Lights and shadows in the Islamic civilization: women.
In Arabia, before the seventh century, being born women was certainly not a fortune: the new-born babies were often killed because they were considered simple and mouths to feed people without work force. Widows and orphans were often left to themselves. In the seventh century, the constant reference to the Qur'an has a slightly improved this situation because it contains not only religious norms, and standards of law and civil society.
According to the holy book, infanticide is a crime and the refusal to provide for widows and orphans. Polygamy is limited and the number of wives to one man is set at four, all subject to the same treatment and equal dignity.
The Koran is the basis of the legal system of many Islamic states. There are many testimonies on the need to ensure the right to education between men and women of Islam, even by the same Muhammad. In everyday life, however, the Muslim woman has always lived in a state of subordination the will of men. The Koran recognizes women the chance to have a private property and of receiving property by inheritance. But it is his sister, by law, half of that of his brother. In a trial, the testimony of a woman is worth half that of a man. According to Islam, marriage is a kind of pact or contact whose rules are included in the holy book. The husband must support his wife and children, but her husband can, for example, in some cases, divorce his wife.
The use of the veil is not foreseen in the Koran, but is still the most visible symbol of submission women. Over the years, the book's content, and Islamic law, has undergone various interpretations in different countries. Within some states and some social groups, women are still victims of corporal punishment!
What's in power.
Many plants we know and often eat the fruits of which came to Europe through contacts between Europeans and Arabs occurred mainly in Sicily. Among the most popular foods, we can remember: eggplant, artichokes, spinach, saffron, grapes, raisins, apricots, mandarin, cedar, lemons, oranges, mulberries and sugar cane.
Alchemy and medicine.
The Arabs have always been dedicated to alchemy: the search for the transformation of matter. Even the Greeks sought the philosopher's stone, which is the formula that would allow you to turn any material into gold, the perfect material because it can oxidize and dreams for the experts in metal working. The ancient alchemists to shoot people, while Arabs resorted to medieval distillation of the liquid in the pot stills of their invention. They used distilled water as a solvent, corrosive acids such as ammonia, resorted to alcohol to cure wounds. It was an ancestor of modern chemistry and modern pharmacology. The ultimate goal of practical alchemical research was for the Arabs of the elixir of long life. The Arab physicians were much admired because they understand the importance of proper hygiene and a more direct knowledge of the human body. To find such an interest in the anatomy we have to get the Epoch of Renaissance Europe. Arabs must first treated with surgery, optics, on diseases like measles and smallpox, the circulation of blood and the first medical encyclopedia, translated in Latin only in the thirteenth century. The first hospital was already in Baghdad of the eighth century. We have Arabs, the construction of the first hospitals designed specifically for patients with mental disorders. We recall the figure of the physician Avicenna then able to describe the complications of diabetes and tuberculosis.
Astronomy.
Astronomy is another area of \u200b\u200bexcellence of the Arabs. Nomadism and confidence in the business activities by sea had in fact allowed them to learn to recognize the stars and plot the first maps, created by the deepening of their previous knowledge of astronomy Greeks and Indians. Many stars still retain the names that Arabs are normally given. They were used to accurately record the eclipse of the Sun and Moon, the circumference of the Earth and the planet's rotation around its axis.
Mathematics.
Arabs were true geniuses in mathematics: thanks to them, we can resort to the use of zero and decimal numbers. The figures that we commonly use (including zero) are actually Indian origin and then came to Europe through the Arabic transcription. The title of a famous book about the numbers was " Al'gebr to mukàbala. from the distortion of this title have been created words like algebra and algorithm. The Arabs also studied the equations, trigonometry and geometry. He thanked the Arabs even when you pick up a compass.
architecture and art.
The Arab towns are still full of grandiose buildings decorated in a very refined, for example, the domes of mosques and minarets. The decor is still mostly geometric shapes and arabesques useful to reproduce the verses of the Koran. Islam, in fact, prohibits any depiction of Allah or Mohammed. This nation is still experience in the manufacture of ceramics and textiles. Each city is still divided into Arab neighborhoods. The center of economic and social life was and is the souk, or bazaar: a large market which houses shops and craft workshops. The carpets here are valuable goods that are famous around the world.
philosophy and literature.
The Arabs were concerned with much to Greek philosophy and to the west in general, worked to spread it and keep it. The Arabs influenced other civilizations and other cities: Damascus, Palermo, Baghdad and Cordoba were important cultural centers thanks to their contacts with the Islamists. The most famous book of Arabic literature is certainly " Thousand and One Nights".
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