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The Golden Age

The early ‘Abbasids were also fortunate in the caliber of their caliphs, especially after Harun al-Rashid came to the caliphate in 786. His reign is now the most famous in the annals of the ‘Abbasids – partly because of the fictional role given him in The Thousand and One Nights (portions of which probably date from his reign), but also because his reign and those of his immediate successors marked the high point of the ‘Abbasid period. As the Arab chronicles put it, Harun al-Rashid ruled when the world was young, a felicitous description of what in later times has come to be called the Golden Age of Islam.

The Golden Age was a period of unrivaled intellectual activity in all fields: science, technology, and (as a result of intensive study of the Islamic faith) literature – particularly biography, history, and linguistics. Scholars, for example, in collecting and reexamining the hadith, or “traditions” – the sayings and actions of the Prophet – compiled immense biographical detail about the Prophet and other information, historic and linguistic, about the Prophet’s era. This led to such memorable works as Sirat Rasul Allah, the “Life of the Messenger of God,” by Ibn Ishaq, later revised by Ibn Hisham; one of the earliest Arabic historical works, it was a key source of information about the Prophet’s life and also a model for other important works of history such as al-Tabari’s Annals of the Apostles and the Kings and his massive commentary on the Quran.

‘Abbasid writers also developed new a genres of literature such as adab, the embodiment of sensible counsel, sometimes in the form of animal fables; a typical example is Kalilah wa-Dimnah, translated by Ibn al-Muqaffa’ from a Pahlavi version of an Indian work. Writers of this period also studied tribal traditions and wrote the first systematic Arabic grammars. During the Golden Age Muslim scholars also made important and original contributions to mathematics, astronomy, medicine, and chemistry. They collected and corrected previous astronomical data, built the world’s first observatory, and developed the astrolabe, an instrument that was once called “a mathematical jewel.” In medicine they experimented with diet, drugs, surgery, and anatomy, and in chemistry, an outgrowth of alchemy, isolated and studied a wide variety of minerals and compounds. Important advances in agriculture were also made in the Golden Age. The ‘Abbasids preserved and improved the ancient network of wells, underground canals, and waterwheels, introduced new breeds of livestock, hastened the spread of cotton, and, from the Chinese, learned the art of making paper, a key to the revival of learning in Europe in the Middle Ages. 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.

Many of the advances in science, literature, and trade which took place during the Golden Age of the ‘Abbasids and which would provide the impetus for the European Renaissance reached their flowering during the caliphate of al-Mamun, son of Harun al-Rashid and perhaps the greatest of all the ‘Abbasids. But politically the signs of decay were already becoming evident. The province of Ifriqiyah – North Africa west of Libya and east of Morocco – had fallen away from ‘Abbasid control during the reign of Harun al-Rashid, and under al-Mamun other provinces soon broke loose also. When, for example, al-Mamun marched from Khorasan to Baghdad, he left a trusted general named Tahir ibn al-Husayn in charge of the eastern province. Tahir asserted his independence of the central government by omitting mention of the caliph’s name in the mosque on Friday and by striking his own coins – acts which became the standard ways of expressing political independence. From 821 onward Tahir and his descendants ruled Khorasan as an independent state, with the tacit consent of the ‘Abbasids. Al-Mamun died in 833, in the town of Tarsus, and was succeeded by his brother, al-Mu’tasim, under whose rule the symptoms of decline that had manifested themselves earlier grew steadily worse. As he could no longer rely on the loyalty of his army, al-Mu’tasim recruited an army of Turks from Transoxania and Turkestan. It was a necessary step, but its outcome was dominance of the caliphate by its own praetorian guard. In the years following 861, the Turks made and unmade rulers at will, a trend that accelerated the decline of the central authority. Although the religious authority of the ‘Abbasid caliphate remained unchallenged, the next four centuries saw political power dispersed among a large number of independent states: Tahirids, Saffarids, Samanids, Buwayhids, Ziyarids, and Ghaznavids in the east; Hamdanids in Syria and northern Mesopotamia; and Tulunids, Ikhshidids, and Fatimids in Egypt.

