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Canada & the World Backgrounder
Jun2011
When Arabs Led the World.
The article discloses the time when the Arab/Muslim world was the centre of the intellectual pursuits
and discovery, citing that what the western world called the Dark Ages was Golden Age for the Muslim
Arabs. The Arab/Muslim Empire, under their leaders called caliphs, expanded to take over Syria, Persia,
Jerusalem and Egypt. The Arabs helped Muslim Berbers from Morocco in conquering Spain. Science was
said to have flourished during the Abbasid dynasty whose members were descendants of prophet
Mohammed's youngest uncle.
There was a time when the Arab/Muslim world was the centre of the planet's intellectual pursuits and
discovery
ARAB WORLD - GOLDEN AGE
The European view of world history is that the period from about 500 CE to 1000 was the Dark Ages. The
notion bound up with that title is that nothing of significance happened between the fall of the Roman
Empire and the start of the early Middle Ages.
But, if history is viewed from an Arab perspective, those five centuries were rich in science, art,
philosophy, engineering, and culture. To Muslim Arabs the period from about 600 BCE to about 1250 is
no Dark Age; it's a Golden Age.
Muslims Keep Discovery Alive
When Rome fell, Europe turned its back on the intellectual progress of Ancient Greece. While early
Christians were burning books of ancient philosophy as heresy, the Greek legacy was kept alive in the
Arab world.
The prophet Mohammed was born in about 570 CE. By the time of his death in 632, the Islamic religion
as revealed to him by God had spread throughout Arabia.
The leaders of the Arab/ Muslim world were called caliphs. Under these caliphs the Arab/Muslim Empire
expanded to take over Syria, Persia (Iran today), Jerusalem, and Egypt. By 711, Muslim Berbers from
Morocco had conquered Spain with the help of Arabs.
Science Flourishes During Abbasid Dynasty
The Abbasid dynasty came to power in 750. Its members were descendants of Mohammed's youngest
uncle. This was the highpoint of the Arab/Muslim Empire when the caliphs governed all of North Africa,
the Middle East, the Arabian Peninsula, and into what is today Afghanistan, Pakistan, and India.
In 786, Harun al-Rashid became caliph of the Arab/ Muslim world and under him there was an explosion
of discovery. He built the city of Baghdad and made it the capital of his realm. His grandson Caliph AlMa'mun, created a library, called the "House of Wisdom," which helped to make Baghdad the centre of
the world's intellectual pursuits. The library contained all the books of antiquity carefully translated into
Arabic. In the process of translation scholars thought it important to test the scientific and astronomical
theories of the ancients. New scientific enquiry naturally sprang from this inquisitiveness.
Writing in The Independent (October 22, 2010), Kenan Malik comments that, "Arab philosophy and
science played a critical role not just in preserving the gains of the Greeks and laying the foundations for
the Renaissance and the scientific revolution, but in expanding the boundaries of knowledge."
Islamicweb notes that, "During the Golden Age Muslim scholars also made important and original
contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. They collected and corrected
previous astronomical data, built the world's first observatory, and developed the astrolabe, an
instrument that was once called 'a mathematical jewel.'"
Medical doctors made advances in diet, drugs, surgery, and anatomy. Under Arab scientists chemistry
set down its roots through discovery of new minerals and compounds.
Agriculture also benefited from the attentions of Arab researchers through improvements in irrigation
and plant and animal breeding.
The physicist Ibn Al-Haitham, known in the West as Alhazen, invented the so-called scientific method
that has guided sceintists ever since. This stresses that scientific discovery comes from carrying out
experiments and carefully observing the results.
In The Telegraph (U.K.) Sameer Rahim describes the greatest Muslim scientists as "the Persian…al-Biruni
(Alberonius) and the Andalusian doctor Ibn Sina (Avicenna). Among many other scientific achievements,
al-Biruni worked out the height of mountains using ingenious geometry. He also figured out the
circumference of the Earth (just under 25,000 miles) to within one percent of its real value."
He notes that Ibn Sina wrote a nine-volume Book of Healing that also covers "arithmetic, geometry,
astronomy, music, and metaphysics."
The Gold Age
Comes to an End However, as with all empires before and since, the Arab/ Muslim one eventually fell
apart. First, small regions started to set off on their own away from the central control of the caliphs.
Then, in 1258, a Mongol army arrived at the gates of Baghdad. After a siege, Mongols sacked and
burned the city, totally destroying it. The death toll reports range between 100,000 and one million;
whichever number is accurate the bloodshed was massive.
Everything was destroyed, including the House of Wisdom. The Arab/Muslim world has never recovered
its intellectual lead. As Sameer Rahim points out, "Only one percent of all scientific papers currently
originate from the Muslim world."
BORROWED IDEAS
In 751, the Arab/Muslim Empire attacked China, a military adventure that didn't work out too well for
the invaders. However, the war yielded one enormous benefit in that the Arabs learned how to make
paper from the Chinese. With cheap and plentiful paper available it was possible for Arabs to advance
their learning through books.
The Arab/Muslim Empire borrowed another fundamental idea from another Asian country. While
occupying the northwestern part of India they came across the concept of "zero." No big deal you might
think, but it made possible the decimal system and, much later, the binary code on which all computers
operate.
FACT FILE
A collection of folk tales, One Thousand and One Nights, was published in Arabic during the Golden Age.
Some of the stories were about Caliph Harun al-Rashid and some were by him. Later writers have
"borrowed" some of the tales, including Aladdin, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, and The Seven Voyages
of Sinbad the Sailor.
FACT FILE
In 765 a school of medicine was opened in Baghdad.
