Islamic Achievements

1
Islamic Achievements

• Standard 7.2

2
Muslim Learning

• All knowledge is sacred
• The development of paper and creation of a paper
  mill in Baghdad
• The development of Arabic into the language of
  international scholarship
• Libraries and academies were established for
  study and exchange of ideas
• House of Wisdom in Baghdad works from Greece,
  Persia, and India were collected and translated

3
Medicine

• Muslim doctors made improvements on Greek
  medicine
• Islamic hospitals were built in all major cities.
  They had separate wards, or rooms, for people
  with different diseases. Doctors were skilled at
  surgery , including cancer and brain operations.
• Doctors had to pass a test and carry a license to
  practice medicine
• Ibn Sina, the greatest Muslim doctor, wrote a
  medical encyclopedia, The Canon of Medicine,
  which covered every known disease and treatment
  known at the time. It became the standard
  medical text in Europe for hundreds of years.

4
Philosophy

• Like the Greeks, they believed in an orderly
  universe based on the laws of nature
• Two of the greatest philosophers were al-Kindi
  and Ibn Rushd who studied the works of Aristotle

5
Science and Math

• Decimal system based on Hindu numerals and the
  zero
• Advances also made in geometry, algebra, and
  trigonometry
• Astronomers built observatories and measured the
  Earth. They also used the astrolabe, an
  instrument designed to measure and plot the
  position of stars. It was created mainly to find
  the Qibla, the direction that should be faced
  when a Muslim prays.

6
Geography and History

• Ibn Khaldun wrote a history of the world that
  explained the rise and fall of dynasties.
• Ibn Battuta, a well-known traveler, wrote about
  his 30 year journey across much of Asia and
  Africa, and describes what he saw

7
The Arts and Literature

• The words of the Hadith, the written record of
  the Sunnnah, inspired the creation of beautiful
  works of art and architecture, which continues
  its influence

8
Art and Architecture

• Popular designs were displayed on finely woven
  carpets, colorful tiles, and palace walls.
• Arabesque, a pattern of curved shapes and lines
  resembling flowers or vines, was a décor found
  throughout the empire
• Muslim architects built mosques with minarets,
  shrines, and palaces.
• The Dome of the Rock, a mosque in Jerusalem, is
  the oldest building in the Muslim world. The Taj
  Mahal, a monument in India, is another fine
  example.
• Islam discourages the illustration of humans or
  animals in paintings, because it was considered a
  form of idol worship.

9
Calligraphy

• Calligraphy, artful handwriting, was the most
  sacred of all Muslim arts.

10
Literature and Poetry

• Muslim writers wrote charming stories and folk
  tales.
• Many of these tales were collected in a book
  called The Thousand and one Nights
• Islamic Poetry was based on oral tradition. The
  Sufis, a deeply spiritual Muslim group,
  emphasized the importance of love and unity of
  all faiths.

" Don't look at your form, however ugly or
beautiful. Look at love and at the aim of your
quest. ...O you whose lips are parched, keep
looking for water. Those parched lips are proof
that eventually you will reach the source." by
Rumi