Islam Creator of the Modern Age
3. Muslim Contribution to Science
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by a peasantry who worked the soil on shares
with the owners.
The agricultural development was one of the
glories of Moslem Spain and one of the Arabs’
lasting gifts to the land, for Spanish gardens
have preserved to this day a “Moorish”
imprint. One of the best-known gardens is the
Generalife
(from
Al-Janat
al-arif,
the
inspector’s paradise), a Nasrid monument of
the late thirteenth century whose villa was
one of the outlying buildings of the
Alhambra. This garden, proverbial for its
extensive shade, falling waters and soft
breeze, was terraced in the form of an
amphitheatre and irrigated by streams which,
after forming numerous cascades, lost
themselves among the flowers, shrubs and
trees represented today by a few gigantic
cypresses and myrtles.
66
Charles Sinobose, a French author, writes that the
Spanish Arabs adopted the method of irrigation by
canals. They also dug large wells. Those who
discovered new sources of water were given
