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The Islamic World expansion, 622–750. (Brown c. 622–632; Dark-Orange c. 632–661; Light-orange c. 661–750)

An Islamic Silver Dirham from the year 729.

Alhambra Palace in Granada, Spain.

The Islamic Golden Age is an Abbasid historical period beginning in the mid 8th century lasting until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258.^[1] The Islamic Golden Age was inaugurated by the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad.^[2] The Abbasids were influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" that stressed the value of knowledge.^[2] During this period the Arab world became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education; the Abbasids championed the cause of knowledge and established the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars sought to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic.^[2] Many classic works of antiquity that would otherwise have been lost were translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin.^[2] During this period the Arab world was a collection of cultures which put together, synthesized and significantly advanced the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, and Byzantine civilizations.^[2] They also used the decimal system and began the use of Algebra in order to solve complex mathematical problems.

Knowledge culture [edit]

With a new, easier writing system and the introduction of paper, information democratized to the extent that, probably for the first time in history, it became possible to make living from simply writing and selling books.^[3] The use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the eighth century CE, arriving in Spain (and then the rest of Europe) in the 10th century CE. It was easier to manufacture than parchment, less likely to crack than papyrus, and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase, making it ideal for records. Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries.^[4] It was from Islam that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen.^[5]

The government heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to about twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council.^[6] The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today.^[7]

Islamic art [edit]

Marquetry and tile-top table from the year 1560.

The golden age of Islamic (and/or Muslim) art lasted from 750 to the 16th century, when ceramics (especially lusterware), glass, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, and woodwork flourished.^{[citation needed]} Manuscript illumination became an important and greatly respected art, and portrait miniature painting flourished in Persia. Calligraphy, an essential aspect of written Arabic, developed in manuscripts and architectural decoration. Calligraphy was developed because the Islamic religion did not allow paintings of human-beings.^{[citation needed]}

Philosophy [edit]

In Al-Andalus, Ibn Rushd founder of the Averroism school of philosophy, was influential in the rise of secular thought in Western Europe.

Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian and Muslim worlds. They would also absorb ideas from China, and India, adding to them tremendous knowledge from their own studies.^{[citation needed]} Ibn Sina and other speculative thinkers such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam.^{[citation needed]} Avicenna argued his famous "Floating Man" thought experiment, concerning self-awareness, where a man prevented of sense experience by being blindfolded and free falling would still be aware of his existence.^[8]

Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Latin, and Ladino, contributing to the development of modern European philosophy. Sociologist-historian Ibn Khaldun, Carthage citizen Constantine the African who translated Greek medical texts and Al-Khwarzimi's collation of mathematical techniques were important figures of the Golden Age.^{[citation needed]} The Islamic golden age also allowed for the flourishing of non-Muslim philosophers. The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides who lived in Andalusia is an example.^{[citation needed]}

Sciences [edit]

A manuscript written during the Abbasid Era.

Girih tiles arranged in Quasicrystal order is an example of the advancements that had taken place in the Islamic Golden Age.

Many notable lsIamic and non-lsIamic scientists lived and practiced during the Arab Golden Age.^{[citation needed]} Among the achievements of Muslim scholars during this period were the development of trigonometry into its modern form (simplifying its practical application to calculate the phases of the moon), advances in optics, and advances in astronomy.^{[citation needed]}

Medicine [edit]

The eye according to Hunain ibn Ishaq. From a manuscript dated circa 1200.

