abbasid essay part 1

8/4/2019 Abbasid Essay Part 1

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No

hate.

No

violenc

e

Races?Only

one

Huma

n race

United

We

Stand,

Divide

d We

Fall

Know

Your

enemy!No time

to waste.

Act now!

Tomorro

w it will

be too

late


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ARAB CIVILIZATION AND ITS IMPACT ON THE

WEST

By

Dr. ABDULLAH MOHAMMAD SINDI(Ph.D. International Relations)

Dr. Abdullah Mohammad Sindi is a native of SaudiArabia where has was a Professor of Political Science at

King Abdulaziz University in Jeddah. He now lives and

works in the US where he has also taught at 4

universities and colleges in Southern California: The

University of California at Irvine, California StateUniversity at Pomona, Cerritos College, and Fullerton

College. Dr. Sindi has published several articles in

different scholarly periodicals both in Arabic andEnglish. His bookThe Arabs and the West: The
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am/english/index_westeurope.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_westeurope.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_un.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_un.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_power.htmhttp://radioislam.org/crime/index.htmhttp://radioislam.org/crime/index.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_internet.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_internet.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_cost.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_cost.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_uspolitics.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_uspolitics.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_power.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_protocols.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_protocols.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_judaism.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_judaism.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_judaism.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_cost.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_uprising.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_uprising.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_terror.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_terror.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_zion1.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_zion1.htmhttp://radioislam.org/islam/english/index_zion1.htm


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Contributions and the Inflictions is sold on

Amazon.com.

INTRODUCTION

I

Arab Civilization before Islam

1.The Kingdom of Saba (or Sheba)

2.The Kingdom of Himyar

3.The Nabataean Kingdom

4.The Kingdom of Tadmor (or Palmyra)

5.The Kingdom of Kindah

6.The Kingdom of Lakhmid

7.The Kingdom of Ghassan

8.The Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Arabia)

II

Arab Civilization after Islam

1.The Golden Arab Abbasid Civilization

2.The Glorious Arab Andalusian Civilization of Europe

III

The Legacy of Arab/Islamic Civilization and Its Impact on the West
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1.Mathematics

2.Astronomy

3.Chemistry

4.Physics

5.Medicine

6.Pharmacy and Pharmacology

7.Zoology and Veterinary Medicine

8.Agriculture

9.Philosophy and Metaphysics

10.Geography

11.Sociology

12.Literature

13.Music

14.Art

15.Architecture

IV

The Horrors of the Spanish Inquisition after the End of Arab Andalusian Civilization

Notes
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INTRODUCTION

It is in these hard times of post September 11 when Arabs and Muslims are being bashed

throughout the West that it becomes imperative to explain the various valuable Arabcontributions to the West. In fact, unlike any other region in the entire world, the Arab regionprovided the West (and the rest of humanity) with 3 major contributions:

1. The Arabs Semitic ancestors in the Fertile Crescent and Egypt produced 5 brilliant ancientcivilizations, which benefited the earliest Western civilizations of Greece and Rome. These 5

are: the Iraqi Sumerian and Babylonian civilizations; the Egyptian Pharaonic civilization; theLebanese Phoenician civilization; and the Palestinian Canaanite civilization.

2. The 3 Semitic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam were all born in the Arab region.

3. The Post-Islamic Arab civilization (which is the subject of this article) contributedhandsomely to the European Renaissance.

I

Arab Civilization before Islam

Contrary to some popular Western misconceptions propagated by many Western "experts" and

"authorities" on the Arab world alleging that Arabs did not have any civilization before Islam, orthat Arabs were nothing more than a collection of nomadic warring primitive tribes, confinedsolely to the Arabian Peninsula, who spent most of their existence looking for food and water,

the historical record proves otherwise. In fact, centuries before the birth of Islam, the Arabs had

several civilizations, not only in the Arabian Peninsula itself, but also in the Fertile Crescent,some of which were highly advanced with elaborate development and culture. Although Arab

civilization before Islam might not have had a noticeable impact on Greece and Rome, it is

nonetheless important to briefly mention here the following pre-Islamic Arab civilizations in

order to dispel this wrong conventional Western notion that Arabs had no civilization before thebirth of Islam, were nothing but wandering nomads, and were confined only to the Arabian

Peninsula.

1

The Kingdom of Saba (or Sheba)


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One of the earliest and most important of all pre-Islamic Arab civilizations is the Qahtani

Kingdom of Saba or Sheba (10th century BCE7th century CE), which had an elaboratecivilization, legendary in its reputation of prosperity and wealth. The Kingdom of Saba was

located in the southwestern mountainous rainy parts of the Arabian Peninsula in what is known

today as the regions of Aseer and Yemen. Envious of its wealth, the Romans named it Arabia

Felix (fortunate or prosperous Arabia).

The Sabaean capital, Ma'rib, was located near San'a, today's capital of Yemen, which wasreportedly founded by Noah's eldest son Shem (or "Sam" in Arabic) from whose name the word

"Sami" in Arabic or "Semitic" in English comes. In addition to their domains in the Arabian

Penisula, the Sabaean kings controlled for a long time some parts of the East African coastacross the Red Sea where they established the Kingdom of Abyssinia, which is Eritrea today. It

should be indicated here that the name Abyssinia comes from the Arabic word Habashah.

One of the most famous rulers of the Sabaeans was Queen Balgais. This mystic Arab Queen of

Sheba was well known for her beauty, grace, wealth, charm, and splendor. She reportedly had afamous impassioned encounter with the Hebrew King Solomon when she took a special trip to

Jerusalem

The Sabaean Kingdom produced and traded in spices, Arabian frankincense, myrrh, and other

Arabian aromatics. The Sabaeans excelled in agriculture and had a remarkable irrigation system

with terraced mountains, incredible huge water tunnels in mountains and great dams includingthe legendary Ma'rib Dam, which was built around 2000 BCE. This Arab dam was considered to

be one the greatest technological wonders of the ancient world. However, the tragic breaking of

the Ma'rib Dam around 575, as indicated in the Qur'an, was an event of very traumatic

proportions in the collective consciousness of all Arabs at the time and of later generations.

