TheIslamic Golden Age was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in thehistory of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century.[1][2][3]
This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of theAbbasid caliphHarun al-Rashid (786 to 809) with the inauguration of theHouse of Wisdom, which sawscholars from all over theMuslim world flock toBaghdad, the world's largest city at the time, to translate the known world's classical knowledge intoArabic andPersian.[4] The period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due toMongol invasions and theSiege of Baghdad in 1258.[5]
There are a few alternative timelines. Some scholars extend the end date of the golden age to around 1350, including theTimurid Renaissance within it,[6][7] while others place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries, including the rise of the Islamicgunpowder empires.[1][2][3]
The metaphor of agolden age began to be applied in 19th-century literature aboutIslamic history, in the context of the western aesthetic fashion known asOrientalism. The author of aHandbook for Travelers in Syria and Palestine in 1868 observed that the most beautiful mosques ofDamascus were "like Mohammedanism itself, now rapidly decaying" and relics of "the golden age of Islam".[8]
There is no unambiguous definition of the term, and depending on whether it is used with a focus on cultural or on military achievement, it may be taken to refer to rather disparate time spans. Thus, one 19th century author would have it extend to the duration of the caliphate, or to "six and a half centuries",[9] while another would have it end after only a few decades of Rashidun conquests, with the death ofUmar and theFirst Fitna.[10]
Improvements to theastrolabe were one of the achievements of this era
During the early 20th century, the term was used only occasionally and often referred to as the early military successes of theRashidun caliphs. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the term came to be used with any frequency, now mostly referring to the cultural flourishing of science and mathematics under the caliphates during the 9th to 11th centuries (between the establishment of organised scholarship in theHouse of Wisdom and the beginning of thecrusades),[11] but often extended to include part of the late 8th or the 12th to early 13th centuries.[12] Definitions may still vary considerably.
Equating the end of the golden age with the end of the caliphates is a convenient cut-off point based on a historical landmark, but it can be argued that Islamic culture had entered a gradual decline much earlier; thus, Khan (2003) identifies the proper golden age as being the two centuries between 750 and 950, arguing that the beginning loss of territories under Harun al-Rashid worsened after the death ofal-Ma'mun in 833, and that thecrusades in the 12th century resulted in a weakening of theIslamic empire from which it never recovered.[13]
Regarding the end of the Gola, Mohamad Abdalla argues the dominant approach by scholars is the "decline theory.":
The golden age is considered to have come into existence through a gigantic endeavor to acquire and translate the ancient sciences of the Greeks between the eighth and ninth centuries. The translations era was followed by two centuries of splendid original thinking and contributions, and is known as the "golden age" of Islamic science. This so-called "golden age" is supposed to have lasted from the end of the ninth to the end of the eleventh century. The era after this period is conventionally known as the "age of decline". A survey of literature from the nineteenth century onwards demonstrates that the decline theory has become the preferred paradigm in general academia.[14]
The variousQuranic injunctions andHadith (or actions ofMuhammad), which place values on education and emphasize the importance of acquiring knowledge, played a vital role in influencing the Muslims of this age in their search for knowledge and the development of the body of science.[15][16][17]
During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost were translated fromGreek,Syriac,Middle Persian, andSanskrit into Syriac and Arabic, some of which were later in turn translated into other languages likeHebrew andLatin.[4]
The Christian physicianHunayn ibn Ishaq led the translation of works.
Persians also were a notably high proportion ofscientists who contributed to the Islamic Golden Age. According toBernard Lewis: "Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Persian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavor, including Arabic poetry, to which poets of Iranian origin composing their poems in Arabic made a very significant contribution."[42]
While cultural influence used to radiate outward from Baghdad, after theMongol destruction of the Abbasid Caliphate, Arab influence decreased.[43] Iran and Central Asia, benefiting from increased cross-cultural access to East Asia underMongol rule, flourished and developed more distinctively from Arab influence, such as theTimurid Renaissance under theTimurid dynasty.[44]
A manuscript written on paper during theAbbasid Era
With a new and easierwriting system, and theintroduction of paper, information was democratized to the extent that, for probably the first time in history, it became possible to make a living from only writing and selling books.[45] The use of paper spread fromChina into Muslim regions in the eighth century through mass production inSamarkand andKhorasan,[46] arriving inAl-Andalus on theIberian peninsula (modern Spain and Portugal) in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture thanparchment, less likely to crack thanpapyrus, and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase and ideal for keeping records. Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available inEurope for centuries.[47] It was from these countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen.[48]
The centrality of scripture and its study in the Islamic tradition helped to make education a central pillar of the religion in virtually all times and places in the history of Islam.[49] The importance of learning in the Islamic tradition is reflected in a number of hadiths attributed to Muhammad, including one that states "Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim".[49] This injunction was seen to apply particularly to scholars, but also to some extent to the wider Muslim public, as exemplified by the dictum ofal-Zarnuji, "learning is prescribed for us all".[49] While it is impossible to calculate literacy rates in pre-modern Islamic societies, it is almost certain that they were relatively high, at least in comparison to their European counterparts.[49]
