View source for Islamic Golden Age

{{Short description|Period of cultural flourishing from 786 to 1258}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2022}}
{{multiple image
| perrow            = 2
| total_width       = 300
| image1            = Al-Zahrawi-cropped.png
| image2            = Biruni-russian.jpg
| image3            = Ibn Al Nafis statue.jpg
| image4            = 1950 "Avicenna" stamp of Iran.jpg
| image5            = Estatua de Averroes 2.JPG
| image6            = Ibn Firnas' statue.jpg
| image7            = Hazan.png
| image8            = Estatua de Al-Idrisi bajo el baluarte de los Mallorquines, Ceuta (5).jpg
| image9            = Al-Djazari automate verseur de vin.jpg
| image10           = Al-Jahiz stamp, 1968, Syria.jpg
| footer            = From top to bottom and left to right: [[al-Zahrawi]], [[al-Biruni]], [[Ibn al-Nafis]], [[Avicenna]], [[Averroes]], [[Ibn Firnas]], [[Alhazen]], [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]], [[Ismail al-Jazari]], [[al-Jahiz]]
}}
The '''Islamic Golden Age''' was a period of scientific, economic, and cultural flourishing in the [[history of Islam]], traditionally dated from the 8th century to the 13th century.<ref name=Saliba>{{cite book|last=Saliba |first=George |author-link=George Saliba |date=1994 |title=A History of Arabic Astronomy: Planetary Theories During the Golden Age of Islam |pages=245, 250, 256–257 |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=0-8147-8023-7}}</ref><ref name=King>{{cite journal |doi=10.1086/353360 |last1=King |first1=David A. |year=1983 |title=The Astronomy of the Mamluks |journal=Isis |volume=74 |issue=4 |pages=531–55 |s2cid=144315162}}</ref><ref name=Hassan-Decline />

This period is traditionally understood to have begun during the reign of the [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid]] caliph [[Harun al-Rashid]] (786 to 809) with the inauguration of the [[House of Wisdom]], which saw [[Ulama|scholars]] from all over the [[Muslim world]] flock to [[Baghdad]], the world's largest city at the time, to translate the known world's classical knowledge into [[Arabic]] and [[Persian language|Persian]].<ref name="Gutas 1998">{{cite book|last=Gutas |first=Dimitri |author-link=Dimitri Gutas |date=1998 |title=Greek Thought, Arabic Culture: The Graeco-Arabic Translation Movement in Baghdad and Early 'Abbāsid Society (2nd-4th/8th-10th Centuries) |location=London |publisher=[[Routledge]]}}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref> The period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol invasions]] and the [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|Siege of Baghdad]] in 1258.<ref name="Tahir Abbas">{{cite book|title=Islamic Radicalism and Multicultural Politics |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=JdC90uc8PfQC |page=9 }} |access-date=26 August 2012 |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |isbn=978-1-136-95960-8 |page=9 |date=1 March 2011}}</ref>

There are a few alternative timelines. Some scholars extend the end date of the golden age to around 1350, including the [[Timurid Renaissance]] within it,<ref name="HoSM">{{cite web |title=Science and technology in Medieval Islam |url=http://www.mhs.ox.ac.uk/scienceislam_education/docs/Science_and_technology_in_Medieval_Islam-Teachers_notes.pdf |website=History of Science Museum |access-date=31 October 2019}}</ref><ref name="A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fx0Dlwb18WYC&q=Timurid+renaissance&pg=PA59 |title=A Companion to the Worlds of the Renaissance, Guido Ruggiero |isbn=978-0-470-75161-9 |access-date=7 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161108052706/https://books.google.com/books?id=fx0Dlwb18WYC&pg=PA59&lpg=PA59&dq=Timurid+renaissance&source=bl&ots=oRBca6Ril-&sig=91TIV5mBBnYFwGah_7x6b0NP-jA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwijusmUk5fQAhVHKsAKHeqdDn8Q6AEITTAI#v=onepage&q=Timurid%20renaissance&f=false |archive-date=8 November 2016 |last1=Ruggiero |first1=Guido |date=15 April 2008|publisher=John Wiley & Sons }}</ref> while others place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries, including the rise of the Islamic [[gunpowder empires]].<ref name=Saliba /><ref name=King /><ref name=Hassan-Decline />

== History of the concepts ==
The metaphor of a [[Golden age (metaphor)|golden age]] began to be applied in 19th-century literature about [[Islamic history]], in the context of the western aesthetic fashion known as [[Orientalism]]. The author of a ''Handbook for Travelers in Syria and Palestine'' in 1868 observed that the most beautiful mosques of [[Damascus]] were "like Mohammedanism itself, now rapidly decaying" and relics of "the golden age of Islam".<ref>Josias Leslie Porter, ''A Handbook for Travelers in Syria and Palestine'', 1868, [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=zdfotKk6OtsC |page=49 }} p. 49].</ref>

There is no unambiguous definition of the term, and depending on whether it is used with a focus on cultural or on military achievement, it may be taken to refer to rather disparate time spans. Thus, one 19th century author would have it extend to the duration of the caliphate, or to "six and a half centuries",<ref>{{citation|quote=For six centuries and a half, through the golden age of Islam, lasted this Caliphate, till extinguished by the Osmanli sultans and in the death of the last of the blood of the house of Mahomet. The true Caliphate ended with the fall of Bagdad. |title=New Outlook |volume=45 |date=1892 |page=370}}</ref> while another would have it end after only a few decades of Rashidun conquests, with the death of [[Umar]] and the [[First Fitna]].<ref>{{citation|quote=the golden age of Islam, as Mr. Gilman points out, ended with Omar, the second of the Kalifs. |title=The Literary World |volume=36 |date=1887 |page=308}}{{title?}}</ref> [[File:Astrolabe planisférique closeup800x600x300.jpg|thumb|215px|Improvements to the [[astrolabe]] were one of the achievements of this era]]
During the early 20th century, the term was used only occasionally and often referred to as the early military successes of the [[Rashidun Caliphs|Rashidun caliphs]]. It was only in the second half of the 20th century that the term came to be used with any frequency, now mostly referring to the cultural flourishing of science and mathematics under the caliphates during the 9th to 11th centuries (between the establishment of organised scholarship in the [[House of Wisdom]] and the beginning of the [[crusades]]),<ref>"The Ninth, Tenth and Eleventh centuries were the golden age of Islam" ''Life'' magazine, 9 May 1955, [{{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=llYEAAAAMBAJ |page=74 }}].</ref> but often extended to include part of the late 8th or the 12th to early 13th centuries.<ref>{{Cite book |last=S. George |first=Linda |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-rjLwAEACAAJ |title=The Golden Age of Islam |publisher=Benchmark Books |year=1998 |isbn=978-0-7614-0273-2 |language=en}}</ref> Definitions may still vary considerably.

Equating the end of the golden age with the end of the caliphates is a convenient cut-off point based on a historical landmark, but it can be argued that Islamic culture had entered a gradual decline much earlier; thus, Khan (2003) identifies the proper golden age as being the two centuries between 750 and 950, arguing that the beginning loss of territories under Harun al-Rashid worsened after the death of [[al-Ma'mun]] in 833, and that the [[crusades]] in the 12th century resulted in a weakening of the [[Ayyubid dynasty|Islamic empire]] from which it never recovered.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khan |first=Arshad |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FbnnJxar3aMC&pg=PA19 |title=Islam, Muslims, and America: Understanding the Basis of Their Conflict |date=2003 |publisher=Algora Publishing |isbn=978-0-87586-243-9 |page=19 |language=en}}</ref>

Regarding the end of the Gola, Mohamad Abdalla argues the dominant approach by scholars is the "decline theory.":<blockquote>The golden age is considered to have come into existence through a gigantic endeavor to acquire and translate the ancient sciences of the Greeks between the eighth and ninth centuries. The translations era was followed by two centuries of splendid original thinking and contributions, and is known as the "golden age" of Islamic science. This so-called "golden age" is supposed to have lasted from the end of the ninth to the end of the eleventh century. The era after this period is conventionally known as the "age of decline". A survey of literature from the nineteenth century onwards demonstrates that the decline theory has become the preferred paradigm in general academia.<ref>Mohamad Abdalla, "Ibn Khaldun on the Fate of Islamic Science after the 11th Century", ''Islam & Science''  5.1 (2007). [https://cis-ca.org/_media/pdf/2007/1/A_ikotfoisatc.pdf online]</ref> </blockquote>

== Causes ==
[[File:Map of expansion of Caliphate.svg|thumb|Expansion of the [[Caliphate]]s, 622–750:
{{legend|#a1584e|Expansion under [[Muhammad]], 622–632}}
{{legend|#ef9070|Expansion during the [[Rashidun Caliphate]], 632–661}}
{{legend|#fad07d|Expansion during the [[Umayyad Caliphate]], 661–750}}]]

=== Religious influence ===
{{Main|Islamic attitudes towards science}}
The various [[Quran]]ic injunctions and [[Hadith]] (or actions of [[Muhammad]]), which place values on education and emphasize the importance of acquiring knowledge, played a vital role in influencing the Muslims of this age in their search for knowledge and the development of the body of science.<ref name=Hans45>{{cite book |editor1-first=Hans |editor1-last=Groth|title=Population Dynamics in Muslim Countries: Assembling the Jigsaw |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Bpq9Mg-l5jMC&pg=PA45 |year=2012 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media]] |isbn=978-3-642-27881-5 |page=45}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |editor1-first=Hamid Naseem |editor1-last=Rafiabadi |title=Challenges to Religions and Islam: A Study of Muslim Movements, Personalities, Issues and Trends, Part 1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KnH_YuN2ruUC&pg=PA1141 |year=2007 |publisher=Sarup & Sons |isbn=978-81-7625-732-9 |page=1141}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Salam |first=Abdus |title=Renaissance of Sciences in Islamic Countries |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KfoQmi4o4zcC&pg=PA9 |isbn=978-9971-5-0946-0 |page=9 |year=1994|publisher=World Scientific }}</ref>

=== Government sponsorship ===
The [[Islamic Empire]] heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the [[Graeco-Arabic translation movement|Translation Movement]] for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to about twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom's [[Medical Research Council (United Kingdom)|Medical Research Council]].<ref name=bbc2>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2bv8 |title=In Our Time – Al-Kindi, James Montgomery |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=18 May 2013 |date=28 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114060124/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2bv8|archive-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The best scholars and notable translators, such as [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today.<ref name=bbc2 /> The [[House of Wisdom]] was a [[library]] established in [[Abbasid]]-era [[Baghdad]], [[Iraq]] by Caliph [[al-Mansur]]<ref>{{cite book |author1-first=Sonja |author1-last=Brentjes |author1-link= Sonja Brentjes |author2=Robert G. Morrison |chapter=The Sciences in Islamic societies |title=The New Cambridge History of Islam |volume=4 |place=Cambridge |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |date=2010 |page=569}}</ref> in 825 modeled after the [[Academy of Gondishapur|academy of Jundishapur]].

=== Openness to diverse influences ===
{{Main|Greek contributions to the Islamic world|Indian influence on Islamic science|Christian influences on the Islamic world|Chinese influences on Islamic pottery}}
During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost were translated from [[Ancient Greece|Greek]], [[Syriac language|Syriac]], [[Middle Persian]], and [[Sanskrit]] into Syriac and Arabic, some of which were later in turn translated into other languages like [[Hebrew]] and [[Latin]].<ref name="Gutas 1998" />

