Amazing Things About Pakistan That Will Blow Your Mind

Fourth largest broadband internet system of world.

Pakistan Telecommunication Braod Band Servic is 4th Largest Broad Band Servies in The world.

World’s youngest certified Microsoft Experts.

World’s youngest certified Microsoft Experts Arfa Kareem (Late) and Babar Iqbal are from Pakistan.

Largest Ambulance Network in the World.

Edhi Foundation is the world’s largest non-profit social welfare organization. This organization provides 24-hour emergency services, medical & healthcare services and shelter for orphans.  Abdul Sattar Edhi started the service from a single room and now it has over 300 centers all over the country. It has branches in other countries such as UK, USA, Canada, Japan and China.

Highest Polo Ground in the World.

Shandur Top is located in Gilgit, Pakistan and called “Roof of the World” elevated at 12,200 ft. Every year a polo match is played between Gilgit and Chitral teams. People from all around the world come to watch this match.

Largest Irrigation System of The world.

The world’s largest irrigation network are present in Pakistan. It serves 14.4 million hectares of cultivated land. The irrigation system is fed by water from the Indus River. The main features of the system are  its three major storage reservoirs, namely, Tarbela and Chashma on the River Indus and Mangla on the River Jhelum; 19 barrages; 12 inter-river link canals and 43 independent irrigation canals with the total length of the main canals is 58,500 km.

Khewara Salt Mines Second Largest Salt Mine in the World.

Khewara Salt Mines are the world’s second largest and Pakistan’s oldest salt mines.  It was discovered by Alexander’s troops in 320 B.C. These salt mines are the largest source of salt in the world producing 350,000 tons per year. However, the salt mines reserves are estimated to be about 600 million tons.

Gwadar port Largest Deep Sea Port in the world.

Gwadar port is the largest deep sea port in the world, located on the southwestern Arabian Sea along the coast line of Balochistan, Pakistan. This  port is considered a lifeline in the region’s economy. Pakistan has agreed on a collaboration with China  to turn Gwadar into a full scale commercial port.

K-2 Highest Mountain Ranges In The World.

The world’s highest mountain ranges exist in this country. They include the Himalayas and HinduKush range in which four mountains are present in the list of 14 highest peaks in the world.  K-2, the world’s second highest peak, is also located in Pakistan.

Thar desert One of the Largest Desert In The World.

Thar desert is located on the border of Pakistan and India. It is the world’s ninth largest sub-tropical desert. This desert is about 10,000 years old and was once a water source for Indus Valley Civilization.

Karakoram Highway Highest paved International Road.

Do you know the “eighth wonder of the world” is located in Pakistan? Karakoram Highway has been constructed at a height of 15,397 ft between China and Pakistan. It is one of the popular tourist attraction in the region.

Cleanliness

“When you rise up for prayer, wash your face, and your hands up to the elbows, and lightly rub your heads and (wash) your feet up to the ankles… ” (Quran, 74: 1-4)

Medieval times are often imagined as being smelly, dark, rough and unclean. Images of open sewers, disease and deformities spring into imagination. In the 10th century Islamic world though, the products found into the bathroom cabinets and hygiene practices could compete with those we have today.

A Muslim’s faith is based on purity and cleanliness, whether on its physical or spiritual form. They are requested to wash immediately before going to, and after getting up from, sleep as well and as before and after eating. They are also ordered to wash five times a day, in ablution or what is known as wudhu, before they carry out their five daily prayers. On Friday, the Muslim holy day, it is essential for Muslims to take a bath before the main congregational prayer.

Back in the 13th century there was an outstanding   mechanical engineering called Al-Jazari who wrote a book called The Book of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices. This book became an invaluable resource for people of different engineering backgrounds, describing mechanical devices, including wudhu machines. Look how elaborate and artistic this piece of ingenious engineering is compared to a tap and sink today. This wudhu machine was mobile and brought in front of guests, appearing like a peacock on a tray. The guests would tap the head and water would ensue in eight short spurts, providing enough water for ablution. This method also conserved water. Some of these robots would have additional action of providing you with a towel.

Muslims wanted to be really clean and not just splash themselves with water, so they made soap by mixing oil (usually olive oil) with al-qali (a salt-like substance – alkaline.) this was then boiled to achieve the right mix, left to harden and used in the hammams or bath houses.

A recently discovered manuscript from the 13th century details more recipes for soap making, for example: take some sesame oil, a sprinkle of potash, alkali and some lime, mix them all together and boil. When cooked, pour the mixture into moulds and leave to set, producing a hard soap.

