MAJOR ARAB ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES

MAJOR ARAB ACHIEVEMENTS IN THE MIDDLE AGES
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[Date] Introduction
The Arabs native soil stretches some 5,000 miles, almost twice the distance between New York and San Francisco from the Atlantic coast of northern Africa in the west to the Arabian Sea in the east and from the Mediterranean Sea in the north to Central Africa in the south and it covers an region of 5.25 million square miles thus by evaluation, the United States comprises 3.6 million square miles.
With 72% of its terrain in Africa and 28% in Asia, the Arab world overlaps two continents; a place that has made it one of the world's most tactical regions and long coastlines give it access to critical waterways, the Mediterranean Sea, the Atlantic Ocean, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Gulf, the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean.
While the region is subjugated by dry climatic setting, the existence of mountain ranges allows seasonal rainfall and given the prevalence of arid conditions, dependable sources of water are enormously important, be they springs from which oases are formed, or rivers. Foremost among the river valleys are the Nile and the Tigris-Euphrates.
The perception of average population density has little meaning when applied to the Arab world and since significant human settlement is found only where water supplies are adequate thus the overwhelming majority of Arabs live in comparatively high concentrations along coastal areas and major river valleys and the most remarkable example of this observable fact is in Egypt where more than 90% of the population lives on less than 5% of the land.
Agriculture is the primary money-making activity in the Arab homeland and the most important food crops are wheat, barley, rice, maize, dates and millet thus these are largely consumed within the region, while cotton, sugarcane, sugar beets and sesame are exported as cash crops.
Contrary to popular belief that few Arab countries possess petroleum and natural gas resources and other natural resources include iron-ore, lead, phosphate, cobalt and manganese. It was in the Arab land that man first planned into a settled form of society and cultivating grain and raising livestock, instituting cities and promoting different skills and professions and in such a setting, rich and complex cultures were nourished; ancient Egypt, Assyria, Babylonia, Sumer and Phoenicia were great evolution, legends even in their own day thus whose traces continue to be concealed in archeological sites throughout the region.
Arab Achievements in the Field of Philosophy and Literature.
Merely in philosophy were Islamic scholars barred from putting forth unorthodox thoughts, however, Ibn Rushd and Persian polymath Avicenna played a key role in saving the mechanism of Aristotle, whose ideas came to take over the non-religious contemplation of the Christian and Muslim worlds. The Arabs/ Muslim would also attract ideas from China, and India and adding to them incredible knowledge from their own studies. The Arabic philosophic literature was translated from Spain into Hebrew, Latin, and Ladino, causative to the improvement of modern European philosophy.
Whichever conversation of Arabic literature must start with the language itself and while the most important mythical figures within the Islamic Empire represented a assortment of ethnic and artistic backgrounds. Arabs have long well thought-out their language a ideal mechanism of meticulousness, clarity and expressiveness, as evidenced by the Qur'an itself and by subsequent literary masterpieces. Given that the Qur'an was adopted as the fixed customary, a astoundingly immeasurable and rich literature has accumulated over a era of 1400 years.
The most prehistoric known form of Arabic literature is the heroic poetry of the noble ethnic group of pre-Islamic Arabia and it was there that the customary Arabic verse form, the qasidah, evolved. The qasidah, a lengthy poem, often recounted occurrences from the poet's own life or that of his ethnic group sometimes radically and at times with a distinctively heroic flavor. Pre-Islamic poetry was conveyed and conserved verbally until the latter part of the seventh century A.D. when the Arab scholars undertook a large attempt to collect and record verses and shorter compositions that had survived in the reminiscences of professional recites.
During the Umayyad era of 661-750 A.D, the Arab way of life began to change from a itinerant mode of survival to a more established and stylish urban style. In harmony with Greek and Persian practices of the moment, poetry was often accompanied by music performed by women. In occasion, the poetic form was cut down, the multifaceted and highly advanced meters of the habitual Arabian poetry were replaced by shorter, freer meters which were adaptable to music. Poetry and music became undividable and giving rise to the ghazal customs and most conspicuously illustrated in the well-known Kitab al-Aghani, or "Book of Songs."
Arab literature prospered under the Abbasids, who rose to authority in Baghdad in the mid-eighth century. The "golden age" of Islamic customs and commerce reached its peak during the sovereignty of Harun al-Rashid and his son, al-Ma'mun. Arabic writing style began to acquire its rightful place along with poetry and material literature was at home along with religious tracts
Condemnation inherent in Arabic literature from the earlier days and the poetry festivals of the pre-Islamic era often inclined two poets against each other in a conflict of verse in which one would be considered to have won by the audience thus the theme adopted a more official status with Islamic study of the Qur'an. Even though nothing which might be termed 'literary criticism', in the current sense it was practical to a work held to be incomparable and divinely encouraged analysis was allowed. The study also permitted for better thoughtful of the message and assisted understanding for practical use and all of which help the growth of a vital method important for later work on other literature. Clear distinction was regularly drawn between works in literary language and popular works which meant that only part of the literature in Arabic was usually measured worthy of study and criticism
Arab Achievements in Architecture and/or Development of Cities.
In every society according to their culture the plan of building builds in its ways, and borrowing from the history then transient on to a new age those special achievement which were proven most worthy. The major work of Arab architecture was undertaken during the prior period of the Prophet Muhammad. The Arab Architecture’s design concept has a created a unique, style and from which have survived to this day. Their principal types of buildings are the mosque with its minaret, the tomb, the khan (rest house), the madrassa (schools) and the palace.
At first the Arabs adopted the Greek methods and Architecture forms to outfit their own rationale. An example is the Byzantine rotunda dome it was used in the late seventh century Mosque of Dome of the Rock, in Jerusalem which is still existing monument of Islamic Architecture. The mosque was built on the site where the prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven, and it’s the work of craftsmen from all the Arab/ Islamic Empire. Islamic methods of covering walls with breath-taking detonations of brightly-colored patterns, plastered ornaments and stretches of lustered tiles are best demonstrated in the Alhambra; whose faience mosaic and tile designs were captivated into the mainstream of Western design.
Finally, the use of water as a landscaping element to create a gorgeous environment was introduced by the Muslims in the Alhambra; this practice was later imitated by European architects and landscape designers to form fine-looking fountains; reflecting pools and man-made waterfalls adorning many of the open spaces and structures of the Western world
The traditional era of Arab art, which began with the initiation of Islam in the seventh century and lasted further than a thousand years, was marked by an art form that was fundamentally theoretical and geometric. The artistic progress in Islam has always favored the lacy theorizing of geometry over the real...