When Baghdad was centre of scientific world
The Bab al-Sharji district in the centre of Baghdad derives its name, which means east gate, from the medieval fortifications of the city. These walls were probably built around the first half of the 10th century. During the brief British stay at the end of the first world war, its gatehouse was used as a garrison church. Nothing of those medieval walls, or the east gate, remains today; I remember Bab al-Sharji as a sprawling, noisy and bustling square, with its food stalls and secondhand record shops scattered around the busy bus depot and taxi ranks. But its name is a reminder of the expansion and transformation of this proud city over the years since its foundation in AD762 as the new seat of power of the mighty Abbasid empire. Indeed, no other city on Earth has had to put up with the levels of death and destruction that Baghdad has endured over the centuries. And yet, as the capital of one of the world's great empires, this was the richest, proudest, most supercilious city on the planet for half a millennium.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/sep/26/baghdad-centre-of-scientific...
warm heart, the academic growth that happened in Baghdad can never be compared to Damascus or Istanbul...
Prior to the reign of genghis Khan, the rest of the world looked in awe at the Arabian Penninsula.
If only Ala ud-Din Muhammad had heeded the warning.. Sadly, those times of learning, writing and art have long since gone.. :O(
intellectually, rather than rest on the laurels from 1000 years ago. Maybe if Qatar doesn't cave in to the more conservative voices who want to shut the country down to progress, it will be the next Baghdad.
When Damascus was the Capital of the islamic world is was the golden age, then when Baghdad became the capital also the Empire was huge, then when Istanbul became the capital it was also a great perriod, then when abdulnasser came and Cairo became the centre it became the worst age ever, alhamdulillah Cairo is no more the centre.