11485-9 | page=518 }}{{MacTutor|id=Al-Uqlidisi|title=Abu'l Hasan Ahmad ibn Ibrahim Al-Uqlidisi}}
Experimental scientific method: Expounded and practised by ibn al-Haytham{{Cite web|url=http://www.firstscientist.net/|title=Ibn al Haytham - The First Scientist - Alhazen - Ibn al Haitham - Biography - Bradley Steffens|website=www.firstscientist.net|access-date=2019-06-24}}{{Better source needed example|date=May 2024|reason=fiction author promoting his own book, academic source would be better}}
Fountain pen: An early historical mention of what appears to be a reservoir pen dates back to the 10th century. According to Ali Abuzar Mari (d. 974) in his Kitab al-Majalis wa 'l-musayarat, the Fatimid caliph Al-Mu'izz li-Din Allah demanded a pen that would not stain his hands or clothes, and was provided with a pen that held ink in a reservoir, allowing it to be held upside-down without leaking.{{Cite journal|journal=Journal of Semitic Studies|volume=26|issue=1|year=1981|pages=229–234|title=A Mediaeval Islamic Prototype of the Fountain Pen?|first=C. E.|last=Bosworth|quote=We wish to construct a pen which can be used for writing without having recourse to an ink-holder and whose ink will be contained inside it. A person can fill it with ink and write whatever he likes. The writer can put it in his sleeve or anywhere he wishes and it will not stain nor will any drop of ink leak out of it. The ink will flow only when there is an intention to write. We are unaware of anyone previously ever constructing (a pen such as this) and an indication of 'penetrating wisdom' to whoever contemplates it and realises its exact significance and purpose. I exclaimed, 'Is this possible?' He replied, 'It is possible if God so wills'.|doi=10.1093/jss/26.2.229}}
Law of cotangents: This was first given by Ibn al-Haytham.
Muqarnas: The origin of the muqarnas can be traced back to the mid-tenth century in northeastern Iran and central North Africa,{{Cite web|url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/|title=Encyclopedia.com {{!}} Free Online Encyclopedia|website=www.encyclopedia.com|access-date=2018-12-12}} as well as the Mesopotamian region.{{Cite book |title=The Shrines of the 'Alids in Medieval Syria : sunnis, shi'is and the architecture of coexistence |last=Stephennie |first=Mulder |date=2014 |publisher=Edinburgh University Press |isbn=9780748645794 |oclc=929836186}}
Pascal's triangle: The Persian mathematician Al-Karaji (953–1029) wrote a now lost book which contained the first description of Pascal's triangle.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kt9DIY1g9HYC&q=al+karaji+pascal's+triangle&pg=PA132|title=Encyclopaedia of the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine in Non-Western Cultures|last=Selin|first=Helaine|date=2008-03-12|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9781402045592|page=132}}[https://books.google.com/books?id=vSkClSvU_9AC&pg=PA62 The Development of Arabic Mathematics Between Arithmetic and Algebra - R. Rashed] "Page 63"{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kAjABAAAQBAJ&q=al+karaji+binomial+theorem&pg=PA54|title=From Alexandria, Through Baghdad: Surveys and Studies in the Ancient Greek and Medieval Islamic Mathematical Sciences in Honor of J.L. Berggren|last1=Sidoli|first1=Nathan|last2=Brummelen|first2=Glen Van|date=2013-10-30|publisher=Springer Science & Business Media|isbn=9783642367366|page=54}}
Ruffini-Horner Algorithm: Discovered by ibn al-Haytham
Sextant and mural instrument: The first known mural sextant was constructed in Ray, Iran, by Abu-Mahmud al-Khujandi in 994.{{MacTutor|id=Al-Khujandi|title=Abu Mahmud Hamid ibn al-Khidr Al-Khujandi}}
Shale oil extraction: In the 10th century, the Arab physician Masawaih al-Mardini (Mesue the Younger) described a method of extraction of oil from "some kind of bituminous shale".{{cite book | first = Robert James | last = Forbes | title = A Short History of the Art of Distillation from the Beginnings Up to the Death of Cellier Blumenthal | year = 1970 | publisher = Brill Publishers | isbn = 978-90-04-00617-1 | pages = 41–42}}
Snell's law: The law was first accurately described by the Persian scientist Ibn Sahl at the Baghdad court in 984. In the manuscript On Burning Mirrors and Lenses, ibn Sahl used the law to derive lens shapes that focus light with no geometric aberrations.{{cite journal |last=Rashed |first=Roshdi |year=1990 |title=A pioneer in anaclastics: Ibn Sahl on burning mirrors and lenses |journal=Isis |doi=10.1086/355456 |volume=81 |issue=3 |pages=464–491|s2cid=144361526 }} According to Jim al-Khalili, the law should be called ibn Sahl's law.{{Citation|title=Science in a Golden Age - Optics: The True Nature of Light| date=6 October 2015 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=faQmHzY29Zc |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/faQmHzY29Zc |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|access-date=2019-06-19}}{{cbignore}}
Vertical-axle windmill: A small wind wheel operating an organ is described as early as the 1st century AD by Hero of Alexandria.{{Citation |last1=Drachmann |first1=A. G. |author-link=A. G. Drachmann |title=Heron's Windmill|journal=Centaurus|volume=7|pages=145–151|year=1961|issue=2 |postscript=.|doi=10.1111/j.1600-0498.1960.tb00263.x|bibcode=1960Cent....7..145R}}Dietrich Lohrmann, "Von der östlichen zur westlichen Windmühle", Archiv für Kulturgeschichte, Vol. 77, Issue 1 (1995), pp.1-30 (10f.) The first vertical-axle windmills were eventually built in Sistan, Persia as described by Muslim geographers. These windmills had long vertical driveshafts with rectangle shaped blades.Ahmad Y Hassan, Donald Routledge Hill (1986). Islamic Technology: An illustrated history, p. 54. Cambridge University Press. {{ISBN|0-521-42239-6}}. They may have been constructed as early as the time of the second Rashidun caliph Umar (634-644 AD), though some argue that this account may have been a 10th-century amendment.Dietrich Lohrmann (199786543). "Von der östlichen zur westlichen Windmühle", Archiv für Kulturgeschichte 77 (1), p. 1-30 (8). Made of six to twelve sails covered in reed matting or cloth material, these windmills were used to grind grains and draw up water, and used in the gristmilling and sugarcane industries.Donald Routledge Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", Scientific American, May 1991, pp. 64-9 (cf. Donald Routledge Hill, [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm|date=25 December 2007}}) Horizontal axle windmills of the type generally used today, however, were developed in Northwestern Europe in the 1180s.

