Medieval Middle East and the Arab Empires: A Complete Overview

during the classical age the time of Rome the Arabian Peninsula was inhabited by the Bedouins these were nomadic Arabs who came from the northern regions of the peninsula Bedouin Society was divided into different Clans each headed by a leader called The Shake he was chosen from a group of Elders called the majlis though each Clan was unique they all felt a greater sense of unity after domesticating the camel they became wealthy as Traders and intermediaries between the Persian Gulf and Mediterranean like most cultures before the rise of monotheistic religions the early Bedouins were polytheistic but with one primary God or Supreme deity whom they called Allah there was no priest class or religious hierarchy in the Clans so everyone in the community partook in the religious practices they believed lesser Spirits lived in the natural world in trees mountains and water but that their primary God was represented by a special stone though there were many stones at first by the time of Islam they would adopt a single black meteorite as being especially sacred after the fall of Rome in the west the two major players in the Middle East were the Eastern Roman Empire and sassanid Persia their constant Wars created chaos in the Middle East causing old trade routes to become more dangerous because of this trade routes would start to pass deeper through Arabia from the Mediterranean to Mecca then the coast of Yemen and East to the Indian Ocean those Bedouins who lived in these parts of Arabia became quite Rich creating a wealthy Urban Merchant class but this also tainted The Fairly egalitarian society they once had it was around this time in the late 500s that a man named Mohammed became more prominent though he would be one of the most significant figures in world history there isn't much known about the future prophet and our only sources are the Quran and the Hadith testimonials about his life that were written later because of this the story of the first years of the rise of Islam aren't set into stone it is thought Mohammed was born in Mecca to one of the merchant families who benefited from The increased trade but became an orphan at six once older he became a caravan manager and married his Rich employer Khadijah he was part of the hashemite clan of the karace tribe which had historically controlled Mecca though he lived as a merchant for years he became disheartened with the growing gap between the generosity and moral values of the desert Bedouins and the increasingly greedy nature of those wealthy City merchants he would begin to leave the city and meditate alone away from the public this is where tradition states he met the angel Gabriel who told him to spread the word of the coming revelation Muhammad had been familiar with both Jewish and Christian doctrine so believed that Allah had already imparted his message through Moses and Jesus but now it was his turn to receive the final Revelations these Revelations were told to scribes who wrote them down in the recitation or Quran these would become the holy scriptures of Islam a word implying submission to the will of their God over time he would Garner more followers who would be called Muslims and followed the guidelines written in the Quran after Mohammed returned to Mecca he began preaching to the citizens there at first many considered him insane as he attacked their long-held beliefs and many felt threatened as he placed a light on the corruption among the merchant classes after years of preaching he only gathered a handful of followers like many counter-cultural religions throughout history he and his followers were met with persecution and seeing that his message would not be received in Mecca Muhammad fled the city in what is known as the hajira and went to the nearby city of yaphrab later to be known as Medina which means the city of the prophet his flight from Mecca would Mark the start of the Islamic calendar once in Medina Muhammad failed to convert the Jewish population but did have some success with the Bedouins living on the outskirts of town around 622 Mohammed joined together different tribes from different faiths to create Islam's First Armor or community [Music] around 6 30 Muhammad had gathered enough followers to return to Mecca but he returned with a vengeance he conquered the city and the inhabitants were converted he later visited the Kaaba and declared it a sacred Shrine to Islam in Islam it is considered the house of God and is the direction of prayer for all Muslims around the world all the idols and symbolism of the older polytheistic Faith were destroyed Islam was monotheistic like Judaism and Christianity and the Supreme deity was called Allah the omnipotent Creator God also like other religions emphasis is on the afterlife but it is one's actions in this world that dictate whether you'll achieve salvation or not the founder of Islam was not claimed to be divine like Jesus in Christianity but a prophet like Abraham or Moses Muhammad was to be the most