This resource can be used as a virtual artefacts box or as a companion to the Schools Library Services’ Islamic Golden Age Artefacts Collection.

Each chapter gives background information to the artefacts that can be viewed here or be borrowed as a set from the library.

Prior to 610 CE, Arabia was religiously and culturally diverse. It is referred to in Islam as Jahiliyyah which translates as ‘ignorance’ - a time before the enlightnement of Islam.

In around 610 CE, Muhammad is said it have received his first revelation from God. After this he began preaching that there is one God. This was the birth of Islam, which translates as “Surrender to God”. The followers of Islam are called Muslims and the holy book of Islam is the Quran. Muslims believe it contains the words of God that were revealed to Muhammed the prophet.

The Islamic empire was at its greatest size in 730 CE. Muslim armies had conquered 15 million square kilometres, which is around 10 percent of the earth’s land area. Almost one third of the world’s population was ruled by caliphs.

An army general, named Muawiyah, from the Umayyad family, declared himself a caliph and rose to great power. During the rule of the Umayyads, the Islamic empire grew to its greatest size.

The Islamic empire stretched across North Africa to the Middle East, as far as modern-day Pakistan. In Europe, most of what is now Spain was under control from the caliphs.

Muhammed died in 632 CE, after falling ill. He had united many tribes of Arabia, having converted them to Islam. After Muhammed’s death, his father-in-law and close friend became his successor. He was called ‘Caliph’, a word meaning ‘next in line’.

The spread of the Islamic civilization began after the Muslim army began waging war on empires north of Arabia.

The wealth of the caliphs paid for scholars to write books, study science and translate the works of the Ancient Greeks into Arabic - particularly works of mathematics, poetry, science and medicine.

The Abbasids lost control of many of its provinces by 945 CE. These provinces, while still under Muslim power, were ruled by sperate leaders. This meant that although the golden age of the Islamic empire was coming to an end Islamic rule extended to India, Turkey, and included a large part of central and north Africa.

In the Bahgdad souk (marketplace) traders were set up so that their wares were grouped like with like. All the carpet traders together, all the gold traders together. This encouraged competitive and fair pricing as customers could see all the competing wares together.

Items from particular parts of the Islamic civilisation were prized over others, such as leather from Spain (or ‘Al Andulus’ as it was known), silk from China, glass from Syria and earthenware pottery from Baghdad.

Spices were highly prized throughout the Islamic world and in Europe.

They were used in cooking, as poison antidotes, for scent or in religious ceremonies.

Turmeric is still used widely today as a medicine as well as in food. Its stains are almost impossible to wash out!

Cinnamon was a luxury and was prized for it’s scent and flavour.

Black pepper was highly prized throughout history. As well as gold and silver, black pepper was demanded as ransom to free the city of Rome from invaders!

Star anise has been used as medicine as well as in food.

Sometimes called ‘The Queen of spices’ cardamom was valued in cookery and medicine

Nutmeg has been used as insense as well as in food.

The doctors were highly trained and were far ahead of the west at the time, using a vast knowledge of herbs, spices and natural producst to improve health and cure various ailments.

This included adding sugarcane to food because sugar can act as a preservative (stopping food going rotten) as well as having some beneficial effects on nutrition (just not in excess!).

They were also ahead with mental health. Mental health and physical health were in separate parts of the hospital and mental health cures and treatment included things like ‘natural music’. They believed that being able to hear sounds found in nature were important to mental wellbeing, so the hospitals tended to have courtyards with fountains in so patients could listen to the water.

Patients were also prescribed to listen to birdsong. Present day research has demonstrated that anxiety and other mental health problems are reduced by being in natural spaces.

By the 1100s these art forms were developing and there was a strong connection with religion. In Egypt, it is thought that the puppets became a link between the human and invisible world. It is also thought that shadow puppetry was approved of more than other art such as painting or acting because the human form was represented only through the shadow.

Few shadow plays remain because it is thought that most were not written down as scripts but were improvised (the puppeteers made up or adapted stories as they performed).

We know a little about some plays. The story was often about characters who did silly or bad things, or who had bad things happen to them - from having to marry someone horrible to being eaten by a crocodile to committing crimes. Some of the stories are very rude!