;11th-12th centuries

Drug trial: Persian physician Avicenna, in The Canon of Medicine (1025), first described use of clinical trials for determining the efficacy of medical drugs and substances.{{cite book | first1 = Curtis L. | last1 = Meinert | first2 = Susan | last2 = Tonascia | name-list-style = vanc |title=Clinical trials: design, conduct, and analysis |year=1986 |publisher=Oxford University Press, USA |page=3| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=i1oAxuE29MUC&pg=PA3 |isbn=978-0-19-503568-1 }}
Double-entry bookkeeping system: Double-entry bookkeeping was pioneered in the Jewish community of the medieval Middle East.Parker, L. M., "Medieval Traders as International Change Agents: A Comparison with Twentieth Century International Accounting Firms," The Accounting Historians Journal, 16(2) (1989): 107–118.MEDIEVAL TRADERS AS INTERNATIONAL CHANGE AGENTS: A COMMENT, Michael Scorgie, The Accounting Historians Journal, Vol. 21, No. 1 (June 1994), pp. 137-143
Hyperbolic geometry: The theorems of Ibn al-Haytham (Alhacen), Omar Khayyám and Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī on quadrilaterals were the first theorems on hyperbolic geometry.Boris A. Rosenfeld and Adolf P. Youschkevitch (1996), "Geometry", in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 2, p. 447–494 [470], Routledge, London and New York: {{blockquote|"Three scientists, Ibn al-Haytham, Khayyam and al-Tūsī, had made the most considerable contribution to this branch of geometry whose importance came to be completely recognized only in the 19th century. In essence their propositions concerning the properties of quadrangles which they considered assuming that some of the angles of these figures were acute of obtuse, embodied the first few theorems of the hyperbolic and the elliptic geometries. Their other proposals showed that various geometric statements were equivalent to the Euclidean postulate V. It is extremely important that these scholars established the mutual connection between this postulate and the sum of the angles of a triangle and a quadrangle. By their works on the theory of parallel lines Arab mathematicians directly influenced the relevant investigations of their European counterparts. The first European attempt to prove the postulate on parallel lines – made by Witelo, the Polish scientists of the 13th century, while revising Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics (Kitab al-Manazir) – was undoubtedly prompted by Arabic sources. The proofs put forward in the 14th century by the Jewish scholar Levi ben Gerson, who lived in southern France, and by the above-mentioned Alfonso from Spain directly border on Ibn al-Haytham's demonstration. Above, we have demonstrated that Pseudo-Tusi's Exposition of Euclid had stimulated both J. Wallis's and G. Saccheri's studies of the theory of parallel lines."}}
Magnifying glass and convex lens: A convex lens used for forming a magnified image was described in the Book of Optics by Ibn al-Haytham in 1021.{{Cite journal|last1=Kriss|first1=Timothy C.|last2=Kriss|first2=Vesna Martich|title=History of the Operating Microscope: From Magnifying Glass to Micro neurosurgery |journal=Neurosurgery|volume=42|issue=4|pages=899–907|date=April 1998|doi=10.1097/00006123-199804000-00116|pmid=9574655}}
Mechanical flywheel: The mechanical flywheel, used to smooth out the delivery of power from a driving device to a driven machine and, essentially, to allow lifting water from far greater depths (up to 200 metres), was first employed by Ibn Bassal (fl. 1038–1075), of Al-Andalus.{{cite book |last1=Letcher |first1=Trevor M. |title=Wind energy engineering: a handbook for onshore and offshore wind turbines |date=2017 |publisher=Academic Press |isbn=978-0128094518 |pages=127–143 |quote=Ibn Bassal (AD 1038–75) of Al Andalus (Andalusia) pioneered the use of a flywheel mechanism in the noria and saqiya to smooth out the delivery of power from the driving device to the driven machine}}Ahmad Y Hassan, [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%204.htm Flywheel Effect for a Saqiya].{{Cite web|url=https://www.irfi.org/general/Microsoft%20Word%20-%20T_h_e_role_of_Muslim_Mechanical_Engineers_In_Modern_Mechanical_Engineering.pdf|title=The Role of Muslim Mechanical Engineers in Modern Mechanical Engineering Dedicate to12th Century Muslim Mechanical Engineer|last=Shabbir|first=Asad|website=Islamic Research Foundation International, Inc.}}
Mercuric chloride (formerly corrosive sublimate): used to disinfect wounds. {{year needed|date=December 2016}}{{cite book|last=Maillard|first=Adam P. Fraise, Peter A. Lambert, Jean-Yves|title=Principles and Practice of Disinfection, Preservation and Sterilization|year=2007|publisher=John Wiley & Sons|location=Oxford|isbn=978-0470755068|page=4}}
Steel mill: By the 11th century, much of the Islamic world had industrial steel watermills in operation, from Al-Andalus and North Africa to the Middle East and Central Asia.{{cite journal | last1 = Adam Robert | first1 = Lucas | year = 2005 | title = Industrial Milling in the Ancient and Medieval Worlds: A Survey of the Evidence for an Industrial Revolution in Medieval Europe | journal = Technology and Culture | volume = 46 | issue = 1| pages = 1–30 [10] | doi=10.1353/tech.2005.0026| s2cid = 109564224 }}
Weight-driven clock: Arabic engineers invented water clocks driven by gears and weights in the 11th century.Hassan, Ahmad Y, [http://www.history-science-technology.com/Articles/articles%2071.html Transfer Of Islamic Technology To The West, Part II: Transmission Of Islamic Engineering], History of Science and Technology in Islam
Optic chiasm: The crossing of nerve fibres, and the impact on vision that this had, was first clearly identified by Persian physician "Esmail Jorjani", who appears to be Zayn al-Din Gorgani (1042–1137).{{Cite journal|last1=Davis|first1=Matthew C.|last2=Griessenauer|first2=Christoph J.|last3=Bosmia|first3=Anand N.|last4=Tubbs|first4=R. Shane|last5=Shoja|first5=Mohammadali M.|date=2014-01-01|title=The naming of the cranial nerves: A historical review|journal=Clinical Anatomy|volume=27|issue=1|pages=14–19|doi=10.1002/ca.22345|pmid=24323823|s2cid=15242391|issn=1098-2353}} The optic chiasm was earlier theorized by Ibn al-Haytham in the early 11th century.{{cite book |last1=Wade |first1=N. J. |title=Perception and Illusion: Historical Perspectives |date=2006 |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |isbn=9780387227238 |page=64 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TyiM5x5_IBIC&pg=PA64}}
Paper packaging: The earliest recorded use of paper for packaging dates back to 1035, when a Persian traveler visiting markets in Cairo noted that vegetables, spices and hardware were wrapped in paper for the customers after they were sold.{{Cite journal|title=The Origins of Paper Based Packaging|author=Diana Twede|journal=Conference on Historical Analysis & Research in Marketing Proceedings|volume=12|year=2005|pages=288–300 [289]|url=http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/charm/CHARM%20proceedings/CHARM%20article%20archive%20pdf%20format/Volume%2012%202005/288%20twede.pdf|access-date=20 March 2010|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716105826/http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/charm/CHARM%20proceedings/CHARM%20article%20archive%20pdf%20format/Volume%2012%202005/288%20twede.pdf|archive-date=16 July 2011|df=mdy-all}}
Bridge mill: The bridge mill was a unique type of watermill that was built as part of the superstructure of a bridge. The earliest record of a bridge mill is from Córdoba, Spain in the 12th century.{{citation|first=Adam|last=Lucas|year=2006|title=Wind, Water, Work: Ancient and Medieval Milling Technology|publisher=Brill Publishers|isbn=90-04-14649-0|pages=62 & 64}}

