Muslims most likely had their first encounter with paper in central Asia around the 8^th century. Islamic civilization would spread the knowledge of paper and papermaking all over the Middle East, including to Greater Syria, Iraq, Egypt, and the North African countries, as well as Persia and eventually even Spain. It is easy to see the crucial role the Muslims played in the words we use until this day to count paper – reams. This word came into English from the French word, rayme, which came from the Spanish word, resma, which in turn originated from the Arabic word rizmah, meaning a bale or a bundle.

In the Islamic world, paper was first used mostly to keep governmental records, as it had been in China. The great philosopher Ibn Khaldun describes its use in Baghdad for this purpose, and how it soon became a significant business there. Before paper, traditional parchment had been used, which was made from animal skin and thus much more difficult to produce. It was also much less likely to crack or fray as was the tendency of papyrus, and because it absorbed ink paper was highly valued as a means to combat forgery of important documents, since the words couldn’t be easily erased or altered.

However, paper also became used in other ways in Islam. The preservation of the Qur’an and Sunnah was of the utmost importance to the Muslims, and with paper it became easier to make permanent records and copies of them. Islamic scholars began collecting and codifying the hadiths of the Prophet (SAW), preserving them on paper. The oldest surviving dated Qur’an written on paper is believed to have been copied by the calligrapher ‘Ali ibn Sadan al-Razi in 971-972. Handwritten paper copies of the Qur’an would come to be highly valued, and the beauty of Islamic calligraphy became very well-known, extending into the modern day.

The role of paper, however, soon expanded and spurred a burst of creativity in many areas in the Islamic world, including in literature, math, and the sciences. Paper was used in the following ways:

• The copying and transmission of new literature, such as cookbooks and the tales we now know as The Thousand and One Nights, were put up for sale
• Greater flexibility in the calculation of mathematical problems was achieved
• Commercial transactions and trade records
• Maps
• Astronomical charts
• Medical books
• History books
• Scientific notation
• Musical documentation
• Architectural plans

Lastly, paper would also spur an artistic revolution in the Islamic empire. Using paper, artists and architects could now easily work out their designs and perfect them before they were actually used, and trace their designs onto other things as well and thus transmit them elsewhere more easily. Potters, weavers, and metal-workers would now also be able to learn new designs from books and instructional manuals instead of relying on memory or creating it as they went along. Miniature paintings also became more widespread during this time, becoming more elaborate and available across the empire.

Interestingly enough, most accounts of the history of paper focus mainly on its origins in China, or its later development in Europe, and ignore the centuries of the knowledge of paper and its spread in the Islamic world in between. Nonetheless, it is obvious that Muslims helped bring paper to Europe, and thus indirectly aided in spurring the Cultural Revolution there, which would later take place with the invention of Gutenberg’s printing press in the 15^th century. Therefore, it is clear that the spread of paper through Islamic lands between the 8^th and 14^th centuries brought about enormous and influential changes in many areas, including literature, mathematics, trade, and the arts, and had a far-reaching impact across the world.

Bloom, Jonathan M. Revolution by the Ream: A History of Paper (Aramco World: May/June 1999: vol. 50/No.3, pp: 26-39). .

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 viable explanations for colors at the time – imagine waking up to see every shade and hue under the sun and not being able to understand for yourself why you’re able to see them in the first place! Fortunately, the “Father of Optics” Ibn Al-Haytham began his studies and shed light upon (pun intended) the biggest ocular questions of that day.

Ibn Al-Haytham studied the structure of the eye and wrote a comprehensive work about his findings, titled Kitab Al-Manazir, or The Book of Optics. It contained a diagram of the eye and its connection to the central nervous system, an observation that had never been previously made. He is the one who named the parts of the eye, and their English translations are still used today: retina, cornea, vitreous humor, and aqueous humor. Also, due to his understanding of the eye and its processes, he studied light and proposed his own theories about colors and light refraction. He also denied the apocryphal belief that light travels into the eyes from external objects to create images. Those discoveries alone were enough to give him his title, but they didn’t stop there. He came to the conclusion that light is all the same despite its source, and that it is a movement with variable speed – the beginning of the color theory.

Two centuries later, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi expanded on Ibn Al-Haytham’s theories and gave the first correct explanation of the formation of a rainbow. Though little remains of his work, they survive him in his pupil Kamal al-Din al-Farisi, who made a major contribution to the field of optics. He was asked a question concerning the refraction of light, and his teacher al-Shirazi encouraged him to consult Al-Haytham’s work, which al-Farisi comprehensively studied. He helped to expand on the theory of rainbow formation; he proposed that the colors occurred because of the “superimposition of different forms of an image on a dark background.” In his notes, he wrote, “If the images then interpenetrate, the light is again intensified and produces a bright yellow. Next, the blended image diminishes and becomes a darker and darker red until it disappears when the sun is outside the cone of rays refracted after one reflection.” Our understanding of color truly began with those words.

The eye doctors of Islam were proficient and leading in the treatment of eye diseases. On top of Ibn al-Haytham, Qutb al-Din al-Shirazi, and Kamal al-Din al-Farisi’s discoveries, a man named Razi recognized the pupil’s reaction to the light and Ibn Sina described the number of inessential muscles of the eyeball (six). One of the most significant developments made in this area of medicine was discovered by Ammar bin Ali, who introduced a “hollow metallic needle” that aided in the extraction of cataracts – Europe began to use this method later in the 19^th century.

Remarkably, some discoveries extend to modern day devices such as the camera. Ibn Al-Haytham investigated mirror theory, mirrors, light refraction, and how light passing through lens breaks down into the color spectrum. Such studies allowed for advancements in refining the shape of lenses; European scholars expanded on them and used them as a solid foundation for the development of lenses for telescopes, magnifying lenses, and eyeglasses.

Subhan’Allah! It really blows me away that we now understand the ‘hows’ and ‘whys’ of color, are safe from several eye diseases, and can use cameras with ease all thanks to the huge contributions of Islam.