2

The Kingdom of Himyar

The Arab Kingdom of Himyar (115 BCE to 525 CE), which was also located in the southern part

of the Arabian Peninsula, had a sizable number of Arab Christians and Arab Jews (not Hebrews).

The most prominent Arab Jew of this kingdom was King Dhu al-Nuwas who persecuted hisArab Christian subjects. He reportedly incinerated some of them alive in retaliation for their

persecution of Arab Jews in neighboring Arab Christian Najran.

From their capital city, first at Zafar and later at San'a, the powerful Himyarite kings executedmilitary plans which resulted in the expansion of their domains at times eastward as far as the

Persian Gulf and northward into the Arabian Desert. However, internal disorder and thechanging of trade routes eventually caused the kingdom to suffer political and economic decline.

In fact, after several unsuccessful attempts, the African Abyssinians finally invaded the Arab

Himyarite Kingdom in 525. In 570, the year Prophet Mohammad was born, the Abyssinian

governor Abraha sent an army of elephant-borne troops in an unsuccessful attempt to attack thecity of Makkah (Mecca) and destroy its Ka'bah. In 575 the Persians invaded Himyar and ended


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the Abyssinian presence in Himyar. But the Persians did not last long there either. Soon

thereafter Islam swept the entire Arabian Peninsula.

3

The Nabataean Kingdom

The Arab Nabataean Kingdom was established in the 6th century BCE. It was located south of

the Dead Sea and along the eastern shores of the Gulf of Aqaba in the northern parts of the

Hejaz. The Nabataeans had their capital city in Petra that was a flourishing center of commerce

and civilization. The Nabataeans great achievements and culture are still echoed in themagnificent carved-in-the-mountains monuments they left behind. Thousands of tourists from all

over the world are attracted every year to this Arab region to see these monuments not only at

Petra in Jordan but also in Saudi Arabia's Mada'in Salih (i.e., Prophet Salih who warned the

Thamud Arab Kingdom to worship Allah before the birth of Prophet Mohammad). The smallArab neighboring Kingdoms of Ad, Thamud, and Lihyan - all also with brilliant monuments and

achievements mentioned in the Qu'ran - came under the Nabataean suzerainty for a while.

The Arab Nabataean Kingdom, which at its zenith ruled much of the Syrian interior including

Damascus, later became a vassal Roman state and eventually fell victim to European colonialismwhen it was absorbed into the Roman Empire as the "Provincia Arabia" in 195 CE. In fact, the

Roman Emperor Philip, who ruled from 244 to 249, was ethnically an Arab from this Arab

Nabataean region. Incidentally, this Roman Emperor who was known as "Philip the Arab", waspreceded to the Palatine Hill in Rome by a series of Arab empresses, half-Arab emperors, and the

fully Arab Elagabulus of Emesa. It is also believed by some scholars that Philip the Arab was

really the first Roman Christian emperor (244-249 CE) rather than Constantine I who ruled theRoman Empire (312-337 CE) 63 years after him.

4

The Kingdom of Tadmor (or Palmyra)

Another important Arab civilization before Islam was the famous Kingdom of Palmyra (or

Tadmor in Arabic), which is now Hims in Syria. Although mentioned in some history books asearly as the 9th century BCE, Tadmor became only prominent in the 3rd century BCE when itcontrolled the vital trade route between Mesopotamia and the Mediterranean. The Tadmorians

had a great civilization and excelled in international trade. However, like the Nabataeans, they

eventually came under the control of the expanding Roman imperialism by becoming another

client Arab state of Rome.


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In 265 the Tadmorian Arab King Udhayna (or Odenathus) was rewarded by the Romans to

become a vice-emperor of the Roman Empire because of his assistance in their war againstPersia. However, King Udhayna's widow Zainab (aka az-Zabba or Zenobia), the famous strong

Arab queen wanted nothing less for Palmyra than a complete independence from Rome. She

succeeded in temporarily driving the Roman invaders out of most of the Fertile Crescent and

proclaimed her son Wahballat (or Athenodorus) to be the true emperor of a new independentArab Palmyra. Queen Zainab's Arabian independent spirit, however, deeply angered the Romans

and eventually resulted in the destruction of the Tadmorian Kingdom in 273 by a powerful force

of the Roman imperial army. As part of the Roman victory celebration, queen Zainab wasbrutally taken to Rome in golden chains.

5

The Kingdom of Kindah

Kindat al-Muluk (or the Royal Kindah) was a famous Arab kingdom, which originated in the

southern Arabian Peninsula near Yemen's Hadramawt region. Its capital city, al-Fau, wasexcavated northeast of Najran in Saudi Arabia in 1972 by Saudi archaeologists from King Saud

University in Riyadh. The Kingdom of Kindah became prominent around the late 5th and early

6th centuries CE when it made one of the earliest and successful efforts to unite several Arabtribes under its new domain in Najd in central Arabia.

The traditional founder and ruler of Kindah was Hujr Akil al-Murar. However, the mostrenowned of all Kindah kings was al-Harith ibn Amr, Hujr's grandson, who extended his

kingdom's domain north by invading Iraq and temporarily capturing al-Hirah, the capital city of

the Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid. But in 529 al-Hirah was liberated by its ChristianArabs who killed King al-Harith along with 50 members of his family. After al-Harith's death,the Kindah Kingdom split up into four factions - Asad, Taghlib, Kinanah, and Qays - each led by

a prince. The famous pre-Islamic Arab poet Imru' al-Qays (who died around 540) was the prince

of Qays. The continuing feuding between these Arab factions, however, eventually forced theKindah princes by the middle of the 6th century to withdraw to their original place in southern

Arabia next to Yemen. Nevertheless, after Islam was established throughout the Arabian

Peninsula, many descendants of the Royal Kindah continued to hold powerful political positionswithin the Islamic state. In fact, one branch of the Royal Kindah was even successful in gaining

great political influence in far away Arab Andalusia in the European Iberian Peninsula.