Some of these states made important contributions to Islamic culture. Under the Samanids, the Persian language, written in the Arabic alphabet, first reached the level of a literary language and poets like Rudaki, Daqiqi, and Firdausi flourished. The Ghaznavids patronized al-Biruni, one of the greatest and most original scholars of medival Islam, and the Hamdanids, a purely Arab dynasty, patronized such poets as al-Mutanabbi and philosophers like the great al-Farabi, whose work kept the flame of Arab culture alive in a difficult period. But in historical terms, only the Fatimids rivaled the preceding dynasties.

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Islamic Golden Age

The Islamic Golden Age lasted nearly 500 years, roughly between the 8th and 13th centuries AD. During this period, monumental breakthroughs in math, literature, science, and other areas of academia were made within the various Muslim caliphates and empires that had sprung up in the Middle East ,  North Africa , and  Spain . The Islamic Golden Age not only had a profound impact on the Muslim world but also played a pivotal role in inspiring future innovation in other parts of the world as well.

Baghdad: The Center Of Learning

Known as Bayt al-Hikmah in the Arab-speaking world, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad was the beating heart of the Islamic Golden Age if there ever was one. First established in the early years of the Abbasid Caliphate  in the 8th century, the House of Wisdom became the center of learning and education in the Muslim world for centuries. Taking inspiration from the  Persian  tradition that preceded it, the House of Wisdom was originally used primarily as a bureaucratic building that helped manage the day-to-day life in such a large empire. Records, local histories, and legal documents were all stored away and studied deeply by those who worked there. 

In the beginning, almost all of the books that were kept at the House of Wisdom were written in Persian and needed to be translated into Arabic. It is argued by historians if these translations actually happened at the House of Wisdom or elsewhere within the Caliphate and were just brought there at a later date. Regardless, the House of Wisdom soon became a tome of knowledge not just of Persian records but also of Greek ones as well. 

Baghdad thrived as an intellectual center in the early and mid-9th century under the rule of al-Maʾmūn, who personally helped the growth of this institution with his own funding and support. It was during this time that the famous mathematician Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī is credited with the discovery of early algebra. 

Literacy And Education

Not only was there a surge of breakthroughs being made in academia, but large swathes of the ruling classes were also taking a serious interest in education. Literacy rates were considerably higher during this Islamic Golden Age than in other societies. While microscopically low by modern standards, it is estimated that the literacy rate within the Muslim world during this period would have been around 2%, something that would have been nearly unheard of in  Dark Ages  Europe and even the relatively advanced Eastern Roman Empire.  Reading and writing would, of course, only be reserved for the wealthiest and most powerful members of society, but this still shows us that there was a concerted effort from rich nobles and aristocrats that they were beginning to value and appreciate a quality education. 

Most learning began religiously in nature. Studying the Quran and Muslim law would have been paramount for anyone seeking an education. However, once past this stage, the study of secular records and books would have been common as well. Rulers of cities or even caliphates were often the main driving forces in education and learning during this "golden age." Either out of their own self-interest or from a genuine desire to better the society in which they lived, the end result was the same. 

Religious Tolerance And Openness 

The religious tolerance that this period is known for is often exaggerated or misunderstood entirely. While it is true that religious minorities were generally treated much better than they would have been in Europe, they still faced open discrimination and even violence on occasion. The idea that the Muslim Golden Age was a time of unprecedented openness often stems from the instances of certain caliphs, amirs, sheiks, or sultans who had a soft spot for their  Jewish  or  Christian  subjects. It should also be noted that even while these minority groups were protected, they still had to pay special taxes and were limited in the positions they could achieve in the government or military.

It is certainly true that during the rule of some Muslim leaders, members of minority faiths and ethnicities held significant power not only within their own communities but within the Muslim-run governments themselves, something that would have been unimaginable in other parts of the world. However, once these tolerant rulers lost power, it was not uncommon for the succeeding ruler to be just as cruel and discriminatory as any other monarch that could be found in Europe or Asia. Like many things, this topic is not a black-and-white issue but rather a very grey and murky one at best. 

The End Of The Golden Age

From the height of the golden age in the 9th century, vast portions of the Muslim world would continue to stress education and learning for centuries to come. This, like many other things, had ebbs and flows depending on who was ruling at the time. But, the general openness to education remained strong. All of this tragically changed in the middle of the 13th century when  Baghdad , the center of the Muslim Golden Age, was brutally sacked and destroyed by invading  Mongols . The city was so thoroughly decimated that the city was rendered almost unlivable for years after the invasion. The city never fully recovered and lost its seat at the head of the educational and academic world. The House of Wisdom was left a smoking ruin, and its thousands of books and endless records were all lost. 

Although the Sack of Bagdad did end the Islamic Golden Age, the Muslim world would experience another age of great prosperity that would come under the rule of the Ottoman Turks in the 15th and 16th centuries. Following in the footsteps of the previous caliphates, the Ottomans , too, were great patrons of the arts and learning throughout their empire. The discoveries and breakthroughs made during this period did not just stay confined to the Middle East either. The early forms of algebra and scientific methods made their way to Europe, China, and India and were used to great success. 

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The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of the Triumph of the Islamic Civilization

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The Islamic Golden Age

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The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of the Triumph of the Islamic Civilization

• First Online: 09 April 2016

Cite this chapter

• Ahmed Renima 3 ,
• Habib Tiliouine 4 &
• Richard J. Estes 5  

Part of the book series: International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life ((IHQL))

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The present chapter discusses the most important forces that led to the rise of Islam’s “Golden Age”, a period of Islamic development that lasted nearly five centuries beginning with the reign of the Abbasid Caliph Harun al-Rashid (c. 786–809) and ended with the collapse of the Abbasid Caliphate following the Mongol invasions and the sack of Baghdad in 1258 CE. Some scholars, though, extend the period of Islam’s Golden Age to cover a longer period of time. All, though, agree that the Golden Age, a truly remarkable period in human history, on that encompasses the remarkable accomplishments made by Islamic scholars, humanists, and scientists in all areas of the arts and humanities, the physical and social sciences, medicine, astronomy, mathematics, finance, and Islamic and European monetary systems over a period of many centuries. This chapter briefly identifies many of the most important changes in human development brought about by the Abbasid dynasty of Baghdad, the Fatimid dynasty of Cairo, and the Umayyad dynasty of Andalusia. Further, the chapter presents multiple examples of the lasting contribution of the Islamic Golden Age from ancient to modern times—many of which lay the foundation for an optimistic future for the world-as-a-whole and for Islamic societies more particularly.

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Annex 1 Timeline of the Expansion of the Muslim Rule (Note: All Dates Refer to the Common Era (CE))

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Renima, A., Tiliouine, H., Estes, R.J. (2016). The Islamic Golden Age: A Story of the Triumph of the Islamic Civilization. In: Tiliouine, H., Estes, R. (eds) The State of Social Progress of Islamic Societies. International Handbooks of Quality-of-Life. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-24774-8_2

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89 The Islamic Golden Age

Learning objective.

• Identify the causes of, and developments during, the Islamic Golden Age
• The Islamic Golden Age started with the rise of Islam and establishment of the first Islamic state in 622.
• The introduction of paper in the 10th century enabled Islamic scholars to easily write manuscripts; Arab scholars also saved classic works of antiquity by translating them into various languages.
• The Arabs assimilated the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had overrun, including the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations.
• Scientists advanced the fields of algebra, calculus, geometry, chemistry, biology, medicine, and astronomy.
• Many forms of art flourished during the Islamic Golden Age, including ceramics, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, woodwork, and calligraphy.

