1.
Al-Andalus
–
Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
Al-Andalus
–
Al-Andalus and Christian kingdoms circa 1000 AD
Al-Andalus
–
Islamic-period garden in the
Alhambra.
Al-Andalus
–
A
gold Dinar minted in al-Andalus
2.
Almoravid dynasty
–
The Almoravid dynasty was a Berber imperial dynasty of Morocco. It established an empire in the 11th century that stretched over the western Maghreb, founded by Abdallah ibn Yasin, the Almoravid capital was Marrakesh, a city they founded in 1062. The dynasty originated among the Lamtuna and the Gudala, nomadic Berber tribes of the Sahara and this enabled them to control an empire that stretched 3,000 kilometers north to south. However, the rule of the dynasty was relatively short-lived, the Almoravids fell—at the height of their power—when they failed to quell the Masmuda-led rebellion initiated by Ibn Tumart. As a result, their last king Ishaq ibn Ali was killed in Marrakesh in April 1147 by the Almohad Caliphate, who replaced them as a ruling dynasty both in Morocco and Al-Andalus. The term Almoravid comes from the Arabic al-Murabitun, which is the form of al-Murabit—literally meaning one who is tying. The term is related to the notion of Ribat, a frontier monastery-fortress, another theory states that the name Almoravid comes from a school of Malikite law called Dar al-Murabitin founded in Sus al-Aksa, modern day Morocco, by a certain scholar named Waggag Ibn Zallu. Ibn Zallu sent his student Abdallah ibn Yasin to preach Malikite Islam to the Sanhaja Berbers of the Adrar, hence, the name of the Almoravids comes from the followers of the Dar al-Murabitin, the house of those who were bound together in the cause of God. It is uncertain exactly when or why the Almoravids acquired that appellation, al-Bakri, writing in 1068, before their apex, already calls them the al-Murabitun, but does not clarify the reasons for it. Ibn Idhari wrote that the name was suggested by Ibn Yasin in the persevering in the fight sense,1054, in which they had taken many losses. Whichever explanation is true, it seems certain the appellation was chosen by the Almoravids for themselves, the name might be related to the ribat of Waggag ibn Zallu in the village of Aglu, where the future Almoravid spiritual leader Abdallah ibn Yasin got his initial training. Contemporaries frequently referred to them as the al-mulathimun, the Almoravids veiled themselves below the eyes with a tagelmust, a custom they adapted from southern Sanhaja Berbers. Although practical for the desert dust, the Almoravids insisted on wearing the veil everywhere, as a badge of foreignness in urban settings and it served as the uniform of the Almoravids. Under their rule, sumptuary laws forbade anybody else from wearing the veil, in turn, the succeeding Almohads made a point of mocking the Almoravid veil as symbolic of effeminacy and decadence. The western Sanhaja had been converted to Islam some time in the 9th century and they were subsequently united in the 10th century and, with the zeal of neophyte converts, launched several campaigns against the Sudanese. Under their king Tinbarutan ibn Usfayshar, the Sanhaja Lamtuna erected the citadel of Awdaghust, after the collapse of the Sanhaja union, Awdagust passed over to the Ghana empire, and the trans-Saharan routes were taken over by the Zenata Maghrawa of Sijilmassa. The Maghrawa also exploited this disunion to dislodge the Sanhaja Gazzula and Lamta out of their pasturelands in the Sous, around 1035, the Lamtuna chieftain Abu Abdallah Muhammad ibn Tifat, tried to reunite the Sanhaja desert tribes, but his reign lasted less than three years. Around 1040, Yahya ibn Ibrahim, a chieftain of the Gudala, on his return, he stopped by Kairouan in Ifriqiya, where he met Abu Imran al-Fasi, a native of Fes and a jurist and scholar of the Sunni Maliki school
Almoravid dynasty
–
Almoravid
gold dinar coin from
Seville,
Spain, 1116. (
British Museum). The Almoravid gold dinar would set the standard of the Iberian
maravedi.
Almoravid dynasty
–
The Almoravid empire at its greatest extent, c. 1120.
3.
Marrakesh
–
Marrakesh, also known by the French spelling Marrakech, is a major city of the Kingdom of Morocco. It is the fourth largest city in the country, after Casablanca, Fes and it is the capital city of the mid-southwestern region of Marrakesh-Safi. Marrakesh is possibly the most important of Moroccos four former imperial cities, the region has been inhabited by Berber farmers since Neolithic times, but the actual city was founded in 1062 by Abu Bakr ibn Umar, chieftain and cousin of Almoravid king Yusuf ibn Tashfin. In the 12th century, the Almoravids built many madrasas and mosques in Marrakesh that bear Andalusian influences. The red walls of the city, built by Ali ibn Yusuf in 1122–1123, Marrakesh grew rapidly and established itself as a cultural, religious, and trading centre for the Maghreb and sub-Saharan Africa, Jemaa el-Fnaa is the busiest square in Africa. After a period of decline, the city was surpassed by Fes, beginning in the 17th century, the city became popular among Sufi pilgrims for Moroccos seven patron saints, who are entombed here. In 2009, Marrakesh mayor Fatima Zahra Mansouri became the woman to be elected mayor in Morocco. Like many Moroccan cities, Marrakesh comprises an old fortified city packed with vendors and their stalls, bordered by modern neighborhoods, today it is one of the busiest cities in Africa and serves as a major economic centre and tourist destination. Tourism is strongly advocated by the reigning Moroccan monarch, Mohammed VI, despite the economic recession, real estate and hotel development in Marrakesh has grown dramatically in the 21st century. Marrakesh is particularly popular with the French, and numerous French celebrities own property in the city, Marrakesh has the largest traditional market in Morocco, with some 18 souks selling wares ranging from traditional Berber carpets to modern consumer electronics. Crafts employ a significant percentage of the population, who sell their products to tourists. Marrakesh is one of North Africa’s largest centres of wildlife trade, much of this trade can be found in the medina and adjacent squares. Tortoises are particularly popular for sale as pets but Barbary macaques and snakes can also be seen, Marrakesh is served by Ménara International Airport and the Marrakesh railway station, which connects the city to Casablanca and northern Morocco. Marrakesh has several universities and schools, including Cadi Ayyad University, a number of Moroccan football clubs are located here, including Najm de Marrakech, KAC Marrakech, Mouloudia de Marrakech and Chez Ali Club de Marrakech. The Marrakesh Street Circuit hosts the World Touring Car Championship, Auto GP, the exact meaning of the name is debated. The probable origin of the name Marrakesh is from the Berber words amur akush, the word mur is used now in Berber mostly in the feminine form tamurt. The common English spelling is Marrakesh, although Marrakech is also widely used, the name is spelled Mṛṛakc in the Berber Latin alphabet, Marraquexe in Portuguese, Marraquech in Spanish, and Mer-reksh in Moroccan Arabic. From medieval times until around the beginning of the 20th century, the name for Morocco is still Marrakesh to this day in Persian and Urdu as well as many other South Asian languages
Marrakesh
–
Marrakesh ⵎⵕⵕⴰⴽⵛ Meṛṛakec مراكش Marrakech
Marrakesh
–
Gold coin minted during the reign of Ali ibn Yusef
Marrakesh
–
El Badi Palace
Marrakesh
–
T'hami El Glaoui
4.
Maghreb
–
The Maghreb, or the Greater Maghreb, is usually defined as much or most of the region of western North Africa or Northwest Africa, west of Egypt. Historical terms for the region or various portions of the Maghreb include Mauretania, Numidia, Libya, the term maghrib is Arabic for west, from the verb gharaba. In the strict sense, the definite form al-maghrib denotes the country of Morocco in particular and it identified the westernmost territories that fell to the Islamic conquests of the 7th century. Today, it is a noun for the present region of the Maghreb. The Berber languages alternative term for the region, Tamazgha, has been popularized by Berber activists since the second half of the 20th century. As recently as the late 19th century it was used to refer to the Western Mediterranean region of coastal North Africa in general, and to Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia in particular. The region was unified as an independent political entity during the rule of the Berber kingdom of Numidia. The most enduring rule was that of the local Berber empires of the Almoravids, Almohads, Hammadids, Zirids, Marinids, Saadi, the Ottoman Turks ruled the region as well. Mauritania, Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, and Libya established the Maghreb Union in 1989 to promote cooperation and it was envisioned initially by Muammar Gaddafi as a superstate. The union included Western Sahara implicitly under Moroccos membership, putting Moroccos long cold war with Algeria to a rest, however, this progress was short-lived, and the union is now frozen. Tensions between Algeria and Morocco over Western Sahara re-emerged strongly, reinforced by the unsolved borderline issue between the two countries and these two main conflicts have hindered progress on the unions joint goals and practically made it inactive as a whole. Around 3,500 BC a tilt in the Earths orbit created a rapid desertification of the Sahara, the Maghreb or western North Africa is believed to have been inhabited by Berbers since from at least 10,000 BC. Maghreb coast ports were predominantly occupied or constructed by the Phoenicians, the main Phoenician settlements centered in the Gulf of Tunis along the North African littoral between the Pillars of Hercules and the Libyan coast east of ancient Cyrenaica. They dominated the trade and intercourse of the Western Mediterranean for centuries, Rome was greatly helped by the defection of King Massinissa and Carthaginians eastern Numidian Massylii client-allies. A century later, the Byzantine emperor Justinian I sent a force under General Belisarius that succeeded in destroying the Vandal kingdom, the Berbers contested outside-the-area control although after the 640s-700 AD period the Arabs controlled the entire region. The Arabs reached the Maghreb in early Umayyad times, Arab expansion and the spread of Islam pushed the development of trans-Saharan trade. While restricted due to the cost and dangers, the trade was highly profitable, commodities traded included such goods as salt, gold, ivory, and slaves. Arab control over the Maghreb was quite weak, various Islamic variations, such as the Ibadis and the Shia, were adopted by some Berbers, often leading to scorning of Caliphal control in favour of their own interpretation of Islam
Maghreb
–
Magreb head ornament (Morocco)
Maghreb
–
The
Arab Maghreb Union countries
Maghreb
–
The
Great Mosque of Kairouan, founded by the Arab general Uqba Ibn Nafi (in 670), is the oldest mosque in the Maghreb city of
Kairouan,
Tunisia.
Maghreb
–
1707 map of northwest Africa by
Guillaume Delisle, including the Maghreb
5.
Almohad Caliphate
–
The Almohad Caliphate was a Moroccan Berber Muslim movement founded in the 12th century. The Almohad movement was founded by Ibn Tumart among the Berber Masmuda tribes of southern Morocco, around 1120, the Almohads first established a Berber state in Tinmel in the Atlas Mountains. They succeeded in overthrowing the ruling Almoravid dynasty governing Morocco by 1147 and they then extended their power over all of the Maghreb by 1159. Al-Andalus followed the fate of North Africa and all Islamic Iberia was under Almohad rule by 1172, nearly all of the Moorish dominions in Iberia were lost soon after, with the great Moorish cities of Cordova and Seville falling to the Christians in 1236 and 1248 respectively. The Almohads continued to rule in Africa until the loss of territory through the revolt of tribes and districts enabled the rise of their most effective enemies. The Almohad movement originated with Ibn Tumart, a member of the Masmuda, at the time, Morocco, and much of the rest of North Africa and Spain, was under the rule of the Almoravids, a Sanhaja Berber dynasty. Early in his life, Ibn Tumart went to Spain to pursue his studies, in Baghdad, Ibn Tumart attached himself to the theological school of al-Ashari, and came under the influence of the teacher al-Ghazali. He soon developed his own system, combining the doctrines of various masters, Ibn Tumarts main principle was a strict unitarianism, which denied the independent existence of the attributes of God as being incompatible with His unity, and therefore a polytheistic idea. Ibn Tumart represented a revolt against what he perceived as anthropomorphism in Muslim orthodoxy and his followers would become known as the al-Muwahhidun, meaning those who affirm the unity of God. After his return to the Maghreb c.1117, Ibn Tumart spent some time in various Ifriqiyan cities, preaching and agitating, heading riotous attacks on wine-shops and on other manifestations of laxity. He laid the blame for the latitude on the dynasty of the Almoravids. His antics and fiery preaching led fed-up authorities to him along from town to town. After being expelled from Bejaia, Ibn Tumart set up camp in Mellala, in the outskirts of the city, where he received his first disciples - notably, al-Bashir and Abd al-Mumin. In 1120, Ibn Tumart and his band of followers proceeded to Morocco, stopping first in Fez. He even went so far as to assault the sister of the Almoravid emir Ali ibn Yusuf, in the streets of Fez, because she was going about unveiled, after the manner of Berber women. After the debate, the scholars concluded that Ibn Tumarts views were blasphemous and the man dangerous, but the emir decided merely to expel him from the city. Ibn Tumart took refuge among his own people, the Hargha, in his village of Igiliz. He retreated to a cave, and lived out an ascetic lifestyle, coming out only to preach his program of puritan reform
Almohad Caliphate
–
The Almohads transferred the capital of Al-Andalus to
Seville.
Almohad Caliphate
–
Flag
Almohad Caliphate
–
Almohads after 1212
Almohad Caliphate
–
La
Giralda.
6.
Morocco
–
Morocco, officially known as the Kingdom of Morocco, is a sovereign country located in the Maghreb region of North Africa. Geographically, Morocco is characterized by a mountainous interior, large tracts of desert. Morocco has a population of over 33.8 million and an area of 446,550 km2 and its capital is Rabat, and the largest city is Casablanca. Other major cities include Marrakesh, Tangier, Tetouan, Salé, Fes, Agadir, Meknes, Oujda, Kenitra, a historically prominent regional power, Morocco has a history of independence not shared by its neighbours. Marinid and Saadi dynasties continued the struggle against foreign domination, the Alaouite dynasty, the current ruling dynasty, seized power in 1666. In 1912 Morocco was divided into French and Spanish protectorates, with a zone in Tangier. Moroccan culture is a blend of Arab, indigenous Berber, Sub-Saharan African, Morocco claims the non-self-governing territory of Western Sahara as its Southern Provinces. Morocco annexed the territory in 1975, leading to a war with indigenous forces until a cease-fire in 1991. Peace processes have thus far failed to break the political deadlock, Morocco is a constitutional monarchy with an elected parliament. The King of Morocco holds vast executive and legislative powers, especially over the military, foreign policy, the king can issue decrees called dahirs which have the force of law. He can also dissolve the parliament after consulting the Prime Minister, Moroccos predominant religion is Islam, and the official languages are Arabic and Tamazight. The Moroccan dialect, referred to as Darija, and French are also widely spoken, Morocco is a member of the Arab League, the Union for the Mediterranean, and the African Union. It has the fifth largest economy of Africa, the full Arabic name al-Mamlakah al-Maghribiyyah translates to Kingdom of the West, although the West in Arabic is الغرب Al-Gharb. The basis of Moroccos English name is Marrakesh, its capital under the Almoravid dynasty, the origin of the name Marrakesh is disputed, but is most likely from the Berber words amur akush or Land of God. The modern Berber name for Marrakesh is Mṛṛakc, in Turkish, Morocco is known as Fas, a name derived from its ancient capital of Fes. The English name Morocco is an anglicisation of the Spanish Marruecos, the area of present-day Morocco has been inhabited since Paleolithic times, sometime between 190,000 and 90,000 BC. During the Upper Paleolithic, the Maghreb was more fertile than it is today, twenty-two thousand years ago, the Aterian was succeeded by the Iberomaurusian culture, which shared similarities with Iberian cultures. Skeletal similarities have been suggested between the Iberomaurusian Mechta-Afalou burials and European Cro-Magnon remains, the Iberomaurusian was succeeded by the Beaker culture in Morocco
Morocco
–
Berber Roman King
Ptolemy of Mauretania.
Morocco
–
Flag
Morocco
–
Roman mosaic of Diana in
Volubilis.
Morocco
–
Morocco, Safi ceramic vessel Jobbana
7.