[[File:Hunayn ibn-Ishaq al-'Ibadi Isagoge.jpg|thumb|upright|The Christian physician [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]] led the translation of works.]]
[[Christians]], especially the adherents of the [[Church of the East]] ([[Nestorian]]s), contributed to Islamic civilization during the reign of the [[Umayyad Caliphate|Umayyads]] and the [[Abbasids]] by translating works of [[Greek philosophers]] and [[ancient science]] to [[Syriac Language|Syriac]] and afterwards to [[Arabic Language|Arabic]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Hill |first=Donald |title=Islamic Science and Engineering |date=1993 |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |isbn=0-7486-0455-3 |page=4}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nestorians |title=Nestorian – Christian sect |access-date=5 November 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161028023759/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Nestorians |archive-date=28 October 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> They also excelled in many fields, in particular [[philosophy]], [[science]] (such as [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]],<ref name="Rashed">{{cite book|last=Rashed |first=Roshdi |title=Classical Mathematics from Al-Khwarizmi to Descartes |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F_VTBAAAQBAJ |year=2015 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-83388-2 |page=33}}</ref><ref name="Britannica">{{cite web|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hunayn-ibn-Ishaq |title=Hunayn ibn Ishaq – Arab scholar |access-date=12 July 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160531073842/https://www.britannica.com/biography/Hunayn-ibn-Ishaq |archive-date=31 May 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Yusuf Al-Khuri]],<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Leary |first1=De Lacy |title=How greek science passed on to the arabs |date=2016 |publisher=Routledge |isbn=978-1-138-97205-6 |oclc=1039098187}}{{page needed|date=February 2022}}</ref> [[Ibn Na'ima al-Himsi|Al Himsi]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam14.html |title=History of Islamic Science |last=Sarton |first=George |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812023045/http://www.levity.com/alchemy/islam14.html |archive-date=12 August 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Qusta ibn Luqa]],<ref>{{cite book|first=Nancy G. |last=Siraisi |title=Medicine and the Italian Universities, 1250–1600 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Academic Publishers]] |date=2001 |page=134}}</ref> [[Masawaiyh]],<ref name="JoubertRocher1995">{{cite book|last=Beeston |first=Alfred Felix Landon |title=Arabic literature to the end of the Umayyad period |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Y0QkhaK4kBUC&pg=PA501 |access-date=20 January 2011 |date=1983 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-0-521-24015-4 |page=501}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Compendium of Medical Texts by Mesue, with Additional Writings by Various Authors |work=World Digital Library |access-date=1 March 2014 |url=http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10674/#languages=lat&page=2 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304131625/http://www.wdl.org/en/item/10674/#languages=lat&page=2 |archive-date=4 March 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Patriarch Eutychius of Alexandria|Patriarch Eutychius]],<ref name="Iranica article">{{Cite encyclopedia |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eutychius |title=Eutychius of Alexandria |first=Sidney H. |last=Griffith |date=15 December 1998 |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopædia Iranica]] |access-date=7 February 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170102055113/http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/eutychius |archive-date=2 January 2017 |url-status=live}}</ref> and [[Jabril ibn Bukhtishu]]<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Contadini |first1=Anna |title=A Bestiary Tale: Text and Image of the Unicorn in the Kitāb naʿt al-hayawān (British Library, or. 2784) |journal=Muqarnas |date=2003 |volume=20 |pages=17–33 |doi=10.1163/22118993-90000037 |jstor=1523325 |url=https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/434/1/UnicornMuqarnas2003.pdf}}</ref>) and [[theology]]. For a long period of time the personal [[physicians]] of the Abbasid Caliphs were often [[Assyrian people|Assyrian]] [[Christians]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bonner |last2=Ener |last3=Singer |first1=Bonner |first2=Mine |first3=Amy |title=Poverty and charity in Middle Eastern contexts |year=2003 |publisher=[[SUNY Press]] |isbn=978-0-7914-5737-5 |page=97 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zBp3y5lWz58C&pg=PA97}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last1=Ruano |last2=Burgos |first1=Eloy Benito |first2=Manuel Espadas |title=17e Congrès international des sciences historiques: Madrid, du 26 août au 2 septembre 1990 |year=1992 |publisher=Comité international des sciences historiques |isbn=978-84-600-8154-8 |page=527 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JXUoAQAAIAAJ&q=bukhtishu}}</ref> Among the most prominent Christian families to serve as physicians to the caliphs were the [[Bukhtishu]] dynasty.<ref>Rémi Brague, [http://www.christiansofiraq.com/assyriancontributionstotheislamiccivilization.htm Assyrians contributions to the Islamic civilization] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927015958/http://www.christiansofiraq.com/assyriancontributionstotheislamiccivilization.htm |date=27 September 2013 }}</ref><ref>Britannica, [https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/409819/Nestorian Nestorian] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330141451/https://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/409819/Nestorian |date=30 March 2014 }}</ref> Throughout the 4th to 7th centuries, [[Christianity|Christian]] scholarly work in the Greek and Syriac languages was either newly translated or had been preserved since the Hellenistic period. Among the prominent centers of learning and transmission of classical wisdom were Christian colleges such as the [[School of Nisibis]]<ref>{{cite book |last=Foster |first= John |year=1939 |title=The Church of the T'ang Dynasty |publisher=Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge |location=Great Britain |page=31 |quote=The school was twice closed, in 431 and 489}}</ref> and the [[School of Edessa]],<ref name="nestorian.org">[http://www.nestorian.org/the_school_of_edessa.html The School of Edessa] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160902074435/http://www.nestorian.org/the_school_of_edessa.html |date=2 September 2016 }}, Nestorian.org.</ref> the pagan center of learning in [[Harran#Early Islamic Harran|Harran]],<ref>{{Cite journal|url=https://www.academia.edu/17141871 |title=Harran: Last Refuge of Classical Paganism |journal=The Pomegranate: The International Journal of Pagan Studies |volume=13 |issue=9 |pages=17–29 |last=Frew |first=Donald |year=2012 |doi=10.1558/pome.v13i9.17}}</ref> and the [[hospital]] and medical Academy of Gondishapur, which was the intellectual, theological and scientific center of the Church of the East.<ref>[http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/main-links/historical.htm University of Tehran Overview/Historical Events<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110203013254/http://www.ut.ac.ir/en/main-links/historical.htm |date=3 February 2011 }}</ref><ref>Kaser, Karl [https://books.google.com/books?id=j3i8muwLf8AC&dq=preserve+ancient+knowledge+syria&pg=PA137 The Balkans and the Near East: Introduction to a Shared History] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221118074910/https://books.google.com/books?id=j3i8muwLf8AC&pg=PA137&dq=preserve+ancient+knowledge+syria&hl=en&sa=X&ei=9DwJUsuGNsbyrAGIyYC4Bw&ved=0CC0Q6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=preserve%20ancient%20knowledge%20syria&f=false |date=18 November 2022 }} p. 135.</ref><ref>Yazberdiyev, Almaz [http://www.turkmenhost.com/documents/Journal2/merv.html Libraries of Ancient Merv] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304032324/http://www.turkmenhost.com/documents/Journal2/merv.html |date=4 March 2016 }} Yazberdiyev is Director of the Library of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan, Ashgabat.</ref> Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Christian background and it was led by Christian physician [[Hunayn ibn Ishaq]], with the support of [[Byzantine medicine]]. Many of the most important philosophical and scientific works of the ancient world were translated, including the work of [[Galen]], [[Hippocrates]], [[Plato]], [[Aristotle]], [[Ptolemy]] and [[Archimedes]].<ref>Hyman and Walsh ''Philosophy in the Middle Ages'' Indianapolis, 1973, p. 204' Meri, Josef W. and Jere L. Bacharach, Editors, ''Medieval Islamic Civilization'' Vol. 1, A–K, Index, 2006, p. 304.</ref>

[[Persian people|Persian]]s also were a notably high proportion of [[List of pre-modern Iranian scientists and scholars|scientists]] who contributed to the Islamic Golden Age. According to [[Bernard Lewis]]: "Culturally, politically, and most remarkable of all even religiously, the Persian contribution to this new Islamic civilization is of immense importance. The work of Iranians can be seen in every field of cultural endeavor, including Arabic poetry, to which poets of Iranian origin composing their poems in Arabic made a very significant contribution."<ref>{{cite book |title=From Babel to Dragomans: Interpreting the Middle East |url=https://archive.org/details/frombabeltodrago00lewi |url-access=registration |first=Bernard |last=Lewis |publisher=[[Oxford University Press]] |year=2004 |page=[https://archive.org/details/frombabeltodrago00lewi/page/44 44] |isbn=978-0-19-517336-9}}</ref>

While cultural influence used to radiate outward from Baghdad, after the [[Mongol invasions and conquests|Mongol destruction]] of the Abbasid Caliphate, Arab influence decreased.<ref name=bulliet>{{Cite book|last=Bulliet|first=Richard| publisher = [[Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|Houghton Mifflin]]| isbn = 0-618-42770-8| title = The Earth and Its Peoples
| location = Boston| year = 2005| url = | page =497 | quote = }}</ref> Iran and Central Asia, benefiting from increased cross-cultural access to East Asia under [[Pax Mongolica|Mongol rule]], flourished and developed more distinctively from Arab influence, such as the [[Timurid Renaissance]] under the [[Timurid dynasty]].<ref name=subtelny>{{Cite journal |last=Subtelny |first=Maria Eva |date=November 1988 |title=Socioeconomic Bases of Cultural Patronage under the Later Timurids |url=https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/international-journal-of-middle-east-studies/article/socioeconomic-bases-of-cultural-patronage-under-the-later-timurids/2A0F3018EE155F23FC4A7F5F25D7DE6D |journal=[[International Journal of Middle East Studies]] |volume=20 |issue=4 |pages=479–505 |doi=10.1017/S0020743800053861 |s2cid=162411014 |access-date=7 November 2016}}</ref>

=== New technology ===
[[File:ManuscriptAbbasid.jpg|thumb|upright|A manuscript written on paper during the [[Abbasid]] Era]]

With a new and easier [[writing system]], and the [[history of paper|introduction of paper]], information was democratized to the extent that, for probably the first time in history, it became possible to make a living from only writing and selling books.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2bv8 |title=In Our Time – Al-Kindi, Hugh Kennedy |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=18 May 2013 |date=28 June 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140114060124/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01k2bv8 |archive-date=14 January 2014 |url-status=live}}</ref> The use of paper spread from [[China]] into Muslim regions in the eighth century through mass production in [[Samarkand]] and [[Greater Khorasan|Khorasan]],<ref name=bloom8>{{cite book |first=Jonathan |last=Bloom |year=2001 |title=Paper Before Print: The History and Impact of Paper in the Islamic World |location=New Haven |publisher=[[Yale University Press]] |isbn=0-300-08955-4 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/8 8–10, 42–45] |url=https://archive.org/details/paperbeforeprint0000bloo/page/8}}</ref> arriving in [[Al-Andalus]] on the [[Iberian peninsula]] (modern Spain and Portugal) in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture than [[parchment]], less likely to crack than [[papyrus]], and could absorb ink, making it difficult to erase and ideal for keeping records. Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in [[Europe]] for centuries.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://web.utk.edu/~persian/paper.htm |title=Islam's Gift of Paper to the West |publisher=Web.utk.edu |date=29 December 2001 |access-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150527180216/http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/29/books/shelf-life-the-story-of-islam-s-gift-of-paper-to-the-west.html |archive-date=27 May 2015 }}</ref> It was from these countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen.<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=JOtJKgWkPuQC |page=166 }} |title=Kevin M. Dunn, ''Caveman chemistry: 28 projects, from the creation of fire to the production of plastics'' |publisher=Universal-Publishers |page=166 |access-date=11 April 2014 |isbn=978-1-58112-566-5 |year=2003}}</ref>

== Education ==
{{Further|Madrasa}}

The centrality of scripture and its study in the Islamic tradition helped to make education a central pillar of the religion in virtually all times and places in the history of Islam.<ref name=berkey-ed>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Jonathan Berkey|author-link=Jonathan Berkey|title=Education|editor=Richard C. Martin|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia of Islam and the Muslim World|publisher=MacMillan Reference USA|year=2004}}</ref> The importance of learning in the Islamic tradition is reflected in a number of hadiths attributed to Muhammad, including one that states "Seeking knowledge is obligatory upon every Muslim".<ref name=berkey-ed /> This injunction was seen to apply particularly to scholars, but also to some extent to the wider Muslim public, as exemplified by the dictum of [[al-Zarnuji]], "learning is prescribed for us all".<ref name=berkey-ed /> While it is impossible to calculate literacy rates in pre-modern Islamic societies, it is almost certain that they were relatively high, at least in comparison to their European counterparts.<ref name=berkey-ed />

[[File:Al-Azhar (inside) 2006.jpg|thumb|upright|Organized instruction in the Cairo [[Al-Azhar Mosque]] began in 978]]

Education would begin at a young age with study of [[Arabic]] and the [[Quran]], either at home or in a primary school, which was often attached to a mosque.<ref name=berkey-ed /> Some students would then proceed to training in [[tafsir]] (Quranic exegesis) and [[fiqh]] (Islamic jurisprudence), which was seen as particularly important.<ref name=berkey-ed /> Education focused on memorization, but also trained the more advanced students to participate as readers and writers in the tradition of commentary on the studied texts.<ref name=berkey-ed /> It also involved a process of [[socialization]] of aspiring scholars, who came from virtually all social backgrounds, into the ranks of the [[ulema]].<ref name=berkey-ed />

For the first few centuries of Islam, educational settings were entirely informal, but beginning in the 11th and 12th centuries, the ruling elites began to establish institutions of higher religious learning known as [[madrasa]]s in an effort to secure support and cooperation of the ulema.<ref name=berkey-ed /> Madrasas soon multiplied throughout the Islamic world, which helped to spread Islamic learning beyond urban centers and to unite diverse Islamic communities in a shared cultural project.<ref name=berkey-ed /> Nonetheless, instruction remained focused on individual relationships between students and their teacher.<ref name=berkey-ed /> The formal attestation of educational attainment, ''[[ijaza]]'', was granted by a particular scholar rather than the institution, and it placed its holder within a genealogy of scholars, which was the only recognized hierarchy in the educational system.<ref name=berkey-ed /> While formal studies in madrasas were open only to men, women of prominent urban families were commonly educated in private settings and many of them received and later issued ''ijazas'' in hadith studies, calligraphy and poetry recitation.<ref name=lapidus-210>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=210}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|first=Jonathan Porter |last=Berkey | author-link = Jonathan Berkey| year=2003 | title=The Formation of Islam: Religion and Society in the Near East, 600–1800|url=https://archive.org/details/formationislamre00berk_681 |url-access=limited |publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/formationislamre00berk_681/page/n244 227]}}</ref> Working women learned religious texts and practical skills primarily from each other, though they also received some instruction together with men in mosques and private homes.<ref name=lapidus-210 />

Madrasas were devoted principally to study of law, but they also offered other subjects such as theology, medicine, and mathematics.<ref name=lapidus217>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=217}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|first=Wael B.|last=Hallaq|author-link = Wael Hallaq|title=An Introduction to Islamic Law |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00hall|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|page=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00hall/page/n59 50]}}</ref> The madrasa complex usually consisted of a mosque, boarding house, and a library.<ref name=lapidus217 /> It was maintained by a [[waqf]] (charitable endowment), which paid salaries of professors, stipends of students, and defrayed the costs of construction and maintenance.<ref name=lapidus217 /> The madrasa was unlike a modern college in that it lacked a standardized curriculum or institutionalized system of certification.<ref name=lapidus217 />

Muslims distinguished disciplines inherited from pre-Islamic civilizations, such as philosophy and medicine, which they called "sciences of the ancients" or "rational sciences", from Islamic religious sciences.<ref name=berkey-ed /> Sciences of the former type flourished for several centuries, and their transmission formed part of the educational framework in classical and medieval Islam.<ref name=berkey-ed /> In some cases, they were supported by institutions such as the [[House of Wisdom]] in Baghdad, but more often they were transmitted informally from teacher to student.<ref name=berkey-ed />

The [[University of Al Karaouine]], founded in 859 AD, is listed in ''[[The Guinness Book Of Records]]'' as the world's oldest degree-granting university.<ref>''The Guinness Book Of Records'', Published 1998, {{ISBN|0-553-57895-2}}, p. 242</ref> The [[Al-Azhar University]] was another early madrasa now recognized as a university. The madrasa is one of the relics of the [[Fatimid]] caliphate. The Fatimids traced their descent to Muhammad's daughter [[Fatimah]] and named the institution using a variant of her honorific title ''Al-Zahra'' (the brilliant).<ref>Halm, Heinz. The [[Fatimids]] and their Traditions of Learning. London: The Institute of Ismaili Studies and I.B. Tauris. 1997.</ref> Organized instruction in the [[Al-Azhar Mosque]] began in 978.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Donald Malcolm Reid|title=Al-Azhar|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}}</ref> Arabic became a [[trade language]]. The Muslim-ruled Spanish capital of [[Córdoba, Spain|Córdoba]], which surpassed [[Constantinople]]<ref>{{cite book |author1=Idris El Hareir |author2=Ravane Mbaye |title=The Spread of Islam Throughout the World |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA448 |year=2011 |publisher=UNESCO |isbn=978-92-3-104153-2 |page=448 |access-date=7 April 2020 |archive-date=14 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114125819/https://books.google.com/books?id=qVYT4Kraym0C&pg=PA448#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name=Population>{{citation |title=Princes and Merchants: European City Growth before the Industrial Revolution |author=J. Bradford De Long and Andrei Shleifer |journal=[[The Journal of Law and Economics]] |volume=36 |issue=2 |date=October 1993 |pages=671–702 [678] |doi=10.1086/467294 |url=http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/pdf_files/Princes.pdf |citeseerx=10.1.1.164.4092 |s2cid=13961320 |access-date=7 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180729053941/http://www.j-bradford-delong.net/pdf_files/Princes.pdf |archive-date=29 July 2018 |url-status=dead}}</ref> as the [[Europe]]'s largest city, also became a prominent world leading centre of education and learning producing numerous polymaths.

