Islamic Golden Age Research Paper

From its beginnings in Mecca to its extensive empire across the Middle East, Asia, North Africa and parts of Europe, the spread of Islam in the late 600’s and 700’s A.C.E has drawn much attention. The spread of Islam began when Prophet Muhammad (579-632) (pbuh) started preaching the revelation he claimed to have received from God. Muslim dynasties were soon established and eventually the Abbasid Dynasty ruled over the vast Islamic empire, and through wealth in money and knowledge, the Muslim world experience it's Golden Age. The people of the Islamic world created numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with far-reaching trade networks. The Islamic world achieved its Golden Age through its advancements in medicine, math and

“O Messenger, announce that which has been revealed to you from your Lord, and if you do not, then you have not conveyed His message. And Allah will protect you from the people. Indeed, Allah does not guide the disbelieving people.” (Quran 5:67) Prophet Muhammad PBUH, was born to a branch of Quraish family. He was born to Abdullah Ibn Abd Al-Muttalib and Amna Bint Wahab in the year 570 C. He received his “call” which is the message from God carried by the angel Gabriel to deliver the truth about God to his people. Prophet Muhammad PBUH, died in the year 632 C due to fever after that the Umma was in the hands of the Caliphate, which was then passed

The Islamic conquests of areas outside Arabia began in the seventh century. In the first wave of conquest, the Arabs took Syria,

Among the many scholars working in the House of Wisdom, there was Al-Khawarizmi, known as the father of algebra. Born around 800 in Baghdad, al-Khwarizmi worked in the House of Wisdom as a scholar. Being involved in the center’s translation of ancient scientific knowledge helped him develop a unique knowledge of the accumulated wisdom of the world. His importance lies in his discoveries of mathematical knowledge which was later transferred to Arab and European scholars. His masterpiece, a book of clear explanations of what would become algebra, was his entire life’s work compiled into one collection of information. The word algebra comes from the Arabic word, al-jabr, which means “completion”. In his work, al-Khwarizmi explains the principles of solving linear and quadratic equations, the concept that an equation can be created to find the value of an unknown variable. Another crucial work of al-Khwarizmi’s was The Book on the Art of Reckoning of the Hindus, which introduced the numbering system used in the Islamic culture to the west. This is the numerical system that is still used today and offered many advantages over the existing Roman numerals. An

The Islamic empire expanded in many different ways. One of the ways the Islamic Empire expanded is conquering land. In document A Islam killed the Greeks and conquered some of their land. This means that that the Greeks were taken over by Islam so Islam had more land than before. Another way the Islamic Empire expanded was they made a treaty with Tudmir. In document B “The slaves will not be killed or forced in any way but will be slaves.” This means that Islam had a truce with Tudmir. Islam will have a bigger civilization from getting more slaves/warriors from getting slaves from conquered

When Muhammad died, Muslims faced the challenge of creating institutions to preserve the community. This is the Middle period of Islam. Muslims believe that the revelation was completed with the work of Muhammad, who is described as the seal of the prophets. The leaders after Muhammad were described only as caliphs, or successors to the Prophet, and not as prophets themselves. The first four caliphs were companions of the Prophet and their period of rule (632-661) is described by the majority of Muslims as the age of the Rightly Guided Caliphate. This was an era of expansion during which Muslims conquered the Sasanid (Persian) Empire and took control of the North African and Syrian territories of the Byzantine (Eastern Roman) Empire. The Muslim community was transformed from a small city-state controlling much of the Arabian Peninsula into a major world empire, in this case the Umayyad empire, extending from northwest Africa to central Asia. The emphasis

Two major ways they could be in a golden age was from their literature and art. Since in the beginning of the rise of the Islamic empire, they would only write poetry. As said in document 3 “As salt resolved

Islamic Achievements Over the ancient years, the Muslims gathered ideas from many different places. They generated their own visions of the world based on the thoughts that were inherited from the Greeks, Rome, and India. In addition, they also evolved their ideas when they conquered many different places, all depending on how that certain place was. The Muslims were able to deal with many different cultures, allowing them to practice what they wished, thus giving themselves room to envision their own. The achievements that the people from Islam left behind was and is amazing, and left a big impact for years ahead of their own time. The Muslims of the Islamic Empire were very intent on preserving the knowledge that was passed down, and constantly