A medieval Andalusian polymath famous for his translations and commentaries of Aristotle.

calligraphy

A visual art related to writing—the design and execution of lettering with a broad tip instrument or brush in one stroke.

A form of artistic decoration consisting of surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils, and other elements.

The Islamic Golden Age refers to a period in the history of Islam, traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century, during which much of the historically Islamic world was ruled by various caliphates and science, economic development, and cultural works flourished. This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid (786–809) with the inauguration of the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, where scholars from various parts of the world with different cultural backgrounds were mandated to gather and translate all of the world’s classical knowledge into the Arabic language.

The end of the age is variously given as 1258 with the Mongolian Sack of Baghdad, or 1492 with the completion of the Christian Reconquista of the Emirate of Granada in Al-Andalus, Iberian Peninsula. During the Golden Age, the major Islamic capital cities of Baghdad, Cairo, and Córdoba became the main intellectual centers for science, philosophy, medicine, and education. The government heavily patronized scholars, and the best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries estimated to be the equivalent of those of professional athletes today.

The School of Nisibis and later the School of Edessa became centers of learning and transmission of classical wisdom. The House of Wisdom was a library, translation institute, and academy, and the Library of Alexandria and the Imperial Library of Constantinople housed new works of literature. Nestorian Christians played an important role in the formation of Arab culture, with the Jundishapur hospital and medical academy prominent in the late Sassanid, Umayyad, and early Abbasid periods. Notably, eight generations of the Nestorian Bukhtishu family served as private doctors to caliphs and sultans between the 8th and 11th centuries.

Literature and Philosophy

With the introduction of paper, information was democratized and it became possible to make a living from simply writing and selling books. The use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the 8th century, and then to Spain (and then the rest of Europe) in the 10th century. Paper was easier to manufacture than parchment and less likely to crack than papyrus, and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase and ideal for keeping records. Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries. The best known fiction from the Islamic world is The Book of One Thousand and One Nights , which took form in the 10th century and reached its final form by the 14th century, although the number and type of tales vary.

Christians (particularly Nestorian Christians) contributed to the Arab Islamic civilization during the Ummayad and the Abbasid periods by translating works of Greek philosophers to Syriac and then to Arabic. During the 4th through the 7th centuries, scholarly work in the Syriac and Greek languages was either newly initiated or carried on from the Hellenistic period. Many classic works of antiquity might have been lost if Arab scholars had not translated them into Arabic and Persian and later into Turkish, Hebrew, and Latin. Islamic scholars also absorbed ideas from China and India, and in turn Arabic philosophic literature contributed to the development of modern European philosophy.

Ibn Rushd, also known by his Latinized name Averroës (April 14, 1126–December 10, 1198), was an Al-Andalus Muslim polymath, a master of Aristotelian philosophy, Islamic philosophy, Islamic theology, Maliki law and jurisprudence, logic, psychology, politics, Andalusian classical music theory, medicine, astronomy, geography, mathematics, physics, and celestial mechanics. Averroes was born in Córdoba, Al-Andalus, present-day Spain, and died in Marrakesh, present-day Morocco.

The 13th-century philosophical movement based on Averroes’ work is called Averroism. Both Ibn Rushd and the scholar Ibn Sina played a major role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian and Muslim worlds. Ibn Rushd has been described as the “founding father of secular thought in Western Europe.” He tried to reconcile Aristotle’s system of thought with Islam. According to him, there is no conflict between religion and philosophy; rather they are different ways of reaching the same truth. He believed in the eternity of the universe. Ibn Ruhd also held that the soul is divided into two parts, one individual and one divine; while the individual soul is not eternal, all humans at the basic level share one and the same divine soul.

Science and Mathematics

The Arabs assimilated the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had conquered, including the ancient Greek, Roman, Persian, Chinese, Indian, Egyptian, and Phoenician civilizations. Scientists recovered the Alexandrian mathematical, geometric, and astronomical knowledge, such as that of Euclid and Claudius Ptolemy.

