Islamic Civilization Vocabulary Flashcards

Vocabulary flashcards covering key individuals, terms, inventions, and concepts from Chapter 2 on Islamic Civilization.

al-Rāzī

Chief physician at the hospital in Baghdad in the early A.D. $900s$ who wrote a paper clearly describing smallpox and measles to tell them apart, and compiled a large medical encyclopedia translated into Latin.

Ibn Sina

Also called Avicenna, a great Islamic scholar and doctor who wrote the encyclopedic medical textbook Canon of Medicine in the early A.D. $1000s$.

al-Idrisi

A Muslim geographer in the $1100s$ who sent people to draw geographic features in other countries and combined their findings with existing maps to make more accurate maps.

astrolabe

A small navigational instrument adopted from the Greeks and improved by Muslim astronomers that allowed observers to chart star positions and calculate their latitude, longitude, and position on Earth.

minaret

A tower attached to the outside of a mosque where a crier calls Muslims to worship $5$ times a day.

The Thousand and One Nights

A famous collection of Muslim folktales framed around the story of Scheherazade, including widely read stories such as Sinbad the Sailor, Aladdin, and Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves.

Abu al-Qasim

An Arab surgeon (A.D. $936-1013$) practicing in Córdoba who developed surgical techniques and authored the first illustrated surgical textbook.

Al-Khwarizmi

An Arab scholar who wrote an arithmetic book using decimals learned from India and introduced the mathematical concept of al-jabr, which became algebra.

calligraphy

The art of fine handwriting, regarded as the highest art form in Islamic civilization.

Scheherazade

The story-telling wife in Muslim literature who saved herself from execution by telling her husband a story each night and leaving it unfinished for a thousand and one nights.

Great Mosque of Córdoba

A masterpiece of Islamic architecture located in Spain, built in stages between about A.D. $785$ and about A.D. $988$.

caliph

A leader in the Islamic Empire who served as both a ruler and a great patron of the arts.

mosque

A Muslim house of worship modeled after Muhammad's private courtyard at Medina, which also functioned as a community center, treasury, and place of education in newly conquered lands.

Qur'an

The holy book of Islam that shaped Muslim culture and granted women more rights than traditional Arab law.

hijrah

The journey or migration of Muhammad and his followers from Mecca to Yathrib (Medina).

Muhammad

The prophet of Islam whose private courtyard at Medina served as the model for the first Islamic mosques.

Moors

The term used for the Muslims who expanded into and ruled parts of Spain.

Tariq

The Muslim commander who led Berber forces across into Spain during the expansion of the Islamic Empire.