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WWTBAM Q #6 & Answers!
jannah
06/09/01 at 14:23:07
yes contestants only four questions left after this one!!! so y'all asked for a hard one huh.... [color=darkblue] QuestionSix: How did Muslims first develop the science of Cryptography? [color=darkgreen] Remember to send your answer to admin in madina message and you have until 6.1.2001 12:00AM EST

Re: WWTBAM Q #6
jannah
06/05/01 at 15:21:40
[slm] contestants.. i thought for sure this one would stump you.. i forgot about good ole brittanica.com where you guys got most of your information!!! well i guess from now on i'd better make sure you can't find it online right :) well good job anyway ! :-D  i gave credit to everyone who mentioned al-kindi or al-qalqashandi the answer i was looking for was really a little of what AbdulBasir mentioned: [quote][color=darkgreen] Moreover, the breakthroughs were also a result of the linguistic knowledge they obtained from their desire to understand the Qur'an. The close study of the Qur'an and its letters advanced the linguistic knowledge of the Muslims to such an extent, that when combined with their concurrent advancements in statistics and mathematics, the foundations for a systematic approach were laid and the invention of cryptanaylsis and advancements in cryptology were made possible.[/quote] [/color] but perhaps that was b/c he listened closely on one of the radio shows ;) ahh well it pays to pay attention i guess.... c u next time............................on............ Who WANTS TO BE A MU'MIN!!!! Regis

Re: WWTBAM Q #6
jannah
06/04/01 at 21:38:12
[color=purple] Arshad Re: lifeline Date posted: 06/04/01 at 11:38:51 Assalamu 'Alaikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh I'm going to rule out al-Idrisi because he appeared around 1099, and Qalqashandi around the 1400s, so I will go with Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Is-haq ibn as Sabbah ibn 'omran ibn Ismail Al- Kindi,  who authored a book on cryptology the "Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma" (Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages) circa 750 AD. Al-Kindi introduced cryptanalysis techniques, classification of ciphers, Arabic Phonetics and Syntax and most importantly described the use of several statistical techniques for cryptanalysis. (This book apparently antedates other cryptology references by 300 years.It also predates writings on probability and statistics by Pascal and Fermat by nearly 800 years.) A book entitled "Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" by the ninth century scientist Al- Kindi, documents the technique of frequency analysis. It involves counting the frequency of each symbol used in a cipher text and then, using the average frequency for each letter of the language, deciphering the plaintext. This is still one of the most powerful techniques for solving the monoalphabetic substitution cipher. This method was also used by the Arab theologians, who were interested in establishing the chronology of the revelations of Muhammad in the Koran. They counted the frequencies of words contained in each revelation and, if the revelation contained a high number of newly evolved words, they placed it later in the chronology.  That is my final answer.  Another point worth mentioning (not my answer) , I also read where Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Khalil ibn Ahmad ibn `Amr ibn Tammam al Farahidi al-Zadi al Yahmadi wrote a (now lost) book on cryptography, inspired by his solution of a cryptogram in Greek for the Byzantine emperor.  He wrote this somewhere between 725-790, and its possible this writing could predate al-Kindis.  However, since there is no proof to confirm then I must submit to Al-Kindi being the final answer. However, I have now gone back and looked at the question you asked, and it says HOW, not WHO developed cryptography.  Shouldn't the poll the audience questions be in more detail? <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/huh.gif> [quote] Wa 'Alaikum Assalaam wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh , Ok so these were the answers given: Ibn Hukal and al-Idrisi 1 Abu Yusuf al-Kindi 5 al-Qalqashandi 4 [/quote] Arshad [color=green] Arsalan Question 6 Date posted: 06/04/01 at 01:07:08 <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/salam.gif> The answer is Abu Yusuf al-Kindi. The Golden Age of early Islamic Civilization (around 750AD) heralded an era of great advances in the arts and sciences. It was a time of peace and prosperity, largely achieved due to an effective administration system. The administrators used secure communications by way of encryption, not only for sensitive affairs of state but also for citizens tax records. This is documented in many administrative manuals, such as the tenth-century Adab al-Kuttab ("The