Medieval philosophy
–
Modern historians consider the medieval era to be one of philosophical development, heavily influenced by Christian theology. However, their theology used the methods and logical techniques of the ancient philosophers to address theological questions. Thomas Aquinas, following Peter Damian, argued that philosophy is the handmaiden of theology, the two principles that underlie all their work are, The use of logic, dialectic, and analysis to discover the truth, known as ratio. Respect for the insights of ancient philosophers, in particular Aristotle, the obligation to co-ordinate the insights of philosophy with theological teaching and revelation. One of the most heavily debated topics of the period was that of faith versus reason, avicenna and Averroes both leaned more on the side of reason. Augustine stated that he would never allow his philosophical investigations to go beyond the authority of God, Anselm attempted to defend against what he saw as partly an assault on faith, with an approach allowing for both faith and reason. The Augustinian solution to the problem is to believe. The boundaries of the medieval period are a matter of controversy. After the collapse of the Roman empire, Western Europe lapsed into the so-called Dark Ages, in later periods, monks were used for training administrators and churchmen. Early Christian thought, in particular in the period, tends to be intuitional and mystical. It also places emphasis on the sometimes-mystical doctrines of Plato. Much of the work of Aristotle was unknown in the West in this period, two Roman philosophers had a great influence on the development of medieval philosophy, Augustine and Boethius. Augustine is regarded as the greatest of the Church Fathers and he is primarily a theologian and a devotional writer, but much of his writing is philosophical. His themes are truth, God, the soul, the meaning of history, the state, sin. For over a thousand years, there was hardly a Latin work of theology or philosophy that did not quote his writing, some of his writing had an influence on the development of early modern philosophy, such as that of Descartes. Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius was a Christian philosopher born in Rome to an ancient and he became consul in 510 in the kingdom of the Ostrogoths. His influence on the medieval period was also marked. He intended to translate all the works of Aristotle and Plato from the original Greek into Latin, and translated many of Aristotle’s logical works, such as On Interpretation, and he wrote commentaries on these works, and on the Isagoge by Porphyry
Medieval philosophy
–
Philosophy seated between the seven
liberal arts – Picture from the
Hortus deliciarum of
Herrad von Landsberg (12th century)
Medieval philosophy
–
History of
Western philosophy
Medieval philosophy
–
Abbo of Fleury
Medieval philosophy
–
Plato, Seneca, and Aristotle from Devotional and Philosophical Writings, c. 1330
8.
Islamic Golden Age
–
This period is traditionally said to have ended with the collapse of the Abbasid caliphate due to Mongol invasions and the Sack of Baghdad in 1258 AD. A few contemporary scholars place the end of the Islamic Golden Age as late as the end of 15th to 16th centuries, the metaphor of a golden age began to be applied in 19th-century literature about Islamic history, in the context of the western aesthetic fashion known as Orientalism. There is no definition of term, and depending on whether it is used with a focus on cultural or on military achievement. During the early 20th century, the term was used only occasionally, the Muslim government heavily patronized scholars. The money spent on the Translation Movement for some translations is estimated to be equivalent to twice the annual research budget of the United Kingdom’s Medical Research Council. The best scholars and notable translators, such as Hunayn ibn Ishaq, had salaries that are estimated to be the equivalent of professional athletes today, the House of Wisdom was a library established in Abbasid-era Baghdad, Iraq by Caliph al-Mansur. During this period, the Muslims showed a strong interest in assimilating the knowledge of the civilizations that had been conquered. They also excelled in fields, in particular philosophy, science. For a long period of time the personal physicians of the Abbasid Caliphs were often Assyrian Christians, among the most prominent Christian families to serve as physicians to the caliphs were the Bukhtishu dynasty. Throughout the 4th to 7th centuries, Christian scholarly work in the Greek, the House of Wisdom was founded in Baghdad in 825, modelled after the Academy of Gondishapur. It was led by Christian physician Hunayn ibn Ishaq, with the support of Byzantine medicine, many of the most important philosophical and scientific works of the ancient world were translated, including the work of Galen, Hippocrates, Plato, Aristotle, Ptolemy and Archimedes. Many scholars of the House of Wisdom were of Christian background, the use of paper spread from China into Muslim regions in the eighth century, arriving in Al-Andalus on the Iberian peninsula, present-day Spain in the 10th century. It was easier to manufacture than parchment, less likely to crack than papyrus, Islamic paper makers devised assembly-line methods of hand-copying manuscripts to turn out editions far larger than any available in Europe for centuries. It was from countries that the rest of the world learned to make paper from linen. Ibn Rushd and Ibn Sina played a role in saving the works of Aristotle, whose ideas came to dominate the non-religious thought of the Christian. Ibn Sina and other such as al-Kindi and al-Farabi combined Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism with other ideas introduced through Islam. Arabic philosophic literature was translated into Latin and Ladino, contributing to the development of modern European philosophy, during this period, non-Muslims were allowed to flourish relative to treatment of religious minorities in the Christian Byzantine Empire. The Jewish philosopher Moses Maimonides, who lived in Andalusia, is an example, in epistemology, Ibn Tufail wrote the novel Hayy ibn Yaqdhan and in response Ibn al-Nafis wrote the novel Theologus Autodidactus
Islamic Golden Age
–
Scholars at an Abbasid library. Maqamat of al-Hariri Illustration by Yahyá al-Wasiti,
Baghdad 1237
Islamic Golden Age
–
A manuscript written on paper during the
Abbasid Era.
Islamic Golden Age
–
Islamic architecture in
Alhambra,
Al-Andalus, in modern-day Spain
Islamic Golden Age
–
The eye, according to
Hunain ibn Ishaq. From a manuscript dated circa 1200.
9.
Islamic philosophy
–
Islamic philosophy is the systematic investigation of problems connected with life, the universe, ethics, society, and so on as conducted in the Muslim world. Early Islamic philosophy began in the 2nd century AH of the Islamic calendar and this period began with al-Kindi in the 9th century and ended with Averroes at the end of 12th century. Ibn Khaldun, in his Muqaddimah, made important contributions to the philosophy of history, Interest in Islamic philosophy revived during the Nahda movement in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and continues to the present day. By way of introduction Islamic philosophy refers to philosophy produced in an Islamic society, Islamic philosophy is a generic term that can be defined and used in different ways. In its broadest sense it means the view of Islam, as derived from the Islamic texts concerning the creation of the universe. In another sense it refers to any of the schools of thought flourished under the Islamic empire or in the shadow of the Arab-Islamic culture. It is not necessarily concerned with issues, nor exclusively produced by Muslims. Nor do all schools of thought within Islam admit the usefulness or legitimacy of philosophical inquiry, some argue that there is no indication that the limited knowledge and experience of humans can lead to truth. It is also important to observe that, while reason is sometimes recognised as a source of Islamic law, Islamic philosophy is a generic term that can be defined and used in different ways. In its broadest sense it means the view of Islam, as derived from the Islamic texts concerning the creation of the universe. In another sense it refers to any of the schools of thought flourished under the Islamic empire or in the shadow of the Arab-Islamic culture. The historiography of Islamic philosophy is marked by disputes as to how the subject should be properly interpreted, Islamic philosophy as the name implies refers to philosophical activity within the Islamic milieu. Many of the philosophical debates centered around reconciling religion and reason. Some Muslims oppose the idea of philosophy as un-Islamic, but the fact of the matter is that philosophy is an alien entity in the body of Islam. Ibn Abi al-Izz, a commentator on al-Tahhaawiyyah, condemns philosophers as the ones who most deny the Last Day, in their view Paradise and Hell are no more than parables for the masses to understand, but they have no reality beyond people’s minds. In early Islamic thought, which refers to philosophy during the Islamic Golden Age, the first is Kalam, which mainly dealt with Islamic theological questions, and the other is Falsafa, which was founded on interpretations of Aristotelianism and Neoplatonism. In Arabic, the word literally means speech, one of first debates was that between partisans of the Qadar, who affirmed free will, and the Jabarites, who believed in fatalism. At the 2nd century of the Hijra, a new movement arose in the school of Basra
Islamic philosophy
–
An Arabic manuscript from the 13th century depicting
Socrates (Soqrāt) in discussion with his pupils
Islamic philosophy
–
Allama Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938), Muslim philosopher, poet and scholar from Pakistan (then
British India).
10.
Averroism
–
The term Averroist was coined by Thomas Aquinas in the restricted sense of monopsychism and panpsychism in his book De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas. Based on this, Averroism came to be near-synonymous with atheism in late medieval usage, as a historiographical category, Avveroism was first defined by Ernest Renan in Averroès et laverroïsme in the sense of radical or heterodox Aristotelianism. The reception of Averroes in Jewish thought, has been termed Jewish Averroism, Jewish Averroist thought flourished in the later 14th century, and gradually declined in the course of the 15th century. The last representative of Jewish Averroism was Elia del Medigo, writing in 1485, the standpoints listed above resulted in two condemnations in 1270 and 1277 by bishop Etienne Tempier of the Roman Catholic Church. Tempier specified 219 different unacceptable Averroist theses and this idea differed from that of Averroës, he taught that there is only one truth, but reached in two different ways, not two truths. The later philosophical concept of Averroism —along with the thesis proclaimed by William of Ockham— was the idea that the philosophical, however, upon scrutinizing the 219 theses condemned by Tempier, it was obvious that not many of them originated in Averroës. Thomas Aquinas specifically attacked the doctrine of monopsychism and panpsychism in his book De unitate intellectus contra Averroistas and these theses talk about the superiority of philosophers to the common people and the relation between the intellect and human dignity. In the centuries following Averroes death there were many Jewish Averroist philosophers, notably Elijah Delmedigo, some Averroist influence has been traced in Leone Ebreos Dialoghi dAmore. Arguably, Spinozan Averroism went on to influence Jewish Conservatism and Reconstructionism, there was no formal school or movement of Rushdiyya in the Islamic tradition. Nevertheless, a revival of rationalist traditions in medieval Islamic philosophy has been called for in modern Arab nationalism, Averroes became something of a symbolic figure in the debate over the decline and proposed revitalization of Islamic thought and Islamic society in the later 20th century. A notable proponent of such a revivival of Averroist thought in Islamic society was Mohammed Abed al-Jabri with his Critique de la Raison Arabe, Averroism from the Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Jewish Averroism, Routledge Encyclopedia of Philosophy Averroism from the Jewish Encyclopedia - Averroism and the philosophy of Judaism. The Eternal Conversation, an account of Averroism in the Medieval
Averroism
–
Averroes depicted in a painting by Italian artist
Andrea di Bonaiuto. Florence, 14th century.
Averroism
–
Giovanni di Paolo's
St. Thomas Aquinas Confounding
Averroës.
11.
Intellectualism
–
Intellectualism denotes the use, development, and exercise of the intellect, the practice of being an intellectual, and the Life of the Mind. In the field of philosophy, “intellectualism” occasionally is synonymous with “rationalism”, socially, “intellectualism” negatively connotes, single-mindedness of purpose and emotional coldness. So defined, Socratic intellectualism became a key doctrine of Stoicism. Hence, without concerning the rational intellect, spiritual knowledge is integral to the broader principle of “caring for the self”. Therefore, to understand truth meant “intellectual knowledge” requiring one’s integration to the truth, and authentically living it in speech, heart. This ancient, Socratic moral philosophic perspective contradicts the contemporary understanding of truth, in medieval philosophy, intellectualism is a doctrine of divine and human action, wherein the faculty of intellect precedes, and is superior to, the faculty of the will. For voluntarism, by contrast, it is the Will which identifies which objects are good, anti-intellectualism Chinese intellectualism Intellectual Intellectual movements in Iran Intelligentsia Sanism
Intellectualism
–
The Life of the Mind: the philosophic pioneer, Socrates (ca.469–399 B.C.)
Intellectualism
–
Ibn Rushd (Averroës), the preeminent philosopher in the history of Al-Andalus, intellectually defended Aristotelian philosophy against clerical prejudice.
Intellectualism
–
In pursuit of truth, Thomas Aquinas proposed that truth exists wherever it is found.
12.
Islamic theology
–
See Islamic schools and branches for different schools of thought, see aqidah for the concept of the different creeds in Islam, see Kalam for the concept of theological discourse. Schools of Islamic theology are various Islamic schools and branches in different schools of thought regarding aqidah, according to Muhammad Abu Zahra, Qadariyah, Jahmis, Murjiah, Muʿtazila, Batiniyya, Ashari, Maturidi, Athari are the ancient schools of aqidah. The main split between Sunni and Shia Islam was initially more political than theological, but over time theological differences have developed, aqidah is an Islamic term meaning creed or belief. Any religious belief system, or creed, can be considered an example of aqidah, however this term has taken a significant technical usage in Muslim history and theology, denoting those matters over which Muslims hold conviction. The term is translated as theology. Such traditions are divisions orthogonal to sectarian divisions of Islam, one of the earliest systematic theological school to develop, in the mid 8th-century, was Mutazila. In the 10th century, the Ashari school developed as a response to Mutazila, Ashari still taught the use of reason in understanding the Quran, but denied the possibility to deduce moral truths by reasoning. This was opposed by the school of Maturidi, which taught that moral truths may be found by the use of reason without the aid of revelation. Another point of contention was the position of iman vs. taqwa. Sunni Muslims are the largest denomination of Islam and are known as Ahl as-Sunnah wa’l-Jamā‘h or simply as Ahl as-Sunnah, the word Sunni comes from the word sunnah, which means the teachings and actions or examples of the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Therefore, the term Sunni refers to those who follow or maintain the sunnah of the prophet Muhammad, Sunni Muslims regard the first four caliphs as al-Khulafā’ur-Rāshidūn or The Rightly Guided Caliphs. A scholar of kalam is referred to as a mutakallim as distinguished from philosophers, jurists, after leaving the Mutazili school, Al-Ashari formulated the theology of Sunni Islam. He was followed in this by a number of distinguished scholars. The most famous of these are Abul-Hassan Al-Bahili, Abu Bakr Al-Baqillani, al-Juwayni, Al-Razi, thus Al-Ashari’s school became, together with the Maturidi, the main schools reflecting the beliefs of the Sunnah. Ashari is a school of early Islamic philosophy founded in the 10th century by Abu al-Hasan al-Ashari and it was instrumental in drastically changing the direction of Islam. The Asharite view was that comprehension of the nature and characteristics of God were beyond human capability. A Maturidi is one who follows Abu Mansur Al Maturidis theology, points which differ are the nature of belief and the place of human reason. The Maturidis state that belief does not increase nor decrease but remains static, the Asharis say that belief does in fact increase and decrease
Islamic theology
–
Allah Jalla Jalālah in
Arabic calligraphy
13.
Philosophy
–
Philosophy is the study of general and fundamental problems concerning matters such as existence, knowledge, values, reason, mind, and language. The term was coined by Pythagoras. Philosophical methods include questioning, critical discussion, rational argument and systematic presentation, classic philosophical questions include, Is it possible to know anything and to prove it. However, philosophers might also pose more practical and concrete questions such as, is it better to be just or unjust. Historically, philosophy encompassed any body of knowledge, from the time of Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle to the 19th century, natural philosophy encompassed astronomy, medicine and physics. For example, Newtons 1687 Mathematical Principles of Natural Philosophy later became classified as a book of physics, in the 19th century, the growth of modern research universities led academic philosophy and other disciplines to professionalize and specialize. In the modern era, some investigations that were part of philosophy became separate academic disciplines, including psychology, sociology. Other investigations closely related to art, science, politics, or other pursuits remained part of philosophy, for example, is beauty objective or subjective. Are there many scientific methods or just one, is political utopia a hopeful dream or hopeless fantasy. Major sub-fields of academic philosophy include metaphysics, epistemology, ethics, aesthetics, political philosophy, logic, philosophy of science, since the 20th century, professional philosophers contribute to society primarily as professors, researchers and writers. Traditionally, the term referred to any body of knowledge. In this sense, philosophy is related to religion, mathematics, natural science, education. This division is not obsolete but has changed, Natural philosophy has split into the various natural sciences, especially astronomy, physics, chemistry, biology and cosmology. Moral philosophy has birthed the social sciences, but still includes value theory, metaphysical philosophy has birthed formal sciences such as logic, mathematics and philosophy of science, but still includes epistemology, cosmology and others. Many philosophical debates that began in ancient times are still debated today, colin McGinn and others claim that no philosophical progress has occurred during that interval. Chalmers and others, by contrast, see progress in philosophy similar to that in science, in one general sense, philosophy is associated with wisdom, intellectual culture and a search for knowledge. In that sense, all cultures and literate societies ask philosophical questions such as how are we to live, a broad and impartial conception of philosophy then, finds a reasoned inquiry into such matters as reality, morality and life in all world civilizations. Socrates was an influential philosopher, who insisted that he possessed no wisdom but was a pursuer of wisdom
Philosophy
–
René Descartes
Philosophy
–
Thomas Aquinas
Philosophy
–
Jeremy Bentham
Philosophy
–
Thomas Hobbes
14.
