CBSE Class 11th NCERT Chapter 4 History Notes The Central Islamic Lands Part 2 by Vibha Maam | English

Commerce

• Political unification and urban demand for foodstuff and luxuries enlarged the circuit of exchange.
• Arab traders traded such as spices, textile porcelain etc. with China, India and Europe by the two major routes, The Red sea and the Persian gulf.
• Slaves trade were also prevailed in this markets.
• The fiscal system (finance) and market exchange increased the importance of money in the central Islamic lands.
• Coins of gold (from Africa: Sudan) silver (from Central Asia) copper and precious metals (from Europe) were minted and circulated.
• Letters of credit and bills of exchange were used by merchants and bankers to transfer money.
• Interest-bearing transactions (Riba) were unlawful.

Learning and culture

• Through the contact of with other people, Muslims were obliged to reflect on itself and confront issues pertaining to God and the world.
• Many questions raised in the community. what should be the ideal conduct of a Muslim in public and in private? What does God want from his creatures?
• Religious scholars try to satisfy the intellectual curiosity of the medium of Quran and Hadith.
• For religious scholars, knowledge derived from the Quran and the model behaviour of the profit was the only way to know the will of God.
• Some went on to prepare a body of law or Sharia.
• In framing Islamic law, jurists also made use of reasoning (qiyas) since not every thing was apparent in the Quran and Hadith.
• In the 8th and 9th centuries, there were four schools of law (Mazhab): Maliki, Hanafi, Shafii, and Hanbali.
• Hanbali was the most conservative School.
• The Sharia provided guidance on all possible personal legal issues like marriage, divorce and inheritance within Sunni society.

Sufis

• A new group emerged in mediaeval Islam known as Sufis, sought a deeper and more personal knowledge of God through asceticism and mysticism.
• In the 8th and 9th centuries, ascetic inclinations were elevated to the higher stage of mysticism by the ideas of pantheism and love.
• Pantheism is the idea of oneness of God and the human soul.
• Bayazid Bistami an Iranian Sufi, was the first to teach the importance of submerging the self in God.
• Sufism gained popularity and posed a challenge to orthodox Islam.
• An alternative vision of God and the universe was developed by Islamic philosophers and scientists under the influence of Greek philosophy and science.
• Indian works on astronomy, mathematics and medicine were also translated into Arabic.
• The study of new subjects promoted critical inquiry and had a profound influence on Islamic intellectual life.
• Ibn Sina( 980-1037) a doctor and philosopher, did not believe in the resurrection. This was met with strong opposition from theologians.

• Fine language and a creative imagination were the most appreciated qualities in a person’s communication called ‘Adab’, which means literary and cultural refinement.
• The ancient Iranian language, Pahlavi (the language of sacred books) was in decay.
• A version of pahlavi known as new Persian.
• Rudaki (the Samanid court poet) was considered the father of new Persian poetry, including ghazal and rubai.
• The  rubai reached its zenith in the hands of Umar Khayyam.
• In the 11th century, Ghazni became the center of Persian literary life.
• Rulers patronised the court poets.
• Firdausi was the outstanding poet who wrote Shahnama, which poetically depicts Iran from creation up until the Arab conquest.

Stories

•  Baghdad bookseller, Ibn Nadim, describes  a large number of works written in prose for the moral education and amusement of readers.
• The oldest collection of animal fables called kalila wa dimna, the story of two jackals, which is the Arabic translation of the pahlavi version of the Panchatantra. The most adventurous stories include Alexander, sindbad, unhappy lovers like Majnu.
• ‘The thousand and one nights’ is another collection of stories of different- different types of characters.

History

 History books were read by scholars and students as history provided a good record of the glories and achievements of the dynasty, and set examples of the techniques of administration for rulers and officials. 

Geography and Travel (Rihla)

• These combined knowledge came from Greek, Iranian and Indian books with the observations of merchants and travellers.
• In mathematical geography, the inhabited world was divided into seven climes.
• Tahqiq ma lil- Hind (History of India) was the greatest attempt of Alberuni.

Basic Forms of Designs

• Arches, domes, minarets and open courtyard were the basic features of the religious buildings like mosques, shrines and tombs from Spain to Central Asia.
• The same pattern of construction appeared in caravanserais, hospitals and palaces.

Art

• Religious art of Islam promoted two art forms; calligraphy (beautiful writing) and arabesque ( geometry shapes).
• Small and big inscriptions were used to decorate the architecture. plant and floral designs were used in buildings and book illustrations.

Important Aspects of Human Civilization

• The central Islamic lands are brought together by three aspects; religion, community and politics.
• In the 7th century, these three circles were merged and appeared as one but in the next five centuries these circles separated.
• The influence of Islam over state and government was minimal.