Contributions of Islamic Empire

1. Contributions of
the Islamic
Empire

2. Architecture
 The most important
contribution is the
mosque
 Mosques are the
center of the
worship
 Many were
converted
Christian churches

3. Calligraphy
 Greek for “beautiful
writing”
 Considered the highest
form of Art
 Believed that Allah used
the Arabic language to
recite the Qur’an to
Muhammad
 Calligraphy adorned
architecture, art, coins, jew
elry, textiles, weapons, tools
, paintings, and manuscrips

4. Painting
 Discouraged use of
pictorial images
 Opted for
calligraphy and
geometric shapes
 If used pictures they
were secular (non-
religious)
 Example- human
body in a medical
book

5. Carpet
 Carpet weaving
was unique and
artistic
 Highly valued in
the West
 Introduced by
Italian merchants

6. Medicine
 Pioneered practice of
diagnosis, cure, and
future prevention
 First hospital in Islamic
world was in Damascus
in 707
 Hygiene was
emphasized
 Open 24 hours a day
 Al Razi diagnosed
chickenpox

7. Strides in Medicine
 Treatments for
smallpox and
measles
 Observations made
in hay fever, kidney
stones, and scabies
 First to use opium as
an anesthetic
 Discovered
tuberculosis

8. Astronomy
 Muslim calendar was
based on lunar
calendar
 Wanted to predict the
arrival of the new moon
to mark a month
 Map the coordinates of
the stars
 Estimated the Earth’s
atmosphere within 2 km
 Astrolabe invented
which was used until
telescope

9. Mathematics
 Introduced algebra
 Arabic numerals were
introduced to Eurpe
 Algorithms
 Developed
trigonometry
 First to use concept of
sines and cotangents
 Developed early form
of calculus

10. Philosophy
 Argument over philosophy and theology
 Arguments over faith versus reason

11. Sources of Images used
 Architecture  Art
 http://www.fotocom  http://www.fotopedi
munity.com/pc/pc/ a.com/items/flickr-
display/19156061 3802478172
 Calligraphy
 Carpet
 http://www.fotopedi
a.com/items/flickr-  http://www.nga.gov
3296333267 /exhibitions/2004/art
 Atrolabe exchange/artexcha
 www.muslimmuseum nge_ss.htm
.org  Medicine
 Med.wayne.edu