Secretaries' Manual" <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/wink.gif> , which includes sections devoted to cryptography. However, it is in the field of cryptanalysis that the Arabs made significant advances. In fact, it is believed they invented this science. A book entitled "Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" by the ninth century scientist Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Is-haq ibn as Sabbah ibn 'omran ibn Ismail Al- Kindi , documents the technique of frequency analysis. It involves counting the frequency of each symbol used in a cipher text and then, using the average frequency for each letter of the language, deciphering the plaintext. This is still one of the most powerful techniques for solving the monoalphabetic substitution cipher. This method was also used by the Arab theologians, who were interested in establishing the chronology of the revelations of Muhammad in the Koran. They counted the frequencies of words contained in each revelation and, if the revelation contained a high number of newly evolved words, they placed it later in the chronology. [Source: http://www.odysseytec.com/arab2.html] width=40% align=left> [quote] Arsalan Cryptography was first developed by : a. Jabir ibn Hayaan b. Muhammad ibn Musa Al-Khwarizmi c. Abu Yusuf al-Kindi d. Bert and Ernie The answer is not A or D <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/smiley.gif> <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/salam.gif> [/quote] I have an answer, but I don't know exactly what you're looking for.  I think I'm going to use my lifeline just to be safe here ... Give me a 50-50. [color=purple] Khalid Question 6 Date posted: 06/01/01 at 20:19:30 Asalaamu Alaikum <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/brother.gif> I?ve been wondering whether to use my lifelines on this one but I figured it was worth keeping them in hand for potentially harder questions later on so here?s my final answer. I hope I?m right. Muslims helped developed Cryptography by pioneering the art of Cryptanalysis which is the practice of changing a ciphertext into plaintext without complete knowledge of the cipher. To me, if I understand it correctly, that?s basically the ability to break a code without knowing what the code is. It was an Arabic author apparently by the name of Qalqashandi who pioneered this work by using the average frequency of each letter of the language to be able to cryptanalyse any ciphertext. 25:70 Unless he repents, believes, and works righteous deeds, for God will change the evil of such persons into good, and God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful, 25:71 And whoever repents and does good has truly turned to God with an (acceptable) conversion [color=green] Fatoosh question 6 Date posted: 06/01/01 at 15:58:08 SalaamAlaikum This is what I found on britannica.com, hope its accurate: During Europe's Dark Ages Islamic and Chinese cartography made progress. The Arabs translated Ptolemy's treatises and carried on his tradition. Two Islamic scholars deserve special note. Ibn Haukal wrote a Book of Ways and Provinces illustrated with maps, and al-Idrisi constructed a world map in 1154 for the Christian king Roger of Sicily, showing better information on Asian areas than had been available theretofore. In Baghdad astronomers used the compass long before Europeans, studied the obliquity of the ecliptic, and measured a part of the Earth's meridian. Their sexagesimal (based on 60) system has dominated cartography since, in the concept of a 360-degree circle. [color=purple] Eqbal Q6 Date posted: 06/01/01 at 14:34:52 <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/salam.gif> , Qalqashandi wrote down a technique for cryptography. The technique is called cryptanalysis. It is the practice of changing ciphertext into plaintext without complete knowledge of the cipher. The technique developed by Qalqashandi is to write down all the ciphertext letters and count the frequency of each symbol. Using average frequency of each letter of the language, the plaintext can be written out. 49:6 O ye who believe! If a wicked person comes to you with any news, ascertain the truth, lest ye harm people unwittingly, and afterwards become full of repentance for what ye have done. [color=green] Arsalan Question 6 Date posted: 06/01/01 at 12:52:11 <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/salam.gif> I have an answer, but I don't know exactly what you're looking for.  