Paper (or in Arabic, waraqa), a material which is used for so many things in our lives, can trace back its origins to over 2000 years ago in China. However, the Islamic Empire was responsible for spreading the use of paper throughout the world and sparked the start of its use in Europe hundreds of years later after Muslims established paper mills in Spain. It was because of the Muslim discovery of paper that it would begin to have widespread use across Asia and Africa, and eventually reach and be used in Europe earlier than it would have otherwise.
Muslims most [...]

Throughout history, Islam has distinguished itself in many areas of science – one of them being optics, the study of the behavior and properties of light. One may assume that optics aren’t nearly as important as, for example, math, but you’d be surprised at what far-reaching advancements the Islamic Empire made – and how such developments led to the invention of modern day devices, such as the camera.
Before Muslim scientists took over the field of optics, it was believed that the eye is the source of light and that the world would be dark without it. There were also no [...]