Soap has arrived in Europe with the crusaders’ return, but hadn’t been fashionable. By the 18th century, though, soap making was an important industry, especially in Syria. Coloured, perfumed toilet soap was produced as well as medicinal soaps.

Apart from scrubbing themselves clean, medieval Muslims also went to great lengths on their appearance, with physicians devoting books to beauty. One such man was Al – Zahrawi, a famous physician and surgeon from Cordoba, southern Spain. He had been inspired by hadiths, or sayings, of the Prophet (pbuh) referring to cleanliness, management of dress, and care of hair and body. So, included in his medical book, called   Al – Tasrif, was a chapter in the nineteenth volume devoted completely to  cosmetics. From a thousand years ago, this was the first original Muslim work in cosmetology, as Al-Zahrawi considered cosmetics a definite branch of medicine, calling it The Medicines of Beauty.

He described the care and beautification of hair, skin, teeth and other parts of the body, all within the boundaries of Islam. Gums were strengthened and teeth bleached, as dentistry was a common practice. He included nasal sprays, mouthwashes and hand creams and even suggested keeping clothes in an incense-filled nook so that they would have a pleasant fragrance for the  wearer.

He elaborated on perfume and talked on perfumed stocks, rolled and pressed in special moulds, a bit like today’s roll-on deodorants. He also named medicated cosmetics like hair-removing sticks, as well as hair dyes that turned blond hair to black and lotions for strengthening kinky or curly hair. The benefits of suntan lotions were also discussed as were their ingredients in detail, all amazing considering this was a thousand years ago.

Al-Kindi also wrote a book on perfumes called Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and   Distillations.  Born in Kufa, now in Iraq, he was best known as a philosopher, but was also a physician, pharmacist, ophthalmologist, physicist, mathematician, geographer, astronomer and chemist,  and like  many men today was involved with music, the manufacture of swords and even the art of cookery.

His book contained more than a hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs. Initially, the more affluent in society wore these, until they became accessible for all. His 9th century book also described 107 methods and recipes for perfume-making, and even the perfume-making, equipment needed, like the alembic, which still bears its Arabic name.

The centuries-old tradition of perfume-making, is currently popular with many celebrities, and it was all made possible, by Muslim chemists and their methods of distillation, as they were distilling plants and flowers, making perfumes and substances for therapeutic pharmacy.

These processes and ideas of the Muslims filtered into Europe in various ways, including via merchants and travelers, as gifts, and with the crusaders.

Another important cosmetic in Islam, is henna, known for its beautiful, intricate designs on elegant hands. With the spread of Islam, it reached different parts of the Muslim land, becoming an essential cosmetic ingredient.

Prophet Mohammad (pbuh) and his companions dyed their beards, while women decorated their hands and feet and also dyed their hair like women of today. There are also  particular henna – related traditions within various countries: for instance, Berber tribes of Algeria an Morocco request that a bride apply henna for seven nights before going to her groom.

Modern scientists have found it to be anti-bacterial, anti-fungal and anti-hemorrhagic. It is useful in healing athlete’s foot, fungal skin infections and inflammations. The leaves and seeds of the plant possess medicinal properties, and both act as cooling agents for the head and body. Henna also contains natural ingredients that are vital for hair nourishment.

For Muslims today, too, being clean and looking good holds just as much importance as it did back then. A person using all these thousand-years-old products today would not be out of place in a stylish restaurant in any cosmopolitan city in 21st century.

 

The Elephant Clock

About eight hundreds years ago, Al Jazari buit this elaborate clock in order to celebrate the diversity of mankind and the universal nature of Islam. At this time, the Muslim world spread from Spain to central Asia. So, to reflect this scope, Al-Jazari used Greek (Archimedes) water principles combined with an Indian water timing device (ghati), an Indian elephant, an Egyptian phoenix, Arabian figures, a Persian carpet and Chinese dragons. The figure on the top of the castle is thought to be Saladin included as a sign of respect to the great leader. The features also symbolized countries and trade, and each animal had a myth associated with it: the elephant was a symbol of royalty, the phoenix of rebirth and life, and the dragon of power and impregnability.

As well as celebrating the diversity of this world, he also wanted to develop machines with a better design and greater output than his predecessors. So although was awe-inspiring to look at, its brilliance was really seen in adapting the perforated water bowl (Archimedian/ Indian ghati), so that it oscillated about its rim rather than sinking vertically. This was central to the whole timepiece.

The bowl had a hole in it and floated in a water tank inside the elephant’s belly. Gradually, it filled with water, slowly sank and tilted simultaneously, pulling three ropes attached to it.  The three ropes then set of mechanisms that controlled thirty balls that were released individually, the action of the dragons, and the rotating scribe.

