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Chapter 10.3 Muslim Achievements Reading
Quiz
1. What was the House of Wisdom? (location,
significance?)
Center of learning, located in Baghdad
Helped preserve Classical scholarship, as well as
apply the scientific method to problems. Focused
on translating important texts to Arabic,
astronomy, and mathematics
2. Who was Ibn Khaldun? (Time Period, Location,
Key Achievements)
 Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)- produced a history of
Muslim North Africa, Muqaddimah…introduced
the ideas of sociology, economics, politics, and
education and showed how they combined to
create historical and social change…historians
required to examine critically all their facts.
3. What kind of Muslim art and architecture is
found in mosques? Why?
 Blending of Muslim, European, Indian, Persian,
and African influences
 Arches
 Domes
 Calligraphy
 Arabesque
 Shows the cultural diffusion of the time, as the
Muslim empires expanded…also, no images of
holy people, believed to be idolatry
Chapter 10.3 Muslim Achievements
I. Muslim Society
 Jobs in the bureaucracy were available to many
different groups.
 Centers of learning in Syria, Persia, Spain, and
Egypt…Arabic language
 Cultural diffusion
 Muslim society was as sophisticated as Tang
China…cosmopolitan character
A.
The Rise of Muslim Urban Centers
 Market towns blossomed into cities
 Until Baghdad, Damascus was the leading city
 Damascus was known for damask cloth and
steel swords and armor and as the cultural
center of Islamic learning
o Also, Cordoba(Umayyad) and Cairo
(Fatimid)
 Baghdad, Abbasid capital, very impressive
o Chosen by Caliph al-Mansur on west bank
of Tigris River in 762
o Circular design with three circular
protective walls
o Palace and grand mosque in center
o Population at 1 million at peak
B.Four Social Classes
 Baghdad’s population made up of different
cultures and social classes
 Muslim society was made up of four classes
o Upper class- Muslims at birth
o Second class- converts to Islam- paid a
higher tax than the upper class, but less
than non-Muslims
o Third class- “protected people” Christians,
Jews, and Zoroastrians
o Lowest class- slaves…many were POW’s…all
were non-Muslim…
C. Role of Women
 Qur’an states that as believers men and women
are equal, but that men are in charge of the
affairs of women
 Shari’a gave Muslim women specific legal rights
concerning marriage, family and property
 Muslim women had more rights than European
women of the same time period
 Qur’an provided for the care of widows and
orphans, allowed divorce, and protected the
woman’s share of an inheritance
 Responsibilities of Muslim women depended on
husband’s occupation
 All women were responsible for raising of the
children
II. Muslim Scholarship Extends Knowledge
 Muslim rulers wanted qualified physicians
treating their ills and helped with the
advancement of science
 Mathematics and astronomy were relied upon
to calculate times for prayer and the direction
of Mecca.
 Curiosity about the world and a quest for truth
that reached back to the Prophet…Muhammad
believed strongly in the power of learning
 After the fall of Rome in AD 476, Europe
entered a period of upheaval and chaos…when
scholarship suffered
 Muslim leaders and scholars preserved much of
that knowledge
 Umayyads and Abbasids encouraged scholars to
collect and translate scientific and philosophical
texts
 Early 800’s, Caliph al-Ma’mun opened the
House of Wisdom in Baghdad (library, academy,
and translation center)
III. Arts and Sciences Flourish in the Muslim
World
 Scholars at the House of Wisdom included
researchers, editors, linguists, and technical
advisers
 Developed standards and techniques for
research that are part of the basic methods of
today’s research
 Built upon ideas as well
 Muslims in Cordoba and Baghdad set the stage
for a later revival of European learning
 Muslim contributions in medicine,
mathematics, and astronomy
A.
Medical Advances
 Persian scholar named al-Razi (Rhazes) greatest
physician of the Muslim world
o Wrote an encyclopedia called the
Comprehensive Book…drew on knowledge
from Greek, Syrian, Arabic, and Indian
sources
o Wrote Treatise on Smallpox and
Measles…believed patients would recover
more quickly if they breathed cleaner air
 Chose a location for a hospital based
upon rotting meat (where it rotted
slower)
 Ibn Sina wrote The Canon of Medicine
 Al-Qasim’s The Method…drawings of medical
tools
B.Math and Science Stretch Horizons
 Reliance on scientific observation and
experimentation
 Ability to find mathematical solutions to old
problems
 Muslims translated and studied Greek texts, but
did not follow the Greek method for solving
problems
o Aristotle, Pythagoras and other Greeks
preferred logical reasoning over uncovering
facts through observation
 Muslim scientists preferred to solve problems
by conducting experiments in laboratory
settings
 Muslim scholars believed that mathematics was
the basis of all knowledge
 Al-Khwarizmi mathematician born in Baghdad in
late 700’s, studied Indian sources. Wrote a
textbook in the 800’s about “the art of bringing
together unknowns to match a known
quantity.”
o Al-jabr- algebra
 Study of astronomy
 Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen) produced a book
called Optics- revolutionized ideas about
vision…showed people see objects because rays
pass from the objects to the eyes, not from the
eyes to the objects…used in developing lenses
for telescopes and microscopes
C. Philosophy and Religion Blend Views
 Philosophers, Aristotle and Plato were also
translated into Arabic
 1100’s Muslim philosopher, Ibn Rushd
(Averroes) (lived in Cordoba), tried to
harmonize Aristotle’s and Plato’s views with
those of Islam
o Some Islamic religious thinkers attacked Ibn
Rushd
o Ibn Rushd argued Greek philosophy and
Islam both had the same goal: the find the
truth.
 Moses Ben Maimon (Maimonides), Jewish
physician and philosopher, born in Cordoba and
lived in Egypt
o Faced strong opposition
o Recognized as greatest Jewish philosopher
o Book: The Guide of the Perplexed, blended
philosophy, religion, and science
D.
Muslim Literature
 Literature was a strong tradition in Arabia
before Islam
 Bedouin Poetry
 Qur’an is the standard for all Arabic literature
and poetry
 During the Abbasid caliphate, literary tastes
expanded to include poems about nature and
the pleasures of life and love
 Sufis were known for their poetry that focused
on mystical experiences with God
 Sufi poets- Rumi
 Popular literature included The Thousand and
One Nights…collection of entertaining stories
 Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406)- produced a history of
Muslim North Africa, Muqaddimah…introduced
the ideas of sociology, economics, politics, and
education and showed how they combined to
create historical and social change…historians
required to examine critically all their facts.
E. Muslim Art and Architecture
 Cultural diffusion between newly acquired
areas and Islam
 Islam forbade the depiction of living beings,
based on the idea that only Allah can create
life…picturing living beings considered idolatry
 Calligraphy- art of beautiful handwriting
 Also Arabesque- interlocking geometric shapes
 Architecture- domes, vaulted ceilings
 Great Mosque of Cordoba- multi-lobed
interwoven arches
 Though the unified Muslim state broke up,
Muslim culture continued
 Muslim Empires: Ottoman, Safavid, Mughal