Medicine was a central part of medieval Islamic culture. Responding to circumstances of time and place, Islamic physicians and scholars developed a large and complex medical literature exploring and synthesizing the theory and practice of medicine. (from the National Library of Medicine digital archives)

Islamic medicine was built on tradition, chiefly the theoretical and practical knowledge developed in Greece, Rome, and Persia. For Islamic scholars, Galen and Hippocrates were pre-eminent authorities, followed by Hellenic scholars in Alexandria. Islamic scholars translated their voluminous writings from Greek into Arabic and then produced new medical knowledge based on those texts. In order to make the Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast and sometimes inconsistent Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopaedias and summaries. (from the National Library of Medicine digital archives)

Pagan Latin and Greek learning was viewed suspiciously in Christian early medieval Europe, and it was through 12th century Arabic translations that medieval Europe rediscovered Hellenic medicine, including the works of Galen and Hippocrates. Of equal if not of greater influence in Western Europe were systematic and comprehensive works such as Avicenna's The Canon of Medicine, which were translated into Latin and then disseminated in manuscript and printed form throughout Europe. During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries alone, The Canon of Medicine was published more than thirty-five times. (from the National Library of Medicine digital archives)

In the medieval Islamic world, hospitals were built in most major cities; in Cairo for example, the Qalawun hospital had a staff that included physicians, pharmacists, and nurses.

Commerce and travel [edit]

Introductory summary overview map from al-Idrisi's 1154 world atlas (note that South is at the top of the map).

Apart from the Nile, Tigris and Euphrates, navigable rivers were uncommon, so transport by sea was very important. Navigational sciences were highly developed, making use of a rudimentary sextant (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 the Mediterranean. The name caravel may derive from an earlier Arab boat known as the qārib.^[9]

Architecture and engineering [edit]

The Great Mosque of Kairouan (also known as the Mosque of Uqba), founded in 670, dates in its present state from the 9th century; it is one of the masterpieces of Islamic architecture.^[10] The Great Mosque of Kairouan is located in the city of Kairouan, in Tunisia.

The Sultan Ahmed Mosque in Istanbul

Isometric laser scan data image of the Bab al-Barqiyya Gate in the 12th century Ayyubid Wall. This fortified gate was constructed with interlocking volumes that surrounded the entrant in such a way as to provide greater security and control than typical city wall gates.

The Great Mosque of Kairouan (in Tunisia), the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world,^[11] 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.^[12] The Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a three-tiered square minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by colonnaded porticos and a huge hypostyle prayer hall covered on its axis by two cupolas.^[11]

The Great 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 spiralling minaret was constructed.

The beginning of construction of the Great Mosque at Cordoba in 785 marking 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 the Alhambra, the magnificent palace/fortress of Granada, with its open and breezy interior spaces adorned in red, blue, and gold. The walls are decorated with stylized foliage motifs, Arabic inscriptions, and arabesque design work, with walls covered in glazed tiles.

Another distinctive sub-style is the architecture of the Mughal Empire in India in the 16th century. Blending Islamic and Hindu elements, the emperor Akbar constructed the royal city of Fatehpur Sikri, located 26 miles west of Agra, in the late 1500s.

The Fatimids and the Islamic Golden Age [edit]

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Fatimid caliphate at its peak

The Fatimids existed during the Islamic Golden Age. ^[13] The dynasty was founded in 909 by Shia 12th Imam ʻAbdullāh al-Mahdī Billah.The Fatimid state originated among the Berber Kutama the people of Algeria. For the first half of its existence the empire's power rested primarily on their strength, with their army conquering northern Africa, Palestine, Syria and, for a short time, Baghdad.

The Fatimids moved in to Africa in 909 and established the Tunisian city of Mahdia and made it their capital city. Before conquering Egypt, and building the city of Cairo in 969 and they shifted their capital to Al-mansuriya in 948. Thereafter, Cairo became the capital of the caliphate, with Egypt becoming the political, cultural, and religious centre of the state. The term Fatimite is sometimes used to refer to the citizens of this caliphate. The ruling elite of the state belonged to the Ismaili branch of Shi'ism. The leaders of the dynasty were also Shia Ismaili Imams, hence, they had a religious significance to Muslims of that branch. They are also part of the chain of holders of the office of Caliph, as recognized by orthodox Muslims. Therefore, this constitutes a rare period in history in which the descendants of Ali via The prophet´s daughter Fatimaeh (hence the name Fatimid) and the Caliphate were united to any degree, excepting the final period of the Rashidun Caliphate under Ali himself.

