Islamic Golden Age

The Islamic Golden Age, an Abbasid historical period beginning in the mid 8th century lasting until the Mongol conquest of Baghdad in 1258, is inaugurated in the middle of the 8th century by the ascension of the Abbasid Caliphate and the transfer of the capital from Damascus to Baghdad.

The Abbasids are influenced by the Qur'anic injunctions and hadith such as "the ink of a scholar is more holy than the blood of a martyr" that emphasizes the value of knowledge.

The rise of Islam is instrumental in uniting the warring Arab tribes into a powerful empire.

The Abbasids claim to belong to the same tribe to which the Prophet Muhammad belonged, and are for that reason considered holy.

During this period the Arab world becomes an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education; the Abbasids champion the cause of knowledge and establish the House of Wisdom (Bait-ul-Hikmat) at Baghdad, where both Muslim and non-Muslim scholars seek to translate and gather all the world's knowledge into Arabic.

The Arabs show a strong interest in assimilating the scientific knowledge of the civilizations they had overrun.

Many classic works of antiquity that might otherwise have been lost are translated into Arabic and Persian and later in turn translated into Turkish, Hebrew and Latin.

During this period, the Arab world is a collection of cultures that put together, synthesize and significantly advance the knowledge gained from the ancient Roman, Chinese, Indian, Persian, Egyptian, Greek, Byzantine and Phoenician civilizations The decimal system travels from India to Arabia during this time and in the 9th century it is popularized in the region by the Persian mathematician al-Khwarizmi.

Later in 12th century, a monk, Abelard, introduces it in Europe.

The Abbasid scholars also begin the use of a first form of algebra (without numerical exponents) in order to solve complex mathematical problems.

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