I think I'm going to use my lifeline just to be safe here ... Give me a 50-50. [color=purple] abc WWTBAM answer Date posted: 06/01/01 at 08:23:27 Assalamu alaikum wa rahmatullah OK u've stumped us (or me at least ):`) First off I want to give a definition of cryptography, since to be honest, I didnt know that word existed before I read ur question. So.. from encyclopedia.com: the term cryptography strictly applies to translating messages into cipher or code. The science of breaking codes and ciphers without a key is called cryptanalysis. Cryptology is the science that embraces both cryptography and cryptanalysis. In enciphering, each letter of the message is replaced by another letter or figure; in encoding, syllables, words, or whole sentences are treated. The code is the agreed upon set of rules whereby messages are converted from one form to another. As for muslim cryptoghraphist (?) I think the extracts from two webpages provides the answer... The Arab muslim scientist by the name of Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Is-haq ibn as Sabbah ibn 'omran ibn Ismail Al- Kindi, who authored a book on cryptology the "Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma" (Manuscript for the Deciphering Cryptographic Messages) circa 750 AD introduced cryptanalysis techniques, classification of ciphers, Arabic Phonetics and Syntax and most importantly described the use of several statistical techniques for cryptanalysis. (This book apparently antedates other cryptology references by 300 years.It also predates writings on probability and statistics by Pascal and Fermat by nearly 800 years.) http://www.cmb.ac.lk/academic/science/dscs/courses/Computer/Msc/DSandC/arabic.htm Although the book contains detailed discussions on statistics, Arabic phonetics and Arabic syntax, al-Kindi's revolutionary system of cryptanalysis is encapsulated in two short paragraphs: One way to solve an encrypted message, if we know its language, is to find a different plaintext of the same language long enough to fill one sheet or so, and then we count the occurrences of each letter. We call the most frequently occurring letter the "first," the next most occurring letter the "second," the following most occurring letter the "third," and so on, until we account for all the different letters in the plaintext sample. Then we look at the ciphertext we want to solve and we also classify its symbols. We find the most occurring symbol and change it to the form of the "first" letter of the plaintext sample, the next most common symbol is changed to the form of the "second" letter, and the following most common symbol is changed to the form of the "third" letter, and so on, until we account for all symbols of the cryptogram we want to solve. Al-Kindi's explanation is easier to explain in terms of the English alphabet. First of all, it is necessary to study a lengthy piece of normal English text, perhaps several, in order to establish the frequency of each letter of the alphabet. In English, e is the most common letter, followed by t, then a, and so on, . Next, examine the ciphertext in question, and work out the frequency of each letter. If the most common letter in the ciphertext is, for example, J then it would seem likely that this is a substitute for e. And if the second most common letter in the ciphertext is P, then this is probably a substitute for t, and so on. Al-Kindi's technique, known as frequency analysis, shows that it is unnecessary to check each of the billions of potential keys. Instead, it is possible to reveal the contents of a scrambled message simply by analyzing the frequency of the characters in the ciphertext. http://www.arch.columbia.edu/DDL/cad/A4513/S2001/r9/ As an aside, I just wanna say I love this quiz, because in trying to figure out one question I have discovered the answers to so many more :`} wassalam [color=green] Barr Madina Geek Posts: 166 [41970017]   [Barr1396H] Phew... hope this is right, inshaAllah Date posted: 06/01/01 at 02:32:29 Assalamu'alaikum <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/sister.gif> There are a lot of Muslim personnels who contributed to cryptography. They devised and used both substitution and transposition ciphers and discovered the use of both letter frequency distributions and probable plaintext in cryptanalysis. For example, in the 8th century, Abu `Abd al-Rahman al-Khalil ibn Ahmad ibn `Amr ibn Tammam al Farahidi al-Zadi al Yahmadi wrote a (now lost) book on cryptography, inspired by his solution of a cryptogram in Greek for the Byzantine emperor. His solution was based on known (correctly guessed) plaintext at the message start -- a standard cryptanalytic method, used even in WW-II against Enigma messages. In the 9th century Abu Bakr Ahmad ben `Ali ben Wahshiyya an-Nabati published several cipher alphabets which were traditionally used for ?magic? (Barr: I?m not so sure abt this magic thing, but this is what I found) . A few documents with ciphertext survive from the Ghaznavid government of conquered Persia, and one chronicler reports that high officials were supplied with a personal cipher before setting out for new posts. But the general lack of continuity of Islamic states and the consequent failure to develop a permanent civil service and to set up permanent