The Semites and Greeks traditionally assigned numerical values to their letters and used them as numerals. What the envoys saw and heard had impressed them and they had invited Muhammad to settle in Medina. 'Uthman achieved much during his reign. In 1824 Mahmud II finally broke the power of the Janissaries, brought in German advisers to restructure the army, and launched a modernization program. Islam emerged as a new powerful yet a very strong opponent of Christianity. Because Islamic rule unified much of the Eastern world, thus abolishing many boundaries, trade was freer, safer, and more extensive than it had been since the time of Alexander the Great. Islamic architecture encompasses a wide range of both secular and religious styles from the early history of Islam to the present day. Islam has had an enormous impact on the culture of the Middle East since the time of the Prophet Muhammad. But . Each of these men, all exceptional scholars, wrote or dictated long and learned commentaries upon which their schools of law were founded. For fifty years, in fact, Greek remained the chancery language of Syria, Egypt, and Palestine, while Pahlavi, the chancery language of the Sassanians, continued to be used in Mesopotamia and Persia. The Venetians and Genoese established trading colonies in Egypt, and luxury goods of the East found their way to European markets. This rift widened almost as soon as 'Ali, cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet, was chosen to be the fourth caliph. Instead, France and Great Britain secretly agreed to partition most of the Arab provinces of the Ottoman Empire between them and eventually obtained mandates from the League of Nations: Britain over Iraq, Palestine, and Transjordan; France over Syria and Lebanon. The Turks were part of a powerful military empire that unified the region under a Middle Eastern religion called Islam, . Under a minor chieftain named Othman, groups of Turkish-speaking peoples in Anatolia were united in the Ottoman confederation which, by the second half of the fourteenth century, had conquered much of present-day Greece and Turkey and was threatening Constantinople. But they were not always at the forefront and from the time of Mu'awiyah the caliph's role as "Defender of the Faith" increasingly required him to devote attention to the purely secular concerns which dominate so much of every nation's history. Modern musical scales are also said to derive from the Arabic alphabet. Because the circumstances of each revelation were thought necessary to correct interpretation, the community, early in the history of Islam, concluded that it was imperative to gather as many traditions as possible about the life and actions of the Prophet so that the Quran might be more fully understood. the pilgrims pour out of Mecca to Mina, where, as the Prophet did, they meditate overnight. This conquest was made much easier by the weakness of the Sassanid Empire, which was wounded by internal conflicts and a lengthy war with the Byzantine Empire. 'Uthman also, through his cousin Mu'awiyah ibn Abi Sufyan, the governor of Syria, established an Arab navy which fought a series of important engagements with the Byzantines. and A.D. 70. As the Muslims were not completely defeated, the Meccans, with an army of ten thousand, attacked Medina again two years later but with quite different results. The nationalist government under Ataturk, dedicated to leading Turkey in the direction of secularism and Westernization, abolished the sultanate, declared a republic, and eventually (in 1924) abolished the caliphate as well. It impeded private capital . Photo: A youth in the pilgrim's simple robe reading the Quran. Closely connected with the trade in dyestuffs was the trade in medicines, an offshoot of 'Abbasid advances in medicine and the spread of hospitals in all major Islamic cities. Confined to the coast, they ruled small areas until their final defeat at the hands of the Egyptian Mamluks at the end of the thirteenth century. It is really good article for all people whether they are Muslims or Non Muslims. This section is more for the technologically minded. Later, after Ibn al-Ahmar's death, Granada itself was rebuilt and became, as one Arab visitor wrote, "as a silver vase filled with emeralds. In medicine they experimented with diet, drugs, surgery, and anatomy, and in chemistry, an outgrowth of alchemy, isolated and studied a wide variety of minerals and compounds. In this manner the Indians would render Roman CCC XX 111 as: 3 2 3. Elsewhere, Muslim leaders such as the Mahdi in the Sudan and 'Abd al-Qadir al-Jazairi in Algeria took direct action. Control of the Eastern trade became a constantly recurring theme in later relations between the European countries and the East, and in the nineteenth century was to lead to widespread Western intervention. About the year 590, Muhammad, then in his twenties, entered the service of a widow named Khadijah as a merchant actively engaged with trading caravans to the north. As British efforts to control it generated widespread