important because he was thought to have brought the final uncorrupted Revelation from Allah written in the holy book the Quran the Quran sits at the core of Islam and consists of 114 surahs or chapters compiled after the death of Muhammad it served as a holy book political Theory and a code of laws over time Islam developed a code of ethics called the five pillars of Islam the Five Pillars are belief in Allah and Muhammad as his Prophet prayer five times per day with public prayer on Friday observance of Ramadan along with fasting from dawn to Sunset making a pilgrimage to Mecca at least once in a lifetime and giving zakat or arms for the poor those who follow these tenets are guaranteed a place in Paradise which is traditionally envisioned as a beautiful garden an antithesis to the harsh Arabian Deserts all around them after Muhammad's death a group of Scholars wrote up the law code known as Sharia which was a set of rules for daily life much of the Sharia was taken from the Hadith the collection of Muhammad sayings used to complement his Revelations like most holy books there is still a lot of ambiguity around the origins of the Quran and what sources were used so there remain numerous interpretations of the texts after Muhammad's death his followers were without a prophet to lead them and it's unclear if he named a successor in 632 most in the community chose abubakar Muhammad's father-in-law and a rich Merchant from Medina as his successor or caliph this was the start of the rashidun caliphate which would become the leading power in all West Asia in just a few decades he was to be the leader of the Islamic community and also considered an Imam or religious leader Abu Bakr adopted mohammed's tactics of quick raids to expand the caliphate's influence after unifying the Arabs the Arabian armies were able to focus on foreign civilizations beyond the peninsula who most powerful in the region were the byzantines or Eastern Roman Empire in the west and the sassanid Persian Empire in the east it took no time at all for the Muslim armies to make progress from 636 onwards they defeated the Eastern Roman armies conquering Roman Syria and Egypt and Beyond into North Africa expeditions to the South to conquer Nubia failed in the East the rashidun caliphate brought the collapse of the entire sassanian Empire by 650. this rapid expansion and on such a scale seemed impossible for Desert Nomads to accomplish as always the story seems to lie more with environment and circumstances than Divine will we know both the Byzantine Empire and sassanid Persians had been weakening each other militarily for over a hundred years and the Persians were embroiled in Civil War both were also hit by the first recorded plague pandemic in history in the mid-500s it's also quite possible the richest of the Arab Merchants pushed for expansion not to spread Islam but to open up trade options and production of their own Goods still the Bedouin armies were quite powerful in their own right highly mobile units the Arab Cavalry was able to outmaneuver the heavily armored Byzantine and sassanid Horsemen after this the belief that any Islamic soldier who dies in battle ends up in paradise and you have an army not just willing but eager to fight to the death once the Arab armies took control of a region they put in place a non-military Administration which was usually Arab but sometimes left to the locals conversions contrary to historical portrayals were mostly voluntary but promoted those who didn't convert still had to obey the Islamic laws and were forced to pay a tax to be exempt from military service for the locals daily life wasn't very different than under the byzantines or sassanids and for some Arab rule was preferable with much of the Middle East in its hands the caliphate's first true challenge came not from without but from within many of Muhammad's followers had disapproved of Abu Bakr being named caliph and instead wanted Muhammad's cousin and son-in-law Ali to be successor this was largely ignored and even when Abu Bakr died in 634 title of caliph Pastor Umar who ruled until 644 when he was assassinated the rashidun caliphate reached its greatest extent under its next caliph ufman who ruled for 12 years but was also assassinated in 656 Ali was then finally selected as a replacement and became Calif some were convinced Ali was involved in uthman's assassination leading to the first fitner a civil war between Arab factions this ended when Ali himself was killed in 661. muawea the governor of Syria an arrival of Ali took power founding a new caliphate this caliphate was named after the Umayyads a branch of the Croatia Clan they established their capital in Damascus and continued their expansion campaigns these expansion campaigns occurred both in the west and the east the Arab armies continued across North Africa defeating the native berbas the berbas were the natives living in communities across North Africa in 710 Muslim forces Consolidated the Berber armies as their allies and with their aid cross the Strait of Gibraltar