Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 16.djvu/625

Rh COMMERCE.] MOHAMMEDANISM 5D7 own prescriptions, which they pretended to have received from the Prophet, those of the Greek physicians. The works of Avicenna prove this ; and Ibn al-Baitar s treatise on the pharmacopoeia also shows how small a part observa tion played in Arabian medicine. 1 Zoology, botany, and mineralogy made no greater progress ; but they were at least among the subjects which attracted the attention of learned Moslems. The great treatise by Damirf, entitled Hay At al-Haiwdn, or Life of Animals, is of interest mainly from the legends it contains ; 2 and the treatise on miner alogy by Taifashi interests us principally by the details it gives on the origin of precious stones and the art of cutting them. It would be unjust to conclude this sketch without adding that the Moslems possess also a great number of technical treatises on the art of war, on military engines, and the Greek fire, on falconry and hunting, and on certain industries, such as those of glass, pottery, and metals. They have also written on magic, on the inter pretation of dreams, and on sleight of hand. These works have as yet been very little investigated. We shall no doubt find in them interesting revelations on the history of the industrial arts, and on the history of superstitions. Com- With an empire so vast as that of the Moslems, we may merce. easily conceive how extensive their commerce and industry must have been. Commerce had at all times been held in honour by the Arabs. Long before the days of Mohammed, the Koraish annually sent caravans, laden with all the products of Yemen, into Syria. Maritime commerce also was already flourishing in Chaldsea in the 5th century of our era. The city of Hira was frequented by ships coming from the Red Sea, from India, and even from China. Obolla was the emporium for the merchandise of India. It was principally thither that teakwood was brought, which served for the construction of ships and houses. Thus the Arabs, when they conquered Chaldaea, found maritime commerce in full activity there, and took advan tage of it. Under the Abbasids, Basra supplanted Hira and Obolla, and became the principal port. The history of Sindibad (Sinbad the Sailor) shows how active foreign commerce was under the Abbasids, and with what courage the Arab sailors confronted danger. Moslem colonies were established all along the coasts of Persia and India, and Moslem voyagers did not fear to venture as far as the China Seas. On the West, the commercial movement was not less active. Caravans laden with the products of Spain left Tangier, traversed the whole of Northern Africa, and reached Syria, Arabia, and Mesopotamia. Others passed through Asia Minor, Armenia, Persia, Khorasan, and Turkestdn, as far as the frontiers of China, while the route of others again was along the eastern coast of Africa, whence they brought back ivory and black slaves. Thus the silks of China, and the spices, camphor, steel, and precious woods of India, were poured into the empire, while the Moslems exported their glass, their dates, their cotton stuffs, their refined sugar, and their wrought tools, to those countries. The manufacture of glass was an Manu- industry of old standing among them. The glass of Syria factures. was celebrated, and we know that flint-glass and enamels were also made at Baghdad. Dates were cultivated prin cipally in the neighbourhood of Basra, and also in Persia and Khuzistan. Refined sugar also came from the coast of Persia. As regards steel, the manufacture of armour and weapons was the speciality of the people of Irak, of Bahrain, of Oman, and of Yemen. The Syrians had the credit of forging excellent sword-blades. In Syria too were made mirrors of polished steel. The weaving of various stuffs formed an important branch of industry. The striped stuffs of Yemen, and the tissues of Baghdad, Herat, Tawwaj, and Fasa, enjoyed a high repute. Damas cus was renowned for the silk fabrics which have taken their name from that city. The silks of Yemen, of Egypt, and of Cufa, had also a high reputation. Tunis produced gauze, and muslin figured with gold. Egypt manufactured brocade, Armenia supplied satin. The carpet manufacture under the Caliphs had already reached the excellence which it has maintained to our own days. At that time the carpets most valued came from Farsistan and Tabaris- tan. Jewellery and trinkets found numerous outlets, as may be supposed. This traffic was principally carried on in the East by the Jews. We know that the religion of the Prophet forbade any Art. representation of the human figure. This prohibition does not appear to have been long observed, for we find that the walls of palaces and of the houses of the rich were covered with paintings. There was a school of painting at Basra, and a historian gives us the names of two painters of high celebrity in their art Ibn Aziz and Kosair. The manufacture of paper was carried on very extensively, a fact which is easily explained when we think of the liter ary activity of the Moslems. The Arabs originally used parchment. For this, after the conquest of Egypt, they substituted papyrus, which Avas itself supplanted by paper, when the Arabs had opened communications with China. Paper mills were established in several of the provinces, and at Baghdad itself. Simultaneously with the appear ance of this precious substance, the art of binding became one of the most flourishing industries, as did also the trades of the shoemaker, the saddler, and the dyer, etc. etc. Retail commerce, lastly, undertook the distribution of the products of agriculture and industry. In almost all the cities of the empire markets were held, where the fruiterer and grocer (fiakkdl), the butcher (Jazzdr), the armourer (Saikal), the bookseller (Warrdk), and the druggist and perfumer ( Attdr), offered their wares for sale. 3 (ST. G.) PART III THE KORAN. THE Koran (Ko ran) is the foundation of Islam. It is the sacred book of more than a hundred millions of men, some of them nations of immemorial civilization, by all whom it is regarded as the immediate word of God. And since the use of the Koran in public worship, in schools and other wise, is much more extensive than, for example, the reading of the Bible in most Christian countries, it has been truly described as the most widely-read book in existence. This circumstance alone is sufficient to give it an urgent claim on our attention, whether it suit our taste and fall in with our religious and philosophical views or not. Besides, it is the work of Mohammed, and as such is fitted to afford 1 The treatise has been translated into French by Dr. Leclerc. 2 Printed at Bulak, A.H. 1292. a clue to the spiritual development of that most successful of all prophets and religious personalities. It must be owned that the first perusal leaves on a European an im pression of chaotic confusion, not that the book is so very extensive, for it is not quite so large as the New Testament. This impression can in some degree be modified only by the application of a critical analysis with the assistance of Arabian tradition. To the faith of the Moslems, as has been said, the Koran is the word of God, and such also is the claim which the book itself advances. For except in sur. i. -which is 3 For further information on Moslem civilization, see Kremer s important work, Culturgeschichte dcs Orients unter den Clialifen, Vienna, 1875-77.