Islam: The Golden Age

The period from the 8th – 13th century CE was a period in which we saw the emergence of a super empire known as The Muslim empire. The prophet Muhammad around 622 CE founded the Muslim empire. His writings were documented in a holy book called the Qur’an, which is the basis of Islam. During the time between the 8th-13th centuries the Muslim empire had expanded all the way from Spain to India. The empire, headed at the time by the Abbasid caliphate, was one of the largest and most influential empires of its time until its defeat by the Mongols. This time period is known by many as the “Golden Age” of Islam. Using its geographical position, foundations laid down by the prophet Muhammad, and the introduction of new technologies such as paper

making, the Abbasid caliphate was able to influence and produce doctors, architects, engineers, philosophers, geographers, poets and writers all who laid the foundations for many of the technological, educational and scientific advances we enjoy till this day.

The foundations laid by the Prophet Muhammad played a big role in the success of Islam during the Golden Age. One could say that the Qur’an was the most influential factor in the success of the Muslim empire during this time. According to Ziauddin Sardar, a cultural critic, one of the most repeated words in the Qur’an was the word,’Ilm’, repeated almost 800 times in the Qur’an, with the direct translation meaning knowledge or communication. Ilm was the pursuit and the transfer of knowledge within the empire according to the Qur’an and it helped facilitate the transfer of knowledge during the Golden age, as people relied heavily on the teachings of Muhammad to live their lives. The prophet also wrote in the Qur’an that, “The scholar’s ink is more sacred than the blood of martyrs” , stating that education and learning where very important tools to be used for the empires advantage. Each Muslim was expected at least once in his life to make the hajj or the pilgrimage to the holy city of Mecca. With the Muslim empire expanded from Spain all the way to India, and the holy city of Mecca situated right in the middle of the east (China) and the west (Europe), it was able to easily facilitate the trading of commodities. During the years the Prophet was alive, Mecca became a major center of trade for the whole Muslim empire. These writings in the years after the prophet’s death and the trade within the city of Mecca were almost the sole factor as to why the Muslim empire enjoyed so much success during the 8th-13th centuries.

The Abbasid caliphate also played a major role in the success of the Muslim Empire during the 8th-13th centuries known as the “Golden Age”.

The Abbasid Empire came into power in the year 750 after overthrowing the previous Umayyad caliphate, and lasting until 1258 AD. Once they came into power they moved the capital which had previously been in Damascus, to Baghdad. The Abbasid caliphate relied heavily on the writings in the Qur’an, in particular to the writings mentioned before about the transfer of knowledge and the importance of knowledge in the Muslim lifestyle. With the Muslim empire spread largely from the east to the west, the Abbasid caliphate used their connections to China, India and the Byzantines in the west to their advantage. In particular, one caliph, Mamun, according to an Arab statesman, would form relationships with emperors in the Byzantine empire, give them gifts and then in return ask for all their books on philosophy. “These emperors sent him those works of Plato, Aristotle, Hippocrates, Galen, Euclid, and Ptolemy which they had.” . Relying so heavily and placing such an importance on the acquisition and the transfer of knowledge they set up a ‘House of Wisdom’ in the capital, Baghdad, which was a place for intellectual thought and also sharing. The house of wisdom, a university established in 1004, welcomed scholars from all over, Muslim and non-Muslim to come and bring ideas from their home and to share and debate and teach their thoughts amongst

other scholars. The Abbasid caliphate encouraged all its followers to take the teaching in the Qur’an seriously and fostered a people that loved to learn, share and discuss intellectual ideas in a hope to live a life like the prophet. Being open to all race’s and religions helped the caliphate expand and further the knowledge of his people, thus helping the Muslim empire be successful as the most influential empire of its time.

An invention that helped further spread the ideals and customs of the Muslim Empire was the introduction of papermaking.

Papermaking had actually been invented by the Chinese but was improved and made more efficient by the Muslim empire. Paper had first been introduced to the empire in Samarkand in around 850 CE. After the battle of Talas against the Chinese in 751, they had taken Chinese prisoners who turned out to be professional paper makers and used them for their advantage. They gave the prisoners space to practice their paper making skills and also learned their skills. They then took those skills from the Chinese prisoners and improved on them to make a more efficient way of making paper. The Chinese first started making paper around 150 CE using mulberry bark. According to Sardar Ziauddin, “The Chinese craft of paper-making introduced in Samarkand could not be transformed into a manufacturing process, not at least because mulberry bark was not widely available in Muslim lands.” With not enough mulberry bark available, The Muslims used flax, cotton and linen rags as a substitute. They also introduced a bamboo mold, “which could be used to drain wet sheets of paper and from which paper could still be removed while still moist.” With these innovations the paper industry was able to spread rapidly. The first paper mill was established in Baghdad in 793 CE. They soon appeared in Damascus, Tiberius, Tripoli, Cairo, Muslim Sicily, Moorish Spain and other parts of the

Islamic world. By the 13th century the techniques originating from the Muslim empire had reached Europe and were being but to use. With the first paper mill being established in 1276 in Fabriano, Italy, and a second in Germany around 1390.