and invaded Spain their leader was a Berber named Tariq even ziyad giving us the name Rock of Gibraltar or jabel Tariq Spain at this point was ruled by the Visigoths as the visigothic kingdom they were part of the Germanic societies who helped bring the end of the Roman Empire back in the 400s by the 700s the visigothic kingdom was plagued by internal conflicts so easily fell to the umayyad armies between 721 and 725 the visigothic kingdom collapsed and most of the Iberian Peninsula became a Muslim state but they didn't end their expansion there with the Visigoths defeated their next Target was France and the Frankish Army the Franks like the Visigoths were another one of the Germanic societies that became inheritors of the old Roman Empire seven years later in 732 after some initial success in the invasion of Southern France the Muslim armies were met by Charles Martel at the Battle of Tours Martel and the heavily armored Frankish infantry negated the Arab Horsemen's Mobility through defensive tactics and the Umayyads retreated never would you may yet reach further than Spain though the sassanid collapsed the Byzantine Empire still lived and would continue to have battles with the Arabs in the East for centuries many of these battles would take place on the sea resulting in a series of Naval conflicts though the Arab Navy was quite weak being a desert culture they developed quickly and were able to take on the Greek ships after their first Siege of Constantinople in the mid-600s the umayyad Army tried again in 717 by both land and sea this could have been the end for not only the byzantines but for the Eastern Roman tradition itself the Arabs weren't prepared for a secret weapon though it was a petroleum-based compound perhaps containing sulfur or quicklime resulting in a fiery Napalm hell for the Arab Navy we call it Greek Fire and it helped give the byzantines the upper hand destroying the Arab Fleet and ending the Muslim advance of Europe from the East back in the Middle East the Umayyads expanded further to the east taking over the old sassanid territories of Mesopotamia and Persia and expanding into Central Asia with a wide variety of people in this Empire many non-arab converts to Islam still felt neglected and were overlooked for governmental or other important positions frustrations led to revolt in Mesopotamia Hussein the Second Son of the former caliph Ali attempted to undermine the new umayyad caliphate and led a Revolt in 680 with his so-called partisans of Ali or in Arabic shiat Ali who would come to be known as Shiites Hussein and his partisans were defeated and Hussein was killed this caused a separation in Islamic Society between Shiites or the partisans of Ali and the Sunni often translated as Orthodox who supported the current caliphate there was also Strife in North Africa as many berbas continued to resist Muslim occupation the you may yet reportedly became unjust rulers showing off their wealth and exploiting their own people the umayyat was soon faced with another revolt this one was headed by Abu alabas a descendant of Muhammad's uncle this Revolt succeeded and the umayyat were overthrown in 750 after less than 100 years in power in its place alabas founded the Abbasid caliphate the third of the four major Islamic caliphates the abbasids radically changed the Muslim World by integrating all Muslims both Arab and non-arab into everyday Society non-arabs were now allowed to hold civil and Military office and intermarriages also became more common over time this caused Islamic culture to become more influenced by those peoples they had conquered in 762 the abbasids built their new capital at Baghdad to the east of the old umayyad capital at Damascus the capital was built there as it lay in a strategic location near Maritime trade routes to the Persian Gulf and Caravan routes from the Mediterranean to Central Asia the cultural mixing along with the more Eastern site of the capital allowed Persian culture to become more prominent in the Islamic world like the older Persian Empires it wasn't soldiers who were most valued but Merchants Tradesmen and government officials the early episode period ushered in a new age of cultural exchange and prosperity this Golden Age began in the late 700s under harun UL Rasheed called Haroon the upright and continued under his son Alma Moon who founded an astronomical Observatory and set out to translate the classical works of Greece which they now had in their possession the economy also prospered as the Arabs had conquered many of the rich Eastern provinces that once belonged to Rome and also controlled the trade routes connecting Europe to Asia Baghdad at the crossroads of three continents became a wealthy City not only economically but culturally and technologically they learned paper making from the East which then passed on into Europe Egypt and Beyond under the abbasids the caliphs adopted more of a kingly role rather than spiritual leader they became more autocratic and adorned themselves in the finest silks and the most precious of jewels more centralization of power meant more bureaucracy and more Administration the caliph's advisors were called the Dewan a council headed by a prime minister known as a vizier once harun died another civil war broke out known as the fourth Fitness or great Abbasid Civil War haroon's Sons Amin and ulmar Moon's rivalry ended with the destruction of Baghdad Alice's were burned and families turned on each other al-ameen was killed just a few years into the conflict with ulmar moon being named caliph but conflict lasted until the 830s it's possible Financial corruption caused this sudden instability the abbasids had been handing out High governmental positions to those they preferred and this eventually undermined their own authority harun UL rasheed's wife zubaida allegedly spent vast sums of wealth while on pilgrimage to Mecca while all rashid's hashemite Clan received large sums of money from the treasury the Sumptuous lives of those in power seem to go against the core of Islamic teachings and even the morals of the Arab culture that preceded it alcohol was widely consumed in public and caliphs enjoyed numerous concubines the Abbasid integration of non-arabs wasn't only because they wanted Harmony but because they could not find enough qualified Arabs to fill in the positions in this larger Empire those of Persian and turkic descent from Central Asia gained more prominent positions and their influence soon permeated into the government and army by the 900s the caliphate was fragmented with Morocco having become independent under the Idris Dynasty and more importantly Egypt was lost to the fatimids a Shiite Dynasty who established their Capital at Cairo though fragmented the Islamic world was still strong as a whole by the start of the New Millennium the abbasids continued their decline sharing the Middle East with dynasties in North Africa and Iran but danger would soon come this time from Central Asia the Central and Eastern Asian steps had been dominated by different turkic peoples for centuries in the west one of the largest groups were the ogres Turks a breakaway dynasty of the ogres Turks the seljukes were fearsome mounted archers known for hit-and-run tactics and were originally employed as mercenaries by the abbasids once the abbasids weakened the cell Dukes were able to take control over the Eastern provinces of the caliphate establishing the great seljuk Empire in 1037. by 1055 a cell Duke leader captured the capital of Baghdad and proclaimed himself Sultan meaning holder of power the abbasids were still the main Islamic Sunni caliphate but raw power shifted towards the seljukes they didn't set up a capital at Baghdad though and the Golden City went into temporary decline the Turks weren't Arab nor Persian and though many were Muslim they were still seen as barbarians and their arrival in the Middle East was an unwelcome one an unintended consequence though was that the cell Dukes brought back a sense of stability and a pause to the internal tensions between Sunni and Shiite one of the groups who especially disliked the seljuk occupation in the East were the Shiite Persians who saw the seljukes As usurpers and an insult to Islam one of the most prominent of these was a man named Hassan Sabah he was a person but trained in Fatimid Cairo before forming a military group named the order of Assassins or hashashim from their Mountain Base near the Caspian Sea Sabah and his men raided and covertly killed political and religious leaders the term assassinate might have originated from the tactics used by this group the order would stay active until the 1200s with their Newfound foothold in the Middle East the cell Duke Turks would begin to pressure the fatimids in Egypt and the Byzantine Empire in 1071 the Turks decisively defeated the Byzantine Army at the Battle of manticot capturing the emperor this greatly decreased Eastern Roman influence in Anatolia opening the door for turkification feeling threatened the byzantines turned to Christian Europe for Aid at the end of the 11th century Byzantine emperor Alexius the first asked the West for help in protecting his Empire against the Turks in 1096 Christian Europe responded by invading the Islamic Middle East in what would be the first of many crusades the Europeans captured the lands east of the Mediterranean from Antioch to the Sinai including the holy city of Jerusalem local rulers were no match for the heavily armored Christian Cavalry and the selju Turks themselves were dealing with more pressing threats to the east of their territory so the Europeans had initial success but in 1169 a man named Yusuf IBN Ayub became vizier of Egypt but would be more commonly known as Saladin by 1171 Saladin overthrew the fatimids and named himself Sultan founding the ayubid caliphate and going on to consolidate power in Syria as well this left the Christian states of the Levant Court in the middle and vulnerable in 1187 saladin's forces invaded the kingdom of Jerusalem driving out the Crux of the Invaders and leaving just a few Christian strongholds remaining