348 education: The Islamic World Shortly after the prophet Muhammad died in 632, the individual parts of the Koranic revelation were compiled from both oral and written sources, arranged in one text, and published by an authorized committee of learned Muslims Thus the Koran became Islam’s first book as well as its first holy book The Islamic religious tradition expressly prioritizes learning and education Chapter 96 of the Koran, verses through 5, traditionally considered to be the very first revelation to the prophet Muhammad, start with the divine command to “read” or “recite” words of the revelation These lines emphasize that God taught humankind through the scriptures and that God is humankind’s undisputed supreme teacher The Koran also indicates that Muhammad was first ordered to listen to the revelation, recite the divine text himself, learn of its meanings by way of explanation, and eventually convey and teach God’s message to others This divinely inaugurated method of instruction—listening, learning and understanding, and teaching—had a significant impact on education and the transmission of knowledge in the medieval Muslim world An imperative to seek knowledge and learning is also met in sayings attributed to the prophet Muhammad, such as “To acquire knowledge is an obligation on every Muslim, male or female” and “Seek knowledge, even if it is in China.” By the 10th century the Muslim world extended from Spain to the boarders of China Multitudes of people adopted Islam as their religion This situation stimulated Islamic learning on both the basic and higher levels, causing ArabicIslamic civilization to become a “knowledge society.” In the ninth to the 13th centuries Baghdad, the capital of the Abbasid Caliphate, was the vibrant commercial, cultural, and intellectual metropolis of the Muslim world It witnessed remarkable learning activities in the humanities and great advancement in the natural sciences Baghdad’s famous translation academy, the Bait al-Hikma, or House of Wisdom, was officially sponsored by Caliph al-Mamun (r 813–33) to prepare professional Arabic translations of philosophical and scientific works, particularly those in Greek Most of these translations were carried out by Christian Arabic (Syriac-speaking) scholars They advanced considerably Muslim scholars’ creative adaptations of not only the Hellenistic heritage but also Byzantine, Iranian, and Indian traditions Philosophy was the most important branch of the Hellenistic tradition incorporated into the dynamically developing Islamic body of knowledge The importance that medieval Muslim thinkers granted to philosophy helped to establish reason, logic, and the laws of nature firmly in Islamic thought Examples of prominent Muslim sages are al-Kindi (d 873), a brilliant scientist and metaphysician; al-Farabi (d 950), logician, metaphysician, musical theorist, and the most impor- tant Islamic political philosopher; and Ibn Sina (known to the Western world as Avicenna; d 1037), a philosopher and physician who contributed insightful original ideas to the Aristotelian and Neoplatonic traditions In Islamic Spain, Abu Bakr ibn Tufayl (d 1185) is noted for his allegorical and philosophical narrative of a solitary individual on an island who independently arrives at philosophical and religious truths Ibn-Rushd (known in the Western world as Averroës; d 1198), the most Aristotelian of the Islamic philosophers, is renowned for developing a theory of the intellect based on Aristotle’s theory of the soul His rationalistic philosophy had a far-reaching impact on both Islamic and medieval European scholarship Despite different ethnic and cultural backgrounds, all these scholars wrote their major works in Arabic, the lingua franca of the medieval Muslim world Reason and logic were also significant to Islamic theology In the eighth and ninth centuries Muslim scholars disputed, for example, whether God was to be understood through revelation (literally) or through reason (metaphorically) The orthodox theologian al-Ashari (d 935) bridged these conflicting positions Although he set limits to philosophical speculation in religious matters, he did not end it Al-Ghazali (d 1111), perhaps the most important theologian of Islam and a noted jurist and mystic, accepted Greek logic as a neutral instrument of learning and recommended it for Muslim theologians Creativity is evident in narrative and descriptive disciplines, such as history and geography, in the codification of law, and in philology and grammar Examples are the works of al-Tabari (d 923), a particularly influential historian and Koran commentator, and Abu l-Faraj al-Isfahani (d ca 971), a celebrated man of letters, historian, and musicologist In the natural sciences medieval Muslim scholars displayed industriousness and originality, as evident in the works of Jabir ibn Hayyan (d 803), known as the father of chemistry; al-Khawarizmi (d 840), considered the founder of algebra; and Ibn al-Haytham (d 1040), who significantly advanced experimental and theoretical research in optics Abu l-Qasim al-Zahrawi (d 1013) explained surgical procedures and gave detailed illustrations of surgical instruments His great encyclopedia of medicine—composed to facilitate student learning—was used in Latin translation at European hospitals and universities for centuries In early Islam learning and education were rather informal Instruction took place in teaching sessions and study circles held at mosques or privately at the homes of scholars The professor lectured while sitting on the floor or a small pedestal The students were also seated on the floor, with the most senior students sitting closest to the professor Oral instruction was the predominant feature of Muslim learning,