The ingenuity of Al Jazari was in the precision with which he measured the hole in the oscillating bowl: it took exactly half an hour for the bowl to fill, sink and begin again.

When the bowl sank it caused a flute noise, like a bird’s song, and the phoenix would spin. The released ball would make the dial behind Saladin turn, and Saladin would move from side to side, “deciding” which falcon would release which ball. The ball then dropped into the dragon’s mouth and it bent down placing the ball into the vase behind the Mahout, the elephant rider. That made him move his arms and a cymbal sounded  as the ball went into the vase.  The circles on the dial behind the top of Saladin’s figure told the time, as they filled half-by-half as each half-hour passed. this sophisticated series of actions and reactions continued every half-hour throughout the day.

The clock would be “reset” twice a day, at sunrise and sunset. This meant restoring the thirty metal balls to their original position and maintaining the water level, as the rate of flow changed daily  because the “span” of an hour varied in length from day to day as periods of darkness and daylight altered.

A modern, over-sized, reconstruction of the Elephant Clock is in the Ibn Battuta Mall, the world’s largest themed shopping mall, in Dubai.

It is:

•  7 meters high (almost 3 times the original size)
• 1.7 meters wide
• 4.5 meters long
• 7.5 tones.

It uses Greek  (Archimedes) water principles combined with an Indian water timing device (ghati), an Indian elephant, an Egyptian phoenix, Arabian figures, a Persian carpet and Chinese dragons, to celebrate the diversity of the world. 

 

Clocks

Whatever we wish, hope, dream or fear, time will always go on, with or without us. Whether it is an examination we dread taking, an important interview or a birthday, there will be a time when it begins and ends.

From the first sundial, people have wanted to record the time. Now we can have silent, digital timepieces as well as the tick-tock of modern clocks. Their ancestors were the drip-drop of the clepsydra and of water clocks. The clepsydra, a simple vase marked with divisions that measured water flowing out of a small spout near the base, was used in Egypt before 1500 BCE.

Another ancient water timing device is from India, and is called gathika-yantra. It consists of a small, hemispherical bowl (made of copper or coconut) with a small hole in its base. Floated in a larger pot of water, the bowl would gradually fill and sink. When it reached the bottom, an audible thud alerted the timekeeper who would raise it up to start the process again. This became very popular in Buddhist and Hindu temples, and later was very widely  used in Indian Muslim mosques.

Our story begins with 13th century water clocks and an ingenious man called Al-Jazari from Diyarbakir in South East Turkey. He was a pious Muslim and a highly skilled engineer  who gave birth to the concept of automatic machines.  He was inspired by  the history of machines  and the technologies of his predecessors, particularly the Ancient Greek and Indian scientific inventions.

By 1206, Al-Jazari had made numerous clocks of all shapes and sizes while he was working for the Urtuq kings of Dyiarbakir. The then king, Nasir Al-Din, son of the great Saladin. said to him, “You have made peerless devices, and through strength have brought forth as works; so do not lose what you have wearied with and have plainly constructed. I wish you to compose for me a book which assembles what you have created separately, and brings together a selection of individual items and pictures. ”

The outcome of this royal urging was an outstanding book on engineering called The Book  of Knowledge of Ingenious Mechanical Devices ( “Kitab fi ma’rifat al-hiyal al-handasiyya”). This book became an invaluable resource for people of different engineering backgrounds, as it described fifty mechanical devices in six categories, including water clocks.

Like others in his day, Al Jazari heeded the Arab proverb: “Time is like a sword, unless you cut with it, it will cut you “

Just as we need time today to structure our lives, so did Muslims over seven hundred years ago, and Al-Jazari was keeping to a long Muslim tradition of clock-making. They knew that time could not be stopped, that we are always losing it, and that it was important to know the time so it could be used well through doing good deeds. Muslims also needed to know when to pray at the right times each day. Mosques had to know the time so they could announce the call to prayer. . Important annual events, like when to fast in Ramadan, celebrate Eid or go on pilgrimage to Mecca also had to be anticipated.

This inspiration meant that the “peerless devices ” to which Saladin’s son referred included the Elephant Clock. As well as telling the time, this grand clock was a symbol of status, grandeur and wealth, while also incorporating the first robotics with moving, time telling figures.

“I, (Allah) swear by the time, surely man is in loss, save those who believe and do good works and (join together) in the mutual teaching of Truth,  and of Patience and Endurance” (Quran 103).

Source: Muslim Heritage in our World.