Islamic Jurisprudence
–
Figuratively, fiqh means, knowledge about Islamic legal rulings from their sources. He must look deep down into a matter and not suffice himself with just the apparent meaning, a person who only knows the appearance of a matter is not a faqīh. Conceptually, the attempt to understand divine law. Whereas shariah is immutable and infallible, fiqh is fallible and changeable, fiqh is distinguished from usul al-fiqh, the methods of legal interpretation and analysis. Fiqh is the product of application of usul al-fiqh, the product of human efforts at understanding the divine will. A hukm is a ruling in a given case. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam, in the modern era, there are four prominent schools of fiqh within Sunni practice, plus two within Shia practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a Faqih, the word fiqh is an Arabic term meaning deep understanding or full comprehension. Technically it refers to the body of Islamic law extracted from detailed Islamic sources and this definition is consistent amongst the jurists. In Modern Standard Arabic, fiqh has come to mean jurisprudence in general and it is separated in Sunni, shia and others. Qiyas, i. e. analogy which is deployed if Ijma or historic collective reasoning on the issue is not available. For example, the Quran states one needs to engage in prayers and fast during the month of Ramadan. Details about these issues can be found in the traditions of Muhammad, so Quran, some topics are without precedent in Islams early period. In those cases, Muslim jurists try to arrive at conclusions by other means, Sunni jurists use historical consensus of the community, a majority in the modern era also use analogy and weigh the harms and benefits of new topics, and a plurality utilizes juristic preference. The conclusions arrived at with the aid of additional tools constitute a wider array of laws than the Sharia consists of. Thus, in contrast to the sharia, fiqh is not regarded as sacred and this division of interpretation in more detailed issues has resulted in different schools of thought. This wider concept of Islamic jurisprudence is the source of a range of laws in different topics that guide Muslims in everyday life, Islamic jurisprudence covers two main areas, Rules in relation to actions, and, Rules in relation to circumstances surrounding actions. The Sunni schools are Hanafi Maliki Shafii Hanbali see Wahhabism Zahiri Qurtubi No longer exists Laythi No longer exists, the schools of Shia Islam comprise, Jafari Zaydi Entirely separate from both the Sunni and Shia traditions, Khawarij Islam has evolved its own distinct school
Islamic Jurisprudence
–
Green Dome and Prophet's Mosque at sunset.
15.
Mathematics
–
Mathematics is the study of topics such as quantity, structure, space, and change. There is a range of views among mathematicians and philosophers as to the exact scope, Mathematicians seek out patterns and use them to formulate new conjectures. Mathematicians resolve the truth or falsity of conjectures by mathematical proof, when mathematical structures are good models of real phenomena, then mathematical reasoning can provide insight or predictions about nature. Through the use of abstraction and logic, mathematics developed from counting, calculation, measurement, practical mathematics has been a human activity from as far back as written records exist. The research required to solve mathematical problems can take years or even centuries of sustained inquiry, rigorous arguments first appeared in Greek mathematics, most notably in Euclids Elements. Galileo Galilei said, The universe cannot be read until we have learned the language and it is written in mathematical language, and the letters are triangles, circles and other geometrical figures, without which means it is humanly impossible to comprehend a single word. Without these, one is wandering about in a dark labyrinth, carl Friedrich Gauss referred to mathematics as the Queen of the Sciences. Benjamin Peirce called mathematics the science that draws necessary conclusions, David Hilbert said of mathematics, We are not speaking here of arbitrariness in any sense. Mathematics is not like a game whose tasks are determined by arbitrarily stipulated rules, rather, it is a conceptual system possessing internal necessity that can only be so and by no means otherwise. Albert Einstein stated that as far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, Mathematics is essential in many fields, including natural science, engineering, medicine, finance and the social sciences. Applied mathematics has led to entirely new mathematical disciplines, such as statistics, Mathematicians also engage in pure mathematics, or mathematics for its own sake, without having any application in mind. There is no clear line separating pure and applied mathematics, the history of mathematics can be seen as an ever-increasing series of abstractions. The earliest uses of mathematics were in trading, land measurement, painting and weaving patterns, in Babylonian mathematics elementary arithmetic first appears in the archaeological record. Numeracy pre-dated writing and numeral systems have many and diverse. Between 600 and 300 BC the Ancient Greeks began a study of mathematics in its own right with Greek mathematics. Mathematics has since been extended, and there has been a fruitful interaction between mathematics and science, to the benefit of both. Mathematical discoveries continue to be made today, the overwhelming majority of works in this ocean contain new mathematical theorems and their proofs. The word máthēma is derived from μανθάνω, while the modern Greek equivalent is μαθαίνω, in Greece, the word for mathematics came to have the narrower and more technical meaning mathematical study even in Classical times
Mathematics
–
Euclid (holding
calipers), Greek mathematician, 3rd century BC, as imagined by
Raphael in this detail from
The School of Athens.
Mathematics
–
Greek mathematician
Pythagoras (c. 570 – c. 495 BC), commonly credited with discovering the
Pythagorean theorem
Mathematics
–
Leonardo Fibonacci, the
Italian mathematician who established the Hindu–Arabic numeral system to the Western World
Mathematics
–
Carl Friedrich Gauss, known as the prince of mathematicians
16.
Medicine
–
Medicine is the science and practice of the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. The word medicine is derived from Latin medicus, meaning a physician, Medicine encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness. Medicine has existed for thousands of years, during most of which it was an art frequently having connections to the religious and philosophical beliefs of local culture. For example, a man would apply herbs and say prayers for healing, or an ancient philosopher. In recent centuries, since the advent of modern science, most medicine has become a combination of art, while stitching technique for sutures is an art learned through practice, the knowledge of what happens at the cellular and molecular level in the tissues being stitched arises through science. Prescientific forms of medicine are now known as medicine and folk medicine. They remain commonly used with or instead of medicine and are thus called alternative medicine. For example, evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture is variable and inconsistent for any condition, in contrast, treatments outside the bounds of safety and efficacy are termed quackery. Medical availability and clinical practice varies across the world due to differences in culture. In modern clinical practice, physicians personally assess patients in order to diagnose, treat, the doctor-patient relationship typically begins an interaction with an examination of the patients medical history and medical record, followed by a medical interview and a physical examination. Basic diagnostic medical devices are typically used, after examination for signs and interviewing for symptoms, the doctor may order medical tests, take a biopsy, or prescribe pharmaceutical drugs or other therapies. Differential diagnosis methods help to rule out conditions based on the information provided, during the encounter, properly informing the patient of all relevant facts is an important part of the relationship and the development of trust. The medical encounter is then documented in the record, which is a legal document in many jurisdictions. Follow-ups may be shorter but follow the general procedure. The diagnosis and treatment may take only a few minutes or a few weeks depending upon the complexity of the issue, the components of the medical interview and encounter are, Chief complaint, the reason for the current medical visit. They are in the patients own words and are recorded along with the duration of each one, also called chief concern or presenting complaint. History of present illness, the order of events of symptoms. Distinguishable from history of illness, often called past medical history
Medicine
–
Early Medicine Bottles
Medicine
Medicine
–
The Doctor, by
Sir Luke Fildes (1891)
Medicine
–
The Hospital of
Santa Maria della Scala, fresco by
Domenico di Bartolo, 1441–1442
17.
Physics
–
Physics is the natural science that involves the study of matter and its motion and behavior through space and time, along with related concepts such as energy and force. One of the most fundamental disciplines, the main goal of physics is to understand how the universe behaves. Physics is one of the oldest academic disciplines, perhaps the oldest through its inclusion of astronomy, Physics intersects with many interdisciplinary areas of research, such as biophysics and quantum chemistry, and the boundaries of physics are not rigidly defined. New ideas in physics often explain the mechanisms of other sciences while opening new avenues of research in areas such as mathematics. Physics also makes significant contributions through advances in new technologies that arise from theoretical breakthroughs, the United Nations named 2005 the World Year of Physics. Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences, the stars and planets were often a target of worship, believed to represent their gods. While the explanations for these phenomena were often unscientific and lacking in evidence, according to Asger Aaboe, the origins of Western astronomy can be found in Mesopotamia, and all Western efforts in the exact sciences are descended from late Babylonian astronomy. The most notable innovations were in the field of optics and vision, which came from the works of many scientists like Ibn Sahl, Al-Kindi, Ibn al-Haytham, Al-Farisi and Avicenna. The most notable work was The Book of Optics, written by Ibn Al-Haitham, in which he was not only the first to disprove the ancient Greek idea about vision, but also came up with a new theory. In the book, he was also the first to study the phenomenon of the pinhole camera, many later European scholars and fellow polymaths, from Robert Grosseteste and Leonardo da Vinci to René Descartes, Johannes Kepler and Isaac Newton, were in his debt. Indeed, the influence of Ibn al-Haythams Optics ranks alongside that of Newtons work of the same title, the translation of The Book of Optics had a huge impact on Europe. From it, later European scholars were able to build the devices as what Ibn al-Haytham did. From this, such important things as eyeglasses, magnifying glasses, telescopes, Physics became a separate science when early modern Europeans used experimental and quantitative methods to discover what are now considered to be the laws of physics. Newton also developed calculus, the study of change, which provided new mathematical methods for solving physical problems. The discovery of new laws in thermodynamics, chemistry, and electromagnetics resulted from greater research efforts during the Industrial Revolution as energy needs increased, however, inaccuracies in classical mechanics for very small objects and very high velocities led to the development of modern physics in the 20th century. Modern physics began in the early 20th century with the work of Max Planck in quantum theory, both of these theories came about due to inaccuracies in classical mechanics in certain situations. Quantum mechanics would come to be pioneered by Werner Heisenberg, Erwin Schrödinger, from this early work, and work in related fields, the Standard Model of particle physics was derived. Areas of mathematics in general are important to this field, such as the study of probabilities, in many ways, physics stems from ancient Greek philosophy
Physics
–
Further information:
Outline of physics
Physics
–
Ancient
Egyptian astronomy is evident in monuments like the
ceiling of Senemut's tomb from the
Eighteenth Dynasty of Egypt.
Physics
–
Sir Isaac Newton (1643–1727), whose
laws of motion and
universal gravitation were major milestones in classical physics
Physics
–
Albert Einstein (1879–1955), whose work on the
photoelectric effect and the
theory of relativity led to a revolution in 20th century physics
18.
Astronomy
–
Astronomy is a natural science that studies celestial objects and phenomena. It applies mathematics, physics, and chemistry, in an effort to explain the origin of those objects and phenomena and their evolution. Objects of interest include planets, moons, stars, galaxies, and comets, while the phenomena include supernovae explosions, gamma ray bursts, more generally, all astronomical phenomena that originate outside Earths atmosphere are within the purview of astronomy. A related but distinct subject, physical cosmology, is concerned with the study of the Universe as a whole, Astronomy is the oldest of the natural sciences. The early civilizations in recorded history, such as the Babylonians, Greeks, Indians, Egyptians, Nubians, Iranians, Chinese, during the 20th century, the field of professional astronomy split into observational and theoretical branches. Observational astronomy is focused on acquiring data from observations of astronomical objects, theoretical astronomy is oriented toward the development of computer or analytical models to describe astronomical objects and phenomena. The two fields complement each other, with theoretical astronomy seeking to explain the results and observations being used to confirm theoretical results. Astronomy is one of the few sciences where amateurs can play an active role, especially in the discovery. Amateur astronomers have made and contributed to many important astronomical discoveries, Astronomy means law of the stars. Astronomy should not be confused with astrology, the system which claims that human affairs are correlated with the positions of celestial objects. Although the two share a common origin, they are now entirely distinct. Generally, either the term astronomy or astrophysics may be used to refer to this subject, however, since most modern astronomical research deals with subjects related to physics, modern astronomy could actually be called astrophysics. Few fields, such as astrometry, are purely astronomy rather than also astrophysics, some titles of the leading scientific journals in this field includeThe Astronomical Journal, The Astrophysical Journal and Astronomy and Astrophysics. In early times, astronomy only comprised the observation and predictions of the motions of objects visible to the naked eye, in some locations, early cultures assembled massive artifacts that possibly had some astronomical purpose. Before tools such as the telescope were invented, early study of the stars was conducted using the naked eye, most of early astronomy actually consisted of mapping the positions of the stars and planets, a science now referred to as astrometry. From these observations, early ideas about the motions of the planets were formed, and the nature of the Sun, Moon, the Earth was believed to be the center of the Universe with the Sun, the Moon and the stars rotating around it. This is known as the model of the Universe, or the Ptolemaic system. The Babylonians discovered that lunar eclipses recurred in a cycle known as a saros
Astronomy
–
A
star -forming region in the
Large Magellanic Cloud, an
irregular galaxy.
Astronomy
–
A giant
Hubble mosaic of the
Crab Nebula, a
supernova remnant
Astronomy
–
19th century
Sydney Observatory,
Australia (1873)
Astronomy
–
19th century
Quito Astronomical Observatory is located 12 minutes south of the
Equator in
Quito,
Ecuador.
19.
Aristotelianism
–
Aristotelianism is a tradition of philosophy that takes its defining inspiration from the work of Aristotle. The works of Aristotle were initially defended by the members of the Peripatetic school, and, later on, by the Neoplatonists, who produced many commentaries on Aristotles writings. Moses Maimonides adopted Aristotelianism from the Islamic scholars and based his famous Guide for the Perplexed on it, scholars such as Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas interpreted and systematized Aristotles works in accordance with Christian theology. Although this project was criticized by Trendelenburg and Brentano as non-Aristotelian, postmodernists, in contrast, reject Aristotelianisms claim to reveal important theoretical truths. In this, they follow Heideggers critique of Aristotle as the greatest source of the tradition of Western philosophy. Recent Aristotelian ethical and practical philosophy, such as that of Gadamer, the most famous contemporary Aristotelian philosopher is Alasdair MacIntyre. Politically and socially, it has been characterized as a newly revolutionary Aristotelianism and this may be contrasted with the more conventional, apolitical and effectively conservative uses of Aristotle by, for example, Gadamer and McDowell. Other important contemporary Aristotelian theorists include Fred D. Miller, Jr. in politics, the original followers of Aristotle were the members of the Peripatetic school. The most prominent members of the school after Aristotle were Theophrastus and Strato of Lampsacus, during the Roman era the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in this regard was Alexander of Aphrodisias who commentated on Aristotles writings, in the Abbasid Empire, many foreign works were translated into Arabic, large libraries were constructed, and scholars were welcomed. Under the caliphs Harun al-Rashid and his son Al-Mamun, the House of Wisdom in Baghdad flourished, Christian scholar Hunayn ibn Ishaq was placed in charge of the translation work by the caliph. In his lifetime, Ishaq translated 116 writings, including works by Plato and Aristotle, into Syriac, al-Kindi was the first of the Muslim Peripatetic philosophers, and is known for his efforts to introduce Greek and Hellenistic philosophy to the Arab world. He incorporated Aristotelian and Neoplatonist thought into an Islamic philosophical framework and this was an important factor in the introduction and popularization of Greek philosophy in the Muslim intellectual world. The philosopher Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries and his work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Avicenna. Avicenna was one of the interpreters of Aristotle. The school of thought he founded became known as Avicennism, which was built on ingredients and conceptual building blocks that are largely Aristotelian and Neoplatonist. At the western end of the Mediterranean Sea, during the reign of Al-Hakam II in Córdoba, a massive effort was undertaken. Averroes, who spent much of his life in Cordoba and Seville, was distinguished as a commentator of Aristotle
Aristotelianism
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotelianism
–
Aristotle, by
Francesco Hayez
20.