== Law ==
{{Main|Sharia}}

Juristic thought gradually developed in study circles, where independent scholars met to learn from a local master and discuss religious topics.<ref>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=125}}</ref><ref name=hallaq>{{cite book|first=Wael B.|last=Hallaq|author-link = Wael Hallaq|title=An Introduction to Islamic Law |url=https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00hall|url-access=limited|year=2009|publisher=Cambridge University Press|pages=[https://archive.org/details/introductiontois00hall/page/n40 31]–35}}</ref> At first, these circles were fluid in their membership, but with time distinct regional [[Madhhab|legal schools]] crystallized around shared sets of methodological principles.<ref name=hallaq /><ref name=vikor>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Knut S.|last=Vikør|title=Sharīʿah|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of Islam and Politics|publisher=Oxford University Press|editor=Emad El-Din Shahin|year=2014|url=http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|access-date=30 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170202054116/http://bridgingcultures.neh.gov/muslimjourneys/items/show/226|archive-date=2 February 2017}}</ref> As the boundaries of the schools became clearly delineated, the authority of their doctrinal tenets came to be vested in a master jurist from earlier times, who was henceforth identified as the school's founder.<ref name=hallaq /><ref name=vikor /> In the course of the first three centuries of Islam, all legal schools came to accept the broad outlines of classical legal theory, according to which Islamic law had to be firmly rooted in the Quran and hadith.<ref name=vikor /><ref>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | page=130}}</ref>

The classical [[Principles of Islamic jurisprudence|theory of Islamic jurisprudence]] elaborates how scriptures should be interpreted from the standpoint of linguistics and rhetoric.<ref name=calder>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Norman|last=Calder|title=Law. Legal Thought and Jurisprudence|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|url=http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473|access-date=30 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731040109/http://www.oxfordislamicstudies.com/article/opr/t236/e0473|archive-date=31 July 2017|url-status=dead}}</ref> It also comprises methods for establishing authenticity of hadith and for determining when the legal force of a scriptural passage is [[Naskh (tafsir)|abrogated]] by a passage revealed at a later date.<ref name=calder /> In addition to the Quran and sunnah, the classical theory of Sunni fiqh recognizes two other sources of law: juristic consensus (''[[Ijma|ijmaʿ]]'') and analogical reasoning (''[[qiyas]]'').<ref>{{cite encyclopedia|first=Farhat J.|last=Ziadeh|title=Uṣūl al-fiqh|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}}</ref> It therefore studies the application and limits of analogy, as well as the value and limits of consensus, along with other methodological principles, some of which are accepted by only certain legal schools.<ref name=calder /> This interpretive apparatus is brought together under the rubric of [[ijtihad]], which refers to a jurist's exertion in an attempt to arrive at a ruling on a particular question.<ref name=calder /> The theory of [[Twelver Shia]] jurisprudence parallels that of Sunni schools with some differences, such as recognition of reason (''[['Aql|ʿaql]]'') as a source of law in place of ''qiyas'' and extension of the notion of sunnah to include traditions of the [[The Twelve Imams|imams]].<ref>{{Cite book| last = Kamali | first = Mohammad Hashim | author-link=Mohammad Hashim Kamali | title = Law and Society|editor=John Esposito|volume= The Oxford History of Islam| publisher = Oxford University Press|edition=Kindle | year = 1999| pages=121–122}}</ref>

The body of substantive Islamic law was created by independent jurists ([[mufti]]s). Their legal opinions ([[fatwa]]s) were taken into account by ruler-appointed [[Qadi|judges]] who presided over ''[[qāḍī]]'s'' courts, and by ''maẓālim'' courts, which were controlled by the ruler's council and administered criminal law.<ref name=vikor /><ref name=calder />

== Theology ==
{{Main|Islamic theology}}

Classical Islamic theology emerged from an early doctrinal controversy which pitted the ''[[ahl al-hadith]]'' movement, led by [[Ahmad ibn Hanbal]], who considered the Quran and authentic hadith to be the only acceptable authority in matters of faith, against [[Mu'tazilite]]s and other theological currents, who developed theological doctrines using rationalistic methods.<ref name=lapidus-130-131>{{Cite book| last = Lapidus | first = Ira M. | author-link=Ira M. Lapidus | title = A History of Islamic Societies | publisher = Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition) | year = 2014| isbn=978-0-521-51430-9 | pages=130–31}}</ref> In 833 the caliph [[al-Ma'mun]] tried to impose Mu'tazilite theology on all religious scholars and instituted an inquisition (''[[mihna]]''), but the attempts to impose a caliphal writ in matters of religious orthodoxy ultimately failed.<ref name=lapidus-130-131 /> This controversy persisted until [[al-Ash'ari]] (874–936) found a middle ground between Mu'tazilite rationalism and Hanbalite literalism, using the rationalistic methods championed by Mu'tazilites to defend most substantive tenets maintained by ''ahl al-hadith''.<ref name=blankinship>{{Cite book|first=Khalid |last=Blankinship| author-link = Khalid Yahya Blankinship | year=2008 | title=The early creed |editor=Tim Winter|volume=The Cambridge Companion to Classical Islamic Theology|publisher=Cambridge University Press (Kindle edition)|page=53}}</ref> A rival compromise between rationalism and literalism emerged from the work of [[al-Maturidi]] (d. c. 944), and, although a minority of scholars remained faithful to the early ''ahl al-hadith'' creed, [[Ash'ari]] and [[Maturidi]] theology came to dominate Sunni Islam from the 10th century on.<ref name=blankinship /><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|author=Tamara Sonn|title=Tawḥīd|encyclopedia=The Oxford Encyclopedia of the Islamic World|editor=John L. Esposito|publisher=Oxford University Press|location=Oxford|year=2009|doi=10.1093/acref/9780195305135.001.0001|isbn=978-0-19-530513-5}}</ref>

== Philosophy ==
[[File:Sughrat.jpg|upright=0.9|thumb|An Arabic manuscript from the 13th century depicting [[Socrates]] (Soqrāt) in discussion with his pupils]]
{{Main|Islamic philosophy}}

[[Ibn Sina]] (Avicenna) and [[Ibn Rushd]] (Averroes) played a major role in interpreting the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the [[Christian world|Christian]] and [[Muslim world]]s. According to the [[Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy]], translation of philosophical texts from Arabic to Latin in Western Europe "led to the transformation of almost all philosophical disciplines in the medieval Latin world".<ref name=standford>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy|title=Influence of Arabic and Islamic Philosophy on the Latin West|year=2014|author=Dag Nikolaus Hasse|url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/|access-date=31 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171020001417/https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/arabic-islamic-influence/|archive-date=20 October 2017}}</ref> The influence of Islamic philosophers in Europe was particularly strong in natural philosophy, psychology and metaphysics, though it also influenced the study of logic and ethics.<ref name=standford />

=== Metaphysics ===
Ibn Sina argued his "[[Floating man]]" thought experiment concerning [[self-awareness]], in which a man deprived of sense experience by being blindfolded and free falling would still be aware of his existence.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00855lt|title=In Our Time: Existence|publisher=bbcnews.com|access-date=27 March 2013|date=8 November 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017222739/http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00855lt|archive-date=17 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Epistemology ===
In [[epistemology]], [[Ibn Tufail]] wrote the novel ''[[Hayy ibn Yaqdhan]]'' and in response [[Ibn al-Nafis]] wrote the novel ''[[Theologus Autodidactus]]''. Both were concerning [[autodidacticism]] as illuminated through the life of a [[feral child]] [[spontaneous generation|spontaneously generated]] in a cave on a [[desert island]].

== Mathematics ==
{{Main|Mathematics in the medieval Islamic world}}

=== Algebra ===
[[File:Green mosque archway.JPG|thumb|upright|[[Islamic geometric patterns|Geometric patterns]]: an archway in the Sultan's lodge in the Ottoman [[Yeşil Mosque|Green Mosque]] in [[Bursa]], Turkey (1424), its [[girih]] strapwork forming 10-point stars and pentagons]]

Persian mathematician [[Muḥammad ibn Mūsā al-Khwārizmī]] played a significant role in the development of [[algebra]], [[arithmetic]] and [[Hindu–Arabic numeral system|Hindu–Arabic numerals]]. He has been described as the father<ref>Boyer, Carl B., 1985. ''A History of Mathematics'', p.&nbsp;252. Princeton University Press.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Gandz |first1=S. |title=The Sources of Al-Khowārizmī's Algebra |journal=Osiris |date=1936 |volume=1 |pages=263–277 |doi=10.1086/368426 |jstor=301610 |s2cid=60770737 }}</ref> or founder<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/MATH104/20010-11/HistoryOfAlgebra.pdf|title="The first true algebra text which is still extant is the work on al-jabr and al-muqabala by Mohammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, written in Baghdad around 825"|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190327085930/https://eclass.uoa.gr/modules/document/file.php/MATH104/20010-11/HistoryOfAlgebra.pdf |archive-date=27 March 2019 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|title=The Oxford History of Islam|last=Esposito|first=John L.|date=6 April 2000|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-988041-6|language=en|page=188}}</ref> of [[algebra]].

Another Persian mathematician, [[Omar Khayyam]], is credited with identifying the foundations of [[Analytic geometry]]. Omar Khayyam found the general geometric solution of the [[cubic equation]]. His book ''Treatise on Demonstrations of Problems of Algebra'' (1070), which was a significant step in the development of algebra, is part of the body of Persian mathematics that was eventually transmitted to Europe.<ref>[[#refmathmaster|Mathematical Masterpieces: Further Chronicles by the Explorers]], p. 92</ref>

Yet another Persian mathematician, [[Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī]], found algebraic and numerical solutions to various cases of cubic equations.<ref>{{MacTutor|id=Al-Tusi_Sharaf|title=Sharaf al-Din al-Muzaffar al-Tusi}}</ref> He also developed the concept of a [[Function (mathematics)|function]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Katz |first1=Victor J. |last2=Barton |first2=Bill |title=Stages in the History of Algebra with Implications for Teaching |journal=Educational Studies in Mathematics |date=18 September 2007 |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=185–201 |doi=10.1007/s10649-006-9023-7 |s2cid=120363574 }}</ref>

=== Calculus ===
[[Alhazen|Ibn al-Haytham (Alhazen)]] discovered the sum formula for the fourth power, using a method that could be generally used to determine the sum for any integral power. He used this to find the volume of a [[paraboloid]]. He could find the integral formula for any polynomial without having developed a general formula.<ref>{{cite journal |doi=10.2307/2691411 |author=Katz, Victor J. |title=Ideas of Calculus in Islam and India |jstor=2691411 |journal=Mathematics Magazine |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=163–74 [165–69, 173–74]|year=1995}}</ref>

=== Geometry ===
{{further|Islamic geometric patterns}}

Islamic art makes use of [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometric patterns]] and symmetries in many of its art forms, notably in [[girih tiles|girih]] tilings. These are formed using a set of five tile shapes, namely a regular [[decagon]], an elongated [[hexagon]], a bow tie, a [[rhombus]], and a regular [[pentagon]]. All the sides of these tiles have the same length; and all their angles are multiples of 36° (π/5 [[radian]]s), offering fivefold and tenfold symmetries. The tiles are decorated with [[strapwork]] lines (girih), generally more visible than the tile boundaries. In 2007, the physicists [[Peter Lu]] and [[Paul Steinhardt]] argued that girih from the 15th century resembled [[quasicrystalline]] [[Penrose tiling]]s.<ref>{{cite journal |author1=Peter J. Lu |author2=Paul J. Steinhardt | year=2007 | title=Decagonal and Quasi-crystalline Tilings in Medieval Islamic Architecture | journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] | volume=315 | pages=1106–10 | doi=10.1126/science.1135491 | pmid=17322056 | issue=5815 | bibcode=2007Sci...315.1106L|s2cid=10374218 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Advanced geometry of Islamic art |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6389157.stm |work=BBC News |date=23 February 2007 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ball |first1=Philip |title=Islamic tiles reveal sophisticated maths |journal=Nature |date=22 February 2007 |pages=news070219–9 |doi=10.1038/news070219-9 |s2cid=178905751 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news |last1=Greene |first1=Richard Allen |title=Nobel goes to scientist who knocked down 'Berlin Wall' of chemistry |url=https://www.cnn.com/2011/10/05/world/europe/sweden-nobel-chemistry |work=CNN |date=5 October 2011 }}</ref> Elaborate geometric [[zellige]] tilework is a distinctive element in [[Moroccan architecture]].<ref name=Castera>{{cite book |last1=Castera |first1=Jean Marc |last2=Peuriot |first2=Francoise |title=Arabesques. Decorative Art in Morocco |date=1999 |publisher=Art Creation Realisation |isbn=978-2-86770-124-5}}</ref> [[Muqarnas]] vaults are three-dimensional but were designed in two dimensions with drawings of geometrical cells.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.klimeck.com/files/pdf/Muqarnas_english8.pdf|title=Muqarnas-Mathematics in Islamic Arts|author=van den Hoeven, Saskia|author2=van der Veen, Maartje|date=2010|access-date=21 May 2019|archive-date=6 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190506205326/https://www.klimeck.com/files/pdf/Muqarnas_english8.pdf|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[Jamshīd al-Kāshī]]'s estimate of [[pi]] would not be surpassed for 180 years.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1999 |title=Ghiyath al-Din Jamshid Mas'ud al-Kashi |publisher=University of St Andrews |url=https://mathshistory.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Kashi/ |access-date=29 December 2021}}</ref>

=== Trigonometry ===
[[File:Acute Triangle.svg|thumb|upright|A triangle labelled with the components of the law of sines. Capital {{math|''A''}}, {{math|''B''}} and {{math|''C''}} are the angles, and lower-case {{math|''a''}}, {{math|''b''}}, {{math|''c''}} are the sides opposite them. ({{math|''a''}} opposite {{math|''A''}}, etc.)]]

