Culture

FEATURED ARTICLES

BBC Four - The Dark Ages: An Age of Light - The Wonder of Islam

BBC Four: "The Dark Ages have been misunderstood. History has identified the period following the fall of the Roman Empire with a descent into barbarism - a terrible time when civilisation stopped."

LEARN MORE

The role of Ibn Sina (Avicenna)’s Medical Poem in the transmission of medical knowledge to medieval Europe

Were you aware that in the Medieval Islamic world, celebrated scientists such as Ibn Sina used to relay their teachings through poetry? Poems structure and rhythm aided the process of...

LEARN MORE

Mosque of Whirling Colours: A Mixture of Architecture and Art in Nasīr al-Mulk Mosque in Shiraz, Iran

There are numerous mosques all around the world. Each has a design of its own. However, in order to be distinctive from other mosques, a mosque needs to be unique and possess outstanding features....

LEARN MORE

A 1000 Years Amnesia: Sports in Muslim Heritage

Professor Salim Al-Hassani published in the issue 369 (Spring 2012, p. 10) of Runnymede Bulletin (Spring 2012 Runnymede Bulletin - Sport) a short article on “Sports in Muslim Heritage”. He argues,...

LEARN MORE

The Sound Rules in Reading the Quran (Tajwid) in Qutb Al-Din al-Shirazi’s Music Notation

In the Islamic world, starting from Al-Kindī (d. 874), Al-Fārābī (d. 950), Ibn Sīnā (d. 1034), and Safī al-Dīn al-Urmawī (d. 1294) used the abjad notation to write music. Of these writers, the most...

LEARN MORE

The Influence of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi on Ottoman Scientific Literature

The works of Nasir al-Din al-Tusi have always attracted the interest of Ottoman scholars as early as the 14th century. Some of his works were translated into Turkish and various annotations or...

LEARN MORE

Pages

LATEST ARTICLES

Figure 1. Musicians and their musical instruments. Topkapi Palace Museum Library, H. 2164.

Literature and Music in Muslim Civilisation

An outline of the main types of Arabic literature and their influence on European literature and a...

LEARN MORE

Figure 1. A group of school children practice martial arts formation under the watch of their teacher in the Great Mosque of Xi'an. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muslim_Chinese_martial_arts.

The Legacy of Muslim Kung Fu Masters

An important legacy of Islam in China is represented by Muslim Kung Fu, developed throughout history by...

LEARN MORE

Figure 1. Extract from a scene of music (Hadith Bayâd wa Riyâdh), 13th century (Image from http://expositions.bnf.fr/livrarab/grands/099.htm).

Safi al-Din al-Urmawi and the Theory of Music

In this detailed and well documented article, Dr. Fazli Arslan describes the work of one of the most...

LEARN MORE

Figure 1. Archway from the Darb-i Imam shrine in Isfahan, Iran, which was built in 1453 C.E. The larger pentagons outlined in pale blue were constructed using a large-scale girih tile pattern, and the small white pentagons were constructed using a small-scale girih tile pattern (Image courtesy of K. Dudley and M. Elliff).