View
217
Download
0
Category
Preview:
Citation preview
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
1
It is a fact of history that societies and civilizations rise and fall due to variety of social, cultural, political, economic, military, environ-mental and health reasons. Wars, famines, floods, droughts, plagues, rivalries and disputes determine the life cycle of a society in predictable, and sometimes unpredictable, ways.
In this Activity Sheet we examine the way in which the Islamic world rose and fell, and learn about the countries and territories that were once occupied by Islamic people. The distribution of modern Islamic and Arab states is also examined.
FLOOD WAR FAMINE PLAGUE DROUGHT
The Islamic world was no exception. It rose rapidly after the death of the Prophet Mohammed (pbuh) in the mid 7th century and reached its peak from the 9th to the 12th centuries. After that it began to decline.
From 1957 onwards various Islamic states acquired their independence. In the late 20th century and early 21st century, Islam is on the rise again.
005100010050ECB 005
Ancient Rome (509 BCE – 476 CE)
Dark Age in Europe (4th century – 900 CE)
Renaissance in Europe (1400– 1600)
Islamic Golden Age (700 CE – 1300 )
CONFIDEN
TIAL
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
2
The beginning of Islam: At the time of the death of the Prophet Mohammed in 632 CE, Islamic territory was confined to that part of the Ara-bian Peninsula that is currently occupied by Saudi Arabia and Yemen. The territory covered within modern Saudi Arabia included the entire Red Sea coast in the west, including the areas surrounding Makkah (Mecca) and Medi-nah, and the interior, but not extending as far as the coast of the Arabian Gulf in the east.
The rise of Islam: By the end of the 9th century (899 CE), the Islamic Empire had extended to include the whole of the Arabian Peninsula (including modern Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Oman, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq) as well as other parts of the Middle East (Syria, Israel, Jordan and Iraq) and a major part of Asia Minor (Iran, Armenia, Georgia, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan and the western part of Kyrgyzstan and parts of southern Kazakhstan).
Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Asia
Africa
Europe
Indian Ocean
It also included parts of North Africa (northern Egypt, Libya, Algeria, Tunisia, Eritrea and Djibouti, and the whole of Morocco). The Islamic Empire at this time also included the Mediterranean islands of Crete, Sicily, Sardinia and the Balearic Isles as well as most of Spain and southern Portugal.
Indian OceanAtlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Asia
Africa
Europe
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
3
Contraction and further expansion of the Islamic world By 1500 the Islamic Empire had changed considerably. While Spain and south-ern Portugal, and the Mediterranean islands, had been lost, large parts of northern Africa were added, including present-day Western Sahara, Maurita-nia, Senegal, The Gambia, Guinea-Bissau and Guinea, the northern parts of Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan and Ethiopia, and a narrow strip of coastal lowlands in Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, northern Mozambique and northern Madagascar.
In eastern Europe Islam had spread northwards to occupy modern-day Turkey, Greece, Bulgaria, Macedonia, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro, Croatia, Boznia, Herzegovina, Croatia and parts of Hungary and the Russian Federa-tion, and in Asia Minor it had spread eastwards into the whole of Kazakstan, all of India north of Hyderabad, Bangladesh, parts of Myanmar, a section of western China, and into the south-east Asian peninsula, including Malaysia, the eastern parts of Sumatra, and parts of northern Java and Borneo.
Indian Ocean Atlantic Ocean
Pacific Ocean
Asia
Africa
Europe
? KNOWDID YOU ‘The Islamic world was composed
of numerous sophisticated centers of culture and science with world class scientists, mathematicians, engineers, doctors, philosophers, writers and translators, all of whom contributed to the Golden Age of Islam.’
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
4
Modern Islamic states: The distribution of modern Islamic and Arab states, and their dates of independence, is shown on the attached map. The first Islamic or Arab state to gain its independence was Egypt (1957).
? KNOWDID YOU Nearly one-fourth of the world’s popula-
tion today is Muslim. Over fifty countries have Muslim-majority populations.
Although Islam is often associated with the Arab world and the Middle East, fewer than 15% of Muslims are Arab.
Indian Ocean
Atlantic Ocean
�������Ocean
Asia
Australia
Africa
Europe
Bay of Bengal
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
5
HANDS-ON DISCOVERYLet’s do an exercise to determine the territories occupied by Muslim people at different times
Instructions:STEP1
STEP2
STEP3
Make copies of the attached blank map of Europe, the Middle East, north Africa, Asia Minor and eastern Asia. This map shows the politi-cal boundaries and names of modern-day countries, and will help you to identify the territories occupied by Muslim people at differ-ent times, even though they called these territories by different names in times past.
Now color in the extent of the Islamic world during the different stages described above (before 632 CE, 633-899, 900-1500) on different maps. Use a different color for each stage. Label your different colored maps with the dates that are applicable to them.
Now compare the map that shows the Islamic world at its great-est extent (about 1200) with the map that shows the distribu-tion of modern Islamic and Arab states. How similar are the two distributions?
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
6
Why nations rise and fall: It is well known that, for a variety of reasons, empires and nations rise and fall and never last for ever. What is less well known is that the first scientific studies on the reasons for these fluctuat-ing national fortunes were carried out by a Muslim scholar, Ibn Khaldun (1332-1406).
He was a judge, scholar and diplomat whose sometimes tragic life mim-icked the changing fortunes of the Islamic world in his time. His parents died of the plague, and he lost his family to pirates. He witnessed the decline of classical Muslim scholar-ship and civilization following the loss of Sicily and then Spain, the suffering caused by the Crusades and the Mongol invasions, and then the devastating onslaughts of Timur the Lame (Tamurlane). He recorded his thoughts in his ‘Book of the Lessons and Archive of Early and Subsequent History’, which laid the foundation for modern sociology.