disapproval in the West and stimulated underground warfare by militant Zionist units against British forces, Britain eventually placed the problem in the hands of the United Nations, which in 1947 voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab States. As the pilgrims have now completed much of the hajj, Muslim men now clip their hair or shave their heads and women clip a symbolic lock to mark partial deconsecration. On the death of Mahmud, his sons continued his efforts with a series of reforms called the tanzimat. Forty-five years later, they are expected to make up more than three-in-ten of the world's people . So renowned were Ottoman calligraphers, in fact, that a popular saying was that "The Quran was revealed in Mecca, recited in Egypt, and written in Istanbul." Men fought for their religion, the prospect of booty and because their friends and fellow tribesmen were also doing it. Islam has helped to shape the culture from the language, to customs, to business, to institution building, to the construction of political arrangements. Muslims believe that their sacred text, the Quran, is the absolute word of God as it was revealed to the prophet Muhammad. Science section features not just Science but also Nature and Technology. Where the Muslim religion went, the Arabic language and Arabic writing also went. 'Umar adopted this attitude in administrative matters as well. The intensified spreading of Islam due to the arrival of Aabs and Somalis, and intermarriages with the local people resulted into the Swahili people and Swahili culture. Again, however, the effects were temporary and the empire continued to lose territory through rebellion or foreign intervention. It was such a series of steps that ended with France occupying Tunisia in 1881 and Britain taking control of Egypt in 1882. At the same time Muhammad won the allegiance of 'Amr ibn al-'As, the future conqueror of Egypt, and Khalid ibn al-Walid, the future "Sword of God," both of whom embraced Islam and joined Muhammad. But if you see, a red iconlike this (), it means you are NOT logged in. The Ghaznavids patronized al-Biruni, one of the greatest and most original scholars of medival Islam, and the Hamdanids, a purely Arab dynasty, patronized such poets as al-Mutanabbi and philosophers like the great al-Farabi, whose work kept the flame of Arab culture alive in a difficult period. The second caliph, 'Umar- appointed by Abu Bakr in a written testament - continued to demonstrate that viability. Faith is where the tenets, pillars and spiruality related content is found. As the early scholars in the Islamic world agreed with Aristotle that mathematics was the basis of all science, the scholars of the House of Wisdom first focused on mathematics. The famous theologian al-Ghazali whose greatest work, the Revival of the Sciences of Religion, was a triumph of Sunni theology taught for a time at the nizamiyah schools at Baghdad and at Nishapur. I am from the Middle East myself. Naskhi, the rounded script, remained in use and from it most of the many later styles of Arabic calligraphy have been developed. We created it for only one thing in mind; to create a peaceful corner that features just inspiring and uplifting material, focused around Universal Values to be reflect upon -- at a time never needed more desperately than now. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Later, he consolidated the support of the tribes within the Arabian Peninsula and subsequently funnelled their energies against the powerful empires of the East: the Sassanians in Persia and the Byzantines in Syria, Palestine, and Egypt. In 2015, Muslims made up 24.1% of the global population. The scholars at Bayt al-Hikmah also contributed to geometry, a study recommended by Ibn Khaldun, the great North African historian, because "it enlightens the intelligence of the man who cultivates it and gives him the habit of thinking exactly." These methods carefully preserved the elaborate science of reciting the Quran - with all its intonations and its cadence and punctuation. The Constitution of Medina - under which the clans accepting Muhammad as the Prophet of God formed an alliance, or federation - dates from this period. Writers of this period also studied tribal traditions and wrote the first systematic Arabic grammars. Like the Umayyads who preceded him, 'Abd al-Malik was forced to devote a substantial part of his reign to political problems. In a very real sense the Quran is the mentor of millions of Muslims, Arab and non-Arab alike; it shapes their everyday life, anchors them to a unique system of law, and inspires them by its guiding principles. The impact of World War I is still evident today. At 'Arafat many actually do stand - from just after noon to just before sunset - but some also visit other pilgrims or the Mount of Mercy, where Muhammad delivered his farewell sermon. No description, however, can fully capture the overwhelming importance of the Quran to Muslims. Although a member of the Umayyad family, 'Umar had been born and raised in Medina, where