Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices

al-Jazari lived in the late 12th and early 13th century, near modern-day Iraq, and was a marvelous mechanical engineer and scientist who built some amazing machines, which you have to see to believe:

Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art

Lest you think these are merely fanciful illustrations, al-Jazari wrote complete instructions on how to build the machines in his, "Book of the Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices (Kitáb fí ma'rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya)" in 1206 at the request of the sultan.

Donald Hill, translated the text into English in 1974, and a book review of the translation from New Scientist magazine is available online.

The science of automata, as such devices are called, is felt to be the precursor to the modern science of robotics.  al-Jazari's book was written centuries before the famous sketches of Leonardo Da Vinci, and clearly establish al-Jazari as the father of robotics.

Furthing reading:
1. Research by Malaysian scientists on al-Jazari's water supply system
2. Listing of books, via Google Books, showing al-Jazari's importance
3. YouTube videos showing how al-Jazari's inventions would have worked

Tughra of Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent

Another beautiful piece from the Islamic exhibit at the Met:

This is the official signature of Sultan Sulayman the Magnificent, ruler of the Ottoman Empire.  Sulayman was truly remarkable, a poet, a warrior-king who remains known to this day as the Lawgiver. 

His system of law endured for centuries after his death and a sculpture of him actually hangs in the United States House of Representatives, as one of 23 famous lawmakers in history.

Aydakin al-Bunduqdari

I was viewing an exhibition of Islamic art on the Met's website and came across this beautiful lamp:

The lamp is from around the year 1285, and decorated the Khanqah al-Bunduqdariyah, a small mausoleum of Aydakin al-Bunduqdar located in Cairo, Egypt. As far as I can tell, Aydakin was a nobleman of the court, who earned his rank as a crossbowman.  A picture of the tomb is accessible via the Eternal Egypt site below:

The time period of the lamp and mausoleum date to the Bahri Mamluk dynasty of Egypt, less than 10 years after the death of Sultan Baybars, a ruler who established the Mamluks as a major world power. Sultan Baybers rose from slave to sultan and defeated both Crusader armies on the west and Mongol armies from the east, including the epic battle of Ayn Jalut, which ended the expansion of the Mongols.

The lamp came from the collection of J.P. Morgan and was donated to the Met. How he ended up with a 13th century lamp from a tomb in Cairo would probably also make a good story...

King of the World: Shah Jehan & my video of Shalamar Gardens

Browsing around the internet, as I am wont to do, I came across an image of the tughra, or seal of Shah Jehan, which brought back memories of my visit to Lahore, city of Shah Jehan's birth.  Before I show you some home videos, here is a picture of the tughra from the Met:

Image: Metropolitan Museum of Art

The intricate beauty of the calligraphy, the silver script almost invisible, is only befitting a man whose name means, "King of the World" and who was the ruler of the Mughal Empire at its peak.  Shah Jehan was born in Lahore in 1592, the grandson of Akbar, son of Jehanghir.  He came to power in 1627 and ruled until 1658.

Shah Jehan was a gifted ruler, but he is most remembered for the legendary love he had for his wife, Mumtaz Mahal ("jewel of the palace") for whom he built the Taj Mahal, one of the wonders of the world.  He established his court at Delhi and built many architectural marvels that stand to this day.

I recently visited Lahore and saw the Shalimar Gardens, which were commissioned by Shah Jehan in 1641 and built in just a year.  It is a beautiful network of 410 fountains, with water supplied by a canal that spanned 161 kilometers.

Below is a brief movie I took of Shalimar Gardens, back in November 2010. I think the video is so narrow due to size restrictions on blogger.

This is the upper part of the Gardens and the water was drained because they were cleaning out the fountains in preparation for Eid-ul-Adha, as hundreds, if not thousands, of people were expected to offer Eid prayers.  Also, a slight correction to the commentary, the Gardens are about 369 years old:

Second video, showcasing a different, and I think more beautiful, part of Shalimar:

Badshahi Masjid: then and now

Fascinating picture of Badshahi Masjid in Lahore from somewhere between 1858 to 1861, via the Met, taken during British rule:

Image: The Metropolitan Museum of Art

Compare that image to one that I took in November 2010:

Copyright: Umar Shakur, 2010

The Masjid is next to Shahi Qila, the Lahore Fort, and both pictures are taken from that vantage point. The top picture also shows Ranjit Singh's palace, in white and on the right, built in Hazuri Bagh (a garden) when the Sikh's took over Lahore (1799-1849). 

The beauty of Badshahi Masjid remains, but look how open the grounds around the masjid are in the old picture.  There are large, grassy fields surrounding the complex.  Today, it is full of people, roads, buildings and the bustle of thousands. In fact, essentially across the street, stands the Minar-e-Pakistan.

Another interesting tidbit, Badshahi Masjid was built in about 2 years at the direction of the Mughal ruler Aurangzeb, son of Shah Jehan, and features some of the finest Islamic architecture in the world.  Its minarets are taller than the Taj Mahal's and it remains the 5th largest masjid complex in the world.

Compare that to the 8 years it took to build Minar-e-Pakistan in the 1960s. Amazing to consider how efficiently and masterfully the Mughals did their construction work.

Finally, a brief video I took of the adhan at maghrib time in the Badshahi Masjid.  The spirituality and sense of peace one finds there remain intact, over 300 years later: