The Splendor of Islamic Civilization

Ali Kushji, supported by Sultan Mehmed II, was famous for his astronomical works. Miniature paintings showing the astronomical works of Muslim scientists.

One quality acquired from Islam's morality is the high sense of art and esthetics. The Qur'anic depictions of Paradise are pictures of the highest quality, finest taste, and stunning grandeur. Muslims had this sense of art in their hearts, which is reflected in their work, and thus the lands they ruled became the world's most modern and select regions. When Islam spread outward in all directions, it brought prosperity and development with it.

Muslims took civilization wherever they went. They designed an effective water purification system for the drinking water requirements of a Tunisian town. Water was stilled and purified in two large basins and then brought into the town by an enclosed pipe system. Only centuries later did Europeans began to concern themselves with such things. Muslim engineers in Syria designed a fantastic system of watermills to deliver water to the cities.

The capital of the Islamic world, Baghdad, was the world's most splendid and modern city. Urban planning and architecture were stunning. A traveler visiting Baghdad wrote the following:

All the exquisite neighborhoods covered with parks, gardens, villas and beautiful promenades are filled with bazaars and finally built mosques and baths. They stretch for miles on both sides of the glittering river.³

Andalusia (Muslim Spain), another spectacular center of the Islamic world, gradually became Europe's most modern and advanced country. Its capital city of Cordoba was full of amazing beauty with its clean, well-lit streets, libraries, hospitals, and palaces.

In the same era, such great European cities as Paris and London were filthy, dark, and neglected. As a result, European Christians visiting Cordoba were amazed and dazzled by the city's splendor, culture, and art.

In Islam: Empire of Faith, Historian Sheila Blair of Boston College describes Cordoba's splendor with the following words:

The city of Cordoba in the 9th and 10th centuries was one of the biggest and most exciting in Europe. We have descriptions by people coming and seeing all of these flowers everywhere this open streets, this wonderful light coming down. Northern cities were dark. Cordoba had running water. People lived in big houses. In contrast, in Paris, people lived in shacks by the side of the river.⁴

While Muslims treated their patients in extremely clean and well-kept hospitals, patients in Europe were abandoned to death. A front view of the famous Mansur Hospital at that time (to the left). The picture showing the streets of Venice at the same period reveals the civilizational gap between the two worlds.

One of the few remaining examples of Cordoba's grandeur is the Catholic cathedral located in the city center. Originally it was a mosque of an esthetic style that captivated the minds of those who entered it. Christian explorers who came to Cordoba were deeply affected by this splendor. In the tenth century, a Saxon nun by the name of Hrotsvitha described Cordoba as the ornament of the world.

One of Andalusia's most spectacular buildings was the Alhambra palace, which was decorated with stunning examples of Islamic esthetics and art. Every detail reflected the same fine taste of Islam's higher spirit. Its gardens were full of fountains powered by a system based on gravity. The Muslims who built it were inspired by the Qur'anic depictions of Paradise.

Here are some verses about Paradise:

They will have preordained provision: sweet fruits and high honor in Gardens of Delight on couches face to face; a cup from a flowing spring passing round among them, as white as driven snow, delicious to those who drink, which has no headache in it and does not leave them stupefied. (Surat as-Saffat: 41-47)

[They will be] shaded by spreading branches. (Surat ar-Rahman: 48)

They will be reclining on couches lined with rich brocade, the fruits of the Gardens hanging close to hand. (Surat ar-Rahman: 54)

[Gardens of Paradise are] of deep viridian green. (Surat ar-Rahman: 64)

[They are] on sumptuous woven couches, reclining on them face to face. (Surat al-Waqi'a: 15-16)

[They are] Amid thornless lote-treesand fruit-laden acacias. (Surat al-Waqi'a: 28-29)

And wide-spreading shade and outpouring water and fruits in abundance never failing, unrestricted. And [they are] on elevated couches. (Surat al-Waqi'a: 30-34)

They will have Gardens of Eden with rivers flowing under them. They will be adorned in them with bracelets made of gold and wear green garments made of the finest silk and rich brocade, reclining there on couches under canopies. What an excellent reward! What a wonderful repose! (Surat al-Kahf: 31)

Muslim scholars in the field of medicine had a high level of knowledge. Their works became basic reference books throughout Europe. The diagram used by Muslim scientists in treating broken bones (at the bottom). Drawings of Muslim scholars showing human anatomy and the digestion and circulation systems (to the left).

EXAMPLES FROM MUSLIM SCIENTISTS' WORKS
Apparatus designed by al-Haskafi to measure changing water levels. The drawings used by Muslim scientists to calculate solar and lunar eclipses.	Ibn Sina's notebook in the National Museum of Damascus. The apparatus designed by Muslim scientists to measure blood pressure. Al- Mutadibih's work on the eye's anatomy.