Saladin was known for his tolerance to the Christian communities living in his new domain allowing civilian populations to live and continue their religious traditions back in Europe England and France put a pause on their bickering to unite and launch the third crusade in the late 1100s to recapture Jerusalem though the Crusaders achieved minor victories they failed in recapturing the holy city and the King's Crusade ended in a stalemate regaining some territory in the Levant and allowing safe travel to religious pilgrims more Crusades would continue throughout the Middle Ages but in the end these incursions into the Muslim World never really threatened it and only served to heighten tensions between Islam and Christianity the real threat came from the East from the region of the Gobi desert nomadic tribes on Horseback galloped out of Central Asia in the early 1200s these were the Mongols a pastoralist people who would come to affect most of Eurasia unified under their leader Genghis Khan the Mongols began a lightning fast expansion by the mid-1200s it was his grandson hulagu brother to Kublai Khan who led the charge into the Middle East he captured Iran from the quarasmians founding the ilkenate and moved to Mesopotamia sacking Baghdad in 1258 the capital of the Abbasid caliphate ending the Islamic golden age the abbasids lost their political power and territory but would remain relevant as a religious Authority until the 1500s the Mongols were not Muslims like the cell Dukes were so they were not as adapted to their new role as conquerors they were reportedly brutal to the local population murdering families and their pets and to the local infrastructure destroying irrigation systems unwracking the local economies the Mongol invasions would have continued but they were halted by the mamluk sultanate who controlled Egypt and parts of the Levant the mamluks were originally a slave class but eventually rebelled against saladin's ayubids in Egypt this battle against the Mongols effectively stopped the advance keeping the Levant and North Africa out of Mongol hands it is also significant because it is the first recorded battle with the use of hand cannons employed by the mamluks to frighten the Mongols over time the Mongols began to govern more traditionally they adopted Islamic culture and religion and rebuilt the cities that had been destroyed by the 1300s the Mongol Empire was split up and began to lose power the Islamic Cultural Center wouldn't move back to Damascus or Baghdad but to Cairo under the mamluks in Anatolia a group of seljukes had founded the sultanate of rum back in 1077 after taking the territory from the byzantines following the Battle of manziket this sultanate was greatly weakened during the Crusades and then became a vassal to the Mongols the last vassal Sultan was murdered in 1308 and Anatolia was left under the control of many smaller baelics or Turkish principalities one of these the ottoman Dynasty would soon become quite prominent at the end of the medieval period apart from Cairo in the Middle East the next largest Islamic Cultural Center was in Europe after the umayyat were overthrown in 750 a member of the dynasty Abdul Rahman fled West and by 756 established himself in southern Spain modern historians call the muslim-controlled region in Iberia all andalus abdulrahman ruled as Emir or Commander from his Capital at Cordoba in 929 Cordoba became a caliphate under one of ulrahman's descendants with Muslim control over North Africa southern Spain and the many islands throughout the Mediterranean al-andalus became Rich through trade receiving valuable Eastern Commodities like dates sugar and cotton Orlando loose flourished in Spain during this time and reached a high point in the cultural City centers of Cordoba Seville and Toledo figures from all over the Muslim world flocked to Orlando's disseminating their knowledge of philosophy and of the Sciences like astronomy mathematics and Medicine eventually the libraries of al-andalus became some of the most magnificent of the Medieval World though the Cordoba caliphate was prosperous it did not last very long by the beginning of the 11th century in 1009 the palace at Cordoba was destroyed in a civil war by 1031 the caliphate had fallen and dissolved into a number of Muslim typhas small kingdoms or principalities the Christian communities to the North had used this opportunity to focus on a counter-attack to retake the peninsula and re-establish a Christian Europe in 1085 the king of Castile King Alfonso VI captured Toledo a huge blow to the Muslims the cultural advancements that had made it into the city then moved through to the rest of Western Europe and Beyond in Seville the rulers called on aid from the Almar avids a Berber Dynasty that had established themselves in Morocco in the 1050s they were led by their King a man named yusufident ashvin Yusuf and the Muslim Coalition fought back King Alfonso and the Christian allies Advance at the Battle of segregas in 1086 a battle so blood soaked it was later named as selaka