An age of learning and artistic refinements

1. An age of learning and artistic refinements

2. Professions/Trade • Despite the declining revenue base of the caliphate and deteriorating conditions in the country side, there was a great expansion of the professional classes • especially in doctors, scholars, merchants, and legal and religious experts • - Muslim, Jewish, and some Christian merchants became rich selling cities within the Abbasid empire with staple foods and materials like cotton and wool for making clothes. They also distributed luxury items like precious gems, citrus fruit, and sugar cane. • - The growth and expansion of the Abbasid, due to their conquests, revived the old trade routes that linked the east and west. • Long distance trade flourished • -Middle East- Mediterranean and Europe • -Coastal India- Islands of southeast Asia • -overland caravans trade with China from the Middle East and Europe.

3. Abbasid empire

4. Architecture • Muslim engineers and architects created some of the greatest architectural structures in the world. • As the empire grew, Mosques and palaces grew larger and more ornate by received a greater amount of government funds for their building plans. • - especially since the new caliphates would often create a new city and palace close the capitol when they rose to power, trying to avoid assassination by the mercenary forces.

5. Malwiya Minaret- Iraq

6. Malwiya Minaret- Iraq After american skirmish with insurgents

7. Arts • Apart from amazing structures, Muslim artisans produced • very fine bronze statues and products • Superb ceramics • poetry • Muslim/Persian rugs were the finest in the world and were very sought after in Europe and Asia.

8. Abbasid palace- Baghdad

10. Persian customs • As the Abbasid Empire took over the old Persian territories and learned from the Persian empire • Persian wives, concubines, advisors, bureaucrats, and after the mid 10th century- Persian caliphs came to play an important part of imperial politics.

11. Language • Arabic- considered language of religion, law, and natural sciences. • Persian language gradually replaced Arabic at the Abbasid courts. • Persian- favored by arabs, turks, and muslims of Persian descent. • considered to be language of: • - literary expression , administration and scholarship • -High culture, polite exchange, history, poetic musing, and mystical revelations.

12. Sciences • Muslim and Jewish scholars preserved and compiled the learning of ancient civilizations the Abbasids conquered • Muslim mathematicians: • - made corrections to the algebraic and geometric theories of the Greeks • Advances in the basic trig. Functions of sine, cosine, and tangent. • Chemistry: • - creation of the objective experiment and Al- Razi’s scheme of classifying material substances into 3 classes: animal, vegetable, and mineral • -11th century- Al- Biruni calculated the specific weight of 18 major minerals

13. Science cont. • Astronomy: • -Cooperation between Muslim scholars and artisans yielded astronomic tables and star maps that were in great demand by all • Medicine: • -Doctors and pharmacists had to follow a regular study course and pass a formal examination • Important works on optics and bladder ailments • Muslim scholars made some of the best maps, that were copied from Portugal to Poland • Through trade Muslims obtained: • papermaking, silk weaving, and ceramic firing

14. Religion • New resurgence of mysticism • Ulama: • grew hostile to foreign ideas which they associated with the violent crusading countries of Europe • Along with scholars believed that the questioning from Greek thinking would would undermine the Quran. • Theologians like Al- Ghazali struggled to combine Greek and Muslim teachings but, they were rejected by the orthodox leaders. • Sufis movement: • - wandering mystics who sought a personal connection with allah • Tried to see beyond what they called illusory existence of everyday life and to feel the presence of allah in the world • -some gained reputations as healers and workers of miracles • -some led military actions against none- believers in an attempt to spread Islam • -some used body denial to get close to allah, including using: meditation, drugs, songs, or ecstatic dancing • Most gained a large following

15. The End of Baghdad and the Caliphate • In early 13th century, mongols led by Chinggis Khan raided in the 1220s • 1250s- Chinggis Khan’s grandson, Hulegu renewed Mongol assualts on the Abbasid empire after Ghinggis Khan’s death • 1258- Baghdad was taken by Mongol forces and sacked • The 37th and final caliph was put to death by Hulegu • Baghdad never recovered from the sacking • The Mongol forces were defeated by the mamluks in Egypt • In 1401- Baghdad was captured again and sacked by Tamerlane forces • Baghdad was gradually supplanted by Cairo and Istanbul