Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
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great realities. Take, for instance, the building of
Alexandria, the renowned coastal city named after
its founder, Alexander the Great. Many strange
stories are associated with the foundation of this
city. One of them concerns sea genies who were
said to have put obstacles in the path of building
when the work was first started. Alexander, so the
story goes, decided to see for himself what the
genies were about. He gave orders for a large box of
wood and glass to be made, and when it was ready,
he had himself lowered in it to the bottom of the
sea. There he drew pictures of the genies and then
back on land, he had metal statues cast to look
exactly like the dragons. These statues were then
laid under the foundations of Alexandria. When the
sea genies came there, and saw that genies like
themselves had been killed and buried in the
foundations, they became frightened and ran away.
The fact that this tale gained currency shows the
credulous state in which the whole world lived
before the advent of Islam.
In old historical records, the most striking
omissions are the lives and influence of the great
prophets of the world. Today people would find it