meaning slippery ground in Arabic Yusuf then stayed in the region and extended his almeravid empire into southern Spain culture began to decline an intellectual achievement lessened with the Christian kingdoms threatening to the north the main focus was on Survival not art in the late 1100s the alma ravids were overtaken by the amohads another Berber Dynasty sparking the Christians to begin a new crusade to eject Muslim rule in Spain for good over the next centuries the Christians would slowly move South capturing Cordoba in 1236 and Seville in 1248. assume all that was left was Granada which became a tribute state but then surrendered in 1492 ending the Muslim rule in Spain life in the Muslim World kept Islam at the Forefront maintaining a tight bond between State and religion this wasn't to its detriment though the years of the Abbasid Empire became a time of unparalleled Prosperity compared to that of Europe to the East China was flourishing as well under the tongue and Song dynasties also considered a golden age period from there the abbasids would import silk and porcelain from the camel Caravans of Africa would come precious gold Ivory and slaves from India spices and cotton within the Islamic World Egypt remained the breadbasket mainly providing grain they also developed systems of banking and credit originally a desert Society the Arabs quickly learned how to build ships capable of sailing the Indian Ocean they used both the Greek astrolabe and Chinese compass to help them navigate the waters and soon became active in the west Mediterranean as well becoming the most familiar Traders and Merchants during this golden age under the abbasids Baghdad was the most magnificent City before the shift to Cairo Basra flourished near the Persian Gulf as did the former capital of Damascus in Syria and Marrakech in Morocco in these urban areas Christians Jews and Muslims lived separately in either stone or brick houses the wealthier families lived in larger houses with Courtyards sometimes with domestic animals like goats and sheep in the Stables the wealthy also often had houses with numerous floors and balconies outside the urban centers would be Farmland where much of the population lived and worked the agricultural industry boomed as new crops were imported a new water management techniques were employed like underground canals most Farmland was owned by small farmers but over time the wealthy began snatching up land as well the state-owned small pieces of land which were tended by slaves the most rich locations were around the three main rivers the Tigris and Euphrates in Mesopotamia and the Nile in Egypt the main diet for a wealthy Arab was either poultry fish goat or mutton alongside fruit and spices the poor had to rely on Millet with meat on rare occasions in the desert they ate boiled grain and a dried compound of flour and water called a tria Merchants eventually traded this in Sicily and this food would eventually be called pasta most historians now agree that it was probably Traders from Libya who first brought pasta to Italy Society in the Islamic world was in theory based on egalitarianism and the middle classes of merchants and Artisans garnered higher levels of respect in society than those of Europe or China and the nobility wasn't based on Heritage or Bloodlines making upward Mobility possible but in practice the upper classes still did exert their power on those below them the most Stark example would be their usage of slaves since Islamic Doctrine forbid a Muslim to enslave another Muslim slaves were mostly brought in from Africa with numbers ranging from 11 to 15 million slaves were also brought in from non-islamic peoples in Asia and from Eastern Europe mostly Slavs some slaves became a warrior class like the mamluks and gained significant power for centuries those slaves were initially used as Plantation labor most were domestic servants soldiers guards or placed in a Harem those who work the fields did so in deplorable conditions leading to slave revolts the most famous was the Zandt Rebellion which is estimated to have killed Millions the African slaves were subdued by the abbasids but resulted in significant weakening of the caliphate apart from slaves women were also treated in a non-egalitarian fashion though women were allowed to own an inherit property and to be respected they were to be subservient to men men held the power in marriage and could practice polygeny taking on more than one wife it is thought that the Islamic custom of a woman covering herself in public was a pre-islamic tradition dating back to Bedouin culture on the Arabian peninsula being at the Nexus of trade between the Chinese Indians Africans and Europeans the Arab world experienced a golden age that lasted almost 500 years from the reign of the first Abbasid caliph harun UL Rasheed in the late 700s to the Mongol Siege of Baghdad in 1258. they excelled in many spheres but the most important of them were linked to the traditions of the classical age philosophy and the Sciences during the Middle Ages