;13th century

Fritware: It refers to a type of pottery which was first developed in the Near East, beginning in the late 1st millennium, for which frit was a significant ingredient. A recipe for "fritware" dating to c. 1300 AD written by Abu’l Qasim reports that the ratio of quartz to "frit-glass" to white clay is 10:1:1.{{Citation | last1 = Bernsted | first1 = A.K. | year = 2003 | title = Early Islamic Pottery: Materials and Techniques, London: Archetype Publications Ltd., 25; R.B. Mason and M.S. Tite 1994, The Beginnings of Islamic Stonepaste Technology | journal = Archaeometry | volume = 36 | issue = 1| pages = 77–91 | postscript = . | doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.1994.tb00712.x}} This type of pottery has also been referred to as "stonepaste" and "faience" among other names.Mason and Tite 1994, 77. A 9th-century corpus of "proto-stonepaste" from Baghdad has "relict glass fragments" in its fabric.Mason and Tite 1994, 79-80.
Mercury clock: A detailed account of technology in Islamic Spain was compiled under Alfonso X of Castile between 1276 and 1279, which included a compartmented mercury clock, which was influential up until the 17th century.{{cite book |last1=Mayr |first1=Otto |title=The Origins of Feedback Control |date=1970 |publisher=MIT Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr/page/n45 38] |url=https://archive.org/details/TheOriginsOfFeedbackControlOttoMayr}} It was described in the Libros del saber de Astronomia, a Spanish work from 1277 consisting of translations and paraphrases of Arabic works.Silvio A. Bedini (1962), "The Compartmented Cylindrical Clepsydra", Technology and Culture, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 115–141 (116–118)
Mariotte's bottle: The Libros del saber de Astronomia describes a water clock which employs the principle of Mariotte's bottle.
Metabolism: Although Greek philosophers described processes of metabolism, Ibn al-Nafees is the first scholar to describe metabolism as "a continuous state of dissolution and nourishment".{{Cite web|url=https://pulse.embs.org/may-2016/metabolism-the-physiological-power-generating-process/|title=Metabolism: The Physiological Power-Generating Process|website=pulse.embs.org|language=en-US|access-date=2019-06-29}}
Naker: Arabic nakers were the direct ancestors of most timpani, brought to 13th-century Continental Europe by Crusaders and Saracens.{{cite web |url=http://myhome.sunyocc.edu/~bridger/morepages/subpages/timpconstpaper.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060405140951/http://myhome.sunyocc.edu/~bridger/morepages/subpages/timpconstpaper.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-date=2006-04-05 |title=Timpani Construction paper |access-date= 2008-02-18 |last=Bridge |first=Robert }}