[[Ibn Muʿādh al-Jayyānī]] is one of the several Islamic mathematicians on whom the [[law of sines]]<!--see that article for further info--> is attributed; he wrote "''The Book of Unknown Arcs of a Sphere''" in the 11th century. This formula relates the lengths of the sides of any triangle, rather than only [[right triangle]]s, to the sines of its angles.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Jayyani.html|title=Abu Abd Allah Muhammad ibn Muadh Al-Jayyani|publisher=University of St.Andrews|access-date=27 July 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160529134432/http://www-history.mcs.st-andrews.ac.uk/Biographies/Al-Jayyani.html|archive-date=29 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> According to the law,

:<math> \frac{\sin A}{a} \,=\, \frac{\sin B}{b} \,=\, \frac{\sin C}{c}. </math>

where {{math|''a'', ''b''}}, and {{math|''c''}} are the lengths of the sides of a triangle, and {{math|''A'', ''B''}}, and {{math|''C''}} are the opposite angles (see figure).

===Statistics===
The earliest use of [[statistical inference]] was given by [[Al-Kindi]] (c. 801–873, also known as "Alkindus" in Europe), in ''Risalah fi Istikhraj al-Mu'amma'' (''A Manuscript on Deciphering [[Cryptanalysis|Cryptographic]] Messages'') which contains the first description of the method of [[frequency analysis]].<ref name=Kadi>Ibrahim A. Al-Kadi (April 1992), "The origins of cryptology: The Arab contributions", ''[[Cryptologia]]'' '''16''' (2): 97–126</ref><ref name="Sahinaslan">{{cite journal |last1=Sahinaslan |first1=Ender |last2=Sahinaslan |first2=Onder |title=Cryptographic methods and development stages used throughout history |journal=AIP Conference Proceedings |date=2 April 2019 |volume=2086 |issue=1 |pages=030033 |doi=10.1063/1.5095118 |bibcode=2019AIPC.2086c0033S |issn=0094-243X |quote=Al-Kindi is considered the first code breaker|doi-access=free }}</ref>

== Natural sciences ==
{{Main|Science in the medieval Islamic world}}

=== Scientific method ===
[[Ibn al-Haytham]] (Alhazen) was a significant figure in the [[history of scientific method]], particularly in his approach to experimentation,<ref name="ElBizri2005a">{{cite journal |last1=El-Bizri |first1=Nader |title=A philosophical perspective on Alhazen's optics |journal=Arabic Sciences and Philosophy |date=September 2005 |volume=15 |issue=2 |pages=189–218 |doi=10.1017/S0957423905000172 |s2cid=123057532 }}</ref><ref name="Haq">{{cite journal |id={{Gale|A217042312}} |last1=Haq |first1=Syed Nomanul |title=Science in Islam |journal=Islam & Science |date=22 December 2009 |volume=7 |issue=2 |pages=151–159 }}</ref><ref name="Sabra">[[A. I. Sabra|Sabra, A.I.]] (1989). The Optics of Ibn al-Haytham. Books I–II–III: On Direct Vision. London: The Warburg Institute, University of London. pp. 25–29. {{ISBN|0-85481-072-2}}.</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Toomer |first1=G. J. |title=Ibn al-Haythams Weg zur Physik. Matthias Schramm |journal=Isis |date=1 December 1964 |volume=55 |issue=4 |pages=463–465 |doi=10.1086/349914 }}</ref> and has been described as the "world's first true scientist".<ref>{{cite news |last1=Al-Khalili |first1=Jim |title=The 'first true scientist' |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7810846.stm |work=BBC News |date=4 January 2009 }}</ref>

Avicenna made rules for testing the effectiveness of drugs, including that the effect produced by the experimental drug should be seen constantly or after many repetitions, to be counted.<ref name=aramco>{{cite web|url=http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/May-2016/The-Islamic-Roots-of-Modern-Pharmacy|title=The Islamic roots of modern pharmacy|publisher=aramcoworld.com|access-date=28 May 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160518045134/http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/May-2016/The-Islamic-Roots-of-Modern-Pharmacy|archive-date=18 May 2016|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2017}} The [[physician]] [[Rhazes]] was an early proponent of experimental medicine and recommended using control for clinical research. He said: "If you want to study the effect of bloodletting on a condition, divide the patients into two groups, perform bloodletting only on one group, watch both, and compare the results."<ref name=ncbi />

=== Astronomy ===
{{Main|Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world}}
Astronomy in Islam was able to grow greatly because of several key factors. One factor was geographical: the Islamic world was close to the ancient lands of the Greeks, which held valuable ancient knowledge of the heavens in Greek manuscripts.<ref name=Gingerich1986>{{cite journal |last1=Gingerich |first1=Owen |title=Islamic Astronomy |journal=[[Scientific American]] |date=1986 |volume=254 |issue=4 |pages=74–83 |doi=10.1038/scientificamerican0486-74 |jstor=24975932 |bibcode=1986SciAm.254d..74G}}</ref> During the new [[Abbasid Caliphate|Abbasid Dynasty]] after the movement of the capital in 762 AD to Baghdad, translators were sponsored to translate Greek texts into Arabic.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> This translation period led to many major scientific works from [[Galen]], [[Ptolemy]], [[Aristotle]], [[Euclid]], [[Archimedes]], and [[Apollonius of Perga|Apollonius]] being translated into Arabic.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> From these translations previously lost knowledge of the cosmos was now being used to advance current astrological thinkers. The second key factor of astronomy's growth was the religious observances followed by Muslims which expected them to pray at exact times during the day.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> These observances in timekeeping led to many questions in previous Greek mathematical astronomy, especially their timekeeping.<ref name=Gingerich1986 />
[[File:Khalili Collection Islamic Art sci 0161.1 crop.jpg|thumb|right|upright|[[Astrolabe]] with Quranic inscriptions from Iran, dated 1060 [[Hijri year|AH]] (1650-51 AD)]]
The [[astrolabe]] was a Greek invention which was an important piece of Arabic astronomy. An astrolabe is a handheld two-dimensional model of the sky which can solve problems of spherical astronomy.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> It is made up of lines of [[altitude]] and [[azimuth]] with an index, horizon, hour circle, zenith, [[Rete algorithm|Rete]], star pointer, and equator to accurately show where the stars are at that given moment.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> Use of the astrolabe is best expressed in [[Al-Farghani]]'s treatise on the astrolabe due to the mathematical way he applied the instrument to astrology, astronomy, and timekeeping.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> The earliest known Astrolabe in existence today comes from the Islamic period. It was made by [[Nastulus]] in 927-28 AD and is now a treasure of the [[Kuwait National Museum]].<ref name=Gingerich1986 />

In about 964 AD, the Persian astronomer [[Abd al-Rahman al-Sufi]], writing in his ''[[Book of Fixed Stars]]'', described a "nebulous spot" in the [[Andromeda constellation]], the first definitive reference to what is now known to be the [[Andromeda Galaxy]], the [[List of nearest galaxies|nearest spiral galaxy]] to the [[Milky Way]].

The geocentric system developed by Ptolemy placed the sun, moon, and other planets in orbit around the Earth.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> Ptolemy thought that the planets moved on circles called [[epicycles]] and that their centers rode on [[Deferent and epicycle|deferents]]. The deferents were [[Orbital eccentricity|eccentric]], and the angular motion of a planet was uniform around the [[equant]] which was a point opposite the deferent center.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> Simply, Ptolemy's models were a mathematical system for predicting the positions of the planets. One of the first to criticize this model was [[Ibn al-Haytham]], a leader of physics in the 11th century in Cairo. Then in the 13th century [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] constructed the [[Maragheh observatory|Maragha Observatory]] in what is today Iran.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> Al-Tusi found the equant dissatisfying and replaced it by adding a geometrical technique called a [[Tusi couple|Tusi-couple]], which generates linear motion from the sum of two circular motions. Then, [[Ibn al-Shatir]] who was working in Damascus in 1350 AD employed the Tusi-couple to successfully eliminate the equant as well as other objectionable circles that Ptolemy had used.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Saliba |first1=George |title=The Development of Astronomy in Medieval Islamic Society |journal=Arab Studies Quarterly |date=1982 |volume=4 |issue=3 |pages=211–225 |jstor=41857627 }}</ref> This new model properly aligned the celestial spheres and was mathematically sound.<ref name=Gingerich1986 /> This development by Ibn al-Shatir, as well as the Maragha astronomers remained relatively unknown in medieval Europe.<ref name=Gingerich1986 />

The names for some of the stars used, including [[Betelgeuse]], [[Rigel]], [[Vega]], [[Aldebaran]], and [[Fomalhaut]] are several of the names that come directly from Arabic origins or are the translations of Ptolemy's Greek descriptions which are still in use today.<ref name=Gingerich1986 />[[File:Tusi-couple.gif|right|thumb|[[Tusi couple]]]]

=== Physics ===
{{Main|Physics in the medieval Islamic world}}
[[Alhazen]] played a role in the development of [[optics]]. One of the prevailing theories of vision in his time and place was the [[Emission theory (vision)|emission theory]] supported by [[Euclid]] and Ptolemy, where sight worked by the eye emitting rays of light, and the other was the Aristotelean theory that sight worked when the essence of objects flows into the eyes. Alhazen correctly argued that vision occurred when light, traveling in straight lines, reflects off an object into the eyes. [[Al-Biruni]] wrote of his insights into light, stating that its velocity must be immense when compared to the speed of sound.<ref name=Standrews>{{cite web |author1=J J O'Connor |author2=E F Robertson |url=http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Al-Biruni.html |title=Abu Arrayhan Muhammad ibn Ahmad al-Biruni |work=MacTutor History of Mathematics archive |date=1999 |publisher=University of St Andrews |access-date=17 July 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161121101131/http://www-groups.dcs.st-and.ac.uk/history/Biographies/Al-Biruni.html |archive-date=21 November 2016 }}</ref>

=== Chemistry ===
{{Main|Alchemy in the medieval Islamic world}}

The early Islamic period saw the establishment of some of the longest lived theoretical frameworks in [[alchemy]] and [[chemistry]]. The [[sulfur-mercury theory of metals]], first attested in pseudo-Apollonius of Tyana's [[Sirr al-khaliqa|''Sirr al-khalīqa'']] ("The Secret of Creation", c. 750–850) and in the Arabic writings attributed to [[Jabir ibn Hayyan|Jābir ibn Ḥayyān]] (written c. 850–950),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=978-3-487-09115-0}} vol. II, p. 1, note 1; {{Cite book <!--Deny Citation Bot-->|last=Weisser|first=Ursula|title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana|publisher=[[De Gruyter]]|year=1980|location=Berlin|doi=10.1515/9783110866933|isbn=978-3-11-007333-1}} p. 199. On the dating and historical background of the ''Sirr al-khalīqa'', see Kraus 1942−1943, vol. II, pp. 270–303; Weisser 1980, pp. 39–72. On the dating of the writings attributed to Jābir, see Kraus 1942−1943, vol. I, pp. xvii–lxv.</ref> would remain the basis of all theories of metallic composition until the eighteenth century.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Norris |first1=John A. |title=The Mineral Exhalation Theory of Metallogenesis in Pre-Modern Mineral Science |journal=Ambix |date=March 2006 |volume=53 |issue=1 |pages=43–65 |doi=10.1179/174582306X93183 |s2cid=97109455 }}</ref> Likewise, the ''[[Emerald Tablet]]'', a compact and cryptic text that all later alchemists up to and including [[Isaac Newton]] (1642–1727) would regard as the foundation of their art, first occurs in the ''Sirr al-khalīqa'' and in one of the works attributed to Jābir.<ref>{{Cite book <!--Deny Citation Bot-->|last=Weisser|first=Ursula|title=Das "Buch über das Geheimnis der Schöpfung" von Pseudo-Apollonios von Tyana|publisher=[[De Gruyter]]|year=1980|location=Berlin|doi=10.1515/9783110866933|isbn=978-3-11-007333-1}} p. 46. On Newton's alchemy, see {{cite book |last=Newman |first=William R. |author-link=William R. Newman |title=Newton the Alchemist: Science, Enigma, and the Quest for Nature's Secret Fire |year=2019 |publisher=Princeton University Press |location=Princeton |isbn=978-0-691-17487-7}}</ref>

Substantial advances were also made in practical chemistry. The works attributed to Jābir, and those of the Persian alchemist and physician [[Abu Bakr al-Razi|Abū Bakr al-Rāzī]] (c. 865–925), contain the earliest known systematic classifications of chemical substances.<ref name="chemicke-listy.cz">{{Cite journal|last1=Karpenko|first1=Vladimír|last2=Norris|first2=John A.|year=2002|title=Vitriol in the History of Chemistry|journal=Chemické listy|volume=96|issue=12|pages=997–1005|url=http://www.chemicke-listy.cz/ojs3/index.php/chemicke-listy/article/view/2266}}</ref> However, alchemists were not only interested in identifying and classifying chemical substances, but also in artificially creating them.<ref>See {{Cite book|last=Newman|first=William R.|author-link=William R. Newman|year=2004|title=Promethean Ambitions: Alchemy and the Quest to Perfect Nature|location=Chicago|publisher=University of Chicago Press|isbn=978-0-226-57524-7}}</ref> Significant examples from the medieval Islamic world include the synthesis of [[ammonium chloride]] from [[Organic compound|organic substances]] as described in the works attributed to Jābir,<ref>{{Cite book|last=Kraus|first=Paul|author-link=Paul Kraus (Arabist)|year=1942–1943|title=Jâbir ibn Hayyân: Contribution à l'histoire des idées scientifiques dans l'Islam. I. Le corpus des écrits jâbiriens. II. Jâbir et la science grecque|publisher=[[Institut Français d'Archéologie Orientale]]|location=Cairo|oclc=468740510|isbn=978-3-487-09115-0}} Vol. II, pp. 41–42.</ref> and Abū Bakr al-Rāzī's experiments with [[vitriol]], which would eventually lead to the discovery of [[mineral acids]] like [[sulfuric acid]] and [[nitric acid]] by thirteenth century Latin alchemists such as [[pseudo-Geber]].<ref name="chemicke-listy.cz" />

=== Geodesy ===
{{Main|Geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world}}

[[Al-Biruni]] (973–1050) estimated the [[earth radius|radius of the earth]] as 6339.6&nbsp;km (modern value is c. 6,371&nbsp;km), the best estimate at that time.<ref>{{cite encyclopedia |author=Pingree, David |author-link=David Pingree |title=Bīrūnī, Abū Rayḥān iv. Geography |encyclopedia=[[Encyclopaedia Iranica]] |publisher=Columbia University |isbn=978-1-56859-050-9|year=1985 }}</ref>

