Archival - Vienna Imam: Copernicus, Galileo, Kepler, and Da Vinci Were Thieves Who Robbed the Islamic Heritage

In a lesson at the Strasbourg Islamic center dealing with the contribution of Islamic civilization to the West, Vienna-based Imam Adnan Ibrahim said that Copernicus had stolen his ideas from a Damascus scientist and muezzin. He went on to say: "Galileo Galilei, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler the German, Leonardo da Vinci... These people were mere thieves, who robbed the Islamic heritage." The lesson was posted on the Internet in January 2011.

Following are excerpts:

Adnan Ibrahim: The contribution of Islamic civilization to the West goes far beyond what they admit and what we are aware of. We are not aware of this, and they do not admit it. Thus, the truth remains hidden, clandestine. They keep it hidden, brothers, because they fear they would be put to shame. They fear that [their] racism and centralism would be exposed. It goes far beyond what we are aware of.

Let me tell you a story that happened when the Polish prime minister visited Damascus, in the days of President Al-Assad Senior. President Hafez Al-Assad said to him: Mr. Prime Minister, I'd like to complain about your people. The new universal system established by Nicolaus Copernicus – known as the heliocentric system, in which the sun is the center of the universe… Of course, the sun is not really, the center of the universe, but that was what Nicolaus Copernicus thought. That was the Copernican Revolution. Today, they talk about a Copernican revolution in economy, for example, a Copernican revolution in biology, a Copernican revolution in physics… Copernicus was a great man – one of the four founding fathers of Western science.

Al-Assad asked: Who invented this theory? The Polish Pm said: Copernicus. The entire world knows this. Then Assad said: But you and I know that it was not Copernicus. Copernicus stole it. It was invented by Abu Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Shatir, a muezzin in a Damascus mosque. He was a clockmaker. He was a great scientist. [Al-Assad] said: It was Abu Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Shatir who talked about this system. It was an innovation from the Ptolemaic system, the geocentric system, in which the Earth is the center of the universe. It's not correct. The heliocentric system is also incorrect.

Then the Polish PM smiled an embarrassed smile and said: Yes, it's true. They know this. We did this, with the grace of Allah. Galileo Galilei, Tycho Brahe, Johannes Kepler the German, Leonardo de Vinci, the engineer, artist, sculptor, which his rich scientific imagination… These people, I am very sad to say – and this is based on the evidence of a group of German science historians… These people were mere thieves, who robbed the Islamic heritage, which was kept in the darkness of church crypts for over 200 years. Then they pulled it out and attributed it to themselves, as if these were their original innovations. This is stolen heritage.

Jabir Ibn Al-Hayan, according to scientific history… Do you know how many books this man wrote? He lived in the second century AH. This is almost unbelievable. In chemistry alone, he wrote 1,700 books. This is almost unbelievable.

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Jabir ibn Al-Hayan was the first to mention the nuclear binding energy, which is the basis for the nuclear explosion. He said that in the heart of every nucleus… Of course, he did not talk about the atom. He meant something simple like dust particles. If the power there can be released, it will burn down Baghdad. How did he understand that?! This is the genius of the Muslim mind. The author Baha Al-Amili wrote Al-Mikhla and Al-Khashkul. What is not known about him is that he was an eminent physicist, and that in a mosque in Esfahan, he managed to develop the formula that Western physics is incapable of reaching to this day: perpetual energy, such as perpetual motion or perpetual lighting. It continues all the time with no energy source. That's impossible. Galileo Galilei was very interested in this idea, but eventually, he raised a white flag and said: I give up. Today, they say that it is impossible. But Baha Al-Amili created lights in that mosque, and they kept working day and night without going out and without any energy source.

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