The World of Islam
The World of Islam as a New Civilization
Networks of Faith
According to Strayer on page 392, Islamic believers were not just people in temples, but rather people who were connected. They served as judges, lawyers, interpreters, administrators, prayer leaders, reciters of Quran, and as teachers of the sharia. Education of Islam spread from Indonesia to West Africa. There were strong networks of the Sufis, who were teachers, and the ulama, who were scholars. Thousands of people, from kings to peasants, made their pilgrimage to Mecca, where they experienced umma, the unity in Muslim community.
Networks of Exchange
The Islamic Civilization was growing strong in its religion and laws, which were valued and helped regulate its commerce across many cultures. In 756, people of Islam had their capital Baghdad. This was a city of half a million people. Elite people in these cities were looking for luxury goods and foreign products. According to Strayer, main merchants were Arabs and Persians in all major Afro-Eurasian trade routes of the third-wave era in the Mediterranean Sea, the Silk Roads, across Sahara, and throughout the Indian Ocean basin. The Arabs and Persian traders established a commercial colony in southern China. Here is where they have developed various forms of banking, partnerships, business contracts, and instruments for granting credit.
The agricultural products that were traded were from one region to the other influenced ecological changes. These included rice, sugarcane, apricots, artichokes, eggplants, lemons, oranges, almonds, figs, and bananas. There were also new water-management practices, which helped growth of more crops. All of this lead to "Islamic Green Revolution", which lead to increased food production, population growth, urbanization, and industrial development.
Islamic Science and Scholarship
Persian became the major literacy language of the Islamic world in elite circles. During this time scientific, medical, and philosophical texts, including ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world, and India, were translated into Arabic. This helped Islamic scholarship and science. These achievements include first book of algebra by al-Khwarazim, encyclopedia of medicine by al-Razi, calculation of Earth's radius and technique for displaying hemisphere on a plane by al-Biruni, medical practice book Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sina, measurement of solar year by Omar Khayyam, rationalism and translation by Ibn Rushd, mapping the motion of stars and planets by Nasir al-Din Tusi, identification of trends and structures in history by Ibn Khaldun. The first hospitals, clinics, and examination were developed in Islamic world.
I believe it is important to know the origins of the food we consume these days, the origins medical practices we receive today, and knowing that some of the knowledge that we receive these days came from the Islamic scholars and their greatest discoveries.
Networks of Faith
According to Strayer on page 392, Islamic believers were not just people in temples, but rather people who were connected. They served as judges, lawyers, interpreters, administrators, prayer leaders, reciters of Quran, and as teachers of the sharia. Education of Islam spread from Indonesia to West Africa. There were strong networks of the Sufis, who were teachers, and the ulama, who were scholars. Thousands of people, from kings to peasants, made their pilgrimage to Mecca, where they experienced umma, the unity in Muslim community.
Networks of Exchange
The Islamic Civilization was growing strong in its religion and laws, which were valued and helped regulate its commerce across many cultures. In 756, people of Islam had their capital Baghdad. This was a city of half a million people. Elite people in these cities were looking for luxury goods and foreign products. According to Strayer, main merchants were Arabs and Persians in all major Afro-Eurasian trade routes of the third-wave era in the Mediterranean Sea, the Silk Roads, across Sahara, and throughout the Indian Ocean basin. The Arabs and Persian traders established a commercial colony in southern China. Here is where they have developed various forms of banking, partnerships, business contracts, and instruments for granting credit.
The agricultural products that were traded were from one region to the other influenced ecological changes. These included rice, sugarcane, apricots, artichokes, eggplants, lemons, oranges, almonds, figs, and bananas. There were also new water-management practices, which helped growth of more crops. All of this lead to "Islamic Green Revolution", which lead to increased food production, population growth, urbanization, and industrial development.
Islamic Science and Scholarship
Persian became the major literacy language of the Islamic world in elite circles. During this time scientific, medical, and philosophical texts, including ancient Greece, the Hellenistic world, and India, were translated into Arabic. This helped Islamic scholarship and science. These achievements include first book of algebra by al-Khwarazim, encyclopedia of medicine by al-Razi, calculation of Earth's radius and technique for displaying hemisphere on a plane by al-Biruni, medical practice book Canon of Medicine by Ibn Sina, measurement of solar year by Omar Khayyam, rationalism and translation by Ibn Rushd, mapping the motion of stars and planets by Nasir al-Din Tusi, identification of trends and structures in history by Ibn Khaldun. The first hospitals, clinics, and examination were developed in Islamic world.
I believe it is important to know the origins of the food we consume these days, the origins medical practices we receive today, and knowing that some of the knowledge that we receive these days came from the Islamic scholars and their greatest discoveries.
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