Aristotle
–
Aristotle was an ancient Greek philosopher and scientist born in the city of Stagira, Chalkidice, on the northern periphery of Classical Greece. His father, Nicomachus, died when Aristotle was a child, at seventeen or eighteen years of age, he joined Platos Academy in Athens and remained there until the age of thirty-seven. Shortly after Plato died, Aristotle left Athens and, at the request of Philip II of Macedon, teaching Alexander the Great gave Aristotle many opportunities and an abundance of supplies. He established a library in the Lyceum which aided in the production of many of his hundreds of books and he believed all peoples concepts and all of their knowledge was ultimately based on perception. Aristotles views on natural sciences represent the groundwork underlying many of his works, Aristotles views on physical science profoundly shaped medieval scholarship. Their influence extended from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages into the Renaissance, some of Aristotles zoological observations, such as on the hectocotyl arm of the octopus, were not confirmed or refuted until the 19th century. His works contain the earliest known study of logic, which was incorporated in the late 19th century into modern formal logic. Aristotle was well known among medieval Muslim intellectuals and revered as The First Teacher and his ethics, though always influential, gained renewed interest with the modern advent of virtue ethics. All aspects of Aristotles philosophy continue to be the object of academic study today. Though Aristotle wrote many elegant treatises and dialogues – Cicero described his style as a river of gold – it is thought that only around a third of his original output has survived. Aristotle, whose means the best purpose, was born in 384 BC in Stagira, Chalcidice. His father Nicomachus was the physician to King Amyntas of Macedon. Aristotle was orphaned at a young age, although there is little information on Aristotles childhood, he probably spent some time within the Macedonian palace, making his first connections with the Macedonian monarchy. At the age of seventeen or eighteen, Aristotle moved to Athens to continue his education at Platos Academy and he remained there for nearly twenty years before leaving Athens in 348/47 BC. Aristotle then accompanied Xenocrates to the court of his friend Hermias of Atarneus in Asia Minor, there, he traveled with Theophrastus to the island of Lesbos, where together they researched the botany and zoology of the island. Aristotle married Pythias, either Hermiass adoptive daughter or niece and she bore him a daughter, whom they also named Pythias. Soon after Hermias death, Aristotle was invited by Philip II of Macedon to become the tutor to his son Alexander in 343 BC, Aristotle was appointed as the head of the royal academy of Macedon. During that time he gave not only to Alexander
Aristotle
–
Roman copy in marble of a Greek bronze bust of Aristotle by
Lysippus,
c. 330 BC. The
alabaster mantle is modern.
Aristotle
–
Aristotelianism
Aristotle
–
School of Aristotle in
Mieza,
Macedonia, Greece
Aristotle
–
"Aristotle" by
Francesco Hayez (1791–1882)
21.
Prophet Muhammad
–
Muhammad is the prophet of Islam. From a secular historical perspective he was a religious, political, from an Islamic perspective, he was Gods Messenger sent to confirm the essential teachings of monotheism preached previously by Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and other prophets. He is viewed as the prophet of God in all branches of Islam. Muhammad united Arabia into a single Muslim polity and ensured that his teachings, practices, born approximately 570 CE in the Arabian city of Mecca, Muhammad was orphaned at an early age, he was raised under the care of his paternal uncle Abu Talib. Muhammad gained few early followers, and met hostility from some Meccan tribes, to escape persecution, Muhammad sent some followers to Abyssinia before he and his followers migrated from Mecca to Medina in the year 622. This event, the Hijra, marks the beginning of the Islamic calendar, in Medina, Muhammad united the tribes under the Constitution of Medina. In December 629, after eight years of intermittent conflict with Meccan tribes, Muhammad gathered an army of 10,000 Muslim converts, the attack went largely uncontested and Muhammad seized the city with little bloodshed. In 632, a few months after returning from the Farewell Pilgrimage, he fell ill, before his death, most of the Arabian Peninsula had converted to Islam. The revelations, which Muhammad reported receiving until his death, form the verses of the Quran, regarded by Muslims as the Word of God and around which the religion is based. Besides the Quran, Muhammads teachings and practices, found in the Hadith and sira literature, are upheld by Muslims. The name Muhammad means praiseworthy and appears four times in the Quran, Muhammad is sometimes addressed by designations deriving from his state at the time of the address, thus he is referred to as the enwrapped in Quran 73,1 and the shrouded in Quran 74,1. In Sura Al-Ahzab 33,40 God singles out Muhammad as the Seal of the Prophets, the Quran also refers to Muhammad as Aḥmad more praiseworthy. The name Abū al-Qāsim Muḥammad ibn ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, begins with the kunya Abū, the Quran is the central religious text of Islam. Muslims believe it represents the words of God revealed by the archangel Gabriel to Muhammad, the Quran, however, provides minimal assistance for Muhammads chronological biography, most Quranic verses do not provide significant historical context. An important source may be found in the works by writers of the 2nd. These include the traditional Muslim biographies of Muhammad, which additional information about Muhammads life. The earliest surviving written sira is Ibn Ishaqs Life of Gods Messenger written c.767 CE, although the work was lost, this sira was used verbatim at great length by Ibn Hisham and Al-Tabari. Another early history source is the history of Muhammads campaigns by al-Waqidi, many scholars accept the earliest biographies as accurate, though their accuracy is unascertainable
Prophet Muhammad
–
Calligraphic representation of Muhammad's name
Prophet Muhammad
–
A folio from an early
Quran, written in
Kufic script (
Abbasid period, 8th–9th century)
Prophet Muhammad
–
Arabian peninsula, Byzantine and Sassanid-Persian empires in c.600 CE, on the eve of rise of Islam.
Prophet Muhammad
–
Miniature from
Rashid-al-Din Hamadani 's
Jami al-Tawarikh, c. 1315, illustrating the story of Muhammad's role in re-setting the
Black Stone in 605. (
Ilkhanate period)
22.
Alexander of Aphrodisias
–
Alexander of Aphrodisias was a Peripatetic philosopher and the most celebrated of the Ancient Greek commentators on the writings of Aristotle. He was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria, and lived and taught in Athens at the beginning of the 3rd century and he wrote many commentaries on the works of Aristotle, extant are those on the Prior Analytics, Topics, Meteorology, Sense and Sensibilia, and Metaphysics. Several original treatises also survive, and include a work On Fate, in which he argues against the Stoic doctrine of necessity and his commentaries on Aristotle were considered so useful that he was styled, by way of pre-eminence, the commentator. Alexander was a native of Aphrodisias in Caria and came to Athens towards the end of the 2nd century and he was a student of the two Stoic, or possibly Peripatetic, philosophers Sosigenes and Herminus, and perhaps of Aristotle of Mytilene. At Athens he became head of the Peripatetic school and lectured on Peripatetic philosophy, Alexanders dedication of On Fate to Septimius Severus and Caracalla, in gratitude for his position at Athens, indicates a date between 198 and 209. A recently published inscription from Aphrodisias confirms that he was head of one of the Schools at Athens and his full nomenclature shows that his grandfather or other ancestor was probably given Roman citizenship by the emperor Antoninus Pius, while proconsul of Asia. The inscription honours his father, also called Alexander and also a philosopher and this fact makes it plausible that some of the suspect works that form part of Alexanders corpus should be ascribed to his father. Alexander composed several commentaries on the works of Aristotle, in which he sought to escape a syncretistic tendency and his extant commentaries are on Prior Analytics, Topics, Meteorology, Sense and Sensibilia, and Metaphysics. The commentary on the Sophistical Refutations is deemed spurious, as is the commentary on the nine books of the Metaphysics. The lost commentaries include works on the De Interpretatione, Posterior Analytics, Physics, On the Heavens, On Generation and Corruption, On the Soul, simplicius of Cilicia mentions that Alexander provided commentary on the quadrature of the lunes, and the corresponding problem of squaring the circle. There are also several extant original writings by Alexander and these include, On the Soul, Problems and Solutions, Ethical Problems, On Fate, and On Mixture and Growth. Three works attributed to him are considered spurious, Medical Questions, Physical Problems, additional works by Alexander are preserved in Arabic translation, these include, On the Principles of the Universe, On Providence, and Against Galen on Motion. On the Soul is a treatise on the soul written along the lines suggested by Aristotle in his own De anima, Alexander contends that the undeveloped reason in man is material and inseparable from the body. He argued strongly against the doctrine of the souls immortality and he identified the active intellect, through whose agency the potential intellect in man becomes actual, with God. A second book is known as the Supplement to On the Soul, the Mantissa is a series of twenty-five separate pieces of which the opening five deal directly with psychology. The remaining twenty pieces cover problems in physics and ethics, of which the largest group deals with questions of vision and light, the Mantissa was probably not written by Alexander in its current form, but much of the actual material may be his. Problems and Solutions consists of three books which, although termed problems and solutions of physical questions, treat of subjects which are not all physical, and are not all problems. Among the sixty-nine items in three books, twenty-four deal with physics, seventeen with psychology, eleven with logic and metaphysics
Alexander of Aphrodisias
–
Opening paragraph of the treatise On Fate (Peri eimarmenes) by Alexander of Aphrodisias dedictaed to Emperors (autokratoras). From an anonymous edition published in 1658.
Alexander of Aphrodisias
–
Commentaria in Analytica priora Aristotelis, 1549
Alexander of Aphrodisias
–
Andrea Briosco, Aristotle and Alexander of Aphrodisias, 16th century
plaquette,
Bode-Museum
23.
Al-Farabi
–
He also lived and taught for some time in Aleppo. Al-Masudi, writing five years after the fact, says that Farabi died in Damascus in Rajab 339. Henry Corbin writes that the evidence supports the common in Iran that al-Farabi was Shiite. Corbin argues that there are similarities between what he calls Farabis prophetic philosophy and the teachings of Shiite Imams. Najjar Fauzi also refers to the point that Al-Farabi may be Shiite because his political philosophy seems to be influenced by Shiite sects, Farabi made contributions to the fields of logic, mathematics, music, philosophy, psychology, and education. Al-Farabi wrote, The Necessity of the Art of the Elixir Though he was mainly an Aristotelian logician and he discussed the topics of future contingents, the number and relation of the categories, the relation between logic and grammar, and non-Aristotelian forms of inference. He is also credited with categorizing logic into two groups, the first being idea and the second being proof. Al-Farabi also considered the theories of conditional syllogisms and analogical inference, another addition al-Farabi made to the Aristotelian tradition was his introduction of the concept of poetic syllogism in a commentary on Aristotles Poetics. Al-Farabi wrote a book on music titled Kitab al-Musiqa, in it, he presents philosophical principles about music, its cosmic qualities, and its influences. He also wrote a treatise on the Meanings of the Intellect, as a philosopher, Al-Farabi was a founder of his own school of early Islamic philosophy known as Farabism or Alfarabism, though it was later overshadowed by Avicennism. His Neoplatonic theology is more than just metaphysics as rhetoric. In his attempt to think through the nature of a First Cause, Al-Farabi had great influence on science and philosophy for several centuries, and was widely considered second only to Aristotle in knowledge in his time. His work, aimed at synthesis of philosophy and Sufism, paved the way for the work of Ibn Sina, Al-Farabi also wrote a commentary on Aristotles work, and one of his most notable works is Al-Madina al-Fadila where he theorized an ideal state as in Platos The Republic. Al-Farabi represented religion as a rendering of truth, and, like Plato. Al-Farabi wrote a short treatise On Vacuum, where he thought about the nature of the existence of void and he may have carried out the first experiments concerning the existence of vacuum, in which he investigated handheld plungers in water. He concluded that airs volume can expand to fill available space, wrote Social Psychology and Principles of the Opinions of the Citizens of the Virtuous City, which were the first treatises to deal with social psychology. He concluded that to achieve what he can of that perfection, every man needs to stay in the neighborhood of others, the main influence on al-Farabis philosophy was the neo-Aristotelian tradition of Alexandria. A prolific writer, he is credited with one hundred works
Al-Farabi
–
Muslim scholar Abū Naṣr Muḥammad ibn Muḥammad Fārābī
Al-Farabi
–
An Iranian stamp bearing an illustration of Al-Farabi's imagined face
Al-Farabi
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Al-Farabi on the currency of the
Republic of Kazakhstan
Al-Farabi
–
Latin translation of Kitab ihsa' al-'ulum (In English, "An Encyclopedia of the Sciences") by
Gerard of Cremona
24.
Siger de Brabant
–
Siger of Brabant was a 13th-century philosopher from the southern Low Countries who was an important proponent of Averroism. Little is known about many of the details of his life, the papal legate threatened Siger with execution as the ringleader of the Picard attack on the French, but no further action was taken. In the ten years following the riot, he wrote the six works which are ascribed to him and were published under his name by Pierre Mandonnet in 1899, the minority among the nations chose him as rector in opposition to the elected candidate, Aubri de Rheims. For three years the strife continued, and was based on the opposition between the Averroists, Siger and Pierre Dubois, and the more orthodox schoolmen. The matter was settled by the Papal Legate, Simon de Brion, Siger retired from Paris to Liège. Siger was accused of teaching double truth—that is, saying one thing could be true through reason, because Siger was a scholastic, he probably did not teach double truths but tried to find reconciliations between faith and reason. In 1277, a condemnation of Aristotelianism included a special clause directed against Boetius of Dacia. Again Siger and Bernier de Nivelles were summoned to appear on a charge of heresy, especially in connection with the Impossibilia and it appears, however, that Siger and Boetius fled to Italy and, according to John Peckham, archbishop of Canterbury, then perished miserably. The manner of Sigers death, which occurred at Orvieto, is not known, a Brabantine chronicle says that he was stabbed by an insane secretary. The secretary is said to have used a pen as the weapon and his critics claimed since he had done so much damage with his pen. Dante, in the Paradiso, says that he found death slow in coming, a 13th-century sonnet by one Durante says that he was executed at Orvieto, a ghiado it fe morire a gran dolore, Nella corte di Roma ad Orbivieto. The date of this may have been 1283-1284 when Pope Martin IV was in residence at Orvieto and his fellow radicals were lying low in the face of the Condemnations of 1277 and there was no investigation into his murder. In politics he held that laws were better than good rulers. The importance of Siger in philosophy lies in his acceptance of Averroism in its entirety, in December 1270, Averroism was condemned by ecclesiastical authority, and during his whole life Siger was exposed to persecution both from the Church and from purely philosophic opponents. In view of this, it is curious that Dante should place him in Paradise at the side of Aquinas, probably Dante knew of him only from the chronicler than as a persecuted philosopher. In Dante Alighieris The Divine Comedy, Siger of Brabant is found in the Fourth Sphere of Paradise for being an example of Prudence, Justice, temperance. Averroes University of Paris On the Eternity of the World, trans, lottie H. Kendzierski Hissette, R. Enquête sur les 219 articles condamnés à Paris le 7 mars,1277, Louvain, Publications Universitaires, Paris, Vander-Oyez. Mandonnet, P. Siger de Brabant et l’averroïsme latin au XIIIe siècle, Les Philosophes Belges VI-VII, Louvain, rubenstein, Richard E. Aristotles Children, How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages
Siger de Brabant
–
Dante and
Beatrice in Paradise. Siger of Brabant is depicted with red cloak, top right (MS Thott 411.2, 15th century).
25.
