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First Flight
The Qur'an says (21:32), "And We have made the sky a roof withheld (from them). Yet they turn away from its portents." Certainly, since the beginning of time, many men have ignored the glories of the heavens.
However, many more have been fascinated with reaching them. As far back as 3,400 years ago, an old legend tells how Daedalus fashioned wings of feathers and wax so his son Icarus could fly from prison on Crete to safety in Sicily. When Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted and he fell to his death.
Although this account is only a myth, it shows that man dreamed about flight as early as then. It is then inconceivable that modern textbooks teach that Leonardo da Vinci was the first to invent the idea of flight by drawing several prototypes. Modern history also teaches that Roger Bacon was the first person to attempt flight successfully. However, recent evidence shows that Arab scientists preceded Da Vinci and Bacon by about 600 years.
One of these was a Moor named Ibn Firnas, who is credited with being the first person recorded in history to attempt to fly. He constructed wings much like those of Daedalus and attempted to fly. Some accounts say he succeeded while others say he failed and injured his back. One account states that, after failing to land successfully, he mentioned that he had not noticed that birds use their tails in flight and that he had forgotten the tail on his flying apparatus.
Fortunately, history is re-writing itself in the light of these recent discoveries. In a speech given last year by Richard P. Hallion, SES, to the Air Force Medical Division in Detroit, Michigan, he notes the achievements of Firnas. In September 2000, the University of Houston gave a lecture and exhibit on the history of flying which highlighted Firnas and stated, "Today, we learn that men actually flew 1,000 years ago. The University of Houston's College of Engineering presents this series about the machines that make our civilization run, and the people whose ingenuity created them."
In Qatar, the administrators of Doha International Airport have named their new Airport Management System "FIRNAS." A statue has been built on the way to the Baghdad International Airport to honor Ibn Firnas, he is honored on a Libyan postal stamp, and a crater on the moon was even named after him.
Abbas Ibn Firnas is also noteworthy for being one of the earliest scholars to come to Andalusia. Like many scholars of the time, he was not only a specialist in one subject, but was interested in many subjects, having a great love for knowledge. Born in Korah Takrna near Ronda, Ibn Firnas studied chemistry, physics, and astronomy. He originally came to Cordoba to teach music, which at the time was actually a branch of mathematical theory. During experiments, he managed to manufacture glass from sand and stone, and he is also credited with inventing a time measuring devise called Al-Maqata.
However, as many other inventors did, he dwelled on the possibility of gaining access to that "divine realm" through flying. Unlike most other inventors, however, Ibn Firnas had the courage to make his dream a reality and created a flying apparatus much like a glider that was formed out of feathers on a wooden frame. Again, accounts are unclear as to whether his attempt was successful or not.
One version of Firnas' flight states, "Having constructed the final version of his glider, to celebrate it's success, he invited the people of Cordoba to come and witness his flight. People watched from a nearby mountain as he flew some distance, but then the glide plummeted to the ground causing him serious injury which subsequently resulted in his death."
The American historian Lynn White digs deeper and finds that "a successful glider flight was made in the year 875 by a Moorish inventor named Ibn Firnas living in Cordoba, Spain" and furthermore, states, "It's entirely possible that word of Ibn Firnas's flight was brought to Eilmer (another inventor of flight and a member of the Benedictine order) by returning Crusaders." Eilmer then attempted to fly himself and subsequently succeeded in flying the length of two football fields using an apparatus similar to that of Firnas. And although Firnas did not leave any flight instructions for his predecessors in Andalusia, it is believed that his influence may have reached these other areas in Europe including where Eilmer lived.
All accounts seem to agree that Firnas did land with a back injury, which prevented him from trying again. He went on to create a mechanized planetarium with revolving planets that also simulated thunder and lightning, and evolved a formula for manufacturing artificial crystals. Soon after in 888, however, he died - many say as a result of an ongoing struggle with his back injury from the flight.
A few hundred years later, a man from the Celebi family was rewarded 1,000 dinars for his flight across the Bosphorus River in Turkey - 200 years before the flights of the Wright brothers.
Certainly, history has hidden secrets and we must be careful in assuming that we know precisely when and where something was invented. We must also remember that, ultimately, all invention occurs with Allah's permission. He states, "O, company of jinn and men, if ye have power to penetrate (all) regions of the heavens and the earth; then penetrate (them)! Ye will never penetrate them save with (Our) sanction" (55:33).
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