This publication highlights an outstanding contribution from the Muslim world to the history of mechanical sciences in the 9th century. It is an analysis of “Kitab al-Hiyal” written by the Banu Musa (Musa Brothers) from the point of view of modern systems and control engineering. Magic cups, automatic control mechanisms, oil lamps, fountains, and other devices described in the book constitute only one aspect of the work of the Brothers, who were among the first group of scientists in the Abbasid period who carried forward the developments in mathematics and astronomy begun by the ancient Greeks.
