Academic Achievements of Abassids

 

Abu Jafar Al-Mansur, the second Abbasid Caliph, was a very learned person of his time who showed great interest in the development of scientific learning. The famous scholar of his age was Imam Abu Hanifa, Ibn Ishaq, Imam Malik, Abu Amr Abd Al-Rehman Ibn Amr, And Sufyan Al-Thawri. The most popular scholar of his time was Abdullah Ibn Muqaffa.

Under the Abbasids, higher education in science was carried out on an individual basis rather than the establishment of institutions of higher learning. Afterward, they Sponsered observatories and hospitals in different parts of the caliphate. Most of the scholars were celebrated for their standing in different disciplines and their achievements in more than one science. Within a short time Muslim philosophers, mathematicians, physicians, geographers, alchemists, botanists had worked throughout the caliphate and achieved the amazing accomplishment of uncovering the vast intellectual heritage received from the earlier civilizations.

The 5th caliph of the Abbasid Dynasty, Harun al-Rashid is remembered as one of history's greatest patrons of the arts and sciences. Under his rule, Baghdad became the world's most important center of science, philosophy, medicine, and education. The massive size of the caliphate meant that it had contact and shared borders with many distant empires, so scholars at Baghdad could collect, translate and expand upon the knowledge of the other civilizations, such as the Egyptians, Persians, Indians, Chinese, Greeks, Romans, and Byzantines.

The successors of Harun al- Rashid, especially his son al- Ma'mun continued his policies of supporting artists, scientists, and scholars. Al- Mamun founded the Bayt al Hikma, the house of wisdom in Baghdad. At the house of wisdom, important ideas from around the world came together. The introduction of Indian numerals, which have become standard in Islamic and Western worlds, greatly aided in mathematics and scientific discovery.

Scholars such as Al- Kindi revolutionized mathematics and synthesized Greek philosophy with Islamic thought. Al- Biruni and Abu Nasar Mansur among many other scholars made important contributions to geometry and astronomy. Ibn Musa, expanding upon Greek mathematical concepts, developed Algebra which is derived from his landmark textbook Kitab al Jabar wal Muqabala. Ibn al- Haytham made important contributions to the fields of optics.

Medicine:

Medicine in medieval Islam was an area of science that advanced particularly during the Abbasids region. During the 9th century, Baghdad contained over 800 doctors, and great discoveries in the understanding of anatomy and disease were made. Famous Persian scientists produced thesis and worked that summarized the vast amount of knowledge that scientists had accumulated, and was very influential through their encyclopedias. 

Astronomy :

Astronomy was advanced by Al- Battani, who improved the precision of the measurement of precession of the earth axis. The astrolabe, though originally developed by greeks, was developed further by  Islamic astronomers and engineers, and subsequently brought to medieval  Europe.

Al Chemist :

Muslim alchemists influenced medieval European alchemists, particularly the writings attributed to Jabir Ibn Haiyan. A number of chemical processes were developed in the Muslim world and then spread to Europe.

Agriculture :

A number of very practical innovations took place, especially in the field of agriculture. Improved methods of irrigation allowed more land to be cultivated. Crops and farming techniques were adopted from neighboring cultures. Rice, cotton, and sugar were taken from India, citrus food from China, and sorghum from Africa. 

Literature :

The best-known fiction from the Islamic world was The Book of Thousand and One Nights. The original concept is derived from pre-Islamic Iranian with reliance on Indian elements. It also includes stories from the rest of the Middle-Eastern and North African nations. 

Arabic poetry reached its greatest highest in the Abbasid era. A famous example of Arabic poetry on romance was Layla and Majnu. which further developed mainly by Iranians. Azerbaijan and other poets in Persian, Turkish, and other Turk languages dating back to the Umayyad era in the 7th century.

Small Mosques And Tombs - Abbasids

 Although popular, the hypostyle mosque was not the only type of mosque built during this period. At Nayriz in Iran, for example, the prayer all of the mosque consists of a single barrel vault, open at the end, a type of space known as Iwan. Iwan has been used for centuries in Iranian architecture, but no earlier mosques incorporating them are known. 