Organized instruction in the CairoAl-Azhar Mosque began in 978
Education would begin at a young age with study ofArabic and theQuran, either at home or in a primary school, which was often attached to a mosque.[49] Some students would then proceed to training intafsir (Quranic exegesis) andfiqh (Islamic jurisprudence), which was seen as particularly important.[49] Education focused on memorization, but also trained the more advanced students to participate as readers and writers in the tradition of commentary on the studied texts.[49] It also involved a process ofsocialization of aspiring scholars, who came from virtually all social backgrounds, into the ranks of theulema.[49]
For the first few centuries of Islam, educational settings were entirely informal, but beginning in the 11th and 12th centuries, the ruling elites began to establish institutions of higher religious learning known asmadrasas in an effort to secure support and cooperation of the ulema.[49] Madrasas soon multiplied throughout the Islamic world, which helped to spread Islamic learning beyond urban centers and to unite diverse Islamic communities in a shared cultural project.[49] Nonetheless, instruction remained focused on individual relationships between students and their teacher.[49] The formal attestation of educational attainment,ijaza, was granted by a particular scholar rather than the institution, and it placed its holder within a genealogy of scholars, which was the only recognized hierarchy in the educational system.[49] While formal studies in madrasas were open only to men, women of prominent urban families were commonly educated in private settings and many of them received and later issuedijazas in hadith studies, calligraphy and poetry recitation.[50][51] Working women learned religious texts and practical skills primarily from each other, though they also received some instruction together with men in mosques and private homes.[50]
Madrasas were devoted principally to study of law, but they also offered other subjects such as theology, medicine, and mathematics.[52][53] The madrasa complex usually consisted of a mosque, boarding house, and a library.[52] It was maintained by awaqf (charitable endowment), which paid salaries of professors, stipends of students, and defrayed the costs of construction and maintenance.[52] The madrasa was unlike a modern college in that it lacked a standardized curriculum or institutionalized system of certification.[52]
Muslims distinguished disciplines inherited from pre-Islamic civilizations, such as philosophy and medicine, which they called "sciences of the ancients" or "rational sciences", from Islamic religious sciences.[49] Sciences of the former type flourished for several centuries, and their transmission formed part of the educational framework in classical and medieval Islam.[49] In some cases, they were supported by institutions such as theHouse of Wisdom in Baghdad, but more often they were transmitted informally from teacher to student.[49]
TheUniversity of Al Karaouine, founded in 859 AD, is listed inThe Guinness Book Of Records as the world's oldest degree-granting university.[54] TheAl-Azhar University was another early madrasa now recognized as a university. The madrasa is one of the relics of theFatimid caliphate. The Fatimids traced their descent to Muhammad's daughterFatimah and named the institution using a variant of her honorific titleAl-Zahra (the brilliant).[55] Organized instruction in theAl-Azhar Mosque began in 978.[56] Arabic became atrade language. The Muslim-ruled Spanish capital ofCórdoba, which surpassedConstantinople[57][58] as theEurope's largest city, also became a prominent world leading centre of education and learning producing numerous polymaths.
Juristic thought gradually developed in study circles, where independent scholars met to learn from a local master and discuss religious topics.[59][60] At first, these circles were fluid in their membership, but with time distinct regionallegal schools crystallized around shared sets of methodological principles.[60][61] As the boundaries of the schools became clearly delineated, the authority of their doctrinal tenets came to be vested in a master jurist from earlier times, who was henceforth identified as the school's founder.[60][61] In the course of the first three centuries of Islam, all legal schools came to accept the broad outlines of classical legal theory, according to which Islamic law had to be firmly rooted in the Quran and hadith.[61][62]
The classicaltheory of Islamic jurisprudence elaborates how scriptures should be interpreted from the standpoint of linguistics and rhetoric.[63] It also comprises methods for establishing authenticity of hadith and for determining when the legal force of a scriptural passage isabrogated by a passage revealed at a later date.[63] In addition to the Quran and sunnah, the classical theory of Sunni fiqh recognizes two other sources of law: juristic consensus (ijmaʿ) and analogical reasoning (qiyas).[64] It therefore studies the application and limits of analogy, as well as the value and limits of consensus, along with other methodological principles, some of which are accepted by only certain legal schools.[63] This interpretive apparatus is brought together under the rubric ofijtihad, which refers to a jurist's exertion in an attempt to arrive at a ruling on a particular question.[63] The theory ofTwelver Shia jurisprudence parallels that of Sunni schools with some differences, such as recognition of reason (ʿaql) as a source of law in place ofqiyas and extension of the notion of sunnah to include traditions of theimams.[65]
The body of substantive Islamic law was created by independent jurists (muftis). Their legal opinions (fatwas) were taken into account by ruler-appointedjudges who presided overqāḍī's courts, and bymaẓālim courts, which were controlled by the ruler's council and administered criminal law.[61][63]
Classical Islamic theology emerged from an early doctrinal controversy which pitted theahl al-hadith movement, led byAhmad ibn Hanbal, who considered the Quran and authentic hadith to be the only acceptable authority in matters of faith, againstMu'tazilites and other theological currents, who developed theological doctrines using rationalistic methods.[66] In 833 the caliphal-Ma'mun tried to impose Mu'tazilite theology on all religious scholars and instituted an inquisition (mihna), but the attempts to impose a caliphal writ in matters of religious orthodoxy ultimately failed.[66] This controversy persisted untilal-Ash'ari (874–936) found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism and Hanbalite literalism, using the rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most substantive tenets maintained byahl al-hadith.[67] A rival compromise between rationalism and literalism emerged from the work ofal-Maturidi (d. c. 944), and, although a minority of scholars remained faithful to the earlyahl al-hadith creed,Ash'ari andMaturidi theology came to dominate Sunni Islam from the 10th century on.[67][68]