The Great Mosque in Cordoba, Spain was built by Muslim Moors starting in 784. With its 856 columns it
is a stunning example of Arab/Muslim architecture. After the Moors were booted out of Cordoba in
1236, and later out of Spain altogether, a Catholic Cathedral was plunked down in the centre of the
Great Mosque. Currently, Muslims in Spain are lobbying the Roman Catholic Church for the right to pray
in the Mosque, so far without success. Credit: Jose M. Rus
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THE GOLDEN AGE:
The early 'Abbasids were also fortunate in the caliber of their caliphs, especially
after Harun al-Rashid came to the caliphate in 786. His reign is now the most
famous in the annals of the 'Abbasids - partly because of the fictional role given
him in The Thousand and One Nights (portions of which probably date from his
reign), but also because his reign and those of his immediate successors marked
the high point of the 'Abbasid period. As the Arab chronicles put it, Harun alRashid ruled when the world was young, a felicitous description of what in later
times has come to be called the Golden Age of Islam.
The Golden Age was a period of unrivaled intellectual activity in all fields:
science, technology, and (as a result of intensive study of the Islamic faith)
literature - particularly biography, history, and linguistics. Scholars, for example,
in collecting and reexamining the hadith, or "traditions" - the sayings and actions
of the Prophet - compiled immense biographical detail about the Prophet and
other information, historic and linguistic, about the Prophet's era. This led to
such memorable works as Sirat Rasul Allah, the "Life of the Messenger of God,"
by Ibn Ishaq, later revised by Ibn Hisham; one of the earliest Arabic historical
works, it was a key source of information about the Prophet's life and also a
model for other important works of history such as al-Tabari's Annals of the
Apostles and the Kings and his massive commentary on the Quran.
Photo: Persian miniature depicts students with a teacher of
astronomy - one of the sciences to which scholars of the Golden
Age made great contributions.
'Abbasid writers also developed new a genres of literature such as
adab, the embodiment of sensible counsel, sometimes in the form
of animal fables; a typical example is Kalilah wa-Dimnah,
translated by Ibn al-Muqaffa' from a Pahlavi version of an Indian
work. Writers of this period also studied tribal traditions and wrote
the first systematic Arabic grammars.
During the Golden Age Muslim scholars also made important and original
contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. They
collected and corrected previous astronomical data, built the world's first
observatory, and developed the astrolabe, an instrument that was once called "a
mathematical jewel." In medicine they experimented with diet, drugs, surgery, and
anatomy, and in chemistry, an outgrowth of alchemy, isolated and studied a wide
variety of minerals and compounds.
Important advances in agriculture were also made in the Golden Age. The
'Abbasids preserved and improved the ancient network of wells, underground
canals, and waterwheels, introduced new breeds of livestock, hastened the
spread of cotton, and, from the Chinese, learned the art of making paper, a key to
the revival of learning in Europe in the Middle Ages.
The Golden Age also, little by little, transformed the diet of medieval Europe by
introducing such plants as plums, artichokes, apricots, cauliflower, celery, fennel,
squash, pumpkins, and eggplant, as well as rice, sorghum, new strains of wheat,
the date palm, and sugarcane.
Photo: Muslim scientists developed the astrolabe, an instrument
used long before the invention of the sextant to observe the
position of celestial bodies.
Many of the advances in science, literature, and trade which took
place during the Golden Age of the 'Abbasids and which would
provide the impetus for the European Renaissance reached their
flowering during the caliphate of al-Mamun, son of Harun alRashid and perhaps the greatest of all the 'Abbasids. But
politically the signs of decay were already becoming evident. The
province of Ifriqiyah - North Africa west of Libya and east of Morocco - had fallen
away from 'Abbasid control during the reign of Harun al-Rashid, and under alMamun other provinces soon broke loose also. When, for example, al-Mamun
marched from Khorasan to Baghdad, he left a trusted general named Tahir ibn alHusayn in charge of the eastern province. Tahir asserted his independence of the
central government by omitting mention of the caliph's name in the mosque on
Friday and by striking his own coins - acts which became the standard ways of
expressing political independence. From 821 onward Tahir and his descendants
ruled Khorasan as an independent state, with the tacit consent of the 'Abbasids.
Al-Mamun died in 833, in the town of Tarsus, and was succeeded by his brother,
al-Mu'tasim, under whose rule the symptoms of decline that had manifested
themselves earlier grew steadily worse. As he could no longer rely on the loyalty
of his army, al-Mu'tasim recruited an army of Turks from Transoxania and
Turkestan. It was a necessary step, but its outcome was dominance of the
caliphate by its own praetorian guard. In the years following 861, the Turks made
and unmade rulers at will, a trend that accelerated the decline of the central
authority. Although the religious authority of the 'Abbasid caliphate remained
unchallenged, the next four centuries saw political power dispersed among a
large number of independent states: Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Buwayhids,
Ziyarids, and Ghaznavids in the east; Hamdanids in Syria and northern
Mesopotamia; and Tulunids, Ikhshidids, and Fatimids in Egypt.
Photo: Books of fables, often illustrated, served a dual purpose to
instruct and to entertain.
Some of these states made important contributions to Islamic
culture. Under the Samanids, the Persian language, written in the
Arabic alphabet, first reached the level of a literary language and poets like
Rudaki, Daqiqi, and Firdausi flourished. The Ghaznavids patronized al-Biruni, one
of the greatest and most original scholars of medival Islam, and the Hamdanids, a
purely Arab dynasty, patronized such poets as al-Mutanabbi and philosophers
like the great al-Farabi, whose work kept the flame of Arab culture alive in a
difficult period. But in historical terms, only the Fatimids rivaled the preceding
dynasties.
