Islamic Contributions and Their Impacts on the World

Essay

Islamic Contributions and their Impacts on the World
 The Islamic civilization had many great achievements and accomplishments that have contributed to world culture. Islamic achievements have helped other cultures adopt new ideas and make great advancements in an immense variety of fields. These fields include medicine, art and literature, architecture, astronomy, philosophy, and mathematics. Islamic achievements also assisted in making daily life for the Muslim people a great deal easier. Of all the Islamic achievements, those in the fields of medicine, mathematics, and art were the most important and influential to the world today. 

From the field of medicine came many important accomplishments, including many medical reference books such as al-Razi's Comprehensive Book and Treatise on Smallpox & Measles(document 3), and The Canon on Medicine by Ibn Sina. Also in Islamic hospitals there was a facility similar to today's emergency room where injured people could get immediate treatment. Muslims were able to make these great medical contributions because of the knowledge from the ancient Greeks in which they built on to develop their medical field and references. They were able to make these advancements also because of their need for medical cures and diagnosis's in times of sickness and suffering. These accomplishments impacted world culture by providing the doctors of today with medical references and doctorials. There were also other important fields, whose advancements impacted the world today. 

From the field of mathematics came Al-Kwarizmi's textbook on Algebra (document 4), which was used throughout Europe and beyond; and also Arabic numerals which were adopted from the Indians and used in a place-value system (document 4). These advancements were made possible because of the knowledge of both Indian and Greek mathematics, which were studied by Muslim scholars before the creation of any Islamic civilization mathematics. These contributions highly impacted the world because they were the foundation for modern day mathematics. 

From the field of Art came the arabesque and calligraphy. The arabesque wasan intricate design which comprised curved lines and floral shapes; it appeared in rugs, textiles, glassware and tapestries (‘World History: Connections to Today' textbook). Calligraphy was the art of beautiful handwriting and it was used to incorporate verses of the Quran into decorations on buildings and objects of art (‘World History: Connections to Today' textbook). Muslims were able to create these contributions because of the Quran stating that artists could not portray God of any human figures; therefore they were required to create an alternative. These contributions have had a big impact on world art because of the still frequent use of calligraphy and the arabesque in various cultures' art today.

There were a vast majority of fields in which many contributions to world culture have come from. The three most important were those from the field of medicine, the field of mathematics and the field of art. These accomplishments are all important in their own special ways but they all provide the same aspect for civilization. The contributions from these fields have shaped the modern world today and without them the people of all the different cultures would not have the same skills or know the same information as they do now. The world would definitely be a different place without these great advancements.

Document 1

Rulers wanted their care takers to be well taught and not clueless about what they were doing.

Document 2

The author makes it obvious that the Muslims were very interested in learning by describing the city of Cordova in a way that sounded as if the only things there were places to learn or study and people who only wanted to become more knowledgeable.

Document 3

The knowledge of the Islamic mathematics were spread throughout different countries and also translated into Latin and Arabic, this allowed other people to learn about their teachings.