The Wonders of Islam
Aswan Dam, Nilometer
The Dark Ages: Age of Light
River Nile
Don’t know if you remember the building of the Aswan dam in the 1960s? It was rather controversial, the president of Egypt, President Nasser, joined
up with the Russians to build a dam across the Nile, and various archaeological sites were lost for ever, or had to be moved to new locations,
stone-by-stone. All sorts of ecological disasters were predicted for the dam. Most of which haven’t happened.
The conquest of water was another of Islam’s great achievements in the Dark Ages. In Cairo, the Nile would overflow its banks every summer and the
agriculture of the entire Nile Delta depended on the success of this fertile flooding.
Thick black silt, rich with nutrients, would be deposited across the flood plain, ensuring a splendid harvest. That was in the good years. In the bad
years, the levels were either too low, which meant disaster, or too high, which also meant disaster. The Aswan dam was built to control that process,
so, you might wonder, what did they do before?
In Islamic times they used this – the celebrated Nilometer of Rhode Island on the Nile. Opened for business in 861 A.D., it’s one of the oldest
Islamic monuments in Egypt. And what dramatic evidence it offers of the aquatic brilliance of Islam’s engineers.
Nilometer
What this thing does is measure the height of the Nile flood. It’s basically a big well, sunk some 10 metres under the level of the river. In the
middle is an octagonal marble column, a kind of giant ruler which, as you can see, is marked off at different heights. The measurements are in cubits
and one cubit is about half a metre, so around 16 cubits is the perfect flood. Fertile, controllable. Below 16 cubits there’s not enough water, so
famine conditions ahead, and higher up, once you get past 19 cubits, that’s really bad, a catastrophic flood.
Islamic authorities in Cairo used the great Nilometer to calculate their annual tax demands. The perfect flood meant perfect profits ahead. Thus,
this brilliant piece of design was an early Islamic alternative to the pocket calculator.
Nilometer Tunnels
Before they’d built the Aswan dam, these tunnels here led off into the Nile at three different levels. So if they weren’t closed off now, I
would be underwater. Look at those pointed arches above the tunnels. That’s pure Gothic, 400 years early. The Nilometer was designed by the
famous Persian astronomer Abu al-Abbas Ahmad ibn Muhammad ibn Kathir al-Farghani, better known to us by his Latin name, Alfraganus.
Alfraganus
Alfraganus’s
most famous achievement as an astronomer was calculating the diameter of the Earth. Copernicus was said to have used his results. There’s even a
crater on the moon named after him, the Alfraganus crater.
But it isn’t just science that created this, and it isn’t just commerce either. All the way round, they are also these beautiful Quranic
inscriptions, in a lovely Kufic script. “Thou seest the Earth barren and lifeless…” It says, at the 17 cubit mark. “..But when we pour rain on it,
it is stirred to life”.
At the Nilometer in Cairo, science, commerce and faith have combined in a uniquely Islamic fashion to create a technological wonder. This entire
programme is about how the Dark Ages weren’t dark. But sometimes, I should just shut up and let you see the proof for yourselves, because it couldn’t
be more obvious.