Ibn Sina (Avicenna) andIbn Rushd (Averroes) played a major role in interpreting the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of theChristian andMuslim worlds. According to theStanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, translation of philosophical texts from Arabic to Latin in Western Europe "led to the transformation of almost all philosophical disciplines in the medieval Latin world".[69] The influence of Islamic philosophers in Europe was particularly strong in natural philosophy, psychology and metaphysics, though it also influenced the study of logic and ethics.[69]
Ibn Sina argued his "Floating man" thought experiment concerningself-awareness, in which a man deprived of sense experience by being blindfolded and free falling would still be aware of his existence.[70]
Another Persian mathematician,Omar Khayyam, is credited with identifying the foundations ofAnalytic geometry. Omar Khayyam found the general geometric solution of thecubic equation. His bookTreatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra (1070), which was a significant step in the development of algebra, is part of the body of Persian mathematics that was eventually transmitted to Europe.[75]
Yet another Persian mathematician,Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, found algebraic and numerical solutions to various cases of cubic equations.[76] He also developed the concept of afunction.[77]
Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) discovered the sum formula for the fourth power, using a method that could be generally used to determine the sum for any integral power. He used this to find the volume of aparaboloid. He could find the integral formula for any polynomial without having developed a general formula.[78]
Islamic art makes use ofgeometric patterns and symmetries in many of its art forms, notably ingirih tilings. These are formed using a set of five tile shapes, namely a regulardecagon, an elongatedhexagon, a bow tie, arhombus, and a regularpentagon. All the sides of these tiles have the same length; and all their angles are multiples of 36° (π/5radians), offering fivefold and tenfold symmetries. The tiles are decorated withstrapwork lines (girih), generally more visible than the tile boundaries. In 2007, the physicistsPeter Lu andPaul Steinhardt argued that girih from the 15th century resembledquasicrystallinePenrose tilings.[79][80][81][82] Elaborate geometriczellige tilework is a distinctive element inMoroccan architecture.[83]Muqarnas vaults are three-dimensional but were designed in two dimensions with drawings of geometrical cells.[84]
A triangle labelled with the components of the law of sines. CapitalA,B andC are the angles, and lower-casea,b,c are the sides opposite them. (a oppositeA, etc.)
Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī is one of the several Islamic mathematicians on whom thelaw of sines is attributed; he wrote "The Book of Unknown Arcs of a Sphere" in the 11th century. This formula relates the lengths of the sides of any triangle, rather than onlyright triangles, to the sines of its angles.[86] According to the law,
wherea,b, andc are the lengths of the sides of a triangle, andA,B, andC are the opposite angles (see figure).
The earliest use ofstatistical inference was given byAl-Kindi (c. 801–873, also known as "Alkindus" in Europe), inRisalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma (A Manuscript on DecipheringCryptographic Messages) which contains the first description of the method offrequency analysis.[87][88]
Avicenna made rules for testing the effectiveness of drugs, including that the effect produced by the experimental drug should be seen constantly or after many repetitions, to be counted.[94][better source needed] ThephysicianRhazes was an early proponent of experimental medicine and recommended using control for clinical research. He said: "If you want to study the effect of bloodletting on a condition, divide the patients into two groups, perform bloodletting only on one group, watch both, and compare the results."[95]
Astronomy in Islam was able to grow greatly because of several key factors. One factor was geographical: the Islamic world was close to the ancient lands of the Greeks, which held valuable ancient knowledge of the heavens in Greek manuscripts.[96] During the newAbbasid Dynasty after the movement of the capital in 762 AD to Baghdad, translators were sponsored to translate Greek texts into Arabic.[96] This translation period led to many major scientific works fromGalen,Ptolemy,Aristotle,Euclid,Archimedes, andApollonius being translated into Arabic.[96] From these translations previously lost knowledge of the cosmos was now being used to advance current astrological thinkers. The second key factor of astronomy's growth was the religious observances followed by Muslims which expected them to pray at exact times during the day.[96] These observances in timekeeping led to many questions in previous Greek mathematical astronomy, especially their timekeeping.[96]
Astrolabe with Quranic inscriptions from Iran, dated 1060AH (1650-51 AD)
Theastrolabe was a Greek invention which was an important piece of Arabic astronomy. An astrolabe is a handheld two-dimensional model of the sky which can solve problems of spherical astronomy.[96] It is made up of lines ofaltitude andazimuth with an index, horizon, hour circle, zenith,Rete, star pointer, and equator to accurately show where the stars are at that given moment.[96] Use of the astrolabe is best expressed inAl-Farghani's treatise on the astrolabe due to the mathematical way he applied the instrument to astrology, astronomy, and timekeeping.[96] The earliest known Astrolabe in existence today comes from the Islamic period. It was made byNastulus in 927-28 AD and is now a treasure of theKuwait National Museum.[96]
