According to Prof. Hassani, there are 10 great contributions of the Moslem toward the modern civilization: 1. Surgery Around the year 1,000, the celebrated doctor Al Zahrawi published a 1,500 page illustrated encyclopedia of surgery that was used in Europe as a medical reference for the next 500 years. Among his many inventions, Zahrawi discovered the use of dissolving cat gut to stitch wounds. Beforehand a second surgery had to be performed the first caesarean operation and created the first pair of forceps. 2. Coffee Now the western world’s drink du jour, coffee was first brewed in Yemen around the 9 th century. In its earliest days, coffee helped sufis stay up during late nights of devotion. Later brought to Cairo by a group of students, the coffee buzz soon caught on around the empire. By the 13 th century it reached Turkey, but not until the 16 th century did the beans start boiling in Europe, brought to ...