Thomas Aquinas
–
Saint Thomas Aquinas O. P. was an Italian Dominican friar, Catholic priest, and Doctor of the Church. He was an influential philosopher, theologian, and jurist in the tradition of scholasticism, within which he is also known as the Doctor Angelicus. The name Aquinas identifies his ancestral origins in the county of Aquino in present-day Lazio and he was the foremost classical proponent of natural theology and the father of Thomism, of which he argued that reason is found in God. His influence on Western thought is considerable, and much of modern philosophy developed or opposed his ideas, particularly in the areas of ethics, natural law, metaphysics, the works for which he is best known are the Summa Theologiae and the Summa contra Gentiles. His commentaries on Scripture and on Aristotle form an important part of his body of work, furthermore, Thomas is distinguished for his eucharistic hymns, which form a part of the Churchs liturgy. Thomas Aquinas is considered one of the Catholic Churchs greatest theologians, Pope Benedict XV declared, This Order. Acquired new luster when the Church declared the teaching of Thomas to be her own and that Doctor, honored with the praises of the Pontiffs. The English philosopher Anthony Kenny considers Aquinas to be one of the dozen greatest philosophers of the western world, Thomas was most probably born in the castle of Roccasecca, located in Aquino, old county of the Kingdom of Sicily, c.1225. According to some authors, he was born in the castle of his father, though he did not belong to the most powerful branch of the family, Landulf of Aquino was a man of means. As a knight in the service of King Roger II, he held the title miles, Thomass mother, Theodora, belonged to the Rossi branch of the Neapolitan Caracciolo family. Landulfs brother Sinibald was abbot of the first Benedictine monastery at Monte Cassino and it was here that Thomas was probably introduced to Aristotle, Averroes and Maimonides, all of whom would influence his theological philosophy. There his teacher in arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music was Petrus de Ibernia, at the age of nineteen Thomas resolved to join the recently founded Dominican Order. Thomass change of heart did not please his family, in an attempt to prevent Theodoras interference in Thomass choice, the Dominicans arranged to move Thomas to Rome, and from Rome, to Paris. Political concerns prevented the Pope from ordering Thomass release, which had the effect of extending Thomass detention, Thomas passed this time of trial tutoring his sisters and communicating with members of the Dominican Order. Family members became desperate to dissuade Thomas, who remained determined to join the Dominicans, at one point, two of his brothers resorted to the measure of hiring a prostitute to seduce him. According to legend Thomas drove her away wielding a fire iron and that night two angels appeared to him as he slept and strengthened his determination to remain celibate. By 1244, seeing all of her attempts to dissuade Thomas had failed, Theodora sought to save the familys dignity. In her mind, an escape from detention was less damaging than an open surrender to the Dominicans
Thomas Aquinas
–
An altarpiece in
Ascoli Piceno, Italy, by
Carlo Crivelli (15th century)
Thomas Aquinas
–
Detail from
Valle Romita Polyptych by
Gentile da Fabriano (circa 1400)
Thomas Aquinas
–
The Castle of
Monte San Giovanni Campano
Thomas Aquinas
–
Diego Velázquez, Aquinas is girded by angels with a mystical belt of purity after his
proof of chastity
26.
Maimonides
–
In his time, he was also a preeminent astronomer and physician. Born in Cordova, Almoravid Empire on Passover Eve,1135 or 1138, he worked as a rabbi, physician and he died in Egypt on December 12,1204, whence his body was taken to the lower Galilee and buried in Tiberias. Nonetheless, he was acknowledged as among the foremost rabbinical arbiters and philosophers in Jewish history. His fourteen-volume Mishneh Torah still carries significant canonical authority as a codification of Talmudic law and he is sometimes known as ha Nesher ha Gadol in recognition of his outstanding status as a bona fide exponent of the Oral Torah. Aside from being revered by Jewish historians, Maimonides also figures prominently in the history of Islamic. Influenced by Al-Farabi, Avicenna, and his contemporary Averroes, he in his turn influenced other prominent Arab and Muslim philosophers and he became a prominent philosopher and polymath in both the Jewish and Islamic worlds. His full Hebrew name is Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon, whose acronym forms Rambam and his full Arabic name is Abū ʿImrān Mūsā bin Maimūn bin ʿUbaidallāh al-Qurtabī or Mūsā bin Maymūn for short. In Latin, the Hebrew ben becomes the Greek−style suffix -ides to form Moses Maimonides, Maimonides was born in Córdoba during what some scholars consider to be the end of the golden age of Jewish culture in the Iberian Peninsula, after the first centuries of the Moorish rule. At an early age, he developed an interest in sciences and he read those Greek philosophers accessible in Arabic translations, and was deeply immersed in the sciences and learning of Islamic culture. Maimonides was not known as a supporter of mysticism, although a strong type of mysticism has been discerned in his philosophy. He expressed disapproval of poetry, the best of which he declared to be false and this sage, who was revered for his personality as well as for his writings, led a busy life, and wrote many of his works while travelling or in temporary accommodation. Maimonides studied Torah under his father Maimon, who had in turn studied under Rabbi Joseph ibn Migash, a Berber dynasty, the Almohads, conquered Córdoba in 1148, and abolished dhimmi status in some of their territories. The loss of protected status threatened the Jewish and Christian communities with conversion to Islam, death. The historical records of abuses against Jews in the immediate post-1148 period are subject to different interpretations, Maimonidess family, along with most other Jews, chose exile. Some say, though, that it is likely that Maimonides feigned a conversion to Islam before escaping and this forced conversion was ruled legally invalid under Islamic law when brought up by a rival in Egypt. For the next ten years, Maimonides moved about in southern Spain, during this time, he composed his acclaimed commentary on the Mishnah in the years 1166–1168. Following this sojourn in Morocco, together with two sons, he sojourned in the Holy Land, before settling in Fustat, Egypt around 1168, while in Cairo, he studied in a yeshiva attached to a small synagogue. In the Holy Land, he prayed at the Temple Mount and he wrote that this day of visiting the Temple Mount was a day of holiness for him and his descendants
Maimonides
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18th-century portrait of Maimonides
Maimonides
–
Maimonides's house in
Fes, Morocco
Maimonides
–
Monument in
Cordoba
Maimonides
–
Sculpture of Maimonides in the
U.S. House of Representatives.
27.
Spinoza
–
Baruch Spinoza was a Dutch philosopher of Sephardi/Portuguese origin. Spinozas magnum opus, Ethics, was published posthumously in 1677, the work opposed René Descartes philosophy on mind–body dualism, and earned Spinoza recognition as one of Western philosophys most important thinkers. In the Ethics, Spinoza wrote the last indisputable Latin masterpiece, hegel said, You are either a Spinozist or not a philosopher at all. His philosophical accomplishments and moral character prompted 20th-century philosopher Gilles Deleuze to name him the prince of philosophers, Spinozas given name, which means Blessed, varies among different languages. In Hebrew, it is written ברוך שפינוזה, in Portuguese, hes called Benedito Bento de Espinosa and in Latin, Benedictus de Spinoza. Spinoza was raised in a Portuguese Jewish community in Amsterdam and he developed highly controversial ideas regarding the authenticity of the Hebrew Bible and the nature of the Divine. Jewish religious authorities issued a herem against him, causing him to be shunned by Jewish society at age 23. His books were later put on the Catholic Churchs Index of Forbidden Books. Spinoza lived a simple life as a lens grinder, turning down rewards and honours throughout his life. He died at the age of 44 allegedly of a lung illness and he is buried in the churchyard of the Christian Nieuwe Kerk in The Hague. The Spinoza family probably had its origins in Espinosa de los Monteros, near Burgos, or in Espinosa de Cerrato, near Palencia, the family was expelled from Spain in 1492 and fled to Portugal. Portugal compelled them to convert to Catholicism in 1498, attracted by the Decree of Toleration issued in 1579 by the Union of Utrecht, Portuguese conversos first sailed to Amsterdam in 1593 and promptly reconverted to Judaism. In 1598 permission was granted to build a synagogue, and in 1615 an ordinance for the admission, as a community of exiles, the Portuguese Jews of Amsterdam were highly proud of their identity. Spinozas father was born roughly a century after this conversion in the small Portuguese city of Vidigueira. When Spinozas father was still a child, Spinozas grandfather, Isaac de Spinoza and they were expelled in 1615 and moved to Rotterdam, where Isaac died in 1627. Spinozas father, Miguel, and his uncle, Manuel, then moved to Amsterdam where they resumed the practice of Judaism, Miguel was a successful merchant and became a warden of the synagogue and of the Amsterdam Jewish school. He buried three wives and three of his six children died before reaching adulthood, Amsterdam and Rotterdam operated as important cosmopolitan centres where merchant ships from many parts of the world brought people of various customs and beliefs. This flourishing commercial activity encouraged a relatively tolerant of the play of new ideas
Spinoza
–
Baruch Spinoza
Spinoza
–
Spinoza lived where the
Moses and Aaron Church is located now, and there is strong evidence that he may have been born there.
Spinoza
–
Statue of Spinoza, near his house on the Paviljoensgracht in
The Hague.
Spinoza
–
Spinoza's house in
Rijnsburg from 1661 to 1663, now a museum
28.
Arabic script
–
The Arabic script is a writing system used for writing several languages of Asia and Africa, such as Arabic, dialects of Mandinka, Central Kurdish, Luri, Persian, Urdu, Pashto, and others. Until the 16th century, it was used to write some texts in Spanish. It is the second-most widely used writing system in the world by the number of countries using it, the Arabic script is written from right to left in a cursive style. In most cases the letters transcribe consonants, or consonants and a few vowels, the script was first used to write texts in Arabic, most notably the Qurʼān, the holy book of Islam. It is also the basis for the tradition of Arabic calligraphy, the Arabic script has been adopted for use in a wide variety of languages besides Arabic, including Persian, Malay and Urdu which are not Semitic. Such adaptations may feature altered or new characters to represent phonemes that do not appear in Arabic phonology, the modified version of the Arabic script originally devised for use with Persian is known as the Perso-Arabic script by scholars. In the cases of Bosnian, Kurdish, Kashmiri, and Uyghur writing systems, the Arabic script can therefore be used in both abugida and abjad, although it is often strongly, erroneously connected to the latter. Use of the Arabic script in West African languages, especially in the Sahel, to a certain degree the style and usage tends to follow those of the Maghreb. Additional diacritics have come into use to facilitate writing of sounds not represented in the Arabic language, the term ʻAjamī, which comes from the Arabic root for foreign, has been applied to Arabic-based orthographies of African languages. There is evidence that writing Arabic in this set of letters influenced the style of modern Arabic script. After this initial period, Garshuni writing has continued to the present day among some Syriac Christian communities in the Arabic-speaking regions of the Levant, Kazakh in China Kurdish in Northern Iraq and Northwest Iran. It is mainly used in Sri Lanka and the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu for religious purposes, arwi language is the language of Tamil Nadu Muslims. Malayalam language represented by Arabic script variant is known as Arabi Malayalam, the script has particular letters to represent the peculiar sounds of Malayalam. This script is used in madrasas of the South Indian state of Kerala. It is similar to Chittagonian language in neighboring Bangladesh and sometimes using the Roman script. Malay in the Arabic script known as Jawi, in some cases it can be seen in the signboards of shops or market stalls. In addition, some television programming uses Jawi, such as announcements, advertisements, news, social programs, Berber languages have often been written in an adaptation of the Arabic alphabet. The use of the Arabic alphabet, as well as the competing Latin, West Africa Zarma language of the Songhay family
Arabic script
–
Basic Arabic alphabet
Arabic script
–
Calligraphy
29.
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Specials is a short Unicode block allocated at the very end of the Basic Multilingual Plane, at U+FFF0–FFFF. Of these 16 codepoints, five are assigned as of Unicode 9, U+FFFD � REPLACEMENT CHARACTER used to replace an unknown, unrecognized or unrepresentable character U+FFFE <noncharacter-FFFE> not a character. FFFE and FFFF are not unassigned in the sense. They can be used to guess a texts encoding scheme, since any text containing these is by not a correctly encoded Unicode text. The replacement character � is a found in the Unicode standard at codepoint U+FFFD in the Specials table. It is used to indicate problems when a system is unable to render a stream of data to a correct symbol and it is usually seen when the data is invalid and does not match any character, Consider a text file containing the German word für in the ISO-8859-1 encoding. This file is now opened with an editor that assumes the input is UTF-8. The first and last byte are valid UTF-8 encodings of ASCII, therefore, a text editor could replace this byte with the replacement character symbol to produce a valid string of Unicode code points. The whole string now displays like this, f�r, a poorly implemented text editor might save the replacement in UTF-8 form, the text file data will then look like this, 0x66 0xEF 0xBF 0xBD 0x72, which will be displayed in ISO-8859-1 as f�r. Since the replacement is the same for all errors this makes it impossible to recover the original character, a better design is to preserve the original bytes, including the error, and only convert to the replacement when displaying the text. This will allow the text editor to save the original byte sequence and it has become increasingly common for software to interpret invalid UTF-8 by guessing the bytes are in another byte-based encoding such as ISO-8859-1. This allows correct display of both valid and invalid UTF-8 pasted together, Unicode control characters UTF-8 Mojibake Unicodes Specials table Decodeunicodes entry for the replacement character
Specials (Unicode block)
–
Replacement character
30.
Arabic language
–
Arabic is a Central Semitic language that was first spoken in Iron Age northwestern Arabia and is now the lingua franca of the Arab world. Arabic is also the language of 1.7 billion Muslims. It is one of six languages of the United Nations. The modern written language is derived from the language of the Quran and it is widely taught in schools and universities, and is used to varying degrees in workplaces, government, and the media. The two formal varieties are grouped together as Literary Arabic, which is the language of 26 states. Modern Standard Arabic largely follows the standards of Quranic Arabic. Much of the new vocabulary is used to denote concepts that have arisen in the post-Quranic era, Arabic has influenced many languages around the globe throughout its history. During the Middle Ages, Literary Arabic was a vehicle of culture in Europe, especially in science, mathematics. As a result, many European languages have borrowed many words from it. Many words of Arabic origin are found in ancient languages like Latin. Balkan languages, including Greek, have acquired a significant number of Arabic words through contact with Ottoman Turkish. Arabic has also borrowed words from languages including Greek and Persian in medieval times. Arabic is a Central Semitic language, closely related to the Northwest Semitic languages, the Ancient South Arabian languages, the Semitic languages changed a great deal between Proto-Semitic and the establishment of the Central Semitic languages, particularly in grammar. Innovations of the Central Semitic languages—all maintained in Arabic—include, The conversion of the suffix-conjugated stative formation into a past tense, the conversion of the prefix-conjugated preterite-tense formation into a present tense. The elimination of other prefix-conjugated mood/aspect forms in favor of new moods formed by endings attached to the prefix-conjugation forms, the development of an internal passive. These features are evidence of descent from a hypothetical ancestor. In the southwest, various Central Semitic languages both belonging to and outside of the Ancient South Arabian family were spoken and it is also believed that the ancestors of the Modern South Arabian languages were also spoken in southern Arabia at this time. To the north, in the oases of northern Hijaz, Dadanitic and Taymanitic held some prestige as inscriptional languages, in Najd and parts of western Arabia, a language known to scholars as Thamudic C is attested
Arabic language
–
The Galland Manuscript of
One Thousand and One Nights, 14th century
Arabic language
–
al-ʿArabiyyah in written Arabic (
Naskh script)
Arabic language
–
Bilingual traffic sign in
Qatar.
Arabic language
–
Examples of how the Arabic root and form system works.
31.
Latinization of names
–
Latinisation is the practice of rendering a non-Latin name in a Latin style. It is commonly found with personal names, with toponyms. It goes further than romanisation, which is the transliteration of a word to the Latin alphabet from another script and this was often done in the classical era for much the same reason as English-speaking cultures produce English versions of some foreign names. In the case of names in the post-Roman era this may be done to emulate Latin authors. In a scientific context, the purpose of Latinisation may be to produce a name which is internationally consistent. Humanist names, assumed by Renaissance humanists, were very largely Latinised names, Latinisation in humanist names may consist of translation from vernacular European languages, sometimes involving a playful element of punning. Such names could be a cover for social origins. Latinisation is a practice for scientific names. For example, Livistona, the name of a genus of trees, is a Latinisation of Livingstone. In English, place names appear in Latinised form. This is a result of many text books mentioning the places being written in Latin. Because of this, the English language often uses Latinised forms of place names instead of anglicised forms or the original names. Examples of Latinised names for countries or regions are, Estonia Ingria Livonia During the age of the Roman Empire, additionally, Latinised versions of Greek substantives, particularly proper nouns, could easily be declined by Latin speakers with minimal modification of the original word. During the medieval period, following the collapse of the Empire in Western Europe, in the early medieval period, most European scholars were priests and most educated people spoke Latin, and as a result, Latin became firmly established as the scholarly language for the West. Though during modern times Europe has largely abandoned Latin as a scholarly language, by tradition, it is still common in some fields to name new discoveries in Latin. Romanization, conversion of a text in Latin letters Nicolson, Dan H, orthography of Names and Epithets, Latinization of Personal Names
Latinization of names
–
Frontispiece of a 1743 legal text by
Barnabé Brisson shows his name Latinised in the genitive Barnabae Brissonii (‘of Barnabas Brissonius ’)
32.