The geocentric system developed by Ptolemy placed the sun, moon, and other planets in orbit around the Earth.[96] Ptolemy thought that the planets moved on circles calledepicycles and that their centers rode ondeferents. The deferents wereeccentric, and the angular motion of a planet was uniform around theequant which was a point opposite the deferent center.[96] Simply, Ptolemy's models were a mathematical system for predicting the positions of the planets. One of the first to criticize this model wasIbn al-Haytham, a leader of physics in the 11th century in Cairo. Then in the 13th centuryNasir al-Din al-Tusi constructed theMaragha Observatory in what is today Iran.[96] Al-Tusi found the equant dissatisfying and replaced it by adding a geometrical technique called aTusi-couple, which generates linear motion from the sum of two circular motions. Then,Ibn al-Shatir who was working in Damascus in 1350 AD employed the Tusi-couple to successfully eliminate the equant as well as other objectionable circles that Ptolemy had used.[97] This new model properly aligned the celestial spheres and was mathematically sound.[96] This development by Ibn al-Shatir, as well as the Maragha astronomers remained relatively unknown in medieval Europe.[96]
The names for some of the stars used, includingBetelgeuse,Rigel,Vega,Aldebaran, andFomalhaut are several of the names that come directly from Arabic origins or are the translations of Ptolemy's Greek descriptions which are still in use today.[96]
Alhazen played a role in the development ofoptics. One of the prevailing theories of vision in his time and place was theemission theory supported byEuclid and Ptolemy, where sight worked by the eye emitting rays of light, and the other was the Aristotelean theory that sight worked when the essence of objects flows into the eyes. Alhazen correctly argued that vision occurred when light, traveling in straight lines, reflects off an object into the eyes.Al-Biruni wrote of his insights into light, stating that its velocity must be immense when compared to the speed of sound.[98]
The early Islamic period saw the establishment of some of the longest lived theoretical frameworks inalchemy andchemistry. Thesulfur-mercury theory of metals, first attested in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana'sSirr al-khalīqa ("The Secret of Creation", c. 750–850) and in the Arabic writings attributed toJābir ibn Ḥayyān (written c. 850–950),[99] would remain the basis of all theories of metallic composition until the eighteenth century.[100] Likewise, theEmerald Tablet, a compact and cryptic text that all later alchemists up to and includingIsaac Newton (1642–1727) would regard as the foundation of their art, first occurs in theSirr al-khalīqa and in one of the works attributed to Jābir.[101]
Substantial advances were also made in practical chemistry. The works attributed to Jābir, and those of the Persian alchemist and physicianAbū Bakr al-Rāzī (c. 865–925), contain the earliest known systematic classifications of chemical substances.[102] However, alchemists were not only interested in identifying and classifying chemical substances, but also in artificially creating them.[103] Significant examples from the medieval Islamic world include the synthesis ofammonium chloride fromorganic substances as described in the works attributed to Jābir,[104] and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's experiments withvitriol, which would eventually lead to the discovery ofmineral acids likesulfuric acid andnitric acid by thirteenth century Latin alchemists such aspseudo-Geber.[102]
Modern commentators have likened medieval accounts of the "struggle for existence" in the animal kingdom to the framework of thetheory of evolution.Thus, in his survey of the history of the ideas which led to the theory ofnatural selection,Conway Zirkle noted thatal-Jahiz was one of those who discussed a "struggle for existence", in hisKitāb al-Hayawān (Book of Animals), written in the 9th century.[106]In the 13th century,Nasir al-Din al-Tusi believed that humans were derived from advanced animals, saying, "Such humans [probably anthropoid apes][107] live in the Western Sudan and other distant corners of the world. They are close to animals by their habits, deeds and behavior."[107] In 1377,Ibn Khaldun in hisMuqaddimah stated, "Theanimal kingdom was developed, its species multiplied, and in the gradual process ofCreation, it ended in man and arising from the world of the monkeys."[108]
ForIslamic scholars, Indian and Greek physicians and medical researchersSushruta,Galen, Mankah,Atreya,Hippocrates,Charaka, andAgnivesha were pre-eminent authorities.[110] In order to make the Indian and Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast Indian and Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and summaries. Sometimes, past scholars were criticized, like Rhazes who criticized and refuted Galen's revered theories, most notably, theTheory of Humors and was thus accused of ignorance.[95] It was through 12th-centuryArabic translations that medieval Europe rediscoveredHellenic medicine, including the works of Galen and Hippocrates, and discoveredancient Indian medicine, including the works ofSushruta andCharaka.[111][112] Works such as Avicenna'sThe Canon of Medicine were translated into Latin and disseminated throughout Europe. During the 15th and 16th centuries alone,The Canon of Medicine was published more than thirty-five times. It was used as a standard medical textbook through the 18th century in Europe.[113] The largely dominant theory of the time wasHumorism where four separate “humors” (liquid substances, including blood, phlegm, yellow bile and dark bile) whose balance were thought to be the key to health and a natural body-temperature. In the bookAl Shakook ala Jalinoos or "The Doubt on Galen" al-Razi criticized some of Galen’s theories, particularly humorism, saying that they did not agree with his own clinical observations.[114] Arab physicianIbn Zuhr provided proof thatscabies is caused by theitch mite and that it can be cured by removing the parasite without the need for purging, bleeding or other treatments called for by humorism, making a break with the humorism of Galen andAvicenna.[115]
Regarding thecardiovascular system,Ibn al-Nafis in hisCommentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon was the first known scholar to contradict the contention of theGalen School that blood could pass between the ventricles in the heart through the cardiac inter-ventricular septum that separates them, saying that there is no passage between the ventricles at this point.[116] Instead, he correctly argued that all the blood that reached the left ventricle did so after passing through the lung.[116] He also stated that there must be small communications, or pores, between thepulmonary artery andpulmonary vein, a prediction that preceded the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries ofMarcello Malpighi by 400 years. TheCommentary was rediscovered in the twentieth century in thePrussian State Library in Berlin; whether its view of thepulmonary circulation influenced scientists such asMichael Servetus is unclear.[116]
