Timur the Lame (1369-1405)

Timur (Tamerlance was a descendant of Chinghez Khan, but at the time of his birth, the great Mongol empire in central Asia had already broken up into independent states. Although Timur was a nobleman of one of these states, he was determines to beocme king of Samarkand, which he claimed as his right because of his ancestor Chinghez. He gathered together an army, captured Samarkand and reigned there from 1369. Much more importantly, however, he went on to reconquer an empire from the Mediterrancean to the Yellow Sea. Baghdad, Damascus and Moscow were all destroyed.

Timur

Taking advantage of the weakness of the Sultanate of Delhi, he also invaded Indian. His relentless armies raced towards Delhi itself, leaving behind a broad track of destruction and death. He quickly7 captured the city (1398) and then began three days of the most terrible slaughter and plundering. 100 000 people were killed, some driven off as slaves and the city demolished. The few people still alive soon died of starvation. It was said that not a bird lifted its wing for two months afterwards.

Timur confessed in his dairy that he did not really want such a terrible massacre to take place but that his soldiers were out of control. However, once the plundering was over, the Mongols marched back to their central Asian home by a route to the north of the one they had used earlier, still destroying everyone and everything in their path. In his diary, Timur wrote that he although he would gain rewards in paradise

for killing infidels, he also wanted riches and plunder.The destruction of Delhi really marked the end of the Sultanate as a great power, though for another century different dynasties struggled to preserve it. Then, once again, northern Indian was taken over by the Mongols, though these were very different people from the earlier invaders and were called the Mughals. Mughal is the Persian word for 'Mongol'. They began one of the most wonderful periods in the history of the subcontinent.

The Civilization of Islam, Arts and Buildings

Allah
Islam

Buildings

The central structure of Islamic architecture is the mosque. The larger mosques usually have one or more domes, arches and tall slender minarets. Although often quite plain on the outside, inside they are generally full of light and colour. Unlike the holy buildings of most other religions (such as Christian churches), mosques contain no statues or pictures of God or the prophets because these are forbidden by Islam. Instead there are often brightly coloured geometric patterns of flowers, plants, abstract designs and above all, quotations from the Quran written in the Arabic script in many different styles. The floor is covered with rugs, and the walls pierced with patterned or stained glass windows in a variety of designs. This blaze of color many have begun in the earliest religious buildings in Arabia, thereby providing a pleasant change from an otherwise drab wold of dry dust, sand bare rock and heat.

Gardens

For the same reason gardens, plants and water have always been important in Islamic art, both in real life and in paintings. Richer people had
enclosed gardens with fruit trees, shrubs and flower beds arranged in geometric shapes, and there were always fountains or streams of running water.

Even the homes of poorer people had, whenever possible, a few plants, shrubs or vines, often in posts arranged round a small pool. Many Muslim emperors relaxed not only by resting in gardens, but also by designing and cultivating them.


Textiles

Fabrics were an important part of Muslim art. As wooden furniture was not part of Islamic culture, people sat, ate and slept on cushions or rugs on the floor. There were woven hangings on the walls, too, and all of these were covered with the rich designs and colours that decorated the mosques. Textiles were also a very unlike ceramics, fragile jewellery or decorative articles, they were unbreakable, light  and easily carried. Today, carpets from Islamic countries are still the most highly=-prized in the world.

Painting

Early Muslim art was limited by the ban on the painting of people and animals. In strict theory, this ban still exists, especially in the illustration of sacred works. But gradually animals and human beings began to creep in to paintings particularly after the 12th century AD. These paintings were not hugs like the ones in Europe but were generally small or appeared as illustrations in books. These were usually found in the homes of wealthier people. The paintings of Persia and of Mughal India glow like jewels and are among the most beautiful ever created.

Literature

Poetry seems to be the natural language of the Arab peoples, and we saw (p. 20) how the tribesmen held poetry competitions at Makkah before the time of the Prophet (PBUH). This tradition has been kept alive to this day.
In the early days of Islam there were some prose works, but these dealt largely with religion and were often commentaries on the Quran. From the 8th Century AD, animal stories appeared but were used for teaching rather than for entertainment. Slowly people began writing books for pure enjoyment. These were often a mixture of poetry and prose. Many were love stories or 'novels' as we know them today.

Music

Although music has nothing to do with Muslim religious ritual prayers, it has been present in Muslim societies, and the Sufis also adopted different forms of it. All kinds of instruments harps, lutes, guitars, trumpets, flutes, tambourines, drums and castanets were used from early times as entertainment and for warlike purpose. Musical notes were not written down as they were in the west. The tunes were played from memory.

The Universe

The Universe
The Hubble Telescope

God almighty has created this earth, the moon, the sun, planets and millions of stars through his "will" that we call as by the name of "nature". He has created all these gigantic objects for our sevice so that we (the naking) may fulfil our needs and recognise the creator through the faculties of our thinking and reaoning. OUr world is only a tiny speck in the huge Universe. On a clear night one can see countless bright objects twinkling in the sky. Many of them give out light and heat like the sun. There are others like the earth and the moon, which have no light of their own. They only reflect the rays of the sun falling on them. How ever of all the objects in the Universe, we are mainly concerned with the sun, the earth, the moon and the planets. These objects are the

part of the system which is generally called as "the solar system". In the Universe it is one of many other system.