Name:________________________________________________ Date:____________________________
Islamic Achievements Practice Mini-DBQ
Directions: Read the following DBQ. Then, answer the questions. Finally, complete the corresponding graphic organizers.
Historical Context:
The Muslim civilization inherited much from Greece, Rome, and India and adopted much from the people they
conquered. Because of their tolerance of other cultures, they were able to advance scholarship in several areas to
the highest level at that time. As a result, Muslim achievements stand out and have a lasting impact on world
cultures.
Steps to Follow
1. Carefully read the document-based question. Consider what you already know about this topic. How would you
answer the question if you had no documents to examine?
2. Now, read each document carefully, underlining key phrases and words that address the document-based question.
You may also wish to use the margins to make brief notes.
3. Based on your own knowledge and on the information found in the documents, formulate a claim that directly
answers the question.
What you are working on:
1. Historical background information
2. Claim statement
3. Proper Categorization of 4 documents into buckets (body paragraphs)
4. Evidence (Understanding the main idea of 4 documents)
5. Analysis (Practice linking the evidence to the claim statement)
6. Point-of-view analysis
Evidence and Analysis Sentence Starters
Directions: Here are a few example sentence starters for when you categorize, explain the main idea and analyze each
document.
Example #1
In a ________________________________________ (type of source), __________________________ (full name of the
person who wrote the document) described ___________________________________________________ (explain the
document). ________________________ (last name of the person who wrote the document) included details such as
____________________________________________________, which links to the claim because
_____________________. This is one of the most important Islamic achievements because
__________________________________________________.
Example #2
According to _________________________ (full name of the person who wrote the document), an important Islamic
achievement was _____________________ . ________________________ (last name of the person who wrote the
document) described ____________________________________________________. This links back to
____________________________________ (the category you put the document in) because
__________________________________________________________. This is a significant Islamic achievement because
__________________________________________________________.
Name:_____________________________________________ Date:_____________________________________
Islamic Contributions Mini-DBQ
Practice Essay Prompt: Discuss the most important Islamic achievements to the world.
Document 1
Background Information:
In the below excerpt from Avicenna's work On Medicine,
the Persian physician presents his ideas on the nature of
Document
#1
medical knowledge
and the different kinds of causes of
both health and illness. Avicenna's scientific and
philosophical contributions during the 11th century played
a fundamental role in the growth of medical science in
both the Islamic world and the West.
Medicine considers the human body as to the means by
which it is cured and by which it is driven away from
health. The knowledge of anything, since all things have
causes, is not acquired or complete unless it is known by
its causes. Therefore in medicine we ought to know the
causes of sickness and health. And because health and
sickness and their causes are sometimes manifest, and
sometimes hidden and not to be comprehended except by
the study of symptoms, we must also study the symptoms
of health and disease...
Source: Avicenna, "Avicenna: On the Causes of Health and
Illness (ca. 1020)." World History: Ancient and Medieval
Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
Document 2
Background Information: The Islamic capital
of Cordova (in present-day Spain) was
described by a contemporary as the “jewel of
the world.” European scholars preferred
Cordova’s Islamic schools and universities over
other study sources in Europe.
Besides the university library, Arab
statisticians assure us the city boasted 37
libraries, numberless bookstores, 800 public
schools…and a total population of 300,000. Its
people enjoyed a high standard of living and
refinement and walked on paved streets…all
this time at a time when hardly a town in
Europe, Constantinople excepted, counted
more than a few thousand inhabitants.
Parisians and Londoners were still trudging on
muddy, dark alleys.
Source: Philip Hitti, Capital Cities of Arab Islam,
University of Minnesota Press, 1973 (adapted)
Document 1:
Author (s) or source
Title
______________________________________________
Date
______________________________________________
Type of Document
_______________________________________________
What is the MAIN IDEA of the document?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Think about point-of-view. What part does this source
play in Islamic achievements? Is the source for or against
the achievements, and why or why not? Is this source
reliable? Why or why not?
Document 2:
Author (s) or source
Title
________________________________________________________
Date
________________________________________________________
Type of Document
________________________________________________________
What is the MAIN IDEA of the document?
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
______________________________________________________________
Think about point-of-view. What part does this source play in Islamic
achievements? Is the source for or against the achievements, and why or
why not? Is this source reliable? Why or why not?
Document 3
Document 3:
Author (s) or source
Title
________________________________________________________
Date
________________________________________________________
Type of Document
________________________________________________________
What is the MAIN IDEA of the document?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
Think about point-of-view. What part does this source play in Islamic achievements? Is the
source for or against the achievements, and why or why not? Is this source reliable? Why
or why not?
Caption to the image: The Islamic empire contributed greatly to the medical sciences as a result of the value placed upon
scholarship by the religion as well as the government. This drawing of the human venous system is taken from a 15th- or early16th-century version of The Anatomy of the Human Body, by Persian Mansur ibn Muhammad ibn Ahmad ibn Yusuf ibn Ilyas.
Document 4
Background Information:
Founded in the mid-eighth century CE by the second Abbasid
caliph, al-Mansur, the city of Baghdad developed into a center
of Islamic intellectual, artistic, and economic activity. During
the city's heyday, science, medicine, and Islamic theology and
philosophy all flourished there. The passage below, "Bagdad
Under The Abbaside Kalifs," is a description of the city from
the Geographical Encyclopedia by the author Yakut, who lived
in Baghdad around 1000.
Bagdad was a veritable City of Palaces, not made of stucco
and mortar, but of marble. The buildings were usually of
several stories. The palaces and mansions were lavishly gilded
and decorated, and hung with beautiful tapestry and hangings
of brocade or silk. The rooms were lightly and tastefully
furnished with luxurious divans, costly tables, unique Chinese
vases and gold and silver ornaments.
Document 4:
Author (s) or source
Title
______________________________________________
Date
______________________________________________
Type of Document
_______________________________________________
What is the MAIN IDEA of the document?
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
_______________________________________________
Both sides of the river were for miles fronted by the palaces,
kiosks, gardens and parks of the grandees and nobles, marble
steps led down to the water's edge, and the scene on the river
was animated by thousands of gondolas, decked with little
flags, dancing like sunbeams on the water, and carrying the
pleasure-seeking Bagdad citizens from one part of the city to
the other. Along the wide-stretching quays lay whole fleets at
anchor, sea and river craft of all kinds, from the Chinese junk
to the old Assyrian raft resting on inflated skins.
Source: "Yakut: Baghdad under the Abbasids (ca. 1000)." World History:
Ancient and Medieval Eras. ABC-CLIO, 2015. Web. 4 Nov. 2015.
Think about point-of-view. What part does this source play in
Islamic achievements? Is the source for or against the
achievements, and why or why not? Is this source reliable?
Why or why not?