most of Europe had little knowledge of the works of the old Greek philosophers like Aristotle or Plato but the Abbasid caliphate preserved these works and translated them into Arabic they were kept in the House of Wisdom or The Great Library of Baghdad here Muslim Scholars would preserve and translate these texts and they eventually would be transcribed into Latin and shared with Europe ironically many of these texts originally were in European hands the academy founded by Plato back in 387 BCE was targeted by Eastern Roman Emperor Justinian in the 500s and many scholars fled East carrying classical texts with them some texts might also have come from the declining Library of Alexandria in Egypt the diffusion of knowledge was made quite Easier by one simple but crucial invention that came over from the East it was either traveling Buddhists or prisoners who brought paper and paper-making techniques to the Muslim world alongside it came block printing a more recent invention in China paper and block printing was much more economical than writing on Papyrus and soon the first paper mills were built by the abbasids in Baghdad the texts themselves provided the Arabs with a wealth of knowledge leading to a more syncretic culture based on religion and the natural world IBN Cena known in the west as of esena was a Muslim physician astronomer and philosopher who was influenced by Aristotle's theories on Empirical research and human reason the focus on more of the natural world as opposed to Allah caused some tensions with the religious Authority but his Works remained highly influential and spread rapidly his medical encyclopedia stressed the contagious nature of diseases and how they could be spread through Water Supplies the encyclopedia went on to be translated into Latin and studied in medieval European universities a vcenter is regarded as the father of early modern medicine Guided by the texts of Galen the Greek physician Muslim Scholars made great advancements and discoveries in the field of anatomy and Medicine became a distinct scientific field the fields of chemistry and Optics became more studied as well they excelled at mathematics and in the 800s olkorismi founded a mathematical discipline called Old Jabba or the reunion of broken parts this would come to be known as algebra the simplified Arabic numerals also began to replace the inefficient Roman numerals in Europe following in the footsteps of the former masters of Mesopotamia the Babylonians the Arabs had an affinity for astronomy and Baghdad fittingly became a center for this discipline Muslims created an observatory there to gaze into space they were well aware the Earth was spherical and Merchant ships and Caravans used the astrolabe to track their positions using the positions of these Stars Islamic Travelers like IBN batuta traveled around the Middle East and Beyond writing down their experiences and first-hand descriptions of the social and political life in these regions there were limits to this Golden Age though brought on by a more conservative culture many more powerful and religious Nobles did not like the implications of some Greek writers like Euclid to lemi and Archimedes as their scientifically based writings undermined the faith-based society they were attempting to promote block printing also eventually declined as many Muslims preferred to use the elegant and traditional script when writing especially for religious works the religious backlash also occurred in alandalus in Spain in the 1100s avaros and maimonides were philosophers who agreed and defended avicenna's support of the nature of human reason the Almo had the Berber Dynasty who supplanted the alma ravids had both men exiled by the 1200s European rulers had begun to translate the classical and Hellenistic Greek works from Arabic into Latin and studied in universities which would later kick-start new ideas in Western philosophy leading to a Renaissance written works didn't always have to be scientific or philosophical Islamic literature was quite diverse because of how Multicultural the Empire was Arabic and Persian literature were the most influential before Mohammed the Arabs composed poetry about the Bedouin experience life in the harsh Arabian Deserts and respect for one of their finest animal cohabitants the camel before Islam Persia had a rich history of literature they were not a tribal desert people like the Bedouins so focused more on their past Kings their zoroastrian faith and folk tales the book of Lords written in the 500s was a compilation of Persian poetry with all their myths and legends once Islam spread the Quran was held up as the most important literary work but pre-islamic themes still showed themselves in the Muslim world the shinama or the book of Kings written in the late 900s by Persian poet for dousey is a history of Persia that begins with the mythical creation of the world up until the Muslim Conquest in the 600s it is the national epic poem of present-day Iran Afghanistan and Tajikistan love poems were also popular the first recorded