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Mail

Published: 2002

Moàvia created an important postal service in the Islamic world. This service was called Berid, named after the towers built to protect the roads couriers traveled.

Before the Middle Ages, people used carrier pigeons, taking advantage of a singular quality of this bird: when taken far from its nest, it can find its way home because of its highly developed sense of orientation.
They then tied messages around the legs of the freed pigeon and released it so it could reach its original nest. Dr. Kaleel Kasem, author and historian, said:

The question of whether Islam clashes with Western civilization: it is Western civilization; it produced Western civilization in Italy, Sicily, and Spain; it produced the check, the bank, the hospital, the sciences, the first airmail, the post office, and the use of mathematics.