his early contact with devout men had given him a concern for spiritual as well as political values. The Umayyads, however, did manage to achieve a degree of stability, particularly after 'Abd al-Malik ibn Marwan succeeded to the caliphate in 685. They recaptured Aleppo and besieged Edessa, thus bringing on the unsuccessful Second Crusade. Every other Friday, we try to feature a new theme which will uplift our spirituality. Influences on Islamic medicine. There they faced a young man called Salah al-Din (Saladin) who had founded still another new dynasty, the Ayyubids, and who was destined to blunt the thrust of the Crusaders' attack. Ironically, they also put an end to the centuries-old rivalry between the Arabs and Byzantines. Photo: The Mopti Mosque in the West African Republic of Mali. Within a century, Muslims had conquered most of the Middle East and parts of Spain, and had created a unified economic sphere. The early state began in Medina and gradually gained Mecca, Hunayn, Tabouk, and a large majority of the populated regions of the Arabian Peninsula. This material became the basis for what is called the sunnah, or "practice" of the Prophet - the deeds, utterances, and taqrir (unspoken approval) of Muhammad. Although such internal conflict was by no means uncommon- the Christian kingdoms also warred incessantly among themselves- it did divert Muslim strength at a time when the Christians were beginning to negotiate strong alliances, form powerful armies, and launch the campaigns that would later bring an end to Arab rule. Muhammad's father, 'Abd Allah ibn'Abd al-Muttalib, died before the boy was born; his mother, Aminah, died when he was six. His death is still commemorated every year during the Islamic month of Muharram. The men most responsible for encouraging the study of geometry were the sons of Musa ibn Shakir, al-Mamurl's court astronomer. Muslim traders, consequently, established trading posts as far away as India, the Philippines, Malaya, the East Indies, and China. Great information for Muslims I really enjoyed reading your blog because I want to get knowledge about Islam. The social and economic impact was, as in Europe, enormous.The Muslim historian Ibn Khaldun (1332 - 1406) lived through the plague but lost his parents. It is the essence of Islam. Because there was considerable interest in new varieties - for nutritive and medicinal purposes - many new plants were introduced: sorghum, for example, which had recently been discovered in Africa. In addition, all Muslims are encouraged to make voluntary contributions to the needy called sadaqah. Worse than that, . The conflict over Palestine actually goes back to 1896, when Theodor Herzl published a pamphlet called Der Judenstaat ("The Jewish State"), in which he advocated British-backed Jewish colonization in Argentina or Palestine - with the hope of eventually creating a sovereign Jewish state. The Quran nowhere prohibits the representation of humans or animals in drawings, or paintings, but as Islam expanded in its early years it inherited some of the prejudices against visual art of this kind that had already taken root in the Middle East. But their opponents also had firm ideological commitments and there is no reason to assume that individuals were likely to be any less brave. With the advent of the Umayyads, how ever, secular concerns and the problems inherent in the administration of what, by then, was a large empire began to dominate the attention of the caliphs, often at the expense of religious concerns - a development that disturbed many devout Muslims. Hugh Kennedy, The Armies of the Caliphs: Military and Society in the Early Islamic State, 2001. Dutch, French, English, and Portuguese merchants first arrived in the late fifteenth century, attracted by the wealth that could be acquired in exporting luxury items to the European market, and encouraged by the Mughal and Safavid governments, which desired trade partners to stimulate the . Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Photo: Sixteenth century Sultan Selim Mosque at Edirne is the apogee of Ottoman Turkish architecture, soaring space enclosed with a massive dome. Thereunto we give them the pact of Allah and the protection of His Prophet, the caliphs and the believers. Militarily formidable, they were also the first power to defeat the Mongols in open combat when, in 1260, the Mongols moved against Palestine and Egypt. Followers of Islam joined together against European invaders to defend their way life. The Mamluks had been recruited by the Ayyubids and then, like the Turkish mercenaries of the 'Abbasid caliphs, had usurped power from their enfeebled masters. Instead, there is the ummah - the community of the believers - whose cohesion is guaranteed by the sacred law. At last, therefore, Muhammad sent seventy of his followers off to the northern town of Yathrib, which was later to be renamed Medina ("The City"). But as more revelations enjoined him to proclaim the oneness of God universally, his following grew, at first among the poor and the