We feature each theme with a beautiful image. In addition to enduring the hardships of desert life, he acquired a taste for the rich language so loved by the Arabs, whose speech was their proudest art, and learned the patience and forbearance of the herdsmen, whose life of solitude he first shared and then came to understand and appreciate. Thereunto we give them the pact of Allah and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. Both Winston Churchill and Lord Balfour himself later said publicly that "a national home" meant a cultural or religious center, a view that America's King-Crane Commission independently presented. Abu Bakr recognized the danger and entrusted the task of gathering the revelations to Zayd ibn Thabit, who as the chief scribe of the Prophet was the person to whom Muhammad frequently dictated the revelations in his lifetime. The inimitability of the Quran has crystallized in the Muslim view of i'jaz or "impossibility," which holds that the style of the Quran, being divine, cannot be imitated: any attempt to do so is doomed to failure. Photo: The sun rises over Jabal al-Rahmah, the Mount of Mercy, where Muhammad in his farewell sermon told the assembled Muslims, "I have delivered God's message to you and left you with a clear command: the Book of God and the practice of His Prophet. Among them are Ibrahim (Abraham), patriarch of the Arabs through his first son Isma'il (Ishmael); Musa (Moses), who received the Torah (Tawrah); Dawud (David), who spoke through the Psalms (Zabur); and 'Isa (Jesus), who brought the Gospels (Injil). Another major figure in the Islamic Golden Age was al-Farabi, who wrestled with many of the same philosophical problems as al-Kindi and wrote The Perfect City, which illustrates to what degree Islam had assimilated Greek ideas and then impressed them with its own indelible stamp. To practice their faith, Muslims must accept five primary obligations which Islam imposes. Most important of all, he introduced Arabic as the language of administration, replacing Greek and Pahlavi. As societies become larger and more complex, its people become more likely to join monotheistic religions. 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. To obtain food, for example, Baghdad had to import wheat from Syria and Egypt, rice from the Fayyum in Egypt, southern Morocco, and Spain, and olive oil from Tunisia. Like all Islamic ceremonies, prayer is simple and personal, yet also communal, and the wording of the prayers, the ablutions which are required before prayers, the number of bows, and other parts of the ritual are set out in detail. Elsewhere in the Arab world, meanwhile, the last vestiges of European political dominance were being eliminated. The process that resulted in Swahili culture took several centuries. In it he stresses the responsibilities of the ruler: for example, if a man is killed because a bridge is in disrepair, it is the fault of the ruler, for he should make it his business to apprise himself of the smallest negligences of his underlings. For one thing, it was a tacit recognition of the end of an era. For those who retire and rest after the day's fast there are, in some areas, men called musahhirs who, in the silent, predawn darkness beat muted drums and call the faithful to awake and eat before the long day's fast begins again. The next Ottoman leader was Bayazid I, who besieged Constantinople and routed the armies dispatched by an alarmed Europe to raise the siege. Photo: The cursive script shown in detail from a fourteenth-century Persian tile. Politically and economically, the Mongol invasions were disastrous. It is a simple statement, yet also profound, for in it a Muslim expresses his complete acceptance of, and total commitment to, the message of Islam. There were also, however, organizations which united the diverse peoples. With the shift to Damascus much was changed. Forty-five years later, they are expected to make up more than three-in-ten of the world's people . Photo: Books of fables, often illustrated, served a dual purpose to instruct and to entertain. In addition to the Quran the shari'ah has three sources: the sunnah, the practice of the Prophet; ijma', the consensus of opinion; and qiyas, reasoning by analogy. Photo: Facing al-Gharbiyah, the western minaret, a muezzin at the Umayyad Mosque calls believers to prayer. A complex of marble, stucco, ivory, and onyx, Madinat al-Zahra took forty years to build, cost close to one-third of Cordoba's revenue, and was, until destroyed in the eleventh century, one of the wonders of the age. But in Mecca the persecution worsened. At the Battle of the Trench, also known as the Battle of the Confederates, the Muslims scored a signal victory by introducing a new defense. Muslim Heritage - Al-Qayrawan, seat of Arab governors founded in 670, Muslim Heritage - Umayyad Coins (661-750CE). 1. Abu Bakr, who ruled from 632 to 634, secured the entirety of the Peninsula and extended into present-day southern Iraq, Kuwait, Syria, Jordan, and . Never, he wrote, was the annihilation of a people more complete. Originally the site of the Ka'bah, a shrine of ancient origins, Mecca had with the decline of southern Arabia (see Chapter l ) become an important center of sixth-century trade with such powers as the Sassanians, Byzantines, and Ethiopians. The Roman numeral CCC II, for instance, presented a problem. The most important of the Baghdad hospitals was that established in 982 (372 H) by the ruler `Adud al-Dawlah. Ibn Ishaq, one of the earliest biographers of the Prophet, says it was at about this time that Muhammad sent letters to the rulers of the earth - the King of Persia, the Emperor of Byzantium, the Negus of Abyssinia, and the Governor of Egypt among others - inviting them to submit to Islam. This trade was vital; in the central lands of the 'Abbasid empire natural resources such as metals and wood were scarce, and increases in urban populations had outstripped the capacity of the agricultural system to support them. Of those people who embraced Islam but did not adopt Arabic as their everyday language, many millions have taken the Arabic alphabet for their own, so that today one sees the Arabic script used to write languages that have no basic etymological connection with Arabic. From the mid-600s, the Islamic Empire spread throughout the Middle East, west across North Africa and Spain . The latter impact manifests today because there is a lot of animosity between Christians and Muslims (especially in the Middle East). 