Ininfectious diseases,Rhazes differentiated through careful observation the two diseasessmallpox andmeasles, which were previously lumped together as a single disease that causedrashes.[118] This was based on location and the time of the appearance of the symptoms and he also scaled the degree of severity and prognosis of infections according to the color and location of rashes.[119] Rhazes, who was once asked to choose the site for a new hospital in Baghdad, suspended pieces of meat at various points around the city, and recommended building the hospital at the location where the meat putrefied the slowest.[95]
Inpediatrics, Al-Razi is sometimes called the "Father of pediatrics" for writing the monograph,The Diseases of Children treating paediatrics as an independent field of medicine.[120]
Insurgery, the tenth centuryArab physicianAl-Zahrawi is sometimes referred to as the "Father of surgery".[121] He describes what is thought to be the first attempt at reductionmammaplasty for the management ofgynaecomastia[121] and the firstmastectomy to treatbreast cancer.[115] He is credited with the performance of the firstthyroidectomy.[122] He wrote three textbooks on surgery, includingManual of Medial Practitioners which contains a catalog of 278 instruments used in surgery[123] In the thirteenth century,Ibn al-Quff was a physician and surgeon who published numerous books, commentaries, treatises on surgery. Most notably, he wroteBasics in the Art of Surgery, a general medical manual covering anatomy, drugs therapy and surgical care, which was by far the largest Arabic text on surgery during the entire medieval period.[124]
The 12th century scholar-inventorIsmail al-Jazari, in his writings describes of numerous mechanical devices, ideas on automation and construction methods, most notable among them being theElephant clock.[127] While late in the 16th century, the Ottoman-eraTaqi ad-Din Muhammad wrote on a mechanism that worked with the application of steam energy. He describes a self-rotating spit which was rotated by the direction of steam into the mechanism's vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of an axle,[128] this technology being an important part of the development of thesteam turbine.[129]
During this time period,Roman Aqueducts were being used and expanded upon. Starting in the 9th and 10th century Arab and Moorish peasants started restoring the ruined aqueducts. The peasants also improved upon the aqueducts by localizing the technology to the respective landscapes of their area.[130] The aqueducts which were initially publicly available, built for that use by the Romans, soon became privatized. The local powers used the aqueducts to gain power in their respective communities. This later evolved to the regional royalty assuming ownership over the aqueducts in the 11th-12th centuries. Some aqueducts were utilized by the royalty to supply water to their palace wells and gardens.[130][131]
Archiving was a respected position during this time in Islam though most of the governing documents have been lost over time. However, from correspondence and remaining documentation gives a hint of the social climate as well as shows that the archives were detailed and vast during their time. All letters that were received or sent on behalf of the governing bodies were copied, archived and noted for filing. The position of the archivist was seen as one that had to have a high level of devotion as they held the records of all pertinent transactions.[133]
Entrance to theQalawun complex which housed the notable Mansuri hospital in Cairo
The earliest known Islamic hospital was built in 805 in Baghdad by order of Harun Al-Rashid, and the most important of Baghdad's hospitals was established in 982 by theBuyid ruler'Adud al-Dawla.[134] The best documented early Islamic hospitals are the great Syro-Egyptian establishments of the 12th and 13th centuries.[134] By the tenth century, Baghdad had five more hospitals, whileDamascus had six hospitals by the 15th century andCórdoba alone had 50 major hospitals, many exclusively for the military.[135]
The typical hospital was divided into departments such as systemic diseases, surgery, and orthopedics, with larger hospitals having more diverse specialties. "Systemic diseases" was the rough equivalent of today'sinternal medicine and was further divided into sections such as fever, infections and digestive issues. Every department had an officer-in-charge, a presiding officer and a supervising specialist. The hospitals also had lecture theaters and libraries. Hospitals staff included sanitary inspectors, who regulated cleanliness, and accountants and other administrative staff.[135] The hospitals were typically run by a three-man board comprising a non-medical administrator, the chief pharmacist, called the shaykh saydalani, who was equal in rank to the chief physician, who served as mutwalli (dean).[94] Medical facilities traditionally closed each night, but by the 10th century laws were passed to keep hospitals open 24 hours a day.[136]
For less serious cases, physicians staffed outpatient clinics. Cities also had first aid centers staffed by physicians for emergencies that were often located in busy public places, such as big gatherings for Friday prayers. The region also had mobile units staffed by doctors and pharmacists who were supposed to meet the need of remote communities. Baghdad was also known to have a separate hospital for convicts since the early 10th century after the vizier 'Ali ibn Isa ibn Jarah ibn Thabit wrote to Baghdad's chief medical officer that "prisons must have their own doctors who should examine them every day". The first hospital built in Egypt, in Cairo's Southwestern quarter, was the first documented facility to care for mental illnesses. InAleppo's Arghun Hospital, care for mental illness included abundant light, fresh air, running water and music.[135][better source needed]
