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= written by Amr Khaled =

1-5 Ajdaduna - As long as I'm alive I will exert effort

As long as I am alive I will exert effort

I continued walking the room to-and-fro; not knowing how to behave concerning what things had come down to.

The Fatimid Al-Hakem Be’amrullah is generous in shedding blood as well as in spending money…I can not believe that he is satisfied with me. I imagine that this position he granted me is nothing more than a well-schemed ambush in hopes I will not notice it until he treacherously takes me unawares.

How could I get out of this? My idea of constructing a dam on the Nile is a logical one. It will preserve the water of the Nile in summer and winter and will distribute it throughout all of Egypt, preventing villages from drowning while others flourish on their behalf.

However, I didn’t take into account the severe slope of the watercourse at the cataracts of Aswan. I cannot believe he easily and contently accepted my apologies on finishing the project…what about the money he provided me? The house? This position and the salary?

The man finally sat down to rest his tired feet from pacing. Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Hytham was not exaggerating in his worries and fears; as Al-Hakem Be’amrullah had sent him money and presents to visit Egypt as soon as he heard about his project summarized into the sentence, “If I were in Egypt I would do something in the Nile to spread the prosperity in both its increase and decrease”.

His eyes kept wondering the room as he held his head by both his hands. After long hours, he sighed a long sigh releasing the worries from his chest… “Oh my God, how could I possibly get out of this situation…He is a mad governor and no one can predict his reactions”.

When ibn Al-Hytham rested his head on the back of the chair, a thought flashed before him… it was so simple and secure to the extent he laughed out loud of joy. He adjusted himself on the chair and said to himself while laughing, “if he is mad, I am madder than he”.

This was the thought that came cross his mind to survive the levity of Al-Hakem Be’amrullah’s behaviours. Thus, he claimed madness to the extent he appointed a servant to him and restricted his stay at his house. It was an opportunity for the genius scientist to continue his researches peacefully and to go in his studies in the various fields of science.

This man was born in Basra and no one knows much about his childhood or his youth except he had appeared in Levant as a scientist then he left for Egypt and preferred to remain there.

Al-Hasan Ibn Al-Hytham studied and wrote in all fields yet his most famous work of art is his book “The Peers” all the credit goes back to him as he discovered “the anatomical illustration” of the eye. Moreover, he edited all the previous information that the eye produces rays to the objects, which leads to seeing them to that of the rays come out of the visible objects to the eye in straight lines.

He claimed madness till the death of Al-Hakem B’amrullah then he returned to his senses and moved to another house near Al-Azhar mosque. He continued his studies in physics, trigonometry, characteristics of rays, and the eye and vision. He invented the black box to prove his theories regarding the movement of rays. This black box is the first step to produce cameras with their various technological standards.

His statement is more than enough to know what type of man he was saying, “As long as I am alive, I will exert every effort and do my best in all I do, taking into consideration three things:

First: benefiting whoever demands a right affecting my life and after my death. Second: I made my studies prove what my thought had visualized and excelled at in all these sciences.

 Third: I rendered it as a weapon to the time of the old age and decrepit.”

This is the magnificence of the man and the brilliance of the scientist who dedicated his intelligence, thought, and work for the sake of benefiting whoever asks benefit and rendered them a weapon in his old age… these are the traits of men who build culture and bequeath glory to the nation.

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