The caliphate often exercised a great degree of religious tolerance towards non-Ismaili sects of Islam as well as towards Jews, Maltese Christians, and Coptic Christians.^[14] The courts in Fatimid areas used Hanafi scholars and the population was predominantly Sunni.^[15][16]

Under the Fatimids, Egypt became the center of an empire that included at its peak North Africa, Sicily, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, the Red Sea coast of Africa, Tihamah, Hejaz, and Yemen^{[citation needed]}. Egypt flourished, and the Fatimids developed an extensive trade network in both the Mediterranean and the Indian Ocean. Their trade and diplomatic ties extended all the way to China and its Song Dynasty, which eventually determined the economic course of Egypt during the High Middle Ages.

The Al-Hakim Mosque in Cairo, of Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah, the sixth Caliph, as renovated by Dawoodi Bohra

The Al-Azhar Mosque, of medieval Islamic Cairo.

The Fatimid focus on long-distance trade was accompanied by a lack of interest in agriculture and a neglect of the Nile irrigation system.^[17]

Unlike other governments in the area, Fatimid advancement in state offices was based more on merit than on heredity. Members of other branches of Islam, like the Sunnis, were just as likely to be appointed to government posts as Shiites. Tolerance was extended to non-Muslims such as Christians, and Jews,^[17] who occupied high levels in government based on ability, and tolerance was set into place to ensure the flow of money from all those who were non-Muslims too in order to finance the Fatimids Caliphs' large army of Mamluks brought in from Circassia by Genoese merchants.^{[citation needed]} There were, however, exceptions to this general attitude of tolerance, most notably Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah although this has been highly debated, with Al-Hakim's reputation among medieval Muslim historians conflated with his role in the Druze faith.^[17]

The Fatimids were also known for their exquisite arts. A type of ceramic, lustreware, was prevalent during the Fatimid period. Glassware and metalworking was also popular. Many traces of Fatimid architecture exist in Cairo today, the most defining examples include the Al Azhar University and the Al Hakim mosque. The Al Azhar University was the first university in the East and perhaps the oldest in history. The madrasa is one of the relics of the Fatimid dynasty era of Egypt, descended from Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad. Fatimah was called Az-Zahra (the brilliant), and it was named in her honor.^{[citation needed]} It was founded as mosque by the Fatimid commander Jawhar at the orders of the Caliph Al-Muizz as he founded the city for Cairo. It was (probably on Saturday) in Jamadi al-Awwal in the year 359 A.H. Its building was completed on the 9th of Ramadan in the year 361 A.H. Both Al-'Aziz Billah and Al-Hakim bi-Amr Allah added to its premises. It was further repaired, renovated and extended by Al-Mustansir Billah and Al-Hafiz Li-Din-illah. Fatimid Caliphs always encouraged scholars and jurists to have their study-circles and gatherings in this mosque and thus it was turned into a university which has the claim to be considered as the oldest University still functioning.^[18]

The intellectual life in Egypt during the Fatimid period reached a great degree of progress and activity due to the number of scholars who either lived in Egypt or came from outside as well as the number of books available. The Fatimid Caliphs gave prominent positions to the scholars in their courts and encouraged the students. Fatimids paid attention to establishing libraries in their palaces so that the scholars might polish up their knowledge and get benefit of what their predecessors had done.^[18]

Perhaps the most significant feature of Fatimid rule was that freedom which was given out to the people and liberty was given to the minds and reasons. Man may believe in whatever he likes provided that he may not infringe other rights. Fatimids reserved separate pulpits for different Islamic sects, where the scholars expressed their ideas in whatever the manner they liked. Fatimids gave patronage to scholars and invited them from every place, spending money on them and neglecting what they believed in, even though it was against the beliefs of the Fatimids. The history of the Fatimids, from this point of view, is in fact the history of knowledge, literature and philosophy. It is the history of sacred freedom - freedom of expression.^[18]

The Fatimid palace in Cairo had two parts. It stood in the Khan el-Khalili area at Bayn El-Qasryn street.^[19] The Fatimid caliphate was also distinguished by the prominent role of Berbers in its initial establishment. The caliphate lasted from 909 to 1171, when Saladin became Sultan of Egypt, and returned the country to the nominal fealty of the Sunni Muslim Abbasid caliphate.^{[citation needed]}

Mongolian invasion and gradual decline [edit]

A Seljuq, Shatranj (Chess) set, glazed fritware, 12th century.