=== Biology ===
Modern commentators have likened medieval accounts of the "struggle for existence" in the animal kingdom to the framework of the [[theory of evolution]].
Thus, in his survey of the history of the ideas which led to the theory of [[natural selection]], [[Conway Zirkle]] noted that [[al-Jahiz]] was one of those who discussed a "struggle for existence", in his ''[[Kitāb al-Hayawān]]'' (Book of Animals), written in the 9th century.<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Zirkle | first1 = Conway | date=25 April 1941 | title = Natural Selection before the "Origin of Species" | journal = Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society | volume = 84 | issue = 1| pages = 71–123 |jstor=984852 }}</ref>
In the 13th century, [[Nasir al-Din al-Tusi]] believed that humans were derived from advanced animals, saying, "Such humans [probably anthropoid apes]<ref name=Alakbarov /> live in the Western Sudan and other distant corners of the world. They are close to animals by their habits, deeds and behavior."<ref name=Alakbarov>Farid Alakbarov (Summer 2001). [http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/92_folder/92_articles/92_tusi.html A 13th-Century Darwin? Tusi's Views on Evolution] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101213074356/http://azer.com/aiweb/categories/magazine/92_folder/92_articles/92_tusi.html |date=13 December 2010 }}, ''[[Azerbaijan International]]'' '''9''' (2).</ref> In 1377, [[Ibn Khaldun]] in his [[Muqaddimah]] stated, "The [[Animal|animal kingdom]] was developed, its species multiplied, and in the gradual process of [[Creationism|Creation]], it ended in man and arising from the world of the monkeys."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm|title=Rediscovering Arabic Science|publisher=Saudi Aramco Magazine|access-date=13 July 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141030100805/http://www.saudiaramcoworld.com/issue/200703/rediscovering.arabic.science.htm|archive-date=30 October 2014}}</ref>

In [[genetics]], [[Al-Zahrawi]] was the first physician to identify the hereditary nature of [[haemophilia]].<ref name=Cosman>{{cite book | title=Handbook to Life in the Medieval World | first1=Madeleine Pelner | last1=Cosman | first2=Linda Gale | last2=Jones | publisher=[[Infobase Publishing]] | year=2008 |series=Handbook to Life Series |volume=2 | isbn=978-0-8160-4887-8 | pages=528–30}}</ref>

====Medicine and surgery====
{{Main|Medicine in the medieval Islamic world}}
[[File:Cheshm manuscript.jpg|thumb|upright|The eye, according to [[Hunain ibn Ishaq]]. From a manuscript dated {{Circa|1200}}.]]
For [[Islamic scholars]], Indian and Greek physicians and medical researchers [[Sushruta]], [[Galen]], Mankah, [[Atreya]], [[Hippocrates]], [[Charaka]], and [[Agnivesha]] were pre-eminent authorities.<ref>Cyril Elgood, ''A Medical History of Persia and the Eastern Caliphate'', (Cambridge University Press, 1951), p. 3.</ref> In order to make the Indian and Greek tradition more accessible, understandable, and teachable, Islamic scholars ordered and made more systematic the vast Indian and Greco-Roman medical knowledge by writing encyclopedias and summaries. Sometimes, past scholars were criticized, like Rhazes who criticized and refuted Galen's revered theories, most notably, the [[Humorism|Theory of Humors]] and was thus accused of ignorance.<ref name=ncbi>{{cite journal|title=The Air of History (Part IV): Great Muslim Physicians Al Rhazes| pmc=3752886 | pmid=23983918 | doi=10.4103/1995-705X.115499| volume=14| issue=2 | year=2013| journal=Heart Views| pages=93–95 | last1 = Hajar | first1 = R | doi-access=free }}</ref> It was through 12th-century [[Latin translations of the 12th century|Arabic translations]] that medieval Europe rediscovered [[Ancient Greek medicine|Hellenic medicine]], including the works of Galen and Hippocrates, and discovered [[Ayurveda|ancient Indian medicine]], including the works of [[Sushruta]] and [[Charaka]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Pharmacognosy: An Indian perspective|page=54|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=2UQ8BAAAQBAJ&pg=PA54|author=K. Mangathayaru|publisher=Pearson education|isbn=978-93-325-2026-4|year=2013}}</ref><ref name="Lock607">{{cite book |last=Lock |first=Stephen |year=2001 |title=The Oxford Illustrated Companion to Medicine |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00step/page/607 607] |isbn=978-0-19-262950-0 |url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00step/page/607 }}</ref> Works such as Avicenna's ''[[The Canon of Medicine]]'' were translated into Latin and disseminated throughout Europe. During the 15th and 16th centuries alone, ''The Canon of Medicine'' was published more than thirty-five times. It was used as a standard medical textbook through the 18th century in Europe.<ref name="jacb1">{{cite book|last1=A.C. Brown |first1=Jonathan |author-link=Jonathan A.C. Brown |title=Misquoting Muhammad: The Challenge and Choices of Interpreting the Prophet's Legacy |date=2014 |publisher=[[Oneworld Publications]] |isbn=978-1-78074-420-9 |page=[https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/12 12] |url=https://archive.org/details/misquotingmuhamm0000brow/page/12}}</ref> The largely dominant theory of the time was [[Humorism]] where four separate “humors” (liquid substances, including blood, phlegm, yellow bile and dark bile) whose balance were thought to be the key to health and a natural body-temperature. In the book ''Al Shakook ala Jalinoos'' or "The Doubt on Galen" al-Razi criticized some of Galen’s theories, particularly humorism, saying that they did not agree with his own clinical observations.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Amr |first1=Samir |last2=Tbakhi|first2=Abdulghani|title=Abu Bakr Muhammad Ibn Zakariya Al Razi (Rhazes): Philosopher, Physician and Alchemist |journal=Annals of Saudi Medicine |year=2007 |doi=10.5144/0256-4947.2007.305 |pmid=17684438 |pmc=6074295 |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=305–307 }}</ref> Arab physician [[Ibn Zuhr]] provided proof that [[scabies]] is caused by the [[Sarcoptes scabiei|itch mite]] and that it can be cured by removing the parasite without the need for purging, bleeding or other treatments called for by humorism, making a break with the humorism of Galen and [[Avicenna]].<ref name=aramco0816 />

Regarding the [[cardiovascular system]], [[Ibn al-Nafis]] in his ''[[Commentary on Anatomy in Avicenna's Canon]]'' was the first known scholar to contradict the contention of the [[Galen]] School that blood could pass between the ventricles in the heart through the cardiac inter-ventricular septum that separates them, saying that there is no passage between the ventricles at this point.<ref name=West>{{cite journal |last=West |first=John |title=Ibn al-Nafis, the pulmonary circulation, and the Islamic Golden Age |journal=Journal of Applied Physiology |year=2008 |doi=10.1152/japplphysiol.91171.2008 |pmid=18845773 |pmc=2612469 |volume=105 |issue=6 |pages=1877–80 }}</ref> Instead, he correctly argued that all the blood that reached the left ventricle did so after passing through the lung.<ref name=West /> He also stated that there must be small communications, or pores, between the [[pulmonary artery]] and [[pulmonary vein]], a prediction that preceded the discovery of the pulmonary capillaries of [[Marcello Malpighi]] by 400 years. The ''Commentary'' was rediscovered in the twentieth century in the [[Prussian State Library]] in Berlin; whether its view of the [[pulmonary circulation]] influenced scientists such as [[Michael Servetus]] is unclear.<ref name=West />

In [[neurology]], Rhazes stated that [[nerve]]s had [[motor neuron|motor]] or [[sensory neuron|sensory]] functions, describing 7 [[cranial nerves|cranial]] and 31 [[spinal nerves|spinal cord nerves]]. He assigned a numerical order to the cranial nerves from the [[optic nerve|optic]] to the [[hypoglossal nerve]]s. He classified the spinal nerves into 8 [[cervical nerves|cervical]], 12 [[thoracic nerves|thoracic]], 5 [[lumbar nerves|lumbar]], 3 [[sacral nerves|sacral]], and 3 coccygeal nerves. He used this to link clinical signs of injury to the corresponding location of lesions in the nervous system.<ref name=nervous>{{cite journal |title=Insights into neurologic localization by Rhazes, a medieval Islamic physician |pmid=16009898 | doi=10.1212/01.wnl.0000167603.94026.ee |volume=65 |issue=1 |year=2005 |journal=Neurology |pages=125–28 | last1 = Souayah | first1 = N | last2 = Greenstein | first2 = JI|s2cid=36595696 }}</ref>

In [[Infectious diseases (medical specialty)|infectious diseases]], [[Rhazes]] differentiated through careful observation the two diseases [[smallpox]] and [[measles]], which were previously lumped together as a single disease that caused [[rash]]es.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/alrazi.aspx|title=Abu Bakr Mohammad Ibn Zakariya al-Razi (Rhazes) (c. 865-925)|publisher=sciencemuseum.org.uk|access-date=31 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506072259/http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/broughttolife/people/alrazi.aspx|archive-date=6 May 2015}}</ref> This was based on location and the time of the appearance of the symptoms and he also scaled the degree of severity and prognosis of infections according to the color and location of rashes.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ircmj.com/291.fulltext|title=Rhazes Diagnostic Differentiation of Smallpox and Measles|publisher=ircmj.com|access-date=31 May 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150815233425/http://ircmj.com/291.fulltext|archive-date=15 August 2015}}</ref> Rhazes, who was once asked to choose the site for a new hospital in Baghdad, suspended pieces of meat at various points around the city, and recommended building the hospital at the location where the meat putrefied the slowest.<ref name=ncbi />

In [[obstetrics and gynaecology]], [[Al-Zahrawi]] was the first physician to describe an [[ectopic pregnancy]].<ref name=Cosman/>

In [[pediatrics]], Al-Razi is sometimes called the "Father of pediatrics" for writing the monograph, ''The Diseases of Children'' treating paediatrics as an independent field of medicine.<ref name="Elgood2">{{cite book|title=A Medical History of Persia and The Eastern Caliphate|last1=Elgood|first1=Cyril|date=2010|publisher=Cambridge|isbn=978-1-108-01588-2|edition=1st|location=London|pages=202–203|quote=By writing a monograph on 'Diseases in Children' he may also be looked upon as the father of paediatrics.}}</ref>

In [[surgery]], the tenth century [[Al-Andalus|Arab]] physician [[Al-Zahrawi]] is sometimes referred to as the "Father of surgery".<ref name=Anzjournal>{{cite journal |last1=Ahmad |first1=Z. |title=Al-Zahrawi: The father of surgery |journal=ANZ Journal of Surgery |date=May 2007 |volume=77 |issue=s1 |pages=A83 |doi=10.1111/j.1445-2197.2007.04130_8.x |s2cid=57308997}}</ref> He describes what is thought to be the first attempt at reduction [[mammaplasty]] for the management of [[gynaecomastia]]<ref name=Anzjournal /> and the first [[mastectomy]] to treat [[breast cancer]].<ref name=aramco0816 /> He is credited with the performance of the first [[thyroidectomy]].<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Ignjatovic |first1=Mile |title=Historical review of the thyroid gland surgery |journal=Acta Chirurgica Iugoslavica |date=2003 |volume=50 |issue=3 |pages=9–36 |doi=10.2298/aci0303009i |pmid=15179751|doi-access=free }}</ref> He wrote three textbooks on surgery, including ''Manual of Medial Practitioners'' which contains a catalog of 278 instruments used in surgery <ref name="golden">{{cite journal |last1=Alexakos |first1=Konstantinos |last2=Antoine |first2=Wladina |title=The Golden Age of Islam and Science Teaching: Teachers and students develop a deeper understanding of the foundations of modern science by learning about the contributions of Arab-Islamic scientists and scholars |journal=The Science Teacher |date=2005 |volume=72 |issue=3 |pages=36–39 |jstor=24137786}}</ref> In the thirteenth century, [[Ibn al-Quff]] was a physician and surgeon who published numerous books, commentaries, treatises on surgery. Most notably, he wrote ''Basics in the Art of Surgery'', a general medical manual covering anatomy, drugs therapy and surgical care, which was by far the largest Arabic text on surgery during the entire medieval period.<ref name=MIM>{{cite book|first1=Peter E. |last1=Pormann |first2=Emilie |last2=Savage-Smith |title=Medieval Islamic Medicine |publisher=[[Edinburgh University Press]] |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-7486-2066-1 |page=61}}</ref>

== Engineering ==
{{See also|List of inventions in the medieval Islamic world}}
The [[Banū Mūsā]] brothers, in their 9th century [[Book of Ingenious Devices]], describe an [[Automaton|automatic]] [[flute]] player which may have been the first [[Program (machine)|programmable machine]].<ref name="Koetsier2">{{cite journal |last1=Koetsier |first1=Teun |title=On the prehistory of programmable machines: musical automata, looms, calculators |journal=Mechanism and Machine Theory |date=May 2001 |volume=36 |issue=5 |pages=589–603 |doi=10.1016/S0094-114X(01)00005-2 }}</ref> The flute sounds were produced through hot [[Steam power|steam]] and the user could adjust the device to various patterns so that they could get various sounds from it.<ref>{{citation |last=Banu Musa Brothers |title=The Book of Ingenious Devices (Kitāb al-Hiyal) |pages=76–77 |year=1979 |publisher=[[Springer Science+Business Media|Springer]] |isbn=978-90-277-0833-5 |translator-last=Routledge Hill |translator-first=Donald |translator-link=Donald Routledge Hill}}</ref> The brothers contributed to the [[House of Wisdom]], a research body which was established by the [[Abbasid Caliphate]].