6

The Kingdom of Lakhmid


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The Arab Christian Kingdom of Lakhmid, which originated in the 3rd century CE, reached the

height of its power during the 6th century under King al-Munthir III (503-554). Its domaincovered from the western shores of the Persian Gulf all the way north to Iraq where its capital

city, al-Hira, was located on the Euphrates River near present day Kufah. Working in close

cooperation with the Zoroastrian Persian Sasanian Empire to which the Lakhmid Kingdom was a

vassal state, al-Munthir III raided and frequently challenged the pro-Byzantine Arab Kingdom ofGhassan in Syria. His son King Amr Ibn Hind was patron of the legendary Arab poet Tarfah Ibn

al-Abd and other poets associated with the seven Mu'allaqat (the Suspended Odes") of pre-

Islamic Arabia (see "The Jahiliyyah" below). The Lakhmid dynasty eventually disintegrated afterthe death of its great Arab Christian King an-Nu'man III in 602.

7

The Kingdom of Ghassan

As the Lakhmid Arab Kingdom was Christian so was its Arab neighbor to the west, the Kingdom

of Ghassan, whose capital city was Damascus. This Syrian Ghassanid Kingdom was prominentin the 6th century and was an ally of the Byzantine Empire. It protected the vital spice trade route

from the south of the Arabian Peninsula and also acted as a buffer against the desert bedouins.

The Ghassanid King al-Harith Ibn Jabalah (reigned 529-569), who was a Monophysite Christian,

supported the Christian Byzantine Empire against the Zoroastrian Sasanian Persian Empire and

successfully opposed the Arab Kingdom of Lakhmids, which sided with Persians. As a result,King al-Harith was given the title of Patricius by the Byzantine emperor Justinian.

Like the Lakhmids, the Ghassanids patronized the arts and many literary geniuses such as al-Nabighah al-Thubyani and Hassan Ibn Thabit. Great Arab poets like them were frequently

entertained in the royal courts of the Ghassanid kings. After the emergence of Islam in the 7th

century, most inhabitants of the Kingdom of Ghassan became Muslim. One of the mostprominent poets of the Kingdom of Ghassan was Hassan Ibn Thabit. Ibn Thabit, who espoused

Islam, wrote several famous and beautiful poems in praise of Prophet Mohammad.

8

The Jahiliyyah (Pre-Islamic Arabia)

Even in the period of Jahiliyyah (or "the ignorance" of pre-Islamic Arabia 500-622) the Arabs

also had a great cultural literary civilization. Its great classical belles letters could very easily becompared to the best literary treasures developed during the later golden age of the Arab/Islamic

civilization of the Abbasids and Andalusia. The Jahiliyyah era witnessed a vibrant golden age of

Arab poetry and odes. Among the top pre-Islamic Arab poets, whose poems are still studied in


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college and pre-college curricula throughout the Arab world, are the seven legendary poets of the

Golden Odes, known as the Seven Mu'allaqat ("the Suspended Odes"). These seven pre-IslamicArab poets who belonged to different Arab tribes included: Prince Imru' al-Qays of the Kindah

Kingdom; Tarfah (by far the greatest pre-Islamic Arab poet); Zuhair; Labid (who became so

overwhelmed by the power and elegance of the Qur'an that he refused to compose any poetry for

the last thirty years of his life); Antar (the greatest cavalier warrior of pre-Islamic Arabia); Amru'Ibn Kalthoom; and al-Harith Ibn Hillizah. Each one of these seven great Arab poets wrote

magnificent lengthy poems accentuated with passion, love, eloquence, courage, and sensuality.

Their seven golden odes, considered to be the greatest literary treasure of pre-Islamic Arabia,were accorded the highest honor by the critics of the times in the annual poetry fair in Ukaz near

Makkah. Their works were inscribed in gold letters and hung (or "suspended") on the door and

walls of the Ka'bah for the public to read, enjoy, and appreciate. To these seven incomparableJahiliyyah Arab poets one must add the following four geniuses in poetry: an-Nabighah al-

Thubyani, Hassan Ibn Thabit, al-Hutay'ah, and al-Khansa' (a female).

Although most of pre-Islamic Arabia during the Jahiliyyah period was largely nomadic and tribal

where bedouin wars and conflicts were the norms among the disunited Arab tribes and wheremost people believed in pagan religions and superstitions, the two important cities of the Hejaz,Makkah and Ukaz, stood as shining spots in the entire Arabian Peninsula. In fact, Makkah wasthe religious, political, economic, intellectual, and cultural center of pre-Islamic Arabia. The

Ka'bah in Makkah and Mount Arafat outside it (both of which were later incorporated in Islam)

had been important religious sites for annual pilgrimage centuries before the coming of Islam.

II

Arab Civilization after Islam

Within a very short period of time after the birth of Islam in the 7th century, the Arabs built a

vast empire that stretched from Spain and Portugal (Andalusia) in the west all the way to the

Indian subcontinent in the east. Covering almost half of the old known world, the Arab empirewas one and a half times the size of the Roman Empire at its peak. Unlike earlier civilizations,

the Arab civilization dominated the Mediterranean and made it practically an Arab lake. The

Arabs occupied Spain and Portugal in 711 and were on the verge of engulfing all of France in732 when Charles Martel stopped their advances in the heart of Western Europe in the Battle of

Tours, about 100 miles south of Paris.

Between the 7th and 15th centuries, the Arabs established a brilliant civilization the like of whichwas not contemporaneously found anywhere in the world. However, since Islam united all Arabs

for the first time in their history, and rejected nationalism and secularism (Islam united Arabs

and non-Arabs under the banner of Islam), Arab civilization and Islamic civilization were oneand the same. The two could not be separated. Several Arab powerful states were established

each with its own distinct Arab civilization. The most important of these are the following three,

the last two of which are considered to be the Arab golden age. These are: The Omayad State


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with its capital city in Damascus (661-750); the Abbasid State with its capital city in Baghdad

(750-1258); and Arab Andalusia (711-1492) in the European Iberian Peninsula of Spain andPortugal (a continuation of the Omayad State) with its capital city first in Cordoba and later in

Granada. For centuries Arab Andalusia represented Europe's main cultural center. Although the

Arab Abbasid State of the east and Arab Andalusia of the west existed at the same time, they

were not united because of the rivalry between their Arab leaders.