Polymath
–
A polymath is a person whose expertise spans a significant number of different subject areas, such a person is known to draw on complex bodies of knowledge to solve specific problems. The term was first used in the 17th century, the related term, the term is often used to describe great thinkers of the Renaissance and the Enlightenment who excelled at several fields in science and the arts. In the Italian Renaissance, the idea of the polymath was expressed by Leon Battista Alberti and this term entered the lexicon during the twentieth century and has now been applied to great thinkers living before and after the Renaissance. Renaissance man was first recorded in written English in the early 20th century and it is now used to refer to great thinkers living before, during, or after the Renaissance. Leonardo da Vinci has often described as the archetype of the Renaissance man. These polymaths had an approach to education that reflected the ideals of the humanists of the time. A gentleman or courtier of that era was expected to speak several languages, play an instrument, write poetry. The idea of an education was essential to achieving polymath ability. At this time, universities did not specialize in specific areas but rather trained students in an array of science, philosophy. This universal education gave them a grounding from which they could continue into apprenticeship toward becoming a master of a specific field, aside from Renaissance man as mentioned above, similar terms in use are Homo Universalis and Uomo Universale, which translate to universal person or universal man. The related term generalist—contrasted with a used to describe a person with a general approach to knowledge. The term Universal Genius or Versatile Genius is also used, with Leonardo da Vinci as the prime example again. The term seems to be used especially when a person has made lasting contributions in at least one of the fields in which he was involved. When a person is described as having knowledge, they exhibit a vast scope of knowledge. This designation may be anachronistic, however, in the case of such as Eratosthenes whose reputation for having encyclopedic knowledge predates the existence of any encyclopedic object. One whose accomplishments are limited to athletics would not be considered a polymath in the sense of the word. An example is Howard Baker, who was called a sporting polymath by the Encyclopedia of British Football for winning high jump titles and playing cricket, football, many polymaths from across the centuries have their roots in medical applications. One of the well known polymaths, Leonardo da Vinci, was known for his immense interest in human anatomical structure
Polymath
–
Leonardo da Vinci, a polymath of the
Renaissance era.
Polymath
–
Abū Rayḥān al-Bīrūnī was a notable Persian polymath.
Polymath
–
Galileo was one of the most influential polymaths.
Polymath
–
Medieval German polymath
Hildegard of Bingen, shown dictating to her scribe in an illumination from
Liber Scivias
33.
Logic in Islamic philosophy
–
Logic plays an important role in Islamic philosophy. The works of Hellenistic-influenced Islamic philosophers were crucial in the reception of Aristotelian logic in medieval Europe, in the area of formal logical analysis, they elaborated upon the theory of terms, propositions and syllogisms as formulated in Aristotles Categories, De interpretatione and Prior Analytics. In the spirit of Aristotle, they considered the syllogism to be the form to all rational argumentation could be reduced. Even poetics was considered as an art in some fashion by most of the major Islamic Aristotelians. Important developments made by Muslim logicians included the development of Avicennian logic as a replacement of Aristotelian logic, avicennas system of logic was responsible for the introduction of hypothetical syllogism, temporal modal logic and inductive logic. On the other hand, al-Ghazali argued that Qiyas refers to analogical reasoning in a real sense, other Islamic scholars at the time, however, argued that the term Qiyas refers to both analogical reasoning and categorical syllogism in a real sense. The first original Arabic writings on logic were produced by al-Kindi and he is also credited for categorizing logic into two separate groups, the first being idea and the second being proof. Averroes was the last major logician from al-Andalus, who wrote the most elaborate commentaries on Aristotelian logic, Avicenna developed his own system of logic known as Avicennian logic as an alternative to Aristotelian logic. By the 12th century, Avicennian logic had replaced Aristotelian logic as the dominant system of logic in the Islamic world, the first criticisms of Aristotelian logic were written by Avicenna, who produced independent treatises on logic rather than commentaries. He criticized the school of Baghdad for their devotion to Aristotle at the time. He investigated the theory of definition and classification and the quantification of the predicates of categorical propositions and its premises included modifiers such as at all times, at most times, and at some time. While Avicenna often relied on deductive reasoning in philosophy, he used a different approach in medicine, ibn Sina contributed inventively to the development of inductive logic, which he used to pioneer the idea of a syndrome. In his medical writings, Avicenna was the first to describe the methods of agreement, difference and concomitant variation which are critical to inductive logic, ibn Hazm wrote the Scope of Logic, in which he stressed on the importance of sense perception as a source of knowledge. Al-Ghazali had an important influence on the use of logic in theology, fakhr al-Din al-Razi criticised Aristotles first figure and developed a form of inductive logic, foreshadowing the system of inductive logic developed by John Stuart Mill. Islamic philosophy History of logic Rescher, Nicholas 1964, studies in the History of Arabic Logic, Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Press. In, Gabbay, Dov & Woods, John, Greek, Indian and Arabic Logic, Volume I of the Handbook of the History of Logic, Amsterdam, Elsevier, pp. 523–596
Logic in Islamic philosophy
–
A drawing of Avicenna from 1271
34.
Maliki
–
The Mālikī madhhab is one of the four major schools of Fiqh or religious law within Sunni Islam. It was founded by Malik ibn Anas in the 8th century, the Maliki school of jurisprudence relies on the Quran and hadiths as primary sources. Unlike other Islamic fiqhs, Maliki fiqh also considers the consensus of the people of Medina to be a source of Islamic law. The Maliki madhhab is one of the largest group of Sunni Muslims, comparable to the Shafii madhhab in adherents, but smaller than the Hanafi madhhab. Sharia based on Maliki doctrine is found in North Africa, West Africa, Chad, Sudan, Kuwait, Bahrain, the Emirate of Dubai. In the medieval era, the Maliki school was found in parts of Europe under Islamic rule, particularly Islamic Spain. A major historical center of Maliki teaching, from the 9th to 11th centuries, was in the Mosque of Uqba of Tunisia and it was eventually the Hanafi school, however, that earned official government favor from the Abbasids. The Malikis enjoyed considerably more success in Africa, and for a while in Spain and this dominance in Spanish Andalus from the Umayyads up to the Almoravids continued, with Islamic law in the region dominated by the opinions of Malik and his students. The Sunnah and Hadith, or prophetic tradition in Islam, played roles as Maliki jurists viewed both with suspicion, and few were well versed in either. The Almoravids eventually gave way to the predominantly-Zahiri Almohads, at which point Malikis were tolerated at times, with the Reconquista, the Iberian Peninsula was lost to the Muslims in totality. Although Al-Andalus was eventually lost, the Maliki has been able to retain its dominance throughout North, additionally, the school has traditionally been the preferred school in the small Arab States of the Persian Gulf. While the majority of Saudi Arabia follows Hanbali laws, the countrys Eastern Province has been known as a Maliki stronghold for centuries, the Mālikī school primarily derives from the work of Malik ibn Anas, particularly the Muwatta Imam Malik, also known as Al-Muwatta. The Muwaṭṭa relies on Sahih Hadiths, includes Malik ibn Anas commentary, Mālik included the practices of the people of Medina and where the practices are in compliance with or in variance with the hadiths reported. This is because Mālik regarded the practices of Medina to be a proof of the living sunnah than isolated, although sound. Mālik was particularly scrupulous about authenticating his sources when he did appeal to them, however, the second source, the Mudawwanah, is the collaborator work of Māliks longtime student, Ibn Qāsim and his mujtahid student, Sahnun. These two books, i. e. Maliki school is most closely related to the Hanafi school, the Maliki school differs from the other Sunni schools of law most notably in the sources it uses for derivation of rulings. Like all Sunni schools of Sharia, the Maliki school uses the Quran as primary source, followed by the sayings, customs/traditions and practices of Muhammad, transmitted as hadiths. In the Mālikī school, said tradition includes not only what was recorded in hadiths, Malik bin Anas himself also accepted binding consensus and analogical reasoning along with the majority of Sunni jurists, though with conditions
Maliki
Maliki
–
The
Great Mosque of Kairouan (also called the Mosque of Uqba or Mosque of Oqba) had the reputation, since the 9th century, of being one of the most important centers of the Maliki school. The
Great Mosque of Kairouan is situated in the city of
Kairouan in
Tunisia.
35.
Madhhab
–
A madhhab is a school of thought within fiqh. In the first 150 years of Islam, there were numerous madhahib, the Amman Message, which was endorsed in 2005 by prominent Islamic scholars around the world, recognized four Sunni schools, two Shia schools, the Ibadi school and the Zahiri school. It has been asserted that madhahib were consolidated in the 9th and 10th centuries as a means of excluding dogmatic theologians, government officials, historians have differed regarding the times at which the various schools emerged. One interpretation is that Sunni Islam was initially split into four groups, the Ottoman Empire later reaffirmed the official status of these four schools as a reaction to Shiite Persia. Some are of the view that Sunni jurisprudence falls into two groups, Ahl al-Rai and Ahl al-Hadith, 10th century Shiite scholar Ibn al-Nadim named eight groups, Maliki, Hanafi, Shafii, Zahiri, Imami Shiite, Ahl al-Hadith, Jariri and Kharijite. In the 12th century Jariri and Zahiri schools were absorbed by the Shafii school, while such descriptions were almost assuredly humorous in nature, ancient differences were less to do with actual doctrinal opinions than with maneuvering for adherents and influence. It is usually assumed that no regional school developed in Egypt, joseph Schacht states that the legal milieu of Fustat was a branch of the Medinan school of law. Such a procedure was common under the early Umayyads, but by the early Abbasid period it had disappeared in Iraq. Up until the end of the 8th century, the qadis of Fustat were still using this Medinan procedure, from a doctrinal point of view, however, the legal affiliation of Egypt could be more complex. The principal Egyptian jurist in the half of the 8th century is al-Layth b. The only writing of his that has survived is a letter he wrote to Malik b, Anas, which has been preserved by Yahya b. In this letter, he proclaims his theoretical affiliation to the Medinan methodology, nevertheless, he distances himself from the Medinan School by opposing a series of Medinan legal views. He maintains that the practice in other cities is also valuable. Thus it is possible that, even though it did not develop into a school of law. Generally, Sunnis have a single preferred madhhab from region to region, experts and scholars of fiqh follow the usul of their own native madhhab, but they also study the usul, evidences, and opinions of other madhahib. Sunni schools of jurisprudence are each named after the classical jurist who taught them, the four primary Sunni schools are the Hanafi, Shafii, Maliki and Hanbali rites. The Zahiri school remains in existence but outside of the mainstream, while the Jariri, Laythi, Awzai and Thawri have become extinct. The extant schools share most of their rulings, but differ on the practices which they may accept as authentic
Madhhab
–
Some regions have a dominant or official madh'hab; others recognize a variety.
36.
Fiqh
–
Figuratively, fiqh means, knowledge about Islamic legal rulings from their sources. He must look deep down into a matter and not suffice himself with just the apparent meaning, a person who only knows the appearance of a matter is not a faqīh. Conceptually, the attempt to understand divine law. Whereas shariah is immutable and infallible, fiqh is fallible and changeable, fiqh is distinguished from usul al-fiqh, the methods of legal interpretation and analysis. Fiqh is the product of application of usul al-fiqh, the product of human efforts at understanding the divine will. A hukm is a ruling in a given case. Fiqh deals with the observance of rituals, morals and social legislation in Islam, in the modern era, there are four prominent schools of fiqh within Sunni practice, plus two within Shia practice. A person trained in fiqh is known as a Faqih, the word fiqh is an Arabic term meaning deep understanding or full comprehension. Technically it refers to the body of Islamic law extracted from detailed Islamic sources and this definition is consistent amongst the jurists. In Modern Standard Arabic, fiqh has come to mean jurisprudence in general and it is separated in Sunni, shia and others. Qiyas, i. e. analogy which is deployed if Ijma or historic collective reasoning on the issue is not available. For example, the Quran states one needs to engage in prayers and fast during the month of Ramadan. Details about these issues can be found in the traditions of Muhammad, so Quran, some topics are without precedent in Islams early period. In those cases, Muslim jurists try to arrive at conclusions by other means, Sunni jurists use historical consensus of the community, a majority in the modern era also use analogy and weigh the harms and benefits of new topics, and a plurality utilizes juristic preference. The conclusions arrived at with the aid of additional tools constitute a wider array of laws than the Sharia consists of. Thus, in contrast to the sharia, fiqh is not regarded as sacred and this division of interpretation in more detailed issues has resulted in different schools of thought. This wider concept of Islamic jurisprudence is the source of a range of laws in different topics that guide Muslims in everyday life, Islamic jurisprudence covers two main areas, Rules in relation to actions, and, Rules in relation to circumstances surrounding actions. The Sunni schools are Hanafi Maliki Shafii Hanbali see Wahhabism Zahiri Qurtubi No longer exists Laythi No longer exists, the schools of Shia Islam comprise, Jafari Zaydi Entirely separate from both the Sunni and Shia traditions, Khawarij Islam has evolved its own distinct school
Fiqh
–
Legal systems of the world
Fiqh
–
Green Dome and Prophet's Mosque at sunset.
37.
Psychology in medieval Islam
–
Concepts from medieval Islamic thought have been reexamined by Muslim psychologists and scholars in the 20th and 21st centuries. In the writings of Muslim scholars, the term Nafs was used to denote individual personality, Nafs encompassed a broad range of faculties including the qalb, the ruh, the aql and irada. Muslim scholarship was influenced by Greek and Indian philosophy as well as by the study of scripture. In medieval Islamic medicine in particular, the study of mental illness was a speciality of its own, the Classical Arabic term for the mentally ill was majnoon which is derived from the term Janna, which means covered. It was originally thought that mentally ill individuals could not differentiate between the real and the unreal, in the Islamic world, special legal protections were given to the mentally ill. As chief physician of Baghdad hospital, he was also the director of one of the first psychiatric wards in the world, two of his works in particular, El-Mansuri and Al-Hawi, provide descriptions and treatments for mental illnesses. He was a pioneer in the field of medicine, linking changes in mental state to changes in the body. The Golden Age of Islam was unique in that treatment of mental disorders was carried out in hospitals. Psychiatric hospitals were constructed in Baghdad in 705 and Cairo in 805, medicine would be prescribed in order to re-balance the four humors of the body, an imbalance of which might result in psychosis. Insomnia, for example, was thought to result from excessive amounts of the dry humors which could be remedied by the use of humectants. 1007/s10943-004-4302-z Plott, C. Global History of Philosophy, The Period of Scholasticism, Motilal Banarsidass, ISBN 81-208-0551-8 Youssef, Hanafy A. Youssef, Fatma A. Dening, T. R. Evidence for the existence of schizophrenia in medieval Islamic society, History of Psychiatry,7, 55–62, doi,10. 1177/0957154X9600702503, PMID11609215
Psychology in medieval Islam
–
A medical work by
Ibn al-Nafis, who corrected some of the erroneous theories of
Galen and
Avicenna on the anatomy of the brain [
citation needed].
38.
Geography in medieval Islam
–
Medieval Islamic geography was based on Hellenistic geography and reached its apex with Muhammad al-Idrisi in the 12th century. After its beginnings in the 8th century based on Hellenistic geography, various Islamic scholars contributed to its development, and the most notable include Al-Khwārizmī, Abū Zayd al-Balkhī, and Abu Rayhan Biruni. Islamic cartographers inherited Ptolemys Almagest and Geography in the 9th century and these works stimulated an interest in geography but were not slavishly followed. Having received Greek writings directly and without Latin intermediation, Arabian and Persian geographers made no use of European-style T-O maps, muslim scientists made many of their own contributions to geography and the earth sciences. In the 11th century, the Uyghur scholar Mahmud al-Kashgari was the first to draw a map of the Turkic peoples of Central Asia. These medieval developments influenced Chinese geography under the Mongol Empire and they also provided the underpinnings of the cartographic work of the Ottoman cartographer Piri Reis. History of geography History of cartography Notes Citations Bibliography How Greek Science Passed to the Arabs by De Lacy OLeary Islamic Geography in the Middle Ages
Geography in medieval Islam
–
Al-Masudi's world map
Geography in medieval Islam
–
The 15th-century Korean
Kangnido Map, based on a Japanese copy of a
Chinese original
Geography in medieval Islam
–
10th century map of the World by
Ibn Hawqal.
Geography in medieval Islam
–
Map from
Mahmud al-Kashgari 's Diwan (11th century)
39.