Persian scientist Muhammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī significantly developed algebra in in his landmark text, Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabala , from which the term “algebra” is derived. The term “algorithm” is derived from the name of the scholar al-Khwarizmi, who was also responsible for introducing the Arabic numerals and Hindu-Arabic numeral system beyond the Indian subcontinent. In calculus, the scholar Alhazen discovered the sum formula for the fourth power, using a method readily generalizable to determine the sum for any integral power. He used this to find the volume of a paraboloid.

Medicine was a central part of medieval Islamic culture. Responding to circumstances of time and place, Islamic physicians and scholars developed a large and complex medical literature exploring and synthesizing the theory and practice of medicine. Islamic medicine was built on tradition, chiefly the theoretical and practical knowledge developed in India, Greece, Persia, and Rome. Islamic scholars translated their writings from Syriac, Greek, and Sanskrit into Arabic and then produced new medical knowledge based on those texts. In order to make the Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Islamic scholars organized the Greco-Roman medical knowledge into encyclopedias.

Ceramics, glass, metalwork, textiles, illuminated manuscripts, and woodwork flourished during the Islamic Golden Age. Manuscript illumination became an important and greatly respected art, and portrait miniature painting flourished in Persia. Calligraphy, an essential aspect of written Arabic, developed in manuscripts and architectural decoration.

Typically, though not entirely, Islamic art depicts nature patterns and Arabic calligraphy, rather than figures, because many Muslims feared that the depiction of the human form is idolatry and thereby a sin against God, forbidden in the Quran. There are repeating elements in Islamic art, such as the use of geometrical floral or vegetal designs in a repetition known as the arabesque. The arabesque in Islamic art is often used to symbolize the transcendent, indivisible, and infinite nature of God. Mistakes in repetitions may be intentionally introduced as a show of humility by artists who believe only God can produce perfection, although this theory is disputed.

Calligraphy

The traditional instrument of the Arabic calligrapher is the qalam, a pen made of dried reed or bamboo. Qalam ink is often in color, and chosen such that its intensity can vary greatly, so that the greater strokes of the compositions can be very dynamic in their effect. Islamic calligraphy is applied on a wide range of decorative mediums other than paper, such as tiles, vessels, carpets, and inscriptions. Before the advent of paper, papyrus and parchment were used for writing.

Coins were another support for calligraphy. Beginning in 692, the Islamic caliphate reformed the coinage of the Near East by replacing visual depiction with words. This was especially true for dinars, or gold coins of high value, which were inscribed with quotes from the Quran.

By the 10th century, the Persians, who had converted to Islam, began weaving inscriptions on elaborately patterned silks. These calligraphic-inscribed textiles were so precious that Crusaders brought them to Europe as prized possessions. A notable example is the Suaire de Saint-Josse, used to wrap the bones of St. Josse in the abbey of St. Josse-sur-Mer near Caen in northwestern France.

Architecture and Tilework

There were many advances in architectural construction, and mosques, tombs, palaces, and forts were inspired by Persian and Byzantine architecture. Islamic mosaic art anticipated principles of quasicrystalline geometry, which would not be discovered for 500 more years. This art used symmetric polygonal shapes to create patterns that can continue indefinitely without repeating. These patterns have even helped modern scientists understand quasicrystals at the atomic levels.

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Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science Essay

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While the period from roughly 700 to 1500 in Europe, especially 800 to 1200, is referred to as the Dark Ages, the Muslim world at the time was prosperous. Particularly, Al-Andalus, the Muslim state in Southern Europe, in the South of Spain, was very different from the rest of Europe in terms of its technological achievements, science, medicine, and the quality of life. By the end of the Middle Ages, a wide range of inventions and products of the Muslim world had been introduced into the West. These inventions and products include cotton, paper, paper money, postage stamps, glass mirrors, street lamps, salt, pepper, cinnamon, deodorant, rose water, linen, silk, satin, fine furs, velvet, curtains, kerosene, clocks, ceramic tiles, soap, rulers, maps, globes, eyeglasses, almanacs, and encyclopedias. The modern world still benefits from what Muslims developed in the Golden Age of Islam.