In all of the above-mentioned three major Arab States, Arabic was the official language andIslam was the official religion. However, Arabs, half-Arabs, and non-Arabs of all the three

Semitic religious faiths lived together in racial and religious harmony. There was a great deal of

tolerance towards Christians and Jews whether they were Arabs or not. Within all Arab/Islamicempires, Arabs played the major role in all of the political, economic, social, cultural,

educational, and scientific affairs. Non-Arabs were deeply Arabized both emotionally and

culturally. In short, these three Islamic civilizations (Omayad, Abbasid, and Andalusia) were by

and large Arab.

However, after the destruction of the Arab Abbasid State in 1258 at the hands of the Mongolsand their ruthless leader Hulagu (a crushing defeat that the Arabs have never completelyrecovered from), the Muslim Turks took over the leadership of the Muslim world. In an

affirmation of the political unity of the Islamic nation or Ummah (because Islam rejects

nationalism), the Turks established their Muslim Ottoman State (1258-1922) with its capital firstin Bursa and later in Istanbul (Constantinople), the former capital city of the Holy Eastern

Roman Empire (or the Byzantine Empire). It was only in this last major Muslim Turkish State,

which did not include either Persia or Andalusia, that the Arabs did not play a dominant role in

the political or cultural affairs of the Islamic State. Nor was Arabic the official language of theOttoman Empire in its last days.

Nonetheless, inspired by numerous exhortations of Prophet Mohammad to Muslims such as:"Seek knowledge from the cradle to the grave"; "Search for knowledge, even if you must go to

China to find it"; and "The ink of the scholar is more sacred than the blood of the martyr", the

Arabs excelled in science and art and provided the world with a brilliant and unique civilization.Arab civilization contributed a great deal to the world in general and to the West in particular by

helping bring about the European Renaissance, first in Spain and Portugal and later in Italy. As

will be explained shortly, the West is immensely indebted to the Arabs for many scientific,technological, and artistic inventions as well as philosophical concepts. As the contemporary

Western civilization has enlightened the world, so did the old Arab/Islamic civilization.

However, while the brilliant ancient civilizations of Iraq and Egypt, and the Jewish and Christianreligions that emerged from Palestine, are all acknowledged in the West but only as a part of

what is strangely called "Western civilization", the great Arab/Islamic civilization (like Islam

itself) that emerged from the same Arab region is either ignored in the West or, if mentioned,distorted and belittled by many European and American "scholars" and "experts". In fact, these

so-called "Arabists" or "Orientalists" cannot hide their hatred, resentment, racism, and

patronizing attitudes towards the Arabs and Islam. [1]
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Because Arab civilization - especially that of the Abbasid State - included some contributions

from half-Arab and non-Arab Muslims as well as from Arab Jews and Arab Christians, manyAmerican "scholars", who like to demean or insult the Arabs, downplay the vital Arab role in the

Arab/Islamic civilization. They argue that Arab civilization was copied from the Greeks and/or

was nothing more than the civilization of Persians, Turks and other non-Arab Muslims. Even the

so-called American "left" and "open-minded scholars" argue in a racist way that Arabcontribution to the Islamic civilization was minimal. For example, the following citation is a

typical example of Western distortion of Arab contribution to Islamic civilization. In an address

given at a symposium on the history of philosophy of science held at Boston University onSeptember 22, 1994, Mr. Dirk Struik said the following, which appeared in the American

Monthly Review, the so-called "left-wing and socialist" periodical: "Incidentally, we often speak

of the Arabs. But these "Arabs" were Persians, Tadjiks, Jews, Moors, etc., seldom Arabs [Myunderlining]. What they had in common was their use of the Arabic language." [2] Also, Mr.

Struik wrongly referred to the Jews as a distinct nationality, forgetting the elementary fact that

"Jews" are nothing but the adherents of the Jewish faith regardless of their race or language, and

disregarding the basic fact that Arab Jews have always existed even up to the present time. He

also wrongly implied that Moors are not Arabs, dismissing the simple fact that Moors are indeedArabs. In addition, Mr. Struik even ridiculed and belittled Arab contribution to human

civilization by saying: "...the Arabs, who were so kind [my underlining] as to keep the torch ofGreek science ablaze to pass it over to the Europeans..." [3]

However, unlike Mr. Struik and the many Western "scholars" like him who distort Arabintellectual and scientific contributions to humanity, Professor Briffault in his book Making of

Humanity simply stated the basic facts: "Science is the most momentous contribution of Arab

civilization to the modern world." [4] In addition, historians Edward Burns and Philip Palph

concluded that: The intellectual achievements of the [Arabs] were far superior to any ofwhich Christian Europe could boast before the twelfth century." [5] They also correctly

acknowledged that: "In no subject were the [Arabs] farther advanced than in science. In fact,

their achievements in this field were the best the world had seen since the end of the Hellenisticcivilization." [6] In addition, Burns and Palph wrote that Arabs:

"were brilliant astronomers, mathematicians, physicists, chemists, and physicians. Despitetheir reverence for Aristotle, they did not hesitate to criticize his notion of a universe of

concentric spheres with the earth at the center, and they admitted the possibility that the earth

rotates on its axis and revolves around the sun... [The Arabs] were also capable mathematiciansand developed algebra and trigonometry... [Arab] physicists founded the science of optics and

drew a number of significant conclusions regarding the theory of magnifying lenses and the

velocity, transmission, and refraction of light...[Arab] scientists were the first to describe the

chemical processes of distillation, filtration, and sublimation...The accomplishments in medicinewere just as remarkable...[The Arabs] discovered the contagious nature of tuberculosis, described

pleurisy and several varieties of nervous ailments, and pointed out that the disease can be spread

through contamination of water and soil." [7]

In fact, the Arabs were the world's pioneers in establishing the first major institutions of higher

learning. Arabs established the oldest universities in the world. The University of Qeirawan inFez, Morocco was founded in 859, and the al-Azhar Mosque-University was established in 970
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in Cairo. On the other hand, the oldest university in Europe is the University of Bologna in Italy,

which was founded in 1088.