The 12th century scholar-inventor [[Ismail al-Jazari]], in his writings describes of numerous mechanical devices, ideas on automation and construction methods'','' most notable among them being the [[Elephant clock]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Guy V. |first=Beckwith |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qPvUAAAACAAJ |title=Readings in Technology and Civilization |date=1997 |publisher=Pearson Custom Publishing |isbn=978-0-536-00579-3 |page=290 |language=en}}</ref> While late in the 16th century, the Ottoman-era [[Taqi ad-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf|Taqi ad-Din Muhammad]] wrote on a mechanism that worked with the application of steam energy. He describes a self-rotating spit which was rotated by the direction of steam into the mechanism's vanes which then turns the wheel at the end of an axle,<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Hill |first=Donald R. |date=1978 |title=Review of Taqī-al-Dīn and Arabic Mechanical Engineering. With the Sublime Methods of Spiritual Machines. An Arabic Manuscript of the Sixteenth Century |journal=Isis |volume=69 |issue=1 |pages=117–118 |doi=10.1086/351968 |jstor=230643}}</ref> this technology being an important part of the development of the [[steam turbine]].<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Darke |first=Diana |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zsGHEAAAQBAJ |title=The Ottomans: A Cultural Legacy |publisher=Thames & Hudson |year=2022 |isbn=978-0-500-77753-4 |language=en |chapter=Chapter 5}}</ref>

During this time period, [[Roman aqueduct|Roman Aqueducts]] were being used and expanded upon. Starting in the 9th and 10th century Arab and Moorish peasants started restoring the ruined aqueducts. The peasants also improved upon the aqueducts by localizing the technology to the respective landscapes of their area.<ref name=":32">{{Cite journal |title=Arab world (general) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/1872-5309_ewic_ewiccom_0304 |access-date=2023-12-02 |website=Encyclopedia of Women & Islamic Cultures|doi=10.1163/1872-5309_ewic_ewiccom_0304 }}</ref> The aqueducts which were initially publicly available, built for that use by the Romans, soon became privatized. The local powers used the aqueducts to gain power in their respective communities. This later evolved to the regional royalty assuming ownership over the aqueducts in the 11th-12th centuries. Some aqueducts were utilized by the royalty to supply water to their palace wells and gardens.<ref name=":32" /><ref>{{Cite book |last1=Jervis |first1=Ben |title=Make-do and mend: archaeologies of compromise, repair and reuse |last2=Kyle |first2=Alison |date=2012 |publisher=Archaeopress |isbn=978-1-4073-1006-0 |series=BAR |location=Oxford}}</ref>

== Social sciences ==
[[Ibn Khaldun]] is regarded to be among the founding fathers of modern [[sociology]], [[historiography]], [[demography]],<ref name="HistoryAndSociology" group="n" /> and [[economics]].<ref>* {{cite journal|last=Spengler|first=Joseph J.|author-link=Joseph J. Spengler|date=1964|title=Economic Thought of Islam: Ibn Khaldun|journal=Comparative Studies in Society and History|volume=6|issue=3|pages=268–306|jstor=177577|doi=10.1017/s0010417500002164| s2cid=143498971 }} .<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;• {{cite journal|first=Jean David C.|last=Boulakia|date=1971|title=Ibn Khaldûn: A Fourteenth-Century Economist|journal=Journal of Political Economy|volume=79|issue=5|pages=1105–18|jstor=1830276|doi=10.1086/259818|s2cid=144078253}}.</ref><ref name="Economics" group="n" />

Archiving was a respected position during this time in Islam though most of the governing documents have been lost over time. However, from correspondence and remaining documentation gives a hint of the social climate as well as shows that the archives were detailed and vast during their time. All letters that were received or sent on behalf of the governing bodies were copied, archived and noted for filing. The position of the archivist was seen as one that had to have a high level of devotion as they held the records of all pertinent transactions.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Posner |first1=Ernest |title=Archives in Medieval Islam |journal=American Archivist |date=1972 |volume=35 |issue=3–4 |pages=291–315 |doi=10.17723/aarc.35.3-4.x1546224w7621152 }}</ref>

== Hospitals ==
{{Main|Bimaristan}}
[[File:Door of the Moristan of Kala'oon (1878) - TIMEA.jpg|thumb|Entrance to the [[Qalawun complex]] which housed the notable Mansuri hospital in Cairo]]

The earliest known Islamic hospital was built in 805 in Baghdad by order of Harun Al-Rashid, and the most important of Baghdad's hospitals was established in 982 by the [[Buyid]] ruler [['Adud al-Dawla]].<ref name=EI2-tibb>{{Cite encyclopedia |author=[[Emilie Savage-Smith|Savage-Smith, Emilie]] |author2=Klein-Franke, F. |author3=Zhu, Ming |title=Ṭibb| year= 2012 | encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam| edition=2nd|publisher=Brill |editor=P. Bearman |editor2=Th. Bianquis |editor3=C.E. Bosworth |editor4=E. van Donzel |editor5=W.P. Heinrichs|doi=10.1163/1573-3912_islam_COM_1216}}</ref> The best documented early Islamic hospitals are the great Syro-Egyptian establishments of the 12th and 13th centuries.<ref name=EI2-tibb /> By the tenth century, Baghdad had five more hospitals, while [[Damascus]] had six hospitals by the 15th century and [[Córdoba, Andalusia|Córdoba]] alone had 50 major hospitals, many exclusively for the military.<ref name=aramco0317 />

The typical hospital was divided into departments such as systemic diseases, surgery, and orthopedics, with larger hospitals having more diverse specialties. "Systemic diseases" was the rough equivalent of today's [[internal medicine]] and was further divided into sections such as fever, infections and digestive issues. Every department had an officer-in-charge, a presiding officer and a supervising specialist. The hospitals also had lecture theaters and libraries. Hospitals staff included sanitary inspectors, who regulated cleanliness, and accountants and other administrative staff.<ref name=aramco0317 /> The hospitals were typically run by a three-man board comprising a non-medical administrator, the chief pharmacist, called the shaykh saydalani, who was equal in rank to the chief physician, who served as mutwalli (dean).<ref name=aramco /> Medical facilities traditionally closed each night, but by the 10th century laws were passed to keep hospitals open 24 hours a day.<ref name =sdouglas />

For less serious cases, physicians staffed outpatient clinics. Cities also had first aid centers staffed by physicians for emergencies that were often located in busy public places, such as big gatherings for Friday prayers. The region also had mobile units staffed by doctors and pharmacists who were supposed to meet the need of remote communities. Baghdad was also known to have a separate hospital for convicts since the early 10th century after the vizier 'Ali ibn Isa ibn Jarah ibn Thabit wrote to Baghdad's chief medical officer that "prisons must have their own doctors who should examine them every day". The first hospital built in Egypt, in Cairo's Southwestern quarter, was the first documented facility to care for mental illnesses. In [[Aleppo]]'s Arghun Hospital, care for mental illness included abundant light, fresh air, running water and music.<ref name=aramco0317>{{cite web|url=http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/March-2017/The-Islamic-Roots-of-the-Modern-Hospital|title=The Islamic Roots of the Modern Hospital|publisher=aramcoworld.com|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321170327/http://www.aramcoworld.com/en-US/Articles/March-2017/The-Islamic-Roots-of-the-Modern-Hospital|archive-date=21 March 2017}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2017}}

Medical students would accompany physicians and participate in patient care. Hospitals in this era were the first to require medical diplomas to license doctors.<ref name=Alatas>{{Cite journal|title=From Jami'ah to University: Multiculturalism and Christian–Muslim Dialogue|first=Syed Farid|last=Alatas|journal=Current Sociology|volume=54|issue=1|pages=112–32|doi=10.1177/0011392106058837|year=2006|s2cid=144509355|url=https://zenodo.org/record/29439}}</ref> The licensing test was administered by the region's government appointed chief medical officer. The test had two steps; the first was to write a treatise, on the subject the candidate wished to obtain a certificate, of original research or commentary of existing texts, which they were encouraged to scrutinize for errors. The second step was to answer questions in an interview with the chief medical officer. Physicians worked fixed hours and medical staff salaries were fixed by law. For regulating the quality of care and arbitrating cases, it is related that if a patient dies, their family presents the doctor's prescriptions to the chief physician who would judge if the death was natural or if it was by negligence, in which case the family would be entitled to compensation from the doctor. The hospitals had male and female quarters while some hospitals only saw men and other hospitals, staffed by women physicians, only saw women.<ref name=aramco0317 /> While women physicians practiced medicine, many largely focused on [[obstetrics]].<ref name=aramco0816>{{cite web|url=http://www.islamicity.org/8597/pioneer-muslim-physicians/|title=Pioneer Muslim Physicians|publisher=aramcoworld.com|access-date=20 March 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170321170835/http://www.islamicity.org/8597/pioneer-muslim-physicians/|archive-date=21 March 2017|url-status=live}}</ref>{{better source needed|date=July 2017}}

Hospitals were forbidden by law to turn away patients who were unable to pay.<ref name =sdouglas>{{Cite book| publisher = Gale| isbn = 978-0-7876-4503-8| title = Rise and spread of Islam| year = 2002| url =https://archive.org/details/worlderasvolumer00doug| url-access = limited| page = [https://archive.org/details/worlderasvolumer00doug/page/n444 419]}}</ref> Eventually, [[charitable foundation]]s called [[waqf]]s were formed to support hospitals, as well as schools.<ref name=sdouglas /> Part of the state budget also went towards maintaining hospitals.<ref name=aramco0317 /> While the services of the hospital were free for all citizens<ref name=sdouglas /> and patients were sometimes given a small stipend to support recovery upon discharge, individual physicians occasionally charged fees.<ref name=aramco0317 /> In a notable endowment, a 13th-century governor of Egypt [[Al-Mansur Qalawun]] ordained a foundation for the [[Qalawun complex|Qalawun hospital]] that would contain a mosque and a chapel, separate wards for different diseases, a library for doctors and a pharmacy<ref name=adler>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=weIHAAAAQBAJ }} |title=World Civilizations|author1=Philip Adler |author2=Randall Pouwels |year=2007|publisher=Cengage Learning|page=198|isbn=978-1-111-81056-6|access-date=1 June 2014}}</ref> and the hospital is used today for [[ophthalmology]].<ref name=aramco0317 /> The Qalawun hospital was based in a former Fatimid palace which had accommodation for 8,000 people – <ref>{{cite encyclopedia|encyclopedia=Encyclopaedia of Islam|editor1=P. Bearman|editor2=Th. Bianquis|editor3=C.E. Bosworth|display-editors=3|editor4=E. van Donzel|title=Bīmāristān|author=Bedi N. Şehsuvaroǧlu|edition=2nd|url=http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/bimaristan-COM_0123|access-date=5 June 2014|date=24 April 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160920225040/http://referenceworks.brillonline.com/entries/encyclopaedia-of-islam-2/bimaristan-COM_0123|archive-date=20 September 2016|url-status=live}}</ref> "it served 4,000 patients daily."{{citation needed|date=February 2022}} The waqf stated, <blockquote>... The hospital shall keep all patients, men and women, until they are completely recovered. All costs are to be borne by the hospital whether the people come from afar or near, whether they are residents or foreigners, strong or weak, low or high, rich or poor, employed or unemployed, blind or sighted, physically or mentally ill, learned or illiterate. There are no conditions of consideration and payment, none is objected to or even indirectly hinted at for non-payment.<ref name=adler /></blockquote>

=== Pharmacies ===
Arabic scholars used their natural and cultural resources to contribute to the strong development of pharmacology. They believed that God had provided the means for a cure for every disease. However, there was confusion about the nature of some ancient plants that existed during this time.<ref name=King2015>{{cite journal |last1=King |first1=Anya |title=The New materia medica of the Islamicate Tradition: The Pre-Islamic Context |journal=Journal of the American Oriental Society |date=2015 |volume=135 |issue=3 |pages=499–528 |doi=10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.3.499 |jstor=10.7817/jameroriesoci.135.3.499 }}</ref>

A prominent figure that was influential in the development of pharmacy used the name Yuhanna Ibn [[Masawaiyh]] ({{Circa}} 777-857). He was referred to as "The Divine Mesue" and "The Prince of Medicine" by European scholars. Masawaiyh led the first private medical school in Baghdad and wrote three major pharmaceutical treatises.<ref name="De Vos 2013">{{cite journal |last1=De Vos |first1=Paula |title=The 'Prince of Medicine': Yūḥannā ibn Māsawayh and the Foundations of the Western Pharmaceutical Tradition |journal=Isis |date=December 2013 |volume=104 |issue=4 |pages=667–712 |doi=10.1086/674940 |pmid=24783490 |s2cid=25175809 }}</ref> These treatises consisted of works over compound medicines, humors, and pharmaceutical recipes that provided instructions on how they were to be prepared. In the Latin West, these works were typically published together under the title "Opera Medicinalia" and were broken up into "De simplicubus", "Grabadin", and "Canones universales". Although [[Masawaiyh]]'s influence was so significant that his writings became the most dominant source of pharmaceutical writings,<ref name="De Vos 2013" /> his exact identity remains unclear.<ref name="De Vos 2013" />

In the past, all substances that were to be introduced into, on or near the human body were labeled as medicine, ranging from drugs, food, beverages, even perfumes to cosmetics.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The earliest distinction between medicine and pharmacy as disciplines began in the seventh century, when pharmacists and apothecaries appeared in the first hospitals. Demand for drugs increased as the population increased. By the ninth century where pharmacy was established as an independent and well-defined profession by Muslim scholars. It is said by many historians that the opening of the first private pharmacy in the eighth century marks the independence of pharmacy from medicine.<ref name=King2015 />

The emergence of medicine and pharmacy within the Islamic caliphate by the ninth century occurred at the same time as rapid expansion of many scientific institutions, libraries, schools, hospitals and then pharmacies in many Muslim cities.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}} The rise of [[alchemy]] during the ninth century also played a vital role for early pharmacological development. While Arab pharmacists were not successful in converting non-precious metals into precious metals, their works giving details of techniques and lab equipment were major contributors to the development of pharmacy. Chemical techniques such as distillation, condensation, evaporation and pulverization were often used.{{citation needed|date=December 2020}}

The Qur'an provided the basis for the development of professional ethics where the rise of ritual washing also influenced the importance of hygiene in pharmacology. Pharmacies were periodically visited by government inspectors called [[muhtasib]], who checked to see that the medicines were mixed properly, not diluted and kept in clean jars. Work done by the [[muhtasib]] was carefully outlined in manuals that explained ways of examining and recognizing falsified drugs, foods and spices. It was forbidden for pharmacists to perform medical treatment without the presence of a physician, while physicians were limited to the preparation and handling of medications. It was feared that recipes would fall into the hands of someone without the proper pharmaceutical training. Licenses were required to run private practices. Violators were fined or beaten.{{citation needed|date=March 2024}}

== Commerce and travel ==
{{Main|Arab Agricultural Revolution|History of Islamic economics|Geography and cartography in the medieval Islamic world}}
[[File:Al-Idrisi's world map.JPG|thumb|Introductory summary overview map from [[al-Idrisi]]'s 1154 world atlas ([[South]] is at the top of the map.)]]
Apart from the [[Nile]], [[Tigris]], and [[Euphrates]], navigable rivers were uncommon in the Middle East, so transport by sea was very important. Navigational sciences were highly developed, making use of a rudimentary [[sextant]] (known as a kamal). When combined with detailed maps of the period, sailors were able to sail across oceans rather than skirt along the coast. Muslim sailors were also responsible for reintroducing large, three-masted merchant vessels to the [[Mediterranean]].{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} The name [[caravel]] may derive from an earlier [[Arab]] boat known as the ''qarib''.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/caravela/htmls/Caravel%20History.htm |title=History of the caravel |publisher=Nautarch.tamu.edu |access-date=13 April 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150506151022/http://nautarch.tamu.edu/shiplab/01George/caravela/htmls/Caravel%20History.htm |archive-date=6 May 2015 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Many Muslims went to [[Islam during the Song dynasty|China]] to trade, and these Muslims began to have a great economic influence on the country. Muslims virtually dominated the import/export industry by the time of the [[Song dynasty]] (960–1279).<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/china_1.shtml |title=Islam in China |publisher=[[BBC]] |access-date=13 July 2016 |date=2 October 2002 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160106025112/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/china_1.shtml |archive-date=6 January 2016 |url-status=live}}</ref> [[Muhammad al-Idrisi]] created the [[Tabula Rogeriana]], the best maps of the Middle Ages, used by various explorers such as [[Christopher Columbus]] and [[Vasco Da Gama]] for their [[Voyages of Christopher Columbus|voyages in America]] and [[India]].<ref name="houben">Houben, 2002, pp. 102–104.</ref>

=== Agriculture ===
[[File:Spread sugarcane.JPG|thumb|The diffusion of sugarcane from the Indian subcontinent to Spain during Islamic rule]]
The Arabs of [[Al-Andalus]] exerted a large impact on Spanish agriculture, including the restoration of Roman-era aqueducts and irrigation channels, as well as the introduction of new technologies such as the ''[[acequia]]s'' and [[Islamic gardens]] (such as at the [[Generalife]]). In Spain and Sicily, the Arabs introduced crops and foodstuffs from Persia, Khorasan, Tabaristan, Iraq, Levant, Egypt, Sindh and India such as [[rice]], [[sugarcane]], [[Orange (fruit)|oranges]], [[lemon]]s, [[banana]]s, saffron, carrots, apricots and eggplants, as well as restoring cultivation of olives and pomegranates from Greco-Roman times. The [[Palmeral of Elche]] in southern Spain is a [[World Heritage Site|UNESCO World Heritage site]] that is emblematic of the Islamic agricultural legacy in Europe.