Regents Prep: Global History: Culture & Intellectual Life
Islam
Background
Islam began in the Arabian Peninsula in the early 7th century ACE. It quickly
spread throughout the Middle East before moving across North Africa, and
into Spain and Sicily. By the 13th century, Islam had spread across India and
Southeast Asia. The reasons for the success of Islam, and the expansion of its
empire, can be attributed to the strength of the Arab armies, the use of a
common language, and fair treatment of conquered peoples.
Arab armies were able to quickly conquer territory through the use of
advanced tactics and the employment of horse
and camel cavalry. Islamic rulers were very
tolerant of conquered peoples, and welcomed
conversion to the Islamic faith. All Muslims
must learn Arabic, so they can read the Quran,
the Islamic holy book. This common language
helped to unite many different ethnic groups
within the Islamic empire. It also made possible the easy exchange of
knowledge and ideas.
Golden Age
Islamic civilization experienced a golden age under the Abbassid
Dynasty, which ruled from the mid 8th century until the mid 13th
century. Under the Abbassids, Islamic culture became a blending of
Arab, Persian, Egyptian, and European traditions. The result was an
era of stunning intellectual and cultural achievements.
Arts & Literature
According to the teachings of the Quran, Islamic artists were forbidden
from using human figures in religious art.
Therefore, they developed a style of geometric
shapes and patterns that were used to decorate
religious buildings called Mosques. These
geometric patterns usually contained verses from
the Quran written in a stylized form of
decorative handwriting called calligraphy.
Non-religious artists were allowed to use human figures. This type of
work most often appears in scholarly works of science or literature,
which were lavishly illustrated.
Islamic architects borrowed heavily from the Byzantium Empire
which used domes and arches extensively throughout their cities. An
example of this use can be seen in the Dome of the Rock, a famous
mosque in Jerusalem.
There were many different styles of Islamic literature. Most works were
based on the Quran, but some Islamic artists wrote poetry
about the joys and sorrows of love. Also, stories from
other cultures were adapted and rewritten for Islamic
civilization. The most famous collection is called The
Thousand and One Nights, which is a collection of tales
that includes such well known stories as Aladdin and His
Magic Lamp.
Philosophy
Islamic scholars translated philosophic texts from a variety of cultures.
These include works from China, India, and Ancient Greece. Scholarly
commentary written about these texts influenced a variety of cultures,
including European civilizations.
Math & Science
Islamic scholars studied both Greek and Indian mathematics before
making important contributions of their own. The most well known
Islamic mathematician was al-Khwarizimi, who pioneered the study of
algebra. His textbook on the subject became a standard in European
universities for centuries.
Islamic scholars were also skilled in astronomy. They studied eclipses,
the rotation of the planets, and calculated the circumference of the
earth to within a few thousand feet.
Medicine
Many advances were also made in the field of medicine. Physicians and
pharmacists were required to pass exams before
treating patients. They setup hospitals that had separate
areas for trauma cases, this is the basis for today's
emergency rooms. Physicians developed treatments for
cataracts, used a variety of herbal remedies, and were
adept at treating a variety of injuries. Islamic
pharmacists were the first to mix sweet tasting syrups with medicine,
ensuring that they would be taken.
Ibn Sina, a famous Islamic physician, wrote a book called Canon on
Medicine, which was an encyclopedia of Greek, Arabic, and his own
knowledge of medicine. This book became the standard medical text
in Europe for over five hundred years.
Economic Achievements
Under the Abbassids, a vast trading network was created which
helped to spread religion, culture, and technology. New business
practices such as, partnerships, the use of credit, and
banks to exchange currency, were developed to handle
the increase in trade. The establishment of such vast
trading networks made the Islamic Empire very wealthy,
and helped to stimulate many of their cultural and
intellectual achievements.
Law
Islam developed a system of law based on the Quran. This system was
created to help people apply the Quran to everyday life and situations.
The book of laws, called the Sharia, regulates all aspects of life
including, moral behavior, family life, business dealings, and
government.
Created by Jeffery L. Watkins
© 2000 New York State High School Regents Exam Prep Center
THE GOLDEN AGE OF ISLAM
By Dr Zachariah Matthews
Presented at the Australian New Muslim Association (ANMA) Fundraising Dinner, Bankstown, Friday 1
October 2004.
SALAM Magazine, http://www.famsy.com/salam/ Sep-Oct 2004
Islam, the youngest of all the world's religions emerged on the world scene in 622 CE (Current Era) with
the Hijra (migration), of Prophet Muhammad (s) and his small band of followers, from Mecca to Medina
in northwest Arabia. One hundred fifty years later the Muslim government where Allah is the ultimate
authority had become the Islamic Empire, encircling the Mediterranean Sea from Syria and the Tigris
and Euphrates Valley east to southern China and western India, south through what had been the
Persian Empire and Saudi Arabia, west through Egypt and across North Africa, and north through Spain
to the Pyrenees. With the founding of the city of Baghdad and the establishment of the Abbasid
Caliphate (Muslim religious/political leaders, successors of the Prophet) in the mid-8th century, Islam's
golden age began to emerge. For 400 years, from the mid-9th century until the sack of Baghdad by the
Mongols in 1256, Muslim culture was unparalleled in its splendor and learning.
A number of fortunate circumstances came together to make this golden age possible. Perhaps most
significant was the creation of a vast empire without internal political boundaries, largely free from
external attack. Trade began to flow freely across the Asian continent and beyond. The wisdom of India
and China mingled with that of Persia, ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. In most cases civilizations
conquered by Islam remained administratively and intellectually intact, unlike those overrun by
northern barbarians. Thanks in part to Prophet Muhammad's assertion that "the ink of scholars is more
precious than the blood of martyrs," Islamic leaders valued -- in fact, sought out -- the intellectual
treasures of their subject provinces. Further, the Muslim use of Arabic, the language of the Quran, led to
its standardization throughout the empire as the language of faith and power, and likewise of theology,
philosophy, and the arts and sciences.