1

The Golden Arab Abbasid Civilization

Arab civilization reached its golden age during the Abbasid era (750-1258). Baghdad, the seat of

the powerful Abbasid State - which the USA brutally and illegally occupied in 2003 - was the

proud Arab capital city and the world's major center for the arts and sciences. Abbasid's Baghdad

was not only the largest city in the world in size, about 100 square kilometers, but was also theworld's most crowded city, containing about 2 million people. During its heyday, Baghdad was

the center of the richest and most powerful country in the entire world. It contained two of the

world's oldest and greatest universities, the Nizamiyah and the Mustansiriyah.

Baghdad was also the seat of the legendary Bait al-Hikmah or ("the House of Wisdom"), themost widely-respected "think tank" and the major research center in all of the vast Abbasid

Empire. From it came various important translations of Greek and other earlier non-Arab

scientific manuscripts; major breakthroughs in many scientific and artistic fields; and different

discoveries in various scientific fields that enriched Arab civilization and in turn benefited theWest and the rest of the world.

Moreover, Baghdad had many banks, where the world's first checking accounts were established,with various branches all over the world even as far as China; an enormous free general public

hospital; a thousand physicians; many pharmacies; a large number of schools and higher

institutions of learning; a very well-organized postal service; countless libraries and bookstores;an excellent water-supply system; a comprehensive sewage system; and a great paper mill. Even

though paper was invented in China, it was the Arabs who introduced it to the West. The

Europeans, who up to the 12th century used only parchment for writing, learned for the first timethe art of manufacturing paper from straw after the brutal Crusaders invaded the Arab world. [8]

Among the great Arab inventions was the clock. Some Arab clocks had their timepieces movedby water, others by burning candles or mercury. A beautiful Arab water clock was given in 807

as a gift by the great Arab Abbasid Caliph Haroon ar-Rasheed (786-809) to the French King

Charlemagne who was totally impressed by it. In fact, the 13th century Abbasid Arab genius, Ibn

ar-Razzaz al-Jazari, invented impressive arrays of water-operated monumental clocks such as the

famous automated Peacock Fountain and the Castle Water Clock.

The Abbasid Arab leaders, or Caliphs, were the most opulent rulers in the entire world. Theirpalaces, halls, parks, and treasures were highly ostentatious. For example when a diplomatic

Byzantine delegation arrived in Baghdad during the reign of the Caliph al-Muqtadir (908-32),

they were highly impressed to see the outstanding treasures in the store-chambers and themagnificent armies of elephants caparisoned in peacock-silk brocade. The Byzantine delegation

saw Caliph al-Muqtadir arrayed in brilliant clothes embroidered in gold and sitting on an ebony


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throne which was surrounded on both sides by nine hung collars of gems and other fabulous

jewels. [9] In his elegant Room of the Tree, they observed:

"a tree, standing in the midst of a great circular tank filled with clear water. The tree has

eighteen branches, every branch having numerous twigs, on which sit all sorts of gold and silver

birds, both large and small. Most of the branches of this tree are of silver, but some are of gold,and they spread into the air carrying leaves of different colours. The leaves of the tree move as

the wind blows, while the birds pipe and sing." [10]

In fact, the Arabs were so advanced in all of the scientific and artistic fields over the West that

they considered the Europeans to be inferior barbarians with uncouth manners. In a languagesimilar to the current racist propaganda perpetrated by many Europeans and Americans against

non-Europeans, especially Blacks, the famous 10th-century Arab geographer/historian Abu al-

Hasan al-Mas'udi of Baghdad (died 956) wrote the following about the Europeans:

"The peoples of the north are those for whom the sun is distant from the Zenith... cold and damp

prevail in those regions, and snow and ice follow one another in endless succession. The warmhumour is lacking among them; their bodies are large, their natures gross, their manners harsh,

their understanding dull and their tongues heavy... their religious beliefs lack solidity...those of

them who are farthest to the north are the most subject to stupidity, grossness and brutishness."

[11]

In addition, in the 11th-century, an Arab judge from Toledo in Arab Spain made even more racistremarks than al-Mas'udi's about the "stupidity" of the Europeans and their lack of civilization. He

wrote:

"their bellies are big, their colour pale, their hair long and lank. They lack keenness of

understanding and clarity of intelligence, and are overcome by ignorance and foolishness,blindness and stupidity." Even as late as the 14th century the great Arab sociologist and

philosopher, Ibn Khaldun, made contemptuous remarks about the Europeans. [12]

Before the European Renaissance (the start of the current Western civilization from 1350 to1650), most of Europe was living in the feudalism of the Dark Ages. Europeans lived in poverty,

ignorance, hunger, diseases, violence, treachery, squalor, and intolerance. Most Europeans lived

in mud huts with filth, practically like animals. Dirty roadside ditches throughout Europe, filled

with stagnant water, served as public latrines. [13] In fact, most Europeans did not even washtheir own bodies with water for fear of damaging their skins and health.

2

The Glorious Arab Andalusian Civilization of Europe

Arab entrance into Europe began with an "invitation". The governor of an outlying province in

the Iberian Peninsula sent his daughter to Toledo for schooling. She was supposedly under the
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protection of King Rodrick (one of the Germanic ruthless Visigoth occupying rulers in Spain)

who instead of protecting her, violated and impregnated her. As a result, her father appealed tothe Arabs in North Africa for a redress of this injury. [14] The Arabs complied, and thus began

almost 8 centuries of Arab occupation and civilization in Europe's most southwestern part. To be

exact, the Arabs stayed in Europe 781 years during which they introduced to the West a

wonderful civilization; religious tolerance; racial harmony; public baths; and the novel idea ofcleanliness expressed in public and personal hygiene by washing the human body with water.

While most Westerners of the Dark Ages lived in filth, poverty, and ignorance, the Arabs had a

brilliant civilization in Andalusia, Europe's Iberian Peninsula. From 711, when Tariq Ibn Ziyad

landed with his Arab conquering army at Gibraltar (so named after him from the Arabic wordsJabal Tariq or "the Mountain of Tariq"), to 1492 when the Arab presence in Europe ended,

Andalusia was the most enlightened, civilized, racially and religiously tolerant place in all of the

West.