=Al Andalus (Islamic Spain)=

;9th-12th centuries

Inheritance of hemophilia: First proposed by Abu Al-Zahrawi was first to record and suggest that hemophilia was an inherited disease.{{cite book | title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World | first1=Madeleine Pelner | last1=Cosman | first2=Linda Gale | last2=Jones | publisher=Infobase Publishing | year=2008 |series=Handbook to Life Series |volume=2 | isbn=978-0-8160-4887-8 | pages=528–530}}
Anesthetic sponge: Invented by al-Zahrawi and Ibn Zuhr. Used a sponge soaked with narcotic drugs and placed it on patient's face.{{cite journal |title=Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology |journal=Middle East Journal of Anesthesiology |date=1974 |volume=4 |page=86 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=CRyzAAAAIAAJ}} These Muslim physicians were the first to use an anesthetic sponge.{{cite book |title=Allahs Sonne über dem Abendland: unser arabisches Erbe |edition=2 |pages=279–80 |quote=The science of medicine has gained a great and extremely important discovery and that is the use of general anaesthetics for surgical operations, and how unique, efficient, and merciful for those who tried it the Muslim anaesthetic was. It was quite different from the drinks the Indians, Romans and Greeks were forcing their patients to have for relief of pain. There had been some allegations to credit this discovery to an Italian or to an Alexandrian, but the truth is and history proves that, the art of using the anaesthetic sponge is a pure Muslim technique, which was not known before. The sponge used to be dipped and left in a mixture prepared from cannabis, opium, hyoscyamus and a plant called Zoan. |author=Hunke S |author-link=Sigrid Hunke |publisher=Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt |location=Stuttgart |language=de |year=1960 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wlIuAAAAIAAJ&q=%22Allahs+Sonne+%C3%BCber+dem+Abendland:+unser+arabisches+Erbe%22 |access-date=2010-09-13 |isbn=978-3-596-23543-8}}
Lithotrite: Improved version invented by Al-Zahrawi.Butt, Arthur J. (1956). Etiologic Factors in Renal Lithiasis. page 15
Mercuric oxide: First synthesized by Abu al-Qasim al-Qurtubi al-Majriti (10th century).
Migraine surgery: First performed by al-Zahrawi (936–1013).
Early Kocher's method and Walter position: Al-Zahrawi's Kitab al-Tasrif described both what would later become known as "Kocher's method" for treating a dislocated shoulder and the "Walcher position" in obstetrics.{{cite book | title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World | first1=Madeleine Pelner | last1=Cosman | first2=Linda Gale | last2=Jones | publisher=Infobase Publishing | year=2008 |series=Handbook to Life Series |volume=2 | isbn=978-0-8160-4887-8 | pages=528–530}}
Treatment of wart: al-Zahrawi first described it.{{cite journal | last1 = Missori | first1 = Paolo | last2 = Brunetto | first2 = Giacoma M. | last3 = Domenicucci | first3 = Maurizio | year = 2012 | title = Origin of the Cannula for Tracheotomy During the Middle Ages and Renaissance | journal = World Journal of Surgery | volume = 36 | issue = 4| pages = 928–934 | doi = 10.1007/s00268-012-1435-1 | pmid = 22311135 | s2cid = 3121262 }}
Treatment of hydrocephalus: First done by Al-Zahrawi.{{cite journal | last1 = Aschoff | first1 = A | last2 = Kremer | first2 = Paul | last3 = Hashemi | first3 = Bahram | last4 = Kunze | first4 = Stefan | year = 1999 | title = The scientific history of hydrocephalus and its treatment | journal = Neurosurgical Review | volume = 22 | issue = 2–3| pages = 67–93 | doi = 10.1007/s101430050035 | pmid = 10547004 | s2cid = 10077885 }}
Water and weight driven mechanical clocks: By Spanish Muslim engineers sometime between 900 and 1200. According to historian Will Durant, a watch-like device was invented by Ibn Firnas.
Andalusian Oud: Abu l-Hasan ‘Ali Ibn Nafi‘ (789–857),^{{{cite book|last=Gill|first=John|title=Andalucia: A Cultural History|year=2008|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-01-95-37610-4|page=81|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gGY2fSXko5kC&pg=PA81}}{{cite book|last=Lapidus|first=Ira M.|title=A History of Islamic Societies |year=2002|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn= 9780521779333|page=311|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=I3mVUEzm8xMC&pg=PA311}}} a prominent musician who had trained under Ishaq al-Mawsili (d. 850) in Baghdad and was exiled to Andalusia before 833 AD. He has been credited with adding a fifth string to his oud{{cite web|url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/barbat |title=Encyclopaedia Iranica – Barbat |publisher=Iranicaonline.org |date=1988-12-15 |access-date=2012-02-04}} and with establishing one of the first schools of music in Córdoba.{{cite magazine|title=Fixing a Misbegotten Biography: Ziryab in the Mediterranean World|author=Davila, Carl|publisher=Al-Masaq |magazine=Islam in the Medieval Mediterranean |volume=21 |number=2 |year=2009}}