Single barrel Vault

The early date of the Nayriz mosque is suggested by an inscription in the mihrab which mentions that the mosque had been built in 973/974, repaired in 1067/68, and repaired again in 1164/65. some scholar believes that small, domed cubes also served as a mosque in early Islamic Iran. The updated doomed mosques at Yazd-i Khwast and Qurwa, for example, maybe older buildings that have been converted into mosques.

Yazd-i Khwast and Qurwa

In addition to Friday mosques meant to serve the entire community, there was also a smaller mosque built to serve smaller segments. At Siraf, for example, at least 10 small mosques, ranging in size between 320 and 1100 square feet, were found in residential quarters of the site. Most of these were simple rectangular structures entered through a yard divided by an arcade that supported the roof. Three of them are staircase minaret, an early type known from the Umayyad period.

From archeological evidence, the most widespread type of small mosque was a square structure with four internal columns and piers supporting nine domes. This type is found from Spain to central Asia. One of the best examples of nine domed mosques is found at Balkh. The building is square and measures 66 feet on each side. The walls are built of baked brick, but all of the nine domes they originally supported have fallen. The glory of the building is its decoration.

Other buildings erected in the provinces during this period were tombs, which are known from textual sources and monumental remains. Tombs were also built for local rulers. The earliest complete example to survive is the tomb of Samanids at Bukhara. Tombs were also erected in Egypt.

The Nine Domes Mosque - Arts and Architecture Under Abbasids

The Nine domed mosques, located on the western edge of Thakur Dighi, built-in 925, locally is considered to have belonged to the ancient kings of Khan Jahan Ali's style of Khalifatabad, Baggerhat, Bangladesh. However, local tradition has it that the building belonged to one of Khan Jahan's officials who lived near the same bank of the Thakurdighi bank. The mosque is located less than half a mile from the southwest of the Khan Jahan Ali Tomb-Complex. Depending on the style of construction the date of construction can be estimated to be in the middle of the fifteenth century. The mosque is a square mosque of the Sultanate type; that is, a square building is crowned with nine houses. 

The small mosque is lined with nine low-rise buildings, which are supported by four small stone pillars. It has arched penetration in all but the western facade. The western wall or qibla wall has three mihrabs, the middle being very large. The chain-and-bell terra cotta motifs adorn the center of each mihrab. The circular towers are lined with eight molding belts and the outer walls have long vertical panels ending at the pointed arches under the curved cornice.

The mosque is a 60'4 "x 60'4" square outside while the inside has a 39'6 "x 39'6" square design. The building is a single room, the interior of which is divided into nine equal grid roofs with nine country houses. The east, north, and south facades have three arched openings in the prayer hall. There are three mihrabs, each facing three doors east and the middle half of the qibla wall shown west from floor to ceiling. In style, this type is known as the construction of Khan Jahan Ali, which is found mainly in the southern and western part of Bangladesh.

The square building is lined with circular towers in a large corner. These bells end at the level of the parapet walls and are bound in the traditional manner of the Bengali Sultanate. The facades are lined with curvilinear cornices of the pre-Mughal type. The exterior façades have a clear brick texture with a framed opening built with horizontal lines of terracotta designs. All the doors are almost the same width while the middle ones are slightly higher. There are three types of terracotta mihrabs on the qibla wall; the middle is slightly larger than the sides. All three mihrabs are adorned with numerous cut arches and terracotta details.

The mosque was restored and renovated by the Department of Archeology, Bangladesh, and is now a protected monument.

The Abbasid Dynasty - Islamic World

The Abbasid Dynasty

The Abbasid Caliphate, which ruled the Islamic world, look to the golden age of Islamic culture. The empire ruled the dynasty from 750 to 1258 AD.  The Abbasid Dynasty is one of the longest and most Influential Islamic Dynasties. In its earlier history, it was the largest empire in the world. It had contact with distant neighbors such as the Chinese and Indians in the East, as well as  Byzantines in the West, allowing it to transform and integrate ideas from these cultures.

The Abbasid  Revolution:

The Abbasid Dynasty displace the leading Umayyad Dynasty, which was based in Damascus, Syria. The Umayyads had become unpopular especially in eastern regions of the Caliphate. The Umayyads favored Syrian Arabs more than any other Muslims and treated street criminals, newly converted Muslims, as second class citizens.  The most number of group of street ruffians were the Persians, who lived side by side with Arabs in the east who were angry on the favor shown to Syrian Arabs.