Before the Arabs arrived in the Iberian Peninsula, the barbarian Germanic occupying Visigoths

viciously persecuted Spanish and Portuguese Jews. The Arabs not only treated local Jews withkindness and respect, but also treated their fellow Christians with the same kindness andtolerance that Islam called for. In fact, the Iberian Jews welcomed the Arab conquering army as a

liberating force and joined it against the Visigoths. [15] The intolerant Germanic Visigoths also

heavily taxed and ruthlessly treated the poor Iberian peasants, rendering them practically asslaves. The Arabs, on the other hand, humanely treated the local peasants and drastically reduced

their taxation.

As early as the 10th century, the Arab Andalusian capital, Cordoba, was a magnificent

metropolitan center of progress. The pride of the Arabs in Europe, Cordoba had a half million

people living in it at a time when no European city could claim a population of even 10,000.

Indeed, Arab Cordoba was the largest and most cultured city in all of Europe. Its jewelry, leatherwork, woven silk and elaborate brocades were highly prized throughout the world. Cordoba's

Arab women copyists excelled far better than most European Christian monks in the production

of religious works. A travelling German nun by the name of Hrosvitha, who died in 1002, washighly impressed by Arab Cordoba. She referred to it as "the jewel of the world". She wrote:

"In the western parts of the globe ... there shone forth a fair ornament ... a city well cultured ...rich and known by the famous name of Cordoba, illustrious because of its charms and also

renowned for all resources, especially abounding in the seven streams of knowledge, and ever

famous for continual victories." [16]

Arab Cordoba was truly the jewel of the entire world. In contrast to the dust and mud which

would remain familiar features of the streets of London and Paris for 7 centuries to come,Cordoba had miles of paved streets; street lights (even seven hundred years later there was not so

much as one public lamp in London); 113,000 houses with lavatories and water drainage (even

poor houses had them, something which was not found at the time in most other European

cities); 700 mosques; 300 public baths; 70 public libraries; numerous bookstores; parks andpalaces; [17] and two major magnificent treasures unequal for their sophistication in the known

civilized world.
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The first treasure was the Great Mosque of Cordoba, the most extraordinary religious shrine,

second in size only to the Great Mosque of Makkah. It was completed in 976 and took 200 yearsto build. This Great Mosque, which is still a major tourist attraction in Spain today, is a vast

rectangle with a deep sanctuary divided into 19 aisles by a forest of 870 marble columns. The

interior of this marvelous religious shrine was beautifully decorated with gold; silver; precious

stones; mosaics; colored tiles; contrasting green and red marbles; carved plater; wall paintings;Qur'anic calligraphy; and 8,000 oil lamps, to provide light, hung from two hundred chandeliers.

The scent of burning aloes and the perfumed oils in the lamps drifted through the arches of the

long naves. The Mosque's spacious seven-sided mihrab (the prayer niche which directsworshipers toward Makkah) was lined with gold mosaics and marbles. Next to the mihrab stood

the beautifully carved minbar (or pulpit) with its several straight steps for the Imam to climb up

in order to give his Friday sermon. This wonderful unique pulpit, which took eight talentedcraftsmen seven years to make, was laced with rails of gold and silver and made of ivory, ebony,

sandalwood, and citron wood. Unfortunately, this magnificent pulpit was cut into pieces when

the Spanish Christians took over Cordoba in 1236. Today this great mosque is the Catholic

Cathedral of Cordoba.

The second treasure in the Arab Andalusian capital city of Cordoba was the outstandingenormous public library. Completed around 970, this wonderful library alone had over 440,000books, more than all of the books in all of France at the time. In addition to this gigantic public

library, there were 69 other public libraries in Cordoba. These Arab libraries had been using

paper for over 200 years at a time when the few Europeans, who could read or write, were stillusing animal skins for writing.

Just outside Cordoba, in the city of al-Zahra, the Arab ruler Abdul-Rahman III built his famousmagnificent Palace of Madinat al-Zahra. One of the great wonders of this extraordinary Arab

palace was the Room of the Caliphs, which had a gilded ceiling and walls of multi-colored

marble blocks. On each side of the hall were eight splendid doors, which stood between columnsof clear crystal and colored marble, decorated with gold and ebony and inlaid with precious

stones. In the center of this beautiful room was a large pool filled with mercury, which produced

dazzling reflections from the walls and ceiling every time the sunrays shone on it. When the

surface of the pool was quivered, the whole room was shot through with rays of light, giving theimpression that the room was floating away. All experts and writers at the time agreed that the

magnificence of this Arab hall had never been equaled anywhere in the world. [18]

After the fall of Cordoba to the Spanish Christians, the Arabs moved their capital city to Granada

- in the south of the Iberian Peninsula - which also became famous as an Arab center of arts and

learning. Arab Granada was also renowned for its wealth and trade especially in silk. Toimmortalize Grenada, its Andalusian Arab rulers built the magnificent Palace of al-Hamra ("the

red") or Alhambra Palace. This unique palace has two splendid courts, the Court of the Lions and

the Court of the Myrtles, considered to be the most magnificent and glorious of all Arab

monuments in Spain. The Alhambra Palace, which was also an Arab fortress, took about 100years to build and is today a major tourist attraction attesting to the beauty and genius of Arab

architecture. In addition to Cordoba and Granada, Seville and Toledo also served as the greatest

houses of Arab Andalusian knowledge. In fact, Toledo was the main center of scientifictranslation from Arabic to Latin.


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The Andalusian Arabs also produced several exotic agricultural products (see Agriculture

below) and developed many great manufactured products, which were all exported to WesternEurope and the rest of the world. These industrial products include: textiles; paper; silk; baked

tile; glazed cups, dishes, and jars which rivaled Chinese porcelain; pottery; sugar refining; gold;

silver; ruby; silk; various crafted metals; marble; ceramics; and the much-admired Cordovan

("cordwain") leather-work.

The sciences that the Andalusian Arabs excelled in and were taught at their universities, whichhelped educate several generations of Western scholars and students from all over Europe,

included: mathematics, geometry, astronomy, physics, chemistry, architecture, optics,

meteorology, engineering, pharmacology, medicine, biology, botany, anatomy, zoology, andphilosophy. It should also be mentioned here that Arab students in Andalusia were the first to use

the cap and gown worn today by students all over the world during graduation ceremony.