'Abd al-Malik established a system of postal routes to expedite his communications throughout the far flung empire. Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, was built on Greek mathematics (Euclid, Archimedes, Apollonius) and Indian mathematics (Aryabhata, Brahmagupta).Important progress was made, such as full development of the decimal place-value system to include decimal fractions, the first systematised study of algebra, and advances in geometry and . Christians and Muslims discuss the different traditions of mission, conversion and the expansion of religions worldwide. These territorial acquisitions brought the Arabs into contact with previously unknown ethnic groups who embraced Islam and would later influence the course of Islamic history. By the eleventh century, however, a small pocket of Christian resistance had begun to grow, and under Alfonso VI Christian forces retook Toledo. Throughout its history, Islam has been in constant . The Islam to spread because of the forgiveness of Muhammad that he help the people. The Spread of Islam and its Relationship to Medieval EuropeGrowth of Islam.When Islam first emerged in Arabia during the mid-seventh century, there was little indication that within 150 years the movement would come to dominate the entire Middle East, as well as northern Africa and Spain. Adopting the title Amir al-Muminin, "Commander of the Believers," 'Umar extended Islam's temporal rule over Syria, Egypt, Iraq, and Persia in what from a purely military standpoint were astonishing victories. Later, in emulation, Italy in 1911 seized Libya. Photo: The shrine of the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, built in an area revered by Muslims, Christians and Jews alike covers the rock from which Muhammad is believed to have ascended to heaven with the Angel Gabriel. If Western influences are important in the Middle East, however, they are by no means paramount. Important advances in agriculture were also made in the Golden Age. Palestine, they pointed out, had been part of the Islamic world almost continually for twelve centuries; from 636 to the First World War. It is uncertain whether the Arabs or the Indians filled this need by inventing the zero, but in any case the problem was solved: now the new system could show neatly the difference between XXX II (32) and CCC II (302). The religious tax, the third pillar, is zakah in Arabic, a word that in the Prophet's lifetime came to suggest an obligatory religious tax. And what is after them, The system of numeration employed throughout the greater part of the world today was probably developed in India, but because it was the Arabs who transmitted this system to the West the numerals it uses have come to be called Arabic. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia, and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. In a short paragraph, give three examples of the ways this religion has impacted North African culture. As the Muslims were not completely defeated, the Meccans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked Medina again two years later but with quite different results. They were polytheistic and reaped all the political problems associated with polytheism. Topics menu will always be here, always within reach. It is useful to realize that the power of Islam was separate from much and more permanent than that of the armies with which it rode. In innumerable, almost indescribable ways, it is also the central fact of Muslim life. Photo: This tughra (monogram or insignia) of the Ottoman Sultan Abdu Hamid shows the three elongated vertical strokes which are characteristic of this style. The art of calligraphy is still very much alive in the Arab world and wherever the Arabic alphabet is used. The first known medical work to include anatomical drawings, the book was translated into Latin and for centuries was the authoritative treatment of the subject in both Western and Eastern universities. As they grew in importance to the economy these craftsmen eventually organized themselves into mutual-benefit societies which in some ways were similar to later Western guilds and which offered many social services: lodging travelers, engaging in pious works such as caring for orphans, and endowing schools. Descended from a tribal chief named Seljuk, whose homeland lay beyond the Oxus River near the Aral Sea, the Seljuks not only developed a highly effective fighting force but also, through their close contacts with Persian court life in Khorasan and Transoxania, attracted a body of able administrators. In Iran, for example, there came into use a particularly graceful and delicate script called ta'liq, in which the horizontal strokes of the letters are elongated and which is often written at an angle across the page. Islam had a great impact on the culture of North Africa. In some ways the 'Abbasids were more fortunate than the Umayyads. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. He knows what lies before them At Mina too, begins 'Id al-Adha, the great worldwide Feast of Sacrifice during which the pilgrims sacrifice animals - partly to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son and partly to symbolize a Muslim's willingness to sacrifice what is dearest to him. The religious leader, in turn, was responsible to the sultan or his representatives for such details as the payment of taxes. His Throne extends over the heavens and earth; Photo: A pillar marks the Mount of Mercy the rocky hill rising from the plain of Arafat. And in Egypt, which 'Amr ibn al-'As took from the Byzantines after a daring march across the Sinai Peninsula, the Coptic Christians not only welcomed the Arabs, but enthusiastically assisted them. But in historical terms, only the Fatimids rivaled the preceding dynasties. Photo: Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, built in 691-692. The cloth trade produced a number of auxiliary exports: gold and silver thread for embroidery, gum from the Sudan for glazing, and needles, looms, and dyestuffs. 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