slaves, but later also among the most prominent men of Mecca. And if it was a new and upstart faith, its administration by simple and honest men was preferable to the corruption and persecution that were the norm in more civilized empires George F. Nafziger, Mark W. Walton, Islam at War: A History, 2003. Temporary reforms under various sultans, and the still formidable, if weakened, military prowess of the Ottomans helped maintain their empire. Sometime later Muhammad married Khadijah, by whom he had two sons - who did not survive - and four daughters. Have a blessed Ramadan! It was under the 'Abbasids, however, that calligraphy first began to be systematized. And while Sunnis consider the caliph a guardian of the shari'ah, the religious law, the Shi'is see the imam as a trustee inheriting and interpreting the Prophet's spiritual knowledge. The major exception to this arrangement is the opening surah, "al-Fatihah," which contains seven verses and which serves as an introduction to the entire revelation: In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate. Tamerlane died on his way to conquer China, and his empire melted away. The shift in power to Damascus, the Umayyad capital city, was to have profound effects on the development of Islamic history. The use of Arabic script has therefore tended to develop in the direction of calligraphy and the development of artistically pleasing forms of hand lettering, while in the West the trend has been toward printing and the development of ornamental and sometimes elaborate type faces. When, for example, al-Mansur died in 775 after a reign of twenty years, his son, al-Mahdi, inherited a full treasury and an empire that was more devoted to trade than war. So long as they pay the poll tax, nothing but good shall befall them. From Iraq the Mongols pressed forward into Syria and then toward Egypt where, for the first time, they faced adversaries who refused to quail before their vaunted power. Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. Although it led to an improvement in Egyptian-Israeli relations which resulted in Israeli evacuation of some occupied Egyptian territory and the opening of the Suez Canal to Israeli ships, however, this separate peace treaty did nothing to bring about withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from East Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Golan Heights of Syria and left untouched the root cause of the entire problem- that is, the status of the Palestinians. Photo: The diwani script (top) and the so called "royal" diwani (below) were developed by Ottoman calligraphers for use on state documents. The Ottoman Empire reached its peak in size and splendor under the sultan called Suleiman the Magnificent, who ruled from 1520 to 1566 and was known to the Turks as Suleiman the Law-Giver. The Ottoman Turks have conquered and maintain effective control over diverse peoples in a vast empire stretching from Persia almost to the gates of Vienna and along the north coast of Africa to Algiers. By the twelfth century kufic was obsolete as a working script except for special uses and in northwest Africa, where it developed into the maghribi style of writing still used in the area today. At Mina too, begins 'Id al-Adha, the great worldwide Feast of Sacrifice during which the pilgrims sacrifice animals - partly to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son and partly to symbolize a Muslim's willingness to sacrifice what is dearest to him. Photo: Founded in 970, the mosque of al-Azhar in Cairo is one of the earliest and finest examples of the Egyptian style in Islamic architecture. Slumber seizes Him not, neither sleep; As Abu Bakr put it: "Whoever worshipped Muhammad, let him know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.". The earliest inscription that has been found that is identifiably Arabic is one in Sinai that dates from about A.D. 300. Does one religion have the monopoly on truth? Photo: The ruq'ah script is used for headlines and titles and is the everyday written script of most of the Arab world. Passages of impassioned beauty are no less common than vigorous narratives. Keep it up. This tax is often levied and disbursed by the state, but in the absence of a government collecting system it must be disbursed by the taxable Muslims themselves. With the approval of the Byzantine emperor, he dispatched scholars to select and bring back to Baghdad Greek scientific manuscripts for translation into Arabic at Bayt al-Hikmah, "the House of Wisdom.". The last ten days of Ramadan are particularly sacred because they include the anniversary of the night on which Muhammad received his first revelation from God - "the Night of Power" - and the appearance, on the final day, of the thin edge of the new moon announcing the end of Ramadan. By the tenth century, Cordoba could boast of a population of some 500,000, compared to about 38,000 in Paris. One of the Umayyad caliphs who attained greatness was 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz, a man very different from his