The Islamic Renaissance, c. 790–c. 1050
Unlike the Macedonian renaissance, which was concentrated in Constantinople, the Islamic renaissance occurred throughout the Islamic world. In fact, the dissolution of the caliphate into separate political entities multiplied the centers of learning and intellectual productivity. The Islamic renaissance was particularly dazzling in capital cities such as Córdoba (a city in southern Spain today), where tenth-century rulers presided over a brilliant court culture, patronizing scholars, poets, and artists. (See “Document 9.2: When She Approached.”)
Islamic scholarship was diverse. Some scholars read, translated, and commented on the works of ancient philosophers. Others studied astronomy or wrote on mathematical matters. Ibn Sina (980–1037), known in Christian Europe as Avicenna, wrote books on logic, the natural sciences, and physics. His Canon of Medicine systematized earlier treatises and reconciled them with his own experience as a physician.
Long before there were universities in Europe, there were institutions of higher learning in the Islamic world. A rich Muslim might demonstrate his piety and charity by establishing a madrasa, a school located within or attached to a mosque. Professors at madrasas held classes throughout the day on the interpretation of the Qur’an and literary or legal texts. Students, all male, attended the classes that suited their achievement level and interest. Most students paid a fee for learning, but there were also scholarship students. One tenth-century court official was so solicitous of the welfare of the scholars he supported that each day he set out iced refreshments, candles, and paper for them in his own kitchen.
REVIEW QUESTION What forces contributed to the fragmentation of the Islamic world in the tenth and eleventh centuries, and what forces held it together?
The use of paper, made from flax and hemp or rags and vegetable fiber, points to a major difference among the Islamic, Byzantine, and (as we shall see) Carolingian renaissances. Byzantine scholars worked to enhance the prestige of the ruling classes. Their work, written on expensive parchment (made from animal skins), kept manuscripts out of the hands of all but the very rich. This was true of scholarship in Europe as well. By contrast, Islamic scholars wrote on paper, which was cheap, and they spoke to a broad audience.