embassies in other countries militated against cryptography's more widespread use. During the 1300?s, `Abd al-Rahman Ibn Khaldun wrote "The Muqaddimah", a substantial survey of history which cites the use of ``names of perfumes, fruits, birds, or flowers to indicate the letters, or [...] of forms different from the accepted forms of the letters'' as a cipher among tax and army bureaus. He also includes a reference to cryptanalysis, noting ``Well-known writings on the subject are in the possession of the people? As a result, by about 1412, Shihab al-Din abu `l-`Abbas Ahmad ben `Ali ben Ahmad `Abd Allah al-Qalqashandi  produced a treatment of several cryptographic systems in his encyclopaedia Subh al-a'sha who attributed his work to Taj ad-Din `Ali ibn ad-Duraihim ben Muhammad ath-Tha`alibi al-Mausili who lived from 1312 to 1361. The former gave explicit instructions on how to cryptanalyze ciphertext using letter frequency counts complete with lengthy examples to illustrate the technique. The list of ciphers in this work included both substitution and transposition and, for the first time, a cipher with multiple substitutions for each plaintext letter. Reference: Britannica & Columbia Encyclopedias wallahua'lam "... Say: I believe in Allah, then remain steadfast" Qul amantu billah, thumas taqeem ~Muhammad ibn Abdullah (s.a.w) [color=purple] destined answer to question #6? Date posted: 06/01/01 at 00:19:47 assalaam alaykum Cryptography is one of the oldest fields of technical study we can find records of, going back at least 4,000 years. The Arab Contribution   The Golden Age of early Islamic Civilization (around 750AD) heralded an era of great advances in the arts and sciences. It was a time of peace and prosperity, largely achieved due to an effective administration system. The administrators used secure communications by way of encryption, not only for sensitive affairs of state but also for citizens tax records. This is documented in many administrative manuals, such as the tenth-century Adab al-Kuttab ("The Secretaries' Manual" <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/wink.gif> , which includes sections devoted to cryptography. However, it is in the field of cryptanalysis that the Arabs made significant advances. In fact, it is believed they invented this science. A book entitled "Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" by the ninth century scientist Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Is-haq ibn as Sabbah ibn 'omran ibn Ismail Al- Kindi, documents the technique of frequency analysis. It involves counting the frequency of each symbol used in a cipher text and then, using the average frequency for each letter of the language, deciphering the plaintext. This is still one of the most powerful techniques for solving the monoalphabetic substitution cipher. This method was also used by the Arab theologians, who were interested in establishing the chronology of the revelations of Muhammad in the Koran. They counted the frequencies of words contained in each revelation and, if the revelation contained a high number of newly evolved words, they placed it later in the chronology. [color=green] BroHanif Crypto Date posted: 05/30/01 at 11:37:34 Question Six: How did Muslims first develop the science of Cryptography? Hmm, tough one but I think this is it, although there is a generalisation used as the terms Arabs I think it is safe to say that our early geeks or Nerds were muslims. <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/smiley.gif> The Arabs were the first people to clearly understand the principles of cryptography and to elucidate the beginning of cryptanalysis. They devised and used both substitution and transposition ciphers and discovered the use of letter frequency distributions in cryptanalysis. As a result of this by approximately 1412 al-Kalka-shandi could include in his encyclopaedia Subh al-a?sha a respectable if elementary treatment of several cryptographic systems. He also gave explicit instructions on how to cryptanalyze ciphertext using letter frequency counts including examples illustrating the technique. Everyone is thinking of building the future for the youth, but no one is thinking about building the youth for the future [color=purple] Asim Question 6 Date posted: 05/30/01 at 00:09:25 Assalaamu alaikum, How did Muslims first develop the science of Cryptography? I was thinking of researching this and writing something original but I really don't any time. So inshallah I hope the following two passages answer the question. ----------------------------- The Arab Contribution http://www.odysseytec.com/arab2.html The Golden Age of early Islamic Civilization (around 750AD) heralded an era of great advances in the arts and sciences. It was a time of peace and prosperity, largely achieved due to an effective administration system. The administrators used