oh, BTW, what is the date that the "british" made guns? because, first of all, if it wasn't for the Arabs, the gunpowder wouldn't have even reached England in the first place (Kuwait was the most important port in the middle east before the Suez Canal was built. everything came through here on it's way to England. the British East India Trading Company used Kuwait as it's main base 4 times because of trouble in Ottoman Iraq, and it was ALWAYS the path chosen to transport goods to England quickly [it was much faster than going all the way around Africa]). some of the names of scientists that had a hand in modern chemistry, philosophy, astronomy, medicine and maths, are:
Ibn Rashid [Philosophy. was the basis for Roger Peacon (name uncertain. im translating names written in arabic)], Hai bin Yaqathan [his letter to a man named Ibn Tafeel al Andalusi was what inspired Daniel Dijo (sp?) to write a book called
Robinson Cruzo (sp?)],
Jabir bin Haian [Chemistry],
Mohammed bin Musa al Khawarizmi [is one of the 2 reasons Algebra exists. the other is ANOTHER Arabic scientists called Jabir something, or something Al Jabir]. (his book was translated from Arabic to Latin in the 15th century), ibn Seena wa-rrazi [medicine]. among the discoveries and creations: Cipher [later had it's name changed to Zero by the Europeans], numbers [1,2,3,4...etc], vision correcting glasses...etc
Poets and writers in Europe were VERY heavily effected by arabs. the italian poet Dante based his "
Devine Comedy" poem on an Islamic event several centuries before his time, called Al-Isra' wal-mi'raj.
Sinbad, A Thousand and One Nights and many others are stories and books made by the Arabs, that had immense effect on the European poets and writers. heck, Pope
Sylvester II was tought by Arabs!
during the time, Sicily, Andalusia [currently spain and portugal] and most of southern Europe was packed full of Arabic schools, which helped pull Europe out of the Dark ages. if it wasn't for the damned Ottomans and Jenghis Khan, the Arabs would still be the peak of civilization now. but, things happen, and things did, and now, we're not only NOT the most advance people in the world, we're 20 years behind the rest of the modernized countries!!!
[because of Jenghis Khan for destroying the most important Arabic library in existence, where al the most recent and advanced Arabian discoveries knowledge was kept, and because of the Ottomans for oppressing the Arabian world and keeping them from the outside world, preventing them from learning off other countries' advancements and using that to advance even further]
anyway, there's my retaliation and rant out of the way. feeling much better now...
oh, and dont claim this is false. you'd be claiming history is wrong. im pulling out this info from a history book.