When the Rising Sun met the Crescent Moon
The history of robots has its origins in the ancient world. Even as early as the 12th Century, Muslims such as al-Jazari were making significant advances in the field of automata/automations which are self-operating machines, or machines or control mechanisms designed to automatically follow predetermined sequences of operations or respond to predetermined instructions. In short – robots.
Ibn Jazari built a number of automated objects such as the automated moving peacocks driven by hydropower. One of al-Jazari’s humanoid automata was a waitress that could serve water, tea or drinks. The drink was stored in a tank with a reservoir from where the drink drips into a bucket and, after seven minutes, into a cup, after which the waitress appears from behind automatic doors and serves the drink. In addition to this, the elephant clock described by al-Jazari in 1206 is notable for several innovations. It was the first clock in which an automaton reacted after certain intervals of time (in this case, a humanoid robot striking the cymbal and a mechanical robotic bird chirping) and the first water clock to accurately record the passage of the temporal hours to match the uneven length of days throughout the year.[1]
Fast forward six hundred years and Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who came to the throne in 1876, decided to develop Ottoman relations with the Empire of Japan, which was on the rise in the Far East. It was to be the start of a relationship of two states who were at the diametric extremes of Asia and status — one ultimately rising (Japan) and the other in decline (Ottoman Empire). Prompting the Ottoman goodwill mission to Japan, half a world away, was a sense of shared destiny. The Ottomans, like the Japanese, were a proud people. Also like the Japanese, they had lagged behind their Western counterparts in industrial and economic development and both had endured the humiliation of unequal treaties imposed by Western powers.
The relations were commenced when, in November 1878, the sloop Seiki of the Japanese Imperial Navy arrived in Istanbul en-route to a training mission in Europe. The envoy was received by Sultan Abdul Hamid II and honoured with various medals.[2]
In 1881, a mission led by diplomat Masaharu Yoshida came to the court Yıldız Palace in an effort to conclude agreements relating to trade and wartime status.[3] Upon the visit of Prince Komatsu Akihito to Istanbul in October 1887 and the presentation of Japan’s highest order from the Meiji emperor, the Order of the Chrysanthemum was presented to the Sultan.
The Ottomans continued the exchange by Sultan Abdul Hamid II sending a frigate, the Ertuğrul, on a goodwill visit to Japan in July 1889 with Commander Ali Uthman Pasha and his crew of 609 men. Osman Pasha was to represent the Sultan and was delegated with extraordinary powers.
Before the voyage, Sultan Abdul Hamid II is reported to have sought counsel from the chief cleric, referred to as Shaykhul Islam, Muhammad Cemaleddin Efendi as to what gifts to honour the Japanese with. It was decided that they would provide a number of gifts including the Qur’ān as well as something unique that would capture the imagination of the Japanese. As such, Sultan Abdul Hamid summoned clock master Musa Dede, a great in clock mechanics. Musa Dede was to gather a perfect team and build a unique technological clock.
Musa Dede built an automated clock with a human figure. Every hour the human figure would open up its arms, step half a meter and recite the Adhān (call to prayer). When the Adhān finished, the figure would revert back to its original position. The robotic clock was very large in size. When the robotic clock was presented to Sultan Abdul Hamid II, he was delighted and called it Alâmet as he considered it be a miracle.
After sailing in Asian waters for more than a year, the Ertuğrul finally arrived in Japan in June 1890. Uthman Pasha and his crew completed a successful visit with the Japanese authorities and the imperial family. While in Japan, the admiral received an audience with Emperor Meiji. He presented the monarch with gifts including the robotic clock and bestowed prestigious titles of the Ottoman Empire.
After a three-month stay, the Ertuğrul set sail on 16th September 1890 from Yokohama on its return voyage. The Ertuğrul encountered a typhoon a day out of Yokohama. Tossed by wind and waves throughout the night, the vessel ultimately broke up on rocks off the island of Kii Ōshima in the present-day town of Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture.
Five hundred and eighty-seven sailors and officers perished, including Admiral Uthman Pasha. Kii Ōshima islanders braved the typhoon, making frantic efforts to save 69 members of the vessel’s contingent. Word of their heroic deeds soon reached the seat of power of the Ottomans in Istanbul, where it elicited an effusion of pro-Japanese sentiment. The Ertuğrul’s survivors left Tokyo for Constantinople aboard the Japanese corvettes Hiei and Kongō in early October 1890. They arrived safely in January 1891, occasioning a public outpouring of gratitude towards Japan from the Ottomans.
