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With the Faqih Muhammad b. ‘Isa as his source, al-Razi stated that when the Muslims conquered al-Andalus, they followed the examples of Abu ‘Ubayda and Khalid (may God be pleased with them), according to the instruction of the Commander…

The Cairo Genizah, mostly discovered late in the nineteenth century but still resurfacing in our own day, is a collection of over 200,000 fragmentary Jewish texts (which may well equal three times that number of folios). Many of these were stored in…

Gordon Stewart’s When Asia Was the World includes accounts of various travelers on land and sea. Among the travelers mentioned in the book, Xuanzang, Ibn Fadlan, Abraham bin Yiju, Ibn Battuta, Ma Huan, and Tomé Pires all traversed Indian…

This brief video describes the Islamic arts of the book and book illustration in the form of miniature painting. Related primary resource: Ibn al-Nadim on the Transmission and Authorization of Books, The Qur'an on Paradise (image).

This brief video expores the effect of geometric lines and curves on ornamental design in Islamic art, and illlustrates how they also characterize the timeless, breathtaking architecture of the Muslim world. Related primary resources: Al-Wansharisi…

This brief video describes the arts of weaving, knotting, and dyeing fabrics, including patterned carpets, woven calligraphy and their uses in Muslim cultures at all levels of society. Related primary resource: A Geniza Letter Regarding Trade and…

This brief video describes the forms, functions, features, and significance of the garden in Islamic societies, and the motif of gardens in various artistic genres. Related primary resources: The Qur'an on Paradise, Babur on the Construction of the…

The obligation to make the pilgrimage (known as the hajj) to Mecca, combined with the tradition of global trade in Muslim societies, makes international travel important in the lives of many Muslims. This brief video highlights the arts associated…

This brief video describes the structure, architecture and decoration of mosques and other religious buildings and discusses theirvariations in Muslim societies across geography and time. Related primary sources: The Qur'an on the Qibla,…

This brief video describes the arts of Islamic calligraphy, the artistic practice of handwriting based on the Arabic script. Related primary sources: The Qur'an on Paradise,Ibn al-Nadim on the Transmission and Authorization of Books.

He began dictation of this book, Kitab al-yaqut (The Book of the Gem) on Thursday, 29 Muharram in the year 326 (December 6, 937) in the principal mosque of Abu Ja’far’s city (Baghdad), from memory, without any books or notes, and he…

The foolish will now ask and say: “What has made the faithful turn away from the Qiblah towards which they used to pray?” Say: “To God belong the East and the West. He guides who so wills to the path that is…

Announce to those who believe and have done good deeds, glad tidings of gardens under which rivers flow, and where, when they eat the fruits that grow they will say, “Indeed they are the same as we were given before,” so alike in…

In the first place we render thanks to Allah, for the very excellence of the order of His creation, and the abundance of His benefits. His blessings and the abundance of His mercies are upon all the prophets. In the next place, I may say that it is…

As background to the discussion of scientific knowledge in Jim al-Khalili's House of Wisdom: How Arabic Science Saved Ancient Knowledge and Gave Us the Renaissance, the diagram traces the movement of knowlege from East to West over several centuries.…

Unique among the world's great pilgrimages, the hajj is in many ways also the most important. Even compared to the ancient and highly developed international pilgrimage systems of Christianity and Hinduism, the hajj is remarkable in its doctrinal…

These historical maps of the medieval Iberian Peninsula provide background to The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews, and Christians Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain by María Rosa Menocal. The maps show the advance of…

711 North African commander Tariq ibn Ziyad leads Umayyad forces across the Strait of Gibraltar into Spain. Muslim forces defeat the Visigoth army, marking the beginning of Muslim rule in Iberia. 750 - 755 Umayyad prince…

A Many-Shaped Water Fountain: Construction of a fountain from which the water shoots up at one time like the shape of a lily-of-the-valley and at one time like a lance. It is worked by the wind as long as it blows, and we can also make it work and…

10th century,Baghdad, Iraq Ibn al Nadim (ca. 932-990) in the Fihrist, or Catalogue of Books, mentions a book of Persian stories entitled Hazār Afsān, a tale of 200 stories in which Sheherezade tells a thousand nights of stories to…

Al-Jahiz, “The Disadvantages of Parchment” What is it to you that all my books are written on China paper or Khurasan paper? Explain why you have pressed on me the advantages of using parchment and urged me to write on hide, when you…

“The Crane and the Crab” A crane once dwelt upon a pleasant lake placed among little hills spread over with herbs and flowers. He lived upon such fish as he could catch, and for many years got plenty. But at length, becoming old and…

adhan Muslim call to prayer. ahl al-bayt literally, “people of the house,” referring to members of the household of the prophet Muḥammad. ahl al-kitāb literally, “people of the…

Cities of Light: The Rise and Fall of Islamic Spain is a documentary film and companion website. Inspired by Rosa Maria Menocal’s Ornament of the World, the documentary explores the European society in which Muslims, Jews and Christians lived…

550-330 B.C.E. Achaemenid dynasty rules the first Persian Empire. The city of Persepolis, was founded in 518 B.C.E. 1914-1918 Iran declares neutrality during World War I. 1923–1926 Reza Khan is named…

Raised on a site sacred to three great faiths, the Dome of the Rock is an elaborate, architecturally significant domed shrine built over a large rock believed to be the site from which Muhammad ascended to heaven during the Night Journey, ca. 621 CE.…

FAN-YEN-NA [BAMIYAN]. This kingdom is about 2000 li from east to west, and 300 li from north to south. It is situated in the midst of the Snowy Mountains. The people inhabit towns either in the mountains or the valleys, according to circumstances.…

This electronic resource features more than 3,000 reference articles and chapters by leading scholars and specialists in their fields are linked below. Qur'anic studies resources include two Oxford World's Classics translations of the Qur'an, linked…

The Story of the Qur’an begins with an accessible account of the origins of the Qur’an that places Muhammad, the Muslim holy book, and the first adherents to Islam in historical context. Ingrid Mattson, a professor of Islamic studies,…

Stewart Gordon uses the narratives of nine travelers to tell the story of Asia’s diverse economy and cultures between 500 and 1500 CE. During those thousand years, the world’s largest continent was the hub of global cultural and economic…