Medical students would accompany physicians and participate in patient care. Hospitals in this era were the first to require medical diplomas to license doctors.[137] The licensing test was administered by the region's government appointed chief medical officer. The test had two steps; the first was to write a treatise, on the subject the candidate wished to obtain a certificate, of original research or commentary of existing texts, which they were encouraged to scrutinize for errors. The second step was to answer questions in an interview with the chief medical officer. Physicians worked fixed hours and medical staff salaries were fixed by law. For regulating the quality of care and arbitrating cases, it is related that if a patient dies, their family presents the doctor's prescriptions to the chief physician who would judge if the death was natural or if it was by negligence, in which case the family would be entitled to compensation from the doctor. The hospitals had male and female quarters while some hospitals only saw men and other hospitals, staffed by women physicians, only saw women.[135] While women physicians practiced medicine, many largely focused onobstetrics.[115][better source needed]
Hospitals were forbidden by law to turn away patients who were unable to pay.[136] Eventually,charitable foundations calledwaqfs were formed to support hospitals, as well as schools.[136] Part of the state budget also went towards maintaining hospitals.[135] While the services of the hospital were free for all citizens[136] and patients were sometimes given a small stipend to support recovery upon discharge, individual physicians occasionally charged fees.[135] In a notable endowment, a 13th-century governor of EgyptAl-Mansur Qalawun ordained a foundation for theQalawun hospital that would contain a mosque and a chapel, separate wards for different diseases, a library for doctors and a pharmacy[138] and the hospital is used today forophthalmology.[135] The Qalawun hospital was based in a former Fatimid palace which had accommodation for 8,000 people –[139] "it served 4,000 patients daily."[citation needed] The waqf stated,
... The hospital shall keep all patients, men and women, until they are completely recovered. All costs are to be borne by the hospital whether the people come from afar or near, whether they are residents or foreigners, strong or weak, low or high, rich or poor, employed or unemployed, blind or sighted, physically or mentally ill, learned or illiterate. There are no conditions of consideration and payment, none is objected to or even indirectly hinted at for non-payment.[138]
Arabic scholars used their natural and cultural resources to contribute to the strong development of pharmacology. They believed that God had provided the means for a cure for every disease. However, there was confusion about the nature of some ancient plants that existed during this time.[140]
In the past, all substances that were to be introduced into, on or near the human body were labeled as medicine, ranging from drugs, food, beverages, even perfumes to cosmetics.[citation needed] The earliest distinction between medicine and pharmacy as disciplines began in the seventh century, when pharmacists and apothecaries appeared in the first hospitals. Demand for drugs increased as the population increased. By the ninth century where pharmacy was established as an independent and well-defined profession by Muslim scholars. It is said by many historians that the opening of the first private pharmacy in the eighth century marks the independence of pharmacy from medicine.[140]
The emergence of medicine and pharmacy within the Islamic caliphate by the ninth century occurred at the same time as rapid expansion of many scientific institutions, libraries, schools, hospitals and then pharmacies in many Muslim cities.[citation needed] The rise ofalchemy during the ninth century also played a vital role for early pharmacological development. While Arab pharmacists were not successful in converting non-precious metals into precious metals, their works giving details of techniques and lab equipment were major contributors to the development of pharmacy. Chemical techniques such as distillation, condensation, evaporation and pulverization were often used.[citation needed]
The Qur'an provided the basis for the development of professional ethics where the rise of ritual washing also influenced the importance of hygiene in pharmacology. Pharmacies were periodically visited by government inspectors calledmuhtasib, who checked to see that the medicines were mixed properly, not diluted and kept in clean jars. Work done by themuhtasib was carefully outlined in manuals that explained ways of examining and recognizing falsified drugs, foods and spices. It was forbidden for pharmacists to perform medical treatment without the presence of a physician, while physicians were limited to the preparation and handling of medications. It was feared that recipes would fall into the hands of someone without the proper pharmaceutical training. Licenses were required to run private practices. Violators were fined or beaten.[citation needed]
Introductory summary overview map fromal-Idrisi's 1154 world atlas (South is at the top of the map.)
Apart from theNile,Tigris, andEuphrates, navigable rivers were uncommon in the Middle East, so transport by sea was very important. Navigational sciences were highly developed, making use of a rudimentarysextant (known as a kamal). When combined with detailed maps of the period, sailors were able to sail across oceans rather than skirt along the coast. Muslim sailors were also responsible for reintroducing large, three-masted merchant vessels to theMediterranean.[citation needed] The namecaravel may derive from an earlierArab boat known as theqarib.[142]
The diffusion of sugarcane from the Indian subcontinent to Spain during Islamic rule
The Arabs ofAl-Andalus exerted a large impact on Spanish agriculture, including the restoration of Roman-era aqueducts and irrigation channels, as well as the introduction of new technologies such as theacequias andIslamic gardens (such as at theGeneralife). In Spain and Sicily, the Arabs introduced crops and foodstuffs from Persia, Khorasan, Tabaristan, Iraq, Levant, Egypt, Sindh and India such asrice,sugarcane,oranges,lemons,bananas, saffron, carrots, apricots and eggplants, as well as restoring cultivation of olives and pomegranates from Greco-Roman times. ThePalmeral of Elche in southern Spain is aUNESCO World Heritage site that is emblematic of the Islamic agricultural legacy in Europe.
The 13th century poet[145]Rumi (also known asMawlana) (Romanized: mwlana) (Arabic word meaning "the great of our crowd")) wrote some of the finestpoetry in the Persian language and remains one of the best selling poets in the United States.[146][147] Other famous poets of the Persian language includeHafez (whose work was read by William Jones, Thoreau, Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Friedrich Engels),Saadi (whose poetry was cited extensively by Goethe, Hegel and Voltaire),Ferdowsi,Omar Khayyam andAmir Khusrow.