Together, they were opportune for rebellion. Other Muslims were angry with the Umayyads for turning the caliphate into an inherent dynasty. Some believed that a single-family should not hold power, while Shiites believed that true authority belongs to the family of the Prophet Muhammad SAW through his son-in-law Ali, and the Umayyads were not part of Muhammad's family.

All the various groups that were angry with the Umayyads gathered under the Abbasids and began to rebel against Umayyads in Persia. The Abbasids built a union of Persian street criminals, eastern Arabs, and Shiites. The Abbasid were able to gain Shiites support because they claimed descent from Muhammad SAW uncle Abbas. Their Descent from Muhammad SAW was not through Ali, as Shiites would have preferred, but Shiites still considered that Abbasids better than the Umayyads.

  

The  Persian general, Abu Muslim, who supported Abbasid claims the power, led the Abbasid forces. His victory allowed the Abbasid leader Abul Abbas al-Saffah to enter the ruling Shiite city of Kufa in 748 and declare himself ruler. In 750, the army of Abu Muslim and Al-Saffah confronted the Umayyad ruler Marwan II at the battle of Zeb near the Tigris River. Marwan II was defeated, fled, and put to death. As- Saffah captured Damascus and Slaughtered the remaining members and the Umayyad family. The Abbasids were the new caliphate rulers.

The Early Abbasids:

The Abbasids had led to a change in policies that the Umayyads did not like, but those big changes that were expected were disappointing. Under the 2nd Abbasid ruler Al- Mansur, it became clear that much of the Umayyad past would b continue. The Abbasids retained to control the caliphate heritage, forming a new empire. The alliance with the Shiite was short-lived, and the Abbasids became master of Sunni religion, supported the local authority over the family over Ali, and continuing the conquest of the Shiites. Even the Abu Muslims, the brilliant Persian general who invented the Abbasids, was considered a threat and executed. However, the Abbasids had proved faithful to their ranks as the heir of Persian street criminals. In fact. The Abbasid culture was to be dominated by the Persian civilization. The Abbasid court was heavily influenced by Persian culture, and members of the powerful Persian Barmkid family served as advisers to the caliphs and quarreled over wealth and power. 

One of the first and most important changes made by Abbasids was to move the capital of the Islamic state from the old Umayyad power base of Damascus to the new city of Baghdad. Baghdad was founded in 762 by Al-Mansur on the bank of the Tigris River. The city was round in shape and design from the beginning to be a great capital and the center of the Islamic world and was built near the Persian capital Ctesiphon, and its location reveals the desire of the dynasty to confirm Persian culture. 

Baghdad grew rapidly with the encouragement of the Abbasid dynasty, and it soon becomes the largest city in the world. In Baghdad, the Persian, culture that the Umayyads had tried to suppress was now allowed to flourish, Art, poetry, and science flourished. the Abbasid learn from Chinese, the art of making paper. Cheap and sturdy, paper became an important means of spreading literature and information.

Decline :

Due to several very capable caliphs and their advisers, the Abbasid caliphate prospered in the early ninth century, despite the great challenges of governing a vast and diverse empire. In addition to being a senior arts and sciences Parton, Harun al- Rashid also brought the Abbasid leadership to the next level. Still, he had to cope with revolts in Persia and North Africa, and he removed from the Persian Barmakid family, the source of great advisers. Al Rashid son, Caliph Al-Ma'mun not only continued his father's patronage by establishing the house of Wisdom,  but he made a number of important independent innovations.

Al-Mamun adopted the radical Mu'tazili theology, which was influenced by Greek philosophy, and held that gid could be understood through ration inquiry, and that belief and practice should be subject to reason. He established the minha, an inquisition in which the adherence of scholars and officials to Mu'tazili theology was tested, and they could be imprisoned or even killed if the did not follow theology.

As a result, al- Mamun region saw a growing division between the Islamic State and the Muslim community. This division was exacerbated by his creation of an army of central Asian soldiers loyal to him alone, during al Mamun reign, the provincial governors called emirs became more independent.

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