Also arriving with the survivors on the ship from Japan was a young Japanese journalist by the name of Shotaro Noda who raised donations in Japan for the martyrs’ families. He handed these donations to Turkish authorities and even met Sultan Abdul Hamid II, who asked him to stay in Istanbul and teach Japanese to Ottoman officers. During his stay in Istanbul, he met Abdullah Quilliam, an English Muslim from Liverpool, Britain, who introduced Noda to Islam. Quite convinced after a lengthy discussion that Islām is the truth, Noda embraced Islām and chose to be named Abdul Haleem. In fact, Abdul Haleem Noda is considered by many to be the first Japanese Muslim.[4] Another Japanese by the name of Yamada Torajirō was also aboard the ship to Istanbul. Any Japanese tourist visiting the Topkapi Palace today may well be struck by a display of a samurai armour and helmet held there. It was presented, along with a sword, to the Sultan Abdul Hamid II by Yamada Torajirō. Yamada proved to be an important pioneer in the history of Turkish-Japanese relations and remained in the imperial capital for almost twenty years.[5]
Points to Note:
Whilst the tragedy of the Ertuğrul has endured, the small matter of the robotic clock, the Alâmet, has been lost. In an age when Japan is considered the leader in the field of automated robotics, we can only wonder as to the impact Musa Dede’s invention had on the Japanese. Some scholars, such as the Turkish historian and author Oktan Keles, believe that there is every possibility that this could have been the spark of interest in the nation’s love affair with robots.[6] In reality, it is difficult to know whether it had any impact, at all. Whilst the first known robot to be made in Japan is believed to be ‘Lilliput’ in Japan in the 1930s,[7] it is known that one of Japan’s greatest inventors and craftsmen, Hisashige Tanaka (d. 1881), who is considered to be the founder of Toshiba, had by this time already created a number of complex mechanised clocks and other such objects. What is clear, however, is that the Alâmet is likely the first ever Adhān clock.
Also of note is the compassion demonstrated by the Japanese people in saving and helping return to Istanbul the survivors of the Frigate. It left a lasting memory of gratitude in the minds of the Turkish people. That sentiment has endured on both sides; today, atop a hill on Kii Ōshima, overlooking the site of the disaster, stands a monument to the lives lost there. The town of Kushimoto holds a memorial service there every five years in honour of the victims. The incident also remained in the memory of the Turks who, 95 years later, sought to repay the debt of gratitude to the Japanese. In 1985 an emergency Turkish Airlines flight was deployed to rescue 215 Japanese passengers stranded in Tehran during an aviation blockade during the Iraq-Iran war.
More recently, some 600 people from Turkey and Japan gathered at the monument for its 125th-anniversary ceremony in 2015.[8]
Thus, this tragic accident became a solemn symbol of friendship between the two nations that continues to today.
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Source: www.islam21c.com
Notes:
[1] al-Jazari, Encyclopaedia Britannica; Donald Hill, A History of Engineering in Classical and Medieval Times, Routledge.
[2] Chronology of Japan-Turkey Relations, Turkish Embassy in Tokyo (Turkish).
[3] Bal, İdris, ed. (2004). Turkish Foreign Policy in Post-Cold War Era. Universal Publishers. p. 407. ISBN 1-58112-423-6.
[4] http://islamcenter.or.jp/en/history-and-publications/history-of-islam-in-japan/
[5] Selçuk Esenbel, ‘A Japanese romantic in Istanbul: the life of Yamada Torajirō and his Toruko gakan’, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, Volume 59, Issue 2 June 1996, pp. 237-252
[6] Oktan Keles, Abdul Hamid Han’in Bilenmeyen Sirlari; Yusuf Guldur, Sultan of Projects Abdulhamid Han
[7] C.S Lewis, Robot Lilliput 5357
[8] http://www.gettyimages.co.uk/event/japan-and-turkey-commemorate-125th-anniversary-of-ottoman-frigate-ertugrul-sunking-558167459?#princess-akiko-of-mikasa-president-of-the-japanturkey-society-during-picture-id475701658
@rico and tom..as to below….and @ tom..after what is written below.
