ISLAMIC KINGDOMS AND THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE.

The Roman Empire split into two in 286 AD by Emperor Diocletian. The Western Roman Empire had its seat of government at Rome and the Eastern Roman Empire had its seat of government at Constantinople from 380 AD onwards.

The Western Empire fell first in 476 AD but the Eastern Roman Empire continued and fell only in 1453, some 1000 years later when it was defeated by the Ottoman Turks.

In Arabia, a revolution was taking place. Mohammed had proclaimed a new religion and by converting them, united all the Arab tribes into one. After Mohammed the Rashidun Caliphate came into being which ruled from 632 AD to 661 AD. Under those 4 caliphs; Abu Bakr, Omar, Uthman & Ali expanded the Muslim empire to Iraq, Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Iran and Armenia.

Then in 661 AD came the Ummayed Caliphate in which the title of Caliphs was made hereditary and the Caliphate became secular unlike the Rashidun Caliphate which was based on theology. The Caliphate had its capital at Damascus and lasted till 750 AD. It was in  the Ummayed Sultan Harun Al Rashid’s court  that “One Thousand and One Nights” stories were compiled.

After the Abbasids became Caliphs in 750 AD, most of the Ummayeds in the Caliphate were executed, but some were exiled. After 6 years of exile, the Ummayed Abd Ar Rehman I became the Emir of Cardoba in Spain. He united all the small fiefdoms in Spain and extended his territory. Later, the Caliphate also spread into North Africa.  The Abbasids changed the capital from Damascus to Baghdad.

In 929 AD, the Ummayed Emir Abd ar Rehamn III declared himself as Caliph and Cardoba had become a Caliphate while the Abbasid caliphs were continuing at Baghdad.

The Caliphate was very diverse ethnically, religiously as well as culturally.

The Muslims of Arab descent held the positions of rulers and priests. Other Muslim converts were soldiers. Jews comprised of 10% of its population which is more than that of the Arabs. The Jews were in business and intellectual occupations.

There were also as many Berbers as Jews. The Christian minority were at the lowest rung of society, were heavily taxed and had few civil rights. During the Caliphate, the Jews had more freedom, affluence, and higher social standing. At the same time, the Jews were being terribly discriminated against in other parts of Europe then.

 The Muslim population of the caliphate rose to some 70% in Cardoba by the 11^th century, mostly made of converts. Both Christians and Jews had to pay the Jizya tax.

Science flourished under the Ummayyad Caliphs of Cardoba, the Abbasids of Seville, the Samanids, Ziyarids and Buyids of Persia in the period 786 to 1258 AD. During the same period, Europe was stagnating, did not progress, and was lying in theological darkness.

There were major developments in Astronomy, Mathematics, and Medicine. There also were minor developments in Physics, Chemistry, Botany, Zoology, Agronomy, Geography, Cartography etc.

The Arab mathematicians excelled in mathematics; Al Khwarizmi, Avicenna and Jamshid Al Kasi all from the Samanid Empire of Persia made advances in Algebra, Trigonometry, Geometry, and Arabic numerals (Of course these have travelled from India to them).

Doctors described diseases like Smallpox and Measles and challenged the classical Greek medical theory. Al Biruni, also from the Samanid Empire, Avicenna and others described the preparation of hundreds of drugs from plants and chemical compounds.

Al Biruni (973-1050 AD) lived at Ghazni in Afghanistan and was in Indologist and was well versed in Sanskrit. He traveled to India in 1017 AD and wrote “Tarikh al-Hind”(History of India) after exploring the Hinduism practiced in India. It is probable that through him the Arabic numerals have been passed on to the Arabs from India.  He was proficient in Persian, Arabic, Sanskrit, Greek, Hebrew and Syriac.

Ibn Al Haytham from the Fatimid capital of Cairo, Al Biruni, and others studied optics and mechanics as well as Astronomy. Science flourished around the Mediterranean Sea for several centuries.