the islamic contribution

1. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College The Islamic Contribution

2. 9/16/2011 Basic Ideas of Islam There is but one God, Allah . He rules over all both those who accept him and those who do not. The Last and Greatest Prophet of Allah is Muhammed Allah insists that all conform. His rules of obedience are the Koran, which He revealed to Muhammed There will be a Last Judgement. We will all go to either heaven or hell All Men are brothers in Allah�s eyes and have a duty to care for one another

3. 9/16/2011 Rules for the True Believer Submission is shown by praying at five specified times daily Keeps to a set of dietary rules outlined in the Koran Make a pilgrimage, the Hajj Give alms to the poor Always at every place and every time recognized the glory and justice of Allah

4. 9/16/2011 The Caliphate The Caliph was the spiritual and temporal ruler Two Major Caliphates in Islamic History The Ummayad The Abbasid Both Dynasties saw a rapid expansion of Islam

5. 9/16/2011 The Ummayad Dynasty The dynasty lasted from 661-750 Established the Caliphate as hereditary Most subject peoples were neither muslims or speakers of Arabic Became the Caliphate of Damascus Established Arabic as the language of the kingdom

6. 9/16/2011 The Abbasids The dynasty lasted from 750-1260 Established the Caliphate at Baghdad, which was built to be the new center of Islam Allowed new converts, non-Arabs, to hold important positions made Islam a cosmopolitan, multiethnic religion and civilization Except for Spain, all the areas captured after 690 remain part of Islam today.

7. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College People of the Book... Treatment of non-Muslims varied dependent on their religious background. Christians, Jews, and Zoaroastrians were regarded as �People of the Book�. Pagans were more taxed more severely and had legal and business rights denied them Jews received better treatment under Islamic rule than under Christian

8. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College Intellectual Achievements of the Abbasids A common language of government and education: Arabic Use of paper, an idea borrowed from the Chinese The idea of the University. The oldest functioning university is the University of Cairo. Founded in the 9th Century. Preservation of classical Greek learning. To the Muslims, Aristotle was the greatest teacher who ever lived. Commercial and political contact with other culture and a common language created international science on a large scale for the first time.

9. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College Scientific Achievements Medicine: Superior to any Western Civilization. Built on the Greco-Roman inheritance and added Indian and Chinese Influences. Astronomy and Astrology: Inherited and preserved the knowledge of Mesopotamia and the Greeks and expanded on it. Mathematics: Adopted and improved the Hindu systems of number so that today the numbers that we used are called �Arabic numbers�. Invented algebra and introduced the West to the decimal system.

10. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College Scientific Achievements 2 Chemistry: Preserved the knowledge of the Greeks. Introduced the West to alchemical concepts of Islam, India, and China. Enchanted with the idea of opposites and microcosm and macrocosm. Geography and Geology: Muslims explored and mapped most of the known world. In geology, they accepted the idea of change over time. Mathematics: Adopted and improved the Hindu systems of number so that today the numbers that we use are called �Arabic numbers�. Invented algebra and introduced the West to the decimal system. Physics: Advancements in Optics. Some rejection of Aristotle regarding projectiles.

11. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College Scientific Achievements 3 Architecture: unique style. Its embodiment might be considered the Taj Mahal in India. Another beautiful example is the Alhambra at Granada in Spain. The Koran forbade the depiction of human body. This being the case Muslim artists and architects emphasized geometric forms and patterns in their work. The use of reflecting pools and gardens enhanced the beauty of their buildings.

12. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College Scientific Achievements 4 The House of Wisdom: The Muslims were really the first scholastics. In The House of Wisdom , they translated the surviving scientific works of the Greeks along with Hindu and Chinese works. The House of Science: In Cairo, here the most original Islamic science took place. Al-Hazan was one of the scholars of the House of Science

13. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College People Al-Hazen: The most original of Islamic scientists. In optics, he totally rejected the theories of the ancients. Believed correctly that rays of lights come from the object. Came close to a theory of convex lens and demonstrated that Ptolemy�s theory of refraction worked only for very specific instances. His was an experimental method . Al-kwarizimi: Through him the Islamic world and eventually the West learned of �Arabic� numbers, the decimal system and algebra. Much of what he wrote was strongly influenced by Hindu sources. Maimonides: a Jewish physician to Saladin. His famous book is The Guide to the Perplex. Much like Christian scholars, he tried to show that faith and philosophical inquiry do not contradict one another. As a physician, he criticized Galenic medicine; as a philosophy, he generally accepted Aristotle.

14. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College People 2 Avicena: He attempted a synthesis of Plato, Aristotle, and Islam. The most influential of all Muslim philosphers. He wrote the Book of Healing and The Cannon of Medicine. Jebir Ibn Hayyan: Known in the West as Geber. His writings may not be the work of a single person, but a collection of treatises created by a ect known as The Brethern of Purity. A radical element of Sufism mystics who held some Pythagorean notions of the mystical nature of mathematics and also held the dangerous view that all men are equal. While Sufism was acceptable to the Sunni majority, this group was eventually outlawed. Jebir�s alchemy follows the traditional pattern of a world of opposites, the search for a process to turn lead to gold, a pill of immortality, and the microcosm/macrocosm paradigm.

15. 9/16/2011 Fairmont State College People 3 Al Razi: a physician like Avicenna, he lived a fascinating life. He wrote the Comprehensive Book which collected all the known information on medicine from Hindu, Greek, and Islamic sources. It might have included some Chinese sources. Omar Khayyam: Mathematician and poet. He expanded Islamic algebra to include cubic equations. His Rubiyat is one of the most famous collection of poems in world literature. A figure of mystery, he was suspect of being a member of the Assassins.