the places where islam ruled…say spain….700-800 years?!,,,,,,,,,it was mentioned…..how comes xtianity is still flourishing there to this day…..egypt and other places too?>>>>>>native amercians?
what happened in the history we were taught between the dark ages……………………………………………………………………till the enlightment and industrail…etc.??
pluarality and tolerance and wanting what is best for humanity….??!!!
as to @ tom…….as they get to know us all..for the files…etc.(you dont know a mrs robinson by any chance)..(sorry sad and bad- to mention)…..what i wanted to ask…is as you said you believe in the LOrd of Abraham…etc….what is your view on jesus the son of mary?
peace
My beliefs in the Old and New Testaments have nothing to do with this story. But if you must ask, I believe in the Holy Trinity. But I believe Catholicism is an evil non Christian system of semi paganistuc beliefs.
You Muslims can believe whatever you want, it doesn’t affect my beliefs. But you should stick to your beliefs and quit with the claims that Islam was the reason for all these great technical discoveries. Most if not all of these discoveries were made despite the hinderance of Catholicism and Islam.
Unequal treaties? This story takes place years before WW1, so I fail to see which treaties the author is referring to? The Ottomans sided with the Germans in WW1 and received what they deserved being on the losing side. Japan on the other hand ,assisted the Allies by limiting German influence in the East. In truth , the Allies did give Japan a raw deal after the War, but it has nothing to do with this story. You people try and connect Islam with everything under the Sun.
For Japan, it was the treaties to open up Japan. Read gunboat policy.
For Turkey, it was many treatises when they lost a lot of war in Eastern Europe.
wahn or not…..thabura thabura….so do what is best….while we can……
motivational…..be phenominal and be the change …whther still there or changed…it is all emc squared…..but it can not be destroyed…….
Ding ding ding
King kong….(have we forgot who the ..king is?@)
Reality/illysiin…oops ulusion….well?!…the reality of reality too…..is to..also…hard!
One chance….yes…many given…to us all.
Submit.
As for me im in a hurry…God forgive!
Fryday…..no time to pry…
So as to the mirror…..
Kong the beast….subhan Allah…no mayter no what….he/it will get us…so what ever haman does or not……
Good luck to us all.
Then again.now or tommorow or after
Memories are just that
What a nostalgia.
Salaam alaikom now br n sistar what was your story…..wish to go back. More deeds more blessings
Now Lord please allow me to repent.
Albakiyat al salahat….subhanak ya Allah w natoob ilayk
Just in case*
So that anything unwanted festers….
The kong that was meant was the beast ie the diffrientiator btwn muslim n kafir….
Where is or will be the wind? Allah knows best….
As to comment on flash cash n unsourced information….they claim there is a world teacher under claimants of the messiahs second coming…etc….see u on the other side of the river…if needed be….
Peace.
Unwanted emotions is what is not wanted to fester….
apologies*
morphic resonance too and astral projection..so nobody sit in next persons seat…al jabl la jabl…(that was just an attempt to explain a little of what i was trying to say)……
May Allah forgive.
dear editors…can i ask if it would be allowed to publisize islam21c? alhamdullah, it is a great website….but would it be arousing anger against the muslims if it was publizied…etc? and if you agree, do you have any means or suggestions of how we can go about it? apologies…as i am not really online..that much.. i was talking more poster and on the streets…etc?
as helpless as we all are and we are all in this world together…i would like to help….
salaam alaikom,
apologies yet again as I talk from my hawa yet again in haste.
if anybody does happen to respond to the below, please do state who you may be or who knows you. not a cv but perhaps reputable and credential references, with the current day and all that it is going on and the divide that is being made with in us…etc. with that said, patience is good. Al-hamdullah, the mercy to mankind was such, but truly if not soon but ultimately those on haqq and those on batil will be manifest. so each to their own now and then. Allah promises and so does the accursed, but the latter will be the one running and whether he tells them what he sees and knows, that’s for them to tell us.
as to dig a bit more…….
they are speaking that there will be no opt out of the smart revolution…..we can see that with the emailization and the move to the paperless societies…etc. So the chip…are we ready? it will be law…..perhaps.that is if we do not have the rfid (cant not remember its exact name) nano technology already with in us…sorry to scare or bring on despair…etc.