Unification under one faith and language alone, however, did not produce the explosion of literacy and
learning experienced by the Islamic Empire. In the mid-8th century, Chinese paper-making technology
arrived in Samarkand, on the eastern border of the empire. Suddenly, the labour-intensive processing of
hides and papyrus was replaced by mass-production of paper from pulped rags, hemp, and bark; large
personal libraries -- as well as public ones -- became commonplace. At about the same time, the socalled "Arabic" numerals (imported from India) began to replace cumbersome Roman numerals, and
introduced the concept of zero for the first time. Public education, also mandated by the Prophet (s),
spread rapidly.
The Golden Age was a period of unrivalled intellectual activity in the field of literature (as a result of
intensive study of the Islamic faith) - particularly biography, history, and linguistics. Scholars, for
example, in collecting and re-examining the hadith, or "traditions" - the sayings and actions of the
Prophet - compiled immense biographical detail about the Prophet and other information, historic and
linguistic, about the Prophet's era. This led to such monumental works as Sirat Rasul Allah, the "Life of
the Messenger of Allah," by Ibn Ishaq, later revised by Ibn Hisham; one of the earliest Arabic historical
works, it was a key source of information about the Prophet's life and also a model for other important
works of history such as al-Tabari's Annals of the Apostles and the Kings and his massive commentary on
the Quran.
The accomplishments of Islam's Golden Age are too numerous to mention. Massive translation and
copying projects made Greek, Roman, and Sanskrit knowledge available to Arabic-speaking scholars
across the empire. Medieval Europe received the Hellenic classics that made the Renaissance possible
mostly through Arabic translations. Building on Hellenic, Persian, and Hindu sources, physicians within
the Islamic Empire advanced medical knowledge enormously. Perhaps their most significant single
achievement was the establishment of medicine as a science based on observation and
experimentation, rather than on conjecture. Islamic scientists developed the rudiments of what would
later be called the scientific method.
Seventy-five years after the death of Prophet Muhammad (s), the first of many free public hospitals was
opened in Damascus. Asylums were maintained throughout the empire for the care of the mentally ill. In
the early 10th century, Spanish physician Abu Bakr al-Razi introduced the use of antiseptics in cleaning
wounds, and also made the connection between bacteria and infection. Al-Hasan published a definitive
study on optics (the science of light and vision) in 965. Thirteenth-century Muslim physician Ibn al-Nafis
discovered and accurately described the functioning of the human circulatory system. Islamic veterinary
science led the field for centuries, particularly in the study and treatment of horses.
Muslim alchemists (early forerunners of modern chemists) in the 10th to 14th centuries, inspired by
ancient chemical formulas from China and India, are famous for the endless experiments they
performed in their laboratories. Their goals ranged from pursuit of a chemical elixir bestowing enhanced
life, to the transformation of base metals to gold. Although they never succeeded in their ultimate goals,
they did make numerous valuable discoveries -- among them the distillation of petroleum and the
forging of steel.
Roman techniques of manufacturing glass lenses stimulated Al-Hasan's breakthrough in the field of
optics (the science of light and vision), which demolished Aristotle's theory that vision was the result of a
ray emanating from the eye, encompassing an object, and bringing it back to the soul. Al-Hasan's Book
of Optics, published in 965, was first to document sight as visual images entering the eye, made
perceptible by adequate light. This book remained the pre-eminent text in its field until 1610, when the
work of European Johannes Kepler surpassed it.
Islamic mathematicians refined algebra from its beginnings in Greece and Egypt, and developed
trigonometry in pursuit of accurate ways to measure objects at a distance. Muslim scholars also made
important and original contributions to astronomy. They collected and corrected previous astronomical
data, built the world's first observatory, and developed the astrolabe, an instrument that was once
called "a mathematical jewel."
Islamic architects borrowed heavily from the Byzantine Empire which used domes and arches
extensively throughout their cities. An example of this use can be seen in the Dome of the Rock, a
famous mosque in Jerusalem.
Avid students of both the heavens and the earth, Muslim scholars made detailed and accurate maps of
both. Muslim mapmakers to accurately map distances around the earth refined longitude and latitude.
Twelfth-century Persian Omar Khayyam developed a calendar so reliable that over 500 years it was off
by only one day. The list goes on and on.
Religious Tolerance
When Islam was laying the foundations of its civilisation; it did not adopt a narrow-minded attitude to
other religions. The behaviour toward other religions was in keeping with the principles laid down in the
Quran:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error… (Al-Baqarah 256)
"If it had been your Lord's Will, they would all have believed, all who are on earth! Will you then compel
people, against their will, to believe!" (Yunus 10:99)
Say: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il, Isaac, Jacob, and the
Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all) Prophets from their Lord: we make no
difference between any of them: and we submit to Allah (in Islam)." (Q2:136)
"…Had not Allah checked one set of people by means of another there would surely have been pulled
down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the name of Allah is commemorated
in abundant measure…" (Al-Hajj 22:40)
The well known American writer, Draper, wrote: "During the period of the caliphs, the learned men of
the Christians and the Jews were not only held in high esteem but were appointed to posts of great
responsibility, and were promoted to high ranking positions in government. Haroon Rasheed appointed
John the son of Maswaih, the Director of Public Instruction and all the schools and colleges were placed
under his charge. He (Haroon) never considered to which country a learned person belonged nor his
faith and belief, but only his excellence in the field of learning."
