Question

Which of the following reasons explains why the Islamic Golden Age was successful?

The focus on math and science instead of art and poetry grew knowledge of how the world worked.

The focus on spreading the Islamic faith consolidated the empire.

The focus on learning and knowledge attracted the best minds from around the world.

The focus on learning healed the divisions between Shi'a and Sunni Muslims.

Answer 1

This is a tricky question, but the answer I would likely go with is the third one - the focus on learning and knowledge attracted the best minds from around the world. Or, at least, the world as they knew it at the time. Inventions and knowledge from Rome to China found their way to the Abbasid empire which was at a convenient crossroads between them all.

The Golden Age fostered by the Abbasid Caliphate focused on everything culturally important - science, philosophy, writing, math, and many other fields. Nothing was excluded, so the first answer wouldn't make as much sense in that regard. Art and poetry also grew out of what was learned. The famous "One Thousand and One Nights" was put together during this period.

The Islamic faith was also already spread throughout the empire, although the focus on learning didn't heal the rift between Sh'ia and Sunni Muslims.

Overall, however, the focus on knowledge created a mecca of learning in places such as Baghdad as both Muslims and non-Muslims worked not only to preserve many works from the ancient past but learn from them as well, planting the seeds for what would inspire artists, writers, teachers, and philosophers over the centuries up to the Renaissance.