female poet in Persia Rabia borky shared her experiences with the pain of love and the suffering that can accompany it the most famous piece of literature to come out of the Islamic empire was 1001 Knights or Arabian Nights an Arabic compilation of folk tales which later became quite popular in Europe over time other stories would be added to the text like Aladdin's wonderful lamp and Alibaba and the Forty Thieves the seven Voyages of Sinbad the Sailor was also eventually added two of the most significant texts in Persian literature would be Busan or the Orchard and julistan translated as the Rose Garden both written in the mid-1200s by Sadi of Shiraz nicknamed the master of speech the texts deal with Justice virtue with some observational humor mixed in Rumi was a poet and Mystic from the 1200s living in Persia before emigrating to the sultanate of rum once the Mongol invasions began in Central Asia he embraced a religious Doctrine called Sufism which focuses on Islamic asceticism and is more esoteric in nature he believed the way towards Allah was through love and would dance and enter trance-like States in order to write his poetry today he is one of the most influential poets in not only Persia but the entire Islamic world and has been described as the best-selling poet in the United States the Muslim World also contributed writings in the field of History al-masudi was a historian and geographer known as the Herodotus of the Arabs Meadows of gold is considered his magnum opus detailing the world since Adam and Eve up until the time of the abbasids modern historians have used his history to reveal much about the caliphate during his time Islamic Art differed between regions but was mainly a mix of Arab Persian and Turkish culture the most stunning piece of art and the oldest was built in the heart of Jerusalem and is a large Shrine which houses a sacred stone known as the foundation stone or Noble Rock giving this building its name Dome of the Rock this Stone was significant for Muslims as it was connected to the creation of the world and Muhammad's night Journey with the Western Wall and the Church of the Holy Sepulcher nearby it is also a significant location for the other abrahamic religions it was built by the umaya Dynasty in the late 600s the patterns and mosaics used in it are based on Byzantine styles used in their churches and palaces including its octagonal base inside is more reminiscent of Persian styles of Art other elaborate mosques would be built all over all containing a special wall in this wall would be a mirab or small decorated Niche indicating the Qibla the direction of the Sacred mosque in Mecca towards which Muslims were to pray inside was the Kaaba considered by Muslims to be the house of God and where lies the black stone the sacred Relic thought to have come from heaven in Andalusia the great Mosque of Cordoba was commissioned in 785 when Cordoba was the capital of alandalus but would be expanded over the centuries the courtyard has several trees and the mosque became a significant and influential Monument for Islamic architecture it was made into a cathedral during the reckon keister a more common art form was that of rug weaving predating Islam women would create knotted Woolen rugs which were used to provide warmth to stone structures and warm their family's tents with the coming of Islam these rugs were also used as mats as prayer was to take place five times per day on clean ground the practice of weaving was quite important and would be taught to girls as young as four they learned how to spin and prepare the wool from the sheep and in a couple of years would be able to make their first rugs a few years more and they would be creating full carpets once married a woman would continue to make rugs for the family and to sell rugs became more detailed with intricate designs and would become an entire industry headed by professional artisans as the Muslims discouraged depictions of their profit and any other religious Idols they instead adorned their buildings with surface decorations based on linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage or in more simple terms arabesque these were dense semi-abstract natural and geometric patterns which were quite detailed and complex often using an initial pattern and repeating it several times to fill up an entire space while we've discussed the first three major caliphates the rashidins who may adds and abbasids the fourth would come to prominence later they would be known as the Ottomans

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Views: 448,456

Keywords: made in history, made in history medieval world, world history, world history documentary, world history summarized, history of the world, medieval history documentary, arab empires documentary, arab empire history, islamic golden age, islamic golden age documentary, islamic golden age history, rise of islamic caliphate, rise of islam history, rashidun umayyad abbasid

Id: 30Hppiqh5cQ

Length: 45min 53sec (2753 seconds)

Published: Wed Dec 07 2022