secure communications by way of encryption, not only for sensitive affairs of state but also for citizens tax records. This is documented in many administrative manuals, such as the tenth-century Adab al-Kuttab ("The Secretaries' Manual" <http://www.jannah.org/board/Images/wink.gif> , which includes sections devoted to cryptography. However, it is in the field of cryptanalysis that the Arabs made significant advances. In fact, it is believed they invented this science. A book entitled "Manuscript on Deciphering Cryptographic Messages" by the ninth century scientist Abu Yusuf Yaqub ibn Is-haq ibn as Sabbah ibn 'omran ibn Ismail Al- Kindi, documents the technique of frequency analysis. It involves counting the frequency of each symbol used in a cipher text and then, using the average frequency for each letter of the language, deciphering the plaintext. This is still one of the most powerful techniques for solving the monoalphabetic substitution cipher. This method was also used by the Arab theologians, who were interested in establishing the chronology of the revelations of Muhammad in the Koran. They counted the frequencies of words contained in each revelation and, if the revelation contained a high number of newly evolved words, they placed it later in the chronology. -------------------------------------------- Early cryptographic systems and applications http://www.britannica.com/eb/article?eu=117765&tocid=25638 The first people to clearly understand the principles of cryptography and to elucidate the beginnings of cryptanalysis were the Arabs. They devised and used both substitution and transposition ciphers and discovered the use of both letter frequency distributions and probable plaintext in cryptanalysis. As a result, by about 1412, al-Kalka-shandi could include a respectable, if elementary, treatment of several cryptkgraphic systems in his encyclopaedia Subh al-a'sha and give explicit instructions on how to cryptanalyze ciphertext using letter frequency counts complete with lengthy examples to illustrate the technique [color=green] AbdulBasir Q6 Date posted: 05/26/01 at 13:04:27 Assalamu Alaikum Q6: How did Muslims first develop the science of Cryptography? Muslims greatly advanced the science of cryptology, which is a combination of cyrptanalysis and cryptography. It can be said even that while the Muslims advanced the principles of cryptography, they in large part invented cryptanalysis. The fact that the word cipher is Arabic in origin is representative of this fact. All ciphers involve either transposition, substitution or a combination of both. The Muslims were the first to devise and use both substitution and transposition ciphers and discovered the use of both letter frequency distributions and probable plaintext in cryptanalysis. By developing cryptanalysis they could chance the ciphertext into plaintext without complete knowledge of the cipher itself. They developed techniques for solving ciphers; for example one of the more famous (and larger) manuscripts, written by al-Qalqashandi in his encyclopedia Subh al-'asha, describes several cryptographic systems and gives instructions on how to cryptanalyze ciphertext using letter frequency counts, which is still used today. The technique is to write down all the ciphertext letters and count the frequency of each symbol. Using the average frequency of each letter of the language, the plaintext can be written out. Abu Yusuf al-Kindi, known in the West as the "philosopher of the Arabs", as director of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, is credited with making the revolutionary discovery of frequency analysis, when it was realized that letters of the alphabet appear with varying frequencies in written text. While there were basic forms of cipher before the Muslim period, the Muslims were able to recreate the basic forms of cipher and invent the science of cryptanalysis and codebreaking. These accomplishments by al-Kindi and others were made possible by the sophistication in mathematics being made by the Muslims at that time. These new mathematical techniques in turn allowed for the earliest known discussion of statistics. Moreover, the breakthroughs were also a result of the linguistic knowledge they obtained from their desire to understand the Qur'an. The close study of the Qur'an and its letters advanced the linguistic knowledge of the Muslims to such an extent, that when combined with their concurrent advancements in statistics and mathematics, the foundations for a systematic approach were laid and the invention of cryptanaylsis and advancements in cryptology were made possible. May Allah accept this effort and if anything in this humble effort is successful and of any benefit, then, to quote Malik El-Shabazz, "all the credit is due to Allah, and only the mistakes have been mine."
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