He proposed that civilizations and cultures bring about their own decline, and that they have a natu-ral tendency towards increasingly luxurious and materialistic life styles, which produce moral decline and depravity.
Eventually decay sets in, ending in the destruction of a previously healthy society which is eventually replaced by another civilization or society that is at an earlier, healthier stage of development.
He prculturdeclinral teluxuristylesand d
Eventually decay sets in, ending in the destruEventually decay sets in, ensociety which is eventually replaced by anothsociety which is eventually re
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
7
Ibn Khaldun also proposed that the rise of a nation or empire starts with a feeling of togetherness, of tribalism, which he called ‘asabiyah’. This tribalism is initially good as it binds people together and allows them to accumulate wealth and power, but it starts to become negative when this power is abused and attempts are made to conquer other cultures, which eventually erodes away the original social cohesion. The leaders eventually become alien-ated from their followers, and their dynasty falls prey to other, younger dynas-ties that still have a strong and unspoiled ‘asabiyah’ or group feeling.
He therefore proposed that all societies and civilizations have a cyclical nature, like the lives of people, who are born, mature and die. Societies initially rise up because of a common need for protection and domination, reach a peak when the social bonds are strongest, and eventually decline when group support weakens and is diluted by unhealthy competition and corruption during times of prosperity.
In Ibn Khaldun’s mind, only religion can stop a nation from declining, and he argued that Islam gave people a moral compass that allowed them to achieve ‘asabiyah’, a sense of belonging. Do you agree with his views?
THE CYCLE OF CIVILIZATION
DECLINE
MATERIALISM
RISE
TRIBALISM
MORAL DECLINE
DECAY
DESTRUCTION
REPLACEMENTACCUMULATION
WEALTH
POWER
CONQUEST
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
8
TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGENow that you have learned something about the rise and fall of societies, try to answer the following questions:
Do you think that modern American or European society is on the decline?
If so, why?
Are we becoming too materialistic?
Is our society declining to the extent that we may soon be vulnerable to suppression by another culture or society?
If so, which one is most likely to overtake us?
Why are their societies healthier than ours?
1
2
3
4
5
6
Is religion still a binding force in Western society? 7
Should it be?
If not, what should the binding force be? 9
8
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
9
A sharp nail can be used to make neat round holes in the bottle.Do not use scissors.
OM
ANAFG
HAN
NIS
TAN
PAKI
STAN
KASH
MIR
UZB
TKM
NEP
ALBT
N
BGD M
YAN
MAR
N. K
OR
EA
S. K
OR
EA
LAO
S
VIET
NAM
CAM
BOD
IATH
AILA
ND
SRI L
ANKA
MAL
AYSI
ABR
UN
EI
PHIL
IPPI
NES
AU
ST
RA
LIA
UAE
QAT
KWT
YEM
EN
ETH
IOPI
A
ERIT
REA
SOM
ALIA
KEN
YAU
GA
TAN
ZAN
IAC
ON
GO
GAB
ON
ZIM
BABW
E
MW
I MO
Z MAG
AGAS
CAR
SWZ
BOTS
WAN
A
SOU
TH A
FRIC
A
NAM
IBIA
ZAM
BIA
CAM
ERO
ON
NIG
ERIA
MAU
RIT
ANIA
WES
TER
N
SHAR
AH
MO
RO
CC
O
POR
TUG
AL
TUN
ISIA
MAL
TAGR
EEC
E
LBN
CYP
JOR
ISR
ARM
AZE
BGR
SVK
SER
ALB
BIH
SVN
SZ
BEL
IRL
UK
DN
K
CZE
AUT
LTU
HU
N
LVA
EST
TOG
OG
HAN
A
BEN
INSI
ERR
A LE
ON
E LIBE
RIA
SEN
EGAL
SULTANS OF SCIENCEISLAMIC SCIENCE REDISCOVERED
Activity
1Changing Extent of theIslamic World
© 2011 MTE Studios
10
A sharp nail can be used to make neat round holes in the bottle.Do not use scissors.
Indi
an O
cean
Atla
ntic
O
cean
����
���
Oce
an
Asi
a
Aus
tral
ia
Afr
ica
Eur
ope
Kuw
ait
1961
Kaza
khst
an
1991
Uzb
ekis
tan
1991
Kirg
hizs
tan
1991
Tajik
ista
n 19
91
Turk
men
ista
n 19
91A
zerb
aija
n 19
91
Paki
stan
19
47
Bang
lade
sh
1971
Mal
aysi
a 19
63
Brun
ei
1984
Indo
nesi
a 19
49
Uni
ted
Ara
b Em
irat
es 1
971
Sout
h Ye
men
19
67
Erit
rea
1993
Som
alia
19
60
Tanz
ania
19
61
Suda
n 19
56
Egyp
t 19
22
Liby
a 19
51
Tuni
sia
1956
Cha
d 19
60
Nig
er
1960
Nig
eria
19
60
Alg
eria
19
62
Mor
occo
19
55
Mau
rita
nia
1960
Gui
nea
1958 Sier
ra L
eone
19
61Iv
ory
Coa
st
1950
Burk
ina
Faso
196
0
Mal
i 19
60
Jord
an
1946
Leba
non
1941
Syri
a 19
46Ir
aq
1932
Ara
bian
D
eser
t
Med
iterr
ania
n Se
aA
tlas
Mou
ntai
nsH
imal
ayas
Cauc
asus
M
ount
ains
Bay
of B
enga
l
Casp
ian
Sea
Alp
s M
ount
ains
Ape
nnin
e M
ount
ains
Ethi
opia
n H
ighl
ands
Nub
ian
Des
ert
Saha
ra D
eser
t
Recommended