;14th century

Hispano-Moresque ware: This was a style of Islamic pottery created in Arab Spain, after the Moors had introduced two ceramic techniques to Europe: glazing with an opaque white tin-glaze, and painting in metallic lusters. Hispano-Moresque ware was distinguished from the pottery of Christendom by the Islamic character of its decoration.Caiger-Smith, 1973, p.65
Polar-axis sundial: Early sundials were nodus-based with straight hour-lines, indicating unequal hours (also called temporary hours) that varied with the seasons, since every day was divided into twelve equal segments; thus, hours were shorter in winter and longer in summer. The idea of using hours of equal time length throughout the year was the innovation of Abu'l-Hasan Ibn al-Shatir in 1371, based on earlier developments in trigonometry by Muhammad ibn Jābir al-Harrānī al-Battānī (Albategni). Ibn al-Shatir was aware that "using a gnomon that is parallel to the Earth's axis will produce sundials whose hour lines indicate equal hours on any day of the year." His sundial is the oldest polar-axis sundial still in existence. The concept later appeared in Western sundials from at least 1446.{{cite web|title=History of the sundial|url=http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.353|publisher=National Maritime Museum|access-date=2008-07-02|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071010044606/http://www.nmm.ac.uk/server/show/conWebDoc.353|archive-date=2007-10-10}}{{Cite journal |title=The Sundial And Geometry |first=Lawrence |last=Jones |journal=North American Sundial Society |volume=12 |issue=4 |date=December 2005}}

=Sultanates=

;12th century

Blood measurement device: Created by Al-JazariHoward R. Turner, Science in Medieval Islam: An Illustrated Introduction (University of Texas Press, 2006) p: 166

;13th century

Various automatons: Al-Jazari's inventions included automaton peacocks, a hand-washing automaton, and a musical band of automatons.{{Cite journal|title=The Museum of Music: A History of Mechanical Instruments|first=Charles B.|last=Fowler|journal=Music Educators Journal|volume=54|issue=2|date=October 1967|pages=45–49|doi=10.2307/3391092|jstor=3391092|s2cid=190524140}}[https://web.archive.org/web/20080507055609/https://www.britannica.com/eb/topic-301961/al-Jazari al-Jazari (Islamic artist)], Encyclopædia Britannica.{{Cite book|title=Robot Evolution: The Development of Anthrobotics|first=Mark E.|last=Rosheim|year=1994|publisher=Wiley-IEEE|isbn=978-0-471-02622-8|pages=[https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9 9–10]|url=https://archive.org/details/robotevolutionde0000rosh/page/9}}
Candle clock with dial and fastening mechanism: The earliest reference of the candle clock is described in a Chinese poem by You Jiangu (AD 520), However the most sophisticated candle clocks known, were those of Al-Jazari in 1206.Donald Routledge Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", Scientific American, May 1991, pp. 64-9 (cf. Donald Routledge Hill, [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=25 December 2007 }}) It included a dial to display the time.{{Citation needed|date=May 2023}}
Crank-slider: Ismail al-Jazari's water pump employed the first known crank-slider mechanism.{{citation|title=al-Jazari (1136–1206)|author=Lotfi Romdhane & Saïd Zeghloul|journal=History of Mechanism and Machine Science|volume=7|publisher=Springer|issn=1875-3442|doi=10.1007/978-90-481-2346-9|year=2010|isbn=978-90-481-2346-9|pages=1–21}}
Cotton gin with worm gear: The worm gear roller gin was invented in the Delhi Sultanate during the 13th to 14th centuries.Irfan Habib (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, p. 53], Pearson Education
Design and construction methods: English technology historian Donald Hill wrote, "We see for the first time in al-Jazari's work several concepts important for both design and construction: the lamination of timber to minimize warping, the static balancing of wheels, the use of wooden templates (a kind of pattern), the use of paper models to establish designs, the calibration of orifices, the grinding of the seats and plugs of valves together with emery powder to obtain a watertight fit, and the casting of metals in closed mold boxes with sand."Donald Hill, "Mechanical Engineering in the Medieval Near East", Scientific American, May 1991, pp. 64-9 (cf. Donald Hill, [http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm Mechanical Engineering] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071225091836/http://home.swipnet.se/islam/articles/HistoryofSciences.htm |date=25 December 2007 }})
Draw bar: The draw bar was applied to sugar-milling, with evidence of its use at Delhi in the Mughal Empire by 1540, but possibly dating back several centuries earlier to the Delhi Sultanate.Irfan Habib (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, page 53], Pearson Education
Minimising intermittence: The concept of minimising the intermittence is first implied in one of Al-Jazari's saqiya devices, which was to maximise the efficiency of the saqiya.Donald Hill, "Engineering", p. 776, in Roshdi Rashed, ed., Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science, Vol. 2, pp. 751–795, Routledge, London and New York
Programmable automaton and drum machine: The earliest programmable automata, and the first programmable drum machine, were invented by Al-Jazari, and described in The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices, written in 1206. His programmable musical device featured four automaton musicians, including two drummers, that floated on a lake to entertain guests at royal drinking parties. It was a programmable drum machine where pegs (cams) bump into little levers that operated the percussion. The drummers could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns if the pegs were moved around.Noel Sharkey, [https://web.archive.org/web/20070629182810/http://www.shef.ac.uk/marcoms/eview/articles58/robot.html A 13th Century Programmable Robot (Archive)], University of Sheffield.
Tusi couple: The couple was first proposed by Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in his 1247 Tahrir al-Majisti (Commentary on the Almagest) as a solution for the latitudinal motion of the inferior planets. The Tusi couple is explicitly two circles of radii x and 2x in which the circle with the smaller radii rotates inside the Bigger circle. The oscillatory motion be produced by the combined uniform circular motions of two identical circles, one riding on the circumference of the other.
Griot: The griot musical tradition originates from the Islamic Mali Empire, where the first professional griot was Balla Fasséké.{{cite book |last1=Alexander |first1=Leslie M. |last2=Rucker |first2=Walter C. Jr |title=Encyclopedia of African American History [3 volumes] |date=2010 |publisher=ABC-CLIO |isbn=9781851097746 |page=48 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=uivtCqOlpTsC&pg=PA48}}
Sitar: According to various sources, the sitar was invented by Amir Khusrow, a famous Sufi inventor, poet, and pioneer of Khyal, Tarana and Qawwali, in the Delhi Sultanate.{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=__uUoaurFisC&pg=PA2988|title=The Indian Encyclopaedia|page=2988|year=2002|isbn=9788177552676|last1=Kapoor|first1=Subodh|publisher=Cosmo Publications }}{{citation|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=92QXf8B2VXIC&pg=PA24|title=The Journey of the Sitar in Indian Classical Music|author=Swarn Lata|page=24|year=2013|publisher=iUniverse |isbn=9781475947076}} Others say that the instrument was brought from Iran and modified for the tastes of the rulers of the Delhi Sultanate and Mughal Empire.