One Thousand and One Nights, an anthology of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in the Arabic language during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, has had a large influence on Western and Middle Eastern literature and popular culture with such classics asAladdin,Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves andSinbad the Sailor. The folk-tale 'Sinbad the Sailor' even draws inspiration directly from Hellenistic literature like theHomeric epics (translated from Greek to Arabic in the 8th century CE) andAlexander Romances (tales of Alexander the Great popular in Europe, the Middle East and India).
Calligraphy, an essential aspect of writtenArabic, developed in manuscripts and architectural decoration. This form of visual art can be found adorning the walls of palaces, the interior and domes of mosques as well as the surrounding structure ofminbars.[148] Calligraphy would use a variety of stylised and standardised scripts, two major scripts among them beingkufic andnaskh. Ceramics, metalwork and glassware were also brilliantly decorated with geometric patterns and vibrant colors.[149]
Manuscript illumination was an important art, andPersian miniature painting flourished in thePersianate world, and went on to influence miniature art in the Ottoman and Mughal court between the 16th–17th centuries.[150][151] Very few surviving records of wall painting exists, especially ones that represented the human face. A rare example of this are the early 9th-century fragments from the ruins of the Dar al-Khilafah palace atSamarra from the Abbasid period. These are fragments of larger wall paintings depicting harem women, period-era clothing and animals.[152]
The ninth and tenth centuries saw a flowering of Arabic music. Philosopher and estheteAl-Farabi,[153] at the end of the ninth century, established the foundations of modern Arabic music theory, based on themaqammat, or musical modes. His work was based on the music ofZiryab, the court musician of Andalusia. Ziryab was a renowned polymath, whose contributions to western civilization included formal dining, haircuts, chess, and more, in addition to his dominance of the world musical scene of the ninth century.[154]
The Sumerians and Akkadians, the Greeks, and the Persians all used math to create notes used on lutes and lyres and other stringed instruments. Using the idea that a plucked or bowed string produces a note, they noticed the difference in tone when a string is stopped. "The great discovery" was hearing the double octave, that halving a string produces a note one octave above the string.[155] Written as a ratio 2:1.[155]
They measured the ratios of string lengths on one side and the other of where the string was pressed, creating ratios. Those ratios allowed them to compare sounds, for example third intervals, fourths, fifths. They were able to tune one string against another in those intervals on lutes, lyres, harps, zithers. Lutes gave them the further ability to create those intervals on a single string, by adding frets at mathematically spaced distances, based on the ratios. Unlike modern instruments, where frets may be permanently fixed into the neck, as on a guitar, the older instruments used gut strings tied around the neck for frets, and this made their instruments adjustable. Early musicians could tune their instruments to differentmodes. Lute players could tune the strings to differentintervals, and could further adjust the frets for the modes.
Drawing of a lute bySafi al-Din from a 1333 copy of his book,Kitab al-Adwār. The oldest copy dates to 1296.
The mixing cultures of Central Asia and Arabia produced several thinkers who wrote about music, including something about the lute in their works, includingAl-Kindi (c. 801 – c. 873),Ziryab (789–857),Al-Farabi (c. 872 – c. 950),Avicenna (c. 980 – 1037), andSafi al-Din al-Urmawi (1216–1294). They wrote in Arabic, what had become the useful lingua-Franca of their time, and took part in Muslim society and culture. However they were brought up in Central Asia.
The Arabs had a musical scale, described by al-Farabi, in use by some through the 13th century A.D.[156] That tanbar scale, which divided the string into "40 equal parts" may have been a leftover from Babylon and Assyria.[156] However, the Arabs traded with and conquered the Persians, and they adopted Persian scales for their lutes, just as they adopted Persian short-necked lutes.[156]
Ziryab moved from Baghdad toal-Andalus, where he set up a school of music and was one of the first to add a fifth string or course to oud, "between 822 and 852).[157] Al-Andalus, where he settled would become a center of musical instrument development for Europe.
Al-Kindi was a polymath who wrote as many as 15 music-related treatises. He was among the first to apply Greek musical theory to Central Asian-Arabian short lutes.[157] He added semi-tones between the nut and the first string.[157] He also added a fifth string to his oud in the east, as Ziryab had done in the west.[157]
Al-Farabi "fully incorporated the works ofAristoxenus andPtolemy into his theory of tetrachords", and wrote among books in many subjects, theKitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir, theMajor Book of Music, in which he detailed how to tune an oud, using mathematical ratios.[158] He gave instruction for both 10 frets and 12, telling where to place the tied (and moveable) gut-string frets on the neck.[158] His way of tuning allowed a "12-fret 'ud tuning — which results ... 'double-octave' scale", with 22 notes in each octave.[158]
TheGreat Mosque of Kairouan (inTunisia), the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world excluding Turkey and the Balkans,[159] is one of the best preserved and most significant examples of early great mosques. Founded in 670, it dates in its present form largely from the 9th century.[160] The Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a three-tiered square minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by colonnaded porticos, and a hugehypostyle prayer hall covered on its axis by two cupolas.[159]
TheGreat Mosque of Samarra in Iraq was completed in 847. It combined the hypostyle architecture of rows of columns supporting a flat base, above which a huge spirallingminaret was constructed.
