ISLA 200 Lecture Notes - Lecture 4: Mishnah, Abbasid Caliphate, Talmud

• School: McGill University
• Department: Islamic Studies
• Course: ISLA 200
• Professor: Prashant Keshavmurthy

Document Summary

Algebra: numbers from the indians were fused to create a form of math. Agriculture from india and the inability of europe to develop these innovations but islamic arabia was able to develop. Greek and indian knowledge, translating knowledge and saving it by writing it on paper. Paper-making from china, they were able to diffuse the ideas of the quran, it was essential in building civilizations (page 22: islamic civilization and cultural diffusion) Islamic culture appropriated a lot of practices from other cultures. There is an idea of a decline after the 11th and 12th century, after the mongols destroyed the abbasid empire. The islamic world could be seen as being in a state of decline. Mongols destroyed the islamic empire in around 1278, they killed the khalifa and so the abbasids were gone. Mishnah: orally transmitted teachings from the torah that rabbis passed down, it was said to be divine.