;14th century

Cotton gin with crank handle: The incorporation of the crank handle in the cotton gin, first appeared in either the late Delhi Sultanate or the early Mughal Empire.Irfan Habib (2011), [https://books.google.com/books?id=K8kO4J3mXUAC&pg=PA53 Economic History of Medieval India, 1200–1500, pp. 53–54], Pearson Education

;15th century

Coffee: Although there are early historical accounts of coffee consumption ( as qahwa) in Ethiopia, it is not clear whether it was "used" as a beverage.{{Cite book |last1=Hattox |first1=Ralph S. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MeXkAwAAQBAJ&q=info:lmQsxliWmmYJ:scholar.google.com/&pg=PR7 |title=Coffee and Coffeehouses: The Origins of a Social Beverage in the Medieval Near East |date=9 July 2014 |publisher=University of Washington Press |isbn=9780295805498}} The earliest historical evidence of coffee drinking appears in the middle of the 15th century, in the Sufi monasteries of the Yemen in southern Arabia.{{Citation |author1=Weinberg, Bennett Alan |title=The world of caffeine |pages=3–4 |year=2001 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Qyz5CnOaH9oC&q=coffee+goat+ethiopia+Kaldi&pg=PA3 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-0-415-92723-9 |author2=Bonnie K. Bealer}}{{cite web |last=Ireland |first=Corydon |date=15 July 2011 |title=Of the bean I sing |url=http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/?p=86444 Gazette |access-date=21 July 2011}} From Mocha, coffee spread to Egypt and North Africa,{{cite web |author=John K. Francis |title=Coffea arabica L. RUBIACEAE |url=http://www.fs.fed.us/global/iitf/pdf/shrubs/Coffea%20arabica.pdf#search=%22%22Coffea%20Arabica%22%20native%22 |access-date=2007-07-27 |publisher=Factsheet of U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service}} and by the 16th century, it had reached the rest of the Middle East, Persia and Turkey. From the Muslim world, coffee drinking spread to Italy, then to the rest of Europe, and coffee plants were transported by the Dutch to the East Indies and to the Americas.{{cite web |last=Meyers |first=Hannah |date=2005-03-07 |title="Suave Molecules of Mocha" -- Coffee, Chemistry, and Civilization |url=http://www.newpartisan.com/home/suave-molecules-of-mocha-coffee-chemistry-and-civilization.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050309110855/http://www.newpartisan.com/home/suave-molecules-of-mocha-coffee-chemistry-and-civilization.html |archive-date=9 March 2005 |access-date=2007-02-03}}

=Ottoman Empire=

;15th century

Iznik pottery: Produced in Ottoman Turkey as early as the 15th century AD.{{Citation | last1 = Tite | first1 = M.S. | year = 1989 | title = Iznik Pottery: An Investigation of the Methods of Production | journal = Archaeometry | volume = 31 | issue = 2| pages = 115–132 | postscript = . | doi=10.1111/j.1475-4754.1989.tb01008.x}} It consists of a body, slip, and glaze, where the body and glaze are "quartz-frit."Tite 1989, 120. The "frits" in both cases "are unusual in that they contain lead oxide as well as soda"; the lead oxide would help reduce the thermal expansion coefficient of the ceramic.Tite 1989, 129. Microscopic analysis reveals that the material that has been labeled "frit" is "interstitial glass" which serves to connect the quartz particles.Tite 1989, 120, 123.
Standing army with firearms: The Ottoman military's regularized use of firearms proceeded ahead of the pace of their European counterparts. The Janissaries had been an infantry bodyguard using bows and arrows. During the rule of Sultan Mehmed II they were drilled with firearms and became "the first standing infantry force equipped with firearms in the world."{{cite book|last=Streusand|first=Douglas E.|title=Islamic Gunpowder Empires: Ottomans, Safavids, and Mughals|location=Philadelphia|publisher=Westview Press|year=2011|isbn=978-0813313597|page=83}}