The achievements of the Muslim technology and science contributed to the development of the Western society and helped Europe come out of the Dark Ages. It was Al-Andalus that spread the progress throughout Europe. Cordoba, a city in Al-Andalus, was the largest city in the world at that time, with more than a million inhabitants. The streets of Cordoba were completely lit up at night because there were street lights that were unknown to the rest of Europe. Cordoba had public baths, libraries, and universities, which signified its higher level of cultural development that that of the Western countries at the time. Al-Andalus was a world-famous center of learning, and people would travel from all over the world to study in the city.

The Dark Ages ended in Europe with the Renaissance, a period of humanism and flourishing arts and literature. Although Renaissance is often regarded as the Europe’s return to the ancient culture of Greece and the Roman Empire, the Muslim world contributed a lot to the period of “rebirth.” Technological, cultural, and scientific achievements were taken by European countries from Al-Andalus, which shaped the Renaissance to a large extent. One of the most prominent areas of the Renaissance, the Italian art, including fine arts, paintings, sculpture, architecture, and so on, was influenced by Spanish artisans coming from the parts of Spain influenced by Muslims.

But even before the Renaissance, which started approximately in the 14th century, the Western world learned a lot from the Muslim world during the Crusades. The First Crusade began in 1095 upon the Pope’s call for all Christians to go to the Holy Land belonging to the Muslim world back then to release the main Christian sacred object, the Holy Sepulcher, from the Muslims. Over slightly more than the next hundred years, three more Crusades occurred. None of them managed to conquer the Holy Land or take it away from the Muslims. However, the crusaders got to observe the Muslims’ lifestyles and achievements and brought a lot back to Europe from the Middle East. The knowledge gained from the Islamic society during its Golden Age helped Europe advance and move from the Dark Ages to the Renaissance.

This knowledge consisted of medical information, books on various sciences, food, sanitation, esthetics, languages, scientific discoveries, technological inventions, and many other aspects. Europe adopted many advancements as well as tastes of the Muslims, which dramatically changed the Western world like it had not been changing for almost a thousand years of the Dark Ages since the fall of the Roman Empire. Europe managed to come out of the oppression and domination of the church associated with the Inquisition and persecution of scientific and artistic innovations. Therefore, Europe approached the most productive period of its history through the influence of the Muslim world. Things created in Europe after the completion of the Crusades and the return of crusaders from the Muslim world include universities, Gothic cathedrals, and courts. The legal system and the principles of justice that were advanced during the Renaissance were also created based on the examples observed in the Muslim society.

A particularly important area, in which Muslims significantly contributed during their Golden Age, is mathematics. The whole concept of algebra and the use of symbols and equations were developed by Muslims. The Arabic numeral system is still used throughout the world. The notion of the algorithm is also of Arabic origin, and even the word comes from Arabic, like many terms in mathematics and other sciences. Such an advanced mathematical concept as solving third-degree equations was also developed in the Muslim world, and the formula was found by Muslim scientists long before it was found by Western ones. Such areas of mathematics as calculus and trigonometry can be traced back to the works of Arabic mathematicians.

