ARABIC/ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION

History/Background
Arabia – land of Arabs
- Rocky peninsula in Southwestern Asia
- Red sea separates its western coastline from Egypt
- Arabian Sea surrounds its Southwestern shores
Barren soil & parse rainfall – It’s why its unsuited to agriculture, making irrigation & land reclamation
projects areas that leads the earliest inhabitants emigrated to north from as early as 3000 BC
Babylonians & Assyrians – descended from Arab immigrants
Jews – descendants of early immigrants from Arabia to Mesopotamia
Rise and fall of the Babylonian and Assyrian empires eventually left Arabia divided into separated states
and kingdoms relatively untouched by the outside world until the Macedonian Greek ALEXANDER the
Great planned but failed to invade, unite and include Arabia in is great empire.
Alexander the Great - was an ancient Macedonian ruler & one’s of history’s greatest military minds who
established the largest empire the ancient world has ever seen
106 AD - Arabia was conquered and turned into a Roman province, as romans expanded their empire to
Asia.
400 AD – Roman power declined in West
- Byzantine Empire continued its reign in the East
- Arabian cities prospered by exploiting their strategic location as trade routes and commercial
centers
Mecca – trade center in Western Asia
- Birthplace of Muhammad w/c is the founder of Islam
- Is the site of Muhammad’s first revelation of Quran
- Is regarded as the holiest city in the religion of Islam and a pilgrimage to it known as Hajj is
obligatory for all able Muslims
MUHAMMAD – According to Islamic doctrine, he was a prophet and God’s messenger
- Viewed as the final prophet of God in all the main branches of Islam

Evidences of Science and Technology During Arabic Civilization

400’s A.D. - Muslim Arabs in the Middle East preserved the works of Galen and Ptolemy
700’s A.D. - Arabs rapidly advanced from their original homeland to become the principal powers
throughout Mediterranean regions and Asia.
 - They made prosperous trade relations and brought their Arabic culture and Islamic religion
wherever they went.
Mid 8th to Mid 11th Century - marked by profound economic and cultural expansion which provided a
strong base of Islam and Arabic culture.
ASTRONOMY
- First learned from Hindu Sanskrit Texts
- They developed the ASTROLABE from the Persians, a device used to determine prayer times
MATHEMATICS - 830 A.D.
MUHAMMAD ibn-MUSA al-KHWARAZMI - published the ff. documents which are translated in
Latin during 1200’s A.D.:
1. Arithmetic - served as Western scholars’ introduction to Arabic system of numbers,
although it was Hindu in origin.
2. Algebra - became a widely used textbook in Western Europe until 1600’s A.D.
- Arabs mathematical system that made astronomical calculations possible are based on their
synthesis of Greek Mathematics and Indian notations.
- Arabs also adopted the Indian system of number and decimal numeral system.
MEDICINE
Ibn SINA or AVICENNA (980-1037 A.D.)
- Persian physician and philosopher who wrote and published THE CANON OF MEDICINE,
which was used as basis for Arab medical research and also served as the main source of
information about science in the European universities from 12th to 17th centuries.
CHEMISTRY
- The Arabs interest in pseudoscience of alchemy encouraged them to mix and manipulate
chemical elements and conduct experiments and transform base metals into gold.
TECHNOLOGY
- Muslim Arabs are the first to use glass lens for magnification.
- Arabs are the first to manufacture black powder
- In 1304 A.D., they developed the first gun- a bamboo tube reinforced with iron that used a charge
of black powder to shoot an arrow.
- Other technological innovations they acquire that were originally Chinese inventions are:
1. magnetic compass
2. paper making
3. printing press