predecessors. Although rigorous, however, the fast, by Quranic injunction, also admits of a warm compassion. The belief in the unity of God was paramount in Islam; from this all else followed. The text of the Quran was delivered orally by the Prophet Muhammad to his followers as it was revealed to him. The three most influential monotheistic religions in world history are Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, all of which began in the Middle East. Photo: Facing al-Gharbiyah, the western minaret, a muezzin at the Umayyad Mosque calls believers to prayer. Muslim Heritage - were Muslim rulers to blame for the decline? The languages of Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan are all written in the Arabic alphabet, as was the language of Turkey until some fifty years ago. Turkish tribes, driven from their homeland in the steppes of Central Asia by the Mongols, had embraced Islam and settled in Anatolia on the battle lines of the Islamic world, where they formed the Ottoman confederation. The preserving of them wearies Him not; The creation of the office of the vizier was only one of the innovations the 'Abbasids brought to statecraft. The first battle, which took place near Badr, now a small town southwest of Medina, had several important effects. The religious leader, in turn, was responsible to the sultan or his representatives for such details as the payment of taxes. But in Mecca the persecution worsened. To the west, they took North Africa, in a continuation of the campaign led by 'Uqbah ibn Nafi' who founded the city of Kairouan - in what is now Tunisia - and from there rode all the way to the shores of the Atlantic Ocean. Marwan ibn Muhammad, the last Umayyad caliph, was defeated and the Syrians, still loyal to the Umayyads, were put to rout. Assembling an army of three thousand men, they met the Muslims at Uhud, a ridge outside Medina. The fifth pillar of Islam is the pilgrimage to Mecca - the hajj. The traditional cloths were wool and linen - the latter an Egyptian specialty since ancient times - but cotton, which was introduced into upper Iraq about the time of the Prophet, later spread with Islam around the Mediterranean, to Syria, North Africa, Spain, Sicily, Cyprus, and Crete. This is not to say that religious values were ignored; on the contrary, they grew in strength for centuries. Eventually the United Nations negotiated a truce, but fighting became endemic and war broke out again in 1956, 1967, and 1973. After an initial success the Muslims were driven back and the Prophet himself was wounded. In the ninth century the Caliph al-Mamun, son of the famous Harun al-Rashid, began to tap that invaluable source. The Mongols were raiders, clan warriors, and rulers of a transcontinental empire in the thirteen century. The 'Abbasids, therefore, were forced to develop extensive and complicated patterns of trade. As is well known, the Arabs made no attempt to impose their faith on their new subjects, and at first in fact discouraged conversions on the part of non-Arabs. Arabia before the Muslim Conquests. Photo: The most impossing of the many fortresses built by the crusaders, the elegant krak des Chevailers in Syria held out against the Muslims for over a century and a half. The fourth pillar is fasting during Ramadan, the ninth month of the Muslim year. The main body of the Shi'is, on the other hand, believes that the caliphate - which they call the imamate or "leadership" - is nonelective. Islam has had a profound global impact since it was founded in the seventh century. As the Arab chronicles put it, Harun al-Rashid ruled when the world was young, a felicitous description of what in later times has come to be called the Golden Age of Islam. Ibn al-Haytham, for example, wrote The Book of Optics, in which he gives a detailed treatment of the anatomy of the eye, correctly deducing that the eye receives light from the object perceived and laying the foundation for modern photography. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia, and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. Another was the development of the Umayyad postal system into an efficient intelligence service; postmasters in outlying provinces were the eyes and ears of the government and regular reports were filed with the central government on everything from the state of the harvest to the doings of dissident sects. Secondly, the discipline displayed by the Muslims brought home to the Meccans, perhaps for the first time, the abilities of the man they had driven from their city. Finally, Muhammad recited the words of what are now the first five verses of the 96th surah or chapter of the Quran - words which proclaim God the Creator of man and the Source of all knowledge. The contents of the Quran differ in substance and arrangement from the Old and New Testaments. This new way of writing numbers was economical but not flawless. In the next decades, raiding parties continually made forays into France and in 732 reached as far as the Loire Valley, only 170 miles from Paris. document.write ('