Wednesday, Nov. 14

Today we continued to take notes on Islam.

Artwork and Architecture-

Calligraphy-
Means “beauty” and it’s a type of visual art related to writing. Ex. Paper crafting.
Arabesque- A form of artistic decoration consisting of surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and geometric figures. Ex. Tiles

Math Use-
Most important contribution is the finding of algebra by Islamic Mathematicians.
Muhammad is called the “father of algebra”.
Improved Roman numerals.
Muslims skill in math led to advancements in many other fields- astronomy, cartography, engineering, commerce, and art.

Dome of the Rock-
Located in Jerusalem.
Took from 692-695.
The rock in the center of the dome is believed by Muslims, spot from which Muhammad ascended through the heavens to God accompanied by the angel Gabriel.
Plan of the Dome of the Rock writes that those who built the mosque made use of the measurements of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

Al-Masjid al-Haram-
Became a famous Islamic shrine.
Capable of accommodating thousands of Muslims that perform hajj.
Hajj- one of the largest pilgrimages in the world.
Never been empty of visitors.
Uniqueness- the Muslims will not feel the heat on the soles of the feet as it travels around the Ka’ba barefoot.
Makes the Muslims feel greatness and the majesty of God.
Located in the city of Mecca.
Surrounded by several hills.
Known for-
Place of worship, establishment of harmony, order, peace of God’s universe, defined as a house of worship for Muslims around the world.

Trade-

Routes-
Under the Abbasids, they created a trading route.
They helped to spread religion, Islamic culture, and technology.
The routes went across North Africa and the Middle East, into Spain, West Africa, and eventually India and China.
India and China through the Silk Roads.

Specific Countries/Areas-
India, China, Byzatine, Arabia, Northwest Africa, Egypt, Black Sea, Southwest Persia.

Banking System-
Their banking system was pretty complex with check that could be cashed in another country.
For their currency they often used fine fabrics made of cotton, wool, linen, silk.

Sakk-
A sakk is a form of check that traders in the Middle east used to pay for their items.
The sakk could be cashed in another country.
The sakk was created in the 9^th century.
The sakk was their major currency.
It was made to transfer money more securely.

Math and Science-

Muhammad ibn Musa-Al Khwarizmi-
Muslim mathmetician and astronomer.
Introduced Hindu-Arabic numberals.
Concepts of Algebra and Algorithms.
Worked at the “House of Wisdom” translated scientific treaties and published own research.

Ibn Al-Hajthan-
Alhazen was a Muslim scientists and polymath.
Called Ibn al-Hajthan after his birthplace.
Either Persian or Arab.
He contributed to the principles of optics, physics, astronomy, math, and scientific method, ect.
Very overconfident about his knowledge, he assumed he could regulate floods of Nile.
When he was ordered to carry out his plan, he realized it was impossible and retired from engineering.
After that, he feared for his life so he went mad.
Placed under house arrest after that.
Devoted his life to scientific work until he died.

Optics-
Alhazen studied the structure of the eye and correctly described the process of vision.
His book contains the oldest existing diagram illustrating the eye and its connection to the central nervous system.
The parts of the eye that he labeled are still used today.
Studied light refraction.

Astronomy-
Ptolemy’s model of the earth-centered universe formed the basis of Islamic Astronomy.
However, several Islamic astronomers made observations and calculations that were more accurate than Ptolemy’s.
Islamic astronomy was built on sciences of 2 great cultures the Greek and Indian.
The main reason for studying the sky was for timekeeping because in the Islamic religion requires 5 prayers at specific positions of the sun.
Another reason was to pinpoint religions festivals.
Galileo Galilei was an astronomer and created the telescope.
Galileo observed a series of transits of the sun.
Al-Khwarizmi was the inventor of algebra.
Galileo used Al-Khwarizmi’s ideas and found out the tilt of the earth’s axis is relative to the sun.

Literature-

The Book of One Thousand and One Nights-
Collection of West and South Asian stories and folk tales.
Collected over many centuries by various authors, translators, and scholars.
Known as the Arabian Nights in English.
Tales trace their roots back to ancient and medieval Arabic, Persian, Indian, Egyptian, and Mesopotamian folklore and literature.

King Shahyar-
Fictional Persian King.
King Shahyar was known for executing his wives the day after their wedding so they wouldn’t get the chance to be unfaithful like his first wife was.
His first wife had “relations” with a slave.
This was seen by Shah Zaman, Shahyar’s brother and the lovers were executed.
Betrayal of his wife made the king go mad and lead him to believe that all women would betray him.
Shocked by his wife’s betrayal, the king would amrry a virgin every night and would have her executed the next day.
Eventually the vizier, whose duty it is to provide them couldn’t find any more virgins.
Scheherazade, the vizier daughter, offered herself as the next bride and her father reluctantly agreed.
Original tales were framed as stories told by the young queen Scheherazade to the king each night to save her life.
Scheherazade would begin to tell the king a tale but she would not end it.
He would be curious to hear the ending so her execution would be postponed.
She would finish the tale the next night but would then start a new one so the knig was foecred to keep postponing her execution.
This went on for 1,001 nights.

Genres-
Historical tales, love stories, tragedies, comedies, poems, fairy tales, murder mystery, suspense thriller, horror fiction, crime fictions, fantasy and science fiction.

Shahnameh-
Long epic poem written by the Persian poet, Ferdowsi, between 977 and 1010 A.D.
National epic of Iran and related societies.
Consisted of about 60,000 verses.
Tells about the mythical and historical past of Iran from the creation of the world until the Islamic conquest of Persia in the 7^th century.
It’s of central importance in Persian culture and is regarded as a literary masterpiece.

Religion-

10^th Century-
Abbasid Caliphates rule in most of the Middle East-except Spain.
Spain ruled by Umayyads-previous dynasty.
In 961 A.D. the Umayyad Caliph, Abd-ar-Rahman III died in Spain.
By the end of the century global Muslim population was at 4% of the total population.

11^th Century-
Mahmud of Ghazni died in 1030.
The first crusade happens in 1095.
The crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099.
By the end of the 11^th century, Muslim population had spread to 5% throughout the world.

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