Part 69 (2/2)

[Ill.u.s.tration: INTERIOR OF THE MOSQUE OF CORDOVA The great mosque of Cordova, begun in the eighth century, was gradually enlarged during the following centuries to its present dimensions, 570 by 425 feet. The building, one of the largest in the world, has now been turned into a cathedral. The most striking feature of the interior is the forest of porphyry, jasper, and marble pillars supporting open Moorish arches. Originally there were 1200 of these pillars, but many have been destroyed.]

MATHEMATICS AND ASTRONOMY

The Arabs had a strong taste for mathematics. Here again they carried further the old Greek investigations. In arithmetic they used the so- called ”Arabic” figures, which were probably borrowed from India. The Arabic numerals gradually supplanted in western Europe the awkward Roman numerals. In geometry the Arabs added little to Euclid, but algebra is practically their creation. An Arabic treatise on algebra long formed the textbook of the subject in the universities of Christian Europe. Spherical trigonometry and conic sections are Arabic inventions. This mathematical knowledge enabled the Arabs to make considerable progress in astronomy.

Observatories at Bagdad and Damascus were erected as early as the ninth century. Some of the astronomical instruments which they constructed, including the s.e.xtant and the gnomon, are still in use. [28]

ROMANCE AND POETRY

In prose and verse there are two Moslem productions which have attained wide popularity in European lands. The first work is the _Thousand and One Nights_, a collection of tales written in Arabic and describing life and manners at the court of the Abbasids. The book, as we now have it, seems to have been composed as late as the fifteenth century, but it borrows much from earlier Arabic sources. Many of the tales are of Indian or Persian origin, but all have a thoroughly Moslem coloring. The second work is the _Rubaiyat_ of the astronomer-poet of Persia, Omar Khayyam, who wrote about the beginning of the twelfth century. His _Rubaiyat_ is a little volume of quatrains, about five hundred in all, distinguished for wit, satirical power, and a vein of melancholy, sometimes pensive, sometimes pa.s.sionate. These characteristics of Omar's poetry have made it widely known in the western world. [29]

ARCHITECTURE

Painting and sculpture owe little to the Arabs, but their architecture, based in part on Byzantine and Persian models, reached a high level of excellence. Swelling domes, vaulted roofs, arched porches, tall and graceful minarets, and the exquisite decorative patterns known as ”arabesques” make many Arab buildings miracles of beauty. Glazed tiles, mosaics, and jeweled gla.s.s were extensively used for ornamentation. From the first the Arab builders adopted the pointed arch; they introduced it into western Europe; and it became a characteristic feature of Gothic cathedrals. [30] Among the best-known of Arab buildings are the so-called ”Mosque of Omar” at Jerusalem, [31] the Great Mosque of Cordova, and that architectural gem, the Alhambra at Granada. Many features of Moorish art were taken over by the Spaniards, who reproduced them in the cathedrals and missions of Mexico and California.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CAPITALS AND ARABESQUES FROM THE ALHAMBRA One of Mohammed's laws forbidding the use of idols was subsequently expanded by religious teachers into a prohibition of all imitations of human or animal forms in art. Sculptors who observed this prohibition relied for ornamentation on intricate geometrical designs known as arabesques. These were carved in stone or molded in plaster.]

137. THE INFLUENCE OF ISLAM

GROWTH OF ISLAM

The division of the Arabian Empire into rival caliphates did not check the spread of Islam. The Turks and Mongols during the Middle Ages carried it to the uttermost regions of Asia and throughout southeastern Europe. Some parts of the territory thus gained by it have since been lost. Spain and the Balkan peninsula are once more Christian lands. In other parts of the world, and notably in Africa and India, the religion of Mohammed is spreading faster than any other creed. Islam to-day claims about two hundred million adherents.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FOUNTAIN OF THE LIONS IN THE ALHAMBRA The most remarkable feature of the Alhambra is the Court of the Lions. It measures 116 feet in length by 66 feet in breadth. A gallery supported on marble columns surrounds the court. In the center is the Fountain of Lions, an alabaster basin resting on the backs of 12 marble lions.]

THE BENEFITS OF ISLAM

The growth of Islam is evidence that it meets the needs of Asiatic and African peoples. Its simple creed--the unity of G.o.d, man's immortal soul, and material rewards and penalties in a future life--adapt it to the understanding of half-civilized peoples. As a religion it is immeasurably superior to the rude nature wors.h.i.+p and idolatry which it has supplanted.

The same is true of Islam as a system of morality. The practice of the virtues recommended by the Koran and the avoidance of the vices which that book condemns tend to raise its adherents in the moral scale.

TREATMENT OF WOMEN

From the moral standpoint one of the least satisfactory features of Islam is its att.i.tude toward women. The ancient Arabs, like many other peoples, seem to have set no limit to the number of wives a man might possess.

Women were regarded by them as mere chattels, and female infants were frequently put to death. Mohammed recognized polygamy, but limited the number of legitimate wives to four. At the same time Mohammed sought to improve the condition of women by forbidding female infanticide, by restricting the facilities for divorce, and by insisting on kind treatment of wives by their husbands. ”The best of you,” he said, ”is he who behaves best to his wives.” According to eastern custom Moslem women are secluded in a separate part of the house, called the _harem_. [32] They never appear in public, except when closely veiled from the eyes of strangers.

Their education is also much neglected.

SLAVERY

Slavery, like polygamy, was a custom which Mohammed found fully established among the Arabs. He disliked slavery and tried in several ways to lessen its evils. He declared that the emanc.i.p.ation of Moslem slaves was an act of special merit, and ordered that in a war between Moslems the prisoners were not to be enslaved. Mohammed also insisted on kind treatment of slaves by their masters. ”Feed your slaves,” he directed, ”with food of that which you eat and clothe them with such clothing as you wear, and command them not to do that which they are unable to do.” The condition of Moslem slaves does not appear to be intolerable, though the slave traffic which still exists in some parts of Africa is a disgrace to Islam.

STUDIES

1. On an outline map indicate the Arabian Empire at its widest extent.

Locate the more important cities, including Mecca, Medina, Jerusalem, Damascus, Bagdad, Cairo, Alexandria, Granada, Cordova, and Seville.

<script>