|
Muslims in
History and Civilization
"When we study Europe's
Middle Ages, we seldom include Spain (at least not until after the "reconquest").
Our libraries abound with books on the Middle Ages, but try to find in any
of them a single word about daily life and customs in Spain. It is as if
later historians, in order to justify a uniquely "European history", ignored
the fact that a vibrant and brilliant civilization created by "Others"—by
Arabs, by Muslims, by Jews—by brown and black people—not only existed in
Europe, but without whose contributions the region could not have become
what it did. When we talk about "Europe's" Renassiance, we never think of
its beginnings in Spain several centuries before it reached Italy. It's as
if we lopped off a good 1000 years of history—or at least amputated it from
Europe. Nothing could be farther from the truth."
From the introduction to A Medieval Banquet in the Alhambra Palace,
Audrey Shabbas, editor, AWAIR, 1991.
In praise of
Islamic civilization
Extract from a speech by Carly Fiorina, CEO of Hewlett-Packard.
Early Islamic History
from Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) to the
Ottoman Empire.
Medicine
Science
Culture and Arts
Architecture
Finance
Early
Islamic History
from Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) to the Ottoman Empire.
(See also
Companions of the Prophet)
Arabia at the time of Prophet Mohammed
Source:
University of Calgary
Islam: Empire of Faith
PBS mini-series narrated by Academy Award-winning actor Ben Kingsley,
airs on PBS Tuesday, May 8, 2001, 8:00 p.m. ET (check
local listings). The two-and-a-half-hour program tells the story of the
great sweep of Islamic power and faith during its first 1,000 years — from
the birth of the prophet Muhammad to the peak of the Ottoman Empire under
the reign of Suleyman the Magnificent. Historical re-enactments and a
remarkable exposition of Islamic art, artifacts and architecture are
combined with interviews with scholars to recount the rise of early Islamic
civilization.
Islamic History to 1600
This excellent multimedia introduction to the first millennium of
Islamic history, developed by the Department of History, University of
Calgary outlines Muslim beliefs and practices, as well as the history of the
Islamic world from the 7th to the 17th centuries, including the expansion of
the Islamic empires of Asia, Africa, and Europe.
Islam
and Islamic History in Arabia and The Middle East
Useful overview from Islami City. Chapters covering early Islamic
history through to the coming of the West.
Zheng He (1371-1433), the
Chinese Muslim Admiral
Through his seven voyages of discovery to the West, Zheng He helped
transform China into the superpower of his time.
The Adventures of
Ibn Battuta. Part 1
The fantastic journeys of the medieval Moroccan Muslim traveller who,
fifty years before Marco Polo, visited the equivalent of 44 modern countries
from West Africa to India.
Source ABCNews.com
Islamic History from 570 to 633
From the book A Chronology of Islamic History: 570 - 1000 CE by H.U.
Rahman.
A
Chronology of Muslim history
From 570 to 1950.
Year by year with hyperlinks to articles on important events.
A
Brief Chronology of Muslim History
From 545 to 1990.
(A different site to the one above)
History of the Muslim World
Written for children. Covers the first 50 years of Islam, the Ummayyad
and Abbassid caliphates, Cordoba, The Crusades, biographies of important
Muslims, various timelines.
Islam Chronology 570 to 1918
Timelines and historical articles, developed by instructors and students
at the History Department of North Park University, Chicago.
Chronology: Early Islam 570 to 1492
A timeline compiled by Anthony F Beavers, University of Evansville.
The Muslim History of India and Pakistan
Timeline form the advent of Islam to 1858.
The Ottomans
Richard Hooker of Washington State University charts one of the greatest
and most powerful civilizations of the modern period.
The Ottoman Empire
A brief overview.
Empire of the Ottomans
A brief BBC historical overview of the Turkish Islamic empire which lasted
from the late 13th century until 1922.
Timeline of 15th Century Islamic History
Maps
Maps relating to Islam's historical development.
Internet Islamic History Sourcebook
Large number of Internet links to information (some hostile) on Islamic
history. Compiled at Fordham University, New York, which is run by the
Jesuit religious order of the Catholic Church.
Rizwi's
Bibliography for Medieval Islam
Rizwi S. Faizer Ph.D. McGill brings significant books and articles to
the attention of students of Islam and the Middle or Near East.
The Islamic Civilizations Of The Middle East, Africa, And Asia
A brief outline of relevant courses available at Boston University.
