ESSAYS:
2. What does the Persian poet-astronomer mean when he writes the following:
“And do you think that unto such as you
A maggot-minded, starved, fanatic crew
God gave a secret, and denied it me?
Well, well—what matters it? Believe that, too!”

Ghiyāth ad-Dīn Abu'l-Fatḥ Umar ibn Ibrāhīm al-Khayyām Nīshāpūrī was a Persian philosopher, poet, scientist, and astronomer of 11th century. Khayyam was a very knowledgeable polymath, but what made this fierce and sensitive philosopher famous was his words especially in his Rubbiayat that shows his philosophical poets on human condition. He did not dislike Islam or he was not against Islam or Muhammad, but he disliked Muslims who held too much to the words of Quran rather than being a little logical and reasonable. Khayyam was rationalist philosopher who attracted a lot of people for his knowledge, but some Muslims disliked him, because he knew a lot more than them. Moreover, fundamentalist Muslims were not only persecuting such knowledgeable people but also murdering them; they were watching innocent people suffer. Khayyam was only defending rationalism, and that’s why he always had a voice of protest in his poems against the unjust world that the some contemporary Muslims created; he was only opposing their nightmarish beliefs. He refers to those orthodoxy Muslims as ‘maggot-minded’ that were forming a cruel and ignorant society. What those orthodoxy Muslims would mean to say to Khayyam in a question form would be ‘what is your authority for saying that you know something that I don’t?’ Khayyam knew that it would be such a waste of time to reason with fundamentalist Muslims. Hence, he let them to have their irrational and foolish thoughts and beliefs. Since he was a philosopher he wanted to spend his limited time to be productive and to learn what does not know rather than debating with narrow-minded ignorants.

3. Consider the following map: Comment on the main political, cultural and religious events that are indicated bye spread of Islam to these areas. Do a bit of research and organize your answer by regions and dynasties:

Early Islam spread swiftly from the middle east to the west to Cairo (Egypt), across the north Africa and into southern Spain, and to the east through Persia (Iran) towards Asia. The boundary shows the regions that were ruled by Umawiyyūn during Umayyad’s Caliphate. The head of Umayyad’s caliphate was Muawiya ibn abu sufyan, and the Umayyads were a largely merchant family of Quraysh tribe that was centered at Mecca. They made the fifth largest empire that ever existed. The discoveries by Muslim scholars and scientists at this era were very developing. Umayyad ruled from Damascus in Syria and then they were defeated by Abbasid that ruled from Baghdad to Iraq for next 500 years after the Umayyad. Arabia has a significant location for trading; it was at the crossroad between Asia, Africa, and Europe, thus Arab people traded extensively with merchants from China, India and southern Europe. After the trade and conquest a cultural exchange and spread of knowledge between those areas occurred. The trades that were over long distances brought development of techniques for navigation by stars; they gained a better understanding of time. Great centers of scholarship were established in cities such as Baghdad. However, the political and social dominance remained in the hands of few Arab families from Mecca and Medina which caused the population of Muslims to grow enormously as the empire expanded and become discontented. Since the Umayyads found it necessary for incomes of taxation; the income would increase if there was larger population. Lands were taxed without regard to religion, and Muslims were free of only personal taxes. When the Abbasids overthrew Umayyad and gained the caliphate, they moved to the capital of the empire to a new city, Baghdad. The head of Abbasids were Abbas, one of Muhammad’s descendants. Their power base was Persia. During this period the Muslims became an intellectual center for science, philosophy, medicine and education. Starting from Abbasids period till the Mongol conquest of Baghdad is considered as Islamic Golden Age. During the reign of Harun al Rashid his scholars gained great intellectual achievements.