III

The Legacy of Arab/Islamic Civilization and Its Impact on the West

Thanks to Islam and Arab civilization, Arabic has become the richest of all Semito-Hamitic

languages (so-named after Noah's two eldest sons Sam and Ham), and one of the world's greatestlanguages in history. As a major language of scripture and civilization, Arabic has deeply

influenced several world languages both in the East and the West such as Persian, Turkish, Urdu,

Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Maltese, Malay-Indonesian; some African languages like Hausa andSwahili; and to a lesser extent even the English language (see below). The Arabic alphabet,

which contains 28 letters (2 more letters than the English alphabet), is now - like the Latin

alphabet - one of the most widely used alphabetic writing system in the world used in the writingof the languages of Muslim countries like Iran, Pakistan, and Afghanistan. Between the 9th and15th centuries, during the zenith of Arab civilization, Arabic was the international language of

science to a degree which has since never been equaled by any other language including English.

Arabic was not only the language of the Arab people, but also the language of many otherpeoples and faiths. Neither Greek, nor Latin, nor even English has ever attained the far-reaching

unique historical dominance over human civilization as Arabic had. Arabic was so important as

the language of science that European scholars had to learn it as they learned Latin. Today,Arabic is one of only six official languages of the United Nations along with French, English,

Russian, Chinese, and Spanish. Arabic is also the Worlds fourth most popular language afterChinese, English, and Spanish. And as the language of the important Arab oil-producing

countries, Arabic has also achieved a prominent status in the world of international finance andeconomics.

In fact, the profound impact of the Arabs and their civilization on Western civilization can befound in the many Arabic words that became part of the everyday language in the West. While it

is obvious that the influence of Arabic is much greater on Spanish and Portuguese, both of whichcontain many thousands of Arabic words, than on any other European language, at least some4% of the English language came from Arabic. [19] The following is a group of words from


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several scientific and cultural areas - presented in alphabetical order - used today in English that

originally came from the Arabic language:

[aba, abelmosk, abutilon, Achernar, acrab, admiral, adobe, afreet (or afrit), albacore, albatross,

alcalde, alcazar, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, Aldebaran, alembic, alfalfa, alforja, algarroba,

algebra, Algol, algorism (or algorithm), alidade, alkali, alkanet, Allah, almanac, alphabet, Altair,amalgam, amber, ameer (or amir), aniline, antimony, apricot, ardeb, argan, ariel, arrack, arroba,

arsenal, artichoke, assassin, atabal (or attabal), attar, aubergine, average, azimuth, azure ...

baldachin, banana, barberry, bard (or barde), bark, barkentine, bedouin, benzoin, berseem,

Betelgeuse, bint, bonduc, borax, buckram, bulbul, burnoose (or burnous) ...

cable, cadi (or kadi or qadi), calabash, caliber (or calibre), caliph, caliphate, camel, camise,

camlet, camphor, canal, candy, cane, Caph, carafe, carat, caravan, caraway, carmine, carob,carrack, Casbah (or Kasbah), check (from the Arabic word "sakk"), checkmate, chiffon,

cinnabar, cipher, civet, coffee, coffer, coffle, colcothar, Copt, cotton, crimson, crocus, cubeb,

cumin, curcuma ...

dahabeah, damascene, damask (from Damascus), damson, darabukka, Deneb, dhow, dinar,

dirham, djin (or djinn or djinni), dragoman, drub, durra ...

elixir, emir, emirate ...

fakir, fedayee (or fedayeen), fellah, fennec, fils, Fomalhaut, fustic ...

gabelle, galingale, garble, gauze, gazelle, genet, genie, ghibli, ghoul, Gibraltar, ginger, giraffe,

grab, guitar, gundi, gypsum ...

haik, hajj, hajji, hakim, halva (or halvah), hamal (or hammal), hardim, harem, hashish, hazard,

hegira (or hejiara), henna, hookah, houri, howdah ...

imam, imamate, imaret ...

jar, jasmine, jebel, jerboe, jereed, jessamine, jihad, jinn (or jinni), jubba (or jubbah), julep ...

Kaabah, kabob (or kebab), Kabyle, kafir (or kaffir), kantar (or qantar), kaph, kat (or qat), kef,kermes, khamsin, khan, khanjar, kismet, kohl, Koran (or Qur'an)...

lacquer, lake, lapislazuli, latakia, leban (or leben), lemon, lilac, lime, lute ...

magazine, Mahdi, majoon, mancus, marabout, marcasite, marzipan, mascara, mask, massage,

mastaba, mate (as in checkmate in Chess), mattress, mecca (after Makkah or Mecca), mezereon,minaret, Mizar, mizen (or mizzen), mocha (from Mocha, Yemen), mohair, monsoon, mosque,

muezzin, mufti, mullah, mummy, Muslim, muslin (from Mosul), Mussalman (or Mussulman),

myrrh ...


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nabob, nacre, nadir, natron, nizam, noria, nucha, nuchal ...

oka (or oke), olibanum, orange, Ottoman, oud ...

pandore, pistachio, pherkard, popinjay ...

qintar, quintal ...

racket, realgar, ream, rebec (or rebeck), retem, retina, rial, ribes, Rigel, rice, risk, riyal, rob, roc,rook, rotl...

safari, safflower, saffron, Sahara, Sahel, sahib, saker, salam, salamoniac, salep, saloop, saluki,sambul, santir, saphena, sash, satin, sayyid, scallion, senna, sequin, serendipity, sesame, shadoof

(or shaduf), shaitan, shallot, sharif, sheik (or sheikh), sherbet, sherbert, sherif (or sheriff), shish-

kebab, shrub, simoom (or simoon), sinologue, sirocco, sirup, sloop, soda, sofa, spinach, sudd,

Sufi, Sufism, sugar, sultan, sultana, sultanate, sumac (or sumach), sumbal (or sumbul or sumbal),

sura, Swahili, syce, syrup ...

tabby, tabla, tabor (or tabour), taffeta, talc, talisman, tamarind, tambour, tambourine, tangerine,taraxacum, tarboosh (or tarbush), tare, tariff, tarragon, tazza, timbal (or tymbal), traffic, tutty,

typhoon ...

ulama (or ulema) ...