The Crusades put the Islamic world under pressure by invasion in the 11th and 12th centuries, but a new and far greater threat came from the East during the 13th century: in 1206, Genghis Khan established a powerful dynasty among the Mongols of central Asia. During the 13th century, this Mongol Empire conquered most of the Eurasian land mass, including both China in the east and much of the old Islamic caliphate (as well as Kievan Rus) in the west. Hulagu Khan's destruction of Baghdad in 1258 is traditionally seen as the approximate end of the Golden Age.^[20] Later Mongol leaders, such as Timur, destroyed many cities, slaughtered hundreds of thousands of people, and did irrevocable damage to the ancient irrigation systems of Mesopotamia. Muslims in lands subject to the Mongols now faced northeast, toward the land routes to China, rather than toward Mecca.

Eventually, most of the Mongol peoples that settled in western Asia converted to Islam and in many instances became assimilated into various Muslim Turkic peoples. The Ottoman Empire rose from the ashes, but (according to the traditional view) the Golden Age was over.

Causes of decline [edit]

Trade Routes inherited by Muslim civilization were ruined by invading Crusaders, Mongols and the Portuguese. According to Ibn Khaldun such invasions ruined economies and caused a rise in banditry and piracy.

There is little agreement on the precise causes of the decline, but in addition to invasion by the Mongols and crusaders and the destruction of libraries and madrasahs, it has also been suggested that political mismanagement and the stifling of ijtihad (independent reasoning) in the 12th century in favor of institutionalised taqleed (imitation) thinking played a part. Ahmad Y 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 analyses the decline in terms of economic and political factors, drawing on the work of the 14th Century writer Ibn Khaldun.^[21]

Opposing view [edit]

The issue of Islamic Civilization being a misnomer has been raised by a number of recent scholars, including the secular Iranian historian, Shoja-e-din Shafa in his recent controversial books titled Rebirth (Persian: تولدى ديگر) and After 1400 Years (Persian: پس از 1400 سال), in which he questions whether it makes sense to talk of a category such as "Islamic science". Shafa states that while religion has been a cardinal foundation for nearly all empires of antiquity to derive their authority from, it does not possess adequate defining factors to justify attribution in the development of science, technology, and arts to the existence and practice of a certain faith within a particular realm. While various empires in the course of mankind's history had an official religion, we do not normally ascribe their achievements to the faith they practiced. For example, the achievements of the Christian Roman Empire, Byzantine Empire and all subsequent European empires that advocated Christianity are not normally considered one civilization.^{[citation needed]}

See also [edit]

Islam portal

• Timeline of Islamic science and technology
• Islamic studies
• Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences
• Ophthalmology in medieval Islam
• Astronomy in Islam
• List of Iranian scientists
• Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain

Notes [edit]

References [edit]

• Hill, Donald R. (1993). Islamic Science and Engineering. Edinburgh University Press. ISBN 0-7486-0455-3.

Further reading [edit]

• Josef W. Meri (2005). Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia. Routledge. ISBN 0-415-96690-6. pp. 1088.
• Tamara Sonn: Islam: A Brief History. Wiley 2011, ISBN 9781444358988, pp. 39-79 (online copy at Google Books)
• Maurice Lombard: The Golden Age of Islam. American Elsevier 1975
• George Nicholas Atiyeh, John Richard Hayes (1992). The Genius of Arab Civilization. New York University Press. ISBN 0814734855, 9780814734858. pp. 306.

External links [edit]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Islamic Golden Age

• Islamic web
• Wiet, Gaston. "Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate." Chapter 5