== Arts and culture ==

=== Literature and poetry ===
{{Main|Islamic literature|Islamic poetry}}
{{See also|Arabic literature|Persian literature|One Thousand and One Nights}}

The 13th century poet<ref>{{Cite book |last=Lewis |first=Franklin D. |title=Rumi, Past and Present, East and West: The Life, Teachings and Poetry of Jalâl al-Din Rumi |date=November 1, 2007 |publisher=Oneworld Publications |isbn=9781851685493 |edition=2nd |pages=9 |language=en}}</ref> [[Rumi]] (also known as ''Mawlana'') (Romanized: mwlana) (Arabic word meaning "the great of our crowd")) wrote some of the finest [[poetry]] in the Persian language and remains one of the best selling poets in the United States.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7016090.stm |title=The roar of Rumi – 800 years on |work=[[BBC News]] |access-date=10 August 2011 |first=Charles |last=Haviland |date=30 September 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120730144219/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/7016090.stm |archive-date=30 July 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/art/rumi_1.shtml |title=Islam: Jalaluddin Rumi |publisher=[[BBC]] |date=1 September 2009 |access-date=10 August 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110123040401/http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/art/rumi_1.shtml|archive-date=23 January 2011 |url-status=live}}</ref> Other famous poets of the Persian language include [[Hafez]] (whose work was read by William Jones, Thoreau, Goethe, Ralph Waldo Emerson and Friedrich Engels), [[Saadi Shirazi|Saadi]] (whose poetry was cited extensively by Goethe, Hegel and Voltaire), [[Ferdowsi]], [[Omar Khayyam]] and [[Amir Khusrau|Amir Khusrow]].

''[[One Thousand and One Nights]]'', an anthology of Middle Eastern folk tales compiled in the Arabic language during the time of the Abbasid Caliphate, has had a large influence on Western and Middle Eastern literature and popular culture with such classics as [[Aladdin]], [[Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves]] and [[Sinbad the Sailor]]. The folk-tale 'Sinbad the Sailor' even draws inspiration directly from Hellenistic literature like the [[Homer|Homeric epics]] (translated from Greek to Arabic in the 8th century CE) and [[Alexander Romance]]s (tales of Alexander the Great popular in Europe, the Middle East and India).

=== Art ===
{{Main|Islamic art}}
[[File:WLA vanda Ottoman marquetry and tile-top table 2.jpg|thumb|[[Marquetry]] and tile-top table, 1560]]

[[Calligraphy]], an essential aspect of written [[Arabic language|Arabic]], developed in manuscripts and architectural decoration. This form of visual art can be found adorning the walls of palaces, the interior and domes of mosques as well as the surrounding structure of [[minbar]]s.<ref name="JAACMadden">{{cite journal |last=Madden |first=Edward H. |date=1975 |title=Some Characteristics of Islamic Art |journal=The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism |volume=33 |issue=4 |pages=423–430 |doi=10.2307/429655 |jstor=429655 }}</ref> Calligraphy would use a variety of stylised and standardised scripts, two major scripts among them being ''[[kufic]]'' and ''[[Naskh (script)|naskh]].'' Ceramics, metalwork and glassware were also brilliantly decorated with geometric patterns and vibrant colors.<ref>{{cite book |last=Mason |first=Robert B. |title=New Looks at Old Pots: Results of Recent Multidisciplinary Studies of Glazed Ceramics from the Islamic World |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill Academic Publisher]] |year=1995}}</ref>

Manuscript illumination was an important art, and [[Persian miniature]] painting flourished in the [[Persianate world]], and went on to influence miniature art in the Ottoman and Mughal court between the 16th–17th centuries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Fisher |first=Carol Garrett |date=1984 |title=A Reconstruction of the Pictorial Cycle of the "Siyar-i Nabī" of Murād III |journal=Ars Orientalis |volume=14 |pages=75–94 |jstor=4629330 |issn=0571-1371}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Verma |first=S.P. |title=Mughal Painting, Patrons and Painters |date=2000 |journal=Proceedings of the Indian History Congress |volume=61 |pages=510–526 |jstor=44148128 |issn=2249-1937}}</ref> Very few surviving records of wall painting exists, especially ones that represented the human face. A rare example of this are the early 9th-century fragments from the ruins of the Dar al-Khilafah palace at [[Samarra]] from the Abbasid period. These are fragments of larger wall paintings depicting harem women, period-era clothing and animals.<ref>{{cite web |title=BBC Radio 4 - A History of the World in 100 Objects, Inside The Palace: Secrets At Court (700 - 950 AD), Harem wall painting fragments - Episode Transcript – Episode 52 - Harem wall painting fragments |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/Fwl5YRmWRDLHdsXpVSDhBC/episode-transcript-episode-52-harem-wall-painting-fragments |access-date=26 April 2022 |website=[[BBC]] |language=en-GB}}</ref>

=== Music ===
{{Main|Arabic music}}
The ninth and tenth centuries saw a flowering of Arabic music. Philosopher and esthete [[Al-Farabi]],<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Haque |first1=Amber |title=Psychology from Islamic Perspective: Contributions of Early Muslim Scholars and Challenges to Contemporary Muslim Psychologists |journal=Journal of Religion and Health |date=1 December 2004 |volume=43 |issue=4 |pages=357–377 |doi=10.1007/s10943-004-4302-z |s2cid=38740431}}</ref> at the end of the ninth century, established the foundations of modern Arabic music theory, based on the [[Arab Maqam|maqammat]], or musical modes. His work was based on the music of [[Ziryab]], the court musician of Andalusia. Ziryab was a renowned polymath, whose contributions to western civilization included formal dining, haircuts, chess, and more, in addition to his dominance of the world musical scene of the ninth century.<ref>{{cite book|last=Epstein |first=Joel |title=The Language of the Heart |date=2019 |publisher=Juwal Publishing |isbn=978-1-0701-0090-6}})</ref>

The Sumerians and Akkadians, the Greeks, and the Persians all used math to create notes used on lutes and lyres and other stringed instruments. Using the idea that a plucked or bowed string produces a note, they noticed the difference in tone when a string is stopped. "The great discovery" was hearing the double octave, that halving a string produces a note one octave above the string.<ref name=MacClean&Dumbrill>{{cite book |last1=Dumbrill |first1=Richard J. |title=The Archaeomusicology of the Ancient Near East |date=2005 |publisher=[[Trafford Publishing]] |isbn=978-1-4120-5538-3 |pages=ii–iii}}</ref> Written as a ratio 2:1.<ref name=MacClean&Dumbrill />

They measured the ratios of string lengths on one side and the other of where the string was pressed, creating ratios. Those ratios allowed them to compare sounds, for example third intervals, fourths, fifths. They were able to tune one string against another in those intervals on lutes, lyres, harps, zithers. Lutes gave them the further ability to create those intervals on a single string, by adding frets at mathematically spaced distances, based on the ratios. Unlike modern instruments, where frets may be permanently fixed into the neck, as on a guitar, the older instruments used gut strings tied around the neck for frets, and this made their instruments adjustable. Early musicians could tune their instruments to different [[Mode (music)|modes]]. Lute players could tune the strings to different [[Interval (music)|intervals]], and could further adjust the frets for the modes.

[[File:Safi al-Din lute.png|thumb|Drawing of a lute by [[Safi al-Din al-Urmawi|Safi al-Din]] from a 1333 copy of his book, ''Kitab al-Adwār''. The oldest copy dates to 1296.]]

The mixing cultures of Central Asia and Arabia produced several thinkers who wrote about music, including something about the lute in their works, including [[Al-Kindi]] ({{Circa|801|873}}), [[Ziryab]] (789–857), [[Al-Farabi]] ({{Circa|872|950}}), [[Avicenna]] ({{Circa|980}} – 1037), and [[Safi al-Din al-Urmawi]] (1216–1294). They wrote in Arabic, what had become the useful lingua-Franca of their time, and took part in Muslim society and culture. However they were brought up in Central Asia.

The Arabs had a musical scale, described by al-Farabi, in use by some through the 13th century A.D.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna2>{{cite journal |last1=Farmer |first1=Henry George |date=April 1937 |title=The Lute Scale of Avicenna |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |volume=69 |issue=2 |pages=245–246 |doi=10.1017/S0035869X00085397 |jstor=25201498|s2cid=163662254 }}</ref> That tanbar scale, which divided the string into "40 equal parts" may have been a leftover from Babylon and Assyria.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna2 /> However, the Arabs traded with and conquered the Persians, and they adopted Persian scales for their lutes, just as they adopted Persian short-necked lutes.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna2 />

[[Ziryab]] moved from Baghdad to [[al-Andalus]], where he set up a school of music and was one of the first to add a fifth string or course to oud, "between 822 and 852).<ref name=farmerluteavicenna>{{cite journal |last1=Farmer |first1=Henry George |date=April 1937 |title=The Lute Scale of Avicenna |journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland |issue=2 |pages=247–248 |jstor=25201498}}</ref> Al-Andalus, where he settled would become a center of musical instrument development for Europe.

Al-Kindi was a polymath who wrote as many as 15 music-related treatises. He was among the first to apply Greek musical theory to Central Asian-Arabian short lutes.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna /> He added semi-tones between the nut and the first string.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna /> He also added a fifth string to his oud in the east, as Ziryab had done in the west.<ref name=farmerluteavicenna />

Al-Farabi "fully incorporated the works of [[Aristoxenus]] and [[Ptolemy]] into his theory of tetrachords", and wrote among books in many subjects, the [[Kitab al-Musiqa al-Kabir]], the ''Major Book of Music'', in which he detailed how to tune an oud, using mathematical ratios.<ref name=farabi1>{{cite web |url=http://www.chrysalis-foundation.org/Al-Farabi-s_Uds.htm |title=Musical Mathematics on the art and science of acoustic instruments, Chapter 11 |last=Forster |first=Christiano M.L. |website=chrysalis-foundation.org |access-date=19 September 2018 |quote=Before we continue with Al-Farabi's 12-fret 'ud tuning — which results in a 22-tone "double-octave" scale ... Al-Farabi concludes 'After these, no note of the 'ud remains which needs to be reproduced. In each octave, there are twenty-two notes; and these are all the notes used by the 'ud. Some of them are more frequently used than others.' }}</ref> He gave instruction for both 10 frets and 12, telling where to place the tied (and moveable) gut-string frets on the neck.<ref name=farabi1 /> His way of tuning allowed a "12-fret 'ud tuning — which results ... 'double-octave' scale", with 22 notes in each octave.<ref name=farabi1 />

=== Architecture ===
{{Main|Islamic architecture}}

The [[Mosque of Uqba|Great Mosque of Kairouan]] (in [[Tunisia]]), the ancestor of all the mosques in the western Islamic world excluding Turkey and the Balkans,<ref name="kairouan mosque">{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=IaM9AAAAIAAJ |page=104 }} |title=John Stothoff Badeau and John Richard Hayes, ''The Genius of Arab civilization: source of Renaissance''. |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |page=104 |access-date=11 April 2014 |isbn=978-0-262-08136-8 |date=1 January 1983}}</ref> is one of the best preserved and most significant examples of early great mosques. Founded in 670, it dates in its present form largely from the 9th century.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=399&lang=en |title=Great Mosque of Kairouan (Qantara mediterranean heritage) |publisher=Qantara-med.org |access-date=11 April 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150209081557/http://www.qantara-med.org/qantara4/public/show_document.php?do_id=399&lang=en |archive-date=9 February 2015}}</ref> The Great Mosque of Kairouan is constituted of a three-tiered square minaret, a large courtyard surrounded by colonnaded porticos, and a huge [[hypostyle]] prayer hall covered on its axis by two cupolas.<ref name="kairouan mosque" />

The [[Great Mosque of Samarra]] in Iraq was completed in 847. It combined the hypostyle architecture of rows of columns supporting a flat base, above which a huge spiralling [[minaret]] was constructed.

The beginning of construction of the [[Cathedral–Mosque of Córdoba|Great Mosque at Cordoba]] in 785 marked the beginning of Islamic architecture in Spain and Northern Africa. The mosque is noted for its striking interior arches. Moorish architecture reached its peak with the construction of the [[Alhambra]], the magnificent palace/fortress of [[Granada]], with its open and breezy interior spaces adorned in red, blue, and gold. The walls are decorated with stylized foliage motifs, [[Arabic language|Arabic]] inscriptions, and [[Arabesque (Islamic art)|arabesque]] design work, with walls covered in [[Islamic geometric patterns|geometrically patterned]] glazed tiles.

Many traces of [[Fatimid architecture]] exist in Cairo today, the most defining examples include the Al Azhar University and the [[Al-Hakim Mosque|Al Hakim mosque]].