;16th century

Firearm kneeling position: At the Battle of Mohács in 1526, the Janissaries equipped with 2000 tüfenks (usually translated as musket) "formed nine consecutive rows and they fired their weapons row by row," in a "kneeling or standing position without the need for additional support or rest."{{Citation |last=Ágoston |first=Gábor |year=2008 |title=Guns for the Sultan: Military Power and the Weapons Industry in the Ottoman Empire |publisher=Cambridge University Press |isbn=978-0521603911|page=24}} The Chinese later adopted the Ottoman kneeling position for firing.{{Citation |last=Needham |first=Joseph |author-link=Joseph Needham |title=Science & Civilisation in China |year=1986 |publisher=Cambridge University Press |volume=V:7: The Gunpowder Epic |isbn=0-521-30358-3|pages=449–452}}
Marching band and military band: The marching band and military band both have their origins in the Ottoman military band, performed by the Janissary since the 16th century.{{citation|title=The impact of Turkish military bands on European court festivals in the 17th and 18th centuries|first=Edmund A.|last=Bowles|journal=Early Music|year=2006|volume=34|issue=4|publisher=Oxford University Press|pages=533–60|doi=10.1093/em/cal103|s2cid=159617891}}
Matchlock volley fire: Volley fire with matchlocks was first implemented in 1526 when the Ottoman Janissaries utilized it during the Battle of Mohács.{{Citation|author1-link=Tonio Andrade |last=Andrade |first=Tonio |year=2016 |title=The Gunpowder Age: China, Military Innovation, and the Rise of the West in World History |publisher=Princeton University Press |isbn=978-0-691-13597-7|page=149}}
Parallel rulers: Invented by Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf and used at the Constantinople Observatory of Taqi ad-Din (1577–1580).{{Cite book|title=Biographical Encyclopedia of Astronomers|last=Fazlıoğlu|first=İhsan|date=2014|publisher=Springer, New York, NY|pages=2123–2126|doi=10.1007/978-1-4419-9917-7_1360|chapter = Taqī al-Dīn Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zayn al-Dīn Maҁrūf al-Dimashqī al-Ḥanafī|isbn = 978-1-4419-9916-0}}
Practical impulse steam turbine: A practical impulse steam turbine was first described in 1551 by Taqi al-Din, a philosopher, astronomer and engineer in 16th century Ottoman Egypt, who described a method for rotating a spit by means of a jet of steam playing on rotary vanes around the periphery of a wheel. A similar device for rotating a spit was also later described by John Wilkins in 1648.[http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%201.htm Taqi al-Din and the First Steam Turbine, 1551 A.D.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080218171045/http://www.history-science-technology.com/Notes/Notes%201.htm |date=2008-02-18 }}, web page, accessed on line 23 October 2009; this web page refers to Ahmad Y Hassan (1976), Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering, pp. 34-5, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo.
Steam jack: A steam-powered roasting jack was first described by the Ottoman polymath and engineer Taqi al-Din in his Al-Turuq al-samiyya fi al-alat al-ruhaniyya (The Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines), in 1551 CE (959 AH). It was an impulse steam turbine with practical applications as a prime mover for rotating a spit, predating Giovanni Branca's later impulse steam turbine from 1629.Ahmad Y. Hassan (1976), Taqi al-Din and Arabic Mechanical Engineering, p. 34-35, Institute for the History of Arabic Science, University of Aleppo

=Safavid dynasty=

File:Unknown, Iran, mid-16th Century - The Rothschild Small Silk Medallion Carpet - Google Art Project.jpg]]

;15th century

Classical Oriental carpet: By the late fifteenth century, the design of Persian carpets changed considerably. Large-format medallions appeared, ornaments began to show elaborate curvilinear designs. Large spirals and tendrils, floral ornaments, depictions of flowers and animals, were often mirrored along the long or short axis of the carpet to obtain harmony and rhythm. The earlier "kufic" border design was replaced by tendrils and arabesques. All these patterns required a more elaborate system of weaving, as compared to weaving straight, rectilinear lines. Likewise, they require artists to create the design, weavers to execute them on the loom, and an efficient way to communicate the artist's ideas to the weaver. Today this is achieved by a template, termed cartoon (Ford, 1981, p. 170{{cite book|last1=Ford|first1=P.R.J.|title=Oriental Carpet Design|date=1981|publisher=Thames & Hudson Ltd.|location=London|isbn=9780500276648|edition=1st}}). How Safavid manufacturers achieved this, technically, is currently unknown. The result of their work, however, was what Kurt Erdmann termed the "carpet design revolution".{{cite book|last1=Erdmann|first1=Kurt|title=Der Orientalische Knüpfteppich. tr. C. G. Ellis as Oriental Carpets: An Essay on Their History, New York, 1960.|date=1965|publisher=Verlag Ernst Wasmuth|location=Tübingen|pages=30–32|edition=3rd}} Apparently, the new designs were developed first by miniature painters, as they started to appear in book illuminations and on book covers as early as in the fifteenth century. This marks the first time when the "classical" design of Islamic rugs was established.{{cite book|last1=Erdmann|first1=Kurt|editor1-last=Erdmann|editor1-first=Hanna|editor2-last=Beattie (transl.)|editor2-first=May H.|title=Seven hundred years of Oriental carpets.|date=1970|publisher=University of California Press|location=Berkeley|isbn=978-0520018167}}