Sir Mark Syce, writing on the qualities of Muslim rule during the period of Haroon Rasheed said: "The
Christians, the idolaters, the Jews and the Muslims as workers running the Islamic State were at work
with equal zeal."
Liefy Brutistal wrote in his book: "Spain of the Tenth Century: So often the scribe writing out the terms
of a treaty was a Jew or a Christian. Just as many Jews and Christians were holding charge of important
posts in the State. And they were vested with authority in the administrative departments, even in
matters of war and peace. And there were several Jews who acted as the ambassadors of the Caliph in
European countries."
Islam’s Golden Age has many lessons to teach the greedy and terrorized world of today.
Why did it all end?
Why did Islam's Golden Age come to an end? What forces shifted both political power and learning from
the Islamic Empire to Christian Europe? Like all historical trends, the explanations are complex; yet some
broad outlines may be identified, both within and without Muslim lands. With the end of the Abbasid
Caliphate and the beginning of the Turkish Seljuk Caliphate in 1057 CE, the centralized power of the
empire began to shatter. Religious differences resulted in splinter groups, charges of heresy, and
assassinations. Aristotelian logic, adopted early on as a framework upon which to build science and
philosophy, appeared to be undermining the beliefs of educated Muslims. Orthodox faith was in decline
and skepticism on the rise.
The appeal by some erring theologians turned the tide back, declaring reason and its entire works to be
bankrupt. They declared that experience and reason that grew out of it were not to be trusted. As a
result, free scientific investigation and philosophical and religious toleration were phenomena of the
past. Schools limited their teaching to theology. Scientific progress came to a halt.
During this same period, the European Crusades (1097-1291) assailed Islam militarily from without.
Cordoba fell to Spanish Christians in 1236. When the Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1256 (or 1258) the
Islamic Empire never recovered. Trade routes became unsafe. Urban life broke down. Individual
communities drew in upon themselves in feudal isolation. Science and philosophy survived for a while in
scattered pockets, but the Golden Age of Islam was at an end.
Conclusion
Muslims rose to the height of civilisation in a period of four decades. For more than 1,000 years the
Islamic Civilisation remained the most advanced and progressive in the world. This is because Islam
stressed the importance of and held great respect for learning, forbade destruction, developed
discipline and respect for authority, and stressed tolerance for other religions. The Muslims recognised
excellence and hungered intellectually. The teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah drove many Muslims to
their accomplishments in all disciplines of knowledge.
Muslims of today must apply those same principles of success in order to rectify the current state of
decay. May Allah (swt) grant us the strength and wisdom to accomplish just that!
References:
1. Tapestry: The Institute for Philosophy, Religion, and the Life Sciences, Inc.
http://www.stormwind.com/common/islam.html
The Golden Age of Islam
a Splendid Tapestry
by Zachariah Matthews
Islam, the youngest of all the world's religions emerged on the world scene in 622 CE (Current
Era) with the Hijra (migration), of Prophet Muhammad (s) and his small band of followers, from
Mecca to Medina in northwest Arabia. One hundred fifty years later the Muslim government
where Allah is the ultimate authority had become the Islamic Empire, encircling the
Mediterranean Sea from Syria and the Tigris and Euphrates Valley east to southern China and
western India, south through what had been the Persian Empire and Saudi Arabia, west through
Egypt and across North Africa, and north through Spain to the Pyrenees. With the founding of
the city of Baghdad and the establishment of the Abbasid Caliphate (Muslim religious/political
leaders, successors of the Prophet) in the mid-8th century, Islam's golden age began to
emerge. For 400 years, from the mid-9th century until the sack of Baghdad by the Mongols in
1256, Muslim culture was unparalleled in its splendor and learning.
A number of fortunate circumstances came together to make this golden age possible.
Perhaps most significant was the creation of a vast empire without internal political
boundaries, largely free from external attack. Trade began to flow freely across the
Asian continent and beyond. The wisdom of India and China mingled with that of Persia,
ancient Greece, Rome, and Egypt. In most cases civilizations conquered by Islam
remained administratively and intellectually intact, unlike those overrun by northern
barbarians. Thanks in part to Prophet Muhammad's assertion that "the ink of scholars is
more precious than the blood of martyrs," Islamic leaders valued -- in fact, sought out -the intellectual treasures of their subject provinces. Further, the Muslim use of Arabic,
the language of the Quran, led to its standardization throughout the empire as the
language of faith and power, and likewise of theology, philosophy, and the arts and
sciences.
Unification under one faith and language alone, however, did not produce the explosion
of literacy and learning experienced by the Islamic Empire. In the mid-8th century,
Chinese paper-making technology arrived in Samarkand, on the eastern border of the
empire. Suddenly, the labour-intensive processing of hides and papyrus was replaced
by mass-production of paper from pulped rags, hemp, and bark; large personal libraries
-- as well as public ones -- became commonplace. At about the same time, the socalled "Arabic" numerals (imported from India) began to replace cumbersome Roman
numerals, and introduced the concept of zero for the first time. Public education, also
mandated by the Prophet (s), spread rapidly.
The Golden Age was a period of unrivalled intellectual activity in the field of literature
(as a result of intensive study of the Islamic faith) - particularly biography, history, and
linguistics. Scholars, for example, in collecting and re-examining the hadith, or
"traditions" - the sayings and actions of the Prophet - compiled immense biographical
detail about the Prophet and other information, historic and linguistic, about the
Prophet's era. This led to such monumental works as Sirat Rasul Allah, the "Life of the
Messenger of Allah," by Ibn Ishaq, later revised by Ibn Hisham; one of the earliest
Arabic historical works, it was a key source of information about the Prophet's life and
also a model for other important works of history such as al-Tabari's Annals of the
Apostles and the Kings and his massive commentary on the Quran.