The stories usually end with the characters going to Mecca to seek forgiveness for all of the bad (but entertaining) things that they did in the rest of the story!

Games such as backgammon or Shatranj, which is an early, Islamic version of chess, were common in wealthy boys’ education.

Activity : Design non-figurative chess pieces in the style of the ones used in the Islamic Empire

Muslim calligraphers decorated a variety of different objects, such as pottery, vases, swords and fabrics. It also became common for the Quaran to be filled with beautiful calligraphy on the cover and throughout. Muslims believed the words of the Quaran should be written as beautifully as possible.

Cities in the Islamic empire were filled with mosques, libraries, schools, bathhouses, theatres, gardens, hospitals, markets and racecourses. Islamic buildings were often decorated with intricate geometric patterns, made from coloured tiles.

Scientists have discovered that some 15th century designs make use of a system of tessellation that wasn't discovered in the west until the 1970s!

These designs are a fusion of mathematics and art.

Baghdad was a successful city. It was built on the great river Tigris and so controlled all river trade.

It had so much water that all households were able to have their own supply.

Known as the 'Round City', Baghdad had many parks and gardens as well as houses and shops. It also had a sanitation department and public baths and fountains. Unlike European cities the streets were frequently washed free of rubbish. This all helped to create the hygienic environment prescribed by Islam. At the center of the city was a mosque as well as the palace for the royal family.

The city was busy day and night. As well as homes and shops there were taverns, cabarets and halls for board games, plays and music. Street corner storytelling was also a profession!

By the 9th century Baghdad was a center of science, medicine, philosophy and education. The "house of wisdom" held the largest selection of books in the world.

By the 10th century Baghdad had reached it's peak population of between 1.2 and 2 million people.

When the practice of making paper was brought over from China, books and calligraphy boomed.

The wealthy competed to be the first to commission translations and copies of Ancient Greek or Islamic texts for libraries and there was a famous library in Baghdad called the House of Wisdom with 50,000+ books in it.

All the books were handwritten because the printing press had not been invented yet, which demonstrates just how much value books and education had in the Golden Age of Islam!

Amazingly, in 830 CE, a group of astronomers were able to calculate the circumference on the Earth as 39,900 km which is extremely close to the actual distance of 40,075 km. After this, al-Battani, an Islamic astronomer, calculated the length of time it takes the Earth to travel around the Sun once. His calculation was just over 2 minutes out.

Ibn al-Haytham was a mathematician and astronomer who is sometimes described as the first true physicist. He made big discoveries in the study of light, using mirrors and lenses. He was the first to correctly explain the theory of vision, stating that vision occurs in the brain.

A 10th-century astronomer Abd Al-Rahman Al-Sufi described more than 1000 applications for them! These included the astrological, the astronomical and the religious, to navigation, seasonal and daily time-keeping, and tide tables.

Islamic prayer times could be astronomically determined, as well as the direction of Mecca towards which Muslims must pray,

Astrolabes could also calculate dates of important religious observances such as Ramadan

It was drawn with the South as the topmost hemisphere

They also made their army professional, meaning soldiers where paid a salary for working full time. They also created a strong navy, which supported their army by sea.

Early in the Islamic empire, most of the army fought on foot. These foot soldiers, were known as the infantry and were armed with spears, swords and bows. The Islamic sword was called a sayf. Skilled archers were known as rumat.

Soldiers, known as the calvary, rode into battle on horses or camels. They were armed with lances and swords and wore lighter armour so they could move faster on their animals. As the army developed, they grew more reliant on cavalry.

Swords were often beautifully decorated with Arabic script

Richer people in the society were able to afford a patterned silk called damask fabric whereas poorer workers would have worn cheaper materials such as wool and would have worn fewer layers.

Black became a colour that signified wealth and high status, and many officials wore black for ceremonies.

Although this is popularly regarded as the end of the Golden Age of Islam, it was not the end of Islamic civilization. Although since 945 CE the caliphate’s provinces had been outside of direct control, these regions were still ruled by Muslim leaders. By 1500 CE Islamic rule had spread to India, Turkey and north and central Africa.

These seaparate Muslim states, despite the rise of great emipres such as the Ottomans, never again became a unified power as they had been under the early Caliphate.