Map of the early spread of Islam
Source:
University of Calgary
Why Have Muslim Scholars
Been Undervalued Throughout Western History?
One of history's greatest crimes is the almost complete omission of the
debt the West owes to Islam and the Muslims. By Ahmad Bakir Tarabishy.
The Origins of the Sunni/Shia
split in Islam
by Hussein Abdulwaheed Amin.
How and why the different
schools of Islamic law emerged
by Dr. Muzammil H. Siddiqi
World Muslim Population Distribution Map
from the University of Texas
Al Azhar university mosque, Cairo
Mohammed
The Prophet
By Prof. K. S. Ramakrishna Rao
A sympathetic biography by an Indian, Hindu academic.
The Rightly Guided Caliphs
Articles on the Caliphates of Abu Bakr (632-634),
Umar (634-644), Uthman (644-656), Ali (656-661)
The Four Caliphs
Four entire books giving an historical account of the reigns
of each of the four Caliphs.
Jerusalem's Holy Sites
BBC News interactive guide.
World Civilizations
Course at Washington State University.
Part III A covers the rise and spread of Islam.
Quotations on Islamic Civilisation
from Napolean Bonaparte, George Bernard Shaw,
Bertrand Russel, H.G. Wells, Thomas Carlyle, James Addison and others.
Quotations on Moorish (Islamic) Civilization
Quotations on Muslim Civilization in India
Quotations from Famous Historians of Science
Tolerance in Islam
by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall, early 20th century English convert to
Islam.
Islamic
Morality in War
"Do not kill an old man, a woman or a child. Do not injure date palms
and do not cut down fruit trees. Do not slaughter any sheep or cows or
camels except for food. You will encounter persons who spend their lives in
monasteries. Leave them alone and do not molest them." - Caliph Abu Bakr
The Treatment of
Minorities - the Islamic Model
"Far from imposing Qur'anic laws on everybody, Islam permits and even
encourages every group (Jewish, Christian or other) to establish its own
tribunals presided over by its own judges. As far as issues of social and
cultural autonomy are concerned, the safeguard of the rights of non-Muslims
in Islamic territory goes even to the extent of giving them the liberty of
practising customs entirely opposed to those of Islam," explains Syed Mumtaz
Ali.
Race and Slavery in the Middle East
By Bernard Lewis. Oxford University Press 1994.
The Vice-President of Granada
by Eliezer Segal.
How a Jew rose to high office in Muslim Spain.
Alhambra
The most famous monument of Islamic
Spain.
From Encarta encyclopaedia.
Causes of Rise and Decline of Islamic Civilisation
by Muhammad Marmaduke Pickthall.
Mosque by the Red Sea, Jeddah
Medicine
Islamic Medicine: 1000
years ahead of its times
by Ibrahim B. Syed. Edited by Shahid Athar, M. D.
Medical Ethics Questions
asked by Muslims in the USA and their Short Answers
By Shahid Athar, MD, FACP, FACE, Former Chair, Medical Ethics, Islamic
Medical Association of North America.
Islamic Culture and the Medical Arts
by Emilie Savage-Smith, Oxford University.
The Online Version of a Brochure to Accompany an Exhibition In Celebration
of the 900th Anniversary of the Oldest Arabic Medical Manuscript In the
Collections of the National Library of Medicine, Bethesda, Maryland, 1994.
The
Origins of Islamic Hospitals and Medical Schools
"Assuredly the body too has a claim over thee." (Bukhari and Muslim)
Al-Razi, the Clinician
The contributions to medicine of Abu Bakr Muhammad ibn Zakariya' al-Razi
865 to circa 925 CE. From the US National Library of Medicine at the
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland.
The Arab
Roots Of European Medicine
Remarkable insights into history by David W. Tschanz
Classical Islamic
Biomedicine
A large number of links compiled by the Karolinska Institutet, Sweden.
Islamic Medicine
Online
Huge website by Muslim plastic surgeon, Dr. Sharif Kaf Al-Ghazal.
Covers Muslims and medical history, Islam and medical ethics, Islamic views
on medical issues and more. Caution: please be aware that this site
includes some external links to non-Muslim scientific sites which include
graphics of the human anatomy.
Science
Islamic
Civilization and Science
Muslim Scientists, Mathematicians And Astronomers before European
Renaissance, 700 - 1500 C.E. A huge collection of fascinating articles.