Ever since 636 CE, the Muslims have been expanding the Islamic Empire. How exactly did the Muslims expand their Islamic Empire? In Document A, the Muslims expanded the Islamic Empire by leaving Mecca to Yarmuk to have a battle. When the Muslims won the battle, they cut off the non- Muslims arms and took over the city. This battle was one way that the Early Islamic Empire expanded. In document B, The Treaty of Tudmir also lead to the expansion of the Early Islamic Empire. The Treaty of Tudmir was a treaty that did not force religion, nor burn down their churches. It also stated that they would not take away their sacred objects or give shelter to fugitives and their enemies. This was another way that the Early Islamic Empire expanded because

The expansion began with Muhammad’s ten year reign from 622 to 632, accumulating the western part of the Arabian Peninsula. Through military campaigns, the first four Caliphs that ruled for twenty-nine years after Muhammad’s death gained territory in northwestern Africa, all of the Arabian Peninsula, and areas that cover modern-day Iran and Iraq. By the year 750, the Umayyid Caliphs added territory in Spain, northwestern Africa, and modern-day Pakistan and Afghanistan, allowing the Islamic Empire to span across the western world (Document C). Despite being known as a peaceful religion and civilization, Islam had a strong army that defended its territory. In the year 636, the Muslims formed an alliance with the Hims to defeat the Byzantine Empire’s army, who resisted Islam’s expansion. In al-Baladhuri’s account of the Battle of Yarmuk, he claimed that, “By Allah’s help, some 70,000 of them [the Byzantine army] were put to death” (Document F). The Muslims fought and conquered, all while keeping faith in God, and gained a larger population, increasing the amount of

Mid seventh century Islam, also know as the golden age was a time of innovation, trade, and success. Why was this the Golden age above all other times? Well that’s easy. The golden age was the time when Islam established one of its biggest empires in History, which would later go on to succeed in all fields from math, to law, to industry etc (Doc 1, pg. 11). The biggest components of this great success, though would probably be the advancements in Math, Science and Trade. The new things that people were able to discover using simple math and science not only benefited peoples simple knowledge, but it benefitted the country as a whole. Math and Science were something that not everyone had access to, but since Islam did it benefited trade as well, which would later become what connected all of humanity.

During the Golden Age of Islam, scientific and mathematical ideas were developed, later spreading through different regions. There were numerous factors that helped contribute to the spread of knowledge and ideas. Three primary factors were the education system, the production of paper and the prosperity of unification of oral language.

According to document 4, Al-Khwarizmi, a Muslim mathematician wrote a textbook in the 800’s about algebra which was later adopted throughout Europe. Muslim mathematicians also adopted Arabic numerals from Indians and used them in place-value system. (Doc. 4) These mathematical advances also led to the creation of simple yet complicated structures. Also, after using their observations and their understanding of mathematics, Muslim scholars were able to make an advancement in mapmaking. They used astrolabe and armillary sphere to help study skies and make calculations for calendars and maps. (Doc.

Western societies compared to Muslim and other non-Eurocentric societies have diverse interpretations of 'the rise of the West' and the 'decline of the Islamic Golden Age'. The "Long Decline Paradigm" revolves around the European perspective of Western European history and defines the "success" of non-Eurocentric societies based on how closely they follow the guidelines of Western history (Voll 2010:1). However, the LDP excludes the contributions and achievements that Muslim and other non-Eurocentric societies have made (Voll 2010:1). From 1300-1500, the Muslim empire was establishing their government and followers of the Muslim religion (Voll 2010:1). Western views ignored this expansion since 'the rise of the west' was interpreted as revolutionary and superior to outsiders because of their "understanding [of] the natural world…[and] secular values" (Goody 2011:765-766).

The mathematics had been developed for four thousand years, and Muslim inherited mathematics from Egyptian, Mesopotamians, Sumerian and Babylonian. Greek geometry and Hindu arithmetic and algebra reached at an early stage in Muslim lands and were translated in centers such as Gondeshapur and Baghdad. Starting out at intellectual center of Islam, they soon criticizing those concepts and formulation by finding inaccurate and inconsistent information and adapt their own ideas. At the same period in Western Europe, they still use Roman numerals and abacus to calculate numbers. The Babylonian already had concept of bases sixty computation with place value numerals. Muslim then developed a decimal arithmetic based on place value and joint concept of zero. In the ninth century, Banu Musa brothers who were three gifted sons of Musa, Muhammad, Ahmad, and Hassan ibn Musa lived in Baghdad studied problems in constructing interrelated geometrical figures. Later the characteristic of those line, space of geometrical shape was given intense study and utilized sophisticated geometry in designing waterwheels, in improving farming equipment, in developing new type of weapon used at war. Another person who make significant contribution on mathematics is Muhammad ibn al-Khwarizmi, a Persian born in the eighth century. He was the first person who originated both terms “algebra”, and