Mathematics in medieval Islam
–
Mathematics during the Golden Age of Islam, especially during the 9th and 10th centuries, was built on Greek mathematics and Indian mathematics. Arabic works also played an important role in the transmission of mathematics to Europe during the 10th to 12th centuries, the study of algebra, the name of which is derived from the Arabic word meaning completion or reunion of broken parts, flourished during the Islamic golden age. Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi, a scholar in the House of Wisdom in Baghdad, is along with the Greek mathematician Diophantus, known as the father of algebra. In his book The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing, Al-Khwarizmi deals with ways to solve for the roots of first. He also introduces the method of reduction, and unlike Diophantus, Al-Khwarizmis algebra was rhetorical, which means that the equations were written out in full sentences. This was unlike the work of Diophantus, which was syncopated. The transition to symbolic algebra, where symbols are used, can be seen in the work of Ibn al-Banna al-Marrakushi. It is important to understand just how significant this new idea was and it was a revolutionary move away from the Greek concept of mathematics which was essentially geometry. Algebra was a theory which allowed rational numbers, irrational numbers, geometrical magnitudes. It gave mathematics a whole new development path so much broader in concept to that which had existed before, another important aspect of the introduction of algebraic ideas was that it allowed mathematics to be applied to itself in a way which had not happened before. Several other mathematicians during this time expanded on the algebra of Al-Khwarizmi. Omar Khayyam, along with Sharaf al-Dīn al-Tūsī, found several solutions of the cubic equation, omar Khayyam found the general geometric solution of a cubic equation. Omar Khayyám wrote the Treatise on Demonstration of Problems of Algebra containing the solution of cubic or third-order equations. Khayyám obtained the solutions of equations by finding the intersection points of two conic sections. This method had used by the Greeks, but they did not generalize the method to cover all equations with positive roots. Sharaf al-Dīn al-Ṭūsī developed an approach to the investigation of cubic equations—an approach which entailed finding the point at which a cubic polynomial obtains its maximum value. His surviving works give no indication of how he discovered his formulae for the maxima of these curves, various conjectures have been proposed to account for his discovery of them. The earliest implicit traces of mathematical induction can be found in Euclids proof that the number of primes is infinite, the first explicit formulation of the principle of induction was given by Pascal in his Traité du triangle arithmétique
Mathematics in medieval Islam
–
A page from the
The Compendious Book on Calculation by Completion and Balancing by
Al-Khwarizmi.
Mathematics in medieval Islam
–
Engraving of
Abū Sahl al-Qūhī 's perfect compass to draw conic sections.
Mathematics in medieval Islam
–
The
theorem of Ibn Haytham.
40.
Science in medieval Islam
–
Science in the medieval Islamic world was the science developed and practised during the Islamic Golden Age under the Abbasid Caliphate. Islamic scientific achievements encompassed a range of subject areas, especially astronomy, mathematics. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included alchemy and chemistry, botany, geography and cartography, ophthalmology, pharmacology, physics, in the 8th century, scholars had translated Indian, Assyrian, Sassanian and Greek knowledge, including the works of Aristotle, into Arabic. These translations became a wellspring for advances by scientists from Muslim-ruled areas during the Middle Ages, major religious and cultural works of the empire were translated into Arabic. The culture inherited Greek, Indic, Assyrian and Persian influences, an era of high culture and innovation ensued. Islamic scientific achievements encompass a range of subject areas, especially mathematics, astronomy. Other subjects of scientific inquiry included physics, alchemy and chemistry, ophthalmology, alchemists supposed that gold was the noblest metal, and that other metals formed a series down to the basest, such as lead. They believed, too, that an element, the elixir. Jabir ibn Hayyan wrote on alchemy, based on his own experiments and he described laboratory techniques and experimental methods that would continue to be used when alchemy had transformed into chemistry. Ibn Hayyan identified many substances including sulfuric and nitric acids and he described processes including sublimation, reduction and distillation. He utilized equipment such as the alembic and the retort stand, there is considerable uncertainty as to the actual provenance of many works that are ascribed to him. Astronomy was one of the disciplines within Islamic science. Al-Battani accurately determined the length of the solar year and he contributed to numeric tables, such as the Tables of Toledo, used by astronomers to predict the movements of the sun, moon and planets across the sky. Some of his tables were later used by Copernicus. Al-Zarqali developed a more accurate astrolabe, used for centuries afterwards and he constructed a water clock in Toledo. He discovered that the Suns apogee moves slowly relative to the fixed stars, nasir al-Din al-Tusi wrote an important revision to Ptolemys celestial model. When he became Helagus astrologer, he was given an observatory and gained access to Chinese techniques and he developed trigonometry as a separate field, and compiled the most accurate astronomical tables available up to that time. The study of the world extended to a detailed examination of plants
Science in medieval Islam
Science in medieval Islam
–
Illustration of medieval Islamic scholars
Science in medieval Islam
–
The eye according to Hunain ibn Ishaq. From a manuscript dated circa 1200.
Science in medieval Islam
–
A page from al-Khwārizmī's Algebra
41.
Medicine in medieval Islam
–
Islamic medicine preserved, systematized and developed the medical knowledge of classical antiquity. During the post-classical era, Islamic medicine was the most advanced in the world, integrating concepts of the ancient Greek, many aspects of their writings are still worth reading even today, and their memory is held in high respect by the physicians of today. Medicine was a part of medieval Islamic culture. The works of ancient Greek and Roman physicians Hippocrates, Galen, ophthalmology has been described as the most successful branch of medicine researched at the time, with the works of Ibn Al-Haitham remaining an authority in the field until early modern times. Early on, the study and practice of medicine was understood as an act of piety, founded on the principles of Imaan and Tawakkul. Muhammads opinions on issues, and habits with regard to leading a healthy life, were collected early on. Anas writes about two physicians who had treated him by cauterization and mentions that the wanted to avoid this treatment and had asked for alternative treatments. Later on, there are reports of the caliph ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān fixing his teeth with a made of gold. He also mentions that the habit of cleaning ones teeth with a wooden toothpick dates back to pre-islamic times. The Prophetic medicine was mentioned by the classical authors of Islamic medicine. In his Kitab as-Ṣaidana from the 10. /11, century, Al-Biruni refers to collected poems and other works dealing with, and commenting on, the materia medica of the old Arabs. The most famous physician was Al-Ḥariṯ ben-Kalada aṯ-Ṯaqafī, who lived at the time as the prophet. He is supposed to have been in touch with the Academy of Gondishapur and he reportedly had a conversation once with Khosrow I Anushirvan about medical topics. The translation of the capital of the emerging Islamic world to Damascus may have facilitated this contact, the names of two Christian physicians are known, Ibn Aṯāl worked at the court of Muawiyah I, the founder of the Umayyad dynasty. The caliph abused his knowledge in order to get rid of some of his enemies by way of poisoning, likewise, Abu l-Ḥakam, who was responsible for the preparation of drugs, was employed by Muawiah. His son, grandson, and great-grandson were also serving the Umayyad and these sources testify to the fact that the physicians of the emerging islamic society were familiar with the classical medical traditions already at the times of the Umayyads. The medical knowledge likely arrived from Alexandria, and was transferred by Syrian scholars, or translators. Very few sources provide information about how the expanding Islamic society received any medical knowledge, a physician called Abdalmalik ben Abgar al-Kinānī from Kufa in Iraq is supposed to have worked at the medical school of Alexandria before he joined ʿUmar ibn ʿAbd al-ʿAzīzs court
Medicine in medieval Islam
–
A
Latin copy of the Canon of Medicine, dated 1484, located at the P.I. Nixon Medical Historical Library of The
University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio.
Medicine in medieval Islam
–
A manuscript of
Al-Risalah al-Dhahabiah by
Ali al-Ridha, the eighth Imam of
Shia Muslims. The text says:"Golden dissertation in medicine which is sent by Imam Ali ibn Musa al-Ridha, peace be upon him, to
al-Ma'mun.
Medicine in medieval Islam
–
An illustration by Arthur Rackham from the 1001 Nights depicting medieval physicians.
Medicine in medieval Islam
–
East Asian
42.
Astronomy in medieval Islam
–
Islamic astronomy comprises the astronomical developments made in the Islamic world, particularly during the Islamic Golden Age, and mostly written in the Arabic language. These developments mostly took place in the Middle East, Central Asia, Al-Andalus, and North Africa and these included Greek, Sassanid, and Indian works in particular, which were translated and built upon. Islamic astronomy also had an influence on Chinese astronomy and Malian astronomy, a significant number of stars in the sky, such as Aldebaran, Altair and Deneb, and astronomical terms such as alidade, azimuth, and nadir, are still referred to by their Arabic names. A large corpus of literature from Islamic astronomy remains today, numbering approximately 10,000 manuscripts scattered throughout the world, even so, a reasonably accurate picture of Islamic activity in the field of astronomy can be reconstructed. These observations were based on the rising and setting of stars. Anwa continued to be developed after Islamization by the Arabs, where Islamic astronomers added mathematical methods to their empirical observations, according to David King, after the rise of Islam, the religious obligation to determine the qibla and prayer times inspired more progress in astronomy for centuries. The first astronomical texts that were translated into Arabic were of Indian and Persian origin, another text translated was the Zij al-Shah, a collection of astronomical tables compiled in Sasanid Persia over two centuries. Fragments of texts during this period indicate that Arabs adopted the function in place of the chords of arc used in Greek trigonometry. The House of Wisdom was an established in Baghdad under Abbasid caliph Al-Mamun in the early 9th century. From this time, independent investigation into the Ptolemaic system became possible, Astronomical research was greatly supported by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun through The House of Wisdom. Baghdad and Damascus became the centers of such activity, the caliphs not only supported this work financially, but endowed the work with formal prestige. The first major Muslim work of astronomy was Zij al-Sindh by al-Khwarizmi in 830, the work contains tables for the movements of the sun, the moon and the five planets known at the time. The work is significant as it introduced Ptolemaic concepts into Islamic sciences and this work also marks the turning point in Islamic astronomy. Hitherto, Muslim astronomers had adopted a primarily research approach to the field, translating works of others, al-Khwarizmis work marked the beginning of nontraditional methods of study and calculations. In 850, al-Farghani wrote Kitab fi Jawani, the book primarily gave a summary of Ptolemic cosmography. However, it also corrected Ptolemy based on findings of earlier Arab astronomers, al-Farghani gave revised values for the obliquity of the ecliptic, the precessional movement of the apogees of the sun and the moon, and the circumference of the earth. The book was circulated through the Muslim world, and even translated into Latin. The period when a distinctive Islamic system of astronomy flourished, the period began as the Muslim astronomers began questioning the framework of the Ptolemaic system of astronomy
Astronomy in medieval Islam
–
An 18th-century Persian astrolabe, kept at the
Whipple Museum of the History of Science in
Cambridge, England.
Astronomy in medieval Islam
–
Muhammad Salih Tahtawi of
Sindh headed the task of creating a massive, seamless
celestial globe using a secret
wax casting method in the
Mughal Empire, the famous celestial globe of Muhammad Salih Tahtawi is inscribed with
Arabic and
Persian inscriptions and was completed in the year 1631.
Astronomy in medieval Islam
–
The
Tusi-couple is a mathematical device invented by
Nasir al-Din al-Tusi in which a small
circle rotates inside a larger circle twice the
diameter of the smaller
circle. Rotations of the circles cause a point on the
circumference of the smaller circle to
oscillate back and forth in
linear motion along a diameter of the larger circle.
Astronomy in medieval Islam
–
An illustration from al-Biruni's astronomical works, explains the different phases of the moon.
43.
Physics in medieval Islam
–
The natural sciences saw various advancements during the Golden Age of Islam, adding a number of innovations to the Transmission of the Classics. During this period, Islamic theology was encouraging of thinkers to find knowledge, thinkers from this period included Al-Farabi, Abu Bishr Matta, Ibn Sina, al-Hassan Ibn al-Haytham and Ibn Bajjah. These works and the important commentaries on them were the wellspring of science during the medieval period and they were translated into Arabic, the lingua franca of this period. Islamic scholarship had inherited Aristotelian physics from the Greeks and during the Islamic Golden Age developed it further, however the Islamic world had a greater respect for knowledge gained from empirical observation, and believed that the universe is governed by a single set of laws. Their use of observation led to the formation of crude forms of the scientific method. The study of physics in the Islamic world started in Iraq, fields of physics studied in this period include optics, mechanics, and astronomy. The primary subject of physics, according to Aristotle, was motion or change, in his Metaphysics, Aristotle believed that the Unmoved Mover was responsible for the movement of the cosmos, which Neoplatonists later generalized as the cosmos were eternal. One of the first commentaries of Aristotles Metaphysics is by Al-Farabi, in The Aims of Aristotles Metaphysics, Al-Farabi argues that metaphysics is not specific to natural beings, but at the same time, metaphysics is higher in universality than natural beings. One field in physics, optics, developed rapidly in this period, by the ninth century, there were works on physiological optics as well as mirror reflections, and geometrical and physical optics. In the eleventh century, Ibn al-Haytham not only rejected the Greek idea about vision, Ibn al-Haytham postulated in his Book of Optics that light was reflected upon different surfaces in different directions, thus causing different light signatures for a certain object that we see. It was a different approach than that which was thought by Greek scientists, such as Euclid or Ptolemy. Al-Haytham, with this new theory of optics, was able to study the aspects of the visual cone theories without explaining the physiology of perception. Also in his Book of Optics, Ibn al-Haytham used mechanics to try, using projectiles, he observed that objects that hit a target perpendicularly exert much more force than projectiles that hit at an angle. Al-Haytham applied this discovery to optics and tried to explain why direct light hurts the eye, because direct light approaches perpendicularly, taqī al-Dīn tried to disprove the widely held belief that light is emitted by the eye and not the object that is being observed. Therefore, the illumination must be coming from the stars so we can see them as soon as we open our eyes, the Islamic understanding of the astronomical model was based on the Greek Ptolemaic system. However many early astronomers had started to question the model and it was not always accurate in its predictions and was over complicated because astronomers were trying to mathematically describe the movement of the heavenly bodies. Ibn al-Haytham published Al-Shukuk ala Batiamyus, which outlined his many criticisms of the Ptolemaic paradigm and this book encouraged other astronomers to develop new models to explain celestial movement better than Ptolemy. In al-Haythams Book of Optics he argues that the spheres were not made of solid matter
Physics in medieval Islam
–
Cover page for Ibn al-Haytham's Book of Optics
44.
Al Andalus
–
Al-Andalus, also known as Muslim Spain or Islamic Iberia, was a medieval Muslim territory and cultural domain occupying at its peak most of what are today Spain and Portugal. At its greatest geographical extent in the century, southern France—Septimania—was briefly under its control. Rule under these kingdoms led to a rise in cultural exchange, a number of achievements that advanced Islamic and Western science came from al-Andalus including major advances in trigonometry, astronomy, surgery, pharmacology, and other fields. Al-Andalus became an educational center for Europe and the lands around the Mediterranean Sea as well as a conduit for culture. For much of its history, al-Andalus existed in conflict with Christian kingdoms to the north, after the fall of the Umayyad caliphate, al-Andalus was fragmented into a number of minor states and principalities. Attacks from the Christians intensified, led by the Castilians under Alfonso VI, the Almoravid empire intervened and repelled the Christian attacks on the region, deposing the weak Andalusi Muslim princes and included al-Andalus under direct Berber rule. In the next century and a half, al-Andalus became a province of the Berber Muslim empires of the Almoravids and Almohads, ultimately, the Christian kingdoms in the north of the Iberian Peninsula overpowered the Muslim states to the south. In 1085, Alfonso VI captured Toledo, starting a gradual decline of Muslim power, with the fall of Córdoba in 1236, most of the south quickly fell under Christian rule and the Emirate of Granada became a tributary state of the Kingdom of Castile two years later. In 1249, the Portuguese Reconquista culminated with the conquest of the Algarve by Afonso III, finally, on January 2,1492, Emir Muhammad XII surrendered the Emirate of Granada to Queen Isabella I of Castile, completing the Christian Reconquista of the peninsula. The toponym al-Andalus is first attested to by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia, the etymology of the name has traditionally been derived from the name of the Vandals. A number of proposals since the 1980s have contested this, Vallvé proposed a corruption of the name Atlantis, halm derives the name from a Gothic term *landahlauts. Bossong suggests derivation from a pre-Roman substrate and they crossed the Pyrenees and occupied Visigothic Septimania in southern France. Most of the Iberian peninsula became part of the expanding Umayyad Empire and it was organized as a province subordinate to Ifriqiya, so, for the first few decades, the governors of al-Andalus were appointed by the emir of Kairouan, rather than the Caliph in Damascus. Visigothic lords who agreed to recognize Muslim suzerainty were allowed to retain their fiefs, resistant Visigoths took refuge in the Cantabrian highlands, where they carved out a rump state, the Kingdom of Asturias. In the 720s, the al-Andalus governors launched several raids into Aquitaine. At the Battle of Poitiers in 732, the al-Andalus raiding army was defeated by Charles Martel, in 734, the Andalusi launched raids to the east, capturing Avignon and Arles and overran much of Provence. In 737, they climbed up the Rhône valley, reached as far as Burgundy, Charles Martel of the Franks, with the assistance of Liutprand of the Lombards, invaded Burgundy and Provence and expelled the raiders by 739. Relations between Arabs and Berbers in al-Andalus had been tense in the years after the conquest
Al Andalus
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Al-Andalus and Christian kingdoms circa 1000 AD
Al Andalus
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Islamic-period garden in the
Alhambra.
