Did you know that during the Islamic golden age, there was thriving in all fields, medicine, art, commerce, engineering, education, and science?
Yes, during the Islamic golden age, there was a breakthrough discovery in all fields. So, let’s find out more about it.
What is the Islamic golden age?
The Islamic golden age is the era in which the Islamic empire was the center of trading goods, knowledge, and everything. All the fields including medicine, art, commerce, engineering, education, and science thrived. And there were many discoveries discovered by Muslim scientists.
During the Islamic golden age, Islam and Arab culture spread to North Africa, the Middle East, Central Asia, and Southern Europe.
How did the Islamic golden age start?
The beginning of the golden age of Islam was when Abbasid Caliphate took the reign from the Umayyad Caliphate. He built and established the city of Baghdad in 762 CE to become the hub of the Abbasid Caliphate.
Baghdad was located between Europe and Asia which makes it an important place for trading and exchanging. With time specifically in 762 CE, it became the center of learning and knowledge, which led to what is known as the Islamic golden age (the golden age of Islam).
Why did it become the center of learning and knowledge? The Abbasid Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son al-Ma’mun had a great interest in spreading knowledge. Therefore, they built the House of Wisdom in Baghdad where all scholars came to work together in a peaceful environment. Whether Muslims, Christians, and Jews they all worked in peace.
What happened during the Golden Age of Islam?
During the golden age of Islam scholars and scientists who were living in Baghdad translated Greek books and texts so that anyone can find the knowledge they needed in a language they can understand whatever the field is.
Scholars and scientists made breakthrough discoveries in all fields therefore the era is now known as the Islamic golden age.
During that time Scholars, scientists, philosophers, doctors, and all gathered in Baghdad to exchange ideas and gain knowledge.
The Abbasid Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son al-Ma’mun also encouraged the translation movement of Greek works into Arabic. But why did they have encouraged that? Because they wanted to build a library of knowledge. Where all the knowledge needed can be found in all kinds of fields.
Therefore, the scholars translated philosophy, science, and medical texts. The Abbasid Caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son al-Ma’mun wanted to excel in the field of medicine by accessing the library of knowledge.
Through the translated text of Greek and Indian works, Muslim doctors managed to acquire the knowledge they need. They increased their medical knowledge and built hospitals. During the Islamic golden age, there was a great innovation in the medical field.
Most of the tools that are used now in surgeries were invented in that era. Tools like forceps, scalpels,s and catgut for stitching wounds. They were invented by a famous surgent called al-Zahrawi. That’s not the only thing he did. He also wrote a manual on medical practices of 1500 pages.
A famous book that the Islamic Empire and Europe used as a reference is called “The Canon of Medicine”.
Muslim scientists created a calendar and managed to use astronomy for navigation, which was then used to find the direction of Mecca to face when praying. Scientists also studied the sky through observation.
Also, Muslims took the knowledge of how to make paper from the Chinese prisoners. And they used it to spread knowledge and education.
Muslims traveled a lot for trading and to spread Islam, so the cartographer and scholar Al-Idrisi used that knowledge to make the most modern version of the world map during their time.
The basics of algebra were invented by Muhammad bin Musa al-Kwacrizmi. Muslim mathematics separated the algebra field of mathematics as they excelled and pioneered in it.
Additionally, art flourished during that time and they came up with patterns and designs such as and calligraphy, tessellations. Also, they excelled in painting miniature works for book illustrations.
Why is it called Islamic Golden Age?
It’s called the Islamic golden age because at that time there were breakthrough discoveries in all fields. Greek books and text were translated, also, scientists, doctors, scholars, and all thinkers gathered in Baghdad to share their knowledge and learn. During the golden age of Islam Muslim scientists and scholars made many discoveries that led to the world we’re living in now.
Who started the Golden Age of Islam?
The Abbasid Caliphate was the one that started the Islamic golden age. When he took the reign from the Umayyad Caliphate in 750. He made Baghdad the capital of the Islamic empire.
The Abbasid Caliphate built Baghdad from scratch. It was built around a mosque in two semi-circles; therefore, it was called the round city.
The trading network started from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Indian Ocean and China Sea in the east. Which made the Islamic empire one of the strongest and leading empires with high economic powers.
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