why are we here? tasaan to me and…..if it is such. easy said I suppose, never lived in war and poverty stricken countries. are weak are we strong?? the land is Allah’s and it is far and wide…as sheik hamza once said the more one departs from the middle of the earth the more one goes and enters and comes back into hell……middle earth being the middle of the earth i.e.; the world being the blessed city of makkah……but as to the extent of the afore mentioned statement, it seems we truly have not experienced it as of yet..depending what part of time we are living in…..
advice to me and to you…pay off what you owe and give the people we have wronged their rights and seek repentence for our sins as soon as we can.
money….we need it. but as much as work is good there will be a time when staying in doors may be the best of options…but subhan Allah…our hives..we have not really seen the full extent of how infested they are……1984. what is the solution?
if you can handle seek what you need in order to leave and make hijra,i.e. education and training in any given field you may wish or think you may need. but do be one with the community as much as you can. it is hard..as loved ones and those we owe rights to, may choose to stay and lag behind,,,,if anyone can see what I am trying to hint at in terms of remaining and perhaps a risk of being made a kafir, these may or may not be issues =you may want to seek guidance and fiqh answers from our ahl zikr,as to what or what not to do
scarey…sorry. when on transport say the dua and smile! the best is he who spreads and initiates salaam, but as to the time when to only those you or I may know, whether now or yet to come…Allah al mustaan and He is the hajeej….jammah jammah..talk of not being able to be in groups in the street except at the bus stop…..what lonely sheep we have and are going to become……
the smelling of intentions…..!? hmmm. as to those who are not islamically dressed at the moment but in-sha-Allah on their deen, i.e. missing out on the reward of 100 matyrs, try and istigfurAllah for mentioning this, and make sure it is not inshirah of kufr in the breats but think alcholol or what ever and see the reaction…i.e. of your surroundings. with that said, ma-sha-Allah and Allah Akbar the sisters on their deen are truly on the front line and the builders of the nations of now and to come. ALLAH AKBAR and may HE protect them and us.
apologies. I went against our Beloved’s orders. so as to tabsheer. there will be light and Allah and His messenger’s promises are verily true and it is definetly not about this temporarly abode.
prepare while we can!
enough digging for one day, so if I live till the morning or not taken away, one question…….
are we lambs or lions…….?
just needed to add to the below. as to the suggestion of website…etc. personally i am for and at the same time against technology and the smart cities that is coming or and is already here. if that is a crime to say or even abnormal, then let it be. but just advice and sorry to scare monger but it seems and Allah knows best that we will perhaps be amongst those whom will be fleeing to the mountains for fear and if we fear our akhirah…but if not for us but for the future…..the land is expansive and it all belongs to Allah. so while the coals are being heated, are there any or does anybody know where the nearest mountain is/are?……reminder to my self first most, but lets keep doing miraaj through salat while we can and may Allah provide us with food of the zikr and being in His jannah on earth, which is not in/on this realm.
scary…..but as church hill said, when in hell keep going….and just a reminder as our beloved (peace be upon him) said Allah is the hajeej of every muslim.
in Allah we put our trust and He is the best disposer of affairs
question …are the muslims in the hacking and spying business these days?……whether that was done to me just like form the others…all you had to do is ask permission…!? albeit, WRATH IS COMING whether i personally am dead or not….
apologies as i feel the anger is the air..but may i just say…sometimes intentions are pure but they can be misunderstood. suppose you do not ask you do not get…so whetehr helpless or not..oppressed or oppressor…..what is the point in being here…every body work and will get where and what is made easy for them…?! albeit i say again what affects one will no matter what affect all…..so just as the neck of the masses are on the leaders….like wise and with out no disrespect the same goes on the scholars…..apologies.
subhan Allah…and just like always and a reminder to the importance of beginging with Bism Allah.
cyber war….i just saw that headline an hour ago! as to what day it was…Allah knows best. even so there is a lot of funny buisness…..things moving from place to place…things appearing in the hand….no one can help no one though. suppose we enter alone and leave alone….we used to care as br.boona spoke.
there seems there is no point….abu mustafa….whether to me or not…no i am not a fisherman….but as it all seems hopeless…..i would consider fishing…..hahahaaha…its all dajl…..anyway…..God’s people can not and will not help anyway……the jews said yed Allah muglola……
NOW PLEASE HARAM-ME…as to the police……alhajjaj was a great inspiration….im not saying i am al haqq or im the law…..islam is such….albeit, as i keep on digging…whetehr i get the love back of what was stolen..and regain my inner calmness or not…….good luck to us all. and remember to be the best of the sons of Adam….if you can.
