Just got another of those "20 Greatest Inventions by Muslim Scientists" mails. From the windmill to the fountain pen to rockets and torpedos. Oh, well, at least this time it wasn't titled "Great Inventions by Islamic Scientists".

Here's what I sent in reply:

The problem is that, today, we start with no knowledge of this kind of thing and end with finding out about it and feeling good. Sad.

What should be happening is that we grow up knowing about this and start there, and then move to being inspired and moved to engaged with the sciences, both the physical sciences like physics, chemistry, etc. and, in my opinion, more importantly, the social sciences like anthropology, sociology, and so on to help Allah's earth be a better place for humans to live on. Just learning a trade like engineering or tech writing and using it to make more and more money and more and more things that exploit the earth and humanity is very, very antithetical to Islam as I understand it.

[Postscript: One of my favorites is the gentleman on the left. Google "Al Farabi"]