Islamic Golden Age

Introduction
The Islamic Golden Age (IGA) was an era Muslims synthesized knowledge from against civilizations.  They translated a lot of ancient texts.  Christians and Jews played a big role in the IGA.  It lasted for several centuries.  It had many achievements.  There were many great polymaths.  I will explain in detail what caused the IGA fall off.  Muslims were the bridge between the ancient world and the modern world.

Origin
The IGA started during the Abbasid Dynasty.  It lasted about 500 years.  After the jihads, Muslims learned a lot from the people they conquered.  Muhammad said the ink of a scholar is more important than the blood of a martyr.  Many Muslims scholars believed that statement.

A lot of Greek knowledge Muslims learned came from Byzantine.  Muslims learned about Greek science, philosophy, and math.  Muslim philosophers loved Aristotle.  Islamic philosophy is very Greek.

The Persians contributed a lot to the IGA.  The greatest Muslim scholars were Persian, so I've read.  The Arabs learned a lot about medicine from the Persians.  The Persians had a medical school long b4 they became Muslims.  They made a lot of discoveries at this school.

The Hindus and Buddhists taught Muslims math and science.  The numbers we use today is called Arabic Numerals (0-9).  The Arabs brought those numbers to Europe.  They got them from the Hindus.  They also learned astronomy and medicine from them.  Scholarly writings in Sanskrit were translated into Arabic.

Christians and Jews also contributed a lot to the IGA.  They translated most of the Greek texts into Syriac and Arabic.

History
There were 3 main centers of IGA.  It was Baghdad, Cairo, and Cordoba.

The House of Wisdom was located in Baghdad.  It started off as a library.  Many books of knowledge were translated into Arabic there.  The books translated were Greek, Persian, Indian, etc.  The Greek books came from the library of Constantinople.  The House of Wisdom had many teachers there.  They taught astrology, geography, medicine, philosophy, etc.  There was an observatory in the House of Wisdom.  The House of Wisdom was around for about 500 years.  Baghdad was one of the greatest city in the world  at this time.  The Mongols destroyed the House of Wisdom in the 13th century.  They threw the books into the Tigris and Euphrates.  The river was black for several months because of the ink.

Al-Azhar University was founded in 10th century.  The Quran, Sharia Law, trivium, and the phases of the moon was taught there.  I assume these subjects are still taught there.  The second biggest library in Egypt is in Al-Azhar.  This university has a big influence over the Sunni world.  Theologians from this university tell Sunni how to behave.  This was a religious university until 1961.  In 1961 the university became more secular.  Business, economics, science, pharmacy, medicine, engineering, and farming was introduced in at that time.

Cordoba was a city in Moorish Spain.  It had libraries that had over 400,000 books.  A musician introduced deodorant, toothpaste, clothes, and hairstyles to Cordoba.  He got it from Baghdad.  Muslims introduced rice, watermelons, bananas, eggplants, and wheat.  

Achievements
Hospitals: Place for sick people and people that were injured by accidents.
Banks: They gave people credit and exchange currencies.
Cryptanalysis: The study of how to break through an encrypted code.
Frequency Analysis: The study of a pattern of same letters in a code.
Bridgemill: Windmill that is part of a bridge.
Mercuric Chloride: A chemical used to disinfect wounds.
Hookah: A device for using drugs.
Coffee: A type of beverage.  Usually drunk in the morning.
Marching Band: A unit of people playing instruments while moving forward.
Military Band: Marching band 4 the military.
Guitar: Musical instrument.  You use your fingers to play it.
Lute: Similar to guitar.

There were many other inventions as well.  Some inventions were reinventions.

Islamic Geniuses
Abu Nasr al-Farabi: He was a great Muslim philosopher.  He created his own school of philosophy.  It was called Farabism.  He dealt with logic, mathematics, music, psychology, and education.

Al-Battani: He was a great astronomer.

Ibn Sina: He was well versed in medicine, psychology, pharmacology, geology, physics, astronomy, chemistry, and philosophy.

Ibn Battuta: Great world traveler.

Ibn Rushd: He was a philosopher.  He studied Plato and Aristotle.  He wrote about psychology and religion.
Muhammad ibn Musa al-Khwarizmi: He created algebra and algorithm.

Thabit ibn Qurra: He was a doctor and astronomer.  He invented statics.

al-Razi: He was a doctor and philosopher.  He studied Greek, Syrian, Indian, and Arab medicine.  He is the greatest Islamic doctor in history!

Geber: He invented chemistry.

Ibn Ishaq Al-Kindi: He was a philosopher and scientist.  He invented cryptography.

Alhazen: He was an astronomer and mathematician.  He discovered optics and did scientific experiments.

Ibn Zuhr: He was a doctor and surgeon.  He created many different surgical techniques and procedures.   He wrote a book about health.

Ibn Khaldun: He created sociology, historiography, demography, and economics.

Ibn Al-Baitar: He was a botanist, doctor, and pharmacist.  He recorded what Muslim doctors discovered as healing agents.

The end of the Islamic Golden Age
The Mongols destroyed the House of Wisdom and the rest of Baghdad.  The Christians tookover Iberia and kicked the Moors out.  Saladin tookover Egypt in 1171 CE.  He destroyed the library of Cairo.  He sold the books in an auction.  These 3 destructions caused the IGA to die out.

Imam Hamid al-Ghazali promoted ignorance.  He thought science made Allah look bad.  His ideas became popular in the Islamic world.  His ideas keep the Islamic world backwards.  He didn't like philosophers because they didn't prove Allah existed.  He believed Allah was the cause of everything.  He was very foolish.  Don't ever follow this line of thinking!  When someone doesn't understand a cause they may believe Allah did it.  That's is just ignorance.  Ignorance of cause doesn't mean Allah is doing it.  In the past, people didn't know why it rains.  Some people thought Allah was ejaculating. Now people know it's because clouds burst.  There is always more to know.  If what you learn contradicts your religion; maybe it's time to drop it.

ancient Bridge modern
The Muslims bridged the ancient world to the modern world.  They combined knowledge of ancient civilizations and gave it to Europe.  They sparked the European Renaissance.  Europeans were able to create the modern world because of what the Muslims taught them.

Conclusion
This was an amazing period in world history! This is the prequel to the modern world.  I love combination of knowledge of various civilizations because I'm eclectic.  Now is the time for Muslims to create a new golden age.        

References
Greatness of Moors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_Golden_Age
http://islamichistory.org/islamic-golden-age/
http://www.muslimheritage.com/article/origins-islamic-science
https://www.nlm.nih.gov/exhibition/islamic_medical/islamic_03.html
http://atheistuniverse.net/profiles/blogs/the-so-called-islamic-golden-age-was-it-really-islamic
http://theculturetrip.com/middle-east/iraq/articles/iraq-s-golden-age-the-rise-and-fall-of-the-house-of-wisdom/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Al-Azhar_University
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliphate_of_C%C3%B3rdoba
http://regentsprep.org/regents/global/themes/goldenages/islam.cfm
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_inventions_in_the_medieval_Islamic_world
http://www.1001inventions.com/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3621228/
http://www.famousscientists.org/famous-muslim-arab-persian-scientists-and-their-inventions/
https://www.britannica.com/biography/al-Razi
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16155644
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ibn_Khaldun
Culture Backwardness
IGA explained by Dr. Tyson
Imam Hamid al-Ghazali