Scientists and Thinkers from the Islamic Golden
Era
The Origin of Life - an
Islamic Perspective
Science must increase our faith. It is wrong for anyone to close their
eyes to what is right in front of them. For a Muslim the evidence of
dinosaurs and fossils is not a threat to our beliefs. Rather, it is a
confirmation of the power of Allah.
Adapted from the Book: What Islam is All About By Yahiya Emerick
Seeds for the Future
"I am a scientist and I am a believer. As a scientist, my interest goes to
the cosmos. I try to unravel the puzzles of the physical reality. As a
believer, my interest goes to God and to his action within the human. I try
to accept the mystery of the ultimate reality and the multiple ways it
appears in the human condition. I feel deeply concerned by our 21st century.
The terrible events of September 11 cast a dark shadow on it. Do we have
reasons to hope again? Can we prepare seeds for the future?"
A speech by French Muslim scientist, Dr. Abd-al-Haqq Bruno Guiderdoni,
Director of Research at the Paris Institute of Astrophysics, to the Science
and the Spiritual Quest Conference at Harvard University's Memorial Church,
October 25, 2001.
(Click on the "printer friendly version" hyperlink for easier viewing.)
Culture and
Arts
Education in Islam -
The role of the Mosque
Salah Zaimeche PhD presents an historical overview.
Al-Azhar University,
Cairo
The world's oldest university and Sunni Islam's foremost seat of
learning.
Al Azhar's library
to get wired up to the Internet
Middle East Times, Cairo, March 9, 2001
The Cultural
Academy of Islam
Competition entry by three American High School students. Covers
Islamic history, art and architecture, literature, math and science,
culture.
An
Introduction to Islamic Art
A companion website to the Islamic galleries at the Los Angeles County
Museum of Art. Includes works from an area extending from southern Spain to
Central Asia, from the seventh through the nineteenth century. The text is
designed for readers who seek to go beyond the obvious surface beauty of
Islamic art to discover the rich historical and cultural traditions from
which this art emerged.
Islamic Art
An Online Exhibition from the Ancient Art Department of the Detroit
Institute of Arts.
The Islamic World to 1600
The Islamic Arts, Learning, and Knowledge section of an excellent
University of Calgary site.
Islamist Intellectuals and Literature
A survey of the extensive corpus of Islamist fictional narratives,
covering all genres of literature, including poetry, the novel and novella,
the short story, and drama.
Islamic
Philosophy Online
An academic site dedicated to the study of the philosophical output of
the Muslim world.
Al
Ghazali's Website
Resources for studying the works of the great Muslim philosopher and
theologian, Ghazali of Tus (1058-1111)
Sacred beauty
The Guardian (London), Saturday January 15, 2000
Yasmin Alibhai-Brown explores Muslim art in Britain
Visit the Peter
Sanders Photographic Library
High quality photographs of the Islamic World.
Presenting Islam to the general public in a very beautiful and positive way.
In the Shade of the Tree
Online edition of a recent exhibition by Muslim photographer, Peter
Sanders,
whose camera has captured the many wondrous and exotic faces of the Islamic
world.
Architecture
Shalimar
A site devoted to Islamic architecture. Read about one of the world's most
inspiring artistic traditions and enjoy photographs of some of its
achievements.
Religious
Architecture and Islamic Cultures
A course by Professor Nasser Rabbat,
Department of Architecture, Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Finance
UK Muslims tackle
mortgage hurdles
A new initiative to allow thousands of British Muslims to get mortgages
without breaking Islamic law is to be proposed to the Treasury.
BBC, October 16, 2002
Case study: Islamic mortgages
Market research suggests there is a potentially huge market for Islamic
mortgages in the UK - but how do they benefit Muslims trying to buy a home?
BBC, November 29, 2002
Pursuing an American Dream While Following the Quran
SUSAN SACHS investigates halal finance for Muslims in the United States
The New York Times, July 5, 2001
Online investing for Muslims
A new financial service offers online investing with a difference
- strictly in line with Islamic principles.
BBC News, Monday, 27 March, 2000
IslamiQ
Islamic Finance
The latest news and articles on Islamic finance and investment.
MEF Marketing
Pioneers of the "Contribute without donating" concept which harnesses the
purchasing power of the US Muslim community to generate money back to their
communities without any cost to the consumer.
IslamicLoot.com
promoting awareness, trade and interaction between Muslims living in
non-Muslim countries.
|
