It is a fact of history - Wikispaces Rise and Spread of... · In the late 20th century and early...

SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED

Activity

1Changing Extent of theIslamic World

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It is a fact of history that societies and civilizations rise and fall due to variety of social, cultural, political, economic, military, environ-mental and health reasons. Wars, famines, floods, droughts, plagues, rivalries and disputes determine the life cycle of a society in predictable, and sometimes unpredictable, ways.

In this Activity Sheet we examine the way in which the Islamic world rose and fell, and learn about the countries and territories that were once occupied by Islamic people. The distribution of modern Islamic and Arab states is also examined.

FLOOD WAR FAMINE PLAGUE DROUGHT

The Islamic world was no exception. It rose rapidly after the death of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in the mid 7th century and reached its peak from the 9th to the 12th centuries. After that it began to decline.

From 1957 onwards various Islamic states acquired their independence. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, Islam is on the rise again.

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Ancient Rome (509 BCE – 476 CE)

Dark Age in Europe (4th century – 900 CE)

Renaissance in Europe (1400– 1600)

Islamic Golden Age (700 CE – 1300 )

CONFIDEN

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The beginning of Islam: At the time of the death of the Prophet Mohammed in 632 CE, Islamic territory was confined to that part of the Ara-bian Peninsula that is currently occupied by Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The territory covered within modern Saudi Arabia included the entire Red Sea coast in the west, including the areas surrounding Makkah (Mecca) and Medi-nah, and the interior, but not extending as far as the coast of the Arabian Gulf in the east.

The rise of Islam: By the end of the 9th century (899 CE), the Islamic Empire had extended to include the whole of the Arabian Peninsula (including modern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq) as well as other parts of the Middle East (Syria, Israel, Jordan and Iraq) and a major part of Asia Minor (Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and the western part of Kyrgyzstan and parts of southern Kazakhstan).

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It also included parts of North Africa (northern Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Eritrea and Djibouti, and the whole of Morocco). The Islamic Empire at this time also included the Mediterranean islands of Crete, Sicily, Sardinia and the Balearic Isles as well as most of Spain and southern Portugal.

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Contraction and further expansion of the Islamic world By 1500 the Islamic Empire had changed considerably. While Spain and south-ern Portugal, and the Mediterranean islands, had been lost, large parts of northern Africa were added, including present-day Western Sahara, Maurita-nia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, the northern parts of Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia, and a narrow strip of coastal lowlands in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and northern Madagascar.

In eastern Europe Islam had spread northwards to occupy modern-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Boznia, Herzegovina, Croatia and parts of Hungary and the Russian Federa-tion, and in Asia Minor it had spread eastwards into the whole of Kazakstan, all of India north of Hyderabad, Bangladesh, parts of Myanmar, a section of western China, and into the south-east Asian peninsula, including Malaysia, the eastern parts of Sumatra, and parts of northern Java and Borneo.

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? KNOWDID YOU ‘The Islamic world was composed

of numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with world class scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors, philosophers, writers and translators, all of whom contributed to the Golden Age of Islam.’


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Modern Islamic states: The distribution of modern Islamic and Arab states, and their dates of independence, is shown on the attached map. The first Islamic or Arab state to gain its independence was Egypt (1957).

? KNOWDID YOU Nearly one-fourth of the world’s popula-

tion today is Muslim. Over fifty countries have Muslim-majority populations.

Although Islam is often associated with the Arab world and the Middle East, fewer than 15% of Muslims are Arab.

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HANDS-ON DISCOVERYLet’s do an exercise to determine the territories occupied by Muslim people at different times

Instructions:STEP1

STEP2

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Make copies of the attached blank map of Europe, the Middle East, north Africa, Asia Minor and eastern Asia. This map shows the politi-cal boundaries and names of modern-day countries, and will help you to identify the territories occupied by Muslim people at differ-ent times, even though they called these territories by different names in times past.

Now color in the extent of the Islamic world during the different stages described above (before 632 CE, 633-899, 900-1500) on different maps. Use a different color for each stage. Label your different colored maps with the dates that are applicable to them.

Now compare the map that shows the Islamic world at its great-est extent (about 1200) with the map that shows the distribu-tion of modern Islamic and Arab states. How similar are the two distributions?


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Why nations rise and fall: It is well known that, for a variety of reasons, empires and nations rise and fall and never last for ever. What is less well known is that the first scientific studies on the reasons for these fluctuat-ing national fortunes were carried out by a Muslim scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406).

He was a judge, scholar and diplomat whose sometimes tragic life mim-icked the changing fortunes of the Islamic world in his time. His parents died of the plague, and he lost his family to pirates. He witnessed the decline of classical Muslim scholar-ship and civilization following the loss of Sicily and then Spain, the suffering caused by the Crusades and the Mongol invasions, and then the devastating onslaughts of Timur the Lame (Tamurlane). He recorded his thoughts in his ‘Book of the Lessons and Archive of Early and Subsequent History’, which laid the foundation for modern sociology.

He proposed that civilizations and cultures bring about their own decline, and that they have a natu-ral tendency towards increasingly luxurious and materialistic life styles, which produce moral decline and depravity.

Eventually decay sets in, ending in the destruction of a previously healthy society which is eventually replaced by another civilization or society that is at an earlier, healthier stage of development.

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Eventually decay sets in, ending in the destruEventually decay sets in, ensociety which is eventually replaced by anothsociety which is eventually re


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Ibn Khaldun also proposed that the rise of a nation or empire starts with a feeling of togetherness, of tribalism, which he called ‘asabiyah’. This tribalism is initially good as it binds people together and allows them to accumulate wealth and power, but it starts to become negative when this power is abused and attempts are made to conquer other cultures, which eventually erodes away the original social cohesion. The leaders eventually become alien-ated from their followers, and their dynasty falls prey to other, younger dynas-ties that still have a strong and unspoiled ‘asabiyah’ or group feeling.

He therefore proposed that all societies and civilizations have a cyclical nature, like the lives of people, who are born, mature and die. Societies initially rise up because of a common need for protection and domination, reach a peak when the social bonds are strongest, and eventually decline when group support weakens and is diluted by unhealthy competition and corruption during times of prosperity.

In Ibn Khaldun’s mind, only religion can stop a nation from declining, and he argued that Islam gave people a moral compass that allowed them to achieve ‘asabiyah’, a sense of belonging. Do you agree with his views?

THE CYCLE OF CIVILIZATION

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MATERIALISM

RISE

TRIBALISM

MORAL DECLINE

DECAY

DESTRUCTION

REPLACEMENTACCUMULATION

WEALTH

POWER

CONQUEST


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TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGENow that you have learned something about the rise and fall of societies, try to answer the following questions:

Do you think that modern American or European society is on the decline?

If so, why?

Are we becoming too materialistic?

Is our society declining to the extent that we may soon be vulnerable to suppression by another culture or society?

If so, which one is most likely to overtake us?

Why are their societies healthier than ours?

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Is religion still a binding force in Western society? 7

Should it be?

If not, what should the binding force be? 9

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It is a fact of history - Wikispaces Rise and Spread of... · In the late 20th century and early...

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