Charlemagne's legendary white elephant
Around the year 800, when Charlemagne's power was at its
height, he succceeded in establishing good relations directly with
the Abbassid caliph of Baghdad, Heroun al-Rashid, who became
legendary as the caliph of the Thousand and One Nights, Two
Frankish nobles, Sigismund and Lantfrid, left in 797 with Isaac, a
Jewish traveller and linguist. Isaac returned in 801, without his two
companions who had died on the long and arduous journey, but
accompanied by ambassadors from the caliph. Their presents to
the Emperor astonished the Frankish court; gems, fine plate of
pure gold, rich embroidered ceremonial robes, delicately carved
chessmen in ivory, water clocks with refined mechanisms and,
wonderful to relate, rare and exotic animals, including a white
elephant, which became Charlemagne's pet, and such a favourite
at court that its name, Abul Abbas, has even come down to us.
Charlemagne was so attached to it that he took it on all his
campaigns, and was heartbroken when it died in the winter of 811
in Saxony.
[p117. Friedrich Heer. Charlemagne and His World. ]
The accomplishments of Islam's Golden Age are too
numerous to list in detail
.
Massive translation and copying projects made Greek, Roman, and Sanskrit knowledge
available to Arabic-speaking scholars across the empire. Medieval Europe received the
Hellenic classics that made the Renaissance possible mostly through Arabic
translations. Building on Hellenic, Persian, and Hindu sources, physicians within the
Islamic Empire advanced medical knowledge enormously. Perhaps their most
significant single achievement was the establishment of medicine as a science based
on observation and experimentation, rather than on conjecture. Islamic scientists
developed the rudiments of what would later be called the scientific method.
Seventy-five years after the death of Prophet Muhammad (s), the first of many free
public hospitals was opened in Damascus. Asylums were maintained throughout the
empire for the care of the mentally ill. In the early 10th century, Spanish physician Abu
Bakr al-Razi introduced the use of antiseptics in cleaning wounds, and also made the
connection between bacteria and infection. Al-Hasan published a definitive study on
optics (the science of light and vision) in 965. Thirteenth-century Muslim physician Ibn
al-Nafis discovered and accurately described the functioning of the human circulatory
system long before Ambroise Paré. Islamic veterinary science led the field for centuries,
particularly in the study and treatment of horses.
In fact the impact of Judeo-Islamic medical knowledge upon Europe was so great, both
via Padua and from Spain itself, that the expression among the Dominican critics
(before their own embrace of Scholasticism) was ubi tre physici dui athei. It was a slur,
of course, on the influence of Averröism. "Where there are three physicians there are
two atheists." Petrarch's attacks on the physicians of Padua (Iberians or at least
Averröists) was notorious.
Muslim alchemists (early forerunners of modern chemists) in the 10th to 14th centuries,
inspired by ancient chemical formulas from China and India, are famous for the endless
experiments they performed in their laboratories. Their goals ranged from pursuit of a
chemical elixir bestowing enhanced life, to the transformation of base metals to gold.
Although they never succeeded in their ultimate goals, they did make numerous
valuable discoveries -- among them the distillation of petroleum and the forging of steel.
Roman techniques of manufacturing glass lenses stimulated Al-Hasan's breakthrough in
the field of optics (the science of light and vision), which demolished Aristotle's theory
that vision was the result of a ray emanating from the eye, encompassing an object, and
bringing it back to the soul. Al-Hasan's Book of Optics, published in 965, was first to
document sight as visual images entering the eye, made perceptible by adequate light.
This book remained the pre-eminent text in its field until 1610, when the work of
European Johannes Kepler surpassed it.
Islamic mathematicians refined algebra from its beginnings in Greece and Egypt, and
developed trigonometry in pursuit of accurate ways to measure objects at a distance.
Muslim scholars also made important and original contributions to astronomy. They
collected and corrected previous astronomical data, built the world's first observatory,
and developed the astrolabe, an instrument that was once called "a mathematical
jewel."
Islamic architects borrowed heavily from the Byzantine Empire which used domes and
arches extensively throughout their cities. An example of this use can be seen in the
Dome of the Rock, a famous mosque in Jerusalem.
Avid students of both the heavens and the earth, Muslim scholars made detailed and
accurate maps of both. Muslim mapmakers to accurately map distances around the
earth refined longitude and latitude. Twelfth-century Persian Omar Khayyam developed
a calendar so reliable that over 500 years it was off by only one day. The list goes on
and on.
Honor Woman, for it was Woman gave you birth
Women in Islam ~ islamfortoday.com
Ornament of the World :: Caliphal Córdoba
The seventy-odd libraries of Córdoba would amaze modern
scholars almost as much as they stunned literate Christians of the
late tenth century. There would be nothing at all comparable
elsewhere in the West to Córdoba's main library of four hundred
thousand volumes of mostly paper manuscripts. The great
Benedictine abbey of St. Gall in Switzerland numbered a mere six
hundred books, all of them in vellum (calfskin) or parchment
(sheepskin). The availability of paper in the Arab empire greatly
enhanced the diffusion of knowledge and made large library
holdings possible. Paper -- made from bark, linen, and hemp
rather than the papyrus of pressed reeds of the Egyptians -- would
have an impact on Muslims similar to that of the printing press ob
Europeans seven hundred years later. Andalusia's own paper
factory was finally established in the early eleventh century at
Jativa, a valley town south of Valencia. Gibbon delighted at the
book worship of Córdoba's citizens, a bibliophilia he disdainfully
contrasted with the paucity of written works in the Christian West
of the time. Córdoba's narrow streets were lined with thousands of
small shops and workshops where weavers produced brocades,
silks, woolens; craftsmen shaped crystal and tooled the famous
Córdoban leather.
