The virtue of the Arabs in advancing maritime knowledge

The Arabs achieved a distinguished global position in navigational skills, in addition to the natural talents they possessed and the inherited knowledge they retained. They excelled in the arts and engineering of sailing shipbuilding. They were the first to learn to ride the sea, and they navigated the depths of the distant seas with their primitive boats made of papyrus coated with bitumen. They achieved the first in inferring the stars and planets. They also had the leadership in refining...