One of the first questions my professor had asked was, "What is the most important monument of the Arabs?"
I thought the answer was obvious. I put my hand up to answer with this:
Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs)
Before my hand was fully raised, the whole class sang in chorus, "The ka'aba!"
It makes sense now...
It makes sense now...
This class changed a lot of my views on the East (probably corrected), and showed me how little I really knew.
Here are some of the many interesting things that I've learned from this class:
During Europe's 'Dark Ages', where they were the most religious and scientifically behind, the East was flourishing because of their most religious time. They also made huge strides in scientific discoveries and medicine. Ibn al-Haytham introduced the idea of the camera, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote the first medical encyclopedia (and it went on to be a medical textbook in Europe for the next 600something years). The first hospitals were built, public baths were set up, and hygiene was emphasized. They had accepted Greek philosophy (Europe hadn't yet), and their translations and commentaries had traveled to Andalusia (Muslim Spain, modern Spain today). Through Muslim Spain, the works of the Greek philosophers were introduced to the rest of Europe. Essentially, this is how the European Renaissance was born.
Pretty neat stuff.
-Deena
Edit: Please read the comments for emphasis and further explanation.
Here are some of the many interesting things that I've learned from this class:
During Europe's 'Dark Ages', where they were the most religious and scientifically behind, the East was flourishing because of their most religious time. They also made huge strides in scientific discoveries and medicine. Ibn al-Haytham introduced the idea of the camera, Ibn Sina (Avicenna) wrote the first medical encyclopedia (and it went on to be a medical textbook in Europe for the next 600something years). The first hospitals were built, public baths were set up, and hygiene was emphasized. They had accepted Greek philosophy (Europe hadn't yet), and their translations and commentaries had traveled to Andalusia (Muslim Spain, modern Spain today). Through Muslim Spain, the works of the Greek philosophers were introduced to the rest of Europe. Essentially, this is how the European Renaissance was born.
Pretty neat stuff.
-Deena
Edit: Please read the comments for emphasis and further explanation.
3 comments:
That's interesting. People should know that the Arabs weren't such dumbasses. It just sucks that our generation are pieces o--- uh, not so bothered. Lets hope this revolution gets 'us' off of our asses.
I was really surprised (and glad) when I found out the camera was actually an Eastern invention.
Yes! The arab world has contributed a heck of a lot to the world which for some reason the west chooses not to acknowledge. It's really sad actually, the arabs deserve way more credit and appreciation!
The Arabs were far ahead of their European counterparts in virtually every respect. Even Islamic law at the time was far more modern than Frankish(the predominant European culture/empire after the fall of Rome)law and governance.
Most of our modern medical practices and philosophy stem from discoveries or rediscoveries made my Arab doctors. The ideas of modern hospitals and hygiene(something that took the west over a thousand years to catch up to the Arabs on) were early Arabic institutions.
Modern astronomy also has much to thank the Arabs for. Something like 3/4 of the stars in the sky actually have Arabic names because Arab astronomers were the first to discover, name and map them. Arab astronomers also used Ptolomy's(an early Roman astronomer)work to plot the phases of the sun and moon. Something western study wouldn't accomplish until the Renaissance.
The Dark Ages, truly only refers to European history as in the East science, mathematics, astronomy and many of the practices that would take more than 500 years to find rise in Europe, were being developed and implemented.
It took the Crusades and re-establishment of trade routes between east and west for these ideas to even reach Europe(though some did spread through the Spanish Moors).
Many scholars will actually point out that if the Arabs had been more united and had made an effort to conquer much of Western Europe the European Renaissance wouldn't have been necessary. But sadly, the Crusades, internal strife and the eventual conquest by the Mongol Empire left the Arab world divided and damaged.
Oh and Europe only escaped conquest by the Mongols because the Khan at the time died and all the Mongols returned to Mongolia for the funeral as was custom.
There's more such as the conquest and unification by the Ottoman Turks, the eventually division of the Arab world by the Western powers after WW1 and the rise of radical Islamic thinking slowing intellectual pursuits in Islamic countries. But really, the western world should really put more into studying Arabic and Muslim history because I had to take a history class in college AND find extra material outside the class room to learn this stuff. I learned none of it prior to that, which is very sad.
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