A Concise History of the Middle East

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EIGHT Islamic Civilization Now that we have covered almost seven centuries of political history, it is time to look at the civil ...

108 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION THE RULES AND LAWS OF ISLAM Islam begins with a profession of faith but is manifested and elaborate ...

Development of Jurisprudence ••• 109 Muhammad's companions gradually gave way to arbiters and judges who knew the laws and proce ...

110 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION century had passed, the isnads helped eliminate those falsely ascribed to Muhammad. What if the isn ...

Development of Jurisprudence ••• 111 (in addition, of course, to the Quran and the sunna) as sources. Today it predominates in M ...

112 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION Administration of the Law At the dawn of Islamic history, the administration and enforcement of the ...

Development of Jurisprudence ••• 113 ers, they do so now. You can go into a bazaar (covered market) in Morocco and feel that it ...

114 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION zakat, and make the hajj to Mecca? Let those who claim that Islam and its laws are anachronistic tr ...

Islamic Society ••• 115 down into many occupational groups. Urban merchants and artisans formed trade guilds, often tied to spec ...

116 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION upheld the Shari'a was better than in those that watered it down or aban¬ doned it totally and was ...

Importance of Family Life ••• 117 Women naturally wanted to bear sons, who would eventually give them daughters-in-law to boss a ...

118 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION with the conviction that the deceased would soon be with God. Men also used to meet in mosques, baz ...

Intellectual Life • 119 to identify status; for instance, green singled out a man who had made the hajj to Mecca. Arab nomads wo ...

120 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION He was adept at taking complex Greek concepts, paraphrasing them, and simplifying them for students ...

Intellectual Life • 121 into Arabic but did his greatest work in optics. We mentioned already Eu¬ rope's use of Ibn Sina's work ...

122 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION emerged a little later. Poetry facilitated artistic expression, instruction, and popular entertainm ...

Theology • 123 and tooled-leather bookbindings. You have doubtless seen some "oriental" carpets. Most of the genuine ones were w ...

124 • 8 ISLAMIC CIVILIZATION His writings influenced a major theologian named al-Ash'ari (d. 935). Though trained as a Mu'tazili ...

Theology • 125 Ahmad ibn Hanbal H istorians differ on Ahmad ibn Hanbal's (780-855) place of birth. Some state that he was born i ...