== Decline ==

=== Cultural factors ===
Economic historian Joel Mokyr has argued that Islamic philosopher [[al-Ghazali]] (1058–1111), the author of ''[[The Incoherence of the Philosophers]]'', "was a key figure in the decline in Islamic science" and that this led to a cultural shift shunning away from scientific thinking.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10835.html |title=Mokyr, J.: A Culture of Growth: The Origins of the Modern Economy. (eBook and Hardcover) |website=press.princeton.edu |page=67 |isbn=978-0-691-18096-0 |access-date=9 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170324152030/http://press.princeton.edu/titles/10835.html |archive-date=24 March 2017 |last1=Mokyr |first1=Joel |date=12 June 2018 |publisher=Princeton University Press }}</ref> However, it is argued that al-Ghazali was instead an admirer and adherent of philosophy but was criticizing the use of philosophy in religious matters only.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2014/4/11/bringing-muslims-back-to-science|title=Bringing Muslims back to science|date=11 April 2014|access-date=11 June 2022|publisher=Al Jazeera}}</ref> Additionally, Saliba (2007) has pointed out that the golden age did not slow down after al-Ghazali, who lived in the 11th century,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://fountainmagazine.com/2012/issue-87-may-june-2012/did-al-ghazali-kill-the-science-in-islam-may-june-2012|title=Did al-Ghazali Kill the Science in Islam?|date=1 May 2012|publisher=Fountain Magazine}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/did-al-ghazali-kill-the-science-in-islam-may-june-2012 |title=The Fountain Magazine – Issue – Did al-Ghazali Kill the Science in Islam? |website=www.fountainmagazine.com |language=en |access-date=8 March 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150430051445/http://www.fountainmagazine.com/Issue/detail/did-al-ghazali-kill-the-science-in-islam-may-june-2012 |archive-date=30 April 2015 }}</ref> while others extend the golden age to around the 16th<ref name=Hassan-Decline>{{cite encyclopedia |last=Hassan |first=Ahmad Y |title=Factors Behind the Decline of Islamic Science After the Sixteenth Century |url=http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.html |encyclopedia=Islam and the Challenge of Modernity, Proceedings of the Inaugural Symposium on Islam and the Challenge of Modernity: Historical and Contemporary Contexts, Kuala Lumpur, 1–5 August 1994 |editor=Sharifah Shifa Al-Attas |publisher=International Institute of Islamic Thought and Civilization (ISTAC) |date=1996 |pages=351–99 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150402150434/http://www.history-science-technology.com/articles/articles%208.html |archive-date=2 April 2015}}</ref> to 17th centuries.<ref>{{cite journal |last=El-Rouayheb |first=Khaled |title=The Myth of "The Triumph of Fanaticism" in the Seventeenth-Century Ottoman Empire |journal=Die Welt des Islams |volume=48 |year=2008 |issue=2 |pages=196–221 |doi=10.1163/157006008x335930}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=El-Rouayheb |first=Khaled |title=Opening the Gate of Verification: The Forgotten Arab-Islamic Florescence of the 17th Century |journal=International Journal of Middle East Studies |volume=38 |year=2006 |issue=2 |pages=263–81 |doi=10.1017/s0020743806412344 |doi-broken-date=1 November 2024 |s2cid=162679546}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=El-Rouhayeb |first=Khaled |title=Islamic Intellectual History in the Seventeenth Century: Scholarly Currents in the Ottoman Empire and the Maghreb |date=2015 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |place=Cambridge |isbn=978-1-107-04296-4 |pages=1–10}}</ref>

=== Political and economic factors ===
{{See also|Great Divergence}}

[[Ahmad Y. al-Hassan]] has rejected the thesis that lack of creative thinking was a cause, arguing that science was always kept separate from religious argument; he instead analyzes the decline in terms of economic and political factors, drawing on the work of the 14th-century writer [[Ibn Khaldun]].<ref name=Hassan-Decline/>

Several other contemporary scholars have analysed the decline in terms of political and economic factors.<ref name=Saliba /><ref name=King /> Current research has led to the conclusion that "the available evidence is consistent with the hypothesis that an increase in the political power of these elites caused the observed decline in scientific output."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://scholar.harvard.edu/chaney/publications/religion-and-rise-and-fall-islamic-science |title=Religion and the Rise and Fall of Islamic Science |website=scholar.harvard.edu |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151222142744/http://scholar.harvard.edu/chaney/publications/religion-and-rise-and-fall-islamic-science |archive-date=22 December 2015 |access-date=20 December 2015}}</ref> The decline could be part of a larger trend where the non-Western world fell behind the West in the [[Great Divergence]]. In 1206, [[Genghis Khan]] established the [[Mongol Empire]] which, during the 13th century, conquered most of the Eurasian land mass, including China in the east and much of the old Islamic caliphate (as well as [[Kievan Rus']]) in the west. The [[Siege of Baghdad (1258)|destruction of Baghdad]] and the [[House of Wisdom]] by [[Hulagu Khan]] in 1258 has been seen by some as the end of the Islamic Golden Age.<ref>{{cite book |url={{Google books |plainurl=yes |id=3qwuhK3BBH8C |page=215}} |title=Challenges of the Muslim world: present, future and past |publisher=Emerald Group Publishing |access-date=11 April 2014 |isbn=978-0-444-53243-5 |year=2008 |last1=Cooper |first1=William W. |last2=Yue |first2=Piyu}}</ref> However, while cultural influence used to radiate outward from Baghdad, after the fall of Baghdad, Iran and Central Asia saw a cultural flourishing by benefiting from increased cross-cultural access to East Asia under [[Pax Mongolica|Mongol rule]].<ref name=bulliet/><ref name=subtelny/>

== See also ==
{{columns-list|
* [[Baghdad School]]
* [[Christian influences on the Islamic world]]
** [[List of Christian scientists and scholars of the medieval Islamic world]]
* [[Danish Golden Age]]
* [[Dutch Golden Age]]
* [[Elizabethan era]]
* [[Emirate of Sicily]]
* [[Golden age of Jewish culture in Spain]]
* [[Ibn Sina Academy of Medieval Medicine and Sciences]]
* [[Astronomy in the medieval Islamic world]]
* [[Islamic studies]]
* [[Islamic world contributions to Medieval Europe]]
* [[List of pre-modern Iranian scientists and scholars]]
* [[Ophthalmology in the medieval Islamic world]]
* [[Science in the medieval Islamic world]]
* [[Spanish Golden Age]]
* [[Timeline of science and engineering in the Muslim world]]
}}

== References ==
=== Notes ===
{{reflist
|group="n"
|refs=
{{refn|
* "...regarded by some Westerners as the true father of historiography and sociology".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Gates |first=Warren E. |title=The Spread of Ibn Khaldûn's Ideas on Climate and Culture |journal=Journal of the History of Ideas |year=1967 |volume=28 |issue=3 |pages=415–22 |doi=10.2307/2708627 |jstor=2708627}}</ref>
* "Ibn Khaldun has been claimed the forerunner of a great number of European thinkers, mostly sociologists, historians, and philosophers".{{harv|Boulakia|1971}}
* "The founding father of Eastern Sociology".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dhaouadi |first=M. |title=Ibn Khaldun: The Founding Father of Eastern Sociology |journal=[[International Sociology]] |date=1 September 1990 |volume=5 |issue=3 |pages=319–35 |doi=10.1177/026858090005003007 |s2cid=143508326}}</ref>
* "This grand scheme to find a new science of society makes him the forerunner of many of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries system-builders such as Vico, Comte and Marx." "As one of the early founders of the social sciences...".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Haddad |first=L. |title=A Fourteenth-Century Theory of Economic Growth and Development |journal=Kyklos |date=1 May 1977 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=195–213 |doi=10.1111/j.1467-6435.1977.tb02006.x}}</ref>
|group ="n" |name="HistoryAndSociology"}}
{{refn|
* "He is considered by some as a father of modern economics, or at least a major forerunner. The Western world recognizes Khaldun as the father of sociology but hesitates in recognizing him as a great economist who laid its very foundations. He was the first to systematically analyze the functioning of an economy, the importance of technology, specialization and foreign trade in economic surplus and the role of government and its stabilization policies to increase output and employment. Moreover, he dealt with the problem of optimum taxation, minimum government services, incentives, institutional framework, law and order, expectations, production, and the theory of value".[https://web.archive.org/web/20120311091356/http://www.ovidius-stec.ro/html/anale/ENG/cuprins%20rezumate/2009%20vol2.pdf Cosma, Sorinel (2009). "Ibn Khaldun's Economic Thinking". Ovidius University Annals of Economics (Ovidius University Press) XIV:52–57]
|group ="n" |name="Economics"}}
}}

===Citations===
{{reflist}}

== Further reading ==
* {{Cite journal |last=Adballa |first=Mohamad |date=Summer 2007 |title=Ibn Khaldun on the fate of Islamic science after the 11th century |url=https://www.academia.edu/42933282 |journal=Journal of Islam & Science |language=en |volume=5 |issue=1}}
* {{Cite book |last=Allsen |first=Thomas T. |author-link=Thomas T. Allsen |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0StLNcKQNUoC |title=Culture and conquest in Mongol Eurasia |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-521-60270-9 |series=Cambridge studies in Islamic civilization |location=Cambridge}}
* {{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/geniusofarabcivi0000unse |title=The Genius of Arab civilization: source of Renaissance |date=1992 |publisher=[[New York University Press]] |isbn=978-0-8147-3485-8 |editor-last=Hayes |editor-first=John Richard |edition=3rd |location=New York |pages=306 |editor-last2=Atiyeh |editor-first2=George N. |editor-link2=George N. Atiyeh |editor-last3=Hayes |editor-first3=John R. |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Epstein |first=Joel |title=The Language of the Heart: A musical, fantastical journey through a land of magic |publisher=[independently published] |year=2019 |isbn=978-1-07-010090-6 }}
* {{Cite journal |last1=Falagas |first1=Matthew E. |last2=Zarkadoulia |first2=Effie A. |last3=Samonis |first3=George |date=August 2006 |title=Arab science in the golden age (750–1258 C.E.) and today |journal=[[The FASEB Journal]] |volume=20 |issue=10 |pages=1581–1586 |doi=10.1096/fj.06-0803ufm |issn=0892-6638 |pmid=16873881 |s2cid=40960150 |doi-access=free}}
* {{Cite book |last=Fernández-Morera |first=Darío |url=https://archive.org/details/DarioFernandezMoreraTheMythOfTheAndalusianParadiseMuslimsChristiansAndJewsUnderI |title=The myth of the Andalusian paradise: Muslims, Christians, and Jews under Islamic rule in medieval Spain |date=2016 |publisher=[[ISI Books]] |isbn=978-1-61017-095-6 |location=Wilmington, DE}}
* {{Cite book |last=Huff |first=Toby E. |url=https://archive.org/details/riseofearlymoder0000huff_n2n9 |title=The rise of early modern science: Islam, China, and the West |date=2017 |publisher=[[Cambridge University Press]] |isbn=978-1-107-13021-0 |edition=3rd |location=Cambridge New York Port Melbourne Delhi Singapore |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite book |last=Kheirandish |first=Elaheh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eKIjEAAAQBAJ |title=Baghdad and Isfahan: a dialogue of two cities in an age of science ca. 750-1750 |date=2021 |publisher=[[I.B. Tauris]] |isbn=978-0-7556-3508-5 |location=London}}
* {{Cite book |last=Lombard |first=Maurice |url=https://archive.org/details/goldenageofislam0000lomb |title=The golden age of Islam |date=2004 |publisher=Markus Wiener Publishers |others=Preface by Jane Hathaway |isbn=978-1-55876-322-7 |location=Princeton, NJ |translator-last=Spencer |translator-first=Joan |url-access=registration}}
* {{Cite journal |last=Makdisi |first=George |date=April 1989 |title=Scholasticism and Humanism in Classical Islam and the Christian West |journal=[[Journal of the American Oriental Society]] |volume=109 |issue=2 |pages=175–182 |doi=10.2307/604423 |jstor=604423}}
* {{Cite book |last=Meri |first=Josef W. |title=Medieval Islamic civilization: an encyclopedia |title-link=Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia |date=2006 |publisher=[[Routledge]] |isbn=978-0-415-96691-7 |editor-last=Meri |editor-first=Josef W. |series=Routledge encyclopedias of the Middle Ages |location=New York |page=1088 |editor-last2=Bacharach |editor-first2=Jere L.}}
* {{Cite book |last=Starr |first=S. Frederick |url=https://mo.tnu.tj/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/1starr_s_frederick_lost_enlightenment_central_asia_s_golden_a.pdf |title=Lost enlightenment: Central Asia's golden age from the Arab conquest to Tamerlane |publisher=[[Princeton University Press]] |year=2015 |isbn=978-0-691-16585-1 |location=Princeton, NJ ; Oxford}}
* {{Cite book |last=Sonn |first=Tamara |url=https://libraryoflights.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/islam-a-brief-history-tamara-sonn.pdf |title=Islam: a brief history |date=2010 |publisher=[[Wiley-Blackwell]] |isbn=978-1-4051-8094-8 |edition=2nd |series=Blackwell brief histories of religion series |location=Chichester, West Sussex |pages=39–79}}

== External links ==
* {{Commons category-inline}}
* [http://www.islamicweb.com/history/hist_golden.htm Islamicweb.com: History of the Golden Age]
* [http://www.khamush.com/sufism/golden.htm Khamush.com: ''Baghdad: Metropolis of the Abbasid Caliphate'' – Chapter 5] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200920120214/http://www.khamush.com/sufism/golden.htm |date=20 September 2020 }}, ''by [[Gaston Wiet]]''.
* [https://www.loc.gov/rr/rarebook/coll/160.html U.S. Library of Congress.gov: The Kirkor Minassian Collection] – ''contains examples of Islamic book bindings''.

{{Astronomy in medieval Islam}}
{{Islamic alchemy and chemistry}}
{{Islamic geography}}
{{Islamic mathematics}}
{{Islamic medicine}}
{{Islamic studies}}
{{History of science}}

[[Category:Islamic Golden Age| ]]
[[Category:Science in the medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Islamic culture]]
[[Category:Medieval Islamic world]]
[[Category:Medieval European education]]
[[Category:8th-century Islam]]
[[Category:9th-century Islam]]
[[Category:10th-century Islam]]
[[Category:12th-century Islam]]
[[Category:13th-century Islam]]
[[Category:Religion in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:Science in the Middle Ages]]
[[Category:8th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:9th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:10th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:11th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:12th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:13th century in the Middle East]]
[[Category:Golden ages (metaphor)]]