In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Photo: Founded in 970, the mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo is one of the earliest and finest examples of the Egyptian style in Islamic architecture. Another was the development of the Umayyad postal system into an efficient intelligence service; postmasters in outlying provinces were the eyes and ears of the government and regular reports were filed with the central government on everything from the state of the harvest to the doings of dissident sects. Ishaq ibn Hunayn and Thabit ibn Qurrah, for example, prepared a critical edition of Euclid's Elements, while other scholars translated a commentary on Euclid originally written by a mathematician and inventor from Egypt, and still others translated at least eleven major works by Archimedes, including a treatise on the construction of a water clock. For all that, the Umayyads, during the ninety years of their leadership, rarely shook off their empire's reputation as a mulk - that is, a worldly kingdom - and in the last years of the dynasty their opponents formed a secret organization devoted to pressing the claims to the caliphate put forward by a descendant of al-'Abbas ibn 'Abd al-Muttalib, an uncle of the Prophet. In Mecca the rites are concluded by the tawaf of the return, the Circling of the Ka'bah seven times on foot, an act implying that all human activity must have God at the center. We feature each theme with a beautiful image. Most pilgrims also attempt to kiss, touch, or salute the Hajar al-Aswad, the Black Stone of the Ka'bah, a fragment of polished stone revered as a sign sent by God and a remnant of the original structure built by Abraham and Ishmael. 'Uthman was accused of favoritism to members of his family - the clan of Umayyah. Thus the number 323 was expressed like this: The Egyptians actually wrote them from right to left, but they are set down above from left to right to call g attention to the similarities of the systems. An important part of this framework was the millet system - essentially a division of the empire into a communal system based upon religious affiliation. Indeed, the Quran is the cornerstone on which the edifice of Islamic civilization has been built. Photo: The minaret of the Great Mosque at Kairouan in Tunisia became the prototype for the majority of North African minarets. This is not to say that the Roman alphabet (and others such as the Chinese and Japanese, for instance) are not just as decorative and have not been used just as imaginatively. Photo: A pillar marks the Mount of Mercy the rocky hill rising from the plain of Arafat. Nevertheless, the decline continued. The Muslim legacy included advances in technology too. The hajj is at once a worldwide migration of the faithful and a remarkable spiritual happening that, according to Islamic tradition, dates back to Abraham, was affirmed by Muhammad, and then, by Muhammad's own pilgrimage, systematized into rites which are simple in execution but rich it in meaning. A third important factor was the establishment in Baghdad of a paper mill. These are offered as a means for IslamiCity to stimulate dialogue and discussion in our continuing mission of being an educational organization. It was in 622 that the early Muslim community took a step that would become a turning point in Islam’s history: the hijra (migration), moving to Yathrib, which is today the Saudi Arabian city of Medina. Introduction - This page provides an overview of the history of Islam and the Arabs, which is a great part of the history of the Middle East.The subject covers more than twelve centuries, about a dozen empires and a vast territory, stretching from Spain in the west to the islands of Indonesia in the Pacific Ocean. Another unusual variation of calligraphy, not often used nowadays, is the style called muthanna (Arabic for "doubled"). Thank you for sharing. Guide us in the straight path, The first known medical work to include anatomical drawings, the book was translated into Latin and for centuries was the authoritative treatment of the subject in both Western and Eastern universities. The spread of Islam is closely linked with the history of the Middle East as the converts established some caliphates with their own laws based on Islamic law. Faith is where the tenets, pillars and spiruality related content is found. Later a director of the House of Wisdom, Hunayn also wrote at least twenty-nine original treatises of his own on medical topics, and a collection of ten essays on ophthalmology which covered, in systematic fashion, the anatomy and physiology of the eye and the treatment of various diseases which afflict vision. By skillful preparation, this organization rallied to its cause many mutually hostile groups in Khorasan and Iraq and proclaimed Abu al-'Abbas caliph. Orhan's successor, Murad I, who launched naval attacks upon the Aegean coasts of Europe, established himself on the European shores of the Bosporus, and crushed a Balkan coalition. In the meantime the Crusaders - or Franks, the Arabs called them - had extended their reach to the borders of Egypt, where the Fatimids had fallen after two hundred years. Where the Muslim religion went, the Arabic language and Arabic writing also went. Photo: A Moorish-built tower soars above Guadalquivir River in Seville. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak in size and splendor under the sultan called Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566 and was known to the Turks as Suleiman the Law-Giver. During this period the Mongols built mosques and schools and patronized scholarship of all sorts. Such developments weakened the Fatimids, but thanks to a family of viziers of Armenian origin they were able to endure until the Ayyubid succession in the second half of the twelfth century - even in the face of the eleventh-century invasion by the Seljuk Turks. One of the administrators, the Persian Nizam-al-Mulk, became one of the greatest statesmen of medieval Islam. Although a member of the Umayyad family, 'Umar had been born and raised in Medina, where his early contact with devout men had given him a concern for spiritual as well as political values. The major rites of the hajj begin on the eighth day of Dhu al-Hijjah when, with thunderous cries of "Labbayk!" Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds; As Muslims throughout the world perform identical sacrifices on the same day, the Muslims at Mina in effect share their pilgrimage with Muslims everywhere. Photo: A mosque in Washington, D.C., a landmark for millions of Muslims in North America. One day, as he sat in the cave, he heard a voice, later identified as that of the Angel Gabriel, which ordered him to: Recite: In the name of thy Lord who created, Created man from a clot of blood. By the thirteenth century their once extensive domains were reduced to a few scattered kingdoms deep in the mountains of Andalusia - where, for some two hundred years longer, they would not only survive but flourish. But he also introduced much needed reforms. A complex of marble, stucco, ivory, and onyx, Madinat al-Zahra took forty years to build, cost close to one-third of Cordoba's revenue, and was, until destroyed in the eleventh century, one of the wonders of the age. Instead of presenting a straight historical narrative, as do the Gospels and the historical books of the Old Testament, the Quran treats, in allusive style, spiritual and practical as well as historical matters. Your post is really informative and I really like your work. For gold, once the vast quantities in the treasuries of the conquered countries were exhausted, they turned to several sources. Photo: Water courses and fountains make an oasis of the Alhambra palace built at Granada in the fourteenth century Here incredibly light and elegant elements of Islamic decoration find their highest realization. The Ottoman Turks have conquered and maintain effective control over diverse peoples in a vast empire stretching from Persia almost to the gates of Vienna and along the north coast of Africa to Algiers. After the battle of al-Yamamah in 633, 'Umar ibn al-Khattab, later to become the second caliph, suggested to Abu Bakr, the first caliph, that because of the grievous loss of life in that battle, there was a very real danger of losing the Quran, enshrined as it was in the memories of the faithful and in uncollated fragments. The 'Abbasids, therefore, were forced to develop extensive and complicated patterns of trade. In addition to enduring the hardships of desert life, he acquired a taste for the rich language so loved by the Arabs, whose speech was their proudest art, and learned the patience and forbearance of the herdsmen, whose life of solitude he first shared and then came to understand and appreciate. The demands on trade also generated development of crafts. In it he stresses the responsibilities of the ruler: for example, if a man is killed because a bridge is in disrepair, it is the fault of the ruler, for he should make it his business to apprise himself of the smallest negligences of his underlings. Photo: This tughra (monogram or insignia) of the Ottoman Sultan Abdu Hamid shows the three elongated vertical strokes which are characteristic of this style. Except such as He wills; After extending Islam throughout the Middle East, the Arabs began to assimilate the cultures of the peoples they had subdued. He pushed forward with the pacification of Persia, continued to defend the Muslim state against the Byzantines, added what is now Libya to the empire, and subjugated most of Armenia. Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. The Muslim view, moreover, is that the Quran supersedes earlier revelations; it is regarded as their summation and completion. Keep it up. 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. The month of fasting is also joyous. This material became the basis for what is called the sunnah, or "practice" of the Prophet - the deeds, utterances, and taqrir (unspoken approval) of Muhammad. More importantly, traditional values are still deeply cherished and promoted. From 821 onward Tahir and his descendants ruled Khorasan as an independent state, with the tacit consent of the 'Abbasids. To the east they extended their influence into Transoxania, an area north of the Oxus River in today's Soviet Union, and went on to reach the borders of China. Great information for Muslims I really enjoyed reading your blog because I want to get knowledge about Islam. The list of everyday uses is almost endless: coins and paper money bear the work of expert calligraphers, wall posters and advertising signs in every town show the calligrapher's art, as do the cover and title page of every book, and the major headlines in every newspaper and magazine have been written by hand. Photo: Cursive script on a section of gold-embroidered kiswah, the black cloth covering of the Ka'bah, which is renewed each year at the time of the pilgrimage. As a result, Granada fell ten years later. When, for example, al-Mansur died in 775 after a reign of twenty years, his son, al-Mahdi, inherited a full treasury and an empire that was more devoted to trade than war. Here, you will also find the links to the most visited sections of IslamiCity, such as Prayer times, Hijri Converter, Phonetic Search, Quran Section, IslamiCity Bazar and more. Photo: The Crusader castle at Sidon in Lebanon was abandoned after the final defeat of the Crusader Kingdom of Jerusalem. The first great advance on the inherited mathematical tradition was the introduction of "Arabic" numerals, which actually originated in India and which simplified calculation of all sorts and made possible the development of algebra. But then, in the period of the Inquisition, all the rights of the Muslims were withdrawn, their lives became difficult, and more began to emigrate. The amount varied with the importance of the individual noble or administrator, and he could use it as he saw fit. Resistance to European penetration took several forms. It seems as if, in their slow retreat to the south, they suddenly realized that they were, as Washington Irving wrote, a people without a country, and set about building a memorial: the Alhambra, the citadel above Granada that one writer has called "the glory and the wonder of the civilized world.". One was the gold mines of the Hijaz which were reopened around 750, reworked for about four hundred years, and then, in 1931, explored again by Karl Twitchell, who was searching for minerals in that area on behalf of King 'Abd al-'Aziz of Saudi Arabia. At the start of the Islamic era two types of script seem to have been in use - both derived from different forms of the Nabataean, alphabet. Later, in emulation, Italy in 1911 seized Libya. Abu Bakr's caliphate was short but important. In the countries that use the Arabic alphabet, on the other hand, calligraphy has continued to be used not only on important documents but for a variety of other artistic purposes as well. But at the beginning, when its institutions were responsive to the needs of the people and the state, the Ottoman Empire was a model of administrative efficiency. Our themes mostly focus on the universal values such as compassion, patience, love and so on. The nationalist government under Ataturk, dedicated to leading Turkey in the direction of secularism and Westernization, abolished the sultanate, declared a republic, and eventually (in 1924) abolished the caliphate as well. The historical evolution and incorporation of prior messages into Islam are clearly stated in the Qur'an. After their forays into France were blunted by Charles Martel, the Muslims in Spain had begun to focus their whole attention on what they called al-Andalus, southern Spain (Andalusia), and to build there a civilization far superior to anything Spain had ever known. A year later the Meccans struck back. Elsewhere, Muslim leaders such as the Mahdi in the Sudan and 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi in Algeria took direct action. In short, he demonstrated the viability of the Muslim state. Science section features not just Science but also Nature and Technology. By the tenth century, Cordoba could boast of a population of some 500,000, compared to about 38,000 in Paris. The second caliph, 'Umar- appointed by Abu Bakr in a written testament - continued to demonstrate that viability. To obtain scarce metals the 'Abbasids had to turn elsewhere. So renowned were Ottoman calligraphers, in fact, that a popular saying was that "The Quran was revealed in Mecca, recited in Egypt, and written in Istanbul." Even more imaginative is what may be called pictorial calligraphy, in which the text (usually the profession of faith, a verse from the Quran, or some other e phrase with religious significance) is written in the shape of a bird, animal, tree, boat, or other object. 3d ed. Western and Western stimulated efforts to modernize parts of the Middle East, moreover, often led Middle Eastern rulers to incur debts which led to European financial control and then to European political domination. Its restoration, begun in the early years of this century, is still under way. These struggles were later romanticized and distorted in a wave of books and films on, for example, Gordon of Khartoum and the French Foreign Legion. The most widespread religion in the Middle East is Islam. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwaraznli seems to have been the first to explore their use systematically, and wrote the famous Kitab al-Jabr wa-l-Muqabalah, the first book on algebra, a name derived from the second word in his title. The process of European penetration was gradual and complex; but there were, nevertheless, clearly identifiable turning points. For these necessities the 'Abbasid traders exchanged a wide variety of products: pearls, livestock, paper, sugar, and (a specialty of the Islamic world) luxurious cloth. The first important step in the establishment of this empire was taken in 1326 when the Ottoman leader Orhan captured the town of Bursa, south of the Sea of Marmara, and made it his capital. 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