By Rumki Chowdhury
We are familiar with Leonardo Da Vinci’s invention of the glider in 1496 and The Wright Brothers’ invention of the first aircraft in 1903, however, the first signs of human flight date as far back as the year 875 CE. We will learn about Abbas Ibn Firnas (810-887) and Hazerfen Ahmet Çeleb (1609-1640), both of whom created their own flying machines and boldly put their experimentation into action as they took off into flight in their home countries.
The earliest story of human flight was discovered in an 11th-century manuscript in the 1930’s. It had been lost afterward, but rediscovered in the 1990’s. It told the story of Abbas Ibn Firnas (810-887), belonging to the Berber tribe, famous for having conquered Spain under the command of Tariq Bin Ziyad. He used his knowledge of medicine, science and astrology to create a flying machine. After having analyzed the skeleton of a bird’s wing, Abbas created something of a similar shape with a lightweight wooden frame, the wings spanning about four to five meters. To tie it altogether and to provide a cover, Abbas used silk, the strongest material he could think of. Beneath it all, he created a harnessing system that would allow him to control the flight as well as land.
Between the age of 65 to 70, Abbas took his wings to Qurtuba Al-Andalus (Cordoba, Spain), one of the most bustling parts of the Muslim world. He climbed up the hills of Jabal Al-’Arus and jumped off, gliding for what witnesses claimed was about 10 minutes. Panic most likely overtook him when landing because he had realized that he had focused so much of his time experimenting the flight and not enough on the landing. Abbas sustained injuries due to the speed of his landing. He never flew again, but he spent the last 12 years of his life wondering what had gone wrong. He came to the conclusion that he had forgotten to build a tail! Regardless, he had made history, one that was worthy of NASA. NASA named a crater on the moon after Ibn Firnas.
Another inspirational historical Muslim who had successfully attempted flight was Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi (1609-1640). He was an Ottoman Turk with the titles, scientist, inventor, astronomer, physician, musician and poet. Hezarfen was always fascinated with birds and flight. Inspired by Leonardo Da Vinci’s sketches (although evidence is lacking whether or not Da Vinci actually attempted flight/gliding), Hezarfen created a pair of wings he dubbed, “eagle wings” between 1630-1632. He tried to fly over a pulpit of Okmeydani about eight or nine times before attempting the big leap! At noon, Hazerfen caught the force of the wind enough to take off from the top of the Galata Tower (now known as Karaköy) and successfully landed in the Doğancılar Square in Üsküdar. He had flown an estimated 3558 meters. The people went wild with excitement and Sultan Murat IV of the Ottoman Empire rewarded Hezarfen with gold, but not before exiling him to Algeria in 1640 where he spent the rest of his days. Why? According to sources, Sultan Murad IV said of Hezarfen, “This man is very dangerous and has evil forces. He can create problems for us in time” and “This man is uncanny: he is capable of doing anything he wishes. It is not right to surround oneself with such people.”
However, not even an emperor could stifle the advances of science and technology as we see how much the world has developed and continues to develop. 1400 years ago, even the Qur’an foretold that this would happen: “You will ride layer upon layer” (84:19) and “You cannot escape (Allah’s might), on earth or in the sky; and you have no protector and no savior besides Allah” (29:22). Words like “layer upon layer” and “sky” seem prominent here and let us continue to be inspired by not only these words, but also by two fathers of aeronautics: Abbas Ibn Firnas and Hezarfen Ahmet Celebi.
About the Author:
Rumki Chowdhury is Editor of World Hijab Day Organization. Moreover, she is a professional editor and an award-winning published author and poet. She has an MA in English Literature from Queen Mary University of London, a BA in English Writing from William Paterson University of New Jersey and an English Subject Teaching Degree from Gävle Högskolan in Stockholm, Sweden. She speaks Bengali and Swedish fluently! She has years of experience in the media and publishing worlds. Rumki lives with her husband and their three daughters.
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