Al Andalus
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A
gold Dinar minted in al-Andalus
45.
Spain
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By population, Spain is the sixth largest in Europe and the fifth in the European Union. Spains capital and largest city is Madrid, other urban areas include Barcelona, Valencia, Seville, Bilbao. Modern humans first arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 35,000 years ago, in the Middle Ages, the area was conquered by Germanic tribes and later by the Moors. Spain is a democracy organised in the form of a government under a constitutional monarchy. It is a power and a major developed country with the worlds fourteenth largest economy by nominal GDP. Jesús Luis Cunchillos argues that the root of the span is the Phoenician word spy. Therefore, i-spn-ya would mean the land where metals are forged, two 15th-century Spanish Jewish scholars, Don Isaac Abravanel and Solomon ibn Verga, gave an explanation now considered folkloric. Both men wrote in two different published works that the first Jews to reach Spain were brought by ship by Phiros who was confederate with the king of Babylon when he laid siege to Jerusalem. This man was a Grecian by birth, but who had given a kingdom in Spain. He became related by marriage to Espan, the nephew of king Heracles, Heracles later renounced his throne in preference for his native Greece, leaving his kingdom to his nephew, Espan, from whom the country of España took its name. Based upon their testimonies, this eponym would have already been in use in Spain by c.350 BCE, Iberia enters written records as a land populated largely by the Iberians, Basques and Celts. Early on its coastal areas were settled by Phoenicians who founded Western Europe´s most ancient cities Cadiz, Phoenician influence expanded as much of the Peninsula was eventually incorporated into the Carthaginian Empire, becoming a major theater of the Punic Wars against the expanding Roman Empire. After an arduous conquest, the peninsula came fully under Roman Rule, during the early Middle Ages it came under Germanic rule but later, much of it was conquered by Moorish invaders from North Africa. In a process took centuries, the small Christian kingdoms in the north gradually regained control of the peninsula. The last Moorish kingdom fell in the same year Columbus reached the Americas, a global empire began which saw Spain become the strongest kingdom in Europe, the leading world power for a century and a half, and the largest overseas empire for three centuries. Continued wars and other problems led to a diminished status. The Napoleonic invasions of Spain led to chaos, triggering independence movements that tore apart most of the empire, eventually democracy was peacefully restored in the form of a parliamentary constitutional monarchy. Spain joined the European Union, experiencing a renaissance and steady economic growth
Spain
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Lady of Elche
Spain
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Flag
Spain
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Altamira Cave paintings, in
Cantabria.
Spain
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Celtic castro in
A Guarda,
Galicia.
46.
Al-Ghazali
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Al-Ghazali has been referred to by some historians as the single most influential Muslim after the Islamic prophet Muhammad. Within Islamic civilization he is considered to be a Mujaddid or renewer of the faith and his works were so highly acclaimed by his contemporaries that al-Ghazali was awarded the honorific title Proof of Islam. Others have cited his opposition to certain strands of Islamic philosophy as a detriment to Islamic scientific progress, although he argued for the separation of philosophy and he was born in Tabaran, a town in the district of Tus, which lies within the Khorasan Province of Iran. Al-Ghazalis contemporary and first biographer, Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi, records merely that al-Ghazali began to receive instruction in fiqh from Ahmad al-Radhakani, a local teacher. He later studied under al-Juwayni, the distinguished jurist and theologian, after al-Juwaynis death in 1085, al-Ghazali departed from Nishapur and joined the court of Nizam al-Mulk, the powerful vizier of the Seljuq sultans, which was likely centered in Isfahan. He underwent a crisis in 1095, and consequently abandoned his career. Making arrangements for his family, he disposed of his wealth, macdonald, the purpose of abstaining from scholastic work was to confront the spiritual experience and more ordinary understanding of the Word and the Traditions. After some time in Damascus and Jerusalem, with a visit to Medina and Mecca in 1096 and this seclusion consisted in abstaining from teaching at state-sponsored institutions, though he continued to publish, to receive visitors, and to teach in the zawiya and khanqah that he had built. He later returned to Tus, and declined an invitation in 1110 from the vizier of Muhammad I to return to Baghdad. He died on 19 December 1111, according to Abd al-Ghafir al-Farisi he had several daughters, but no sons. Al-Ghazali contributed significantly to the development of a view of Sufism and to its integration. As a scholar of orthodox Islam, he belonged to the Shafii school of Islamic jurisprudence, Al-Ghazali received many titles such as Sharaf-ul-Aʾimma, Zayn-ud-dīn, Ḥujjat-ul-Islām. He is viewed as the key member of the influential Asharite school of early Muslim philosophy, however, he chose a slightly different position in comparison with the Asharites, his beliefs and thoughts differ, in some aspects, from the orthodox Asharite school. Al-Ghazali wrote more than 70 books on the sciences, Islamic philosophy and his 11th century book titled The Incoherence of the Philosophers marks a major turn in Islamic epistemology. The Incoherence also marked a point in Islamic philosophy in its vehement rejections of Aristotle. The book took aim at the falasifa, a defined group of Islamic philosophers from the 8th through the 11th centuries who drew intellectually upon the Ancient Greeks. Al-Ghazali gave as an example of the illusion of independent laws of cause the fact that cotton burns when coming into contact with fire. Averroes, by contrast insisted while God created the natural law and this long-held argument has been disputed
Al-Ghazali
Al-Ghazali
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Haruniyah (هارونیه) structure in
Tus,
Iran, named after
Harun al-Rashid, the mausoleum of Al-Ghazali is thought to be situated at the entrance of this monument
Al-Ghazali
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Last page of Al-Ghazali's autobiography in MS Istanbul, Shehid Ali Pasha 1712 [
clarification needed], dated
AH 509 (
AD 1115-1116).
47.
Sharia
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Sharia, Sharia law, or Islamic law is the religious law forming part of the Islamic tradition. It is derived from the precepts of Islam, particularly the Quran. In Arabic, the term refers to Gods divine law and is contrasted with fiqh. The manner of its application in modern times has been a subject of dispute between Muslim traditionalists and reformists, traditional theory of Islamic jurisprudence recognizes four sources of sharia, the Quran, sunnah, qiyas, and ijma. Traditional jurisprudence distinguishes two branches of law, ʿibādāt and muʿāmalāt, which together comprise a wide range of topics. Its rulings assign actions to one of five categories, mandatory, recommended, permitted, abhorred, thus, some areas of sharia overlap with the Western notion of law while others correspond more broadly to living life in accordance with God’s will. Historically, sharia was interpreted by independent jurists, ottoman rulers achieved additional control over the legal system by promulgating their own legal code and turning muftis into state employees. Non-Muslim communities had legal autonomy, except in cases of interconfessional disputes, in the modern era, sharia-based criminal laws were widely replaced by statutes inspired by European models. Judicial procedures and legal education in the Muslim world were brought in line with European practice. While the constitutions of most Muslim-majority states contain references to sharia, legislative bodies which codified these laws sought to modernize them without abandoning their foundations in traditional jurisprudence. The Islamic revival of the late 20th century brought along calls by Islamist movements for full implementation of sharia, including reinstatement of hudud corporal punishments, in some cases, this resulted in traditionalist legal reform, while other countries witnessed juridical reinterpretation of sharia advocated by progressive reformers. The role of sharia has become a contested topic around the world, attempts to impose it on non-Muslims have caused intercommunal violence in Nigeria and may have contributed to the breakup of Sudan. Some Muslim-minority countries in Asia, Africa and Europe recognize the use of sharia-based family laws for their Muslim populations, there are ongoing debates as to whether sharia is compatible with secular forms of government, human rights, freedom of thought, and womens rights. The word sharīʿah is used by Arabic-speaking peoples of the Middle East to designate a prophetic religion in its totality, for example, sharīʿat Mūsā means law or religion of Moses and sharīʿatu-nā can mean our religion in reference to any monotheistic faith. Within Islamic discourse, šarīʿah refers to regulations governing the lives of Muslims. For many Muslims, the word means simply justice, and they will consider any law that promotes justice, Muslims of different perspectives agree in their respect for the abstract notion of sharia, but they differ in how they understand the practical implications of the term. Classical sharia, the body of rules and principles elaborated by Islamic jurists during the first centuries of Islam, historical sharia, the body of rules and interpretations developed throughout Islamic history, ranging from personal beliefs to state legislation and varying across an ideological spectrum. Classical sharia has often served as a point of reference for these variants, Contemporary sharia, the full spectrum of rules and interpretations that are developed and practiced at present
Sharia
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Official from the
Taliban beating a woman in
Afghanistan for violating local interpretation of sharia.
Sharia
Sharia
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Syariah Court in
Malacca,
Malaysia.
Sharia
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Anti-democracy, pro-Sharia public demonstration in 2014 in
Maldives.
48.
Medieval Latin
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Despite the clerical origin of many of its authors, medieval Latin should not be confused with Ecclesiastical Latin. There is no consensus on the exact boundary where Late Latin ends. Medieval Latin had a vocabulary, which freely borrowed from other sources. Greek provided much of the vocabulary of Christianity. The various Germanic languages spoken by the Germanic tribes, who invaded southern Europe, were major sources of new words. Germanic leaders became the rulers of parts of the Roman Empire that they conquered, other more ordinary words were replaced by coinages from Vulgar Latin or Germanic sources because the classical words had fallen into disuse. Latin was also spread to such as Ireland and Germany. Works written in the lands, where Latin was a language with no relation to the local vernacular, also influenced the vocabulary. English words like abstract, subject, communicate, matter, probable, the high point of the development of medieval Latin as a literary language came with the Carolingian renaissance, a rebirth of learning kindled under the patronage of Charlemagne, king of the Franks. On the other hand, strictly speaking there was no form of medieval Latin. Every Latin author in the period spoke Latin as a second language, with varying degrees of fluency, and syntax, grammar. For instance, rather than following the classical Latin practice of placing the verb at the end. Unlike classical Latin, where esse was the auxiliary verb, medieval Latin writers might use habere as an auxiliary, similar to constructions in Germanic. The accusative and infinitive construction in classical Latin was often replaced by a clause introduced by quod or quia. This is almost identical, for example, to the use of que in similar constructions in French. In every age from the late 8th century onwards, there were learned writers who were familiar enough with classical syntax to be aware that these forms and usages were wrong, however the use of quod to introduce subordinate clauses was especially pervasive and is found at all levels. That resulted in two features of Medieval Latin compared with Classical Latin. First, many attempted to show off their knowledge of Classical Latin by using rare or archaic constructions
Medieval Latin
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Carmina Cantabrigiensia, Medieval Latin manuscript
Medieval Latin
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Europe, 1000 AD
Medieval Latin
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An
illuminated manuscript of a
Book of Hours contains prayers in medieval Latin.
Medieval Latin
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The
Prüfening dedicatory inscription of 1119, composed in medieval Latin.
49.
Diphthong
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A diphthong, also known as a gliding vowel, is a combination of two adjacent vowel sounds within the same syllable. Technically, a diphthong is a vowel with two different targets, that is, the tongue moves during the pronunciation of the vowel, in many dialects of English, the phrase no highway cowboys /ˌnoʊ ˈhaɪweɪ ˈkaʊbɔɪz/ has five distinct diphthongs, one in every syllable. Diphthongs contrast with monophthongs, where the tongue or other organs do not move. For instance, in English, the word ah is spoken as a monophthong, where two adjacent vowel sounds occur in different syllables—for example, in the English word re-elect—the result is described as hiatus, not as a diphthong. Diphthongs often form when separate vowels are run together in rapid speech during a conversation, however, there are also unitary diphthongs, as in the English examples above, which are heard by listeners as single-vowel sounds. Diphthongs use two vowel sounds in one syllable to make a speech sound, in the International Phonetic Alphabet, monophthongs are transcribed with one symbol, as in English sun, in which ⟨ʌ⟩ represents a monophthong. Diphthongs are transcribed with two symbols, as in English high or cow, in which ⟨aɪ⟩ and ⟨aʊ⟩ represent diphthongs, diphthongs may be transcribed with two vowel symbols or with a vowel symbol and a semivowel symbol. Transcribing the diphthongs as ⟨aɪ̯ aʊ̯⟩ is a precise or narrower transcription. The non-syllabic diacritic, the inverted breve below ⟨◌̯⟩, is placed under the prominent part of a diphthong to show that it is part of a diphthong rather than a vowel in a separate syllable. When there is no contrastive vowel sequence in the language, the diacritic may be omitted, other common indications that the two letters are not separate vowels are a superscript, ⟨aᶦ aᶷ⟩, or a tie bar, ⟨a͡ɪ a͡ʊ⟩ or ⟨a͜ɪ a͜ʊ⟩. The tie bar can be useful when its not clear which letter represents the syllable nucleus, superscripts are especially used when an on- or off-glide is particularly fleeting. The period ⟨. ⟩ is the opposite of the non-syllabic diacritic, if two vowels next to each other belong to two different syllables, meaning that they do not form a diphthong, they can be transcribed with two vowel symbols with a period in between. Thus, lower can be transcribed ⟨ˈloʊ. ər⟩, with a period separating the first syllable, /loʊ/, from the second syllable, the non-syllabic diacritic is only used when necessary. It is typically omitted when there is no ambiguity, as in ⟨haɪ kaʊ⟩, no words in English have the vowel sequences *, so the non-syllabic diacritic is unnecessary. The less prominent component in the diphthong may also be transcribed as an approximant, thus in eye, however, when the diphthong is analysed as a single phoneme, both elements are often transcribed with vowel letters. There are many languages that contrast one or more rising diphthongs with similar sequences of a glide, in closing diphthongs, the second element is more close than the first, in opening diphthongs, the second element is more open. Closing diphthongs tend to be falling, and opening diphthongs are rising, as open vowels are more sonorous. However, exceptions to this rule are not rare in the worlds languages, in Finnish, for instance, the opening diphthongs /ie̯/ and /uo̯/ are true falling diphthongs, since they begin louder and with higher pitch and fall in prominence during the diphthong
Diphthong
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German diphthongs ending in [ɐ̯] (part 1), from Kohler (1999:88)
50.
Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze
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Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze or Andrea da Firenze was an Italian painter active in Florence. He was probably born in Florence where he was active from 1343 and his earliest works suggest that he must have been in close contact with the workshop of Andrea di Cione. Andrea di Bonaiuto is known for his stained glass window of the Coronation of Mary in the Basilica of Santa Maria Novella, the central theme of the frescos in the Spanish chapel is the glorification of the Dominican Order. From mid 1366 to mid 1367 Andrea di Bonaiuto was one of the artists advising on the construction of the Florence Cathedral and he died in Pisa while working on a fresco on the Legend of St Raneiro at the Camposanto Monumentale. 2 Painting by or after Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze at the Art UK site Media related to Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze at Wikimedia Commons
Andrea di Bonaiuto da Firenze
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Nativity with donors
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Averroes". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.
Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "
