Unit: The Rise and Spread of Islam
Lesson Title: The Cultural Achievements of Muslims (See textbook pages 94-98)
Muslims over the centuries made important advances in science, literature, and art. They did so because of 3 key reasons: Their deep involvement in trade and conquests brought them into contact with many cultures. They had a common language, Arabic the language of the Qur an that enabled them to share ideas in different parts of the world. They blended cultures took ideas from different peoples and combined them to form new and better ideas.
Left Side Notebook Activity Create and complete this chart as you learn about the cultural achievements of Muslims from the slides and your reading. List one important achievement for each category. Category Astronomy Achievement Geography Math Medicine Philosophy
Many Muslim cities had observatories places to study astronomy: the moon, planets, and stars. Muslim scientists used astronomy to improve their understanding of time and to make good calendars. Muslim scientists also improved the astrolabe a device invented by the Greeks to chart the position of stars. Muslim scholars used the astrolabe to figure out their location on earth and determine direction (especially to know the direction of Mecca). astrolabe What is the modern counterpart of the astrolabe?
Muslims use of astronomy to determine time and location helped them to explore the world. Because they traveled so much as merchants, Muslims became good geographers and improved the accuracy of maps and determining distances between places. 12 th century Arab map
An example is Ibn Battuta, a Muslim merchant and an explorer.
He travelled to Africa,
India, Central Asia, China,
and Spain during the 1320 s. Look at how many places he saw!
He is important because his memories of his journey were written down describing places and people he saw in the Muslim world.
Muslim scholars also improved mathematics. In the 800s they combined the Indian (Hindu) number system, including the use of zero, with the Greek science of mathematics to start the study of algebra. The Europeans were using the Roman numbers I,II,III,IV,V, VI,VII, VIII, IX, X until Muslims brought them Arabic-Indian numbers: 0,1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10. Which numbers would you rather work with?
Muslims made very important advances in medicine. They learned medicine from the Greeks and Indians and then made their own medical discoveries. In the 800s, Muslim doctors: made encyclopedias of drugs and their effects on people; recorded descriptions of diseases; started the first pharmacy school.
The Muslims advanced philosophy. Muslims scholars studied the philosophy of the Greeks (Plato and Aristotle) and also scholarly works from India, Persia, and China. The Muslims preserved these and other works in libraries and worked with them, while the Europeans entered the Dark Ages where scholarship mostly stopped. Muslim philosophers led by Avicenna used reason and logic to try to prove important truths and religious beliefs. Their thinking influenced European philosophers. Avicenna
In class reading assignment: Read Literature and Arts on pages 97-98. Add these rows to the chart and complete them: Category Literature Achievement Architecture Art
Muslim artists created beautiful paintings and Muslim writers wrote exciting adventures and beautiful poems.
A story is told that Chinese prisoners taken during a battle by a Muslim army in 751 taught the Arabs how to make paper. Later, the famous city of Baghdad had an entire section of the city making and selling paper. Because paper became so cheap, schools were created and many books were published. Arabs then passed it on to Europeans!
Right Side Notebook Activity You work for an ad agency and want to promote amazing Islamic advancements. Choose one of the Muslim advancements and create an advertisement promoting it. Focus on how this advancement improves peoples lives. Include: 1. Name and description of advancement. 2. Explain what it did to improve people s lives. 3. Drawing of the advancement.
Arabian merchants helped spread the language of Arabic, the religion of Islam and new technology into parts of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Muslim scholars (people who study) made important discoveries in science, medicine, and
What was a main reason Muslims were able to share their knowledge throughout the Muslim world? 1. They all spoke different languages. 2. They all came from Cordoba. 3. They all understood Arabic. 4. The only knowledge they shared was mathematics.
In the 700 s A.D., Arabian merchants played an important role in 1. Spreading new technology to Asia, Africa, and Europe 2. Converting large numbers of Western Europeans to Islam 3. Uniting most of Asia and Europe under a single religion 4. Stopping invasions of nomadic people from Central Asia
Muslim mathematicians (students of math) began the study of which of these? 1. Calligraphy 2. Medical encyclopedias 3. Sufism 4. Algebra
How was paper introduced to Europe? 1. The Chinese taught the Arabs, who passed it on to Europeans 2. Swedes bought it from Russians, who learned about it from Indians 3. Turks learned to make it and sold it to Europeans 4. Arabs learned about paper making from the Japanese, and then taught Europeans