With the rapid manufacturing of books a new profession called “Warraqeen” emerged. The warraqeen, “ were a key element in the communication of knowledge and performed a number of functions.” They sold paper, copied manuscripts, sold books and managed bookstores. Being intellectuals themselves many even manufactured and published their own books. In a sense they were human copy machines, copying anything from poems to novels to 100 page manuscripts. They managed anything from small shops on the corner to huge bookstores visited by many intellectuals for scholastic discussion. The caliph Mamun ordered these texts to be translated from various languages such as Greek, Chinese and Latin into Arabic thus removing a language barrier and making it easier for those in the Muslim empire to truly understand and debate and teach these writings. This new profession contributed heavily to the spread of Islamic culture and knowledge through the circulation of books. With the circulation of these books through libraries, the discussions between intellectuals at these bookstores and the encouragement of the to learn and debate certain philosophies it allowed for many new innovations to be made in the fields of science, astronomy and art.

It is said that the Prophet Muhammad preached and promoted medical research in the Qur’an, stating, “For every disease, Allah has given a cure.” This paved the way for the many innovations made in science and medicine during the golden age. During the period of the golden age there were many developments in the field of medicine. With the translation of works from writers such as Hippocrates, Rufus of Ephesus, Dioscurides and Galen under the rule of the caliph Mamun, Arab scholars merged the knowledge that they had read from the manuscripts with their own understanding and ideas. A few examples of medical pioneers who made the most significant contributions and were the most famous during the golden age are: Yuhanna ibn Massuwayh who studied allergies and disections, Abu Bakr Muhummad ibn Zakariyya ar-Razi who established the difference between smallpox and measles, introduced hot moist compresses in surgery, studied in the field of psychosomatic reactions and also wrote a famous medical encyclopedia of 30 volumes called Al-Hawi, Az-Zahrawi who performed tracheotomy and lithotomy and also described breast cancer, and Ibn-Nafis who studied pulmonary circulation. There was progress in every aspect of the medical fields during the golden ages including anatomy, surgery, cardiology, dentistry and neurology to name a few.

Medicine was not the only field where progress was made during the golden age. Many innovations where also made in the field of astronomy, mathematics and chemistry. Examples of scholars who were the most famous for contributing in the area of astronomy are: Ibn Firnas who constructed the first planetarium in Muslim history, Al-Zarqali who created a version of the astrolabe to measure planetary movement, Al-Bitruji who studied stellar movements, Al-Fargani who wrote a book called the elements on astronomy, and al-Sufi who described the Andromeda galaxy. The study of mathematics and the study of astronomy were very closely tied therefore making almost every astronomer some kind of mathematician. In the area of geometry the first translation of Euclid’s Elements was made by Al-Hajjaj ibn Yusuf. Muhammad and Hasan Banu wrote books describing the measurement of the sphere. Many of these famous mathematicians and astronomers were commissioned to work by the caliph Mamun.

There where many other innovations made outside of the scientific field such as agriculture and technology. During the golden age there was what many call the “ Arab Agricultural Revolution”, the first real agricultural revolution. Many new crops such as citrus fruits from China, rice, cotton, eggplants, spinach, artichokes, bananas, plantains, and sugar cane from India and much more were introduced in the Islamic world from various exchanges within the empire. With the introduction of new crops came the introduction of new farming practices. Previously, the primary season for farming in the empire was winter. With the new crops emerging from places such as India with extreme heat, it opened a new summer season of farming to the Muslim empire. Aside from the opening up of a new summer season, they also developed a new crop rotation system. Previously in places like the byzantine empire the grounds were only cropped every two years. In the Muslim empire they developed crop rotations where the land was cropped four times or more within two years. Thus allowing a quick and easy transition from the winter crops to the spring and summer crops. These new cropping developments needed more water than usual in order to work. To fix that issue the Muslims developed a new concept of artificial irrigation.

In summary, there was many factors that contributed to the success of the Muslim empire during the 8th-13th centuries. A reliance on the foundations laid by the Prophet Muhammad gave Muslims a basis and encouraging them to each live their lives in constant pursuit of knowledge and communication. The geographic placement of the trade center of Mecca allowed for scholars and intellectuals to bring ideals from all over the Muslim empire to be discussed, debated and taught amongst other Muslims. The Abbasid Caliphate placed a very strong importance on the teachings of the prophet in regards to knowledge and education. Introducing universities such as the house of wisdom, dedicated for the sole purpose of discussing and teaching new innovations made by Arab scholars. The emergence of the new and improved form of papermaking made it possible for books to begin to be circulated among the empire, spreading even further the culture and also innovations made by intellectuals and scholars. The insistence of the caliph Mamun on the translation of texts originally written in Greek, Latin and Chinese made it easier for scholars to truly understand and also come up with their own theories that they could then teach to others. All these factors and more led to developments in the fields of science, medicine, geography, astronomy, papermaking, writing and art that till this day are still considered important in academia.