Creating New Identities (750-900) - The Shift to the East in the Islamic World - Islamic Arts and Literature

10 important questions on Creating New Identities (750-900) - The Shift to the East in the Islamic World - Islamic Arts and Literature

How did the Abbasid caliphs pay their armies?

With revenues from commerce and (above all) taxes from agriculture in their coffers, the Abbasid caliphs paid their armies and salaried their officials.

How did the middle class live in the Middle Ages?

  • Dining off ornate plates and bowls, pouring their water from richly decorated pitchers, the upper and middle classes in the Islamic world lived amid material splendor.
  • Their clothing was made of richly woven fabrics, and wall-hangings and rugs adorned their homes.
  • Luxury followed them even into the graveyard.  

What did the caliphs launch in the world of literature?

The caliphs launched scientific studies via a massive translation effort that brought the philosophical, medical, mathematical, and astrological treatises of the Indian and classical Greek worlds into Islamic culture.
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What are reasons why scholars in the Islamic world labored over translations and created original scientific works?

  • Shoring up the regime with astrological predictions; winning theological debates with the pointed weapons of Aristotle's logical and scientific works;
  • Understanding the theories of bridge-building, irrigation
  • Land-surveying with Euclid's geometry

What did the patrons of scientific writing include?

Patrons of scientific writing included the caliphs, their wives, courtiers, military generals, and ordinary people with practical interests.

Who is Abu Huraira?

Abu Huraira is a well-known "Companion" of the Prophet Muhammad. Abu Huraira is named as the ultimate authority for thousands of hadith.

How did Caliph al-Ma'mun interpret the Qur'an?

For Caliph al-Ma'mum, taking the Qur'an literally undermined the caliph's religious authority. He determined to make God greater than the Qur'an.

What did Caliph al-Mutawakkil do?

In 848 Caliph al-Mutawakkil ended the Mihna, which reversed Caliph al-Ma'mun's position on the matter.

What implication did the ending of the Mihna have?

The designation reflected the caliphate's decreasing political as well as religious authority. The title "caliph" came to be associated with the phrase "deputy of the Prophet of God" rather than the "deputy of God."

Who is the ulama? What came to them?

The caliphs ceased to be the source of religious doctrine; that role went to the scholars, the ulama.

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