=Mughal Empire=

;16th century

Hookah or water pipe: according to Cyril Elgood (PP.41, 110), the physician Irfan Shaikh, at the court of the Mughal emperor Akbar I (1542{{endash}}1605) invented the Hookah or water pipe used most commonly for smoking tobacco.{{cite web | url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/galyan- | title=ḠALYĀN |publisher=Encyclopedia Iranica | date=15 December 2000 | access-date=19 December 2012 | author=Razpush, Shahnaz | pages=261–265 | volume=X}}{{cite book |title=Tobacco and Areca Nut|last=Sivaramakrishnan |first=V. M. |year=2001 |publisher=Orient Blackswan |location=Hyderabad |isbn=81-250-2013-6 |pages=4–5}}{{cite book |title=Calcutta, Past and Present |last=Blechynden |first=Kathleen |year=1905 |publisher=University of California |location=Los Angeles |page=215}}{{cite book |title=India and Its Native Princes: Travels in Central India and in the Presidencies of Bombay and Bengal |url=https://archive.org/details/indiaitsnativepr00loui |last=Rousselet |first=Louis |year=1875 |publisher=Chapman and Hall |location=London |page=[https://archive.org/details/indiaitsnativepr00loui/page/290 290]|isbn=9788120618879 }}
Metal cylinder rocket: In the 16th century, Akbar was the first to initiate and use metal cylinder rockets known as bans, particularly against war elephants, during the Battle of Sanbal.{{cite web|author=MughalistanSipahi |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbzr26t8H2U |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211213/Lbzr26t8H2U |archive-date=2021-12-13 |url-status=live|title=Islamic Mughal Empire: War Elephants Part 3 |via=YouTube |date=19 June 2010 |access-date=28 November 2012}}{{cbignore}}{{Better source needed|reason=History channel is low reliability source. Textx sources also preferred over video|date=May 2024}}
Multi-barrel matchlock volley gun: Fathullah Shirazi (c. 1582), a Persian polymath and mechanical engineer who worked for Akbar, developed an early multi-shot gun. Shirazi's gun had multiple gun barrels that fired hand cannons loaded with gunpowder. It may be considered a version of a volley gun.{{cite journal|last=Bag|first=A.K.|title=Fathullah Shirazi: Cannon, Multi-barrel Gun and Yarghu|journal=Indian Journal of History of Science|year=2005|volume=40|issue=3|pages=431–436|issn=0019-5235}} One such gun he developed was a seventeen-barrelled cannon fired with a matchlock.{{citation|title=Science and technology in early modern Islam, c.1450-c.1850|first=William Gervase|last=Clarence-Smith|url=http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/economicHistory/GEHN/GEHNPDF/ScienceandTechnology-WGCS.pdf|publisher=Global Economic History Network, London School of Economics|page=7}}

;17th century

Roller mill: Sugar rolling mills first appeared in the Mughal Empire, using the principle of rollers as well as worm gearing, by the 17th century.

;18th century

Mysorean rockets – One of the first iron-cased rockets were deployed by Hyder Ali's army, ruler of the South Indian Kingdom of Mysore.Roddam Narasimha (1985), [http://nal-ir.nal.res.in/2382/01/tr_pd_du_8503_R66305.pdf Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750{{ndash}}1850 A.D.] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927182042/http://nal-ir.nal.res.in/2382/01/tr_pd_du_8503_R66305.pdf|date=27 September 2007}}, National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science"Hyder Ali, prince of Mysore, developed war rockets with an important change: the use of metal cylinders to contain the combustion powder. Although the hammered soft iron he used was crude, the bursting strength of the container of black powder was much higher than the earlier paper construction. Thus a greater internal pressure was possible, with a resultant greater thrust of the propulsive jet. The rocket body was lashed with leather thongs to a long bamboo stick. Range was perhaps up to three-quarters of a mile (more than a kilometre). Although individually these rockets were not accurate, dispersion error became less important when large numbers were fired rapidly in mass attacks. They were particularly effective against cavalry and were hurled into the air, after lighting, or skimmed along the hard dry ground. Hyder Ali's son, Tippu Sultan, continued to develop and expand the use of rocket weapons, reportedly increasing the number of rocket troops from 1,200 to a corps of 5,000. In battles at Seringapatam in 1792 and 1799 these rockets were used with considerable effect against the British." – Encyclopædia Britannica (2008). rocket and missile.
Rocket artillery - The first true rocket artillery was developed by Tipu Sultan and was notably in use during the Anglo-Mysore Wars.{{cite book |author=A. Bowdoin Van Riper |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=k8CxJeFzCdQC&pg=PA14 |title=Rockets and Missiles: The Life Story of a Technology |date=29 October 2007 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-0-8018-8792-5 |pages=14–}}{{cite web |last=Narasimha |first=Roddam |date=27 July 2011 |title=Rockets in Mysore and Britain, 1750–1850 A.D. |url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/37179995 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110727034357/https://www.nal.res.in/pdf/pdfrocket.pdf |archive-date=27 July 2011 |publisher=National Aeronautical Laboratory and Indian Institute of Science.}}

Notes

Sources

{{Citation

|last1=Rashed

|first1=Roshdi

|last2=Morelon

|first2=Régis

|year=1996

|title=Encyclopedia of the History of Arabic Science

|publisher=Routledge

|isbn=0-415-12410-7

}}

External links

[http://www.qdl.qa/en/articles-from-our-experts?themes%5B0%5D=630 Qatar Digital Library] - an online portal providing access to previously digitised British Library archive materials relating to Gulf history and Arabic science

Category:Science in the medieval Islamic world

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Category:Islamic Golden Age

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