a big thank you. over and out. hopefully sooner than later. now twist that as much as you like and good luck to you too.
as to br abdualllah t and the manufacturing article…you most probably right things do seem that they will stay the same and probably get worse…..so good luck and peace.
oops as like this and others…..so let me say again and start …in my name…..desires too are gods…..
anyway……i meant rushing in anger…perhaps like a russian tank….(MUNIR…in the pure land…so you was angry too at the washing up…whethere you are still alive or not…..suppose repentence…has got to do with traveklling east and west…so if God wants to forgive…..then….)
that might sound kufr……in two senses….so ill make dua in sha Allah…..as to the rushing…will they put rsuh hour again on the talking satan…..lets see how and what they do…….but any3ay…i m hinting to the user name…so let me think of one now….ermmmm……lets see…’do not approach the woman from the sea….”…..perhaps we’ll see a mermaid poster or film now…..anyway…….what hadith?
oi modern day poets…..what is going to happen on the morrow????
Correction* everybody is their own hajeej and Allah is the khalifa of every muslim/ believer…..
It seems from my little knowledge that i have…that everything that is going on in the world….is just for one man to come and descend…..we certainly live in times of deciet …..Allah Himself…will in sha Allah bring forth the proofs……and just a reminder jesus the man is not a god…so oh believers in God/Allah…make sure you know the characteristics of the ones who are going to appear…..and just a remnider there is sometimes great unseen wisdoms..we can not begin to understand….so MAY ALLAH BE WITH HIS PEOPLE AND MAKE US ALL STEADFAST…AMEEN.
peace on the mercy to the whole universe…
(dear editors-apologies if you do publish- and also if it is sent twice)
Salaam alaikom/peace unto all.
Putting my own socks on in a way.
Ma-sha-Allah as to the topic and the forgotten history, with also to brother Hector’s additions. There is most definetly plenty a lot to look into and research. So thank you to the author and those that have given us more to look into…etc.
As to br. Hector. Who are you? sorry. Please do not take offense. As we are all sitting comfortably behind our screens and user names…etc. so please do not take offence. But who are you? Who are the others? Who do you work for? What they paying you ? what has been promised?…..offended? please do not be. That is just probably something not just going through my mind but the minds of others too. With the current climate that has been created and being created, all for our own benefit, with out a shadow of a doubt for society and it’s protection…obviously….etc. So please do not take offence. And we sincerely wish you (+the others) the best in this world and the next.
https://www.islam21c.com/politics/islamophobia-a-thousand-years-of-deadly-lies/
in a reply to the above link and in a way a continuation of what is being discussed at present, perhaps,…I would just like to add the following if I may……spain and the ottoman khalafa…it is well documented even by non muslim historians that it was the only time when jew, xtian and muslim (which are really one in a funny but real way) lived in harmony and the nations flocked there to gain access to the fountains of knowledge and advancments that led to what we have today. Br. Hector mentioned there or someone else I think about, sicily spain Jerusalem …etc. at to the topic of jihad…etc. defensive or not…let us just look at the conquest or the opening of or shall we call it the freeing, the true liberation of the …emm lets pick Egypt. Did not the xtians of Egypt rejoice and even help the muslims in liberating their land,,,,i.e Egypt?!…look at Indonesia….largest populated Islamic nation on earth…what muslim army went there?…may we kindly ask you to look into that too. And please ponder that to this day xtians are still living there and look at spain too. NO COMPULSION …we hope you see..i.e no inqucestion of any sort
Off the topic?! Some scholars say that as our Beloved i.e. the seal of the prophets the one sent as a mercy to the universe said that only God punishes with fire ( other issues- I suppose- but I am not learned enough to mention Ali RA), but as to that punishment, some scholars say, that even using a gun is dis-allowed, as it is a form of fire, how about bombs from a grenade to cluster to atomic…etc. but if that view is amongst some of our scholars, is islam really a terrorist religion?…..as to the other things being discussed..off subject or on…war ethics..what are they and where did they come from? Before Geneva rights and ethics only last century and also womens rights and their liberation?
