gious law. The qUran mentions that God is the
source of water for plants that yield foods such as
dates, grapes, olives, and pomegranates (Q 6:99),
and that he has provided humans with animals
whose fur supplies material for making houses
and furnishings (Q 16:80–83). Also, according to
the Quran, the paradise that awaits believers in the
aFterliFe is described as a meadow or lush garden
with fruit-laden trees and rivers flowing with
water, milk, honey, and wine (Q 47:15). Of all the
plants mentioned in the Quran, the date palm,
which is emblematic of settled life, is the one that
receives the most attention. It is considered a sign
of God’s generosity toward humans and is said to
have provided mary with shelter and nourishment
while she was giving birth to JesUs (Q 19:23–25).
In the decoration of mosques, illuminated book
manuscripts, and Oriental carpets, Muslims have
often used botanic and floral themes inspired
not by wild plants and flowers but by cultivated
ones. The animals Muslims sacrifice on religious
holidays and other ritual occasions are invariably
domesticated livestock: sheep, goats, cattle, and
camels. Until recently, the amount of income a per-
son was required to pay in fulfillment of the zakat
(almsgiving) duty in Islam was usually assessed
in terms of the size of the harvest and number of
heads of livestock owned. Also, according to the
sharia, non-Muslim subjects were obliged to pay
a special tax on their agricultural lands and crops,
a requirement that later was extended to Muslim
subjects, too. This was an important source of
wealth for Islamic empires.
By about 1200, Arab farmers had accomplished
what scholars have called a medieval agricultural
revolution that changed the food cultures of the
Middle East and later of Europe and the Americas.
By introducing Eastern irrigation technologies,
they enhanced the productivity of the land and
brought new areas under cultivation in Iraq, Syria,
Egypt, North Africa, Spain, and Sicily. At the same
time, they brought new crops from Asia, such
as citrus fruits, sugarcane, watermelon, bananas,
rice, spinach, eggplants, and perhaps the hard
wheat used in the making of semolina and pasta.
Botanical gardens where plants could be studied
probably assisted the introduction of these crops
from Asia into new climates in the Mediterranean
region. A significant body of medieval Arabic lit-
erature on agricultural science was created in con-
nection with these developments. The increased
productivity of the land helped sustain population
growth, which contributed to the rise of large
medieval cities in the Middle East and Spain, such
as baghdad, cairo, and cordoba.
Today, as a result of European colonization in
the 19th and 20th centuries and the introduction
of modern technologies, agriculture in Muslim
lands has undergone a second revolution. New
crops (for example, tomatoes, potatoes, corn, and
tobacco) and hybrids are being grown, large dams
and irrigation systems are being built, and farming
is becoming more mechanized, although much
human labor is still involved. The traditional agri-
cultural economy has become very commercial-
ized and is affected by global markets more than
in the past. It is estimated that agriculture consti-
tutes a significant part of the economy in about 34
Muslim countries and that just under 50 percent
of the world’s Muslim population is involved in
agricultural production, although the trend has
been for people to migrate from rural areas to the
cities. As a reflection of how important agriculture
is, many Muslim countries now have agricultural
colleges and government ministries that oversee
agriculture and irrigation. Agriculture in many
of these countries is nevertheless facing many
challenges. Although the Green Revolution in
the 1960s helped prevent widespread famine as
a result of rapid population growth, a number
of countries in the Middle East and Africa have
found that urbanization, pollution, soil saliniza-
tion, government inefficiency and corruption,
regional conflicts, and the forces of nature have
made it difficult to be agriculturally self-sufficient,
making them dependent on imports and aid from
international agencies and foreign governments.
See also arabesqUe; art; Food and drink.K 22 agriculture