Learning and Culture in the Islamic World

In Baghdad, a scholar could read Greek science in Arabic one day and hear a Sufi poem the next. Law, mysticism, medicine, poetry and architecture all bloomed together. This lesson tours that learning and culture, from about 600 to 1200.

Think of it as a map of ideas. Some came from the Quran and the Prophet’s example. Others came from Greece, Persia and India. Islamic scholars blended them into something new.

1How was Islamic law built?

Religious scholars were called ulama. They taught that God’s will is known through the Quran and the Prophet’s example. That example is kept in reports called hadith.

Scholars also used reasoning to apply old rules to new cases. One tool was qiyas, or analogy. Together these sources built the body of law called sharia.

Different readings led to different schools. The four main Sunni schools are Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii and Hanbali. They emerged in the ninth and tenth centuries. By the twelfth century, almost all jurists followed one of them.

A judge was called a qadi. He handled disputes, and also acted as guardian for orphans and as a mediator.

• Sources: Quran, hadith, qiyas.
• Four schools: Hanafi, Maliki, Shafii, Hanbali.
• Judge = qadi.

2What was Sufism?

Some believers wanted a closer, more personal bond with God. They were the Sufis. They stressed simple living and deep devotion.

Rabia of Basra is a famous early figure. She is known for teaching divine love. Bayazid Bastami spoke of fana, the idea of losing the self in God.

Sufis often gathered around a master. Later, such lines of teachers formed silsilas. A silsila means a chain. It linked a master to his disciples, like a spiritual family tree.

• Rabia of Basra: divine love.
• Bayazid Bastami: fana, losing the self in God.
• Silsila = chain linking master and disciple.

3How did Greek learning enter Arabic?

The Abbasid age was also an age of translation. Books in Greek and Syriac were turned into Arabic. Many translators were Christian scholars.

The House of Wisdom in Baghdad is tied to this movement. Under al-Ma’mun, who ruled from 813 to 833, it became a public academy and library. Historians note that translation also thrived in other cities, so Baghdad was not the only centre.

Works of Greek science and thought reached Arabic readers this way. Many later travelled on to Europe.

• Texts moved: Greek and Syriac to Arabic.
• House of Wisdom: academy under al-Ma’mun.
• Translation also thrived in other cities.

4Who was Ibn Sina?

Ibn Sina lived from about 980 to 1037. Europe knew him as Avicenna. He was both a philosopher and a physician.

His great medical work was the Canon of Medicine. It has five books. He finished it in 1025. It gathered the medical knowledge of his age into one clear summary.

The Canon was shorter than the many volumes of Galen. That made it a handy reference. It noted, for example, that some illnesses are contagious.

• Ibn Sina = Avicenna.
• Canon of Medicine: five books, done in 1025.
• A concise guide, an easier read than Galen.

5What did poets and storytellers add?

Fine language raised a person’s standing. This quality was adab. Poetry and prose were prized in royal courts.

Ferdowsi wrote the Shahnameh, or “Book of Kings”, in Persian. He worked on it between about 977 and 1010. It has some 50,000 couplets. It is the national epic of Greater Iran.

Fables travelled too. Kalila wa Dimna came from the Indian Panchatantra. It passed through Persian and was rendered into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffa.

The Thousand and One Nights grew from many sources. Some tales are Arabic or Persian. The frame story comes from a Persian work. Indian elements also appear.

• Shahnameh: Ferdowsi, about 50,000 couplets.
• Kalila wa Dimna: from the Panchatantra.
• Arabic translator: Ibn al-Muqaffa.

6How did scholars write history and geography?

History writing was called tarikh. Rulers, officials and students all read it. Scholars saw it as a source of lessons.

Al-Biruni was a great scholar of the eleventh century. From 1017 he lived at Ghazni under Mahmud. He travelled with the army into India. There he studied Indian life and ideas. His book on India, the Tarikh al-Hind, was finished around 1030.

Geographers also described the world. They divided it into seven climes, set by the length of the longest day.

• History writing = tarikh.
• Al-Biruni: book on India, about 1030.
• Seven climes, set by the longest day.

7What did mosques and art look like?

A mosque has a few key features. A mihrab is a niche in the wall. It shows the direction of Mecca. A minbar is the pulpit from which the sermon is given.

Mosques across the Islamic world shared arches, domes, minarets and courtyards. Al-Qarawiyyin in Fez is one such place. It began as a mosque and grew into a centre of learning.

Religious art avoided showing living beings. So artists turned to calligraphy and to patterns of plants and shapes. Such patterns are called arabesque.

• Mihrab = niche showing the direction of Mecca.
• Minbar = pulpit for the sermon.
• Art forms: calligraphy and arabesque.

8What are the exam traps?

A CDS paper tested Sufi silsilas. A silsila means more than “chain”. It stood for a master-disciple link, a spiritual line back to the Prophet, and the passing on of blessings. The correct answer was all three (see Q61, CDS-I 2018).

• Mihrab shows Mecca. Minbar is the pulpit.
• Ibn Sina and Avicenna are the same person.
• Silsila means a master-disciple chain, not just a name.
• Kalila wa Dimna came from India, not Greece.