Vega, vizier ...

wadi ...

xeba, xebec ...

yashmac (or yashmak) ...

zaffer (or zaffre), zareba (or zariba), zenith, zero, zibet (or zibeth) ...]

However, more important than the above Arabic words are the actual scientific contributions andfoundations that the Arabs provided for the West. As indicated earlier, the European Renaissance

was deeply indebted to the Arabs and their civilization. From the Arabs the Europeans took the

basic scientific, technological, philosophical, and cultural foundations that put them on top of the

world and eventually led them in their global colonization of the non-European world, whichstarted with Christopher Columbus's voyage to the Western Hemisphere in 1492. In fact, one of

Columbus's main sea navigators was an Arab Muslim who upon sighting the land of the New

World joyfully shouted in Arabic: "Allah Akbar" (or God is the Greatest). [20]

Indeed, as will be revealed shortly, major works in various philosophical and scientific fieldswere borrowed and/or copied from the Arabs by a number of leading European scholars and

scientists before, during, and after the European Renaissance. The following is a brief summary


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of the Arab contribution to Western and human civilizations in 15 major scientific and artistic

disciplines. Only the top Arab and Muslim scientists (as well as some occasional Arab Jews andArab Christians) both from the Abbasid and Andalusian civilizations are mentioned in this

survey.

1

Mathematics

The Arabs and Muslims contributed more to the field of mathematics, the basic foundation of

modern civilization, than any other people in history. To the magnificent Arab civilization theworld owes algebra, algorithm (logarithm), arithmetic, calculus, geometry, trigonometry, the

decimal system, and the brilliant "zero". The revolutionary "zero", which gave us what is

referred to in the West as the Arabic decimal numeration system, did not originate in India as

some Western historians claim but was rather developed in ancient Iraq by the Neo-Babyloniansmaybe as early as 500 BCE. [21] American mathematics Professor Karl J. Smith indicated in his

textbook, The Nature of Mathematics, that while the ancient Indians developed mathematicaldigital symbols, their numeration system offered no advantage over other earlier systems because

it did not contain a "zero" or use a positional system. [22] Although the Arabs Semitic ancestors

in ancient Iraq developed the zero, it was only through the great post-Islamic Arab civilizationthat it was incorporated into the main body of the general mathematical theory. It took Europe

almost 300 years to finally accept the "zero" as a gift from the Arabs. The Arabic numerals were

simultaneously expressed in somewhat two different figures or forms, one Abbasid (the eastern

style which most Arabs currently use) and one Andalusian (the western style which is used todayin the Arab Maghrib countries of Northwest Africa). It was this Arab Andalusian form of

numerals (i.e., 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9) that the West and the rest of the world eagerly adopted; hencethe worldwide label "Arabic numerals".

Mohammad al-Khawarizmi (780-850), the giant genius scientist who was born and died in

Abbasid Baghdad, created modern algebra and made brilliant contributions in the field ofmathematics. In fact, the word "algorithm" is derived from his name, and the Arabic word al-jabr

(or "algebra" in English) comes from the title of his major work, Kitab al-Jabr wa al-Muqabalah

("The Book of Integration and Equation"). Served for a number of years as the ExecutiveDirector of the prestigious "House of Wisdom" in Baghdad, al-Khawarizmi was also the first

scientist in history to explain how passing light through water particles creates rainbows.

Another Muslim genius in mathematics, also from Abbasid Baghdad, is Abu Arrayhan al-Biruni(973-1048) who was a mathematician, astronomer, physician, physicist, chemist, geographer and

historian. He was probably the greatest scientist in all of medieval Islam. Another great

mathematician is Naseer al-Din at-Tusi (1201-1274). It was in the super work of at-Tusi thattrigonometry achieved the status of an independent branch of pure mathematics, thus making it

an invention of Arabic science. At-Tusi's contribution was to combine the results of earlierinvestigators and to replace Menelaus' complete quadrilateral by a simple triangle, thus freeingtrigonometry from spherical astronomy. [23]
http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#21http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#21http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#21http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#22http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#22http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#22http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#23http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#23http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#23http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#23http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#22http://radioislam.org/sindi/arab.htm#21


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Practically all of the advanced trigonometrical work in the world during the 12th and 13th

centuries were made by Muslim mathematicians and published in Arabic. Arabic influence inthis major scientific field did not only impact the West, but also other parts of the world. It

seemed that even the Chinese trigonometry as used by Kuo Shouching at the end of the 13th

century was also of Arab origin. [24]

2

Astronomy

The most important figure in this scientific field is the Arab Abu Abdullah al-Battani (akaAlbategius: 858-929) from the Abbasid era. He was the best-known Arab astronomer in Europe

during the Middle Ages. Al-Battani refined existing values for the inclination of the ecliptic, for

the length of the year and of the seasons, and for the annual precession of the equinoxes. He

showed that the position of the Sun's apogee is variable and that the annular eclipses of the Sunare possible.

Al-Battani also improved the Greek Ptolemy's astronomical calculations by replacing

geometrical methods with trigonometry, thus becoming the chief responsible scientist for the

first notion of trigonometrical ratios as they are in use to the present day. He carried out manyyears of remarkably accurate observations at ar-Raqqah in Syria. One of al-Battani's major works

in astronomy - a compendium of astronomical tables - was translated into Spanish and was

published in 1537 under the title De motu stellarum ("Our Stellar Motion"). [25]

The Abbasid mathematician al-Biruni also made valuable contributions in astronomy by

accurately determining the latitudes, longtitudes, geodetic measurements, specific gravity, andthe magnitude of the earth's circumference. In addition, the astronomer Ahmad al-Farghani

published a comprehensive treatise on astronomy from which the famous Italian Alighieri Dante

heavily borrowed both in his Vita Nuova and his Convivio. [26] The great Polish astronomerNicolaus Copernicus (1473-1543) also quoted several Arab scientists in his famous De

Revolutionibus Orbium Celestium - especially the great Arab astronomer and instrument-maker

al-Zarkali (aka Arzachel) of Andalusia. Al-Zarkali not only invented