David Levering Lewis. God's Crucible
historical outline
Religious Tolerance
When Islam was laying the foundations of its civilisation; it did not adopt a narrowminded attitude to other religions. The behaviour toward other religions was in keeping
with the principles laid down in the Quran:
"Let there be no compulsion in religion: Truth stands out clear from error." (Al-Baqarah
256)
"If it had been your Lord's Will, they would all have believed, all who are on earth! Will
you then compel people, against their will, to believe!" (Yunus 10:99)
Say: "We believe in Allah, and the revelation given to us, and to Abraham, Isma'il,
Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes, and that given to Moses and Jesus, and that given to (all)
Prophets from their Lord: we make no difference between any of them: and we submit
to Allah (in Islam)." (Q2:136)
"Had not Allah checked one set of people by means of another there would surely have
been pulled down monasteries, churches, synagogues, and mosques, in which the
name of Allah is commemorated in abundant measure" (Al-Hajj 22:40)
The well known American writer, Draper, wrote: "During the period of the caliphs, the
learned men of the Christians and the Jews were not only held in high esteem but were
appointed to posts of great responsibility, and were promoted to high ranking positions
in government. Haroon Rasheed appointed John the son of Maswaih, the Director of
Public Instruction and all the schools and colleges were placed under his charge. He
(Haroon) never considered to which country a learned person belonged nor his faith and
belief, but only his excellence in the field of learning."
Sir Mark Syce, writing on the qualities of Muslim rule during the period of Haroon
Rasheed said: "The Christians, the idolaters, the Jews and the Muslims as workers
running the Islamic State were at work with equal zeal."
Liefy Brutistal wrote in his book: "Spain of the Tenth Century: So often the scribe writing
out the terms of a treaty was a Jew or a Christian. Just as many Jews and Christians
were holding charge of important posts in the State. And they were vested with authority
in the administrative departments, even in matters of war and peace. And there were
several Jews who acted as the ambassadors of the Caliph in European countries."
Impact on Judaism
"Arabic culture made a lasting impact on Sephardic cultural development. General reevaluation of scripture was prompted by Muslim and Jewish religious interface and the
spread of rationalism, as well as the anti-Rabbanite polemics of Karaite sectarianism
(which took inspiration from various Muslim schismatic movements). The cultural and
intellectual achievements of the Arabs, and much of the scientific and philosophical
speculation of Ancient Greek culture, which had been best preserved by Arab scholars,
was made available to the educated Jew. The meticulous regard which the Arabs had
for grammar and style also had the effect of stimulating an interest in philological
matters in general among Spanish Jews. Arabic came to be the main language of
Sephardic science, philosophy, and everyday business, as had been the case with
Babylonian geonim. This thorough adoption of the Arabic language also greatly
facilitated the assimilation of Jews into Moorish culture, and Jewish activity in a variety
of professions, including medicine, commerce, finance, and agriculture increased."
S. Alfassa Marks writes
The influence Islamic culture injected into Jewish life was significant. Jews accepted
many customs and traditions of the Moors and interweaved them into their daily life. The
Arabic language, instead of Spanish and Hebrew, was used for prayers. Ceremoniously
washing of the hands and feet, which is an Islamic custom, became adopted by Jews
before entering Synagogues. Moreover, Jewish music was sung to the tune of old
Arabic melodies. Jews adopted [much of] the clothing style of their Moorish neighbors.
NOTE: "The Golden Age is most closely identified with the reign of Abd al-Rahman III
(882-942), the first independent Caliph of Cordoba, and in particular with the career of
his Jewish councilor, Hasdai ibn Shaprut (882-942). Within this context of cultural
patronage, studies in Hebrew, literature, and linguistics flourished."
Jean Descola credits two Islamic imbued Jews with far reaching impact into the modern
West. It was a Spanish Jew, Cheber (of Seville), who inspired Einstein; and another, Ibn
Ezra (of Toledo), who influenced Spinoza.
Islam's Golden Age has many lessons to teach the greedy and intolerant world of
today.
Nietzsche castigated the Christianity of Western Europe, the Franks and Saxons and Germans,
for the collossal crime of the Crusades. He said the Crusaders more properly might have
prostrated themselves in the dust before the Islamic culture which at that time so far exceeded
the unwashed, illiterate barbarian culture of Western Europe. He says the Crusaders wanted
loot, to be sure. The East, including Byzantium, was rich, was cultured, and possessed
storehouses of learning and literature and philosophy. Nietzsche calls the Crusades nothing but
Higher Piracy.
In Spain, "Christianity ... cheated us out of the harvest of the culture of Islam..... The
wonderful world of the Moorish culture ... was trampled down. Why? Because it owed its
origins to noble, to male instincts, because it said Yes to life even with the rare and
refined luxuries of Moorish life."
Why did it all end?
Why did Islam's Golden Age come to an end? What forces shifted both political power
and learning from the Islamic Empire to Christian Europe? Like all historical trends, the
explanations are complex; yet some broad outlines may be identified, both within and
without Muslim lands. With the end of the Abbasid Caliphate and the beginning of the
Turkish Seljuk Caliphate in 1057 CE, the centralized power of the empire began to
shatter. Religious differences resulted in splinter groups, charges of heresy, and
assassinations. Aristotelian logic, adopted early on as a framework upon which to build
science and philosophy, appeared to be undermining the beliefs of educated Muslims.
Orthodox faith was in decline and skepticism on the rise.
The appeal by some erring theologians turned the tide back, declaring reason and its
entire works to be bankrupt. They declared that experience and reason that grew out of
it were not to be trusted. As a result, free scientific investigation and philosophical and
religious toleration were phenomena of the past. Schools limited their teaching to
theology. Scientific progress came to a halt.
