A golden age refers to the period when all the traditional community activities were accomplished. The Islamic world experienced a period of golden age during the reign of the Abbasid caliphate. The Abbasid Dynasty took the position from 750 to 1258AD, and the ruling had a significant meaning which led to the accomplishment of most of the meaningful activities among the Islamic dynasty. Historically, It was deemed to be the longest empire that ruled Islamic culture.
The Abbasid dynasty took the ruling after a successful overdraw of the Umayyad regime, which was based in Damascus, Syrian. The Umayyad dynasty failed because of the feverish act of putting more concerns on protecting Arabs while despising the Muslim culture (Lim, 2021). The Muslim culture of the Persians was not impressed by the Umayyad regime hence forming the Abbasid dynasty, which led to the longest period of all the dynasty of the Islamic world. The dynasty of Abbasid overthrew Umayyad resulted in significant development and accomplishment of great tasks within it.
The Abbasid dynasty historically is remembered as the greatest impact of changing the Islamic empire. One of the earliest achievements of the Abbasid dynasty was the change of the shift of the capital city of the Islamic empire. The capital city was moved from the old Umayyad power, situated at Damascus, Syrian, to a new city called Baghdad. The city was established within the community of the Persian, the capital of Ctesiphon. The lactation reveals that the Abbasid dynasty was interested in forming a connection with the Persian culture to ensure there was no enmity between the two communities.
The Baghdad capital grew at a very high rate following the encouragement and support from the Abbasid state. Later on, it was the biggest capital city in the Islamic world. Baghdad was a place where all the cultures were practiced. Furthermore, the Persian culture that was expressed in Umayyad was allowed to thrive in Baghdad. Art, science, and poetry were the main activities that took place. The Abbasid dynasty adopted the art of making papers from the Chinese. The paper was used to store important information of literature and knowledge, unlike the Umayyad Empire, where the leadership was too rigid that even developments were underrated.
The Islamic Golden age of the Abbasid dynasty took place during the ruling of Harun al-Rashid (r.786 -809). Harun al-Rashid was the patron since he was the first to introduce the arts and science to the regime. During his reign, Baghdad was made to be the world`s most important center for education, medicine, science, and philosophy. The Abbasid Caliphate Empire had a large size that enabled it to share its border with many empires. The massive size of the empire allowed the scholars from Baghdad to acquire the art of translation and expand knowledge from the surrounding empires such as the Egyptians, Indians, Greeks, Romans, Chinese, and Byzantines.
The successor of Harun al-Rashid, the son of Al-Ma`mun (r. 813-833), also contributed to the development of the Abbasid dynasty. During his regime, he constructed the Bayt-Hikma, which is referred to as the house of wisdom in the city of Baghdad (“The great caliphs: the golden age of the `Abbasid empire,” 2010). The place was used as a library and a university for both Muslims and non-Muslims, where scholars had acquired the privileges of accumulating human history. It is from this dynasty that many scholars developed many ideas. The introduction of numerals led to the discovery of mathematics and science.
The concept of geometry and astronomy was initiated during the period of the Abbasid dynasty. Other important contributions to scholars include the development of the optic field, which resulted in the expansion of the scientific method. Furthermore, innovations were realized at this particular point, especially in agriculture, where crops and farming techniques were acquired from the neighboring regions. However, the Abbasid dynasty was the golden age of massive improvement in science technology, and institution of learning facility was made.
References
Lim, R. C. (2021). The Culture of Technological Creativity in the Islamic World during the First Islamic Golden Age. Journal of Islamic Governance, 6. https://doi.org/10.53105/jig.6-2
The great caliphs: the golden age of the `Abbasid Empire. (2010). Choice Reviews Online, 47(07), 47–398847–3988. https://doi.org/10.5860/choice.47-3988
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