The beginning of construction of theGreat Mosque at Cordoba in 785 marked the beginning of Islamic architecture in Spain and Northern Africa. The mosque is noted for its striking interior arches. Moorish architecture reached its peak with the construction of theAlhambra, the magnificent palace/fortress ofGranada, with its open and breezy interior spaces adorned in red, blue, and gold. The walls are decorated with stylized foliage motifs,Arabic inscriptions, andarabesque design work, with walls covered ingeometrically patterned glazed tiles.
Economic historian Joel Mokyr has argued that Islamic philosopheral-Ghazali (1058–1111), the author ofThe Incoherence of the Philosophers, "was a key figure in the decline in Islamic science" and that this led to a cultural shift shunning away from scientific thinking.[161] However, it is argued that al-Ghazali was instead an admirer and adherent of philosophy but was criticizing the use of philosophy in religious matters only.[162] Additionally, Saliba (2007) has pointed out that the golden age did not slow down after al-Ghazali, who lived in the 11th century,[163][164] while others extend the golden age to around the 16th[3] to 17th centuries.[165][166][167]
Ahmad Y. al-Hassan has rejected the thesis that lack of creative thinking was a cause, arguing that science was always kept separate from religious argument; he instead analyzes the decline in terms of economic and political factors, drawing on the work of the 14th-century writerIbn Khaldun.[3]
Several other contemporary scholars have analysed the decline in terms of political and economic factors.[1][2] Current research has led to the conclusion that "the available evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that an increase in the political power of these elites caused the observed decline in scientific output."[168] The decline could be part of a larger trend where the non-Western world fell behind the West in theGreat Divergence. In 1206,Genghis Khan established theMongol Empire which, during the 13th century, conquered most of the Eurasian land mass, including China in the east and much of the old Islamic caliphate (as well asKievan Rus') in the west. Thedestruction of Baghdad and theHouse of Wisdom byHulagu Khan in 1258 has been seen by some as the end of the Islamic Golden Age.[169] However, while cultural influence used to radiate outward from Baghdad, after the fall of Baghdad, Iran and Central Asia saw a cultural flourishing by benefiting from increased cross-cultural access to East Asia underMongol rule.[43][44]
"...regarded by some Westerners as the true father of historiography and sociology".[170]
"Ibn Khaldun has been claimed the forerunner of a great number of European thinkers, mostly sociologists, historians, and philosophers".(Boulakia 1971)
"This grand scheme to find a new science of society makes him the forerunner of many of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries system-builders such as Vico, Comte and Marx." "As one of the early founders of the social sciences...".[172]
"He is considered by some as a father of modern economics, or at least a major forerunner. The Western world recognizes Khaldun as the father of sociology but hesitates in recognizing him as a great economist who laid its very foundations. He was the first to systematically analyze the functioning of an economy, the importance of technology, specialization and foreign trade in economic surplus and the role of government and its stabilization policies to increase output and employment. Moreover, he dealt with the problem of optimum taxation, minimum government services, incentives, institutional framework, law and order, expectations, production, and the theory of value".Cosma, Sorinel (2009). "Ibn Khaldun's Economic Thinking". Ovidius University Annals of Economics (Ovidius University Press) XIV:52–57
^abcdHassan, Ahmad Y (1996)."Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century". In Sharifah Shifa Al-Attas (ed.).Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, Proceedings of the Inaugural Symposium on Islam and the Challenge of Modernity: Historical and Contemporary Contexts, Kuala Lumpur, 1–5 August 1994. International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC). pp. 351–99. Archived fromthe original on 2 April 2015.
^abGutas, Dimitri (1998).Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbāsid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries). London:Routledge.[page needed]
^Josias Leslie Porter,A Handbook for Travelers in Syria and Palestine, 1868,p. 49.
^New Outlook, vol. 45, 1892, p. 370,For six centuries and a half, through the golden age of Islam, lasted this Caliphate, till extinguished by the Osmanli sultans and in the death of the last of the blood of the house of Mahomet. The true Caliphate ended with the fall of Bagdad.
^The Literary World, vol. 36, 1887, p. 308,the golden age of Islam, as Mr. Gilman points out, ended with Omar, the second of the Kalifs.[title missing]
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^Foster, John (1939).The Church of the T'ang Dynasty. Great Britain: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. p. 31.The school was twice closed, in 431 and 489
^Hyman and WalshPhilosophy in the Middle Ages Indianapolis, 1973, p. 204' Meri, Josef W. and Jere L. Bacharach, Editors,Medieval Islamic Civilization Vol. 1, A–K, Index, 2006, p. 304.
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^Epstein, Joel (2019).The Language of the Heart. Juwal Publishing.ISBN978-1-0701-0090-6.)
^abcdFarmer, Henry George (April 1937). "The Lute Scale of Avicenna".The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland (2):247–248.JSTOR25201498.
^abcForster, Christiano M.L."Musical Mathematics on the art and science of acoustic instruments, Chapter 11".chrysalis-foundation.org. Retrieved19 September 2018.Before we continue with Al-Farabi's 12-fret 'ud tuning — which results in a 22-tone "double-octave" scale ... Al-Farabi concludes 'After these, no note of the 'ud remains which needs to be reproduced. In each octave, there are twenty-two notes; and these are all the notes used by the 'ud. Some of them are more frequently used than others.'
^El-Rouayheb, Khaled (2008). "The Myth of "The Triumph of Fanaticism" in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire".Die Welt des Islams.48 (2):196–221.doi:10.1163/157006008x335930.
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