During this same period, the European Crusades (1097-1291) assailed Islam militarily
from without. Cordoba fell to Spanish Christians in 1236. When the Mongols sacked
Baghdad in 1256 (or 1258) the Islamic Empire never recovered. Trade routes became
unsafe. Urban life broke down. Individual communities drew in upon themselves in
feudal isolation. Science and philosophy survived for a while in scattered pockets, but
the Golden Age of Islam was at an end.
Conclusion
Muslims rose to the height of civilisation in a period of four decades. For more than
1,000 years the Islamic Civilisation remained the most advanced and progressive in the
world. This is because Islam stressed the importance of and held great respect for
learning, forbade destruction, developed discipline and respect for authority, and
stressed tolerance for other religions. The Muslims recognised excellence and
hungered intellectually. The teachings of the Qur'an and Sunnah drove many Muslims
to their accomplishments in all disciplines of knowledge.
Muslims of today must apply those same principles of success in order to rectify the
current state of decay. May Allah (swt) grant us the strength and wisdom to accomplish
just that!
Dr Matthews presented this speech at the Australian New Muslim Association (ANMA) Fundraising Dinner, Bankstown, Friday (1 October) 2004.
Uncovering hidden treasures: the glittering aspects of Islam's Golden Age. Muslim scholars, when Europe was in
the Dark Ages, studied the texts of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle; of Euclid and the Ptolemys. They produced texts on
medicine, astronomy and philosophy. They passed this wisdom on to the Christian fathers in the monasteries in
Rome. From there it flowed through to the Renaissance, the industrial revolution, the Age of Enlightenment and to
the power that would lead Europe into the Levant, into the Middle East and into the Holy Land in the form of
colonialism.
La Convivencia
The Moorish-Jewish Flowering
The Moors literally transformed the Iberian penninsula that initially
greeted them. Welcomed by the Jews as liberators, they found the
land congenial to their own energies and inspiration. They rebuilt
the great cities of Málaga, Córdoba, Granada, and Seville, gave
them running water, and adorned them with sumptuous palaces
and gardens. They introduced scientific irrigation and a number of
new crrops, including citrus fruits -- the famous Seville oranges -cotton and sugarcane (al-Andalus soon became renowned for its
sugar production). They created textile industries in Málaga,
Córdoba, and Almería; pottery in Málaga and Valencia; and arms
in Córdoba and, for centuries to come, in Toledo, where dismal
simulacra of "Toledan steel," damascened and gilded, is still
produced for the tourist market. Leather was made in Córdoba,
carpets in Beza and Calcena, and paper -- which the Arabs
introduced into Europe from China in the eighth century, when it
was at its prime, the Muslim emirate of al-Andalus, with its capital
at Córdoba, had become the most prosperous, most stable,
wealthies, and most cultured state in Europe.
Anthony Pagden. Worlds at War
La Convivencia
Moorish-Jewish Golden Age
References:
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Correcting mis-conceptions about Islam after 9-11. By Sheik Abdul Aziz al-Sheik.
The Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding founded at Georgetown University with major
funding by Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal
Yusuf Islam - Cat Stevens - famous counter-culture convert to the One God of Islam. I love his
style of music.
Building bridges - the West has deep roots in the biblical soil of the shemitic, kushitic world of
the Middle East
Nabi Aqim: Deuteronomy 18: 18 . Was Muhammad foretold by Moses?
Islam's flowering: the Golden Age of the 'Abbasids the caliphate of al-Mamun, cultural
flourishing, etc
Rosen's "Islamic contributions to science" - Schools of California Online Resources for
Education, History/Social Science (SCORE)
Golden Age of Islam Jeffery Watkins: (1999-2003) Oswego City School District Regents Exam
Prep Center regents prep
irfi [Islamic Research Foundation] - Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed, PhD: 2001, and
http://www.islamfortoday.com/syed04.htm - much of the achievements are due to the
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Moorish and Islamic emphasis on learning within a spirit of toleration. Spanish Jews were an
integral adjunct to Islamic learning, and many pious Sephardi made notable achievements,
often in Arabic. There was an openness, an intellectual hunger amidst cultural diversity and
dialog.
Spain's Islamic legacy - an age of tolerance and splendour. The alumbrado factor
Lest We in the West Forget ~ the modern world's ROOTS in past ages of Faith (Moorish
culture?)
President George W. Bush Support of Islam: Islam is a vibrant faith, essentially like Judaism
and Christianity
Moorish and Islamic Impact on Judaism worldwide ~ via "Islamic Spain: Al Andalus" (by S.
Alfassa Marks)
Blaming it on the prophet ~ are there rays of hope for growing Muslim and Christian
understanding?
Abraham Friend of God ~ Father of three great religions.
REAL history : Islam and the West (are historically intertwined) - American presidents are
merely building on our long past
Arabic (Shemitic) impact into modern language - a vast number of Hebrew Arabic roots are
mutual cognates (due to common Shemitic linguistic heritage, deep in their tribal past)
Ornament of the World (Moorish Spain and Córdoba). María Rosa Menocal
2. http://www.islamicity.com/mosque/ihame/Sec7.htm
3. Jeffery Watkins: (1999-2003) Oswego City School District Regents Exam Prep Center
http://regentsprep.org/Regents/global/themes/goldenages/islam.cfm
4. Dr. Ibrahim B. Syed, PhD: 2001, WWW.IRFI.ORG and http://www.islamfortoday.com/syed04.htm
5. Some glittering aspects of the Islamic civilisation, Dr Mustafa Siba’i, (p69-91).