As we are talking about the ottomans……as like in Islamic history and through out…were not non-muslims often given seats of power and influence…could be argued whether that was good or bad ( I say that because of the khazars…not sure what they are called..is it dolmas and what they ended up doing)…(not the vine leaves)…..anyway let me blab on…..welfare systems…..what did Omar RA (the second khalifa /caliph..i.e. the successor of the Beloved)..do for the people?…just mentioning in aid for a jewish old man i.e. a zimmi/dhimi….Omar the blessed even cried and was deeply hurt of animals on the other side of the empire back then that were being treated wrongly…….the Beloved peace be upon him was truly a master and conqueror of hearts…because as everybody knows how Omar was before his reversion/conversion and how he continued to develop his forbearance and character in general….Allah Akbar the Lateef subhanak!…please listen to the spoken word of the oppressed sister titled my name is Islam……
I was on a bus once, and some people were talking about how muslims wash themselves five times a day and even wash themselves after releaving themselves?! Whether mockingly or in amazement- lets do hope that for them and society…just like in the times of Elizabeth the 1st and her bath issues and those of society in those times ..they learn from islam too…and can make society better after their homes first and ours foremostly too.
Lets just say cameras…computers…..Alograthems..i.,e. Al-JIbr..i.e. aljebra. first camera?…the book the canon…latinzed name to change and divert as just mentioned and the others..but avicenea ..i.e. ibn sina….on and on
To sum up, the historians admit their indebtness to the muslims. But we as current day muslims probably are living on pass glories, but we do know that as the past generations advanced mankind and are the ones who developed revised produced old and their contempory times to get us where we are here today only because they knew as we do that ISLAM IS THE ONLY SOLUTION>
Indebted to the mercy? Because truly his death is truly humanities greatest loss but we really do not and can not fathom to what extent that really is!
Peace and blessings of Allah on our Beloved Muhammed .
Hope fully not misunderstood. Peace mercy and guidance from Allah on us all.
Precisely which non muslim historians say of muslim-ruled “spain and the ottoman khalafa…that it was the only time when jew, xtian and muslim lived in harmony”?
When exactly did jew, xtian and muslim live in harmony?
In Islamic Spain and also when the patriarchs of Jerusalem were grateful for omar ra and gladly handed over to him the keys of I think the city as they had prophesied it would have been him. And something to look forward when the Messiah returns and rules islamversially according to its laws. Perhaps look it up in older versions of Britanicca encyclopedias.
So, the christians, jews and muslims of Islamic Spain lived in harmony until all of a sudden the christians threw the jews and muslims out.
Are you referring to the Patriarch Sophronius’s surrender of Jerusalem after a long and costly siege? He may have been grateful to Omar for agreeing to accept his surrender rather than allowing his troops to entertain themselves at the inhabitants’ expense, but it certainly wasn’t something he was at all enthusiastic about doing. He regarded it as the lesser evil.
Alas some are doomed to such a binary outlook. If it wasn’t absolute 100% complete utopia for every single person without exception, then all the history of plurality and toleration are magically annulled…
But what is “spain and the ottoman khalafa…it is well documented even by non muslim historians that it was the only time when jew, xtian and muslim (which are really one in a funny but real way) lived in harmony” but a claim that it was “absolute 100% complete utopia”? If people said “on average, muslim-ruled mediaeval states weren’t quite as murderously intolerant as mediaeval christian-ruled states”, I’d agree, but claims for the absolute and perpetual superiority of islamic government over every other possible government are a very different thing.
http://lostislamichistory.com/jerusalem-and-umar-ibn-al-khattab/
There’s your reply br hector and as you taught me something I would like to say to u that I will pray for u even moren would like to give u a gift I return of Islam story. Com too
May God bless u.amen/ameen
apologies br. in humanity tom…..i did not mean to call you by any names!
tc
peace and guidance wished for us as for u
The Dirty Troll hector pops up again. Dafa ho already
There’s a certain irony in complaints that the Ottoman empire “had endured the humiliation of unequal treaties imposed by Western powers” when it had come into existence by invasion, conquest and the imposition of unequal treaties.