In physics, the fundamental knowledge of mechanics was produced by Muslim scientists, too. It can be argued that gravity as a phenomenon, its characteristics, and application had been described in the literature of the Muslim world long before Newton’s discovery of gravity in the late 17th century. In the Golden Age, the technologies of the Muslims featured hydrometer, aerometer, lever, balance, pendulum, springs, and wall clock. Also, impressive achievements were observed in chemistry. Muslims proposed the theory that all matter consisted of indivisible smallest portions of substance (atoms) and mastered the processes of crystallization, evaporation, filtration, and distillation, as well as their application to practical tasks. Many technologies of working with metal and dying fabrics and glass were invented during the Golden Age. Muslims discovered many chemicals and developed methods of preparing them and working with them, including sulfuric and nitric acids, chlorides and sulfides. This knowledge helped produce and actively use such things as soaps and perfumes, paints and gunpowder, glass, paper, and sugar.

Another area of outstanding achievements of the Muslim world during its Golden Age is geography and astronomy. Muslims invented astrolabes and celestial maps. They studied the shape of the Earth and suggested it was spherical, calculated the size (diameter and circumference) of the planet, and figured out the orbits of other planets and stars as well as the motion of the Earth around the Sun. For Muslims, the sense of direction was always important because they pray towards Mecca. This fact was the driving force for the development of geography and navigation. For example, the compass was invented. Also, cartography was an important science boosting the creation of maps and promoting the studies of winds and other phenomena that assist in navigation. Another reason for the development in these areas is the pilgrimage to Mecca, which every Muslim should undertake in their lifetime. This fact contributed to the development of roads, maps, and navigation techniques.

Finally, the Muslims gave to the world a lot of inventions and innovations in medicine. In Muslim countries, professional gynecologists and obstetricians appeared long before they did in the Western world. The patterns of blood circulation and pulmonary circulation were described in the Arabic medical literature of medieval times. Also, the mechanisms of communicable diseases and the processes of distribution of tuberculosis in particular by water and soil were described there, too, which is the origin of the branch of medicine called epidemiology. Muslims knew how to perform surgeries on teeth, eyes, ears, and other body parts. More than 200 surgical instruments and 143 types of medicines were described in Muslim medical and pharmacological books, which is much more than the European society used or was aware of in the Middle Ages.

Also, the urban infrastructure was highly developed in Cordoba and other large cities of the Muslim world. The engineers of Al-Andalus built aqueducts to carry the water from the mountains down to the inhabitants of the cities, providing every household with running water. In the present-day region of Spain that used to be a part of the Muslim world, the waterworks built back in the Golden Age of Islam is still functioning. Overall, the norms of sanitation adopted in the Muslim world, including changing clothes regularly, building sewage systems, and taking baths, were unknown to the West, which in a way caused several deadly epidemics in Europe in the Middle Ages.

Much of the refinement and advancement in the Western civilization of the end of the Middle Ages were brought from the Muslims. The Dark Ages of Europe, with underdeveloped technologies and science, were unfolding at the same time when the Muslim world was going through its Golden Age demonstrating outstanding achievements in a wide range of spheres of human activities.

• Islamic Conquest of Africa, India, and Spain
• Plague Age, Mongol Empire and Birth of Modern World
• Al-Zahrawi's Life and Contributions
• The Medieval Crusades History
• Argentina’s Geographical Information
• Church Role in Witch Hunting
• Scandinavian Expansion in the Viking Age
• "The Popes and the Crusaders" by Dana Munro
• "The Crusades: A Timewatch Guide" Documentary
• Arab Scientific Contributions in Islamic Golden Age
• Chicago (A-D)
• Chicago (N-B)

IvyPanda. (2020, September 3). Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science. https://ivypanda.com/essays/golden-age-of-islam-inventions-and-success-in-science/

"Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science." IvyPanda , 3 Sept. 2020, ivypanda.com/essays/golden-age-of-islam-inventions-and-success-in-science/.

IvyPanda . (2020) 'Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science'. 3 September.

IvyPanda . 2020. "Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/golden-age-of-islam-inventions-and-success-in-science/.

1. IvyPanda . "Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/golden-age-of-islam-inventions-and-success-in-science/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Golden Age of Islam: Inventions and Success in Science." September 3, 2020. https://ivypanda.com/essays/golden-age-of-islam-inventions-and-success-in-science/.