abbasid golden age -...
TRANSCRIPT
Art &Architecture Since the worship of idols is seen as the greatest sin in Islam, many Muslim religious leaders declared it impermissible to
depict animate objects, such as people or animals, in religious art. Especially
prohibited were depictions of God or of the prophets. For this reason, Muslim art mostly consisted of elaborate
geometric and floral patterns, as well as calligraphy.
Calligraphy is the art of beautiful handwriting,
and it was used by Muslim artists to beautify copies of the Quran, to decorate the insides and outsides of mosques, and as art in its own right, often using verses from the Quran. Because the Arabic script is highly flexible, skilled artists could shape the letters into almost any form.
Mosque architecture also developed during this period, and two features became common to many mosques. Borrowed from the Byzantines, the dome became symbolic of Islamic design. Its most famous use is in the Dome of the Rock, a mosque built on the former site of the Jewish Temple in Jerusalem, from which Muslims believe Muhammad ascended into heaven to learn the daily prayers from God. Minarets, tall towers built on the sides of mosques, were used for the Azan, or call to prayer. Callers, or muazzins, would go to the top of these towers five times a day to melodically recite the call.
Dome of the Rock Western Wall (Last Remains of the Jewish Temple)
POETRY Even before Islam, oral poetry was the highest form of art to the Arabs. In melodic verses, poets chanted the dangers of desert journeys, the joys of battle, the glories of their tribal clans, or the nobility of nomadic life. After the arrival of Islam, religion became as popular a topic as any. Rabia al Basri (715-‐801 CE) was an Arab poet from Basra, Iraq who lived during the Abbasid period. Her poetry reflects her religious devotion and Sufi influence. Poetry remained important even after the Abbasid period. Centuries later, the Persian poet Jalaluddin Rumi (1207-‐1273 CE) would become one of the most famous Muslim poets of all time.
If I Adore You If I adore You out of fear of Hell, burn me in Hell! If I adore you out of desire for Paradise, Lock me out of Paradise. But if I adore you for Yourself alone, Do not deny to me Your eternal beauty. —Rabia al Basri
The Body is Too Slow for Me Toward the gardens, Toward the orchards, I am going. If you want to stay here, Stay here - I am going! My day is dark without His Face, Toward that bright flame I am going.
My soul is racing ahead of me. It says, The body is too slow for me - I am going. The smell of apples arises from the orchard of my soul. One whiff and I am gone - Toward a feast of apples I am going… — Jalaluddin Rumi
MEdicine One of the most original medical thinkers was Muhammad ibn Zakaria Al-‐Razi, head physician at Baghdad’s chief hospital. Al-‐Razi wrote many books on medicine, such as Al-‐Judari wa al-‐Hasbah (On Smallpox and Measles), which was the first book to describe smallpox and measles as different diseases. It was translated more than a dozen times into Latin and other European languages. In the book, he explains the symptoms:
“The eruption of smallpox is preceded by a continued fever, pain in the back, itching in the nose and nightmares during sleep. These are the more acute symptoms of its approach together with a noticeable pain in the back accompanied by fever and an itching felt by the patient all over his body. A swelling of the face appears, which comes and goes, and one notices an overall inflammatory color noticeable as a strong redness on both cheeks and around both eyes. One experiences a heaviness of the whole body and great restlessness, which expresses itself as a lot of stretching and yawning. There is a pain in the throat and chest and one finds it difficult to breathe and cough. Additional symptoms are: dryness of breath, thick spittle, hoarseness of the voice, pain and heaviness of the head, restlessness, nausea and anxiety.”
He also wrote the following on medical ethics:
"The doctor's aim is to do good, even to our enemies, so much more to our friends, and my profession forbids us to do harm to our kindred, as it is instituted for the benefit and welfare of the human race, and God imposed on physicians the oath not to compose deadly remedies."
Depiction of a procedure developed by Muslim surgeons to treat cataracts, which causes blindness. A hollow needle was inserted into the lens to draw out the fluid, restoring sight.