In the rest of his essay Mr Rahman shows the accuracy we have come to expect from him. To begin with, there was – as in many other cultures – a long history of imaginary and real mechanical models and toys in Japan: whatever effect Musa Dede’s clock had, it would not have inspired astonishment, especially given the achievements of Japanese clock-makers. Mechanical men had been made long before al-Jazari’s work: Heron of Alexandia built steam-turbine powered machines with simple programmes long before islam was invented. Chinese astronomical water-clocks were astonishingly sophisticated and complex, culminating in Su Song’s astonishing device. However, being forty feet high it wouldn’t take a very good pocket watch. Leonardo da Vinci designed a “mechanical knight”, but he probably didn’t try to build it. Jacquard’s looms – the inspiration for Babbage’s difference engine – were the basis for all future robotic work. Tanaka Hisashige is said to have invented a similar loom, but I can’t find any details of it.
Tanaka Hisashige certainly didn’t need the influence of Musa Dede’s clock or European devices to be interested in mechanical men: he began his career in the 1820s making clockwork puppets (clockwork had been introduced to Japan in the seventeenth century and the Japanese made later innovations of their own) and later built a “Ten Thousand Year Clock” which can adjust to Japanese irregular hours and only needs winding once a year. This sounds very like the time-keeping function of the adhan clock. However, all of these feats were achieved before the Ertuğrul reached Japan, when Tanaka was already eighty years old.
Lilliput 5357 (why the reference to C.S. Lewis?) wasn’t a real robot but another clockwork toy. It was all of six inches high and simply walked forwards clumsily until it ran down. Apart from the fact no-one could think of robots until Karel Čapek invented the term, the real inspiration for later robots probably came from films, especially the Mechanical Man of Lang’s Metropolis.
And, right on schedule, “Hector” arrives with the fantastic straw men *we* (an actual we, rather than a self-aggrandising lone troll who refers to himself in the plural) have come to expect of him. No amount of regurgitation of wikipedia entries (at least say it in your own words next time) can make readers here overlook what we can only presume is the desperate attempt at argument of some sort: The Japanese love of robots could have been inspired by a number of things throughout history. You successfully refuted an argument absolutely no one made. As usual.
OUCH
“The Japanese love of robots could have been inspired by a number of things throughout history. You successfully refuted an argument absolutely no one made”
You really should read what Mr Rahman says before defending it: “the Turkish historian and author Oktan Keles, believe[s] that there is every possibility that this [the robotic clock, the Alâmet,…Musa Dede’s invention] …could have been the spark of interest in the nation’s love affair with robots” unless, of course, you believe Oktan Keles is “absolutely no one”.
Hector the Troll hater with his hate filled boring rants no one cares to read
They pay him to find a Islamic reason for all human achievements. These folks even try to turn people who were thousands of years before Mohammed into Muslims(Abraham). Mohammed the worlds first great history revisionist!
Absolutely brilliant. We are at fault for not knowing our own history and wasting time reading nonsense.
My socks were definitely knocked off!!
I’m more than overwhelmed with our history of Islaam in Japan!
SubhaanaAllaah
JazaakaAllaahu Khayraa for enlightening me with a piece of our beautiful history.
amendment* bleak…with that said, I pray he is a friend and can bring some benefit……anyone wish to build an ark? whether needed or not..suppose time will tell. did anybody come across that in matthew 20 (I think)….so whether we have been robbed or not……WE THE PEOPLE DEMAND OUR RIGHTS… so vaults of what ever..step up your locks…..
I love talking rubbish…..
Rahm Allah/mercy of Allah on men who know their limits i.e qadr nefsho or them
anybody who happens to read this, if you live to see or your children do and you happen to remember please give my salaams to the Mahdi/+ jesus.
yours truly
someone in and soon to be history
John Connor IS NOT JESUS or is he..in a funny way
🙂
oh well, if time permits will read tafaseer of surat al-hadeed
machines can say la ilah ila Allah too and al-hamdullah as muslims not matter what and how bleep it gets, we know that islam is in the end what is and will be on top.
oh muslims the ahzab are coming, so what are we going to do and say?!…doors are being opened in every sense..flee from Allah to Allah in all that we can do while we can….volcanoes of the souls are erupting…so al bagee is border lining what comes after it..as to the revival of al-ghazali on hasud…..so oppressed or oppressor, main thing we know why as a ummah we are being oppressed. but with that said beyond robotics as that is just a start it is humanity that is at stake, but the humanoids in charge have got the human left whoa re so called in charge under the sway.
sorry for talking nonsense someone is pressing my/the buttons. albeit heaven awaits in-sha-Allah!
p.s has the first muslim in space returned yet?
peace and God’s Grace on us all